The back linings and back braces are done. The photo shows that there are just two back braces. I will be using just two back braces, but its the back brace near the slipper foot that is to be removed, not the middle one. This is remedied now. Lots of head scratching to do on this guitar!

I have decided that, before I close up the back on the FE17-ish guitar, that I need to have the bridge and the fingerboard made. This is because of the Tornavoz. You can see it sitting in place and you can see how it will interfer with clamping the bridge on later. Well, I can.


I have decided that, before I close up the back on the FE17ish guitar, that I need to have the bridge and the fingerboard made. I may choose to glue on the bridge before installing the tornavoz and closing the back.

I had a scrap of Brazilian Rosewood that I bought in an offcut table at a local lumber vendor, but it was not the right dimension for a bridge so I had to re-cut it and glue it up the way that I could get a bridge blank out of.

So, after I cut the basic shapes out I find myself wondering how hard it would be to do it like the original? You can see it in the lower left photo of my notes, note the decorated wings. So I'm thinking I have some laminate leftover from making my herringbone that I could use for the little borders-just sandwich it between some veneer, border an offcut of the bridge, and inlay it in the wings.


Here is is just sitting on top of the rough cut bridge wing. The original had a lozenge shaped pearl inlay in the center. Here is my paper pattern sitting in place. I don't have any pearl, so I'm thinking that I will use some figured maple instead, and the colours will blend in nicely, too.

After the epoxy bonding the new gunnel and stem wood cures it is time to shape it.

The ribs get cut down and cut to fit the underside of the gunnels. This is to allow the planking and outer gunnels to fit fair to the tip of the canoe. If it is not done then there will be a great big bump here.

The rib repairs are shaped fair to the curve of the canoe shape and then treated with some boiled linseed oil before the planking goes back on. Even though there remains some visible sign of the cracked rib from the inside, the rib is as strong as new, and still retains all the aura of the original canoe. The work should be nearly invisible - unless you know what you are looking for.

While I am putting the old planking back the planking, I take this opportunity to replace 4 pieces of planking that were too deteriorated to keep. These had to be matched for grain and then stained to match the old planking.

Here is the canoe's interior all back together and with two coats of varnish on. Each coat has to be sanded prior to the next, that means every rib and every span of planking between the ribs has to be sanded by hand, there really is no fast way to do this.

Two more coats of varnish should complete the job, then I can get the canvas and filler on.

The decks are still left out at this point in order to make it easier to varnish in the confined areas at the stem.

Here is the progress made on the old Peterborough. I have the planking opened up for the broken ribs, recesses chiseled out, and splines made to rebuild the broken wood.

Once the splines are glued in with epoxy I flip the canoe and start working on the topsides...

...because this needs to be attended to. While this looks pretty drastic as far as damage goes, its actually pretty common. Over the years condensation collects on the canoe. Even though the canoe is stored upside down, this condensation collects and stays longest where there is the least drainage and air flow for the wood to dry. Slowly, slowly, over the years, the rots sets in and this is where it usually does its worst.

So I remove the decks and open up the planking to allow me access to work here.

And I prepare new wood to match the existing wood and use epoxy to bond it in place. Four gunnel ends, two stem ends, and five rib ends. Could have been worse. While the decks are out I repaired them as well. Next step is to clean up the new wood and match it to the existing structure, put the planking back on, and close up the ends.

The heel on this old neck was originally carved for a slightly deeper guitar, so I had to cut about 6mm off the bottom, which required me to re-carve the whale. Which is OK because I feel that it is more refined now. But it did take extra time, which is something that I wanted to avoid.

Oh well. It serves us no good to count the hours in the service of Art.

Finishing the carving allowed me to get the neck installed.

One small "modernization" is my use of the double wedge instead of just the skinny slits. It is a little more work, but getting the little slits "just right" has its own complications. I really like how tight you can get the sides against the outer portion of the heel.

Freshly glued in, I'll be cleaning it up later. Or not. Haven't decided. The Tornavoz will eliminate any opportunity to see how nicely shaped it is.

I tried something new on this build. I've been thinking that it would be easier to glue in the harmonic bar after I get the sides on. I was right, it is MUCH easier to fit it into the sides than to fit the sides to the bar. Gluing it in is the same process either way.

And now I'm gluing in the dentellones. Its easy to do, and is as fast to do as you can pick them up and glue them in.

I'll be continuing this today, we'll see how long it takes. Once I'm done I'll be fitting the lining for the back.

I opened up the hot pipe yesterday and this is what I found inside. It is some kind of heater element and is rated at 250 watts. It didn't work because the wires were disconnected from the terminals for some reason, either the broken or burnt.

Reconnected, the element heats up nice and hot. I think that I will put it back in and continue to use it, unless something better comes along.

Good enough for free!

More work on the old Peterborough High End Champlain canoe. Lots of sanding of the old varnish residue, went through a lot of sandpaper and made lots of dust. The trim had been painted over, first red then green. As I sand through the paint on the deck I can start to make out where the Peterborough decal would have been.

I have been disappointed with my humidification in the shop. I have been using an old Vick's vaporizer, it works, but not well. I have been looking a the commercial units available and am not really impressed with any of them. Most higher capacity units are using wicks and fans, but the wicks mineralize pretty quickly and have to be replaced, at a pretty high cost!

That got me to thinking about rigging up a unit myself, using the same basic ideas but using readily available hardware store and aquarium parts. Here is something that I rigged up using supplies that I had a around as "proof of concept". A tub of water, a pump, and a furnace air filter. It is sitting just at the out-feed of my room air filter with the air blowing over it.

It works really well! Time to put together something proper.
I was at my favourite woodworking store today, picking up some glue. They have started a fleamarket table, and I found this on it. I bet hardly anybody else had any idea what this thing was. Its a hot-pipe for bending wood for musical instruments. I had the clerk test it out to see if it worked, it has an electric element inside. It didn't warm up, so they let me have it for free. I think that I can get it to work!

Here is the Peterborough canoe that I am working on. It may seem that I am spending more time on the guitars than on the canoes, but in reality I am just taking more photos of that work.

7 broken ribs to start repairing and rotten gunnel and stem ends. Tomorrow's work...

Somehow I got it into my head that a carbon fiber Tornavoz might be a good idea. So...of course I had to make one to find out! Carbon fiber fabric cut to the pattern.


CF Tornavoz off the mold, sitting beside the copper/fiberglass one that I just made.


This is how the first one looks in place.


Both sides in place on the solara waiting till I can get all the parts ready to assemble.