RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Times are tough, the world's economy is takin' a beating; What should conscientious luthiers do in response?! How about some scrounge builds! Nothin' fancy, nothin' from far away, and lots of imagination...
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Edward Powell
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RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by Edward Powell » Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:11 pm

...looks like this will definitely be a backyard build this time... LITERALLY :-)

I think I have finally learned my lesson regarding building highly experimental axes --- "do it simple - quick - cheap the first versions until you really got the prototype working. Only thereafter really go for the spiffy version.

I have finished voicing the previous RMTAR, and have now come to accept the fact that while in many ways this version was a great success - still there are some unsolvable bummers inherent in the instrument itself. Of course, hindsight is 2020 and have figured out several obvious ways in which the entire design can be majorly improved........ so why wait? Backyard is sunny and back there the dust won't bother old Mummy :-)

Just this morning I was down at the local lumberyard and actually found some very old, beautiful, straight-grained, and extremely light and resonant mahagony! A 9foot 1x5 for $20! ...got my nice redwood I recently found in Nevada City CA.... and i am all set except for the trespa for the fingerboards.

However, what I do not have is proper tools, so I need to think of something there - perhaps going to a friends who has a band saw? ...maybe I will turn my circular saw upside down and use it like a table saw.... of maybe buy some second hand tools on craig's. ...let's see :-)

- - -

DESIGN:

........I will get into this on my next post, but mostly I need
-a shorter scale length on the oud side
-MUCH less general weight on the neck side
-reorganised soundboard (I am thinking that this entire guitar -front and back will only have 3 braces!)
-rounded back
-both bridges floating
-wrist rests for the right hand
-less strings
-no truss
-laminated necks
-NO DECORATIONS AT ALL! NOT EVEN PURF... therefore no kerfing necessary ---I want this one SIMPLE AND QUICK.
-probably a 6 piece top (I don't care)

....now I'm off to continue planning :-)
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Edward Powell
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by Edward Powell » Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:40 pm

mahagany 1x5
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quartered redwood 1x4s
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desgn - soundboard
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design - whole body
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design - back--- rearview
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design - back -- bottomside view
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DaveAnderson
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by DaveAnderson » Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:41 pm

Nice wood Edward! And Great job drawing,designing !!
Have fun building this one .
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by Dennis Leahy » Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:36 pm

Hi Edward,

Great news that you have begun your latest Ragmakamtar. Beautiful design, inspired engineering and vision, and a lot of fun to watch come to life!

Dennis
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Edward Powell
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by Edward Powell » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:43 am

thanks guys!

i well remember Dennis one of the first pieces of advice you gave me a more than 2 years ago... you said plan plan plan before building--- that's what i'm doing this time. Drawing each and every corner in detail, and making absolutely sure I have a well thought out plan for every process.

What i don't like is getting stuck somewhere because i hadn't planned well enough... good planning save mega amounts of time, and the results are way better in the end :-)
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by DaveWhite » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:40 am

Edward,

I'm looking forward to following this. That mahogany looks a lot like Khaya to me (African mahogany) - still nice wood. If by "kerfing" you mean kerfed linings, they are usually there to provide gluing surface for the top and back, not to let you use purflings - or maybe I'm misunderstanding. Also the redwood looks flat to riftsawn but it's always hard to judge from photos and saw cuts etc. If it is you'll need to bear this in mind for top thickness and bracing - just three braces would probably worry me.

But then I'm a born worrier :D
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments

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Edward Powell
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by Edward Powell » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:15 pm

Hi Dave

Thanks for your comments and help.

What do you know about KHAYA wood? This will be a prototype instrument so I am only concerned with sound and playability. The KHAYA looks very consistent and is SUPER light.

I figure that soundboard purflings make the soundboard to ribs gluing more weak. Therefore with no purflings I can afford no or smaller kerfings (an oud for example uses no kerfing --- but they DO have purfling) ...partly I also want to same time. I am tired of spending one year building an instrument only to find out that the there are too many flaws in the basic design.

What do you mean by riftsawn or flat sawn? Do you mean that they have just been cut up arbirarily without any consideration for grain runout. For sure this is the case.... I looked thru hundreds of boards of common redwood only to find one board which was quartered and seems to have tolerable levels of runnout.

Is you feeling that with too much runnout it will be too weak and vulnerable considering how lightly braced this will be?

So, considering runnout --- with a common grade board, I can SEE if it is quartered or not... I can also SEE if the grain goes STRAIGHT up the plank when looking at it's WIDE SURFACE. But to me it seems to get difficult when checking for runnout that might be happening up the plank only visible from it's narrow surface???? Is this what you are worried about? This is very difficult to describe and I think I will start another thread on this one (after trying to draw an illustration on photoshop.
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Edward Powell
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Re: RAGMAKAMTAR #5

Post by Edward Powell » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:37 pm

some more and more fine drawings....

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