My Son -- next generation woodworker! (many pics)

[southgalawyer]

I'm just a now-and-then, garage-hack woodworker.  My son, Jake, though, is talented.  He started school this week at the Galloup School in Michigan, to learn the art of lutherie.  Over the last few months, he has been working under the supervision of a master guitar builder, and he has built two guitars so far.  (The second one is still in the shop in Georgia awaiting a finish to be sprayed on, but he completed it up to that point.)

His first "pre-school" guitar was a Martin copy:

He didn't have to hand carve the neck on this one, but he did have to cut the body pieces, bend the sides, cut and glue the bracing and the kerfing for the body, cut the sound hole, etc.



Sanded, finished, and cased:


 He hand carved the purpleheart tuning pegs out of a piece of scrap wood in my little shop, which I thought was a nice touch. 



His second "pre-school" guitar is a cedar-top (the first one was spruce), and there were no kits involved at all.  All of the lumber was thicknessed, shaped, and cut in the shop from scratch.



 The neck started out as a 3x5" block of mahogany, and cut to this basic shape on the bandsaw.  (The laminated neck was an experiment that he wasn't happy with, so he went back to the solid one.)



The neck was then hand-carved, using just off-the-shelf Nicholson rasps and files, and plenty of sandpaper. The radius is literally perfect and the neck is incredibly smooth, almost slick, even before the finish is applied.



The body is Indian rosewood and the perfling (the trim around the edge of the body) is solid wood, holly, I think.  This shot is after the body was sanded but before it was wiped clean and prepared for the finish.



One of the cool things about this one is that it has an arm bevel on the body, which is apparently a lot harder to create on an acoustic guitar than you would think.


The rosette was made out of probably a couple hundred tiny pieces of rosewood.  Too much detail for a hack like me to even look at, much less try to replicate!



And now, here is Jake at his workstation at Galloup, ready for classes to begin!



By the way, this was the scene when he arrived in Michigan, along with sub-zero temps.  It is somewhat funny to me that his first winter ever out of south Georgia is going to be in Michigan!



So, that's it. Just a really proud Dad who can't wait to see what this kid will be able to build after he finishes the Master's program at Galloup!

[goaliedad]

Very nice work. I hope he is enjoying our winter! He is about an hour and a half south of us- but very much in winter

[southgalawyer]

Very nice work. I hope he is enjoying our winter!  He is about an hour and a half south of us- but very much in winter

So far, so good, but he was a little taken aback that he got "frostbite warnings" on his weather alerts.

[goaliedad]

It has been unusually cold- and it has been hanging on. Thevtemp’s aren’t unheard of. But no matter, it has been COLD

[chips ahoy]

Fantastic work,I am sure he will do well.All the best to him.

Mel

[AgGEM]

That is a great story/photo essay. He is talented. Go Jake!
Ag

[cputnam]

You have every reason, and then some, to be proud! A son like that is partly the father; wel done Dad!

[FrankAtl]

Great pictorial! I would be proud too. Beautiful work.

[2beast]

Way cool dad 

[AHill]

I'd say he's more than a woodworker - he's a luthier.  A luthier's woodworking skills rival any fine cabinetmaker's skills.  Plus, he has to know and understand how the wood produces tone, and that's no trivial skill.  Excellent job on both guitars.  The man has skills!