Wow! I'm back from the workshop where I was laminating a new baritone neck, and earlier I was preparing a veneer for it and what do I see? Ken's new video and it's all about the neck! Big respect to Ken, who shares all his knowledge about the unconventional technology in which he builds his wonderful archtops. Hats off to you! Thank you, Ken 🙏🏻🫶
What an incredible resource these videos are. Ken is a wizard and every step of his process reflects a lifetime of experience. His workflow is so efficient and precise, but he's an artist as much as he is an engineer. As an aside, I like the mostly unedited style of these videos. Great call keeping in all the little micro-mistakes that are a part of every shop, and especially showing Ken fix them. EDIT: Oh wow Ken is here in the comments fielding every single question, amazing! Ken, your workflow is high tech, but you still have to work with your stock, dealing with natural variances across species/samples or tweaking something to highlight your favorite aspect of a particular veneer. How do you keep your workflow "nimble" with such highly-optimized tools/jigs and processes?
Thank you for your extravagant praise! Really, I'm just a scatterbrain, and my workflow is a mess usually. As for mistakes, how else would we get anything done?
Wow. I just read this to my wife, and she says "It's a lot to live up to", I dunno, just having fun and solving puzzles. My parents taught us to share what we have with others, pretty simple really. Thanks for your extravagant praise!
On your team. Tooling is expensive! I always say tat if you change something it must fulfill all three of these, It must make the part better, it must make the part cost less to make, and it must make the part easier to make. Tall order, but experience has shown that if you can't get all 3 in your proposed solution, maybe keep scratching your head until you can.
That open-wheel bandsaw makes me nervous ;-) Thanks for another great video, always a pleasure to watch you work! Btw. we don't often see you wearing a band aid - may I suggest a composite material of sorts to help with cuts: there are those CA wound glues available in spray that work really well for closing and protecting cut wounds, but what I found works even better is you start with a layer of glue, then put a layer of tissue paper on top and let it saturate. You can put more layers on if desired after the previous layer dries. Not medical advice, but I found this really great, holds the cut closed to help healing, is water resistant, and it peels off by itself after couple of days.
You're very welcome, I'm sure! When I started Archtoppery, one of the things that came to mind was whether or not I would show this precious little bandsaw running happily without wheel guards, and figured that if I did, I'd have to write a careful response to someone's concern, so thanks for setting this up for me! I've used this handsome, well designed and built tool every day since I had the great good fortune to buy it in 1982. It's Heston and Anderson #1, probably from the late 1920's, and while the wheels are unguarded, it does have the original blade guard on the left or return side of the blade. I have used this little beauty for woodworking, mostly, of course, but also I have cut metals, composite, plastics, and bread (!). I am so afraid of power tools! I have a well developed ability to visualize, so I can create in my mind's eye a shot of my bloody, lifeless fingers lying on the table. This image has been useful to my self preservation. Power tools are no joke, and I have worked in shops where people have done terrible damage to themselves due to carelessness, lack of safety training, or both. Using a power tool safely and effectively means understanding fully the forces they create, and what happens when things go wrong, so with bandsaws, blades parting during a cut. This saw, like the older Delta 14" bandsaw right next to it, is fitted with 1/4" wide blade. Perhaps you've never had such a saw? If you did, and have used it much then you probably have had a blade break. This event is frightening and unanticipate-able. When the bandsaw is big and the blade is thick and wide, it's a heavy piece of steel with a jillion sharp teeth on one edge flying along at 60 - 80 MPH, so there is a lot of kinetic energy released when the band breaks, and it can snake all over the place and do terrible damage to anything in its' path. Very scary and potentially quite dangerous! On the small scale of this saw, the 1/4" blade is short and light, and just isn't heavy enough to fly around the shop when it breaks, although it's still a frightening event. Over the 4 decades I have used this saw I've broken a bunch of blades, and never thought I was in any real danger, as they are so light, they just can't do very much before they come to rest. I know this might not seem like much comfort to you, but I believe I'm operating this little machine safely, and would take the trouble to add more guards if I thought otherwise. It might look scary, but I wonder how you would get involved with the blade where it's running on the wheels? I have never had a power tool accident in all these decades, and that, my friend, is no accident! vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=43727
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 Dear Ken, thank you for your thoughts on this! I guess the only way I could imagine this going wrong would be if loose piece of clothing or a finger gets between the wheel and the blade on the outside part, so that it gets pulled in, but since it's so far away from the working area, that's probably very unlikely! Btw. I have since edited my comment thinking that the bandsaw comment was maybe not important/unpolite - it turns out it was a in interesting opener though :-) I have now brought back, so that more people can see your great answer!
