DEmery - Posted - 01/18/2014:  19:20:12

John go on over there and pick. I have to live a vicarious banjo life through those events. Wish I was closer and a little more talented. David E.

Kirk Jacobs - Posted - 01/18/2014:  19:33:26

quote:

---

Originally posted by DEmery

John go on over there and pick. I have to live a vicarious banjo life through those events. Wish I was closer and a little more talented. David E.

---

Don't we all.  

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/18/2014:  19:37:04

SATURDAY 

or maybe Friday....

no I'm sure it was Saturday.

Saturday, ah yes, teaching instrument building in the morning. Sometimes I think that the fellas wish they could be here and work all week.

Both Kevin & Eric are in the very final stages of finishing their new guitars. Today we had a long discussion on the direction they wish to take when the start their next projects. Kevin will be building two guitars, one here and one in his home shop. It will be kind of like being able to practice at home. We have been working towards this point for some time and I am very pleased. Eric wants to build a Uke. and this can be a lot of fun loaded with a lot of learning too!

BHO member Bob Tylar leaves the shop with his newly reconditioned banjo. Look at that smile! R U happy Bob?

I will be starting a couple new lutherie students next week and we need more and better bench space. So this afternoon I was found on the sidewalk outside my shop sawing boards to make a new and larger bench.

Just a few hours later and the basic bench is together. I'm going to finish it tomorrow or Monday. I'll add a top surface and storage underneath.

More varri Soon!

Big O - Posted - 01/18/2014:  20:35:12

Goshen OOOooooooooooooooooooooWOOOOoooooooooooooW HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!!!

DEmery - Posted - 01/19/2014:  04:18:58

Big O you can get yourself a Goshen like banjo from Mister Knowles. You know where to reach him............, and I bet her can do it along your personal taste. David E.

Goshen built by Dan Knowles

Goshen built by Dan Knowles

Goshen By Dan Knowles

 

rubicon - Posted - 01/19/2014:  06:53:22

The cocobolo rim is stunning !

Edited by - rubicon on 01/19/2014 06:57:28

dbrooks - Posted - 01/19/2014:  07:55:05

John Balch, I second David Emery's suggestion that you join Dan in that musical program. That would make for a great night.  Might have to drive from Louisville myself.

David (B)

Edited by - dbrooks on 01/19/2014 07:56:28

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/23/2014:  05:00:46

BACK ON THURSDAY MORNING

Playing Ketchup, playing with ketchup, ketchup, ketchup.

Debra just came in from opening up the chicken house, its cold out there she says. On goes the computer...14 degrees and heading down. Wind chill 0 degrees. Have you ever wondered about wind chill? How in the world do they (whoever they are) know how it feels for me. Maybe 14 degrees feels like 22 degrees to me, maybe 30, maybe minus 30... Oh my, oh my and here I am complaining in the sweet sunny south!

Patrick continues to improve. Three weeks away from surgery and he's complaining about not heeling fast enough! I know he's gettin' better.

So what about the shop? you ask.

It has been very busy there my nose has been firmly planted to the grindstone. It keeps spinning and my nose keeps growing. Isn't it strange how our ears and noses keep growing.

I find that I am concerned about getting all of the work done. A month and a week and the river will call. The first trip will be Vicksburg to New Orleans back to Vicksburg. So much I want to complete before that time.

Tuesday my lutherie student Eric came in. He hurt himself at work, twisted his leg and so was off of work. Because he was a hop-along, there was nothing for him to do at his homeplace so he came down and put tuning machines on his guitar. Today I'm going to fix a rub through for him so he can string the guitar on Saturday.

Tuesday afternoon was teaching day. Along about 6:30 Will T popped in for his by weekly hour of abuse. It's nice to see his growth over time.

Wednesday... Wednesday all day. Engrave. I love it. I put on some good music (John Hartford's Good Ole' Boys, The Seldom Scene's 15th. Anniversary Concert, David Grisman's Hot Dawg, Darrel Scott's shucks I don't remember the name of that CD and my yet unreleased opera 1934) and went to scratchin'. Here the rings of Saturn are delineated.

Galileo has it's details drawn in...

And engraved...

A days worth of work and not yet complete, but mostly so...

In went the frets. The uppers are put in by hammer and the rest with the press...

Todays trick. I mount the fret angle file in the vice and move the neck, not the file. This is way quicker that just going at it moving the file.

More Soon!

Dave1climber - Posted - 01/23/2014:  05:48:11

Dan

Its good to know that Patrick is on the mend.

