Jump to content

The Blue Dragonfly


Recommended Posts

Dave that is soooo nice. I have many questions.

How did you laminate the veneer to the top? Did you use a vacuum seal? What kind of clue or cement did you use? It came out great.

I also have to ask how did you spray that blue fade? Was that from a gun or a can?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

marksound, your wife is one cool lady!

Hitone, I veneered the top using a vacuum bag system and glued it using Titebond wood glue. I used a roller so the glue would not get too thick and seep through. Something to think about when doing this is that because the top is carved and has a sort of done-like quality the center seam was not perfectly straight. I had to trim about 1/32" at the ends of the join to make it work without a split in the seam in the middle of the top. It was a fair bit of trial and error doing dry runs in the vacuum press until I got it right. Tedious work indeed but well worth the effort.

I have another idea in the works with figured rosewood veneer (beeswing Bolivian rosewood!). The sides will be bent rosewood like an acoustic with a thinner back and a rosewood neck. I have an incredible lightweight piece of Madagascar rosewood that weighs less than my lightest mahogany and sounds incredible. Perfect for a hollowbody neck I think. I will start building this one in a few months.

The blue burst was done with an airbrush I picked at an art store. I have an Iwata system with a siphon feed, dual action airbrush. The tint was lacquer and some of StewMac's alcohol soluble aniline dye. I mixed it in the thinner first and then added lacquer in a 1:1 ratio with the thinner. It sprayed transparently so that I had to go over it a few times to get the intensity of color. After a couple sprayed bursts like this I am starting to like the technique quite a bit.

billiousfrog, that's a cool observation about the gas flame. I didn't think of that.

Thanks again for the comments. I really appreciate it!

~David

Edited by Myka Guitars
Link to comment
Share on other sites

stunning work man, been watching this come together on your website and its just amazing. Maybe one day when i have the money and my playing is good enough to grace such a work of art i will order something like this from you. :D

hope your new workshop lives up to your expectations and you have many many years of creating these wonderful guitars in it, can't wait to see the next one you finish up...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The blue burst was done with an airbrush I picked at an art store. I have an Iwata system with a siphon feed, dual action airbrush. The tint was lacquer and some of StewMac's alcohol soluble aniline dye. I mixed it in the thinner first and then added lacquer in a 1:1 ratio with the thinner. It sprayed transparently so that I had to go over it a few times to get the intensity of color. After a couple sprayed bursts like this I am starting to like the technique quite a bit.

~David

Very nice David! That was almost the blue I was going for, but I got blue happy and ended a little darker. Also glad to see that you went with the airbrush (sprayed) burst. do some testing on scrap (not that you haven't knowing you!!!) but there is something about spraying a little toner coat over wiped stain that brings more 3D to the figure!

:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Godin, I am moving back to the Pacific Northwest to Seattle, WA. I will be expanding the shop to about 800sqft (more than double what I have now). It will be pretty nice to have some room to spread out a bit. I am tired of always having work around the hot water tank :D

Welcome back to the Emerald City. So where in town are you setting up shop? I'm not accustomed to the concept of someone moving to Seattle to set up a business. Outmigration has been the standard response to the high cost of living and traffic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome back to the Emerald City. So where in town are you setting up shop? I'm not accustomed to the concept of someone moving to Seattle to set up a business. Outmigration has been the standard response to the high cost of living and traffic.

Thanks! I am looking forward to getting back to the area. The main reason I am moving is to be with my girlfriend Kim who is in school in Seattle. Even with that motivation I still really love the city and the area in general. I lived in Seattle for nearly 8 years and have missed it ever since. As far as cost of living goes I think the benefits of living in an area like Seattle with its vibrant economy outweigh any of the financial reasons to live elsewhere. There is so much creative work there to tap into and I already have friends asking me if I need any work (I used to build custom furniture and may do some of that again with the larger shop space).

I am moving the shop to a building in Georgetown. I managed to find this space on Craigslist and it will be a very creative building with quite a few artists and craftspeople working there. I am looking forward to collaborating with some of the metalworkers so I can start offering my own hardware designs. Once everyone moves in and gets settled we will be participating in the Georgetown art walks. That will be a fun time and a good way to get back into the community again.

Traffic shouldn't be too much of an issue. I will be living in West Seattle with my girlfriend near Alki so my commute is only going to be about a 10 minute drive or bike ride. Considering my hours are of my choosing I can avoid the traffic easily (I hope!).

~David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

David,

Sounds like you've found yourself a nice situation. Georgetown is probably the last enclave left. The other transitional artsy neighborhoods, like Fremont and Belltown have be gentrified, condo-ed, and otherwise made unaffordable. The nice thing about Georgetown is being on the approach to Boeing Field and the port traffic make it a less desireable place to start dropping in condos. We just need to keep the city from siting all the undesireable projects there (sewage processing plants, sex-offender housing, strip clubs, etc.). All the work they're going to do on the Alaskan Way viaduct are going to keep house prices and rents down (relative to the rest of the market) for the next few years.

I'll have to check out your shop when you're part of the art walk. Again, welcome back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
  • 5 months later...

I know this is an older thread ~~~ but ,, I just went to Myka's site again and I really fell in love with this guitar all over again. I thought my lusting after other peoples creations was over ~~~ but I,m still a sucker for his stuff !!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...