Author Archives: npcarey

About npcarey

Amateur Luthier, woodworker, music enthusiast, software enthusiast

A Guitar Foot Stool

Posted on January 27, 2018

Still working on finishing up a host of never-completed projects! So, I dug out the parts I had cut out a few years back. This was all leftover mahogany pieces and the only thing I had to purchase was some … Continue reading →

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A Neck Routing Jig

Posted on January 21, 2018

A well-fit neck is essential to any stringed instrument. I’ve had decent success, but in order to execute this important  joint it would help to have something that would make it easier to get consistent, accurate results. I recently discovered a … Continue reading →

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A Greek Tzouras (Τζουράς) for my collection

Posted on December 30, 2017

In addition to the Sitar project I posted recently I have several other instruments in various states of completion. So this week, because I’ve been on vacation (work shutdown) I have been using my time to get another project completed. … Continue reading →

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A sitar comes back to life

Posted on December 16, 2017

I have been fascinated by the sitar ever since I first heard George Harrison play Norwegian Wood when I was young. It was December 1965 and I bought the newly released Rubber Soul album while shopping with my mother at … Continue reading →

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Getting Ready for Steam Bending

Posted on November 4, 2017

This week my wife gave me a Rockler steam bending kit (yes, she is awesome!) and I just completed building the steam box for it. Soon I will need to bend some bridges for my harpsichord project and want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Harpsichord, Woodworking | 1 Comment

A couple of artist’s tools

Posted on October 29, 2017

I’ll soon be attending another icon workshop with the Prospon School and I wanted to bring along a couple of tools I had made for the last workshop I attended. But, they were much too large both for what I … Continue reading →

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Some New Shop Furniture

Posted on October 18, 2017

I took a small hiatus over the past few weeks and worked to finish something I started several weeks ago. Back in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Fine Woodworking there was an article on building Krenov Saw Horses which I thought … Continue reading →

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Hand Tool Education

Posted on October 15, 2017

I recently enrolled in The Hand Tool School, which is an online school for learning and improving hand tool skills. The first ‘semester’ is focused on fundamentals, beginning with hand saws. The longer I am involved with woodworking and lutherie, … Continue reading →

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And now a site overhaul . . .

Posted on July 15, 2017

I have upgraded my wordpress plan and now people will be able to reach the site @ http://luthierconfessions.blog In addition I have been working on migrating all of the content from my http://www.bostonbalalaika.com site here and will eventually point that … Continue reading →

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Neapolitan Mandolin – back to life

Posted on July 15, 2017

Back in 2011 I did a project to rebuild a circa 1900 Neapolitan mandolin. This was my 2nd mandolin project. The first was to restore another Neapolitan for a friend with whom I worked. Perhaps in another post . . . … Continue reading →

Posted in Lutherie, mandolin | Leave a comment