Galileo is looking very good.  Hopefully with all that you have to do, you have time for a cup of coffee and relax for a time.

Nels - Posted - 01/23/2014:  07:12:36

for Patrick!!  Great to hear he's feeling antsy to do things!!  

Great pics of your work...

Kaelri - Posted - 01/23/2014:  08:20:56

Glad to hear the good news with Patrick's healing. 

On that upcoming February 15th show, too bad you couldn't get it up on Livestream or some such streaming site. That'd be a neat concert to watch online I daresay! But I am sure the logistics of setting something like that up would be too much. But maybe someone there could video one of the songs to share with your fans here at the BHO? Well,............here's hoping!

DEmery - Posted - 01/23/2014:  16:07:38

Dan good news about your son; and good for BHO to see you back posting about the "goings on" in Paris' Luthier Shop. The detail on the Galileo fingerboard is really artsy. The scratch work really makes it pop. I know the owner will feel like I have when getting your banjo. It is more than the original imagination.  I see your thread is quickly headed toward 110K. I hear drum rolls soon when it hits. David E.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/23/2014:  16:42:48

Dave, Nels, Ellen & David,

Thanks for your Huh-rahhs for Patrick. We certainly be glad when he is really back to himself.

I'm glad y'all like the banjo. I hope Will does!

David,

Thanks for the numbers heads up, I hadn't realized it was moving that fast!

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 01/23/2014 16:52:12

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/23/2014:  17:34:40

THURSDAY, THURSDAY

(I guess actually the song was Monday, Monday)

Thursday, sure it's not Friday. My little Atlas lathe went down today. The bearings are trying to seize up. Bummer. I spent way to much time trying to repair the the thing. I finally gave up for today and went to doing other stuff.

As a side note, my good friend and fellow song writer Jim Fields came by the shop yesterday. He brought me BLIND BUT NOW I SEE. It's a biography of Doc Watson. The forward is full of nice words about Doc and this brought to mind something. Back when I was 19 years old I hitch hiked across the mountains to Deep Gap, I was going to visit Doc. I knocked on the door and who should answer but Doc. He invited me in and spent an hour talking and playing guitar for me just like I was somebody. That day Doc showed me how a person in public should  behave.

Here is a 1918 Gibson Army Navy mandolin. It's getting its bridge worked on. It has a bunch of issues, cracks and etc. but the first issue is fitting the bridge.

Someone had cut this thing way down at some point and the mandolin just wouldn't play. I trued the bottom of the bridge and glued a replacement piece of ebony. Here I'm using a piece of leather as a spacer so I can mark the bottom...

More about the school concert...

More tomorrow!

rubicon - Posted - 01/23/2014:  17:41:22

Good to hear Patrick is doing better we are all pulling for him , I must say this banjo your doing is absolutely incredible! I am amazed at the att to detail .Webster needs to add your name to the definition of Craftsman !

kwl - Posted - 01/23/2014:  17:46:02

Dan, enjoy Blind But Now I See. My niece gave me a copy for presiding at her wedding. It was a good read.

WillT - Posted - 01/24/2014:  07:43:23

That etching really makes it pop out like it's taken on another dimension. Can't wait to see it in person in a couple of weeks.

Let me know when you go to staining. I know we talked before about me coming down for that.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/25/2014:  06:17:07

Rubicon,

Thanks. One of my dad's sayings was "The art is in the details." I've found to be so true, at least I attempt to make it so.

Ken,

I've been enjoying it (the book) a lot. I usually read when I lay down at night so I'm not as far as I'd like to be.

Will,

Glad you like it. It is only when I start the engraving that I begin to get satisfied with this type of work. Maybe I could just do the engraving first and the heck with the rest of it! 

I might get it sanded this morning. Until I get the lathe up and running, or find a lathe to borrow I'll be stuck for creating the c-rod. I have an idea that I intend to pursue on that front this morning.

Friday

I spent this day on the road going to Nashville for business. Unfortunately I neglected to bring my camera for I did get a bit of a visit in with Tyler Andal and master fiddler Brian Christensen (Grand Ole' Opery) over at the Fiddle House. These folks do some of the finest violin/ fiddle work in the southeast. I always learn something useful when I drop in there.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/25/2014:  22:06:54

SATURDAY EVENING

I've just taken a break from working on the tile in our bathroom. I'm doing a mosaic of a steamboat. It's a sidewheeler... ah and ah... that's important at least to me. The boat is the Julia Belle Gwimmer that ran from St. Louis back around 1900. This too is important because she is being launched on the bathroom floor of a house built in 1900! I'll try and shoot some photos tomorrow to show the floor's progress.

