May 20, 2013 - Monday - Rome

Up early to leave for Rome. Said goodbye to my guitar, Chris, Fiona and Ray-Ray (a local) and headed off by train to Rome with Jen & Bill via Lucca and Florence. Checked into the hotel, which is only two blocks from the train station, and walked around the city for a while. Back to the hotel for a nanna nap and off to dinner at a local ristorante.

May 19, 2013 - Sunday - Workshop Day 14

Last day :-( Today was setup day - - going over the guitar with steel wool to remove the excess oil and leave a smooth finish - applying wax, waiting for it to dry and rubbing like crazy to leave a glossy finish - fitting the machine heads - drilling through the end pin holes and countersinking - making the saddle - fitting the fat e string and lowering the saddle to obtain the desired 'action' (string height above the frets) - fitting the remaining strings and checking for string buzz - playing it in One by one, we would finish the setup...

May 18, 2013 - Saturday - Workshop Day 13

And then there were two ... Chris's "Wingmen" we're the last two (again) to oil their guitars. Marcus applied his first coat just after lunch, while I was still filling in gaps and scraping the bindings down ready for the first major sanding. With some 'help' from Chris, my guitar was ready a bit before 9pm and I applied the first oil in time for a late dinner, and it came up a treat. Another two coats before bed and Chris had dragged me over the line to be ready to setup with the others in the morning.

May 17, 2013 - Friday - Workshop Day 12

Yet another long day but with some variation. Cut the saddle slot in the bridge, attached the heel piece to the back of the neck, continued the truss rod slot through to the sound hole of the body and glued the fret board in place. Most of the remainder of the day was spent shaping the neck, initially with the spoke shave and then with a rasp, chisel and sand paper. Fiona organised a masseuse (?) to come to the villa and a few of us took advantage of the opportunity. My hour commenced with a bit of pain but I fell asleep in the final few...

May 16, 2013 - Thursday - Worksop Day 11

The weather changed dramatically, raining all night and set in for most of the day, seemingly turning the street into a river. The power outage at lunchtime threatened to stop any work requiring power tools (probably only affecting me) but fortunately power and activity resumed quickly. The highlight for me today was finally attaching the neck to the body. I think this officially put me a day behind the next person, three days behind Paul who was actually playing his guitar for the first time. I listened to Chris playing it at the end of...

May 15, 2013 - Wednesday- Workshop Day 10

Another 8:30am start and 10:30 pm finish. Beautiful weather all day with a lot getting done in the workshop: Routed the binding channels Bent additional bindings that split Glued bindings Sanded radius on the fret board Drilled holes for fret markers and glued markers in Drilled tuner holes Routed truss rod channel Trimmed neck Marked up neck ready for the dovetail joint Ate in again tonight before returning to the workshop. Fiona cooked a very nice cauliflower and potato bake along with some teriyaki style chicken and mixed veggies....

May 14, 2013 - Tuesday - Worksop Day 9

Another long day for me - 8:30 am thru to 10:30pm. Glued and shaped all the braces on the soundboard and finally glued it to the back & sides. Hand bent the bindings ready to put on tomorrow, which is shaping up to be a big day for all (and possibly another late night). Fiona whipped up a very nice ravioli with vegetables in a tomato based sauce for tea. Some fellow workshopees, very kindly brought back some profiteroles from the pizzeria for Chris and I to share (1 for Chris & 3 for me).

May 13, 2013 - Monday - Workshop Day 8

There is no truth to the rumour that I sabotaged the equipment to slow everyone down so that I could catch up! Well, the band saw blade did break when I was using it. The spare one broke when Paul was using it. The router bit that is used to make the dovetail joint snapped while Bill was using it. They say things happen in threes, so that should mean no more problems. Most of us had a pretty solid day today - 11.5 hours. I completed the sanding/scraping of the rosette and cut out the sound hole. Slotted the fret board and marked up the...

May 11, 2013 - Saturday - Workshop Day 6

Starting to feel the aches and pains of muscles that don't get used today. Glued the side ribs on (for strengthening the body) and routed the excess off the back. Glued the neck block on to the neck. Hand planed the soundboard down to 3mm. Cut out the rosette and it's corresponding channel on the soundboard. Glued the rosette in but the fit may be a bit tight. Will need to review. We all enjoyed bubbles and nibbles on the balcony before having a home cooked meal (Fiona & Bill) of stir-fry chicken, curried cauliflower and potato. We have...

May 10, 2013 - Friday - Workshop Day 5

Apparently I was very quiet today. I suspect I was pretty focused on the tasks to be completed as I feel I'm falling behind compared to the others. It will all come together but it may mean a later night next week - sorry Chris. Prepared the head surface and glued the headstock veneer in place. Once dry, I sanded this down to about 2mm thick. Cut the notches in the sides where the back braces will align and glued the back to the sides. Attended a refresher bread making course kindly provided by Kasia (Kasha). Recipe to be provided. Most of...

May 9, 2013 - Thursday - Workshop Day 4

It was bit of a mixed day with some obvious progress (shaping the back and attaching the kerfing) and completing smaller tasks in preparation for bigger ones. Experimented with ideas for the end strip and decided on a crazy patterned section of Tiger Myrtle, which also happened to be a simpler solution. Joined pieces of Cooba for the rosette and head stock veneer. It doesn't seem much but it took all day to do it. Dinner again at the pizzeria just down the road (taglieti Ragu with some chilli on the side) and back to the villa for a...

May 8, 2013 - Wednesday - Worksop Day 3

Today was a patchy one - a number of tasks across several development stages that will eventually come together. Gluing of the sides to the end block had to dry before the sides could be trimmed to fit the neck block, the neck block needed shaping due to the cutaway style body shape and then glued. The scarf joint for the neck was sawn and sanded and glued (further drying/waiting time required). The soundboard pieces were prepared (for a straight grain effect) and joined (more glue drying time). The soundboard is currently 4mm thick and...