Matt Cardle UK Tour

Hanging out in Guitar World, Cambridge Corn Exchange, on the recent Matt Cardle tour.
Photos by Gabriele Nicotra.

Tru Oil on Spalted Ash

I've got loads of exciting projects lined up for this year!  Not only have I got a 6 month waiting list for hand made guitars, I'm also booked as a guitar tech for two UK tours this year already. Last year was very disrupted due to various workshop issues, but its going to be a great year and I'm going to keep this blog up to date. 

The acoustic I'm working on at the moment is to have a tru oil finish.  The tonewood above is for a telecaster thats been ordered, its also going to have a tru oil finish.  I thought I'd use an off-cut to practice on before I finish the acoustic.  Not only is it a good warm up exercise, but its also a good opportunity to try and point out the qualities of tru oil finishes.  However, catching the full glory of this oil with a digital compact isn't as easy as i'd hoped!

The tru oil really brings out the character in this Spalted Ash piece, you can see the warmth it adds and how the lateal ripple really stands out.  It looks good, plays great and smells wonderful!  When I eventually get round to finishing this Tele I'll post the whole process on here....

(Another) New Workshop....2nd in 6 months guddammit!!

Great light in here, its North facing so no direct sunlight, ideal :)

Unbelievably Ive had to move my workshoip again, thats twice in 6 months.  The property owner sold the last place so it was time to move again.  The new place is great though, its bigger and cheaper and in a busy yet mellow spot.  Im also going to have a great view of the Rholben when the leaves fall....

So I'm now at:

Ov Guitars

8A The Chocolate Factory

Union Road West

Abergavenny

NP7 7RJ

contact details are the same. 

Please visit, i brought the kettle over....

Electronics corner, happy in its new home.

Local jazz maverick Jason Ball came round to get some care and attention inflicted upon his Tele.  All fixed and hes a happy Flame Haired Jazz CannonBall :)

...a few photos of some recent activity.....

John Dixons Gibson 347 P-49 pick up replacement project.

keeping the bits in order....

Using dental floss to keep trackof the components during the tricky job of dragging the gubbins out and in.

all of the components dragged out of the pick up cavity. 

using a ply template to wire up the new pots and capacitors.

abracadabra...its all back in...this was a troublesome project, I struggled with grounding and phase issues.

SHane dropped his Gibson Les Paul and cracked the neck through the headstock area, a common break.  The headstock clung to life purely by the thickness of the headstock veneer.  Shane stills cries himself to sleep at night :)

injecting glue into the crack, thank you Boots the chemist needle exchange.

Just experimenting inlaying a Madagascan ammonite into a block of mahogany for a possible future headstock inlay.

ok for a first attempt, all the stumbling blocks and tricky issues have been uncovered, anyone volunteering their headstock??

Oregon Myrtle, avoiding tear out

I'm making a steel string acoustic at the moment, I'm using Oregan Myrtle for the back and sides, theres a lot of figure in the tonewood. The two sides have been joined and its time to thickness and surface the board.  The grain in the two pieces rises and dives up and down the length and width so is very hard to thickness and surface to a high finish.  Tear out is a constant threat.  Tear out is a result of the plane not cutting the wood fibre where its supposed too and the fibre breaking, leaving deep pits in your marvelous tonewood. 

The way to get round this is a good reading of the grain in the timber and having a fine setting of the plane.  Above, you can see my toothed blades in my no5 and Block planes, these are a big help in figured tonewoods, nice and sharp for a good clean cut and no breaking of fibres.  As I get to know the piece I approach the planing from various angles, going slowly at a shallow cut depth to coax out a clean, perfect surface.

In the top left of the photo you can see my scraper, this brings out a fine shaving at a high angle for a great surfacing job.

Some Links

http://www.ov-guitars.co.uk/
.....goes to my main website

Facebook page Ov Guitars
....Faceache

http://www.myspace.com/ovguitars
.....still there!

http://www.studiosaxophones.co.uk/
....Ov Guitars and Studio Saxaphones share the same building, Pete Scaddan offers tuition, repairs and is the  main stockist for P Mauriat, Bauhaus-Walstein, System 54 and Yanagisawa Saxophones, Hiscox Cases and the amazing Theo Wanne saxophone mouthpieces.

New year, New Workshop

Heres some photos of my new workshop, ive spent the first week of the year building it.  I'm now on Abergavenny high street, sharing a property with Pete Scadden, saxaphone dealer.

Ive got loads of great projects this year, starting with a Myrtle and Sitka steel string acoustic in the coming week....

Its a great workspace, a lot of natural light with stable temperature and humidity levels.   In the last photo you can see Matt Vaughan with his Myrtle back and sides set, ill be starting work on his guitar next week.


Drop me email, give me a bell if you fancy a visit.  The button on the kettle is of course set to 11 :)