Xaver Guitars at the Cumberland Market

As we say good-bye to the month of November, I remind you that tomorrow--Saturday, 1 December 2012--the Cumberland Market will be in full swing for one last chance at the fine locally produced products this area has to offer.  And especially Gerry's fine Xaver guitars.  Here you see me playing a Grand Concert that I have absolutely fallen in love with along with all of the other Xaver guitars I have played.  The finish on "A Guitar Called Jack" is now cured and Monday morning Gerry will again work his magic.  I can hardly wait to hear how it sounds and go through the experience of hearing others play it, and hearing that brand new sound evolve into maturity over the years.  And of course, I will do my best to get in lots of practice time to become the best picker that I am capable of being in order to do justice to Gerry and "A Guitar Called Jack."  Be sure to check in each day as the evolution of "A Guitar Called Jack" proceeds forward.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 46

The frets are now installed in this shot. All the gunk on the frets and fingerboard is CA glue. I press the frets in dry, and then seep some thin CA into the slot to "lock" the frets in place for good measure. Refretting in the future is not a problem - you simply heat the fret with a soldering iron, which releases the CA and the fret pulls out. Gerry filed the diamond "barbs" off the tang where the frets cross the inlay, so that future refrets do not damage the inlay. (You have got to love a luthier who thinks into the future).  The unsightly glue will remain on the board until just before the final setup, at which time it will get cleaned up along with the fret leveling and dressing.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 45

Another shot of the fingerboard giving a better view of the binding and purfling lines not only on the top of the board but also on the bottom (between the board and the neck).

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 44

Here's a good shot of the fingerboard before the frets went on. You can see the beautiful grain lines in the ebony. Note too how the fret slots extend only up to the binding but not through it. That way, the ends of the frets are not exposed along the fingerboard edge. Such fingerboard binding not only looks more elegant, but also saves your hands from being cut from protruding fret ends in the future (i.e., the fingerboard shrinks - ever so slightly, but the frets don't - ouch!).

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 43

This binding joint, where the top binding and purfling for the armrest join the rest of the top binding is one of the more challenging tasks, as there are no less than 5 interfaces that have to be mitred precisely in order to give the illusion that the binding and purfling flow continuously from the armrest to the rest of the top. Same on the other end of the armrest. (In this shot the side portion of the binding on the rest of the guitar hasn't been sanded down yet.)

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 42

For the horn, it is not enough to successfully bend the temperamental figured maple. It then has to be coaxed into place. For this, masking tape is not enough. Here Gerry is using two clamps, one with a scrap piece of wood to hold the binding down, and a second to pull the binding tight into the horn. Once everything checks out, he hits it with CA.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 41

The fingerboard after the binding is sanded down to its approximate final dimensions. There is still some radiusing to do. The black splotches on the inlay are additional epoxy applied to fill tiny air pockets in the epoxy. The splotches will be removed with the final radiusing... Then, onto installing the frets.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 40

Same idea with the binding on the fingerboard. Except with the fingerboard, the fret channels into which the fret tangs are installed must not extend into the binding. Therefore, Gerry must cut the fret channels before he binds. In this shot, you can see that the JW inlay is still covered with black epoxy. Some of the stars are visible though.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 39

The binding is installed just like the purfling. Gerry puts it in place, tapes it down, and then applies very thin CA which seeps into place.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 38

The binding, which has the side purfling lines glued to it, is bent on the pipe just like the guitar sides are bent. And because this is figured maple, it is a very tricky operation... in particular the horn of the cutaway. Many venetian cutaways have very rounded horns simply because it is so difficult to bend wood with such a tight curve. (Also, some builders will resort to plastic binding for such tight curves.) To me the tight curves look nice, and solid wood binding is one of the hallmarks of a high-end acoustic.  Gerry has invested a lot of time in getting this technique down, just one more example of his fine workmanship and dedication to his art which sets Xaver guitars apart from many of the others.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 37

First the purfling lines go on. Gerry puts them in place, holds them there with tape, and then seeps CA glue in between the purfling and the soundboard

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 36

Gerry glued purfling lines to binding in preparation for installing the main binding on the soundbox. These purfling lines that you see will be on the side (another set of purfling lines are installed on the soundboard and back of the guitar just inside the binding). He will also bend this binding before installing it.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 35

- Here Gerry has just glued in the mother-of-pearl inlay into the fingerboard. The glue is epoxy tinted black. The "JW" inlay is clamped down to ensure it doesn't float in the epoxy. The stars do not need any clamping. They're not going anywhere. It might be a few days before Gerry sands the glue off entirely. Epoxy can sometimes take a while to get fully hard. In this shot you can also see that the purfling lines have been installed (white-black). After the glue is sanded off, he will install the binding to give the fingerboard its full width. You might also be able to see that he has done some initial radiusing of the fingerboard. This is a 12" radius. The final radiusing doesn't happen until the binding is on.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 34

