Members Freeman Keller Posted October 11, 2017 Members Share Posted October 11, 2017 How often does a guitarron come across your work bench? How about two guitarrons? Three? What is a guitarron, you say. Its the bass guitar played in Mariachi music, tuned A1 to A2 (the 5th string on a guitar is A2). They are huge things, but are feather light and fragile as an egg shell. We have a very active Mariachi music program in our local high school, but sometimes the kids are kind of hard on the instruments. Then they come visit me. In fact, three decided to visit me at the same time. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n32079954[/ATTACH] One of them is missing the bridge, one is split between the back and sides, the other has multiple cracks. I came up with a creative clamping scheme for the split one and once it was glued up I reinforced the seam with gauze tape [ATTACH=CONFIG]n32079955[/ATTACH] The cracks were pretty easy to fix, the sound hole is so big I can reach inside and do whatever needs to be done. The one with the detached bridge had some top damage, I was able to reinforce it and I think it will be OK [ATTACH=CONFIG]n32079956[/ATTACH] One minor problem, none of my clamps were big enough so I had to buy three new ones - 90 bucks for the clamps, I'll charge the school 30 for the repair (basic lutherie economics, by the time I've done 4 of these I'll be making money LOL) [ATTACH=CONFIG]n32079957[/ATTACH] One interesting bit about these and other Mariachi instruments, many of them are made by a company called Lucida, the label inside proudly proclaims "hand crafted in China". Think about that, Mexican music being played by US teenagers on traditional instruments made in China..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted October 12, 2017 Members Share Posted October 12, 2017 thx for sharing you mexican usa china reference made me laugh any build currently running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 12, 2017 Author Members Share Posted October 12, 2017 Nothing active right now - a couple of solid bodies cut out but not really working on them. A bunch of repair projects - replacing the binding on a 1970's Ibanez archtop that is kind of interesting - might post some pictures when that is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted October 12, 2017 Members Share Posted October 12, 2017 That's a big instrument, for sure. Maybe your next build can be a new workbench. I'm glad you see $90 worth of clamps as an investment. Hard to imagine me fixing one guitarron, let alone four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted October 13, 2017 Members Share Posted October 13, 2017 ... why did I have a picture of Chief Brady in my mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted October 13, 2017 Members Share Posted October 13, 2017 ... why did I have a picture of Chief Brady in my mind? ha ha same here .. edit ;it was actually Brody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted October 13, 2017 Members Share Posted October 13, 2017 I know the feeling about a bigger work bench. I have one that will hold one guitar nicely.However I have 2 amps on it right and there's nothing wrong with the amps either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Queequeg Posted October 17, 2017 Members Share Posted October 17, 2017 Freeman, your retirement years certainly haven't been idle. They've been as active as they are interesting. Good for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 17, 2017 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2017 Thanks Q, good to hear from you. I've been retired for almost 5 years now and I can honestly say they have been the best five years of my life. I loved what I did before, considered myself fairly good at it and wondered how I would live with out it. Let me tell you, I haven't missed it a bit. The whole lutherie trip has been a bit of a trip, I'm at 22 guitars, some of which have been commissioned by some pretty good players. I'm doing lots of repairs, often ones that a real luthier wouldn't consider like some of these Mariachi things. Last comment on the local Mariachi project - they just did a gig in Washington DC - here is a picture of them with the Speaker of the House. https://www.facebook.com/pg/WenatcheeHighSchoolMariachi/events/?ref=page_internal Unfortunately our POTUS didn't bother to hear them, but of course many are just Dreamers anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crustoleum Posted October 19, 2017 Members Share Posted October 19, 2017 I have a "guitar desk" , I keep "guitar stuff" in it , like strings , string winder , plectrums , polishing cloth , fret board oil/conditioner/polish , cords and small "patch cords" for linking sound effects things, extra power supplys , truss rod adjustment wrenches , standard an "Allen" hex wrenches , files for fret and nut work, sandpaper for bridge work , a couple packs of graphtech saddles , extra printer ink packs , extra mandolin strings and plectrums , various "adapters" some touch up paint and brushes , wood and super glue , various instruction manuals and "leaflets" , a couple of electric tuners , pitch pipes and tuning forks and my ocarina too Also ,recorder and "Indian" flues and harmonicas.Various batterys of varying sizes and voltages , battery chargers and a bunch of pennies Do you have a guitar stuff desk and.or "junk drawer" ? The thing is no beauty, but very functional and it works for me , quite well actually. I'm usually disorganized , a bit. Having a "junk drawer" helps organize the clutter , a bit what do you keep in your "junk drawer' ? besides "junk" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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