Week 7 Sermon

New jig week, along with finishing the move around, and a couple of repairs have taken far more time than they should have, but each has had it’s own rewards.

The move around, as mentioned last week, has provided something verging on a dance-floor’s worth of space, along with a sensible workflow route around the workshop. A vacuum extractor system has been installed, along with some new power-points to stop the trailing of both pipes and cables across the floor. Fortunately, e-bay provided the extra suction required at a very reasonable price.

Recent repairs have included a re-fret on a near 100 year old Salvador Ibanez Guitaricco that was brought in as a Ukulele! It is easy to make the mistake, as the instrument is Soprano sized, and, with the exception of the  fretboard being flush with an overlaid scratchplate, Cuatro style, plays pretty much the same.

The label inside dates it to between 1915 and 1920 and, once re-strung with modern fluorocarbon strings, it sounded pretty sweet. I took a good set of measurements before it left the workshop, so it could be reproduced in the future.

Long overdue has been a new method of creating the neck to body joint, and the jig for that has taken up a good deal of time, but the results seem worth it as it was tried out today on the joint in that Dulcitar that is being made for Chris. I’ve also tried it on a Soprano neck, so the adjustable part of it, which was the bit that made it tricky, is working well.

This weekend coming we have a family wedding, and guess who has been volunteered for the photography. Therefore PLEASE NOTE, we will be closed for the whole weekend, commencing Friday 22nd and will not be re-opening until Monday 25th. I’d like to think of it as a holiday, but there is an element of the Busman’s about it! Keep strumming…