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I need a bigger work bench


Freeman Keller

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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.

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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)

 

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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.....

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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.

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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" :)

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