Here's Paul Newson, mandolin maker extroardinaire:
He hand carves each instrument. He prefers to work entirely freehand, so he can make design changes freely, and can make lots of special custom instruments to order.
He showed how quickly and surely he works with hand tools to graduate a mandola top:
This mandola is going to be in the shape of a tiny guitar!
Talk about guts! Here he roughs out the inside of a back, using a Makita grinder with a "chainsaw" wood carving blade:
That's the same blade the roadside woodcarvers use to make Bigfoot carvings on the Redwood Highway. This thing really spits out the chips!
Tim Scheerhorn gave us an entire day of resophonic guitar setup technique:
He carefully levels the feet of a Dobro spider, and fits an ebony topped saddle:
I was duly impressed with the tonal improvement his setup techniques make:
You can bet I'll be using a bunch of his little tricks!
T.J.Thompson is a fingerstyle guitar builder who's best known for his work in restoring Martin guitars from the classic period around 1930:
He discussed his work in great detail, and gave us all a lot to think about!
Tom Murphy is tops in the field of vintage solid body finish work:
He went through the entire process of refinishing a Gibson Les Paul in the elusive "TV Yellow" lacquer. He even showed his technique for matching the peculiar finish cracks that appear on the vintage lacquered instruments.
All in all, this seminar was a real energy boost for me. I came home charged up with all manner of new tricks and technique. I think that those of us who instructed may have learned as much or more than the "students!"