When I was in Junior High School in the Midwest, we were reading Silas Marner. In woodshop class at the time, I got into a disagreement with the shop’s jointer. I had to finish the book later, when I got home from the hospital. This impacted my general approach to guitars/playing as a teenager. I did quite a bit of fulltime machining (plenty of bandsaws around) years later and of course, for me safety was always a huge concern. So I respect anything “power”, but the joiner I use or get close to needs a number 8 on it. I guess I could always drop that on my foot…
Nothing better than flying cross-country home and watching Ken Parker run a Bridgeport on the plane's wifi. Are you left handed? Just visited Scott McDonald's shop in in the backwoods of Vermont and saw that little Clausing mill you helped him find.
What a nice message! I love Scott, and am overdue for a reciprocal shop tour with him. I'm looking for another Clausing (or equivalent Johanssen or Rockwell versions) for another compatriot, If you know where one is for sale! I am so not left handed it's sad. I worked with Richard Scott Newman building furniture in the early '70's, and was so bummed out to see this fully ambidextrous genius casually toss his block plane from one hand to the other and expertly perform mirror - image cuts with it or any other tool GRRRRR, I tried, but found out that my left hand is a dunce, although now it, at least, has better training. I do love my Bridgeport, and literally do not know how I would do what I do without it.
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 An amazing shop, right down to Scott's father’s old glue pot on a shelf with Scott's old glue pot. A wounded/boxed chicken in one corner, being brought back to health. Don't know if it had a name :)
You look so at home running that well seasoned Bridgeport, almost like decades have gone by with a cherished Old Friend. I’m guessing the jig has heaters in it to cure the goo. For the upcoming seven strings- Have you finalized the neck width with the customer yet, and are there established sizing or are all custom to fit preferences? Obviously this fascinates me and for every example I find three different questions that come along. I am so blessed that you have chosen to share your artistic talent with others, yer a happy camper in the workshop it’s obvious to a fellow woodworker 😊
Ah, the venerable Bridgeport! My 2000 pound Swiss Army Knife! 7 string specs can be all over the place, but I kind of favor just adding a string space to whatever the player uses for 6 strings, or maybe a tad less.
Love to see you working and all explanations You made so many custom tools that’s awesome Quick question Why are you tracing the location of the hole from the bottom rather than the interior with the template ? The marking in the back seems much more prone to variations ?
Wow, I'm kind of amazed by this question. When the square hole position is marked in the way that I demonstrate, there is just absolutely NO WAY for it to go wrong, as I tried to explain. I just would never think to do it any other way, particularly since I have had 100% perfect success with the method I show, plus it only takes two shakes and it's automatically correct. Also, laying it out from the outside makes it way easier to fixture and hold for milling, Plus, the scribe scratches the epoxy/linen in a way so as to make the best mark of all time, that is, the easiest to see.
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 Sorry didn’t want to criticize looking at the process it looks to me a bit more difficult but that’s probably a filming perspective I perfectly understand that if you choose this way and knowing your attention to detail it was the best way to
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 They might not post everything they make, on UA-cam. I am a member of Ian Davlin's Looth Group and those two guys often share their jig designs with the group. David Collins does have a UA-cam channel but I don't believe the James Roadman has any social media presence. He always combines his machinist skills with guitar repairs and comes up with very nice jigs. I really love his nut carving jig, which he showed to the group (although I don't believe there's a UA-cam video about it). With that jig he is able to cut a radiused Fender nut blank in less time than it takes to talk about it. Just like you, he has a jig for everything. I think you and him would get along quite well.
Just to be clear, I don't have a jig for everything because I love using hand tools to do some tricky things offhand, as we say. Sometimes it's way more fun to just get that edge stupid sharp and go for it!
Presumably having just one neck fitting tool tool has meant you could only offer one neck shape. Might it be worth making a few with different profiles so you can offer options to your customers?
Far from it! There are several ways to get to different neck shapes, but thanks for mentioning it, I'll elucidate before too long. So much harder in text than with a camera, but you'll see!
