View to the South

And here we turn back away from those north-facing windows and see  how the south part of the assembly area is shaping up. This area will be plate joining, inlay, bracing and brace carving. The open box facing north will hold our binding selection and double as a go-bar deck for gluing braces to top and back plates.

And the other corner of this room, where the rim assembly takes place. You can just see our molds and forms being housed in their new home:

And a few weeks later, we've moved in wood, more tools, and we're really starting to enjoy the new work environment. Drop by some time and get a tour!

More on the Shop

Apologies for the long absence. My PC quit talking to Blogspot, so I'm trying to learn how to do all this on an iPad. We'll see if old dogs can learn a new trick or two. I would like to show the progress we have made on our new shop. Here is the north east corner, and the first work bench for this area. Ryan is crouched in full work mode off to the right:

And with the second bench for this area, the space is nearly finished.  We are discovering that it is one thing to build a new building. It is quite another to make it fully functional.  But we're getting there, and with each step comes more encouragement!

And a view of the north west corner, or our "clean room". It gets carpet on the floor, because no dust will be made here. This room is for final setup, and such repairs as come in. Not long after this photo, we carpeted the benches to protect the guitar's finish. It is beginning to be usable!

New Sander...

...Or how to handle a crate weighing over 500 pounds
Here's the box sitting in our truck bed. This is as far as the carrier would deliver:

How to get this inside? Disassemble the crate...maybe the tool can be taken out in pieces?

Afraid not, it's all in one piece. Could we levitate?

In the end, decided to build a ramp:

And now we know how the Pyramid Builders felt:

In position! In the background our old Performax is blushing, now being upstaged by this Delta double-drum wonder. Now all we need is some duct work to the dust collector, and we're good to go!

Trim Work

Shop work has been fun lately, due to the completed appearance of things.
It's a bit like applying bindings on a guitar. Finishing touches are always rewarding.
For instance, just look at this trim carpenter...doesn't he look happy?

And here is some of his work:

This is the front door area, and the French door to the left opens to our "clean room".
Clean--as in only finished instruments allowed.

And the north bank of our assembly area:

Now for benches, work tables, tools, jigs and fixtures.
I almost hate to mess this up. It probably will never be this clean again...