Stephen Faulk

Last year a few of you spoke about these dental magnifiers that are cheaper, made in China. I'm thinking of getting a pair and the budget is $125.00 ish any recommendations or vendors who have a good product in that price tier? Still working for you? example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5X-Medical-Loupe-Surgical-Binocular-Loupes-Dental-Magnifying-Glass-420mm-/281974286722

Here's how it looks under amber varnish. The varnish and wood is giving most color on the back, but the top was a built up of the persimmon and a slight rosewood tincture stain.

It seems to get darker over a period of a few days, tanins? And I have had samples sitting in the window and also in box on the non sunny side of the shop for months, neither faded. Of course the one in the sun was cooked darker.

I washed linseed oil 18 or 20 months ago with the Tad Spurgeon / Joe Robson instructions. Made nice linseed oil, been thickening jars. I used some for a project last month and poured a thick pool of oil in a dish and let it sit in the window for 6 weeks to see how it would dry. The oil dries and exhibits the alligator wrinkles that were mentioned, but it also shrinks as it dries, The meniscus, if you can call it that, dries faster and harder while the center dries slowly. Eventually the film on top dried and shrank, which left the soft oil in the deepest part of the pool trapped under an air tight 'lid'. The film on top shrank and then ripped, see the 'eye' shaped incident in the center of the dish. The edges around the wrinkled pool show evidence of stretching and shrinking, while the soft oil under the fattest remaining wrinkles is squishy and trapped. .

Interesting. I think there are several uses for persimmon. The sour persimmon makes a better stain, I'll make anther batch soon. The name for the stain/varnish it makes is Kaki Shibu. Fishermen used to make big vats of this crap an dip fishing nets in it to protect them from salt water. I can buy it at the store, but why spend 7 bucks on stinky product when you can waste three hours making stinky stuff????

Yes I agree with this and the expansion of oil as it initially dries is not the long term problem. The long term issue is flexibility; lean layers dry faster and harder, less flexible and fatter layers remain more flexible after they dry to the point they can be handled. The wrinkles in a plain layer of linseed oil in a deep pool are made because the flexibility of the whole pool changes at various depths. The top layer exposed to air dries and become stiffer and harder creating surface tension and shrinking which pulls at the edges of the pool. At the same time it acts as an air barrier to the oil in the deep areas of the pool and this remains more flexible. The fat over lean concept is used to allow under layers to dry to a less flexible and faster drying film so the fatter layers on top may dry more slowly over a stable firmer film. The other way around, lean over fat, the leaner film will grab the more flexible film and dry faster becoming less flexible, more stiff while pulling the fat layer with surface tension created by faster shrinking and quicker hardening. Add to that the state of the substrate, in this case thin wood, wood that can expand and contract with RH and by being wetted with different solvents. If the substrate moves then the best application is lean directly against the substrate, and fat over the lean. The idea is that lean layers are kept thinner in transparent applications, pigmented applications are another thing, and that fat layers can move easier if there is no harder less flexible lean cap or containing layer over the fat. The chemistry may in fact prove that oil layers swell up while they dry, but the practical working reason for fat over lean structure is not because of this. Over time the films shrink and must be layered so stiffer layers don't pull more flexible layers apart.

I think several fruits might do this, I can think of at least five Maestronet fruits who will try this.

I began a new topic, but this is continued from my old topic about Persimmon stain, I can't find it now. I finally used it on an instrument after several tests. It was made by leaving persimmons in a tightly covered bucket for five weeks and then filtering the sauce. That was fun. It washes on with swatch of cloth and dries fast. It changes the wood right away, but gets a bit darker in a day or two. Must have some mild chemical like tanic acid..I'm not sure. It does not raise the grain as much as water. It takes the edge off the raw wood color. Here i have used it on Englemann spruce, a species that is too chalky looking for me when it's raw.

An analogy : Take soft goose down pillow, put a sheet of thin glass on top of it. Sit on pillow. Glass breaks, ass bleeds.

I'm tempted to order it. I've interested the DSCH quartets since high school. The review is as long as the book. Question would be how does it stack up with a normal biography of Shostakovich? The way the reviewer describes the book it reminds me of the book called 'The Bach Suites' where suites are taken as a structure for telling a biography of Bach. Could be good, but sometimes these kind of woks get too speculative, which is fine if you know that going in and cross reference it with more standard sources to keep from confusing an overdetermined literary interpretation from established historical fact. You hope that historical accuracy is built in, but always check. Literary investigations of psychological and emotional states of mind of artists are fraught with problems. I like these kinds of literary works as long as they don't presume to ask you to believe them as gospel in terms of interpreting the artist or evaluating them psychologically based on the art. I have had conversations with friends who are shrinks who I've had to set straight on this. Those who advocate the making of art so the clinician can diagnose the problem or disturbance don;t in all cases have the awareness that the making of the art itself is part of the cure or the therapy. They may not be a person who really understands making art or music on multiple levels and thus confuse the art/music product not as a way for the patient to work through the problem, but as a diagnostic tool only. When I read these kinds if books I try to keep that in mind. The literary expansion of a theme of art as mirror of the inner self can get out of control rather quickly in the hands of an author who becomes seduced by the craftiness of their own writing. That is the only caveat I picked up to scan for from the way the reviewer described the text. But since it is published at Yale the editors are probably pretty good.

