Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/09/2014:  12:18:52

SORRY... if I could get rid of it I would!

jbalch - Posted - 03/09/2014:  12:32:50

Dan - as the owner of this thread, can you still edit that post with the large photos?

If so, you can re-size each photo individually - right in the post itself.  Just click on the picture - then grab one of the corners and move to the size you want.

Edited by - jbalch on 03/09/2014 12:33:28

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/09/2014:  12:43:47

Dan thanks for posting the information and pictorials on the fan frets. Aside from being a fine luthier, you are an artist..nice mural and mosaic floor!!

Kirk Jacobs - Posted - 03/09/2014:  12:44:56

I guess when you are painting the solar system it takes up a little more room.

Crusty - Posted - 03/09/2014:  12:48:03

I hear ya and please excuse my grumpiness because I'm fighting the flu and I don't feel good. 

It's good practice to check your pictures before uploading to make sure they're sized to something reasonable for online posting, like say like 1024x768 or 1440x1080 and resize them as required.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/09/2014:  18:54:06

John, Mike, Kirk, Doug & everyone who looked at the Monster Picture Post.

Thank you for your kind advice, I am so sorry about that bit of foolishness. It's what I get for attempting to show my computer guru Will Turner that I could post his photos when he couldn't. Will is an IT feller and knows more about these things than I'll ever even know. 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/09/2014:  19:16:13

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Ok, by now I'd be willin' ta bet that y'all already know just what I did yesterday evening.... so I'll just give a bit of a heads up of the events before and after words.

Saturday morning is Lutherie Teaching morning with Kevin (Steve), Jason & Eric. Both Eric and Kevin made patterns for truss rod covers to be made on my ancient Gorton pantographic engraver. They have become quite excited with the possibilities of using this machine to make fancy soundhole rosettes, truss rod covers and other interesting pieces.

This is a wonderful old machine that is even older than me (it was born in 1942). It is an acoustic version of the modern day CNC. The major difference is that instead of a computer moving the cutter head around, homo sapiens get to.

So with this machine  you must make an over sized pattern for a stylus to follow. The operator movers the stylus arm around which then moves the cutter head in a minimized motion.

Here Eric & Kevin are making patterns...

While the fellers spent time with their jewelers saws, I stripped paint from our bathroom door hardware...

Burnt...

Workin' the Gorton...

A completed doorknob plate ready to install...

More soon!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/09/2014:  19:32:41

Dan

I would be interested in a good photo of that ancient Gorton pantographic engraver that is older than I, and I am ancient or so some of my friends say.  I just like nice old things.

WillT - Posted - 03/09/2014:  21:00:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by DanKnowles

John, Mike, Kirk, Doug & everyone who looked at the Monster Picture Post.

Thank you for your kind advice, I am so sorry about that bit of foolishness. It's what I get for attempting to show my computer guru Will Turner that I could post his photos when he couldn't. Will is an IT feller and knows more about these things than I'll ever even know. 

---

This site seems to make you resize all your pics instead of doing it dynamically. It also doesn't seem to give feedback about resolution and size errors. I don't know if it has to do with this site running on Windows IIS instead of Apache, and that's why you can't use any type of BBcode, or if it's just not enabled. I'm not a web programmer.

This is one of the very few forum sites that doesn't use Apache. I know we had talked earlier about hosting all your images on Imgur Dan, but it's not going to be easy to link the pics from there to here. We'll have to find some other way.  

Also Dan, if you ever need to edit your post you have to do it within 15 minutes. After that, only moderators can edit/delete them. They're pretty quick to respond though! 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/10/2014:  18:00:32

Will,

Thanks for all of your help!!!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/10/2014:  18:20:10

MONDAY

For all of you folks freezing your toshes off way up north, today we got up around 60 degrees  and the last of the snow and ice really started to vanish. We sill have some mounds of the stuff where they got it off the roads. This is how the little remaining patches looked this morning on my way to work. 

Dave asked about my Gorton pantographic engraver. It was built in Racine, Wisconsin back in 1942. Its joints and bearings are just as tight and smooth as when it was built. It really is a beautiful piece of machinery. Here are a few photos. The clamps on the work tables are an instrument shop add on. All of these surfaces have nice machined dovetail slots made to fit clamps and other tooling... the trick is finding these things. 

