Finished! A Guitar Bouzouki - (no basses were harmed in the...)

[Andyjr1515]

And to the neck carve.

Although I use a spokeshave and microplane to get much of the bulk out of the way, I do most of my neck carving with a humble cabinet scraper:

It is very controllable, it is gradual - and with neck carves it is very easy to end up with a dip or a thin bit where you didn't intend one to be!  And - while there is a lot of confusion about scrapers and they are only a couple of £'s each - they are planes in their own right.  Here are the shavings:

I had sent P a profile gauge to take the neck profiles from his present bouzouki.  While I can't replicate these exactly because he has asked for the fingerboard to be wider and shallower than his present one, I will be replicating the 'soft V' at the lower frets (still a bit more to do here!)...  :

 

...progressing to a more 'C' shape further down (a lot more to do here!):

Ah - that's a bit better... :

 

Now I'm a bit odd.  I always have to 'air guitar' a build to see if the profile is right - even if I've never played a particular instrument.  While I have never played a bouzouki, I can tell if it feels as I would expect based on P's profile measurements.  Besides...it gives me an excuse to do a quick gratuitous mockup with the 2-coats-done-2ish-to do-body

Bear in mind that the neck will darken and amber up a touch when the finish is put on:

 The neck actually feels great even though it is significantly deeper than a guitar or bass.  The relative slimness and that V at the lower frets makes fretboard access a breeze.

So, so far so good....

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

Now - DON'T get too excited.  This is far from finished.

The initial coats of varnish are on the body, hardening before the flattening and final coats, and the basic neck shape is carved.  But before doing that final varnishing, there is the all essential check and fit-and-function fettling.

With a bass and solid guitar, this is usually all handled with tweaks to the hardware - but on an acoustic, pretty much everything is hardwired and so involve sanding, chiselling and sometimes drilling!  So the best time to do that is before the final finish coat goes on. 

But in all other respects, it's a 'live' mockup.  A sacrificial set of strings, a temporary bit of bone in the saddle slot, truss rod tensioned and tuned fully up to pitch at GDAD tuning:

  

The great news is that is hasn't clapped hands in spite of the string tension!

Things that need tweaking:

- neck angle still not right. Not a surprise as now we are dealing with real wood under real tension rather than a line on a drawing. Action is too high at a 'normal' saddle height and so the neck angle needs increasing by more filing at the heel

- the spacing of the bottom G pair of strings isn't quite right, allowing for the thickness of the strings, the gaps between each pair to the other pairs should be even and the lower G is about 1mm out.  While irritating that my arithmetic clearly had a flaw, it's actually quite a straightforward fix and a lot easier - again - now we have actual strings in actual place and tension to meaure.

Oh...and it sounds GREAT (OK...I admit that is based on a hunch of what a guitar bouzouki should sound like  )

Best with headphones, but here's a quick clip:

Pre-setup sound check

 

- 

[MacDaddy]

That sounds great! 😎

Is the buyer going to use it in some sort of ensemble?

[Andyjr1515]

31 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

That sounds great! 😎

Is the buyer going to use it in some sort of ensemble?

Thanks.  Not sure just how well my little handheld zoom recorder picks these things up but in real life it sounds pretty lush to my ear :).  I'm not sure what style P plays on these types of instruments but I'm hoping it should cover all bases.  

They can be played single-note or strummed and in both cases the trick is to try to have even volumes between each string pair (same with an acoustic guitar) and no dull spots up the fretboard on any of the strings.  I will know for sure when it can be properly set up but so far nothing untoward jumping out at me.

  

[Stub Mandrel]

Sounds nice and rich.

[ezbass]

That sounds so interesting, not a six string, not a 12 string - I like it.

[Andyjr1515]

This week is in between two sessions of family commitments so I am trying to get it to final finish stages so that it can be hardening off ready for final polishing while I'm distracted again next week.

Spent a fair bit of time sorting the neck angle to get the action right.  This included a number of email discussions with P as I'm not familiar with the string tensions on a bouzouki which affects both the pull on the neck but also on the bridge.  I also have experimented a bit with a set of phosphor bronze strings - which I would usually fit to an acoustic - and a set of nickel wound strings which P usually fits to his other bouzouki - and both have different tensions which then changes that pull.  It's another clamber up the learning curve on this build!

But it's close - it has a decent action, everything appears to be stable and sounds great.   I'll finalise everything when I've levelled and re-crowned the frets over the next couple of days.

I also fitted the side dots.  I've fitted Luminlay dots - not because P necessarily needs their

soft glow-in-the-dark ability, but because their black-sleeved dots really set things off - especially when you have that black/white/black demarcation line.  Here's one going in:

And here they are after trimming and a quick scrape.  See what I mean about that black surround?  :

And lastly for today, I got two of the strings moved across to correct my calculation error in terms of the gaps between two of the pairs of strings.  This entailed plugging two of the holes with a pair of bridge pins with their tops taken off and then re-drilling 1.2mm further over and re-tapering:

So tomorrow is finishing the heel carve, fitting the heel cap and final neck sanding.  If I get time, I'll also level and re-crown the frets and sort a truss-rod cover.  Then the neck finishing can start

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

[Andyjr1515]

OK - definitely into the final furlong

Trussrod cover cut and fitted with magnetic catches, heel carve and headstock carves are finished, frets levelled and recrowned, action height sorted, intonation sorted and template saddle cut.

