As we are well into the second month of 2013, I really thought I should present an update on some the work that is progressing on my workbench. The workshop has been a warm and attractive space to be in, and I have only made the occasional foray out into the cold and wet Sussex countryside. The picture above is of a top I have been strutting this week. This is a strutting pattern that I have been using for about 7 years and although I refine it almost constantly, I am sure that it is the pattern that I will be using for many years to come. It is essentially a reinforced fan strut pattern, but is a little more complicated to make as there is some painstaking fitting of interlocking spruce struts.
Regular readers of this blog will know of my interest in 19th century guitars and this guitar above is a recently finished copy of a guitar by Rene Lacote. I say finished; in fact it is now being polished and the bridge is yet to be made, but I call that finished! I have been able to make a very faithful replica, as I have had the original in the workshop whilst building it. I am going to write a complete post on this lovely little guitar when it is strung, so watch this space.
These 4 guitars have not really featured on this blog before, although as they are all rather pretty they may well merit a photograph or 2 when finished. They are all being polished at the moment and I am getting into quite a rhythm with my polishing. Polishing 5 guitars at once (these 4 plus the Lacote) takes up a reasonable part of the morning but as I have said before, I find it relaxing, even meditative.
And finally, the four bridges below are all matched with the four guitars above. I don't always polish bridges, sometimes preferring to finish them with an oil finish which gives them a soft, satin lustre. These bridges are being polished however and the one furthest from the camera is destined for a drop shouldered cutaway guitar, hence the slightly more contemporary design.
