Visit to Folkway Music

On Tuesday my pal Dr. Dave Walker and I went up to Guelph with my girls to visit Mark and his staff at Folkway Music. It was a pretty great feeling to pull out the guitars one by one and each time get a positive reaction. With out a doubt Mark was taken aback by my approach to guitar construction and even though he is a loyal lover of fine vintage instruments he shared a sincere and enthusiastic interest in what I have created.

Let's back up a bit...

My player friend David Gillis told me a few months back that I should take my guitars up to Folkway and get Mark to check them out because Mark is a fine fretted instrument expert and a straight shooter who does not hold back on offering an honest and sometimes blunt opinion. David said something to the effect of "I think it will be a good experience for you AND if you pass the Mark Test you know your doing things right. He will tell you exactly what he thinks" I immediately conjured up an image of an older, distinguished looking silver haired gentleman. An old music man type that would be stuck on tradition and who may be difficult to win over with a non traditional design. Ya know...a bow tie wearing guy.

When I opened the door to Folkway and approached the front counter a bunch of young guys were sitting at a bench wrapping up their lunch. I locked eyes with the alpha and said "Hi, I'm Pete Swanson of Dagmar Custom Guitars. I'm here to see Mark." I thought for sure I would be told to wait a second and they would go to the back and out would come the man who I had envisioned. Instead the one who I introduced myself to was Mark. He said "I'm Mark!" Man oh man that took me off guard! He's around my age.

I said "Hey! Nice to meet you! I'll just get the guitars from the car and show you what I've got." I brought the axes in and lifted them out of the cases one by one in the order in which they were built. First was Jennie my second checkerboard patterned symmetrical acoustic archtop made of Honduras Mahogany and Flame Maple. He had a very favorable reaction and looked back at his staff and may have even said "Check this thing out!" My nervous system was buzzing and I began to get tunnel vision. I focused on Mark's expression. I definitely remember Mark looking at the guitar in a very direct way with specific objectives. His eyes could have burnt the wings off of a fly. Thank God he started off with positive comments because each one relaxed me and I could feel my nervousness subside. He broke out his inspection mirror and asked my permission to look inside the guitar. I said "Of course." He did and he was genuinely intrigued and impressed. The words "neat" and "cool" entered my ears and I felt my pride begin to brim.

Next to come out was Mary Lou W, my electric inspired by Charlie Christian, made of Cooked Flame Maple with accents of red veneer, Antique Ivory finished top and finished Ebony appointments. Mark was very complimentary on my Ebony Tailpiece design and asked how I made it, at the same time offering the answer himself "table saw and then router?" "Yes, exactly." I said and then I pointed out the metal behind the logo inlay and tailpiece inlay along with the red tinted Epoxy and demonstrated how light seems to reflect out of them. He told me of a builder friend of his who uses tinfoil embedded in his logo design that creates a 3D nugget looking effect. We were getting along great and then the unexpected...

A wee boy, maybe 6 approached the counter, holding up high a tattered $10.00 bill. My first thought was; great timing kid and why aren’t you in school? Mark looked down toward the boy and in a non threatening kid friendly kind of a way asked "Hey buddy can I help you?". The boy uttered an awkwardly cute and quiet request "Can I..Can I... do you have a Banjo pick?" Mark served the boy like the VIP he was - a Folkway Music customer. I helped too because the Banjo pick tray was more accessible to me. I handed the boy his small thumb pick and Mark gave him his change. The transaction made an impression on me. Mark is a good guy, an approachable professional who respects his customers.

Last out was Eve. My prototype single cutaway acoustic made entirely of 50,000 year old Ancient Kauri wood from New Zealand. I personally love the tone of this guitar and I feel as if I made a breakthrough with how to save weight in my design and followed the trend of using a lower break angle to get a sweeter tone and to have it react more on the pianissimo side of touch - something that was shown to me in Montreal. I shared my experience building Eve with Mark and told him that the guitar was at times hell to build and how she fought me every step of the way. It was a total challenge to figure out how to close up her rim. Behind us at the front of the store Mary Lou W was being plugged in and Mark told me to go and listen. I have not really heard her being played through too many amps so I was more than happy to do so.

I should also mention that Mark is a left handed player which also threw me. He can play a right handed guitar with the strings upside down! Again I was impressed because when he strings up his guitar the bass is at the top - crazy that he can play both ways. Any who...

