Photos and videos of new fiddle.

So, here it is. Just 2 days old. It still stinks very badly of varnish. It will slowly dry and the smell will be less but it takes months.
It plays surprisingly well already, with a good balance and a strong tone.

And 3 videos

a homemade soundhole rosette router

So, here´s another little homemade tool that has been with me since guitar number 1 and hopefully it´ll stay forever.
Its made out of clear vinyl or plastic, 4 bolts with nuts and some araldit epoxy glue. Its run by a chinese made dremmel copy which has also been with me since guitar number 1

Here you see it in use with a soundhole cutting bit.

Guitars 113 - 115 on their way

I started building these 3 guitars a month ago. In between the building of the fiddle. Now everything will go faster and I hope they will be finished some day in March. The guitars are from the left:
a 2A blanca, A 1A blanca and a 1A Negra.

Another hot pipe with two uses

Ok, another hot pipe, this one for violins. 
I cannot take it apart, but here´s the description. 25mm steelpipe. A 5€ chineese soldering iron 40W (maybe 60w I cant remember) which i took apart with a hammer. Some copper wire left over from a boat building project tied around the soldering irons heating element untill its thick enough to touch the inside of the pipe.. 
Stuff it all into the pipe and jam in some aluminium paper with a blunt screwdriver to fill it up and make sure the cord doesnt touch the iron pipe. It takes some 10 minuts to make and it works flawless. But remember to remove rust with a bit of steelwool before using it. 

Another use of the violin bending iron and this is from today. 
A heating element for a small drying cabinet, where my latest creation is waiting for its turn. 
It keeps a steady 22 - 24 celcius and 50 - 55% Rh 

A cheap bending iron

I can remember when i started to build I found that the list of tools was overwhelming. I started up with very few tools and still dont have many. The traditional Spanish working method doesnt require a big tool park. 
I made some tools back then, because i couldnt build without and because my money wasnt for buying. So I will slowly upload pictures of those who been in use and have proven to work. 
So first a bending iron. All metal and wood is container scratch. Stainless steel tube and some alu pieces. Bulb is 100W. I made it for my first build and its still in use. I have a homemade sidebender (that´ll com up later) but i still use the pipe for some things. here you see it in use for bending strips for the rosettes and i also use it for final bending cypress sides. You can have the most advanced sidebending machine that can be bought for money but it wont change the fact that cypress has a lot of springback. So much that I final bend on the pipe while assembling. You can build without doing so, by simply using a lot of clamps to force the sides into the building jig, but IMHO, this only creates a lot of stress in the guitar and i strongly believe that the more stress free you can build the better. 
And that said, you dont need anything else in order to bend sides. Bending machines are only for comfort and time saving. 

fiddle starting to get color

first varnish layer on fiddle.

The first layer makes the figuring of the mapple shop up.

A Hornpipe on the raw fiddle/violin

I forgot to take photos of the finished fiddle/violin. But here you have a Hornpipe before starting the varnishing of the instrument.

before finishing the neck

Gluing the stick on the box

I like this photo. I like diagonal lines and angles. And this photo is full of that