What a luthier does all day

You may have seen the TV series, “What Do Artists Do All Day.” Well, I thought that you might like to see what a luthier does all day!

The first task of the day is to continue with the French polishing of Phil’s twin point. Yesterday, the whole instrument was cut-back with 1000 grade wet or dry paper.  Then the soundboard, one of the sides and the head were polished. So today, the back, the other side and the neck get polished. 

I’ll only spend 10 to 15 minutes on it at a time. At this stage, I’m trying ensure that the finish is flat and shiny and I want to avoid over-working the surface and it becoming sticky.

Next, I’m fitting the soundboard of Ewart’s Standard Plus to the rim. I cut small housing joints in the linings for the end of each brace; a total of 9 joints.

This is quite a time consuming job as you also have to ensure the perfect alignment of the soundboard in relationship to the rim.

Every 30 to 45 minutes I go back and do some more polishing on Phil’s…………

 With all the housing joints cut and the soundboard fitting, I make two fine cuts at the end of the mandolin. 

Later on, the wood between these two cuts will be chiselled out and this is where the end graft will go and eventually join up with the purflings and bindings.

 With everything done on the soundboard, back and rim, the back can be glued on (soundboard tomorrow). 

Most of components of Ewart’s mandolin have now been made, so on to something else to make full use of my time.

That something else is the neck for Mark’s Standard Plus. The head was spliced on yesterday, so today I glued the wings on. The wings make the head wider to accommodate the tuners.

Next, I’m preparing the head splice for Paul’s e-mando. My aim over the next couple of days is to get these two necks up to the same stage, so that I can route the carbon-fibre slots on both.

Remember whilst this is going on, I’m still polishing Phil’s!

 Then I selected the Adirondack spruce soundboard for Mark’s; the edges are trued up, with a plane on a shooting board.

Phil’s gets the last polish of the day (making 8 times today)......

......the e-mando’s head is glued up......

......and then the soundboard!

 The day doesn’t end here; we’re now on the computer, sending emails to various clients. I always send copious amounts of photographs, so that, in this case, Phil, Ewart, Mark and Paul can see how their instruments are progressing.

Last but not least a new blog post! That was my day!