I never understood why people have such a big problem when others don’t use the metric system for everything. I can only speak for growing up in Australia, but many of us use both. Don’t get me wrong, for anyone doing hard science then they might want to all work in SI so no one sends a satellite into a mountain, but I have a feeling most of us can tell the difference between an inch and a centimetre. Though a 25.5 cm scale length guitar would be kind of funny.
How do I count the ways? OK, first, it's a traditional, proven way to strengthen and beautify necks of stringed instruments dating back centuries, so if “tradition” turns you on, well here’s a proven winner. The disadvantage, of course, it that it’s a top level challenge for those of us who work with wood. Tough thing to pull off and make it look like a god did it, I promise you! The other reason, for my work, is that it covers up some messy and pretty ugly carbon/epoxy reinforcement, I promise you, no one would want to look at that, or risk the chance to get a carbon fiber splinter if the thing took a hit. I promise you that carbon/epoxy makes tha worst splinter you’ll ever get, ask me how I know! Also, I really like the way the matching veneer compliments and ties the appearance of the instrument, as I make the veneer and sides from the same piece of wood. Finally, I must admit that my 50+ years of fooling around with wood and guitars and unique modern materials has made it possible for me to pull off some pretty mean shit on my workbench, and I’m proud of it. I could probably think of a few more reasons, but it’s time to make some shavings, Cheers!
Wow! I'm back from the workshop where I was laminating a new baritone neck, and earlier I was preparing a veneer for it and what do I see? Ken's new video and it's all about the neck! Big respect to Ken, who shares all his knowledge about the unconventional technology in which he builds his wonderful archtops. Hats off to you! Thank you, Ken 🙏🏻🫶
you said it best. this one came just in time for me too, cant wait to see that baritone!
Thank you, T, and every good wish to you!
Yea, Sam, let's tune down!
What an incredible resource these videos are. Ken is a wizard and every step of his process reflects a lifetime of experience. His workflow is so efficient and precise, but he's an artist as much as he is an engineer.
As an aside, I like the mostly unedited style of these videos. Great call keeping in all the little micro-mistakes that are a part of every shop, and especially showing Ken fix them.
EDIT: Oh wow Ken is here in the comments fielding every single question, amazing! Ken, your workflow is high tech, but you still have to work with your stock, dealing with natural variances across species/samples or tweaking something to highlight your favorite aspect of a particular veneer. How do you keep your workflow "nimble" with such highly-optimized tools/jigs and processes?
Thank you for your extravagant praise! Really, I'm just a scatterbrain, and my workflow is a mess usually.
As for mistakes, how else would we get anything done?
Ken, thank you for sharing! Your insight and innovation is so inspiring. You’re truly a national treasure. All the best.
Wow. I just read this to my wife, and she says "It's a lot to live up to", I dunno, just having fun and solving puzzles. My parents taught us to share what we have with others, pretty simple really. Thanks for your extravagant praise!
That finished join really is an exceptional look
Thanks, It's satisfying , too!
Also!! I Love the new shop setup!! So Clean and inspiring!! :)
Cleanliness is next to something or other.
Love every minute of this! Thanks Ken! (and the Katz Foundation!)
Our pleasure!
I always put off making a new tool or jig but I’m always so happy when do.
On your team. Tooling is expensive! I always say tat if you change something it must fulfill all three of these, It must make the part better, it must make the part cost less to make, and it must make the part easier to make. Tall order, but experience has shown that if you can't get all 3 in your proposed solution, maybe keep scratching your head until you can.
Yaaaay.
Ha! Big thanks!
That open-wheel bandsaw makes me nervous ;-) Thanks for another great video, always a pleasure to watch you work!
Btw. we don't often see you wearing a band aid - may I suggest a composite material of sorts to help with cuts: there are those CA wound glues available in spray that work really well for closing and protecting cut wounds, but what I found works even better is you start with a layer of glue, then put a layer of tissue paper on top and let it saturate. You can put more layers on if desired after the previous layer dries. Not medical advice, but I found this really great, holds the cut closed to help healing, is water resistant, and it peels off by itself after couple of days.
You're very welcome, I'm sure!
When I started Archtoppery, one of the things that came to mind was whether or not I would show this precious little bandsaw running happily without wheel guards, and figured that if I did, I'd have to write a careful response to someone's concern, so thanks for setting this up for me!
