Longevity…..

What a great weekend we had visiting Luke, Louise and Jacob; and Amanda and I celebrated our 34^th wedding anniversary.

Glad to report that Jacob has taken to the guitar although at the moment his style can best be described as percussive (watch-out Andy McKee!).

There’s something quite wonderful about playing a guitar that you made (in 1979) before you were married and before your son was born, to your grandson! As I said longevity!

You can read some more about this guitar in my archive.

 Meanwhile, back on the bench...

Once the fingerboard has been glued on, the playing surface needs to be generated. Firstly, it’s sanded flat and then chambered across the width; these days I do this entirely by sanding. You can plane the ebony but sanding completely eliminates the possibility of the grain tearing out. Keeping the spruce soundboard clean whilst sanding ebony can be a dirty business, so it’s wise to protect the top.
Ian is having slotted abalone diamonds as position markers. Before I glued the fingerboard on, I drilled pilot holes for the centre of the diamond. 

The shape is carefully marked out and then I used a dremel to remove the bulk of the recess; in order to get the sharp corners, the final fitting has to be done with a chisel. 

The diamonds are then epoxied in.......

 and after 24 hours cleaned-up to reveal.....

Next we carve the neck!

And here again is the progress on Alan’s bubinga mandolin. The next stage will be the bindings