Nigel Forster Gouzouki Build Thread

[timcasey55]

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[nkforster]

The search for the "perfect" way of doing things never seems to end. This year I started pressing frets. I tried it a few years ago and dismissed it, but I thought I'd try it again and if you're methodical enough you can get a great job - neat enough to need no or little levelling at the end. It's a long day doing nothing but fretboards but they really come out better this way.

Above that is a photo of some binding ready to be bent. I make my own. The black stuff is rocklite. The dark grey is another engineered timber similar to rocklite I found in Germany. The purfling lines are made of black and white fibre and birdseye maple. Rocklite makes superb binding, it looks like ebony but bends easily, and it glues better than black plastic, because it's wood. For laminating purflings and bindings I've found PU glue is best.



I tape them in fours then tape the whole lot together and bend them at once, like a side, on the hot bending iron. The sides themselves I do in a machine these days - I'm making a lot of instruments these days so the machine really helps. The sides are later laminated together to make a thick chassis.

The head veneers are Indian rosewood, ebony and fumed eucalyptus.

nigel
http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/inst...itar-bouzouki/

[nkforster]

Slight diversion - I've been stringing up some of the last batch which came back from the spray shop this last week and plan to get on with the gzouk soon. I only build in a batch to a certain stage after which I work on them one by one. It would be more efficient to work on them all the same time but it bores me rigid if I do. So this one was first of the current batch to be made ready for spraying - a sycamore/maple/cedar flat top bouzouki.

More progress not this week but next I hope.

Nigel
http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/blog/celtic-bouzouki/

[Reinhardt]

You're a lucky guy Tim, I've been stalking Nigel's Website for years now. It's a total drool machine for us poor bouzouki players. I'll definitely buy one at some stage, was originally thinking of a session king guitar bouzouki but I know in my heart of hearts if I bought that I would probably regret not buying his Howe Orme Model like the one you're getting. Just a case of getting a few bob together and making a decision of which of my bouzoukis I move on.I need a bouzouki for life if ya know what I mean and i think this good be it.
Would love to know what you think of it when you get it.

Keep up the great work Nigel, you're videos on the instrument making process are fantastic. Have a copy of your book too which is a great production, great photos and essays.

John

[Reinhardt]

Hi Nigel, you out there????? I've just bought the bouzouki you made for Adam Rhodes in 2007. Cant believe this!! I only joined this forum and I've already bought a bouzouki!!!! Lock my credit card away someone!!!

As you can tell from my previous post I'm a big fan of your instruments Nigel so I cant wait to get me hands on it. will email you and let you know how i get on with it. Still might get that Howe Orme though.

John

[Lord of the Badgers]

Hi Nigel, you out there????? I've just bought the bouzouki you made for Adam Rhodes in 2007. Cant believe this!! I only joined this forum and I've already bought a bouzouki!!!! Lock my credit card away someone!!!

As you can tell from my previous post I'm a big fan of your instruments Nigel so I cant wait to get me hands on it. will email you and let you know how i get on with it. Still might get that Howe Orme though.

John

Nice one John. Adam is a thoroughly nice bloke; he said back in summer that my gzouk (howe orme style) was his inspiration to get a new build. Which is nice. Awesome purchase

[Reinhardt]

Thanks Lord Badger. Yeah my dealings with Adam have been hassle free, he's a great player too as I'm sure you know. I started a thread a few days ago titled Andy Tobin Bouzoukis so you'll get all of my bouzouki owning history there!!! Its pretty embarrassing the amount of Bouzoukis I own or have owned. When the Forster arrives I'll have 5, The Forster, a Joe Foley, 2 tobins and a phil crump. 2 are going though ( not sure which yet) and if Adam's Forster suits me the rest may go as well to fund a purchase of a Howe Orme like yours. I really want to reduce the number of instruments I have...Seriously!!! They dont get used enough to warrant me having so many and I need the money!!

Sounds like you're happy with the Howe Orme. I really really fancy one. to be honest, if i had that and a really good standard bouzouki I'd be a happy man. Hopefully I'm half way there when the Forster arrives. Actually..... I'm never happy, thats my problem, I'm always lookin out for something new. My current bouzoukis are actually all good, some really really good. Is there any treatment out there I could avail of I wonder!!

Was actually thinking of a session king GB , have you heard one in the flesh?? they're supposed to be incredibly loud. ( see there I am lookin again!!)

I see ya have a tenor guitar. I have that disease too unfortunately, an old Gibson 1930s and a 1950s Martin .

Talk again Badger. I'm only new to the Cafe but I have to say that its a great resource and brilliant to chat to like minded people like yourself and all the other members.

