Gateway Area Luthiers Assembly & Show

We had the 2nd annual Gateway Area Luthiers Assembly and Show  this past weekend at Hibdon Hardwood in St.Louis Mo.  Approx 34 people attended wich was a step up from last year . Hibdon Hardwood and Lenox Band saw blades were our sponsors and did a wonderful job in making the attendees feel welcome .

We had 4 different demo's done by attendees . Thomas Rein did a demo on graduating a soundboard properly .  He was Followed by John Ressler on carving out a Guitar neck . That was followed by Mike Boggeman who did the same using a pin router . And certainly not the least was the  time we spent in the Saw room watching the sawmill make fast work of a Hard Maple log .

I have included a few photos of attendees . If you have interest in attending next year  we would love to have you .   Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed your visit .

Working on Purple Heart Finsih

I have spent a few hrs wet sanding the Laq and buffing the Purple heart build . The following is sanded to 3600 and buffed

Front at the neck joint . The dyed neck with the distressed look came out nice . If you look carefully you will see purple in the neck in distressed areas.

The top was sanded to 3600 as well and buffed . No matter how I try it doesn't seem that I can get all the scratches out . I guess it will get better with practice.

The top of the tuner head and the fret board . Tough area to work and get looking good.



Joint at body . This is a glue joint and is another area that is difficult to get looking just right.

Thanks for stopping by . Have a great day .

Cherry Dulcimer Walking Cane

I have started a Cherry Dulcimer that will also double as a walking Cane . Here are several pics showing the progress of the build . Below is the headstock beefed up to double as a cane handle .

Below is the back layout and reinforced .

The next pic shows the headstock after its been sanded and shaped . Note it has a back strip in the tuner area for additional strength . It will make it a smidgen harder to string , but should make it stronger.

The next pic shows the dulcimer glued together and the F holes placed and cut.

This one is solid cherry , top back sides all cherry . I'm not sure how it will sound but hopefully good.

The headstock mounted and ready for the walnut trim and a little idea I have cooking in my mind for the next post .

Thanks for stopping by . Hope you enjoyed your short visit.

Padauk Mando with Pick Guard

I went to Nashville Tn last weekend to the SPBGMA Bluegrass festival and took along the Mando you have watched being built . While I was there approx 24 people played the Mando-Lind and gave me feed back and good suggestions that they would like to see as a player to make it a better instrument . I will be tweaking this one a bit and making application of the suggestions I got on future builds . It was A great weekend for sure . Chris Oliver of Infinity Luthiers went as well and we had a great time . The " Rude Dogs " put on a great weekend of music and the Bagpipe Parade was a huge hit. If you have never been to SPBGMA and like bluegrass , You have no idea what your missing . I have included a short vid of my Mando-Lind being played as well . " No that's not me , I WISH " :lol:

Thanks for stopping By

Padauk Mando Finished

I still have to mount a pick guard on the mando , but for all intents and purposes she is done . It sounds very good , quite a bright sound . If I can get time I will post a you tube of he being played . I have moved the F holes on this unit down toward the lower bout 1" to experiment with the sound . Please have a look at the following pics and thank you for stopping by.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoying my woodworking passion .

Build Challenge

Over at the Official Luthiers Forum http://www.luthiersforum.com/ We have started a Build Challenge for Builders who are Members from around the globe .

If you are not Familiar with the site I recommend that you stop by there . You will find allot of great looking Guitars and find some very friendly people .

This Challenge goes as Follows :


( 1 ) Any stringed instrument you wish to build .
( 2 ) $150.00 Maximum cost , or comparable cost to the land in which you reside " see Spirit of Challenge comment ". To include Wood , Hardware , and Finish IE : Laq , tru-oil , etc:
DO NOT count tools , Molds , glue , tape , sandpaper , cases etc: Materials on hand should be given an
honest value . See Spirit of challenge comment .
( 3 ) Woods must be Indigenous to your region " within reason " See spirit of challenge comment .
( 4 ) No CITIES Materials
( 5 ) Must be Participating OLF member and throw your hat in the ring prior to end of Jan 2012
( 6 ) Finished for judging by end Of may 2012 , allows for 1 month of judging to take place in June .
( 7 ) Pics and utube sound clip for judging .
( 8 ) Judging will be done by OLF public vote and the one with most votes at the end of June wins
( 9 ) This is about FUN and CREATIVITY , so lets not get bogged down in petty stuff . Police yourselves and
Keep in mind the SPIRIT of the Challenge .

START BUILDING AS OF JAN 1ST 2012 , AS OF THE LAND IN WHICH YOU RESIDE

It should be an interesting time , there are a good number of builders involved . Stop by often and check up on the Build Challenge progress !

Electric Build

While I was waiting on some parts to come in for a couple of the guitars I am working on ( hardware stuff) I decided to do some basic work on the electric I have been thinking about .

The body is Mahogany and the neck is Maple . I have added a "heel" at the body joint to give it a different look . The design is for a Strato-caster



The front is partially milled at this point , It will have Humbucker pickups and a black pick guard . A Inset Plug and electronics pockets yet to be routered in.




I have A friend in the luthier world who does custom inlays for people and he made this head plate for me along with several others . His name is Stephen Ziegenfuss and can be reached at www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Thanks for stopping by my little shop and having a look