BWana The Iguana

Finally I get around to posting the pictures of the double bass.

We finished it last Friday and then had the unveiling party and pot luck about 2 hours after we finished putting the strings on it. Before we put the strings on we took a picture up through the hole in the bottom for the end pin. If you look closely at the top block at the far end, it says BWana. The vertical post you see in the foreground is the sound post.



After the unveiling here we are both very proud of the work we've done and sad to see her go. Ian, her owner, will take her and play her "in the white" for a few weeks and we'll make any adjustments that are needed, then we will varnish her.
This is the back of BWana the Iguana clinging to the scroll. Bethany carved this completely. She did an awesome job. The way we did it was together we worked on the back and the sides. Bethany carved the neck and I carved the front.
Here is BWana from the side.

Here is Ian with his old bass and the new bass. There was no comparison in sound. The new one was the clear winner!
I love this picture of Ian looking down at it and looking quite overwhelmed.
Here is the jam session that followed the pot luck and unveiling. Everyone was so excited at hearing it.

Now it's on to my cello, Lucy. I'm booked in a course for beginning cello in July and I'm planning on playing "Lucy", so no time to goof off.

My Granddaughter

Mya is a riot. She had everyone in the pharmacy section of the grocery store laughing and commenting.

She was looking them over for about 10 minutes while we were waiting to get a prescription filled. It was hilarious.

I Got a New Toy Too

CG is not the only one! I got a new toy too.

Mine's funner than her lawn mower!

A big sister to my iPhone.

Mine has all kinds of cool apps on it now, not like the bare naked one in the pic!

Sigh - Tough Times - seems I can't Post - I trie

Okay, I figured it out.....

This place is gorgeous! I can't post a pic from my iPhone on blogger.

Suffice to say it's really really great. All-inclusive is wild if you've never
Done it before!

Just have to wait for pics.

Signed, fiddling in Dominican Republic - after swimming, snorkeling and playing.

Today: parasailing! Yippee!

I know, I know

It's been a long time since my last post. With FaceBook having all of "The Fam" checking in, it slipped my mind. Not to mention how busy life has been.

Alexis Jean (Lexi)

First, meet our Great Granddaughter, born March 5th. She was bright and wide awake immediately following her birth for about an hour. Her very first outfit that she wore was the bunting bag and hat that I made her.

This it the proud Daddy. Immediately following her birth.

Stay tuned for 5 generation pictures in the very near future.

Double Bass Update

We're hoping that it will be ready to glue together by the end of April. So far, any goals we have set, we've reached early.

The back is complete and the sides are complete. This is the front, which I have done most of the work on. I have about another hour or so with scrapers and the outside will be completely smooth. Then, I'll start the inside which shouldn't take too long. I've made the template for the f-holes and will cut them after the inside is hollowed out. Then, I'll make the bass bar to go inside.

Bethany has been doing most of the work on the neck/scroll/iguana. You can see here that the fingerboard has been glued on. The steps left to do are finishing carving "Bwana", then attach the machines (pegs) and carve the peg box.

We have borrowed a set of clamps from a friend, so there's no reason that we will not be gluing it together and hearing it played by the end of next month. We're both really excited about it.

Oops! It's Been A While

Why haven't I been blogging as often as before? Here's what I've been doing instead. This is the cello I've been working on. Still lots more to do, but it's coming along. To give an impression of size, I've put a glove on the floor in front of it.

On Friday, all of her "clothes" arrived in the mail. Although it doesn't really show, the fingerboard is ebony, the other parts are rosewood. They're beautiful!

This is the back of the double bass. We've finished inlaying the purfling (the black lines) and now we're doing the final shaping of the outside before we start to work on the inside.

Here is a pic of Ian (who will be the owner of it when it's done) and Bethany. We set him to work scraping the surface. That didn't last long!

Here are the front, back and sides as they look right now.

We are so excited about the how much we've done in such a short time.

A Peek

Here's a little peek at the pix ... I'm waiting for Cheryl's because there are some duplicates and I'd like to show the best ones.

Here we are at the airport shortly after we met Susan. She was, much to her dismay, presented with the hat that was required wearing for the weekend. I've been wearing mine whenever I go out and constantly get compliments and inquiries about where to get one. People love them. Great idea Cheryl.

