LeftyBassist.com

PLEASE NOTE: We will be closed between June 18th and July 6th 2010 while we move into a new, larger shop facility. Our e-mail Inbox will remain open, but work on instruments will come to a temporary halt while we carefully pack everything up and transport it to the new place. We’re excited about this move and how the expanded facilities will assist us in crafting custom builds in a shorter time span

And in typical IT industry fashion ... just this week I've been assigned a new "mission critical" project that's due next Friday ... nothing like a little forced OT at the day-job in between huffing boxes and tools up the street

on a positive note - once I have everything moved to the new shop (about 5 miles from my current location) I'll no longer be spending more time shuffling and setting-up tools than I spent actually working the specific process task. my life of depending on those rolling stands is about to come to an end, as everything will have its own dedicated place in the shop configuration and

all the best,

R

Good luck with the move Rod.

+1

Hope everything goes smoothly.

Before (the old shop) and after (the new shop) pics would be extremely cool.

Good luck with the move and don't hurt yourself lifting all that cr@p!

got the new space cleaned out Sat evening and put an end to several hundred SPIDERS ranging in size from 'easy to nestle into your shirt collar' to 'too big to eat in a single bite', and will be setting off a bug bomb sometime this coming week after I have everything loaded into the new space

my stash of bookmatched tops, 1-piece body blanks, and fingerboards was the first to be loaded in. yes - that stack of boxes consists only of top sets, and the pile on the router table is just body blanks. there will be a workbench across the far end wall by the end of next weekend



most of the stationary tools will be against this wall or directly behind where I was standing to take this image. I'll construct a new rolling workbench to accommodate hand and power tools



all of the machinery (long bed helical head jointer, 14" re-sawing bandsaw, 22"-44" open-ended thickness sander, etc ...) was loaded in last night, but my camera wasn't able to snag a good image due to poor lighting ... upgrading the lighting fixtures is my activity for the first week of July, right before I reopen the shop doors post moving

sometime in the next two days when the weather cooporates I'll be moving my large lumber and installing racks to keep it out of the working area

more of the move saga to come in the next few days ...

all the best,

R

Very nice space, Rod.

'Tis the season for renovation. I'm working on my basement right now as well (Got the insurance check after the flood, which will cover a % of rebuilding costs and perhaps a couple of new bass purchases. ) Ripped out all of the 30+ year old wood paneling put in by a previous owner and sheet rocking as we speak. Would love any advice on sound proofing, as the "Sound-Bari" insulation I put in the ceiling so far doesn't seem to be doing much. Maybe I need carpeting.

Maybe you can collect some of those spiders and encase them in linoleum for inlays.

I'm researching a sheetrock type of product that has a layer of 'rock', a layer of metallic, and a layer of 'rock', and is supposed to dissipate noise vie the metallic layer converting the soundwaves into heat energy. I don't know the specs (still looking for them) or the cost, but it is a rather interesting concept



and so strikes inspiration! I now simply must build a fenderbird 'Ox' tribute and encase an itsy bitsy spider in epoxy for the headstock adornment

R

I'm thinking Rod could use a visit from the Garage Mahal guys on the DIY network

so far so good - everything is moved into the new facility

here's a peek at the shop front. you can't see in this image, but the new place is nestled in a park like setting amongst 50+ year old Western Maples, Douglas Firs, and an occasional Western Cedar



I also now have a dedicated final assembly & set-up area outside of the woodshop, as well as a business office. here's a peek at the business office just in case you ever wanted to know what the place I'm typing at looks like. I'll have images of the assembly bench later (it's located in the place I was standing to take this second image)



I'm installing wood racks one evening this week, and building a new workbench this coming weekend. if everything continues as it is I'll be reopening right on schedule

all the best,

R

for reference, here's a peek at my former shop setting (well the wood rack anyway)



never had a good image of the remainder of the shop since it was all jammed against a wall when the car needed to come inside

all the best,

R

I'm just a workbench top away from being able to open the new shop facilities

here's a brief peek inside the new digs ...



as you can see in this and the other images, the entire place received a paint job (ceiling still needs rolling, but I'll have to do that some time later). this first image shows (front-back) the wood rack where I store my bookmatched tops, top billets, 1-piece body blanks, and 'assembled' body blanks (2+ piece blanks and their figured top/back if getting one); ShopSmith multi-purpose tool which I use as a horizontal drill and vertical drill press; router table where I cut custom pickguards; mini lathe where I'll eventually be fabricating custom wooden knobs; carcas frame for the stationary workbench (sorry about the dusty lens on this image, the dust blew up just as I took the shot)




here's another view of the stationary workbench structure. it's bolted to the wall structure and will support several middle aged fats guys jumping on it I'll be adding a 1" plywood top (glued & screwed) base followed by a 1/2" sacrifical top (screwed only) sometime this week as time permits



several of the 110v tools tucked away (left-right) helical head planer for jointing body blanks and figured tops; 14" bandsaw with 6" riser block for cutting body blanks and bookmatching figured billetts into top sets; thickness sander for detail thicknessing body and top pieces before and after glue-up; that's also one of several wood storage racks mounted overhead (the wood in this rack is for figured tops)



continuing on that same wall ... part of the thickness sander; oscillating drum sander for detailing body and template contours; dust collector with filter to suck woodchips and dust from the various tools while also removing most of the fine dust before the air disperses back into the shop; another wood storage rack overhead (the wood in this rack is for body blanks)

I still need to bring my 200v tools over to the shop, and that will happen later this month. there's no rush since my present backlog isn't requiring the use of these for several weeks to come (i.e. I have a ton of assembly work to finish before I switch back to neck and body construction activities)

as time permits I'll get a couple images snapped of the various tools in use building parts ...

all the best,

R

Anyone for Foosball?

Looking great, Rod. When are you planning a plant tour? Interesting where you placed the electrical outlets, height-wise. Any specific reason for that?