Agenda
- Special Virtual Presentation – Guitar Maker
WELCOME
SPECIAL PRESENTATION AND GUEST
Annie introduced Stephane who will describe how he made a Banjo.
Stephane is based in Quebec
Stephane has a family of artists and people who like to work with their hands.
Became an apprentice to a Master Builder. He was a SW and now works with seniors and is an Artist in his soul.
For one year he spent 50 hrs a week building instruments. Classical Guitars, folk guitars. Built 27 instruments together.
In the last 8 years learned to do carvings on whale boats.
Today will be about guitar building, and based on the questions sent to him.
He became a teacher of guitar building in Montreal.
The science behind the sound. Wood types is very important related to that science.
Stephane presented pictures of inside the guitar. Cracking of the wood can be a problem when bending. Braces are used and the grain of the wood is taken into account. Described how the bracing within the guitar, supports the guitar bridge.
Beautiful pictures of the art of guitar building and the ornamentation in the creations.
His signature on the guitars is a bite on the end of the guitar.
Showed a 28 string guitar built by a friend.
Explained that different kind of bracing, created different types of sounds.
Picture of how he builds the inlaid rosettes.
Showed a double neck guitar, which has a different type of bracing and two necks.
Showed a FAN bracing that is used for the Classical guitar.
Most of his instruments have special stamps inside with dates etc.
Questions from the members followed the presentation, on bracing, types of wood.
His favourite hand tool is the Japanese saw. Precise and cuts well,
Assembling and drying. Controlling the moisture is hard. For the gluing he uses normal wood glue and different epoxy and super glue and the spray. Useful to fixing and fine tuning. It is easy to make a mess, so must be very careful.
For the Fret Board he uses epoxy. The wood glue is hard to remove. The epoxy is cleaner.
Students use animal glue, but you have to be very precise with controlling the temperature.
For sanding he uses his hand to sand, resulting in many hours of work.
Have to be careful not to kill the sound with varnish, so they have to be as thin as can be done to protect the wood.
Demonstrated how a template is used to measure and design in the creation of the guitar.
Discussed the different quality of wood. Each builder can create unique sounds and not necessarily sharing this with other creators. They take note of the type of frequencies that are produced.
Quebec has two schools of guitar building. Montreal and Quebec City. People come from far and wide to attend.
What are the Rosettes made of Answer; Maple, Amaranth Monkey bug. Like to use exotic woods. Some use Brazilian Rose wood (must carry papers regarding that wood when travelling through the states Uses salvage wood as well. (70/80 yrs ago, so it is very dry)
Some wood is protected in various countries.
Stephane asked the group what they do with wood. Gene explained. It was suggested that Annie sends Stephane has access to the Club website to see the gallery of work done by the members.
A question about the type of customer that comes to the Guitar Builder. Shape, wood, type of sound, and many more aspects of the guitar beyond those items.
Question: Does the type of wood dictate the sound.
Answer: the bracing in the guitar and small pieces of wood to secure but not kill the vibration of the guitar wood. Yes there is thought put into the type of wood and the condition of the wood when building.
It takes 200-300 hours to build a guitar.
“the caliper is your best friend”
Gene and Paul thanked Stephane for his presentation
Stephane thanked the Club for inviting him. Happy to share his art with the group.
Further discussion on the art of woodworking.
SHOW AND TELL
Mike B showing his various carvings. Bought a 50 mm blade that does a nice planning cut.
Donald McFarland
Presented his Patriotic Signs
Proud to be Canadian and other variations.
He has also designed his own. Elbows Up Canada strong
Scout Trucks
- Looking for volunteers for the 24th March
- Reviewed what type of help is needed.
- Email Gene if you can make it out
- Older kids this year 11-13 and a total of 11-12
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Shop Clean up day Saturday March 22 10:00 am. ( please take a picture and send to Gene of the clean-up gang
- No meeting on the 24th as we have Scout Trucks to build