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 Dear Luthiers,
I am often amazed by how many people have directly or indirectly had an effect on my life. In the area of music, there are too many for me to count. Happily, I think of them often. But, sadly, some of these folks are no longer with us.
In August, after I sent our last newsletter, we lost two giants in music, Mike Seeger and Carleen Hutchins. Mike, a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers and the younger step-brother of Pete Seeger, was a vital force in folk music over the past 40 or so years. He devoted his life to studying the music of the back hills people and bringing their art to us for all to hear. Mike was an artist, a historian, and a gentlemen. I was glad when Mike agreed to be a columnist for Frets Magazine, and it was always a delight to work with him. He will be missed.
Carleen Hutchins was a violin maker, acoustical engineer, and founder of the Catgut Acoustical Society, an organization dedicated to researching the work of the great violin makers and advancing the art of violin luthierie. Before moving to New Hampshire, she lived in Montclair, New Jersey, a neighboring town to West Orange where I grew up and began my career in luthierie. Carleen was very approachable, and I had the great pleasure of spending many information-sharing hours with her. Structural tuning was a critical part of her focus in the violin world, and it was Carleen who demonstrated how it worked and sparked my interest in tap tuning. I was remiss in not dedicating The Art of Tap Tuning to her, but she did receive a personally-signed copy thanking her for being the catalyst. We had a nice talk last year on her birthday. In August of this year, Carleen passed away at 98.
While thinking of important influences, September hosts two: September 13, 1911 is the birth date of Bill Monroe and I'm pretty sure I don't need to qualify or quantify his accomplishments. If it wasn't for Bill's purchase of an F5 mandolin, we'd all be building something else. And, September 14, 1943 is the date of Lloyd Loar's death at age 54. While most only know of him for his work on the F5 mandolin, his contributions to the whole of music were enormous.
Forgive me if I began this month's newsletter on a somber note, but giants like this are not to be forgotten. I hope you join me in keeping their memory alive.
Thanks for building with us...
Roger
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Wood Surprises...
Our thanks to those of you who are allowing us to carve your soundboards and backboards. We've received many compliments for the consistency and quality of the work from our pattern carvers, and I'm really happy that our carving service is working to your benefit.
I often receive comments about the note on our preparation drawings (which are available at no charge if you need a set) that states that you are responsible for anything we find in the wood such as barb wire, nails, bullets, etc. One luthier actually thought it was a joke - commenting that it was nice that were being silly and light hearted.
Actually, it is a rather serious topic and something worth discussing for both your safety and ours.
Obviously, trees grow up. But less obvious is that they grow around things. It doesn't take many years for a tree to fully embrace a length of barb wire that was in contact with its bark, or to grow around and completely envelop a nail or a screw driven into its surface. Hunters' and target shooters' bullets will often become lodged in a tree, and even a sign can be engulfed by a tree over time.
The introduction of these elements to the tree are not typically damaging to the tree itself, but they can become a real hazard if the tree is ever felled and sent to the sawyer to be made into board lumber. A nail or piece of embedded barb wire, will raise havoc with the saw blade and can become a potentially dangerous projectile if it finds it way to the sawyer.
While band saw blades are generally inexpensive, the custom carbide cutters on our pattern carvers cost about $650 each, and a ding from striking something in the wood presents a major expense in damaged wood, dinged patterns, tool changes, tool costs, and down time. To make a long story short, we're rather particular about the wood that goes on our carvers.
More importantly, when you are cutting wood (especially hardwoods because their shorter trunks make the wood more susceptible to the infusion of man-made obstacles), always wear safety glasses, and be prepared for the possibility of your saw striking something in the wood. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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Product Highlights
· Template Sets - Our marketing director, Kali, has put together some template "bundles" to make entire sets of templates available at a special price. The Florentine instrument (F5, F4, and H5) sets include templates for the body, neck side profile, neck contours, peghead, and  body scroll centerline. The pear-shaped instrument (A5, A1) sets include templates for the body, neck side profile, neck contours, and peghead. The F5 set ( part #470-KS) is $74.95 plus P&H; F4 set ( part #372-KS) is $74.95 plus P&H; the H5 mandola set ( part #373-KS) is $77.95 plus P&H; the A5 set ( part #371-KS) is $61.95 plus P&H; and the A1 set ( part #374-KS) is $61.95 plus P&H. You can see them in the templates section of our web site here.
· Binding Tape -  The best way to hold binding in place while the glue dries is with non-adhesive "binding tape." This non-stretchable fabric "tape" is pulled around the instrument to draw the binding into the binding notch. The fabric will not lift the fibers of the wood as masking tape will, and it allows substantial pressure to be applied against the binding, ensuring a tight fit. (Some glue may stick to binding tape, but does not affect re-use.) Our #460 binding tape comes in 8' lengths and is $8.95 plus P&H. Instructions included.
· Fret Setting Tool - Here's a simple tool to  help set frets in flat and radiused fretboards. The tool is made of aluminum and is softer than the fretwire so that the tool takes the dents - not the fretwire. The two flat sides of the tool are used for setting frets in flat fretboards, and the 12" radiused side of the tool is matched to our 12" radiused fretboards. Our fret setting tool is part #830 and is $12.95 plus P&H. NOTE: Please consult the Shipping & Returns page on our website for a P&H table. |
Luthier's Tip...
 When tone bars are fitted to the soundboard, the glue seam should be fitted as well as possible and there should be a consistent bead of glue throughout the entire joint. Following our mandolin bridge fitting technique, our production manager, Ken Roddick, developed a rather simple way to get the tone bars to conform to the soundboard's curvature. To hold the tone bar securely, Ken uses the same clamping fixture we use for fitting one-piece bridges, and clamps the fixture to the tone bar he is fitting. He then places a piece of sandpaper, rough side up, on the soundboard, and works the tone bar back and forth until the saw cuts in the tone bar disappear. To rough cut the tone bar to its initial shape, he uses the small marking tool shown in Fig. 5.27 of The Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual.
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Product of the Month: Carving Service
 As I mentioned earlier in this newsletter, our soundboard and backboard carving service has been a valuable asset for many builders who regularly use our service. (To learn more about our carving process, please visit here). For the month of September, we will offer a special $10.00 savings for each soundboard or backboard we carve from your wood (maximum two boards per order). To help you prepare your wood to our specifications, will send you a free set of preparation drawings - please email or call. To take advantage of this offer, click here and request service #L and then use promotion code woodcarve10 when you check out.
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