Every built a "Monday" guitar?

[Simon Magennis]

The latest project is turning out to be a "Monday" guitar with loads of "opportunities" to fix stuff! Don't know what will go wrong next. Last night I was begining to put in the centre reinforcement strip on the back. Having partially glued it in, I suddenly noticed that the inside looked very even. Oops … I was glueing it on the outside - there should have been a tiny pinhole knot visible which doesn't actually go through. So off with the centre strip, clean up and start again on the correct side with the pinhole knot on the inside. Earlier I destroyed a side while bending it. I glued the wrong end of the end block to the top … and and and …. the list goes on.

I closed up the box tonight. I wonder what I have forgotten and glued inside.

I pencil in some info on the inside of the top - I officially christened this one "The Monday Guitar" in honor of all the screw-ups. My first formally named guitar.

[Bryan Bear]

I made (what I thought was going to be) a quick tenor uke for a charity raffle once. That thing fought me every step of the way. I put more work into that thing than I care to think about. I'm currently making a guitar from the same board and it has been giving me fits too. I would think that the wood was cursed if I didn't know that it was bad luck to be superstitious <G>.

[Arnt Rian]

No, never -

Thankfully, mistakes don't happen as often as in the beginning, but every now and then I'll invent a new one, and it can be major. I have learned to accept it as part of the deal, so sometimes I will replace a part, like a whole top, rather than trying to fix a so-so rosette for example. Not that much more work, and some things just won't be right unless you start over. Never had to toss a whole instrument yet, but you never know. When it comes to fixing mistakes "...a man has got to know his limitations..." Sigh...

[Simon Magennis]

No, never - ...

Ah. A master craftsman.

Apprentices make mistakes.
Journeymen have learned how to fix their mistakes.
Master craftsmen perfect special features.

[Simon Magennis]

More "features" added in the meantime. Put on the fretboard this morning and the bridge tonight. Wonder what new features these will bring.

This may be the beginning of a new line of Shabby Chic guitars. Free dings, holes, and cracks. Not to mention special orders such as off-centre rosettes …

(Apart from the stuff above, it is also first time I had to toss a top - too much run out and only the second time I have destroyed a rib while bending it. The latter was no issue as I have a bunch of very similar, very homogenous sides so the next one out of the box was close enough to use.)

[Simon Magennis]

Strung the damn thing up tonight in white. Sounds pretty decent. Looking forward to my teacher's view. While there is still plenty to do on it, so far it is by far the fastest I have ever got this far.

[Simon Magennis]

Here is a low res photo (click to enlarge) of the offending Monday guitar. Yellow Cedar with Spruce. It is not finished and will get a good bit of cosmetic work before I polish it. Sounds good in white. Really looking forward to hearing my teacher play all three of these. In particular I am interested to see if he agrees that there is a certain level of consistency.

It was inspired by the previous yellow cedar with spruce which also sounded quite ok and I wanted to see if I could get a similar sound again.

The first yellow cedar was built pretty much at the same time as this Anegre with spruce guitar. Sounds quite a bit darker than the other two.

All three need to be polished up and retouched a bit. Waiting for my guitar teacher's verdict before I do too much finishing work. Expect to begin tackling it this weekend in between delivering a bunch of my wife's paintings to a gallery for her next exhibition.

Next instruments are planned already. All over bar the shouting so to speak. My objective for the next few instruments is consistency so two or three more Yellow Cedar/Spruce and may be one Walnut/Spruce. Will need to stock up on spruce. That will use up all my last batch of spruce. It will also use up all the space in the house. Need to get rid of at least 10 guitars - preferably more. Once I get the next yellow spruce done, a walnut series is on the cards after that. I have 6 sets - four very nice UK sets, one nice US set and a mediocre (very cheap) Euro set.

[Simon Magennis]

A little update to the thread. The Monday guitar is still doing the monday thing. Finishing off the french polish at the moment. The other two in the meantime have been played by two people and generally given the seal of approval from a sound perspective.

The Anegre almost got a home but fell through at the last minute. The prospective owner was very happy with the sound - just a touch weak on the high e acceding to him but he suspected that might develop. At the very last minute he got an opportunity to swop an existing expensive guitar he had for another guitar by one of the top 5 french classical makers so he jumped at that. However I feel chuffed that it was seriously in the running again a guitar that costs 12,500+ in US. It wasn't even fully finished when the guy saw it. I am very happy however as I now have another very ambitious player who will test guitars for me in the future.

The not-monday yellow cedar got an immediate home with a work colleague as soon as he had it in his hands for 5 mins - finishing the french polishing at the moment - he should have it for Xmas. My teacher also lied that one. Overall result I have been given a boost in my building activities. Will start the next pair soon. Maybe a yellow cedar and a walnut.

[Simon Magennis]

An update on the Monday guitar. I finally got my teacher to do a play off between the monday guitar and the other yellow cedar. His verdict, both good but with a difference. The YC that I mentioned above was more in the "studio" range. Good for home, smaller rooms and maybe recording. In other words good for most purposes but not a powerhouse that you would want for a concert. However, the monday guitar "has concert potential" according to him.

Really please with that verdict. However, with his pretty strong right hand it buzzed on about 6 frets on the high e so he concentrated on music that didn't go past the 7th/8th frets or played very lightly when he did. When I am playing there is just one fret that is a little tender. So as usual with this particular guitar, it's back to the workbench with it. This will be the third time fretting it! I think I will replace the fretboard completely and this time I might even put on an ebony fretboard.

I mentioned in the previous post that I was thinking of doing a yc and a walnut next. In fact over Xmas, I got a good start on a flamed maple guitar instead. It is now parked until I have some more time off. It needs the binding channels finished, fretboard, bridge and finishing but the box is closed up.

Hopefully I will get something done before easter. The day job gets in the way of the important stuff.

[Beate Ritzert]

However, the monday guitar "has concert potential" according to him.

Ant that's why You (still) call it Monday Guitar?

[Bob Hammond]

Umm, every day is Monday around here at the Museum of Unfinished Projects.

I'd thought of building a tenor guitar and bought plans to just get an idea of size & proportion. Then I decided to reduce the body size to use the material I had on hand. Then I thought 5 strings would be better than 4 or 6. Then a fanned fret scheme was devised to give the bass string an extra inch of length. Then it seemed that the bridge placement and intonation might need adjustments, and so the neck will join the body at the 17th fret.

Is there anything else that needs consideration?