Mary Lou W was plugged into an awesome sounding tube amp and she went for a stroll with one of Mark's leading men. I can't recall this man's name but he played beautifully and said he really grooved on her fat dark sound and string clarity. He also was impressed with how much roll off there was on the tone knob. Jason Lollar makes great pickups! The sound he was getting from the guitar was EXACTLY what I have always wanted to hear her sound like. There was a bit of single coil hum but man she sounded good and absolutely no feedback. The guitar was right in front of the amp too.

After this mini session I returned her to Mark's counter where he had been left alone with Jennie and Eve. He reassured me that he liked my guitars and thought they were the products of some very creative designing and were well crafted. Then out came what I hoped wouldn't – the critique. He told me my nuts needed work. He said the string height was too high at the nut - the playability and string height on the rest of the fretboard was good along with the fret work and leveling. I felt a ping in the bottom of my gut. Awe man...I gently whimpered in side - Even though this is an easy fix I still felt a bit embarrassed (all over 1000ths of an inch). He maybe saw that I was hurt and said "Hey man if that's the only thing that I can find for you to improve upon your doin' all right." He said for my first batch of guitars, let alone for any guitar, that they were finely crafted and I should be proud. However, this did not stop him from laying into Eve. He said out of the three Eve was his least favourite. He said he didn't like her tone as much as the others and then pointed out that the string break angle was too low for his taste. Again he reassured me that tone is and always will be a subjective thing and there is no right or wrong. He then showed me all of Eve's little glitches that I am already well acquainted with and that have already given me a few sleepless nights - the man sees EVERYTHING. Lastly, he made it clear that he thinks water based varnish lacks a certain lustering magic when compared to a traditional French polish or even a nitro. I listened to his opinion but spraying solvent based stuff will never be an option for me and French polish is perhaps in the future once I have time for yet another learning curve. I feel compelled to say, and perhaps it's an ego thing, that everyone that I have ever shown the guitars to have all been impressed with my water based finishes.

All in all it was a great visit! Mark and I traded company shirts and both agreed it was a pleasure. Mark knows very well what a tough slug it is for us luthiers and wished me the best of luck. Dr. Dave took some old school shots of us with his little disposable (lol) for his blog (I forgot my bloody camera!) and I decided right then and there that I will be visiting Mark again. I want him to show me his set up methods and wire up my upcoming Ontario Art Council Grant Guitar. Undoubtedly Mark is a good guy to know and to consult. With his input and involvement I know that I'll be all the more protected from any would be critics.

Any guitar lover would enjoy a visit to Folkway Music. It's a destination location shop and well worth the trip! Folkway Music also hosts performances by various acts and there is a calender of upcoming events on their website. Hmmmmm....a Dagmar Custom Guitars night would be pretty cool - eh Mark?

www.folkwaymusic.com

Dr. Dave has a very popular blog geared toward guitar music of all genres. He generates 500 hits per day! Obviously worth checking out.
http://blog.davewalkermusic.com/

289 is my guess

Roxy's Ride

This bike represents the my first experiments with checkerboard pattern lamination which led to my wooden fender idea which led to the guitars which became Dagmar Custom Guitars which is now my passion.

Hope Roxanne likes it. I know for a fact that this single speed rat rod custom will be the envy of all hardcore cycling Curriers in the Big Smoke. Guarowntee!!!

More later...

I took the weekend off - kinda.

My friend Dr. Dave Walker, who helped me greatly since I started Dagmar Custom Guitars, asked if I could fix an old Yamaha Grand Auditorium Classical that he bought years ago. The inside label documents it as the 3rd one produced in 1973. She's a beauty with Rosewood back and sides and Cedar top. Just behind the bridge she took a devastating knock and the ultra thin top cracked badly across the grain. I have been performing delicate surgery on this old gal to get her back to playability. The top appears to be domed so splicing in new wood is a total challenge. I'm very pleased with the results so far but the thickness of the top is so bloody thin that there is zero room for error.

First I stabilized the damaged area with Epoxy to fill in and connect the gaps to regain some strength. Once the area was strengthened I formed a router guide around the area and routed down about 1/64". I layed in some Carbon Fiber strands to add strength and then bonded in some fresh Cedar, doing my best to match the grain lines. The stiffness is back and I'm hoping that the repair has brought the bridge back to the original position for the right action height. There are two more severe cracks that run along the grain on the treble side and they have made the area untrue. I'm sure I can splice in some beveled strips of Cedar into these cracks and shape the area back to being fair. More later...

