Wilson Burnham Guitars

Gauges are tools for producing lines upon the surface of wood, parallel with the edge they are used upon. George Ellis, Modern Practical Joinery , 1902 I started making this gauge about a year ago, it was a rainy day project that I didn't finish until today, thus it became a snow flurry day project. The fence and arm are walnut, the wedge is made from a 20 year old piece of ebony, the cutter was taken from a purfling cutter that I abandoned long ago. I need to reshape the cutter's end from a knife point to a v-point, that tends to work better for cutting veneer into purfling strips. There is another marking/cutting gauge on the tool shelf that is the standard "go to" gauge, but I wanted another gauge just for cutting veneer. Here is my quiver of gauges, from left to right: the newest gauge, the day to day gauge, a double arm mortise gauge and a pin gauge. The mortise and pin gauges were made from Claro walnut harvested near my parents home in Northea

You can bring the surface to a smooth sheen by rubbing the wood, with the grain, using a handful of dry spokeshave shavings - before you scoff at the idea, try it. Drew Langsner, The Chairmaker's Workshop , 1997 The other day I consigned a cedar/Indian rosewood guitar at a guitar shop of a fairly well known guitar maker. He liked my guitars and said that I was doing "a really good job in making them", but he criticized my use of French polish. He said "Shellac scratches too easily and it doesn't hold up well." He took one of his custom guitars off a wall hanger and showed it to me. "Here, the way you should go is UV cured catalyzed polyester! You can finish a guitar in a day!" he boasted, "however, you have to wear a hazmat suit to enter the spray booth" "Why would I do that?" I asked, "I have a very tiny shop and I am trying to be safe and green!" "It's the finish we like to see these days! Looks

To whoever invented fantasy, redwood trees, and apple pie for breakfast: well done. Dr. SunWolf, professor, Santa Clara University This guitar, redwood/East Indian rosewood, is based upon a guitar that was made in the shop of Manuel Hernandez and Victoriano Aguado in 1963. It is a little bigger bodied than the 1961 HyA style guitar that I usually make, I wanted to see if there is a difference in sound between a guitar with an eighteen and seven-eights inch body and a guitar with a nineteen inch body length. I know that is only an 1/8 of an inch difference, but I have heard guitar makers and players alike swear up and down that a larger bodied guitar, even an eighth of an inch bigger, is bigger and better sounding. The top bracing is based on one used by Jesus Belezar, Manuel Hernandez's son-in-law, except I added one more bass brace. I decided to use only three braces on the back, sometimes Hernandez and Aguado used four braces. Four braces tends to give the back a h