Gearing up

[Jeff Chumley]

Just to test the new forum...

I've been slowly working on my next arch top. I actually started it then took a class with Doug Unger and finished the Unger guitar first. I have taken a break to redesign my workshop to be a bit more guitar specific including building a nice Fleishman binding jig and a couple of jigs and fixtures for dovetailing the neck and body. Then my cheap little router table self destructed so I am building a nicer one a la New Yankee Workshop. Also just put down wood floor in two rooms and remodeling another. Busy busy.

I should be done with the remodeling and workshop rebuild in about a month. Then I just need to build a neck and assemble the guitar. It looks quite a bit like the Benedetto/Unger even though I bent the sides and carved the top before I took the class.

[Charlie Schultz]

Hi Jeff and welcome. You sound like a busy guy! Be sure to post a photo when your archtop is done.

[Christ Kacoyannakis]

How did you like the Unger class? I took a weekend workshop with Bob Benedetto down in Savannah. It was not a hands on class, but demonstration and question and answer. A great class, in my opinion.

[Jeff Chumley]

The class was really good for me. I was at a point where I had made 5 or 6 solid body electrics and one arch top acoustic (body only) and I knew I could bend sides and carve plates so the fact that the sides are pre bent and the top and back are ready for cutting f holes and bracing was not a problem for me. The necks are roughed out but I have built a number of necks. I learned primarily that I was doing it right but there was a lot of good information that Doug has learned over the years. The best thing was a trick for fitting braces to the top using a strip of sand paper with a slick back. You just rough cut the shape, clamp one end in place and keep inserting the sandpaper and pulling it through while holding the other end of the brace down against the paper. It works fast and makes a perfect fit.

It was a really nice way to spend a week and I have an excellent guitar from it. I posted it on the forum but here it is again:

[Veronica Merryfield]

Nice pics Jeff

[Greg Carter]

Beautiful guitar. how did you do the headstock signature? Was it an inlay you Dremel'd in? Decal? It seems a very thin line for the signature (again, beautiful but thin). String rope?

Greg

[Barry Daniels]

Looks like a marker to me.

[Greg Carter]

My naivete (novice-ness?) is showing. Barry, do you mean it looks like he used a Sharpie, signed it, then lacquered over it? Man, that would save me a ton of time screwing with decals.

Jeff, if you did it differently, please chime in.

Thanks.

[Øyvind Taraldsen]

Beautiful guitar, i like the tailpiece design, and the clean look without binding.

[Dave Stewart]

I love it Jeff....very clean. Also intrigued by the logo.

[Jeff Chumley]

It is sharpie. I've been doing it this way for about six or seven years now. When I have enough coats of lacquer on the instrument to sand level and polish, I sand the peghead down to about 320 or 400 grit and then sign it with silver Sharpie. This leaves enough tooth on the surface for the Sharpie to grip the surface. Then put two or three more coats over it and finish it out. Looks cool and so far it has held up well. If I were to start building for other people I might go back to pearl.

[Michael Lewis]

Jeff, Nice work. In regard to "going back to pearl" you might rethink that in regard to the Lacey act, and you just might be leading the way to the near future with the silver sharpie. I think it looks good and has some inviting possibilities to be developed. Now to develop my handwriting skills . . . . .

[Jeff Chumley]

This is the first one I did with a Sharpie.

[Dave Stewart]

Outstanding Jeff ........ An easy & very professional looking alternative!
I predict a lot of interest.

[Jeff Chumley]

Thanks Dave,

Since I seem to be the leading authority on signing headstocks with sharpies let me throw out one bit of advice based on my vast experience.

Buy a handful of Sharpies and try them out. They vary quite a bit as to the line thickness. I like the ones about in the middle of the spectrum. The softest ones make a very dense line but they are hard to control and you can't tail off to a fine line. The hardest make a thin streaky line.

I should write a book.

[Matthew Lau]

Can you French polish over it?
Does it need a sealer?

[Michael Lewis]

I think you would need a sealer over it if you were to apply french polish. Most of those markers are easily wiped off with alcohol, which is the solvent of french polish.