Some day I may scrape and repaint this machine... just not now.

Here is the the pantograph equipment...

And the cutter head. 

More soon!

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/10/2014 18:20:46

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/10/2014:  18:44:38

Dan

Thanks for taking photos of the Gorton.  Here in the cold north we had temp's today in the upper 50's, we still have lots of snow on the ground.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/11/2014:  04:49:57

Dan..that Pantograph is built the way machines should be built. Craftsmanship, no corners cut and built to last. I have a hand operated black smiths drill press that I retrieved from my granddads workshop dating to the early 1900's and it is as solid and operational as the day it was manufactured.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/12/2014:  19:52:56

Dave 

You are so welcome. Yesterday it was around 70, today it will be down to 28....

Doug,

Yes I do love the old tools/ machines. many of the hand tools I have go back to my great grandfather... wonderful things. 

Everybody,

I just finished practicing with my fiddler Danny Conger. I'm teaching him a tune called Flying Ponies that I wrote a few weeks ago. We are hoping to perform it with him, Eddie Coffey & Tim May on the Queen of the Mississippi in a couple of weeks. It may be one of the more difficult pieces that I've ever written. It sure has been tough to learn. Tomorrow evening I'll try and make a full post.

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/12/2014 19:54:04

Kaelri - Posted - 03/12/2014:  20:06:28

Flying Ponies? Is it an instrumental?

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/12/2014:  21:52:47

Will tomorrow's post include Flying Ponies?  Please

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/13/2014:  19:24:28

Ellen & Dave,

Flying Ponies is a tone poem (instrumental) that honors the carousel and specifically the one in New Orleans. Dave I'm sorry but it isn't quite ready to record yet... someday soon.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/13/2014:  19:36:23

Dan, performing on the Queen of the Mississippi should be fun. Looking forward to hearing Flying Ponies when you have recorded it.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/13/2014:  20:19:36

THURSDAY

THE RETURN OF OTHELLO

Othello the "New Ebony" banjo built here on the BHO a couple of years ago now comes back for another shop visit. I'm preparing to sell her soon. So in this mode I decided that I should go through the instrument and thoroughly clean it and refresh its French polish finish. So yesterday I broke it down Othello to its component pieces and this morning I began the process.

This instrument is quite special in several ways. Not only it the primary wood ebony (both Gabon and Macassar), the inlay intricate and unique with many valuable materials but most of the metal work was detailed and silver plated here in my shop. Because silver over time tends to patina and several hours were spent bringing up the shine!

Here are the parts before cleaning. They are not in bad shape, just in need a bit of sweetening.

First stop, the ultrasonic cleaner. I treat most banjo parts (that are in for cleaning) just like jewelry and I use this jewelry cleaning machine to remove most of the grime...

Fresh out of the bath... I am still quite proud of these bracket nuts. I hand turned each on my lathe to make them each unique but still appear to be of the same family (which they are). 

Here is almost the whole batch. the photo only misses the tension hoop, tone ring & tailpiece...

The banjo is finished in a finish which in the old days was called spirit varnish or French Polish. The finish is primarily shellac & alcohol. This is made fresh from shellac flakes.

There was a girl who did booking for me several years ago who was amazed at all of this mixing & concocting. She said not only was I a woodworker but that I was an alchemist too! 

To the shellac about 5% benzoin (called benjamin in the old books), 5% sandarac and 5% copal is added. The benjamin adds a very nice vanilla scent to the finish and also helps it to polish nicely. Each of these ingredients add just a little of their unique properties to the finish. By themselves they would not be so good... but together, ah yes!

In honor of its old name, I keep the mixture in wine bottles...

The finish is applied using a fad or rubber. This is made from old performing shirts (the best used linen I own) and filled with raw wool. Initially the fad is filled from the open back side but after working with it awhile, I load it from the face as you can see in the photo above.

Here I am quickly moving the fad. I'm not really building much finish, just polishing and really shining the finish.