Many moons ago I built a pretty cool bike for my step kid Roxanne. It's a CCM balloon tire bike from the 60's that a coworker gave me - he was cleaning out his garage. This bike was the first step toward the creation of Dagmar Custom Guitars. I built a wooden checkerboard tank for it and it inspired me to start thinking about the wooden fender idea. I'll post pictures tomorrow when she's put back together. So, more later...

I have sent off pletty of letters and I have heard back from a couple of folks who could create some really great networking and media leads.

A visit to Folkway Music in Guelph is planned for Tuesday. Folkway is a premier music store and they have an awesome inventory of vintage and new instruments that I am eager to see. I have not really been able to compare my guitars with other archtops so I'm looking forward to doing so.

I have made contact with a freelance writer in Toronto named Lonny Knapp who is intrigued by my story. I saw one of his stories about Randy Bachman on the aol homepage and tracked him down through his website. Lonny plays mandolin in a cool street folk band called Freeman Dre and the Kitchen Party. They are worth checking out. More later....

I am also trying to hook up with an awesome jazz player named Nathan Hiltz who is also in Toronto. He has played my acoustic Jennie before and really liked her so I'm anxious to let him plug Mary Lou W in. More later...

I have sent a lot of letters out and the waiting to hear back period can be torture. Sometimes I have to resend letters and after the third send off with no response ones confidence can take a bit of a beating. It's not my style to be pushy but what I'm trying to achieve is worth a little discomfort. More later...

The Queen's guitar "Vicky" is humidizing in the shop. I have my cooked maple supplier searching for a piece of back wood. All the parts will be done by the end of March. The photonic pickup is still in development so Vicky will be in waiting for a while to come. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to debut her in Montreal - we shall see. More later...

Marketing 101

I have been rifling off a mountain of letters to various publications and have been an open receptor to any and all promotional opportunities and suggestions.

TShirts are disappearing fast and I am very thankful for that. It's nice to have my promotional budget refuel itself and to finally be able to pass on shirts to people who have helped me out.

I'm stepping out of the shop for the rest of the week to keep hammering away at getting more exposure. I've been having fun testing different concepts on facebook. I'm glad to see people have a sense of humor and are embracing the idea of the whole BAD ASS Boutique angle. I am proud to say that I have increased my fan base on facebook from about 50 to 240 in three short weeks. Every once and a while a mini viral burst will happen and I'll get 10 new fans in a day. I'm at a point now where I'm getting a guaranteed two per day.

I'm finding that making a list and systematically knocking stuff off works best. I'll be going around locally to expand my network and to remind people that I'm still sluggin' away.

Early next week I'll be starting my double cutaway. I want this guitar to be the show stopper in Montreal. My goal is to create a guitar that would make any Gretsch fan shit their pants. She'll be finished in two tone green with TV Jones pickups and a Bigsby tail piece. She will be named after the main character in Lady Morgan's novel The wild Irish Girl, Glorvina. Glorvina is an Irish name meaning sweet voice. I have an awesome endorser in mind and hopefully the timing will be perfect. This plan is completely out of the box thinking and I'm excited about it!

More later.

Fustulant Work

This past week has been dedicated to tap tuning the top plate and getting the heel cap and heel cap thread inserts dealt and done with.

I am beginning to take a journal of notes for my future reference. I can refer to my notes after each guitar is done and make notes what works and what does not along with other observations and innovative thought. For example, when I routed out the treble side braces to resemble I Beams I had my wits about me to break out the scale and do a before and after weigh in. The longest brace originally tipped the scale an 10 grams. After I I Beamed it, it weighed 8 grams. That is a 20 % decrease in weight which is good for the higher frequencies.

The weight of the top plate with the braces glued on and before I scraped the Ebony around the lighting bolts was 220 grams. After scraping the Ebony flush and shaving material off the braces and graduating the top while tap tuning the final weigh in is 210 grams. I put the plate down and have left in alone for now. I'll let it settle and pick it up again and tap and maybe tweak it some more. As it stands I am very happy with the tap and response of the top. There seem to be many different resident frequencies at the various nodes and a nice overall stiffness. When you tap tune a guitar you have to commit what you hear to memory and intuitively judge the sound and vibration - or at least that is my approach. I have developed a feel for how things should feel - stiffness and vibrational response. I understand pitch and I am aware of the ringing sustain but I'm still honing my ear. This top sound real good to me. When I lightly rub my fingertips along the top surface it's loud and spreading. Before the braces where glued in it was hard not to find a node where the top wasn't alive and ringing.

