twelvepoint wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:59 pm What are the little wooden rabbit-eared things on the bench, just to the right of the guitar? Some kind of clamp, I'm guessing, but I'm not understanding the application.

Cam clamp - he might be using them for an assortment of things but this is common:


Edit: You might think this is an excessive amount of clamps - but in guitar building more clamps is more good

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:02 pm Yeah that guitar looks amazing! That's a serious set of tools too.

totally - at least from the image, I respect that elisha has a lot of hand planes but not an excessive - has what makes sense and then it's easy to go nuts with small planes because they're so fun

Thanks for all the kind words! I'm always a little horrified to post pics but that's my own issue.

Tom Wanderer wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 12:37 pm Few things look perfect. That guitar is one of them! I love the headstock shape and detail work in the stripes around the body and the sound hole. Is it called binding in that case? Regardless, it's really fantastic in its simplicity. In a fine instrument like that the little details say so much.

Thanks! I see all the flaws but it is a nice one. As mentioned above, it's called purfling. The thing around the soundhole is called the rosette.

Maybe 10 years ago,I went to the preview for a vintage guitar auction at Christies auction house. It was pretty much what you'd expect. Lots of cool expensive vintage guitars. Fender, Martin, Gibson etc..... Around the same time they were having a vintage classical guitar auction and they had the preview for that in another room. We went in to check it out and my mind was absolutely blown but how amazing the guitars looked! There were a few heavily ornate models but most were just beautifully understated instruments that let the wood and overall design draw your eyes in and then you'd see the small details. It's safe to say that my design esthetic borrows a lot from what I saw that day. Those old masters were really on to something.

What are the little wooden rabbit-eared things on the bench, just to the right of the guitar? Some kind of clamp, I'm guessing, but I'm not understanding the application.

Those are clamps. Most are made by a German company called Klemmsia and a few are my home made knock offs. They rule!

Elisha that guitar is beautiful, understated elegance. The fretwork looks amazing, thanks for the close-ups. I envy your next of kin

Thanks! The guy who taught me how to build guitars does the best fret work I've ever seen. I've put quite a bit of time into it and still feel like I come up a little short compared to him but overall, I'm happy with how they turn out. I spend about a day or so on the final setup and fret level, crown and polish. Maybe kind of extreme but I do feel that it adds something to the instrument when it has well done frets.

Yeah that guitar looks amazing! That's a serious set of tools too.

Yard sales are your friend when it comes to finding old tools. One of those planes is a new Lie Nielsen which cost me a bundle and I had those two rasps made to my specs but the rest is just stuff I've picked up cheap along the way. I did carpentry for like 20 years and was always rooting around for old tools.

Thanks FMs Tyler and Elisha for the clamp lesson. I have no immediate use for them but now I want some!

elisha wiesner wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:55 pm Around the same time they were having a vintage classical guitar auction and they had the preview for that in another room. We went in to check it out and my mind was absolutely blown but how amazing the guitars looked! There were a few heavily ornate models but most were just beautifully understated instruments that let the wood and overall design draw your eyes in and then you'd see the small details. It's safe to say that my design esthetic borrows a lot from what I saw that day. Those old masters were really on to something.

Isn't it amazing how single moments can be so inspiring? Like changing your whole way of thinking or trajectory just by seeing something like that? I love hearing about those types of things. Art is pretty damn cool.

elisha wiesner wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:55 pm
Thanks! The guy who taught me how to build guitars does the best fret work I've ever seen. I've put quite a bit of time into it and still feel like I come up a little short compared to him but overall, I'm happy with how they turn out. I spend about a day or so on the final setup and fret level, crown and polish. Maybe kind of extreme but I do feel that it adds something to the instrument when it has well done frets.

I think that day shows, not extreme at all - it's your playing surface. I've been spending time learning from a guy that very well may have worked on more guitar necks than anyone in the world, and he spends the most time making sure the frets are right.
You're in good company.

Not mine but an older coworker busted this out one day saying "you might think this is cool" - Figured it was worth a share. #1!

That's pretty great, but I'd want a tetanus booster after touching that headstock

TylerDeadPine wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 12:55 pm Not mine but an older coworker busted this out one day saying "you might think this is cool" - Figured it was worth a share. #1!



wedge.png headstock.png

Um, didn't all of the TB models start with 11 as the first serial number?

http://www.travisbeanguitars.com/index. ... y.main.htm

Yeah these pictures raise a whole lot of questions. The serial number is confounding for sure.

But why would someone who knew enough about that guitar to show it off have it in such horrible condition? That's like showing someone a picture of your DeLorean after you put a sledge hammer through the windshield and took a shit on the hood. I've seen some seriously neglected guitars, but how do you get a Schaller tuning post to that level of oxidation? Those strings are so rusty it's disgusting. I'm getting bummed out looking at those pics.