Take care ,, John

[nkforster]

Hi Nigel, you out there????? I've just bought the bouzouki you made for Adam Rhodes in 2007. Cant believe this!! I only joined this forum and I've already bought a bouzouki!!!! Lock my credit card away someone!!!

As you can tell from my previous post I'm a big fan of your instruments Nigel so I cant wait to get me hands on it. will email you and let you know how i get on with it. Still might get that Howe Orme though.

John

Great stuff John. Adam has looked after it well considering how many gigs he does. I hope it's just what you're after and allows you to "thin the herd" a bit. It's a lovely bouzouki, and structurally very much like the stuff I did when working for Stefan, the later ones changed a bit.

No updates on the build thread - I've had a load of stuff back from the sprayers the last few weeks and it's all been getting strung up and allowed to settle this week. Hopefully I shall get back on with building next week.

Best,

nigel

[nkforster]

Was actually thinking of a session king GB , have you heard one in the flesh?? they're supposed to be incredibly loud. ( see there I am lookin again!!)

Take care ,, John

All my stuff is loud these days - mind you still have to have the right hand technique to make it work - one chap in the US kept telling me his wasn't all that loud, and I was was baffled as it certainly was when I set it up. Then he took it to a pal of his to play for a second opinion - a rather well known "alternative" musician in the US - he took the roof off when he played it! The owner realised the issue might not have been the instrument....oh well!

n

[Reinhardt]

Thanks for that Nigel, Adam has been a real gentleman . No Hassle sale. I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting for it to arrive. If that herd thins out a bit I'll be on to you for a Howe Orme guitar bouzouki and maybe one of your session king tenor guitars ( Steady on John!!). Saw it being played by Paul kimber? on your website/youtube channel. Sounds absolutely fantastic. Have a martin and gibson tenor which are lovely but very quiet. waste of time in a session.

Adam is really excited about gettin his new bouzouki from you by the way. Saw it on your website. looks great in the raw should be magnificent when varnished.

Keep up the fantastic work Nigel. Your instruments are a feast for the eyes and ears,

John

[Lord of the Badgers]

Incidentally John the photos on Nigel's site of the cylinder top gzouk are my own work & my axe of course...

Yes. Just occasionally Dee Mcilroy makes a tenor guitar - this was the second. It's not as loud as Nigel's gear, but it has an amazing tone and the build quality is awesome. It's my goto fingerstyle instrument . I need to put it back in CGDA but have a search in the tenor guitar area for a thread I started about CGCG tuning. (slide tuning I believe). Short demo video on there.

[Reinhardt]

Jeez Lord Badger, I've just realised I've never talked to a real life Lord before. Are you a life Peer or what!!!! Only messin. What do I call you, your lordship, your highness or just plain Badge!!!! I've a weird sense of humour as you might have guessed. I saw your band website so I think you're more warped than me!!!! Id say yiz put on a great show,the website is great by the way, really funny and informative of course. Love the bios of your band members. Yizzer mad, which I love!!!

"2 guys I know have McIlroy guitars and they absolutely love them. i actually played one of his gazoukies in a shop in Dublin which has since closed. Was pretty small bodied as far as I can remember ( just dropped in after a liquid lunch).i think theres a guy in the North of Ireland .. Barry Kerr who plays one, might be on youtube. Barry is mostly associated with pipes and flute but is a mean bouzouki player as well. Dont these guys just make you sick!!!! Michael McGoldrick is another who could get Beethovens 9th symphony with a kazoo and as well as being probably the best piper and traditional flute and low whistle player in the world ( in my humble opinion of course), also plays mandolin and guitar and sings and to put the tin hat on it actually appeared in coronation Street once. This wont mean anything to non UK and Ireland Cafe members but you and me know that you've really arrived when you appear on the Street ( TV Soap for the rest of you guys!!!).

By the way, hope its the same McIlroy we're talking about. The one I'm aware of used to work for Lowden Guitars and his own stuff is quite Lowdenish ( theres a new word for the Oxford English Dictionary!!).

Never tried Cgda or CGCG by the way. I use Gdae or DGBE which is fantastic for playing old style songs Aint Misbehavin etc,.Must give CGCG a go!!

Slán ( goodbye in Irish) Badge. Talk soon

[Lord of the Badgers]

yes, same fella matey... the one that trained with Lowden. Like Nigel's work, he's not given to OTT ornamentation - prefers to just build bloody well. I'd say the same for Paul Shippey too, who lives near me. I'd buy instruments from all of them (well, I've two out of three so far...) in a heartbeat.

My real name's in my sig... now back to the thread!

[Reinhardt]

Absolutely Rob, great to meet ya, Now whats Nigel up to...........................

