Sandy Bells

I took the New Indian Taran Beag to my local folk Pub (the infamous Sandy Bells) the other night to get some feed back. People always take great interest when you say that you make guitars. Anders Ingram (Playing in pic) said he was really impressed, especially when he played it hard, "most guitars growl back at you if you push them past a point or feel like they've got nothing to give, but this one doesn't, it keeps giving the more you push but without getting mushy." He also said that he liked the tone & the clarity of the balanced range.
I'm really pleased that people are so interested in my work, I'll be in the Bells with more Guitars soon.
Til next time.

New work!

Here are a few pictures of my Jumbo and the Parlor guitars, I don't have any names as yet but see what you think.

The Jumbo is based on the standard size although not as deep as some 118mm at deepest point, the shape is my own like all of my models, 406mm at the widest & 504 mm by length, its got a 650mm scale. Three piece Hondraus Mahogany (A bit controversial I know but I had it and didn't want to waste it), Swiss Alpine bear claw spruce & Brazilian Mahogany & Indian Rosewood 3 piece neck. From the Tap tests I've done it already sounds like a freight train of a guitar.

The Parlor again is my own shape, 364mm at the widest & 470 by length its a got a 645mm scale. Rippled European Maple back & side with a Swiss Alpine spruce top, the neck is a 3 piece Brazilian Mahogany & American Black Walnut with a slotted head stock.

There both off to be finished next week I'll report on the sounds when they return.

Indian Taran Beag

So here's the Indian Taran Beag with its bonny blue detailing. Its down with Dave Wilson at the moment having its finish put on, Melamine Lacquer laid on in thin coats & brought up to a high shine. I can't wait to get it back, I'll pick it up when I drop of the Parlor & Jumbo that I'm working on just now. This will be the first guitar that I've had sprayed, all the others have been French polished. Those of you that have polished will Know how time consuming a process it is, I'm really please that I found Dave & that he's happy to finish my instruments.

I will report on the finished guitar soon.

A happy Customer

A happy customer, I've just delivered a Cocobolo Taran Mhor to Vicky Thomson up in Aberdeenshire. We are both very happy with the sound of the guitar, the bass has wonderful depth & sustain with trebles that ring, the note separation is great, something Vicky requested as it suits her playing style. For her I think that the volume was the most impressive factor, the Cocobolo's density & thus resonate qualities enable quiet playing without losing the clarity of the notes as well as the control in volume at her finger tips. It gave the feeling of having no limit to its power, something I want in all my instruments.

February saw the last of the French Polished guitars I will be doing. I finally tracked down a fantastic guitar sprayer in Northumberland. His number was given to me kindly by Nigel Forster. I'll be taking my next Taran Beag to him at the beginning of March, I know the results will be excellent.

Purfling & Back Strips

I like to keep things simple when it comes to details, using shape & proportion as the main aesthetic, using line & colour as means of highlighting a shape or tone of wood colour. I once made a piece of furniture using American Black Walnut & turquoise Formica, I remember thinking at the time that this colour combination would look fantastic on a guitar.

I buy in colour veneers to make my own purfling. Here is a simple jig for gluing strips up. If I need lots of one type, I’ll make up wider strips and cut them down on a veneer knife.

This blue & black strip is for the back of an Indian Taran Beag 667. Once the strip has dried, I square up one side & glue it into the 2mm slot routed in the back. When dry it is flushed off with a block plane & the back is ready for the spruce graft & braces. I'll put pics up of this process soon.

TiteBond is really strong!

This is an off cut of a curly maple back. The plates were glued together with Titebond & look how strong it is! When it finally broke it was the wood that split about 2mm from the joint. Amazing! This stuff is good for non resiny wood but with Cocobolo its a no no & rosewood has to be cleaned with acetone before hand.
A bit dull to some maybe but I wouldn't like a back to fall off!

Gluing on a bridge

This is one the most important glue joints on a guitar, most of the repairs I've done have been to do with the bridge & after time they start to do some strange things. Anyway this is how I make sure the bridge is in the correct place & on with no intentions of coming off.

On all my instruments I work from the center line, so when it comes to measuring the bridge placement I simply measure the scale length plus the compensation (3.81mm for standard scale) from the nut down to the center of my saddle slot. I use a 4mm saddle as it provides more room for correct intonation in both standard & most open tunings. The bridge which has been shaped to fit the curve of the sound board is then clamped at this point square to the center line, holes are drilled through the E pin holes.

As usual I like to tape up around the glue joint as this helps with the clean up, in this case it also helps not to sand in to the nice shiny top while taking the finish off in the bridge area. I sand with 150grit until there's no finish there at all being careful not to dive into the spruce and create an uneven glue surface. I like to clean any rosewood surface that is going to be glued with acetone as it pulls the resins out, you ever tried gluing greasy glass to glass just won't happen.

Then the bridge goes on, drill bits in & clamped up with g's & cork pads. Once that's done and you're breathing again the glue squeeze out can be cleaned off after about 15 mins. I leave the clamps on for at least 8hrs usual over night.