Post
by expatluthier » Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:24 am
Guess I took it for granted that folks knew all about these..foolish as I am. This is a solid body instrument played with a steel slide whilst laying in your lap, Hawaiian style. I injured my fretting fingers a while back, so the slide route seemed the obvious alternative, as I'm a blues fanatic anyway. Sonically and electronically, it's basically a funny shaped Les Paul. No metal frets, as the strings never contact the neck. The back is arched/domed slightly to give it some nice lines. Sides are bent to shape and glued on, extending up the neck also. Keen eye, Dennis....yes these are double bindings, laminated. I went that way because I will radius the edges to about 1/4" to soften the look and reduce edge damage. Top back and side plates are about 3mm thick crotch rosewood that had too many defects to make a chambered instrument, but too beautiful to just cut up into headplates and such.
Tricky parts? Hmmmm....just getting the parts sized, I guess. I don't have any kind of band saw anymore. This instrument was made almost entirely with hand tools. I do use a laminate trimmer though, to rout binding ledges and fret line channels. I plan to do some inlay work on this instrument with some really spectacular gold lipped shell that I found in a market here
p.s. Case you were wondering, I still have to cut and inlay about half the fret lines. It will be a 22 fret board, inlayed with gold pearl
"Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings" - Unknown