MeyerFittings

The Gibson seizure was not connected tp Brazilian rosewood. It had to do with rosewood and ebony from India, and whether they were legally obtained and imported from plantation grown sources. Brazilian (dalbergia nigra) has been on the CITES 1 list of restriction since 1991 and has not been used by any large guitar factory since then. Indian rosewood is not currently restricted by CITES but needs proper paperwork for export. I have been working with USFW for permits to sell my pernambuco and Brazilian rosewood that was proven to be obtained before their CITES classifications. Having some experience with guitar making and bow making I can't see rosewood as a good bow material but I could see pau brazil as a decent guitar body.

Jim, thank You. Boyd was more than good, he was wonderfull. I live in Oregon also. By the time I learned that he was in Sisters, he was gone. I drove MOW for 15 years in Portland. I know how close you can get.

You can darken ivory with tea. Try it first on a spare piece and see if you like it better.

As true americana, Do we need to mention the notion "coyote ugly"?

Boyd Poulsen has passed. He helped many aspiring Luthiers on their professional journey. His life was eventful and inspiring and he was an incredibly good man. A violin maker, a bow maker, and a teacher, he was also a lot of fun to be around. His Jazz past includes a stint playing bass in Elvis's back up band in one of his movies. I loved kidding him about that. He was a docent in the Sequoia National Park and an expert in botany. It breaks my heart to think he isn't around.

I cut off the extra on 4 tp blanks and dropped them in water. One said England on it and one said France. Another was a piece from Salonika that Bill Watson gave me from the old Hill shop. Only one sunk and it was none of those. So I gather that the tree itself determines the density of the wood. As you surely know, what passes for boxwood these days is sporadic at best. I haven't tried giugulo which Strad used. Perhaps Eric Fouilhe will see this and enlighten us.

The floating question had to do with mesquite. Wood that floats had a density of less than !.00. Pernambuco density hovers around this floating point. A chinrest, if strong enough structurally doesn't need to be a "sinker" but, to put up with tuning dynamics, I think the pegs should be. Tailpiece? Don't know.

Does it float? I'll try it, I've got some.

Those woods may be hard enough for chinrests but not for pegs. Rosewood is barely hard enough IMHO.

I'll be going to the VSA Convention in Anaheim with 50 sticks to sell. All are pre-CITIES and will have docs. I don't know if the USFW will get them to me in time for the trip but they are coming and I have paid for them. Prices will depend on quality and or Lucci reading.

Minwax makes two oil finishes you could use. Antique Oil, and Poly (something).

Attend one day but go to the bar another night and talk to people.

No one sells them. You have to grind them. I eventually made a jig it took a long time to figure it all out and you break a lot of them doing it. You'd certainly rather break the peg than the cutter. Anything a little off or not on the same plane and you'll be making another one soon. After a marvelous tour of Eric Fouille's shop in France, where all his employees came in on a Holliday to meet me, I asked him to show me the first tool he ever made to make the heart cut. He smiled and rummaged around in an old tool chest and found it. I almost fell over laughing. It looked just like the one that I came up with. Great guy- and he looks like Eric Clapton too.

I only use a chisel to hog off wood on the concave "French" style cello pegs. I do this mostly because it's fun. David is right about the router bit, the router being mounted to the underside of a table. I use various means to remove the majority of the wood including the band saw and the dowel mounted in the lathe pictured above. Everything gets the final treatment with files and paper though.