Luthiery

 Just a few photos for you................

And here we have it; the completed bass!

Thanks for watching, cheers Gary

In this video, the penultimate in the series, the bass gets the Karate Kid treatment and its various components re-fitted, ready for its final testing.

Cheers Gary 

The neck’s done, so in this video the body shaping is completed and a few other bits sorted out!

Cheers Gary

With the fretboard/frets completed, the next stage is to shape the neck.

Cheers Gary

Now is the time to prepare the fretboard (compound radius etc.), install the frets and dress them. This isn’t the most exciting stage of the build but of course frets are pretty essential to any fretted instrument!

With the first stages of work completed on the body and neck, they can be joined together and fretboard fitted

 I'm now on to the neck!

Thanks for looking, Gary

With the majority of the bass guitar’s design work resolved, it’s time to start work on its body. I’m using an unusual combination of Tasmanian blackwood and Spanish cedar. Let me show you………………..

This is the first in a new series of “Bass Build” videos that I’m making. I’ve been wanting to build myself a solid body, short-scale bass guitar for a while and now’s the time! If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, you would have noticed a few bass side-projects in amongst all the mandolins. In that case, you’ll remember that I restored a vintage Kay bass about a year ago and that’s been the inspiration for this one’s design. In this video I look at designing the bass and solve the problem of a getting a bridge with a narrow (17mm) string spacing.

Standard XX is now complete and is now available for sale via my website. One of the key features of this lovely instrument is that it has been made without the use of any tropical/rainforest hardwoods or animal derived products.

Here’s the video and some photos for you.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers Gary

You can check out my latest Substack. 

Be warned, it’s not a quick read, though I do give some free advice!

Up for sales is my Lightly used Veritas Large Router Plane. It has 2 blades, Allen wrench, blade sharpening holder, Veritas Router Plane Fence and Veritas Router Plane Box. The router sole has a few minor scratches on it. One knob has a spot that is missing a dime size area of finish, this is how it arrived from Lee Valley. One straight blade, one spear point blade, both have been sharpened and used. The Veritas Router Plane Box is in Near Mint condition. Selling as is, no refunds, no returns. SHIPPING TO THE USA ONLY! Link is below

Veritas Large Router Plane, etc.

 Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound, funny, but it's still rock and roll to me.

Here is a photo me (sorry for the poor quality, it’s a scan of the original) from August 1980 at the Christopher Parkening master class at Montana State University, Bozeman. My guitar teacher at the time had studied extensively with Mr. Parkening and thought it would be good for me to audition for the class, he was certain I would be accepted. I was and somewhere I have the acceptance letter from Mr. Parkening. Talk about a dream come true!  I remember that I played an etude by Sor and a lute piece, Wilson's Wilde and maybe an etude by Giuliani, I need to look for the end of class recital program, I think I played in the second or third spot. It was quite the experience and I got to met several wonderful players. 

My parents drove me to Bozeman in our 1963 Plymouth Belvedere station wagon. Somewhere around Idaho Falls, Idaho, the radio station we were listening to played Still Rock and Roll to Me, it was the first time I heard it and it made an impression on me. It made more sense to me when I started my college freshman year one month later, there I discovered punk rock and that kids my age were dying their hair pink and spiking it. I thought that Still Rock and Roll to Me was an anthem for those of us who were 18 years old at the time. 

The guitar I am playing in the photo I still have, it is a Hernandis Model 1, imported by Sherry-Brenner of Chicago from Japan. The label states that it was made February 1973, has a western red cedar top, the back and sides are Indian rosewood plywood. It is a Japanese made copy of the José Ramirez that were so popular among classical guitarists in the 1970’s and 1980’s. My parents bought if for me in 1979, I think it cost $620 with tax, that equates to about $3000 in today’s dollar. Despite the plywood back and sides it is a well made guitar.

Update 06/2025: I recently replaced the top and neck on that old Hernandis guitar. It now has a gorgeous redwood top and a Spanish cedar neck, unlike the original which was mahogany. I tuned the back braces a little to get more depth from the back and the top has a bracing system that has proven very successful for making a loud guitar with a beautiful voice. I am currently in the middle of French polishing it, when it is done I will offer it for sale.