On to the neck. It had a couple of small scratches so I sanded the surface with 800 grit sandpaper before polishing. After the finish gets good and hard (next week I'll really slick it up).

Oil is added drop by drop to the fad. To much and oil will bead up later. To little and finish will pull from the surface when working. The cool thing with the oil is that after I feel that the finish is just right I friction polish it with my bare fingers. I just rub it and watch the whips vanish and the shine arise.

More tomorrow!

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/13/2014 20:20:16

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 03/14/2014:  02:32:41

Amazing!

DEmery - Posted - 03/14/2014:  03:33:41

Dan that is an amazing banjo. While not your routine cup of java; I really liked the shorter scale. Had I been familiar with it at the time we would have used it on Sherry Lynne. Guess it is good we didn't since she left me for a picker in Paris, Tennessee. David E.   

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/14/2014:  05:28:31

Dan, you do amazing work to say the least! Your attention to detail and your fine craftsmanship exemplifies your passion as a luthier and artist.

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/14/2014:  07:02:45

Dan

I recall this build, I think that you spent several hundred hours doing this wonderful banjo.  It was a joy to follow the creation of Othello.

fungusgeek - Posted - 03/14/2014:  11:45:49

Dan,
Now that is a 'secret sauce'! - When you say "5% benzoin (called benjamin in the old books), 5% sandarac and 5% copal is added" are these percentages based on some liquid solutions of the various resins? Are they 'saturated' solutions, i.e. resin chunks covered in alcohol, as much resin as the alcohol will dissolve? In what form do you get these ingredients?

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/14/2014:  18:33:16

Doug & Dave,

Thank! Its been nice returning to this instrument in this way.

Jon,

All of this comes in dry form. Most of the time I get these materials from Kramer Pigments.  The alcohol is PGA (Ever Clear) and comes from the liquor store. Everything (other than the alcohol) is ground in a mortar and pestle. The shellac is about a 1lb. cut  (1lb. flakes to 1 gal. of alcohol. I never make this much) and the others are dissolved in alcohol at maybe 20% dry to 80% alcohol. It is The fluids are then mixed to the above amounts. Also I use pure walnut oil although most drying oils will work just as well.

Tom Berghan - Posted - 03/15/2014:  08:29:04

Othello's neck is gorgeous . . . elegant . . . so sophisticated.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/15/2014:  12:30:21

Tom,

Thanks! Seeing you here caused me to fire up the old LaPavoni to make some shots of espresso!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/15/2014:  17:04:11

SATURDAY

(GORTON TYME)

Saturday and you know what that means... lutherie teaching time. The fellers achieved quite a bunch today. Jason was the fist one here and jumped in and re-sawed and thicknesed the paulownia wood for the back and sides of his first guitar.

For those of you who build guitars, dulcimers or perhaps even wood topped banjos this is a wonderful wood. Although light in weight like balsa it is an extremely resonant wood. In the orient it is used to build several string instruments including the koto. The tree itself is a fast growing and very beautiful plant with lovely large horn shaped blossoms in the spring. The smell is pungent and sweet.

Here Eric and Jason  are running the paulownia and some walnut through the thickness sander. 

In the meantime Kevin worked on the Gorton pantograph engraver making a truss rod cover.

After some hand engraving here is what he achieved...

Eric joined Kevin on the Gorton and made a truss rod cover for his guitar and installed it too.

More soon!

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/15/2014 17:05:47

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/15/2014:  18:12:08

Dan

I sure do like the way those truss rod covers look.  I must admit that I would not mind having that old Gorton at my place.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/15/2014:  18:57:30

Don, The truss rod covers look really nice. Your students do very nice work..you teach them well.

Does the paulownia wood have a nice grain? Sure has beautiful flowers.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/15/2014:  19:12:52

Dave,

Thanks! I'm sure proud of what these fellas accomplish!

Doug,

Most of the paulownia I have handled has a beautiful but simple grain with immense sheen.