That is great,it looks like it was made from a vintage movie projector. Did you paint it white or did it get manufactured that way?

Yes I know,but David chastised me as feeble minded guitar maker for using wax in my shop. I may in fact be feeble minded, but I know better than to butter my glue joints with wax before gluing them. If you wax a coping saw blade you can even cut fairly thick sheet aluminium. I built a sheet aluminum model of a DC-3 aircraft that was about 7ft wingspan.

And risk David Burgess coming down on you like a screaming eagle for having wax within 500 yards of your shop..... LOL

Yeah the Chinese have a line of violins made by Raccoon workers. Ever heard of Trash Panda Strings?

So be it.

If you keep pressing I will pull Hebbert into this and he is a known expert on the Flying Tiger Cello Hump Gnawing School.

These kinds of specious attacks on the character of guitar makers are unfounded. I caution you, if need be I will release the full transcript of Nutria Trap scandal investigation which documents the forced labor of and illegal trade in nutria sex slaves. Nutria abuse is not a LAUGHING MATTER!

Tooth marks on pegs have been found to be human made by peg turning handles. Turning handles were used so as to keep the delicate gloved hands of gentry from being bruised. No doubt the handles themselves were hollowed by the deep narrow reach of Nutria teeth, and the bite pattern imprint in the peg turner was mechanically transferred to the peg. It is important to note the non direct origin of the bite marks and how they are created from negative impressions of Nutria teeth being mechanically forced into the peg by delicate gloved lady hands.

HAHAHAH Laughed hard. Igor make strong like Bull cutting violin plate. Win gold medal in plate cutting.

I use a janky 'C" shaped coping saw I bought at Ace hardware, it's not too big. The frame is 5" x 7" . It works fine and I don't find myself getting injured, only annoyed that it is not a band saw. I'm about half as fast as the band saw taken thoughtfully and carefully. I find good blades, not too fine, not too rough,good steel and really sharp. They seldom break, if you are breaking them buy beefer sharper blades. The frame is nothing the blades are everything. I can cut close to the line, but I use the medium or rough half round cabinet makers file to file up to the line. And smaller diameter file to get in tight radii. And sandpaper wrapped around dowels and various blocks to work right to the line and fair it out, or fine metal files. I use a slightly smaller Jewelers frame saw to cut small hardwood parts, the right blades are the key, not to rough, not too fine. My advise get a band saw. Not having one sucks royally. I only get by because I have skill, would rather have a band saw, or three.

I don't think was just lucky, this has been my experience with the majority of the work I do with international shipments. I have found the US to be be easy to deal with. The point I'm making is that the PPQ-505 was not needed for a non-commercial use instrument, an instrument not intended for resale at a dealer. But it may be a good idea to going forward fill out this form for wood parts you bring into the US. Or file the form electronically when the parts arrive. I'm relating this information for a few people I have had private conversations with who wanted clarity on whether or not the violin set up parts they stock should be something to worry about. I think it has to do with the scale and scope of your shop. If you are a big shop or a shop that has a lot of repair turnover chances are you already have a supplier that imports large quantities of goods via a commercial customs broker. The products bought through them are covered. The question was about importing a large quantity of parts yourself for a smaller independent shop. Should you worry about the parts you import for violin set up? When i filled out Japanese Customs export forms for this guitar I inadvertently checked the Commercial Shipment box instead of checking person to person regular shipping. This alerted US Customs to hold the package and ask the receiver for the PPQ-505 form which I provided anyway. I wanted the customer to not have to wait for ground mail to deliver the notice so I called and asked them how the customer could get in contact with the office holding the guitar. They directed me to them in a minute and the customer received a phone call which cleared up the commercial status a reclassified it to owner will not resell. This indicated me to that if you are intending to resell the goods you are buying yourself from overseas it would be prudent have the USDA -APHIS PPQ form on file for that shipment of set up parts. Also if you are buying the parts for your own violins and not doing a commercial business it looks as though the PPQ505 form is over kill. And lastly, if you have brought things in without that form it's probably not the end of the world. Enforcement may vary at ports of entry, but it has been my experience that the things they are on the lookout for are in terms of commerce are larger commercial shipments. And I am suggesting ways to be proactive if your shipment is held. Contact them by phone and fax, be prepared with forms and as much information as possible, explain early in the conversation that your are commercial use or private use, and be polite. They seem to respond well to politeness. These are just people trying to do their jobs.