I've used this handsome, well designed and built tool every day since I had the great good fortune to buy it in 1982. It's Heston and Anderson #1, probably from the late 1920's, and while the wheels are unguarded, it does have the original blade guard on the left or return side of the blade.
I have used this little beauty for woodworking, mostly, of course, but also I have cut metals, composite, plastics, and bread (!).
I am so afraid of power tools! I have a well developed ability to visualize, so I can create in my mind's eye a shot of my bloody, lifeless fingers lying on the table. This image has been useful to my self preservation. Power tools are no joke, and I have worked in shops where people have done terrible damage to themselves due to carelessness, lack of safety training, or both. Using a power tool safely and effectively means understanding fully the forces they create, and what happens when things go wrong, so with bandsaws, blades parting during a cut. This saw, like the older Delta 14" bandsaw right next to it, is fitted with 1/4" wide blade. Perhaps you've never had such a saw? If you did, and have used it much then you probably have had a blade break. This event is frightening and unanticipate-able.
When the bandsaw is big and the blade is thick and wide, it's a heavy piece of steel with a jillion sharp teeth on one edge flying along at 60 - 80 MPH, so there is a lot of kinetic energy released when the band breaks, and it can snake all over the place and do terrible damage to anything in its' path. Very scary and potentially quite dangerous!
On the small scale of this saw, the 1/4" blade is short and light, and just isn't heavy enough to fly around the shop when it breaks, although it's still a frightening event. Over the 4 decades I have used this saw I've broken a bunch of blades, and never thought I was in any real danger, as they are so light, they just can't do very much before they come to rest. I know this might not seem like much comfort to you, but I believe I'm operating this little machine safely, and would take the trouble to add more guards if I thought otherwise.
It might look scary, but I wonder how you would get involved with the blade where it's running on the wheels?
I have never had a power tool accident in all these decades, and that, my friend, is no accident!
vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=43727
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 Dear Ken, thank you for your thoughts on this! I guess the only way I could imagine this going wrong would be if loose piece of clothing or a finger gets between the wheel and the blade on the outside part, so that it gets pulled in, but since it's so far away from the working area, that's probably very unlikely!
Btw. I have since edited my comment thinking that the bandsaw comment was maybe not important/unpolite - it turns out it was a in interesting opener though :-) I have now brought back, so that more people can see your great answer!
When I was in Junior High School in the Midwest, we were reading Silas Marner. In woodshop class at the time, I got into a disagreement with the shop’s jointer. I had to finish the book later, when I got home from the hospital. This impacted my general approach to guitars/playing as a teenager. I did quite a bit of fulltime machining (plenty of bandsaws around) years later and of course, for me safety was always a huge concern. So I respect anything “power”, but the joiner I use or get close to needs a number 8 on it. I guess I could always drop that on my foot…
Nothing better than flying cross-country home and watching Ken Parker run a Bridgeport on the plane's wifi. Are you left handed? Just visited Scott McDonald's shop in in the backwoods of Vermont and saw that little Clausing mill you helped him find.
What a nice message! I love Scott, and am overdue for a reciprocal shop tour with him. I'm looking for another Clausing (or equivalent Johanssen or Rockwell versions) for another compatriot, If you know where one is for sale!
I am so not left handed it's sad. I worked with Richard Scott Newman building furniture in the early '70's, and was so bummed out to see this fully ambidextrous genius casually toss his block plane from one hand to the other and expertly perform mirror - image cuts with it or any other tool GRRRRR, I tried, but found out that my left hand is a dunce, although now it, at least, has better training.
I do love my Bridgeport, and literally do not know how I would do what I do without it.
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 An amazing shop, right down to Scott's father’s old glue pot on a shelf with Scott's old glue pot. A wounded/boxed chicken in one corner, being brought back to health. Don't know if it had a name :)
So cool :) As always!!
Thanks, Guillaume!
Excellent man
Thanks!
You look so at home running that well seasoned Bridgeport, almost like decades have gone by with a cherished Old Friend. I’m guessing the jig has heaters in it to cure the goo. For the upcoming seven strings- Have you finalized the neck width with the customer yet, and are there established sizing or are all custom to fit preferences? Obviously this fascinates me and for every example I find three different questions that come along. I am so blessed that you have chosen to share your artistic talent with others, yer a happy camper in the workshop it’s obvious to a fellow woodworker 😊
Ah, the venerable Bridgeport! My 2000 pound Swiss Army Knife!