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/15/2014 19:15:08

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/15/2014:  19:22:56

Dan..thanks. I see you have a shop built thickness sander. I built one a few years ago and rebuilt it this past year to include spring loaded hold down rollers. I had a close call with my fingers with the first one. If you are interested I will post a picture of it.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/15/2014:  19:38:07

Dan..I uploaded a few pics to my home page. I did a series of step by step pics for a friend in the UK that I built a rosewood ukulele. He was interested in how instruments are built. I will be uploading some other pictures of my shop and a few of the instruments I have built.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 03/15/2014:  21:01:18

Paulowina grows extremely fast and is very lightweight. I have a couple of model-airplane props (for rubber-band powered models) crafted in post-war Japan that are made from it.

Also called the "Princess Tree", it was supposed to be planted when a daughter was born. When she married, the father would cut down the tree and make her a cabinet from it.

Cool to make a guitar top from it. Great work!

Paul R - Posted - 03/15/2014:  22:33:33

Dan, that Othello is a masterpiece. When I looked at the neck, I had to look twice; it looked very similar to the old dark Orpheum banjos, even down to the fleur de lys - and the French polish. Whoever gets that banjo will be one hugely fortunate person.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/16/2014:  05:21:58

Doug,

That sander of yours looks great! After we built ours we couldn't believe how much time it saved and how many jobs we put it to. It has become one of the very useful machines around the shop.

Marc,

 I didn't know that they used paulowina on model airplanes, although I figured it to be at least as good as balsa. Jason will b using it for the back and sides on his guitar. I don't feel that its stiffness is tat of spruce and so won't use it for the top... still that is an interesting idea. 

On another note note I'll be heading out for the road in about a week and a half, are you coming up soon for your painting?

Paul,

Thanks, I feel the same way. BTW The fleur de llys is a homage to the Farland Artist Grand that John Hartford used to play. There are a couple of hat tippings to John on this banjo... I may even post some photos of them soon.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/16/2014:  06:04:36

Dan..thanks.. I will take a picture under the hood.. I want to change out the 5 inch aluminum drum to a wooden one with a lengthwise recess to hold the abrasive. Currently I use an adhesive backed paper and it will often times separate from the drum.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 03/16/2014:  09:09:46

quote:

---

Originally posted by DanKnowles

Marc,

 I didn't know that they used paulowina on model airplanes, although I figured it to be at least as good as balsa. Jason will b using it for the back and sides on his guitar. I don't feel that its stiffness is tat of spruce and so won't use it for the top... still that is an interesting idea. 

On another note note I'll be heading out for the road in about a week and a half, are you coming up soon for your painting?

 

---

It'll be mid May before I can get up to Paris. I'll call or shoot you an email when I get ready...gotta make an appointment!

Paulowina is very light and stiff and very easy to carve. As I recall, once it is sufficiently dry it moves very little with changes in humidity...which makes it perfect for making finely fitted boxes, etc. Same for model airplane props, you want to keep that helical shape in any kind of weather. I suppose you could use it in lieu of Spruce but I think you're right about the stiffness. I would worry a bit about how tough it is, I suppose it would dent quite easily and might not do well against things like belt buckles, etc.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/18/2014:  19:53:01

Doug,

My roller is MDF and I use adhesive backed sand paper too. I look forward to the photos.

Marc,

You are correct. One must be very careful with Paulowina, it almost dents when you look at it! But once the finish has solidified the surface it is very tough. It's a lot like working with Western red cedar, you just have to be very careful.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/18/2014:  20:12:14

TUESDAY

One week and countin' down. Tomorrow next week we will be on the Queen of the Mississippi heading from Vicksburg, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. I am very excited about the traveling and the picking with Tim, Eddie and Danny... a big time should be had by all!

But this travlin' means that this week is an extremely busy one, with getting everything ready and having everything done that I'd like to be complete before I head out.

One of the projects that I'm working on is BHO member Pine Cone's banjo neck. Ideally I'd like to have it all ready to carve and start the massive inlay project when I return. With this objective in mind I did most of the laminating for the back strap today. 

Here I'm cutting out most of the waste where the laminations will go.

Next I sanded of the saw marks from the back of the peghead.

Using 80 grit sand paper I trued the gluing surfaces....