Here's what it looks like now.  Fully playable but final finish not on the body yet and finish also not yet on the neck:

So tomorrow will be disassembly and final varnish coats started for the body and the satin finish started for the neck.

And then it's...well, done

 

[Andyjr1515]

There's going to be a whole load of nothingness to see over the next week while the final coats are applied, dry and harden.  So final shot for a bit...this is broadly the colour the neck will end up as:

Yes - that's all for now but thanks for looking anyway  

[HazBeen]

23 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

There's going to be a whole load of nothingness to see over the next week while the final coats are applied, dry and harden.  So final shot for a bit...this is broadly the colour the neck will end up as:

Yes - that's all for now but thanks for looking anyway  

Looking great! Where did you get the Luminlay?

[Stub Mandrel]

It's a Gadzooki!

[Andyjr1515]

5 hours ago, HazBeen said:

Looking great! Where did you get the Luminlay?

Thanks!

I had some in my bits drawer for this, but usually I buy it through their website so it comes direct from Japan.  I haven't checked recently but I don't think they have any distributors in UK and maybe not in Europe in general.  It comes through pretty quickly, all the same.

[HazBeen]

10 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Thanks!

I had some in my bits drawer for this, but usually I buy it through their website so it comes direct from Japan.  I haven't checked recently but I don't think they have any distributors in UK and maybe not in Europe in general.  It comes through pretty quickly, all the same.

Cheers mate, appreciated!

The volute on the bouzouki Is a thing of beauty.

[Andyjr1515]

6 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

 

Yes - that's all for now but thanks for looking anyway  

OK - just one more thing 

I had a try at playing it before disassembling it.  This is recorded on my little Zoom mic recorder.  I was going to call it "A Tune To Play If You Are Playing Something You Don't Know How To Play" but it wouldn't fit in the Soundcloud title box.  So instead, I've called it "Ignorance is Bliss"     :

 

[HazBeen]

Sounds great!

[BassBus]

Sounds excellent. What tuning is being used?

[Andyjr1515]

22 minutes ago, BassBus said:

Sounds excellent. What tuning is being used?

Thanks!  As always with acoustics, it's best heard through headphones but it certainly has a pleasing richness and complexity of overtones in real life...even when I'm playing it

It's tuned to GDAD

Final varnish coats are going well so far - back and sides have both had their final coats.  The top will be ready for one last super-light coat that will go on tomorrow

 

[Stub Mandrel]

It does sound great, I haven't played a bouzouki since the early 90s and as I think it was tuned AGDB (or similar) like the top four strings of a guitar to make it easy to play. GDAD would be like a strumstick with a bass string 🙂

[Andyjr1515]

51 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

It does sound great, I haven't played a bouzouki since the early 90s and as I think it was tuned AGDB (or similar) like the top four strings of a guitar to make it easy to play. GDAD would be like a strumstick with a bass string 🙂

The common alternative is GDAE for the Irish bouzouki, which I think is the same as a mandolin and violin?  But GDAD is another regular tuning.  And then there is the Greek Bouzouki which, I gather, is different again.  Fascinating stuff.... 

Edited August 29, 2020 by Andyjr1515

[Stub Mandrel]

19 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The common alternative is GDAE for the Irish bouzouki, which I think is the same as a mandolin and violin?  But GDAD is another regular tuning.  And then there is the Greek Bouzouki which, I gather, is different again.  Fascinating stuff.... 

That would be easy to play as I know mandolin chords (which are mostly guitar chords backwards) and sound great an octave lower.

[Andyjr1515]

Those who have seen my previous builds know that, with the way I apply gloss finish - polyurethane varnish brushed on - I add and sand back coats until I judge I am unlikely to be able to do another one any better.  I can't replicate top pro finishes, but do try to get something that is fit for purpose and 'looks OK'.  So when I get a coat that I think will achieve that after final polishing (done after a week or so of hardening) then I STOP...because I know that further coats are more likely to be worse rather than better.

And I'm stopping here.  There are bits where the finish has sunk into previously invisible hollows, there are bits where the grain ripples are a little more pronounced, but I don't think I can do any better than this however more sand backs and coats I do:

So it will now sit for a week to harden and then will be polished up (and should polish up nicely) and reassembled

 

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

And...pretty much finished

I say pretty much because I still have to replace the test saddle with the final one, replace the 'working strings' with some new ones and polish it, but none of that will change the basic look.  I'll do some arty-farty photos when the light is right, but here it is:

 

To my ear, it sounds lovely and it is very easy on the playing hand...even with my progressing arthritis (which has pretty much stopped my 6-string playing) I am SO tempted to build myself one.  And through the Pure Mini played through my little Vox valve amp set clean with neutral EQ, it is exactly the same sound as played acoustically but simply louder 

 

And P picks it up next weekend! 

[Si600]

Begorrah! Look at the gloss on that.

[Stub Mandrel]

I can see your face in it 🙂

[Si600]

I can see *my* face in it, it's that shiny.