But what you ask else happened today? Well this morning was lutherie teaching day. Eric and Kevin came in and worked on preperations for their next instruments. Here Kevin is making molds for this new guitar body.... 

This afternoon I went over to our BHO buddy Woodturner (Denton Jordan) and used his most wonderful Powermatic lathe where I turned a coordinator rod for Will's banjo. Unfortunately I neglected to take my camera. This lathe of Denton's is a beautiful and wonderful working machine. I gotta get me one! So I brought it back to the shop where I fitted it to the rim. Here I'm cutting the turning nub off...

Measuring the length...

After cutting it fits just like it should!

More Later Today! (cause its past midnight)

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/26/2014:  17:39:04

SUNDAY/ FLOOR CRAWLIN

Again I'm takin' a repast from the floor in our bathroom. Thyme fer an up type date. I've got all the tile installed and all of the grout on. Right now I'm waiting for the grout to set up a bit so I can wash it . This is always an exciting time for me, this last bit waiting, hoping all my work will come out ok. In a bit, after I've washed it up I'll shoot another photo and post it...

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 01/26/2014 17:39:26

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/26/2014:  18:42:54

FLOOR CRAWLIN' part 2

One hour later...

Here is a composite photo of the finished Julia Belle Gwimmer. The image is approximately 6' wide by 8' tall. It doesn't get it all in but most of it's there...

More Tomorrow!

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 01/26/2014 18:44:52

jbalch - Posted - 01/26/2014:  19:00:22

In 1976 I spent five weeks working on an archeological dig at the Roman city of Caesarea in Israel. I saw lots of incredible ancient mosaic floors. Although I don't remember any riverboats among them, your new bathroom floor truly reminds me of those masterpieces.

AWESOME work! Very well done!  I love it!

Nels - Posted - 01/27/2014:  02:55:47

Great looking ...hope it doesn't hit a "snag"....you know how the river always changes course!!

WillT - Posted - 01/27/2014:  08:14:31

Thanks Denton for letting Dan get some more done on my banjo!

DEmery - Posted - 01/27/2014:  17:04:55

What a floor Dan. I wouldn't expect less from you. Oh...Congrats on 110K views of Luthier's Life. David E.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/27/2014:  19:16:50

John,

What a cool (although I bet hot) experience. Sometimes I think that in a former life I was an archeologist! Thanks!

Nels,

I will! Thanks!

Will,

Keep alert for the next post! Yes and I thank Denton too! I was wondering how I was going to pull this turning off... and then he offered!

David,

Thanks! It's Amazing who'd a thunk it a year and some change ago...110,000... purely amazing!

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 01/27/2014 19:17:31

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/27/2014:  20:15:04

MONDAY 1-27-1832

It's cold today. but I warmed quickly as I chopped wood for the morning fire. I should have not been so lazy yesterday. But, the weather was so fine and it had been some months, after hooking a worm, I tempted some unwary trout. Still the day was fine and dressed down to my waistcoat I relaxed by the river. Winter though is not a good time to fish. The water must be too cold even for them to be tempted away from the home fire. Try as I may, I only removed shriveled worms from the water. Still the sky was blue and a few bird calls were heard in the trees and I remembered that spring day, long ago, when as a youth I met my own true love. So now out here knee deep in snow, chopping wood, lost in memory, I wonder about myself.

Still there is so much about this time of year to be thankful for. The great piles of muddy snow heaped on the edge of the road. The chimney that refuses to draw correctly and so heaves its mighty breath into the room.  The clothing so bundling around that one can no longer recognize friend from foe. The snowball which upon impact invades my jacket.

As I pick up this pen to write my hand still shakes from the cold. It's very interesting to watch this odd shaking claw that the creator endowed me with. What s sense of humor he/ she/ it must have! Look at this claw! Like a spider it hangs from the end of my arm. What an odd appendage. Still I truly hope that you may be able to read these squiggles.

What is this day in my life like? It is and was fix this, inspect that, build a little for posterity and hope that the choices made are the ones most helpful. Someday they say that this trade will no longer exist. They say that machines and the mechanics who run them will remove my usefulness. They say it will be a day of plenty. A day when people will fly like birds. They say it will be a time when there is so much that humans will toss out and never fix... I can't, I will not believe this. Still the thought passes my mind like a buzzing fly that will not lite and await the swatter.