And trimmed some ebony & maple veneers for the backstrap. Do you recognize this gorgeous stuff Scott?

All glued up and just in time to teach Ben, one of the best banjo students a teacher could hope for!

More Soon!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/18/2014:  20:22:12

Dan

You make what your doing look so easy.

As anyone knows that has done any high end woodworking, what Dan does is not easy.

Edited by - Dave1climber on 03/18/2014 20:22:43

Pine Cone - Posted - 03/19/2014:  21:13:30

Glad you found a place for some of that maple veneer.  Pretty amazing 3D figure.

Interesting to see you working with paulownia - years ago I went to China on a tour sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Forestry and the International Tree Crops Institute and we saw lots of paulownia.  They often grow it along rural roads, providing shade, animal forage from foliage and eventually wood.  We also toured a furniture factory that had a small sawmill attached which mostly used paulownia.  Very fast growth for a tree and even textured wood.  A few people tried growing it in California's Central Valley but it never really took off.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/20/2014:  05:11:24

Dave,

Thank you.

Scott,

That is some beautiful veneer! We have quite a bit of Paulownia growing down here in the south, The story is that paulownia seeds were used for packing material for china 150 years ago, they were pitched out and now we have the trees. 

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/20/2014 05:12:05

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/20/2014:  20:38:10

F-5 TO 5-STRING

I just got finished practicing with my buddy, America's Fiddling Postman Danny Conger. It is such a joy spending time with this great friend. We always get an awful lot done but manage to spend a good deal talking and catching up.

I'm building an F-5 style mandolin for a client of mine. Today I was able to lay out the peghead and install the curl support. Here I'm laying out the peghead.

Back on Pine Cone's neck I laminated two on the peghead face, Three on the heel and  one on the top of the neck. I also routed for out the  truss rod. Also because I'd like to increase both the clarity and sustain I installed two strips of ebony on each side of the truss rod. Here the double acting rod has been covered by Teflon tape. I started with some white that I had at the shop, ran out and had to go home and grab the yellow tape.

After everything is perfectly fit the slot is partially filled with silicone. Both the tape and silicone are to eliminate rod rattle. Early in my career I had to rebuild a neck because of persistent rattle and so now it's double kill. I never wish to do that again!

After the rod is clamped in place the squeeze out is scraped off.

Here is the piece of ebony I'll use for the top lamination on the peghead. I love the figure in this piece. I've been saving it for some time for a project just like this!

The peghead laminations. Tomorrow after I fit the tunneled fifth tube I'll glue both the fingerboard & the peghead overlay in place.

More tomorrow!

rubicon - Posted - 03/20/2014:  21:02:08

Thats interesting the ebony lamanation increases the sustain ? The peghead piece is beautiful gonna be cool to watch this come together . Thanks for posting all you do very coolRRickard tuners on this one ?

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/20/2014:  21:05:26

Ken

I am very interested to see the evolution of that F5.  Can you show the the curl support?

Dave

Pine Cone - Posted - 03/20/2014:  21:48:41

Fun & exciting to see this phase of neck work!  

DEmery - Posted - 03/21/2014:  04:01:39

Hey Dan...I know you have built mandolins over the years but other than rebuilding my Master Model F-5; I haven't seen one on your bench during our time together. This will be a pleasure to watch. For those that may not have tuned in (actually my F-5 was before this thread) attached are a few photos of your work. You recall, Dan, how beat up this old piece was when it hit your shop. It had that horrible finish, the points were gnawed off, binding was in disrepair, sounded like a piece of concrete. When you brought it back and re-graduated the top; it was beautiful.

1975 F5 Gibson Master Model rebuilt by Dan Knowles

1975 F5 Gibson Master Model rebuilt by Dan Knowles

1975 F5 Gibson Master Model rebuilt by Dan Knowles

 

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/21/2014:  09:35:53

Dan..like your idea of using silicone in the truss rod channel.. I will have to give it a try. You did a great job on Dave's F5. As Dave mentioned, it would be wonderful to see the progression of the F5 your building. I did one a few years back and found it to be a real challenge, although it came out pretty good and has a nice sound. I found graduating the plates to be the biggest challenge.