MarkMDBuildUK Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hello My name is Mark and im from a little city called chester in the UK. Along with my wife Sarah, we run a small joinery company. We are currently in the process of getting things together to open our very own workshop where we will be making things like hand made custom designed kitchens, doors, furniture, stairs etc, all 100% made by us, which is all very exciting Really looking forward to chatting, sharing ideas and getting involved, after all thats what its all about. Anyway, just thought id say hello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Welcome mark good to have another member from abroad. we have several from Canada and France and the UK but it seems like most of the active member are US based. I think you will find this forum while its a little small compared to lumber jocks and a few others is very active and friendly. The more the merrier since we all add a little bit to the collective knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hi Mark welcome to the forum we are a friendly bunch. There are a few more people from the UK here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMDBuildUK Posted May 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hi terry/ duckkisser Duckkisser: yeah can't beat a bit of worldwide collective knowledge Terry: hey a fellow Brit woodworker, love the fact you make guitars etc, I play a bit and would love to have a go at making one one day, do you have any pictures of ones you have made, is it acoustic, electric or both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hi Mark, I'm a UK member, and Joiner . Now following you on twitter! Welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Mark there are a few of my creations on my blog with pictures. I've been making guitars for quite a few years but sadly no acoustic ... yet. I do have plans though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMDBuildUK Posted May 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 GS Haydon: hi, thanks for the twitter follow, nice website too, some really nice projects you've got on there. We've been going since 2008, mainly fitting and making on site, but we hope to open up a shop where we can do our own stuff in the next 6 or so months. You look like you have a good setup in Devon, must be great to have such a long history of joinery and woodwork to draw on....1926....wow Terry: yeah I've checked out your stuff, very nice, the bathroom vanity unit is spot on .....what do you make your electric guitars out of? it's the guitar neck that always looks complicated with the fret placings and truss rod tensioning etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 The guitars are mahogany bodies, with spalted maple tops, sycamore tops or an exotic of some sort. The necks are either rock maple, birds eye maple or mahogany with my signature maple striping through it (basically a laminated neck). The fretboards are always ebony (unless the neck is entirely made from maple). I cut the frets slots entirely by hand using a shop made saw guide and a they are marked out with a steel rule and a 0.5mm pencil. I also make my own pearl or abalone position markers in various styles and inlay them using a Dremel. If the customer wants dots I normally buy them in. I do also use swamp ash, basswood (we know that as lime), sapele and alder for some bodies. The truss rods are sourced locally from my friend Bill Quinn in Stockport who owns Tonetech Luthier Supplies as are some of the hardware supplies. As for hardware I always will go with what the customer wants which is mainly high end hardware, Seymour Duncan pickups and custom wired electronics. Occasionally they have asked for the excellent Bare Knuckle pickups and even Taylor pickups from California. However over the past 3 years I have been making furniture too after finding Marc's excellent TheWoodwhisperer website and becoming a WW Guild member. If you don't know he provides this forum too. Have a look at the Woodtalk show which is an audio broadcast every Wednesday (usually quite late for us Brits) but can be listened to later as it is always recorded. Also have a look for Mattsbasementworkshop and Shannons renaissancewoodworker websites as all three are hosts of the woodtalk show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMDBuildUK Posted May 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Yeah the woodwisperer website is great, I'm currently working my way through the videos and wood talk audiocasts, some really good stuff on there, and Marc himself has a really good method to his work. I haven't checked out mattsbasementworkshop or Shannon's website yet, but thanks for the recommendation. It's amazing how much more choice of woodworking gear there is the US. Axminster is great but I'd love to have a rockler over here ha....bloody woodwisperer and his jet clamps You tempted by the guild workbench build? Looks a great bench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Axminster are trying to get a similar range of products to Rockler. I think some of them are Rockler brand but just rebadged. Of course you can buy direct from Rockler using their website. The Roubo workbench is great. The Benchcrafted hardware is awesome but due to import duty is very, very expensive for us in the UK. I will build one eventually but haven't got anytime to make any shop furniture at the moment as my shop was out of action for nearly 4 months (being rebuilt) and I have a backlog of projects to catch up on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkirby Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 (edited) 3 Marks this could get confusing. Im up in Northumberland and a member of Shannon's hand tool school, highly recommended to anyone with an interest in hand tools. I have made a few harps in the past and I'm working on an oval spinet while trying to convert the garage into a work shop and make my way through the hand tool school. Nice to have a fellow brit on the forum, i hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us Mark K p.s. as for clamps got to workshop heaven and order some bessey clamps, drooooooool in fact that place is a candy store to me. Edited May 5, 2013 by mkirby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 only musical instrument that i have made is a cigar box guitar. those were fun and easy. would like to make the real thing one day probably electric since you need some special knowledge and some special equipment to make a normal one. oh it can probably be made with what i have but i would rather do it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Duck have a look at stewmac.com They do have a few kits and can be useful as a starter. You can buy almost anything to do with making guitars etc from them. I use them a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 i bought the dremel base they sell and use it for doing inlay. works out great. even got it hooked up to vacume so i leave very little dust to block my line or clean up later. is what i got great for fine detail work guitar is on my list and will end up being on a back burner for now. cant even play one just want to make one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 I have the same one. They are essential for fine inlays. I got a bunch of down spiral cutters for it too. I think the smallest is about 1/32" diameter but they all have smaller shank diameters than normal. I got a smaller collet for the Dremel to fit the smaller shanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 i havent goten many of the cutters been using small drill bits since i have a case of them. got around 100 1/16 bits that i bought from a garage sale for 10 bucks. they break probably more often then the bits that i realy need but what else am i going to do with 100 bits. if i try and cut huge depths they snap but they work for small details is great. what kind of inlay do you do terry? and if you do what kind of materials have you found that work well? perhaps if we both do inlay we can exchange info on materials that we find that work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 7, 2013 Report Share Posted May 7, 2013 i havent goten many of the cutters been using small drill bits since i have a case of them. got around 100 1/16 bits that i bought from a garage sale for 10 bucks. they break probably more often then the bits that i realy need but what else am i going to do with 100 bits. if i try and cut huge depths they snap but they work for small details is great. what kind of inlay do you do terry? and if you do what kind of materials have you found that work well? perhaps if we both do inlay we can exchange info on materials that we find that work. Duck I normally inlay pearl or abalone into fret boards. I cut the pieces out using a jewellers saw with very fine blades and then scribe around them into the ebony. Then using the Dremel on the router base I rout out the cavity. Finally glueing in the inlay with some black CA glue. Any minor gaps between the inlay and board are taken up by the CA. The fretboards are radiused and I run over a aluminum radius beam with some self adhesive sandpaper (all available from Stewmac) to smooth down the inlay/CA glue so it is ultra smooth. With the CA being black you can't see any gaps. Then the frets are installed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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