Dickey Guitars
In the handmade tradition. One at a time. Just for you.
In the handmade tradition. One at a time. Just for you.
| Visit the Shop |
| Click on images to enlarge. |
| The workshop is the craftsman's most important asset. Equipment to do the various jobs efficiently allow more work to be done in shorter amount of time, and more accurately. Bandsaws, routers, and sanders of all types have found their way into the modern guitarmaker's workshop. Please take a walk through the shop with me and allow me to show you some of my work and, of course, the workshop. |
| The central workbench sees many different operations in the small shop. Left - Here a D96 Scaled Dred Not! gets it's tail wedge trim. This particular guitar is a high quality set of Western Big Leaf Maple from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Woods for guitars are sourced from all around the world. To the left, on the floor is a simple wood bending form which incorporates two heating sources, incandescent lamps internally and a space-age silicone heating blanket in near direct contact with the guitar side as temperatures range close to 300 degrees F. |
| Right above - On the workbench, a guitar body with newly installed bindings and purfling trim for both protection of the edges and for decoration to the instrument. The neck is shaped with a trial run of the tuners. Soon after it is completely sanded, this guitar will begin to go through a detailed process to provide a quality durable finish. |
| Left - Hand operations such as tapering brace ends, are fun and fast. A chisel sharpened to a polished reflective surface trims spruce with ease. Shaping braces, while fun, is actually very important to the final sound of the instrument. Nothing is more important than a well planned and tuned set of top braces. |
| Left - Here a new side bender begins to heat a premium set of Indian Rosewood sides. Building many jigs and forms are just part of the guitarmaker's job. They are available commercially, but many prefer to build their own. Silicone heat blankets, plus as you see in this picture, two 200 watt bulbs internally quickly bring the fine wood to temp for bending. |
| Left - Okay, my shop is in a heavy industrialized area laden with smog. Nah, just kidding. Outside are the great Ozark Foothills. The shop is tacked on a hillside overlooking the valley below. Dogwoods dot the landscape and squirrels and birds are frequent visitors. |
| Left - A really nice bandsaw can be found in many guitarmaker's shop. They are used for resawing timbers into thin tonewoods which are further thinned by either drum sanders or widebelt sanders to reach close tolerances. The drum sander seen in this photo, thins sides, backs and tops for the guitar. It is also quite handy at other jobs like abrasive planing neck blanks, sizing bracestock, and for me, I edge my backgraft at an angle using a jig which can sand enough for six guitars at once. |
| Left - Many builders have constructed their own shops. I did too. I hired a good friend and my oldest son to work one summer framing this small shop. We hand dug, formed, and poured the foundation. We toted 400 concrete blocks down a macheted path to the site, below my home on the hillside. We carried 125 bags of cement and masonry mix and mixed it all in a small electric mixer. It's finished now, the hot, sweaty summer a distant memory. Now I get to enjoy the heated and air-conditioned comfort of my workshop. |
| Left - Storage, is there ever enough? I saw Jim Olson's shelf like this one in my shop. He had twenty-seven bodies lining his shelf. Not near that many here. Well, thanks for taking the tour. There is more, finishing, my big old buffer, the spray booth. That will have to come along a little later. |
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