I also bonded the Ebony heel extension on to the rim under the neck pocket. It bonds to the Maple sides with three dowels and Epoxy. The heel extend the neck joint and the bolts anchor the neck down and keep everything perfectly aligned.
The neck is true to the center of the guitar and the geometry to the top plate and bridge location is textbook.

I have also been dressing the frets to level and have decided to dome the fret ends. Doming the ends is something that I've always wanted to try. It look really professional and refined. It's also about three extra hours of fussing.

Help Support the Dream

Help support this young luthier by buying one of the most fashionable shirts on the planet. First Issue Dagmar Custom Guitar TSHIRTs now available on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150413018736

MGS 2010

http://www.salondeguitaredemontreal.ca/btn_exposant_en.aspx

I'll be on display in Montreal again this summer.Click on the link above to see all that the Montreal Guitar Show has to offer. Looking at the confirmed luthiers list I think it's going to be pretty damned fantastic.

Top Plate Lamenting

The top plate is just about done - just some clean up hear and there to do to make it look pretty.

The very top picture shows how I made the treble side braces into I Beams. The treble side will respond better to higher frequencies if it is light or stiff or both. How can I carve the Spruce top to be light and still maintain stiffness. I addressed this conundrum by carved a narrower recurve area (thinnest area at the outside edge of the sound plate) than the bass side and the spruce is also a bit thinner as it approaches the center of the plate where the two halves are joined. The treble side is much shorter than the bass side and therefore lighter. I made the braces shorter too but left them tall and tapered them thinner than the bass side. I also routed out the middle of the braces and made them into I Beams. I didn't loose any stiffness and I shaved about 2.5 grams off the weight.

The Bass side theory is that it will respond better to lower frequencies if it is less stiff or heavy or both. Think about that...the bass side will respond to lower frequencies if it is heavy or not stiff or both. How can you have the Spruce top be less stiff and yet remain heavy. If I carve it heavy than it will be stiff. So, what I did was carve a wider recurve area, when compared to the treble side, at about 1/8" thick and then added longer wider but less tall braces. Now the spruce plate is thinner but with heavy braces that are also more flexible than the treble side if the plate. Also, because the guitar is a single cutaway the bass side of the sound plate is much longer than the treble side and therefore heavier.

The other pictures show how the lightning bolts are cut. I use my MDF plate pattern. I mark out where the bridge location will be and layout the f holes so that their center is in line with the bridge. I cut out the shape into the pattern and then tape the spruce top on to it with double sided tape. With my overhead router I cut the shape out. The pin in the router bed follows the MDF pattern and the cutter, located directly above the guide pin, cuts out the shape in the Spruce.
This procedure always scares me because you work somewhat blindly and it is touch and go when you are routing sharp points - wood sometime doesn't like being cut across the grain while it's vibrating like mad. It's a rush.

I then finish the sharp corners of the lightning bolts with a fresh Exacto knife and hone it up with some sanding and or needle files. The next step is to glue on the solid Ebony binding. The Ebony is all mitered together and adds to the stiffness of the opening which is a good thing because these areas are thin.

What's cookin?

Lil' Poppie Jade asked me to build her her dream house. So I did; a little English Tudor with steep eves. Upon completion I was sure that she would ask if she could sleep in it. Instead she asked if she could fry up some bacon in it. So we installed a fire alarm and then cooked up a whole mess of crispy bacon. Mmmmmmm...bacon, greasy, succulent bacon.

OAC GRANT

Dagmar Custom Guitars has been awarded a Craft Project: Individuals project grant.

The Swanson house is in celebration mode!

The grant money will be used to prototype a full electric double cutaway archtop for display at the 2010 Montreal Guitar Show. I hope to start this guitar by the end of this month so keep watching.

Dagmar Custom Guitars TShirt CONTEST!!!!!!

