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Getting close to finishing a 00 falcate braced 12 fret short scale Steel String. I need to carve the neck and start prepping for finishing

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Good to see what you’re up to, John!

Here are a couple vids of my weekend using what is now called the “Looth Micro Factory (tm)” .

https://youtube.com/shorts/3l0GRpg05Ts? ... upGh4WSPTO

https://youtube.com/shorts/zLVgKsuS9Yg? ... HmBe17pVK9

Brad


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Here is my most recent completion, a Classical based on the Romanillos plan,
my second that incorporates the Moorish Arch hand-crafted rosette.
The top is Lutz Spruce, one of my last from the Shane Neifer stash
B&S are EIR, H.Hog neck, and some really cool tuners,
the Der Jung 103 with an 18:1 gear ratio and roller bearing on the shaft.
Really well built and amazingly smooth feel.
Finish is EM6000.

Should be closing the box on this one over the weekend.





Brad


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On track so far…





Here is a short video of rosette making

https://youtube.com/shorts/NLT0e1elCWo? ... 9gBnfoZItt

Brad


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I ended up getting sick last weekend and was sick all week. Still sick in fact, but…. progress must be made!

Here is where we are at:







Brad


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Sorry you are sick, Brad! It's a good thing we changed our plans for your visit to WV. Hope you recover soon.

Am I correct in thinking that you are shaping the braces until you get a sound you like, and then you are recording on the diagram the brace heights that you wind up with? Or, are these target heights you are trying to hit?

Thanks, Don. I’m getting there. Ben and I are both sick so yeah, glad we rescheduled.

It’s the former, recording at the end. The brace widths are static as a starting point. The height is captured post mortem.

However it’s good to have some guardrails too, a sort of not to exceed value to keep myself honest.

One thing I’ve never quite understood though, and perhaps it’s something that just comes with time spent doing the thing, is the idea of keep going until “it stops getting better”.

What I know for sure is that people can convince themselves of a whole lot and so I take all of it with a grain of salt.


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Brad - I do something similar for each instrument. I record the final brace specs on a photo of the top and keep them in a three-ring notebook. If I like how an instrument sounds, I think having a detailed record of the brace specs (along with top thickness and deflection) gives me a leg up on making it happen again. At least I like to think that.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I like that mini-broom, Brad Did you cut the handle off a paintbrush, or did it come that way?
I just use the dull edge on a card scraper for sweeping. And with two of them, you can pick up the pile of chips to carry it to the trash.

For brace record keeping, I make a text file for each guitar where I note down various weights and measurements including the X intersection height (excluding the cap). A diagonal photo shows all the other brace heights relative to that so I can replicate the overall pattern. I generally go for symmetry so there's no need for a photo from the other angle, although it certainly wouldn't hurt to take one.

This one is 3/8" intersection. I was afraid I'd gone too far, but it's already 7 years old now and still fine. It is a small guitar, though. 13.5" lower bout, but actually 13" for the soundboard due to the armrest bevel.

Thanks guys, it really great to see these posts about keeping records.
Up until now I've been keeping deflection testing measurements and calculations done on the computer along with sketches of the bracing dimensions and arrangements in a notebook, along with the pictures kept on the computer.
I also note bridge rotation.
But especially I like the idea of keeping a file with pics and the bracing details written on them for quick reference.
Maybe I should update my recording.
Pic of my current build model, but of the previous build I kept for reference.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

That’s a hobby lobby special.

https://a.co/d/gLLApr3


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We made it! I need a nap and some football, probably in that order.

https://youtube.com/shorts/U25mw2raNFY? ... NWmJk91xsx


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Sheez Brad, you make the rest of us look like we're still building in medieval times

Nice work, BTW!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Seeing the different braces is cool. The one Dennis has looks the lightest; but it is also the smallest.

Hey Dennis. It looks like the neck goes right through the upper block! Is that for supporting the fretboard? Does it help the highs?

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Why be normal?

Thanks, Steve!

While I might put a modern spin on it, everything I know about building instruments is from the OLF or folks I’ve met through the OLF. I guess I’m a true son of the OLF in that way.

So I’ll say thank YOU for teaching me the fundamentals so I have a good foundation to work with!

Plates are trimmed back so sanding the rims flat and binding are in my future. Trying to get this one caught up to the rosewood one so I can do all the finish sanding and buffing at once.





Brad


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The braces on the top I showed above are on a mandocello top which has to deal with about 245 lbs of string tension. So, that's why they are on the hefty side.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I think so. But more importantly it guarantees the upper bout is coplanar with the neck surface, even through a heel slip reset (which hopefully will never be necessary due to the rock-solid upper bout and medium-rigidity soundhole area encouraging any creep to happen farther south where it doesn't cause so much change in action height).
Here's the original build thread: http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10145&t=47798&start=50

Jay,
Actually, yours looks very similar to Brad's dred; but lighter. Doesn't it go down to low C?

Dennis,
That build thread is cool. Different ideas.

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Why be normal?

New arrival, no 1 plane.
About $90, very easily fettled, sides perfectly square, can produce 1 thou shavings in hard maple - good deal in UK anyway - and very cute.
.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Sharp blades are a thing of beauty.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince