Here is the guitar in yesterday’s item with binding taped in place. The ebony binding on this MS model is shaped to the guitar before being fitted, but even so can resist being pulled into place. Hence the need for so much tape. Maple binding is more co-operative, and plastic binding is easier still to fit.

Because I don’t shellac the soundboard before taping the binding in place I’ll remove the tape carefully using a solvent to soften the adhesive.

When the tape is removed the binding stands proud and has excess glue around it. Next I’ll scrape and sand it flush with the body before scraping and sanding the back and sides. The shellac coating will help me see areas sanded and areas still requiring sanding.

The soundboard will be sanded smooth at a later stage.

I now fit solid linings to all instruments. These are neater and more rigid than kerfed linings, though fitting them takes a little longer.

Linings are the strips running round top and bottom of the sides which give a greater gluing area when gluing on the soundboard and back.

I clamp these linings in place with strong steel spring clamps before sanding smooth. I then notch them to receive soundboard and back braces.

Before fitting the binding I coat the back and sides (though not soundboard) of the body with shellac lacquer. So when I tape the binding in place (while the glue dries), I can later remove the tape without it pulling out fragments of wood. I use a solvent to soften the tape adhesive when removing it from the soundboard.

The lacquer also shows where I have and have not sanded during later sanding, and acts as a partial grain-filler before final lacquering.

Museum piece…

…playing early octave mandolin

Billy Mol bought his octave mandolin from me in 1978. It’s unbound with simple violin type purfling around the sound-board and has a steel re-inforced neck instead of an adjustable truss-rod – hence the lack of a truss-rod cover.

It’s in outstanding condition, sounds lovely, and the neck has stayed absolutely straight. Billy brought me the cittern and his 1982 mandolin to have Highlander pickups fitted.

I like to see such early instruments doing well.

Yesterday I got together with guitarists Martin Simpson and Michael Watts to show them two new guitars. One was a shallow bodied MS model with African Blackwood back and sides and a Wenge neck. The other was a Cuban mahogany bodied NW model, also with a Wenge neck. I took along a standard MS for comparison.

Here they are, Michael with the New World and Martin with the two MS models.

Martin admiring nude female inlay on guitar headstock. Only joking.

I’m now back from a few weeks in Australia. While away I picked up and answered some emails but wasn’t able to receive them all. And I came home to a very unco-operative computer which wouldn’t connect to the internet or email system.

While I’m now back on line (thanks to Jason) I believe I’ll have missed at least some messages. If you’e tried to email me but had your message bounced back, or if you’ve sent an email I haven’t replied to, please try again.

At Melbourne airport with Liz, saying goodbye to son, new grandson and daughter-in-law (behind camera).

The Rowan berries were right. This has been a long hard winter, snow and low temperatures from mid December. And it’s been snowing again today.

Tim Jones visited me a couple of weeks ago, bringing the mandolin he bought from my ‘available now’ web page. It’s very early, around 1976, and in remarkable condition. Tim brought it for me to check and see if it required work, but it was perfect in every way. It hadn’t been played much but I think it will be from now on.

Here is Tim with his mandolin.

The two citterns shown on 6th October are back from the spray booth. David’s finishing has always been the best, but he’s now using newly available polishing soap and mops which give even more shine.

Acoustic Music Company in Brighton

Last week I travelled round my wood suppliers in the south of England and also visited the Acoustic Music Company in Brighton. Run by Trevor Moyle, along with with shop manager and outstanding guitarist Michael Watts, they import and stock the best of American luthier built mandolins and guitars. Musicians (and makers like me) are able to see, play and hear guitars we’ve previously only heard of.

Trevor and Michael are welcoming and patient. I spent half a day looking at guitars and listening to Michael demonstrate them. I took with me my latest Douglas Fir and African Blackwood New World model; it was fascinating to hear Michael playing it alongside other guitars.

This year’s Rowan berries are the brightest and most plentiful I can remember. Folklore says this is a sign of a hard winter to come.

Over the last week I’ve been reminded about the importance of oiling ebony fingerboards.

Ebony is a very dry wood which can readily absorb moisture from (and lose moisture to) the atmosphere. When this happens the ebony can expand or shrink more than the neck wood and thus bend it back or pull it forward. Much as a bi-metal strip bends at different temperatures.

The problem can be solved by oiling the fingerboard. This gives it a water resistant layer which inhibits the take-up or loss of moisture.

For many years I used lemon oil for this, but the latest acid-catalyst lacquer is not resistant to it, as were earlier versions.

If you were lucky enough to obtain a bottle of Squirroil (the manufacturers of which seem to have disappeared), this is ideal. Otherwise I use walnut oil, a light oil which penetrates the ebony to some extent. I would also expect proprietory brands of guitar fingerboard oil to be effective.

Rosewood contains more oil, so should not be as likely to suffer this problem. Not that oiling rosewood fingerboards can do any harm.

This issue re-surfaced a week or so ago when a guitarist in the south of France called and said that after over a year of a completely stable neck, it had pulled back to the point of serious string buzz. This was just after the start of a period of heavy rain and humidity.

While adjusting the truss rod solved his problem, another change in atmospheric humidity would almost certainly require him to reverse this adjustment. Proofing the fingerboard on a regular basis should be a better long term solution.