7 string specs can be all over the place, but I kind of favor just adding a string space to whatever the player uses for 6 strings, or maybe a tad less.
amazing, as usual ;-)
Thanks, Paul Bigsby Freak! He's quite a hero to me, too! What a dude!
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 Thanks, but it's accually Ben the Belgium Luthier ;-)
Love to see you working and all explanations You made so many custom tools that’s awesome Quick question Why are you tracing the location of the hole from the bottom rather than the interior with the template ? The marking in the back seems much more prone to variations ?
Wow, I'm kind of amazed by this question. When the square hole position is marked in the way that I demonstrate, there is just absolutely NO WAY for it to go wrong, as I tried to explain. I just would never think to do it any other way, particularly since I have had 100% perfect success with the method I show, plus it only takes two shakes and it's automatically correct. Also, laying it out from the outside makes it way easier to fixture and hold for milling, Plus, the scribe scratches the epoxy/linen in a way so as to make the best mark of all time, that is, the easiest to see.
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 Sorry didn’t want to criticize looking at the process it looks to me a bit more difficult but that’s probably a filming perspective I perfectly understand that if you choose this way and knowing your attention to detail it was the best way to
Just curious, are you familiar with James Roadman? He also comes up wit amazing jigs to build precision guitar parts. As well as David Collins.
I looked those guys up, but didn't see any jigs/tools, except or Michael Bashkin's gramil.
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 They might not post everything they make, on UA-cam. I am a member of Ian Davlin's Looth Group and those two guys often share their jig designs with the group.
David Collins does have a UA-cam channel but I don't believe the James Roadman has any social media presence.
He always combines his machinist skills with guitar repairs and comes up with very nice jigs. I really love his nut carving jig, which he showed to the group (although I don't believe there's a UA-cam video about it).
With that jig he is able to cut a radiused Fender nut blank in less time than it takes to talk about it.
Just like you, he has a jig for everything. I think you and him would get along quite well.
Just to be clear, I don't have a jig for everything because I love using hand tools to do some tricky things offhand, as we say. Sometimes it's way more fun to just get that edge stupid sharp and go for it!
who needs a workbench when you got a cardboard box, am I right :'D
Just a way to add to the challenges, I guess.
3:50 some people will totally freak out about this lol.
Let' em eat cake. It came out fine. I have yet to do anything the same way twice, it's how I roll. Proof is in the pudding.
Presumably having just one neck fitting tool tool has meant you could only offer one neck shape. Might it be worth making a few with different profiles so you can offer options to your customers?
Far from it! There are several ways to get to different neck shapes, but thanks for mentioning it, I'll elucidate before too long. So much harder in text than with a camera, but you'll see!
@@kenparkerarchtoppery9440 Thank you for your reply Ken. I look forward to watching that instalment.
I never understood why people have such a big problem when others don’t use the metric system for everything. I can only speak for growing up in Australia, but many of us use both.
Don’t get me wrong, for anyone doing hard science then they might want to all work in SI so no one sends a satellite into a mountain, but I have a feeling most of us can tell the difference between an inch and a centimetre.
Though a 25.5 cm scale length guitar would be kind of funny.
All good points.I do wish I had tried to be bi-measuremental earlier in life, but better late...
Yeah, that's a Short scale!!
Why a veneer?
How do I count the ways?
OK, first, it's a traditional, proven way to strengthen and beautify necks of stringed instruments dating back centuries, so if “tradition” turns you on, well here’s a proven winner.
The disadvantage, of course, it that it’s a top level challenge for those of us who work with wood. Tough thing to pull off and make it look like a god did it, I promise you!
The other reason, for my work, is that it covers up some messy and pretty ugly carbon/epoxy reinforcement, I promise you, no one would want to look at that, or risk the chance to get a carbon fiber splinter if the thing took a hit. I promise you that carbon/epoxy makes tha worst splinter you’ll ever get, ask me how I know!
Also, I really like the way the matching veneer compliments and ties the appearance of the instrument, as I make the veneer and sides from the same piece of wood.
Finally, I must admit that my 50+ years of fooling around with wood and guitars and unique modern materials has made it possible for me to pull off some pretty mean shit on my workbench, and I’m proud of it.
I could probably think of a few more reasons, but it’s time to make some shavings, Cheers!