The repairer's day could involve anything from vintage instruments to brand new. Any sort of stringed instrument with any problem could walk in the door. Its certainly interesting and keeps you thinking.
The guitar maker chooses what they do day to day. The process is often more creative and hugely rewarding.
In some ways repair is harder - you work with what's there and of course you cannot afford to make a mistake. If a maker makes a big mistake they can start again with another piece of wood - its not that easy for a repairer especially with vintage instruments.
When I started off in the mid 90's I made a few guitars but ended up concentrating on repair. In the ensuing 15 years I've seen a lot of instruments, listened and looked hard and tried to determine what goes into a great guitar. There are so many interacting elements, so many variables.
I've now decided to start making again.
I'm making a pair of Dreadnought guitars to begin with.
Here are a few pictures of the progress so far:
This is a back getting thicknessed by hand. I've chosen Australian Blackwood for its acoustic properties - somewhere between Mahogany and Rosewood. This is New Zealand grown.
The bookmatched halves of the back are jointed together.
My side bending machine.
Fitted back braces.
Carving and tuning the top braces using a thumb plane and chisels.
Working on the sides in the mould.
So the process is well under way. I'm making a pair of Dreadnoughts with Carpathian spruce tops, Blackwood back and sides with Honduras Mahogany necks. I'd love them to be finished by the end of the year but that really depends on my repair workload.
Glyn
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