This morning as always my sweet wife created a large breakfast of biscuit, butter, ham, eggs and coffee. Soon after eating I ventured to the shop, engaged the water wheel and went to work. Many shops like mine have converted to steam but being the old-fashioned man that I am each morning I still engage the wheel. There is something restful in the sound of that wheel. To its sweet song my day passes as if in dream.

The days work began with the continued repair of an odd metal bodied guitar. It looks as though it was made sometime way off n the future. I wonder about the creators of this instrument. What kind of people will they be? Will they still use a water wheel?

Then due to the fact that the babbits have failed in my lathe I connected the drilling machine and with a large file created a dowel stick ferule for a banjo that I'm building. I expect to be complete in February of 2014. My word but that seams so far away. It is a very futuristic thing with planets and such things inlayed into the arm.

After much labor and intense concentration this is what I completed. The wood is a stick of maple which I saved from my neighbors fireplace some fifteen years or more ago. The grain was so intense and beautiful it called to me to save it. I have seldom found better or more beautiful. Here it is, not yet stained, with the hand engraved brass du-dads which I made today affixed to each end.

And so dear reader I complete my day penning this missive. I do hope to soon again raise the pen in my claw (and not spilling ink) again write. 

Nels - Posted - 01/28/2014:  05:21:44

Beautiful....

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/28/2014:  18:39:34

Nels,

Thanks.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/28/2014:  19:25:07

One spring night in 1972 along with my best friend Carlos and his girlfriend Adelle, I trooped into a small college auditorium. On the stage was a single stool, a couple of microphones and a small rug. The lights in the room were never dimmed. An M.C. came out and announced the evenings performer.  A tall beanpole of a man came in with a banjo and a 12 string guitar. He laid the guitar down on the rug and began to play his banjo and sing. One verse, one chorus. Then he said "you sing." And we did. All evening we sang. 

It seams that I always knew what I wanted to do in life. That night I learned how. 

Pete Seeger I never met you to say thank you, but I thank you now.

Dave1climber - Posted - 01/28/2014:  20:30:48

We all know such things happen, we still cry.

Will1717 - Posted - 01/28/2014:  22:43:08

Dan:

Looks like we're working on the same resophonic guitar. The photos show our first shot at building a single cone resonator guitar. We needed a break from banjos so thought that the world may need an additional resonator guitar supplier.

Bill

Cutting the first Resophonic Guitar

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/29/2014:  06:07:37

Dave,

I agree.

Bill,

LOOKIN' GOOD! Fascinating!  Will those be hand welded or will you se some futuristic CNC torch?I may have to call you today and find out a thing or two more about these guitars. 

Joe Connor - Posted - 01/29/2014:  06:34:36

Beautiful sentiments, Dan. Very nice. 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/29/2014:  20:10:05

Joe,

Thank you.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/29/2014:  20:22:19

WEDNESDAY

I just got in from band practice, only three of us there this evening, Danny, Sam and I. Still we tried something new tonight. I guess I'll call it meditational OT Music. I don't really know what else to call it. We took a scale pattern, c-d-e-g-b and playing only those notes we freely improvised. We must have played for 15 minutes in this manner: first all of us setting the rhythm groove down, then each one using the scale pattern to build a melody upon. Each listening, each bringing a new sounds and songs to the mix. The music rose and fell like breakers on the ocean beach. It was a piece of heaven.

I guess I wrote that to say this... I forgot the SD card so I'll be back tomorrow with more photos and comments on a Luthiets Life!

Dave1climber - Posted - 01/29/2014:  21:26:50

I can only hope that tape was rolling on that 15 minute session, sometimes that's the best music magic that happens.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/30/2014:  19:18:32

Dave,

 Only the tape that runs in my head and keeps running in my head....

Dan Knowles - Posted - 01/30/2014:  19:43:36

THURSDAY

Off from the banjo came the old too stretched minstrel head.  And on went a new one...

Here is how it happened...

First I went through a bunch of heads. For this banjo I want a thin on, but not to thin. The one I found is goat and perhaps .010- .015 thick. I guess I should have measured it... but I didn't. After one handles a lot of heads you kind a get a feel for how each skin will sound mounted.

Next I took an 1/8" square rod of cold roll steel, rolled it in my roller. I  then used the tension hoop to measure the size. It needs to be a hair larger than the tension hoop. But just a hair...

