george wilson
04-04-2009, 11:45 PM
This collage of inlay and carving are another of my apprentice's photographs.The soundhole rose,and peghead inlay are from a fully inlaid guitar that regretfully I never made pictures of. It was all black and white. The peghead inlaid work is ivory,later detailed by engraving,with an abalone floral group that would later be detailed by engraving and filling black lines to separate the flowers. This is actually the full thickness peghead,not yet attached to the neck. The top piece is missing as of yet on the guitar's peghead. The edge of the peghead shows the type of chiseled mouldings that the marquetry guitar previously posted had similarly.It was not sawn,but chiseled on accurately,with very little filing or sanding later on. What you can't see is that the thickness of the decorative edge of the peghead is black and white stacked veneers the full depth of the peghead.
I had to scan this 12X 14" picture twice to get it all in. The rosette is 3 dimensional,like the other guitar,and has individually inset ivory squares meeting on edge,as does the other guitar. the larger ivory pieces are sawn out,but only approximately laid in place.
The black lute neck with engraved and inlaid wood is from a lute still in progress,which I still have,and will eventually post after I can make decent photographs of it.There is a little ivory nymph flying along the vine if you look. You cannot see that there is another,male nymph flying along another vine elsewhere,seeking her.
The carved maple piece is missing 2 leaves,but is actually what got me the job. It is about 10" long. I did not have much significant work on hand,since I had sold finished instruments.When Earl Soles contacted me to come for an interview, he said he wanted instruments made,not to hire a maker. I wanted to bring my wife. He said I could,but I'd have to buy her food. I agreed.After he saw the work,he said that they would pay for her food too. I thought that was funny,and transparent. I sat down at the kitchen table at night after teaching school,and carved this back for a lute peghead from curly maple. I only used my 12 piece set of small sized Marples carving tools,a bench knife,and a jeweler's saw to work with on this carving. There were 2 weeks before the interview.
Earl turned out to be the director who got more excited than any other since then over a nice piece of work. He saw what I was capable of in this one carving. Nearly a year later,he called me and offered me a job.I thought the whole thing had blown over,and had to go embarrassed to the superintendent of schools,and tell him I had a job offer I couldn't refuse. He was happy for me,and told me to come back if things didn't work out.
The ivory object with a little angel holding up the roller,is called a rider. The first string of lutes was very thin gut,easily broken. It was called a miniken(the string). This ivory piece,usually wood, was glued near the top of the bent back peghead to keep the first string from going over the nut at too steep an angle,and breaking from the friction when the string was tuned. You will see how this works when I show the lute another day.
The lute neck is joined to the body by a sliding dovetail much like some of Jameel's oud necks. Indeed,the lute was the European interpretation of the oud,though very bright sounding.I hope you enjoy seeing this.Keep clicking to enlarge the photos.
I had to scan this 12X 14" picture twice to get it all in. The rosette is 3 dimensional,like the other guitar,and has individually inset ivory squares meeting on edge,as does the other guitar. the larger ivory pieces are sawn out,but only approximately laid in place.
The black lute neck with engraved and inlaid wood is from a lute still in progress,which I still have,and will eventually post after I can make decent photographs of it.There is a little ivory nymph flying along the vine if you look. You cannot see that there is another,male nymph flying along another vine elsewhere,seeking her.
The carved maple piece is missing 2 leaves,but is actually what got me the job. It is about 10" long. I did not have much significant work on hand,since I had sold finished instruments.When Earl Soles contacted me to come for an interview, he said he wanted instruments made,not to hire a maker. I wanted to bring my wife. He said I could,but I'd have to buy her food. I agreed.After he saw the work,he said that they would pay for her food too. I thought that was funny,and transparent. I sat down at the kitchen table at night after teaching school,and carved this back for a lute peghead from curly maple. I only used my 12 piece set of small sized Marples carving tools,a bench knife,and a jeweler's saw to work with on this carving. There were 2 weeks before the interview.
Earl turned out to be the director who got more excited than any other since then over a nice piece of work. He saw what I was capable of in this one carving. Nearly a year later,he called me and offered me a job.I thought the whole thing had blown over,and had to go embarrassed to the superintendent of schools,and tell him I had a job offer I couldn't refuse. He was happy for me,and told me to come back if things didn't work out.
The ivory object with a little angel holding up the roller,is called a rider. The first string of lutes was very thin gut,easily broken. It was called a miniken(the string). This ivory piece,usually wood, was glued near the top of the bent back peghead to keep the first string from going over the nut at too steep an angle,and breaking from the friction when the string was tuned. You will see how this works when I show the lute another day.
The lute neck is joined to the body by a sliding dovetail much like some of Jameel's oud necks. Indeed,the lute was the European interpretation of the oud,though very bright sounding.I hope you enjoy seeing this.Keep clicking to enlarge the photos.