On March 9th, 2010 Dagmar Custom Guitars will be awarding a first issue Dagmar T Shirt. You can enter by simply signing up as a follower on this blog or drop me a line through my website. Give me your name and some flattery!
www.dagmarcustomguitars.com

These shirts will be available through ebay soon at $16.00 each or two for $30.00 (shipping not included)

Top Plate - Intuitive Acoustic Science

I have slowly and precisely been fitting and carving the Sitka Spruce top plate. The top picture shows the MDF opening pattern with a 1/4" rabit routed around it. The rabit's outer most edge is the dimension of the finished plate. I rout this rabit to be used as a guide to cut on the band saw. After I rout the rabit I glue a 1/4" piece of MDF on the back to stabilize everything and it will also be used for the FHole cutting pattern - you will see what I mean soon 'nuf.

Next, the plate pattern is cut out using the band saw and fitted into the guitar rim opening. I have to sand here and there until the pattern falls into the opening in the rim. It is a fussy procedure and you have to really be aware and use your intuitive at times to read the curve - know the best spot to sand and what parts to leave alone - the rabit's out line is the guide but disappears after some close sanding, creating a bit of a challenge.

If I have too large of a gap in between the MDF pattern and the actual guitar rim opening I sometimes use bondo to build the surface back up for a second chance at perfection. For this guitar the inlay around the rim is going to be 1/16" wide of carbon fiber strands - dead simple, and minimal looking. Carbon Fiber is a very forgiving inlay because it conforms very easily and bends tightly like a dream. It also adds stiffness better than any other inlay. Some luthiers would say "Well how do you get the plate off if you need to do a repair." My answer is "The same way you would take a plate off a guitar with binding - very carefully." The nice thing about my design is that if something catastrophic (crack across the grain) were to happen to the sound plates and they had to be taken off I just trim them off with a dremel and trim to the original opening, then rerout the rabit and make and fit a new plate. It is much easier then trying to preserve a traditional guitar's binding.

After the top curve is defined the back side is carved out and graduated. I do this with my homemade overhead trim router which works very accurately and quickly. If you look close at the 3rd picture you can see the different levels that I have routed to. Generally speaking the middle of the plate is 1/4" thick then a little farther out is an area 3/16" thick and then the outer area is around 1/8" thick. This is where things get really fussy and deadnuts accurate.

How do you voice a plate? Hmmm...with your intuitive, a basic understanding of structural engineering, some physics and a little acoustic vibration science.
When I carve the top plate I use my intuitive and my luthiers eye. I look for the way the plate curve looks and the only considerations are the relationship of the neck angle, scale length and the height of the curve where the bridge is. There is just a small amount of critical geometry but mostly it's by eye - at least that is my approach.

The back carving is much more critical. I think about the equation Force = Mass(Acceleration) F=MA. This equation simply proves that the lighter the instrument the more responsive it will become. One of my themes for this guitar is to save weight everywhere I can. I have taken 1 oz off my tailpiece design, saved a few ozs using a Basswood heel for my neck, saved 1.5 oz and added strength in the neck by laying in Spruce struts, saved about 5oz using lighter tuners and about 9 ozs using Basswood as my glue surface in the rim along with a lighter second layer of carbon fiber and thinning the rim's wood thickness down. 19 ozs of weight savings! That is a major achievement. I predicted a strung weight of 5 lbs 9 ozs for Vicky and I am right on target. By going through this exercise of saving weight I have gained a tremendous amount of insight on my design. I already have ideas for the next guitar where to save weight and how to balance the guitar in the players lap.

Carving the graduations, adding the bracing and tap tuning is what the luthier should never become complacent about. I have strong themes with this part of the guitar and have reflected not only on my own notes but also the science behind frequency vibrations and the relationship between bracing, string tension, vibration dispersal and structural integrity. In a nut shell higher frequencies will vibrate something stiffer and lighter or both and lower frequencies will vibrate something less stiff or heavier or both. This is written about in an article by Jim Blilie in the most recent American Luthierie quarterly.

I have to find a balance when carving the top and bracing. To simplify I have a wider recurve area (less stiff) on the bass side but with heavier bracing - not stiffer bracing - wider for more mass. On the treble side I have a thinner recurve area (more stiff) and will use lighter stiffer bracing. My goal is to get a nice even balance between bass and treble with clear string separation. Archtop guitars do not have the same kind of bass response as a flat top guitar. I want to get close to it without losing the punch the archtop is known for.

More to come...