Mandolin dairy day 21 or just a busy day

Today has been a busy day. First I had to make sure that the two guitars we will deliver to Steff musik in Silkeborg was perfect and then the VRB-c-ff that also were going to be delivered got its last inspection. The customer were coming around three o´clock today to pick it up. I also wanted to take some good picture of the fanfret guitar for our website and of course for the blog. Then me and Olle prepared for the trip, packing everything so we just have to come early tomorrow and pick everything up. Then I got some small things done on the SRB and the new mandolin, just some sanding on the sides and gluing the back bracing on the mandolin. Then after a quick lunch a customer came and tested the new Tanglewood amp T6, loved it and bought it. At the same time came the customer to pick up the fanfret guitar. When the to customers were happy and left the clock was almost five. I then got a mail from someone who wanted to a tend the guitarbuilding class in May. So now we only have one space left in May, so if you are thinking of going now is the time to sign up.
If I do not have the time to write tomorrow please bare with me, on friday I will fill you in on what happened in Denmark. Until then, keep playing/ Michael.

Mandolin dairy day 20

This morning I finished the fanfret guitar, number 377. I was suppose to take some pictures of the guitar but I did not have the time. So you have to wait until tomorrow. The mandolin has to dry for a few more days and we are leaving for Denmark on thursday to present our guitars at Steff musik in Silkeborg. So when I come home again I will finished the mandolin. But do not worry, I have already started another one, together with the 12 fret SRB I talked about yesterday. I wanted to keep the speed up with the mandolins so I get use to build with the new jigs.
So today I did finish the rosettes and glued all the bracing on the top and back and bent the sides. The first three days everything moves really fast. Tomorrow we will prepare for the trip, take some pictures and continue to build as much as possible. See you tomorrow/ Michael

Mandolin dairy day 19 and the new guitar

The best thing by building handmade guitars and mandolins is that I can decide so much myself. If I get inspiration I have the possibility to build what I want. But the customers orders always comes first. Money talks :)
So today I started with gluing the neck and the bridge to a VRB-c-ff (the c stands for cutaway and the ff stands for fanfret). I have worked on this guitar alongside the mandolin and it is now on its way to be delivered. The guitar is having a satin lacquer, both the body and the neck, and together with the fanfret it is going to look really cool. The back and sides are East-Indian rosewood which have some nice red streaks. The top is a sitka spruce with a lot of silk. I will take some more picture of the guitar during the next two days.
Now back to the mandolin, I could not wait to look at it all put together, the neck still needs some attention and therefore it will drag into next week until it gets finished. However, I am really happy with the looks and as I have said before this have inspired me to go on and design a guitar with similar looks. I will use our SRB model (our smallest model type Grand concert) I will use the same woods as the mandolin. Sapele top, back, sides and neck. Herringbone purfling and rosette. Trimmed with some dark rosewood bindings. I have not decided if the first one is going to have an open head or not. What I have decided is that is going to be a 12 fret neck. We have never had this in our range before but now it was the right time to test it on this guitars. The stringlenght will be a short scale 630 mm ( I think it is something like 24-7/8"). I am also going to make the guitars a little deeper than we normally make the SRB. 112 mm at the deepest and 98 mm at the neck. To see that everything works together, I lay the piece on the floor. This way I get a feeling for the instrument.

So I hope you will stay on even if the mandolin will be finished next week and follow the SRB. Next week I will also start up a JRB baritone for Jojje Wadenius. For you who do not know who he is here is a short cv of some of the people he have worked with. Blood ,sweat and tears, Aretha Franklin, Simon and Garfunkel, Steetly Dan and Saturday night live for many years. We are very proud to have Jooje as a customer (this will be his forth Sanden guitar) and friend. He has been playing our guitars for over 15 years.
So stay tuned and see all the amazing instruments that we build.
Michael