The tail graft is inlayed (figured maple with black-white-black purfling on either side, the same as the binding). The graft is inlayed thicker than it need be. Gerry will thin it down somewhat before he installs the side binding, and then once all the binding is in place, he'll thin the tail graft down even with the sides.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 33

The binding has now been added to the armrest, and the armrest tiles have been sanded down to their approximate final thickness.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 32

Here Gerry just installed the purfling line for the armrest. As you can see, he used the high tech approach of masking tape to keep the purfling in place until the CA glue dries.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 31

The armrest with the walnut cap installed (23 walnut tiles, each individually shaped to match the location where it is installed). You can also see that the binding and purfling routes at the top of the armrest have been cut. Next up is the installation of the purfling and then the binding, after which the cap will be reduced in thickness, which will also remove the visible CA (super) glue.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 30

The epoxy squeeze out around the "Jack" inlay has been sanded off, and the headstock has been profiled.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 29

The ebony fingerboard is now slotted.  By the way--you can click on any of these photos to enlarge.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 28

armrest is beveled (you can see the cherry block inside as well as the tip of the X-brace, both of which will be covered up with the walnut cap.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 27

This piece of ebony is the fingerboard, profiled and edge routed for purfling.  It seems this piece of ebony was once a railroad tie in Eastern India.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 26

In the meantime, back to the soundbox... Here's a shot of the soundboard edge of the box with the channels routed for the purfing (small channel on top) and the binding (larger channel below). This is always a harrowing task, as any wayward movement of the router and "Huston, we have a problem". But it went well. Next up for the box is the armrest installation and then the binding inlay for the tail (bottom) of the soundbox.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 25

Another hour later - and more work under the magnifying glass with a dremel (small) router produces this... The cavity is .035" deep. The shell is .040" deep. We need the shell to protrude from the cavity a tiny bit, so that it can be sanded down even with the headstock. After this shot, Gerry prepared some black epoxy and glued the letters into the routes. The glue will cure for a few days, after which he will sand away the excess glue, revealing the "Jack" inlay... stay tuned to this Blog to see how it all turns out.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 24

Arranging the letters on the headstock - notice that the headstock has not yet been cut to its final shape. This is done only after the lettering is inlayed, as the bigger area provides more stability for the router base when cutting the inlay cavities.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 23

Three hours of handcutting mother-of-pearl under a magnifying glass produces these four tiny letters. They don't look very pretty at the moment, as the paper pattern is still glued to the top of the letters.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 22

The view from behind....

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 21

The soundbox is all closed up... doesn't look like much right now, without the binding and with all the residual shellac around the soundhole. More shellac will be applied around the soundbox edges as Gerry installs the binding. The shellac protects the cedar top.  After the binding is installed, the shellac is sanded off.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 20

Another view of the back installation. In this shot you might be able to see in the soundhole the end of one of the steel rod supports inside the guitar box. All these supports remain in place during this operation to ensure that the sides do not shift during the back installation. All supports will be removed through the soundhole once the go-bars and clamps are removed.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 19

Installing the guitar back - looks a lot like the previous shots of installing the soundboard. The back is lying in the 12" radius dish, which is lined with newspaper (we wouldn't want to glue the guitar to the dish). Glue is applied to the edge of the sides, the end of the neck block and tail block. The sides are then lowered onto the guitar back. Finally, clamps are applied to the neck block and tail block areas, and go-bars are applied around the edge of the soundbox (which is protected with plywood cauls - so that the go-bars do not dent the soundbox).

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 18

 

 

 

Have a look if you will, because soon this will be sealed up for as long as this guitar will last--hopefully until it gets played to death.  Signatures of Gerry Gruber, luthier Xaver Guitars, my wife Donna who is as much a part of this project and the music as anyone, me and a phrase stolen from Jimmy Buffet, "Live Life Like a Song".  That about says it all.

A Guitar Called Jack--Part 17

Underneath all those clamps, cauls, and glue squeeze-out is the ebony backstrapping. You can see how the backstrapping bends slightly where the headstock joins the neck. This backstrapping will be thinned down to about 1/32" after the clamps and cauls are removed. This backstrapping not only hides the scarf-joint glue-line but also makes the neck rock solid - stronger than a single-piece neck.

In the second photo I am trying to play it--but there is just no sound.  Perhaps an ebony fingerboard, Gotoh 510 tuners and some strings might help.  Oh, and don't forget the compensated nut.