Campanella Strings

News

2007-07-29T16:39:00.000-04:00

Blah, blah, blog...It's been a while, and in the next few days I'll be posting pics and notes from my work
and travels and the places where they meet...
Tree, Juni and I spent part of April in Italy, including Firenze, Venezia, and Cremona, where I enjoyed learning Italian, meeting some friendly violinmakers, collectors and experts, as well as food, wine etc. Oh yes, and art, inspiration, architecture, lines, design, aesthetic and friendly people all combined to form an irresistable spell.

Grazie tanto a tutti nuove amici Italiano. Era un molto buon viaggio en la sua paese--bella, vero.
Salve a tutti liutai che me ha aiuto, e bravo per buon lavoro--Winifred Meyer, la familigia Vettori di Firenze, Artemio Versari, Bernard Neumann, Boutrous Bishara, Bruce Carlson, Bernabeu Borja, Alessandra Pedota e anche tutti che me ha dimenticare. Pace!

Also, I recently visited Lawrence Smart and many old friends in McCall, Idaho. I'm always impressed with Lawrence's prolific and clean workmanship, and appreciate his willingness (still) to put up with my
questions. Lawrence recently completed his second matched quartet for which he ought be roundly
congratulated. He sent me off with a piece of Englemann Spruce from a tree that I had helped cut up when
working with him. A bit of a puzzle, this piece (may) contain two tops and has a both a pitch pocket and a knot to be dodged deep in it's beautiful grain and straight split. Am I to take example and heart from the 300 year
old violins with knots in their tops, or try to come up with one perfectly clear top? Can an instrument
contain both beauty and imperfection and be served by both? For now, the wood takes its place in the pile, keeping its secrets to itself.

Shop news: I've completed a run of Due models (2 points) and another of A's with more A's in the works. Violins are also on the burner as I assimilate some of what I learned in Italy. I'm also working on several custom variations on my main models as well as the next generation of La Campanella--my F-5/Violin inspired model. I'm also turning some of my thoughts to a possible archtop guitar model based on these construction techinques and visions of 'dolas and 'cellos are still making their way from the drawing board out into the light. I'll drag the camera out to the shop one of these days and give a little tour soon, and hope to post some more
pictures when I get the chance.

Someone Else's Notebook

2006-12-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

Check out this guy's site...he's posting from his Moleskine notebook...oui, my preferred brand book too.
It's an interesting view into someone's creative life. Also, he's got a short animated film too.

Another Year

2006-12-11T22:33:00.000-05:00

Hello. It's december, and what do you know, my notebook is running out of pages. That's how I know another year's gone by.
This night I harken back to another dark December night ten years ago at 412 Griffin Ave. in Williamsburg, VA...I wrote..."Here's an idea...get an apprenticeship with a mandolin builder..."
It was shuffled in among grocery lists (oatmeal, bananas, beer) schedules and other miscellany, but kept bubbling to the top of my mind as graduation approached, inexorably.
Wow...Ten years later, my lutherie dream and career has...just begun.
I've completed my training in two stages, and now have my own shop (yes the blog shop tour is long overdue). I've designed a new style of mandolin that I intend to refine and promote, and the music is being played, yes it is...
I am honored to have the chance to experience music in this way, and to change it in a subtle yet important manner.
Thank you all, who have been involved in this in some way.

Nashville, TN

2005-10-28T23:26:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a while, and I don't rightly know if anyone is even reading this blog anymore. I'm in Nashville for IBMA and am just taking a little break from the bluegrass, old time and country mayhem of this event. I took in a little telecaster picking tonight on Broadway, and am heading out to pick some tunes myself. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by the booth and checked out my mandos and fiddles. I'll be back in Vermont on Sunday.
adios,
J

Concert Pictures

2005-08-23T22:05:00.000-04:00

Guests of Honor in the front row: John Moroz, Tree Cleary, Aunt Roddy, Uncle Bill.

A few words...