[nkforster]

Been busy the last couple of weeks stringing stuff up. It's so time consuming and at the same time stressful: at this stage one slip can cause a lot of problems. You only have to look at a finished instrument to scratch it! When I worked for Stefan the store cupboard sometimes used to be totally full of instruments to string up - neither of us wanted to do it - it was much more fun doing woodwork.

Anyway, they are done, and this weekend I photographed some of the latest batch including these two - a guitar bouzouki (rather like what I'm making for Tim) in Indian rosewood/european spruce with black rocklite binding, and a guitar-OM. Basically the same instrument but two frets shorter, for the same tuning but with slightly heavier strings. It's made of the same materials but has Indian rosewood binding. The long neck has Hipshot tuners, the OM Gotoh 510s.

You could say this is a sneak peak at what you have to come Tim!











nigel
http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/inst...itar-bouzouki/

[Lord of the Badgers]

Hi Nigel - am I right in saying you appear to be doing the top differently? I see no seam on the sides like I have on mine? Or is just the tiny pics on my phone?

[nkforster]

Hi Nigel - am I right in saying you appear to be doing the top differently? I see no seam on the sides like I have on mine? Or is just the tiny pics on my phone?

Correct - yours is a very practical way of making it a very long lived instrument - taking the top off is easy on yours, you get a hot knife in that seam and the whole top section comes off. But this year I'm making stuff that looks a little more conventional - I do a lot of experimenting on the inside and the outside, but if I make the outsides more conventional and keep the experiments for the inside life becomes a little easier.

n

[Reinhardt]

Hi all, got my Nigel Forster Bouzouki ( used, 2006) last week. Brought it out to it's first session on Sunday last and it was just magnificent. It has plenty of volume and sustain and beautiful tone to spare. Nigel tells me that his new bouzoukis are quite a bit louder than my one, if so, I'd recommend protective ear muffs or a sound proofed room, the neighbours wont be happy!!!!

There were 3 bouzouki players at the session, not all playing, but each one was green with envy when they took their turn playing it. Its quite different to anything I've ever played before, and I played and owned a lot in the past. Hard to describe, but it has a really punchy tone, kinda warm as well, plays brilliantly up the fretboard, is very easy to play in terms of the neck and the response, you dont have to dig in too much to be heard.

It got a great work out and competed with an array of instruments including fiddles, flute, banjo, guitar and the dreaded bodhran. I had no problems hearing myself and being heard. Plays great with a capo on as well by the way. had it up to 7th fret and it retained all of its brightness and responsiveness. I've played a few bouzoukis in the past that just seemed to go dead if you went past the 5th fret. No problem for the Forster.

Nigel seems like a really nice guy as well. I emailed him just to ask for some advice re strings and action and he got back to me straight away.Tim ( who started this thread) , you're a lucky man to have you're Howe Orme under way. You wont be disappointed trust me.

I highly highly recommend all CBOM enthusiasts to aspire to getting one of his instruments.

John

PS, I suppose his guitars are brilliant as well!!!!

[Lord of the Badgers]

Has the benefit of being played in nicely by Adam too I suppose! Congratulations man - awesome acquisition. You're right about the tone on his instruments. And feel. Classy.

[Reinhardt]

Thanks Rob, delighted with it, really like the look of the new design Howe Ormes by the way. Whats great about Nigel is that he doesn't seem to be content to continue making instruments the same way, he always appears to be experimenting with new designs, ideas and sometimes very slight changes that can make a significant improvement. A true sign of a great Luthier ( which he is) . Not sure if it was in this thread or another, but someone mentioned that Stradivarius made is best instruments in his 70s or 80s ( well he was pretty old any how). So Nigel, hope you're not thinkin of early retirement!!!!

Am saving for a Howe Orme.. Have to offload a few possessions first though. Ya dont fancy buying an MGB Roadster by any chance?? My mid life crisis is over so I dont need it now!! Maybe Nigel likes classic cars!! Now that would be an interesting trade!!

Take care Rob

John

[Lord of the Badgers]

Lol John I'm a musician not a mechanic!! Beautiful cars those.
I need to shift my Sobell cittern for the next build I commission. We all have that cross to bear...

[timcasey55]

[timcasey55]

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[timcasey55]

Hey guys

Sorry haven't been checking the posts, welcome John, ya I was wondering who snapped up Adams zouk so quick! Nigel send me some new build pics-looks amazing. Love the back shot of the body- rosewood looks top!

[nkforster]

So, from the top down:

This is after fitting the back - here you can really see the Howe Orme arching cut into the ribs.

The next one is actually someone else's gzouk, but the process is the same - glueing the back on using the back former as a caul. The ribs are so stiff there is no need for a mould.

Finally the back is trimmed flush and given a nice roundover.

n


http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/inst...itar-bouzouki/