Friday morning Kaden and Ireland came and crawled into bed with us.

Ta Da - Presenting "Lily"

My viola, all varnished and back together.

I'm really proud of her. She's a beauty!

I'm really pleased with how the quilted maple looks.

The front looks really good too!

Painting

My friend Shelley Houghton is a painter. She does some amazing work. When she paints water, it looks almost like a photograph it's so realistic.

I have bought a print of this painting of a South American Lady doing a Smoke Ceremony. The smoke in this painting is incredible.

I'm so excited about getting it next week.

Enough is Enough

You may or may not be aware, my first name is Wendy. All of my life, I have only known a few Wendys. For the most part, I've only needed a first name; kind of like Cher. Yeah, that's it, kind of like Cher.

In the past couple of years, in our village, in the middle of nowhere there has been a sudden influx of Wendys. I believe it is now up to six. People are starting to call me Wendy L---- (which doesn't feel like me), Wendy L or Wendy E. Unacceptable!

On the way home from a social engagement the other night, I decided that I need a new name, so that I can be an individual again.

Henceforth, I will be known as

Zeke

Thanks for your co-operation.

The Fashion Show Trip

On Wednesday, a group of us went to Hamilton to a fashion show/ silent auction (fund raiser).

Here is the beginnings of the group checking into the lobby at the hotel.

Lynda and I got to our room and first things first we checked out our view. We had the best view, we could see Lake Ontario and we saw some lake boats (ships?) out there.

Next we stowed our luggage.

and made sure there were no unexpected guests in our room.

We were happy with our digs, so it was time to wander down the hall.

We brought a few little nibblies to have in the hotel room with our wine after checking in.

Then off to the fashion show. The pictures during the show didn't turn out very well because of the lighting, so this was before it all got started.

The next morning we went to Blackbird Studio to check out more of their designs than we saw the previous night.

We all had a great time trying things on.

Here's the whole group ... time to think about heading home and let them get to work for their next fashion show.

Sheet Metal Art

How cool is my Dad - aka Gryper?!

One of the things we have to do while building the double bass is take these thin "sheets" of maple that we have planed to around 2mm thick, and bend them to form the sides of the double bass.

We have a bending iron which is a tool that is about 6 inches high and heats up, then you bend the sides around it shaping them to fit the sides of the double bass. The sides of the double bass are about 9 inches high.

So here is a picture of the bending iron.

Gryper did some sheet metal art and built us an extension for it so our bending iron is now 9" high. Despite his being frustrated and it having taken quite a few hours, it works incredibly well. Here is the bending iron with the new extension fitted.

Here's Bethany starting to bend the first piece of side rib.

We found that, as with everything we've done with this so far, it goes much easier with four hands than two.

Here is the mould and you can see the ribs have been glued in on the "C bouts" (the waist)

The first one took us well over an hour to get bent to fit exactly, the second one was bent and glued in in half an hour.

Once again, Gryper's sheet metal art saves the day.

Progress

We are making progress on the double bass. The mould has taken us some time to figure out and then build. We spent yesterday and today shaping the blocks at the corners and the top & bottom. We're really pleased with our efforts.

We decided to put the pieces together (sort of) in their current state. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it was exciting to see it taking shape. You can see the iguana that Bethany has carved on top of the scroll. It's very impressive and is going to be gorgeous!

Another First

This was given to a friend of ours, but it needed some repairs.

With my vast experience, I volunteered to do the repairs for him.

There was a crack in the front and some other small bits of damage, and it just looked tired. Here it is with the front crack glued and clamped.

Then I added some purfling where a piece had broken out. Although it looks very white in this picture, you'll see later that it barely shows when I finished it.

There was some damage to the edge preventing it from being properly glued together. The edge was ragged and there was a gap between the top and the sides.

So I made little patches to fix the two spots. They too look very white, but I took care of them.

There see, they barely show.

I put a lable in it.

Then glued it back together. Here it is all clamped up.

It looks really good, I'm so pleased with it.

There's the seam where the patches are.

Last of the gluing and clamping.

Tomorrow, I'll finish setting it up and put the strings on her.

I'm so pleased. It's the first time I've done repairs and it went so well.