Music! Jamie Masefield did a great job arranging a variety of solo music, representing different styles, techniques and tone color. At this point the instrument had been strung up for about 50 hours, and spoke with a full voice, reaching the back of the crowded room with ease.

A short slide show which included many photos from this blog, and a few others. More or less, "How I made this mandolin."

Standing room only at the Firehouse Gallery (final count: 130). So many friends and family. It felt simply amazing.

Jamie and I picked a couple of tunes together at the end. What a guy!

Out of my hands now...

2005-08-16T23:06:00.000-04:00

It's up to Jamie to breathe some music into the grant instrument now. I feel like I just gave up a baby for adoption. Actually, it'll be back on Thursday after the concert. I've been trying to hold back on gushing on about sound and tone and volume and stuff, and I'll admit it's getting hard. Sound is difficult stuff to put into words so I won't try to cram it into the blogosphere. Here are some pics that are worth a thousand words--mostly, "I'm done!".

Concert Handbill

2005-08-16T23:01:00.000-04:00

Here's the handbill and poster design I came up with. The f-hole was originally pen and ink, using a really large "steel brush" type nib. I drew about 30 of 'em and picked this one.

Varnishing

2005-08-11T22:02:00.000-04:00

Well I've been at it since Saturday, and things are starting to shape up and the color is done. Tomorrow afternoon or evening I'll give it a coat of clear copal varnish and let it dry until it's time to set up, a few days. I've made an ebony pickguard in the meantime and worked on concert details. Jamie came to the shop on Monday to pick up an instrument to practice on and we took a walk down to the Firehouse Gallery. This is why I love working downtown--lunch, unconventional music venues, the post office and warm weather wackos all within spitting distance of Church St. But I digress. The Point is...it sounded great! A little bouncy/reverby, but it'll be soaked up by the audience. It's one of those great spaces for solo music, like a dorm stairwell or train station, where the notes last a little bit and the space in between is delicious.
These pics were taken with my new camera, though I haven't yet unleashed all 5.1 million pixels at once yet.

waiting for the new camera...but...

2005-08-10T08:50:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd back-post some pics that weren't included from previous tasks. Here are a few from last week:

beyond the big push

2005-08-09T15:27:00.000-04:00

On Saturday afternoon I began varnishing the instrument after five very full days of completing the white work. Needless to say, I was beat-tired and ecstatic all at once. I set out directly for the Champlain Valley Folk Festival to show some other instruments, and had a great weekend, the highlight of which was a pretty free-form jam with Rashaad Eggleston, Larry Unger, Jeremiah McClane and some other folks. It was a perfect musical ending to my week of intense work. Late Friday night, I discovered that my HP Photosmart camera, which has served me and this project so well had up and died on the tripod, lens hanging out like a tired dog's tongue. So, therefore no new pics since then. Before it died, however, I got this self portrait of a late night break from neck setting.
HP is sending me a replacement w/in 24hrs, so I hope to show the varnish process, though I'm now getting to the color-stage: looking good.

Getting Close...

2005-08-05T08:48:00.000-04:00

...to a coat of varnish on this sucker. I've been loathe to put down my tools and aim the camera, but am trying to remember to do so now and again. Last night and the night before I worked 'til 2:00am (my new quitting time) in order to start varnish by the weekend. Yesterday I shaped braces, glued the top, bent and glued back linings, profiled the headstock and drilled for tuners, shaped and glued the fingerboard, inlaid the headstock and side dots, graduated the back, flattened the rib structure (new linings) and probably did a few things my muddled mind has blocked. Suffice it to say it was quite productive...

essential tools of the trade, plus coffee!

2005-07-31T22:09:00.000-04:00

Another trick John taught me. Your average everyday coffee-mug-heater-gizmo is a great glue pot heater. For the glue pot, that creamer server you never use...
I go to Jamba's Junktiques for all of my kitchen-utensil-lutherie needs. It's close and perfectly packed with stuff. This may be a bit off-topic, but the coffee mug shot made me think about a blog I saw about coffee (follow the title link).

