Shop tour
After a brief hiatus the shop was reimagined and retooled in 2023. The pictures below represent the building process from both the old and new shop
A few shots of the main shop floor to get a feel for the space. Click thumbnails for a larger image
Some steps in the building process
Bass form
Bending the cutaway
My florentine cutaway jig
Side Benders
Gluing end blocks
Attaching kerfing
High tech clamps with rubber bands!
Ready To Drive The Bus
The radiused dish with sandpaper below will shape the sides and kerfing
Driving The Bus
Shaping the body with kerfing to the curved dish
Top inlay
The rosette and most of the neck trim are inlaid before the top is braced
X braces
x braces in the Go-Bar deck
Routing kerfing
A simple jig for routing the ledge to accept back braces
Box ready for close up
Attaching the back
Attaching the back with a curved dish as a caul is the final step to close the box
Raw Necks
Neck blanks will be re-sawn and maple strips will be added for the five piece neck
Neck glue up
Gluing up 5 piece neck. The vacuum jig in the background is gluing x-braces
Scarf joint
Scarf is routed on an inclined jig
Scarf joint glue up
Radius routing jig
The fingerboard is radiuses usually 16"
Flossing the neck
Rough sawn neck being fitted to the body
Pressing Frets
This old mortise drill doubles as my fret press
Neck Tendon Jig
Drilling the neck tendon for barrel bolts
Bindings pre bent
End graft ready for glue up
Soldiers nearly ready for spary
The finish room
Curing in the finish room
The Inlay Process
People are always fascinated by the inlay process so I thought I would include a few pictures.
- Artwork is obtained or created and scaled to fit the location
- Multiple copies are printed so the individual pieces can be glued to the media
- Pieces are cut. Usually with a jewelers saw
- The pieces are glued together if needed and scribed onto the piece and cavities are routedThe pieces are then glued into place. Usually with a colored epoxy
- Level an buff
Wild Horses fingerboard sketch
Artwork is printed on paper to be glued to shell
Shell cutting jig
One piece cut
Inlay routing tools
Rough Fitting
Wild Horses
Wild Horses fingerboard
Wild Horses Veneer