The rod got cut to length and then the ends were brazed together. The head took a water bath and with the help of my friend Joe Snow, we began the process of threading the skin over the flesh hoop and under the tension hoop. This head is an 18" one and the rim is 14" so it was hard to do. I really like having a fair amount of excess skin, it makes the process so much easier...

Next the real fun began. I pored a puddle of my home made walnut stain onto the head and brushed it around making sure it drizzled down into the skin joint....

Because I was after a nice aged appearance, I let the stain sit on the head for maybe about, ah, 31 minutes  and 27.257 seconds. Then I wiped it off.

We'll see how it looks tomorrow after it dries...

Kirk Jacobs - Posted - 01/30/2014:  20:17:44

That's why you are the luthier.   I would have left it on for 31 minutes and 27.273 seconds because I would not have known any better.

C Nyal de Kaye - Posted - 01/30/2014:  21:00:36

Well, you live and learn Kirk.

Yanni - Posted - 01/31/2014:  02:15:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dave1climber

I can only hope that tape was rolling on that 15 minute session, sometimes that's the best music magic that happens.

---

You are on the nose there!  I did a similar thing on guitar a while ago.  I found a nice chord pattern and laid it down, capo'd to the 5th fret and played over my original, then went to 7th and did the same.  Although the chords were all the same, the differences in note pattern made a lovely tune (IMO).  I wonder how much music gets lost or forgotten becaus there was nobody recording it?

soundcloud.com/g0vgs/forest-glow

Ian

Edited by - Yanni on 01/31/2014 02:16:11

Big O - Posted - 02/01/2014:  10:34:59

Lookin Good Dan can't wait to see how it turns out :)
Funny that I made my own walnut stain myself it easy to make just takes time to process.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 02/01/2014:  11:55:15

Kirk,

After much research and experimentation I found that majic number, 31 minutes 27.2565 seconds was not enough and 31 minutes 27.2572 was too much and so I settled...

C Nyal,

 I second (or maybe .9998 seconds) that emotion!

Ian,

What a lovely piece of music!

Big O,

Glad you like it so far. That walnut stain is not difficult and I like the color I get much better than any synthetic stain.

jbalch - Posted - 02/01/2014:  12:59:34

Your walnut stain does a GREAT job on hide heads.  It really looks old (smells old too).  I still have about half a jar left.

BTW - I've been applying the stain to the hides before soaking for the mounting.  I let them dry for a few hours (the exact time is a trade secret).  Then I mount as normal.  That method results a subtle stain and very old look I think.

Edited by - jbalch on 02/01/2014 13:03:21

Dan Knowles wanlut extract stain

Dan Knowles old time natural walnut stain

Dan Knowles - Posted - 02/01/2014:  16:21:52

John,

Have I mentioned that I like your new avatar? No... Well I do! That little banjer picker is alright by me!

I've never thought of staining the heads before mounting. Next time I think that I'll try it.

jbalch - Posted - 02/01/2014:  16:33:06

Dan:  I tried it that way with your stain.  You do lose some of the stain in the soaking.  But, the result is a very natural soiled look that I really like.  I've said before that heads prepared this way look very much like some of the busted  70-100 years old hides I've removed from old banjos.  The color is just right.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 02/01/2014:  16:50:52

FRIDAY- SATURDAY

Friday evening we loaded up and went to Clarksville to pick up our 3 grandsons for the weekend. That caused me to shut the shop down early, 4:30 instead of 6 pm. Still we had a nice trip. We've driven it enough that the van seams to almost drive itself! After we picked up the boys, we went to Booger Kang, got home a late and fell into bed.

So tonight I'll post a bit on the happenings of yesterday.

Here is Thursdays head, mounted and strung up...

I figured you might like to see the completed projects from just one day.

A Gibson mandolin, bridge rebuild, re-string and set up...

An Alverez mandolin to clean setup and re-string...

Now a Deering Goodtime Special. It's not a bad banjo at all. The thicker rim and tone ring make quite a difference here. Capo spikes, no set up needed...

Oh yes, an Oscar Schmidt 12 string guitar. Set it up, made a new bone saddle and re-strung the thing (that's a job in itself). This one's truss rod refused to behave itself and so took way too much time but eventually it worked...

Saturday, lutherie teaching. We've got a new student Jason Bouden (on left). After I got the whip really cracking they warmed up and shed their jackets!

More Soon!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 02/01/2014:  16:53:13

John,

I'll try it next week!