Mandolin dairy day 18 and 30 years

It was 30 years ago today... when I took the flight over to San Diego and started to build my first guitar!
Today has been a day of reminiscences, I did not know much about woodworking when I left and I did not know much english either. I had signed up for a 8 weeks class for Bozo Padunavac, a master guitar and mandolin builder. Little did I know that this would change my life completely. I open the door of his workshop and felt "this is it"! There is no turning back. So now 30 years later, 376 instrument (that is numbered, there is another 50 or so instruments that was not good enough or was not counted for). I have had over 100 students a tending my classes and I have had 7 different workshops. I do not know how many repairs I have done over the years but it is many.
The two instruments that I build at Bozos place was a small bodied guitar with 16 frets to the body! That was one of Bozos trademark along with a lot of inlays. I also along side with the guitar built a mandolin. Same wood and same inlays so they will be a perfect pair. They are still hanging on my wall in the workshop and once a year I take them down and play a little. They still sound were nice and they are still ok looking. Even if I did regret doing all the inlay work instead of concentrating on building a more plain and sharp instrument (that is what I teach my students, so at least I did some good). I had not thoughts about what kind of instrument I wanted and being one of the last student Bozo had I got to do pretty much what I wanted. Big mistake! When I got home and wanted to build another instrument I could not remember how I did a lot of things and in those days there were no internet so I had to call Bozo every time I run into problems. I guess the second guitar did cost just as much as the first one including the trip, in just phone calls. But I never gave up. I just did another guitar and another and suddenly someone wanted to buy one! And that is still what I am doing, just hoping that there is someone who comes along and want to buy one of my guitars :)
I want to thank everybody that have supported my mega ego trip over the years, my family, friends and customers. I still enjoy building just as much as I ever have and I hope I can go on for as long as I have the health.
Oh, yes the mandolin, It got is last layer of lacquer today, now it will dry for a few days.
I will now take of to "the Systembolaget" and by a bottle of Talisker whisky to celebrate.
See you on Monday/ Michael

Mandolin dairy day 17

When I am ready to start lacquering, that is when I am half way into building an instrument. The finishing process is a big part of the mandolin. To much lacquer and it will kill the sound and to less it will kill the instrument. So today it started with some more sanding and then one more layer. I can only put one layer of the top coat a day. On the picture it looks really thick but when the mandolin is ready only two tenth of a millimeter is left. All the sanding between coats is very important to get a completely flat surface. So tomorrow it is the same thing all over again, but then it should be enough. Now the depth in the finish starting to show. I am very pleased with the colors, the tobacco brown together with the Sapele woods own color goes together very well. This mandolin have started off thoughts on making something more of the same look. But I have to think a little more before I reveal anything. I hope you like the new pictures. See you tomorrow/ Michael.

Mandolin dairy day 16

Today was the day! Starting of by preparing the suface. Sanding it down with 400 paper to a flat dull surface. Then masked the herringbone off. Both on the edges and the rosette.
Then starting to mix the color. Tobacco brown and a few drops of red mahogany. Then slowly spraying the edges and the sides until the right look appears. When I got enough color on, I usually go to the window and let the daylight shine on it to see if the color is right and even. This is just a "one tone" sunburst so it is easier than an ordinary sunburst, where I use three different colors. Then I hang the body to dry for a few hours and then took of the tape. If it stays on to long the lacquer will crack along the edge. So you have to take of exactly at the right time. Then tomorrow when it is dry I will scrape a bit to straighten out the edge. The neck also got some color but it will need some additional layers tomorrow. The rest of the week is more lacquer and sanding. Until the surface is completely flat. Then all have to dry and hopefully I can start to wetsand and polish it next week.

The guitars also got some layers today. I almost finished a VRB-c-tt today but there is a little more work tomorrow before the guitar is ready for delivery.
Hope to see you all tomorrow/ Michael

Mandolin dairy day 15

I said yesterday that I would do the sunburst today, but I decided to wait until the neck was alongside with the body. The neck also will have a little sunburst. So I wanted to do that at the same time to get the right color on both. So today a sanded the body and put another two layers of lacquer and the same on the neck. But tomorrow will be the big day.
I also finished up a nylonstringed guitar a NRB today. It has been almost ready ready for a while but now I finally got around to finish it. It has a sitka top with sapele back and sides with brazilian rosewood binding. The tuners are of course the Schertler but in satin black. It goes very well with the high gloss ebony veneer on the head. I will take some more picture of it later on and we will put it out for sale in our shop. So look out for it. It is a very nice guitar.
That is all for now. See you tomorrow/ Michael

Mandolin dairy day 14

It is getting closer and closer. Monday morning started with taking of the clamps which I used for gluing the fretboard to the neck. Then over to the sander and sanded of the extra bulk of wood and when I got close enough I turned to more of handwork, slowly getting closer to the finished shape. Because the neck is so small it is easier to do the shaping by hand than trying to use a router or a shaper. This is really fun work and I like to do this by hand. I is rewarding to to feel the finished neck, very smooth and even. When the shape of the neck is there I drill holes for the positiondots, 2mm abalone dots on 3,5,7,10 and 12. They are really small and I always hold my hand underneath when I glue them in. I do not know how many time I have knocked down the little box over the years. So now I always put the box away as soon as I am finished with it.
I did a light sanding with  a 400 paper on the body and then started to spray the sealing coats. I did three layers. That is enough for one day. I also filled the pores on the neck and now it has to dry for a day. So tomorrow it will not happen much on the mandolin. But on Wednesday  I will do the sunburst. Fun, fun, fun.
See you tomorrow / Michael