Arched, Purfled, Rough graduated...

2005-07-31T21:53:00.000-04:00

Things are starting to move quickly, and sometimes more quickly than I can think to reach for my camera, which is why the the profiling, edge thicknessing, purfling slot cutting and channeling were left out of this sequence.

There is nothing quite like cutting through spruce with an arching gouge during the rough arching. Though he know it well, I always tell John (Moroz) that it's my favorite part. You can model the arch rather quickly in the soft spruce, and the the tool makes a satisfying sound as it unzips another curl destined for the workshop floor rather than the mandolin top.

Inside the scroll

2005-07-26T21:50:00.000-04:00

I like the foreground/background ambiguity here. Ok, light is important, and being able to see the bandsaw kerf marks means I can get rid of 'em--with an incannel gouge for the concave surface (below) and a regular outcannel gouge for the "eye" of the scroll.

All done. Don't underestimate the power of a sharp tool. some folks might use files and sanding sticks but I feel like the biggest sharpest tool you can get away with=efficiency and a clean look.

Rib Structure

2005-07-26T21:31:00.000-04:00

The ribs are bent on a hot bending iron and glued to the shaped blocks. After gluing in the top linings, the ribs are flattened using a glass plate and chalk, which marks the high spots, which are then planed until the ribs resemble the glass (which is to say, flat). This is one of the coolest low tech techniques we use in the shop. The key is a very sharp plane (or you could break the rib) and a bit of patience. I've also shaped the inside of the scroll here.

a good day...

2005-07-20T01:22:00.000-04:00

...is a productive one.
I inlaid the carbon fiber reinforcement to the neck and added headstock "wings".
Joined the back. Bent ribs and glued linings.
And...I cleaned off my workbench.

My site is up!

2005-07-19T20:07:00.000-04:00

Ok folks, it's here....
http://www.campanellastrings.com
Check it out!
Extry Special Thanks to Mike Deutsch for making it happen!

Blocks Set and top Joined

2005-07-18T08:35:00.001-04:00

I've gotten into the heavy woodworking stage of the grant instrument, such as it is. I've planed and joined the Englemann Spruce top and set the willow blocks onto the mold. I've already cut and thicknessed some rib stock and plan on scraping the toothed plane marks and bending ribs sometime today. Design-wise, I'm getting close but need to make the final decision on some major things: Tuners and Tailpiece. How far do I go? I'm hoping to test the feasibility of using planetary (geared) pegs for a traditional look but with a familiar ratio. On the tailpiece, can I use a violin-style gut (or Titanium cable) and floating tailpiece? It might take ball end strings and a wood/carbon/wood laminate TP for strength and feasibility. It's my chance to make these changes and see the results...

Fiddle in the Sun

2005-07-15T13:16:00.000-04:00

Varnish Makin' Time in Vermont

2005-07-13T23:28:00.000-04:00

And y'all thought we just boil maple sap...I'm posting after a quick run to the shop to paint a bit of varnish on a violin I've been finishing. In the past 3 weeks, I've succeeded in making my own oil varnish. It's quite the process, involving cooking linseed (flax) oil with natural resins. The fiddle hangs to dry in the sun (it's been a sunny summer here in Vermont) or in a UV light cabinet. I've also made my own madder lake, a red pigment from the root of the madder plant. So far so good, but time consuming. The months of research are starting to pay off in a beautiful film of dried resin and oil.

Quote of the day: "Perfect painting is imperfectly transcendental."--James Elkins.

2005-06-27T19:04:00.000-04:00

Welcome

2005-06-27T18:32:00.000-04:00

Hello folks, and welcome to my blog, a place for news and notes from my workshop. Take a look around to see what I've been working on and especially to watch progress on the mandolin I am building this summer under funding from the Vermont Arts Council. Thanks for visiting, and please leave a note