Hey you guys, I was checking the tracking on a guitar I sent to the US, I follow them in via the Japan Post tracking service. The instrument arrived in Chicago, but was held there so I contacted the customer to see if US Customs had notified him of what paperwork he needed to file to release the guitar to USPS. I had provided the customer with the PDF of the PPQ-505 form that the Dept of Agriculture requires for any plant material product entering the US. Guitars are made from trees obviously. I got proactive and called US Customs office in Chicago via Skype and they quickly directed me to the Airport Office of Customs where I spoke with a very helpful agent who provided me the Fax # of the Formal Entry Desk at O'Hare International airport. The agent also looked up the guitar in the data base, took three seconds, and he told me Customs had already sent postal mail notification to the customer that they needed the paper work. I gave the Fax # of the Formal Entry Desk to the customer via email right away, who then in faxed the entry desk. I told him to ask the entry desk agent if he could please tell him which papers to file in order to expedite the release of the guitar to USPS for final delivery. The Desk agent promptly replied to the customer over the phone and told him he needed to go ahead and fax the PPQ-505 I had emailed the customer. The agent then determined through the conversation that my customer was not a commercial dealer or whole sale seller for guitars, but an individual who will use the guitar for his own use. The agent instantly reclassified the guitar as a non-commercial shipment and said the PPQ-505 form did not have to be filed in order to deliver to a non commercial customer. According to US Customs agents at a major Port of Entry, non commercial sales are not subject to filing a PPQ-505 and thus the non-commercial sale instrument has not breached any laws if it enters the US without this form being filed. This is significant because it clears up the question of when to use the PPQ-505 form. Use this form when you are sending a guitar directly to a commercial reseller who is buying wholesale. It may be advisable to cover your bases and provide the the private customer with the form just in case, but the Formal Entry Desk agent issued a paper of reclassification stating the shipment is non commercial. For those who send guitars into the US this information should be helpful. I would also suggest making a list of all the woods in the instrument with common names and scientific names and making sure you have sales records for all the wood, even if t is not CITES appendix high profile. If you are sending a CITES restricted wood you should be prepared to do full paper work, but for the average Cypress or Indian Rosewood guitar going to a private customer it looks like the PPQ-505 will not be asked for in non commercial transactions. That said, I'm not responsible for your shipment, but only passing on a route through the US Customs system to be proactive and expedite the shipment yourself. I would also note there are some parts of the USDA website that can't be accessed by some internet providers outside the US. I would have competed the PPQ-505 form as courtesy to the customer, but I could not access the tax code section of the USDA website from where I am. In the end the receiver of the goods is responsible for filing the proper agriculture forms although the instrument maker can assist by providing as much materials information possible. This also indicates that if you are importing commercial plant based goods, wood parts, to the US in quantity for resale, the PPQ -505 form is required. If the intention is to resell the goods and you are not the end user it would be prudent to observe this form. Although once the parts are installed on an existing instrument it would be difficult if not impossible for US Customs to find out, or probably even be worth their time. I think it would be prudent going forward to have a PPQ-505 on file for inventory of wood parts you have in your shop that are obviously new. If you by a small quantity the US Customs is probably not looking for you, but you have to assess your own situation. It looks like unless you are trying to get away with not paying a substantial amount of commercial taxes and not following commercial importation procedures the US Customs agents will be able to tend to your shipments if asked in a professional and courteous manner. The folks I spoke to were far from being the sub human ogres and wonks they get painted as. They seemed to take a genuine interest in helping me gain clarification and moving the customers package forward.

The whole thing is super annoying from production standpoint. A real piece of work.

I did not know the Fugger's had a stake in the wood market. Interesting to hear about Isabella d'Este letters. There are many many correspondence and literary references to materials in the 16th century and earlier, lots of them pertaining to oil painting pigment much of it being sourced outside Europe. There was also a strong connection between the southern Spanish kingdoms and southern Italian states which shared trade before the Los Reys Catolicos united Spain and this continued into the 16th century. Iberia being a pipeline to North African ports and then a major trade path between Valencia and Naples, like the Silk Road of the sea in that region. All fun stuff. If Sarah Palin had lived in Rota or Algeciras in 1462 she certainly would have exclaimed "I can see Africa from here!"

The Tieffenpruccar family of gamba and lute makers in Venice were turning out products with plenty of ebony parts by 1550's. Fairly big family of makers, like the Guarneri's or Amati's.