Mandolin dairy day 13

One day off and the schedule is full. I started off with fixing two guitars that needed some extra care and love after a few hard years on the road. I do not do repair or setups, only on "our" Sanden guitars. So after lunch I got started with the mandolin. I routed out a slot for the carbon fiber reinforcement for the neck and glued it with epoxy glue. Now it will never bend os twist. This is actually the first time I have used the carbon fiber and it feels really strong. I then fitted the fretboard and glued it to the neck. Now it all have to dry until Monday morning. The body got its last sanding down to 240 grit sandpaper. Then I filled the pores with an lamination epoxy. Now that have to dry also until Monday morning. Next week it is time to shape the neck and then the lacquering will start. I am really exited to get the tobacco sunburst on the mandolin, I think it is going to look beautiful. I hope you all will get a nice weekend, myself need to put one more layer with lacquer on a true temperament neck. See you/ Michael

Mandolin dairy day 12

Today was a slow day. That actually exist in a instrument builders life now and then. Without my powerdrill it was not much I could do. But I was able to fill my day anyway. I did some more jigs (you can never get to many) and I also did some fretting on the two guitar fretboards. When I finally got the powerdrill I manage to fit the mandolin neck and now it is easy to see how it will turn out. I am very pleased so far. Tomorrow I am going to have a day of, but on Friday I am doing the last things on the instruments before the finishing process starts.

See you then/ Michael

Mandolin dairy day 11

I have been waiting for a neck coming back from the True temperament company and today it arrived! So I had to put the mandolin aside for a few hours to get the TT neck in to the lacquerbox. This guitar neck is for a VRB-c-tt that I have been working on for awhile now. The body is finished only the neck was missing. This guitar plus another VRB-tt are ordered from our new dealer in Silkeborg, Denmark. As you might have seen or heard here on our blog we will do a workshop there the 1st of March. If you have not checked this out, go to there website www.steffmusik.dk.

At the end of the day I still got some work done on the mandolin. The fretboard is now finished with frets and all. The head of the neck got its shape, the tuner holes have to wait. I am waiting for a jig from my friend Peter that he will rout on his cnc machine. I hope I get as soon as possible. In this stage of the building it is more or less the first time I can see how everything will work together. So I normally put all the parts on the floor to get a look at the instrument. It looks really promising.

So tomorrow I will fit the necks to the bodies, if my wife will return my powerdrill. She have borrowed it for a few days to help her son move in to a new appartment.

Until tomorrow

Michael

Mandolin dairy day 10

Neck ready glued

(I do not what have happened to the blog but I could not get it right, I hope you can read it anyway)

Neck roughcut

 Monday again. I like mondays, I have had the hole weekend to rest and I am always eager to get to work.

This week I hope to have al the instrument ready for lacquering. That means that a lot of work has to be done on necks and the fretboards.
I started with drilling some guide hole on the fretboard side of the neck. These will help me get everything alined along the way. Using my new jigs are always a pleasure (if they came out right). I did some rough cut to get rid of some extra wood, then sanded the front of the head and glued an East-Indian rosewood veneer.
I then started with the freatboards. I had change my cutting jig so I will be able to cut 8 fretboards at a time (I only made 4 today). This way I do not get ant waste.
About 20 years ago I did a radius sanding jig, using vacuum to suck the freatboard to the jig. I just hold the jig and when it hit the bottom of the sanding table it is finished. 12" prefect radius! This old friend does the work every time.
After lunch the front headveneer  was dry so I sanded the back side and then bent the back veneer on I hot bending iron. This veneer helps strengthen the head and I think it looks beautiful when the instrument is finished. This glue joint has to dry until tomorrow.
The small butterflies were next. I use a pin router to do this. I goes really fast and when the cavity i

Cutting fretboardslots

The slots ready. 4 fretboard out of two ebonyblanks.

 there I mix epoxyglue and ebony dust to a past and fill the cavity, press in the butterfly and let it set for a few hours.
Tomorrow I will finish the fretboard with frets and all and starting to fit the necks to the bodies.
See you tomorrow
Michael

Here I sand the radius on the fretboard.

Veneer on the backside of the head for extra strenght.

The veneer glued in place.

4 fretboards ready to have the butterflies glued.