MIMF

If you were away from the shop for the next four months, found a great catche of neck wood, air dried and planed to 3/4", and you didn't want to duplicate any hand tools (except clamps) from the shop, could you build guitar necks with a 3/4" double bevel luthier knife, a half round Iwasaki medium carving file, a low angle block plane, a 1-1/4" Chisel, a 3/8" Chisel, a scraper, a waterstone, a mile file, a Harbor Freight tool stand and some plywood, a 1/2" brad point bit, a brace, a .023 kerf (Kataba) crosscut saw, sand paper, some chewing gum, a paper clip, and a nine volt battery? There is some seven-eights peices so I might spring for a low angle, bevel up, jack plane and I don't have an adjustable tri square. Am I leaving anything out?

You could practically do the whole thing with a hand plane and a jack knife, but what the heck. I'd miss my spokeshave....

With all of that, you could make a spokeshave.

I assume this is a hypothetical question? <g>

Maybe a saw if you're doing scarf joints?
If you're doing truss rod slots, maybe a router plane?

You might also look at the "Milkman's workbench" recently written up in Popular Woodworking- sounds like a step up over the HF tool stand?

I have two nice spoke shaves back in the shop. I could use a 2nd cut rasp. I don't usually use Shur-forms, so I don't have one. I've always wanted a router plane, but I use a table saw back home. I only need three necks for early romantic style guitars and a couple of classical necks. I've really little to do for the next four months. Holy Cow, with a purfling cutter, a torch, and another chisel to go along with that low angle jack plane, I could build a whole guitar. I'm boat sitting on the east coast. Hey, sail battens for a go-bar set-up! And no electricity.

It was Boaz Elkhyam who offered to build a guitar with a Swiss Army knife. He has put together some very fine instruments under less than ideal conditions.

Well, I guess I could just kick back for the summer and build a repertoire of classic jazz standards.

A plow plane is the correct tool for the truss rod. I use one often.

I knew that.

Whereabouts are you boat sitting?

I'm moored to the Peabody in Baltimore. Perhaps this question would be best addressed at a Musical Instrument Makers Anonymous meeting.

Sounds like the next Baltimore-area MIMF meeting should be at the Inner Harbor! We haven't had one in years.

It would be nice to get together again in the Baltimore area. Might not be too far for those in the Delaware, lower Pa, and D.C./ Alexandria areas either. How big is your boat, Gilbert?

Mate of mine likes to show off by shaping Uke necks at his Uke building course using a scraper.....

"You could practically do the whole thing with a hand plane and a jack knife, but what the heck. I'd miss my spokeshave...."

" It was Boaz Elkhyam who offered to build a guitar with a Swiss Army knife. He has put together some very fine instruments under less than ideal conditions."

Maybe that should be the next challenge - instruments that are whittled into existence!

Baltimore area get-together would be good.

See thread on charango on OLF for an instrument whittled into existence. Literal take on the idea of taking a block of wood and removing everything that doesn't look like a (fill in favorite example).

Read up about this guy. He is now "on-shore" in the south of Spain. http://www.patrickburkeguitars.com/gallery_5.htm

What kind of boat are you on? When you said "Peabody in Baltimore" what are you referencing? I tried google maps but I couldn't figure it out. I guess Baltimore is even bigger than the name suggests.

I was wondering about that, too, being from (near) Baltimore. The Peabody Institute is a world famous music conservatory in downtown Baltimore, but it is not close enough to the harbor for boats.

Wait! The Peabody? Isn't that where Ana Vidovic teaches? I'm down the block about ...26 miles. I'm just taking the wood back to the desert with me. If I build the necks here in the humidity ...well, the shop is about 10% RH. I keep every thing in big zip-lock bags and 'swamp cool' the shop to about 40% on a good day. Still, I'm not sure they'll travel well.

I learned the zip-lock bag trick here at MIMF. I can watch braced sound boards and back change shape as I am working on them. I put them back in the bag and everything is normal in the morning.

It's a small boat at 20 cubits. There is barely room for the rhinoceros. There is an event up in PA. that I might attend. I'd like to get back out west -head 'em up, move 'em out- for the Healdsburg festival.

Ana Vidovic and her brother Victor are amazing guitarists.