Inside Victor Baker's Shop

Model 16-7 for Stan Charkey- Sneak Peek!

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:04:28 +0000

I made all the hardware yesterday and today and just strung up the 7 string i am making for Stan. YES! Building an archtop is a long and winding road but the trip is almost done for this bad boy. Sounds and plays cool so far, I’ll spend the next week or two tweaking and adjusting things. Still plenty of details to tend to on this one, but the bulk of the work is done. The first pics show how i make a pickup ring for the archtop. I have my arches rendered very accurately in the computer, and i can machine the bottom of the ring to fit the top perfectly. I even can slant it slightly so the top of the pickup is perfectly parallel with the string. Its made from flame maple that I stain black to match the ebony hardware, and is topped off with a coat of satin lacquer to seal. The tailpiece is done the same way.

Pics below that are the guitar all assembled, now time to play this thing all weekend!

Model 16-7 for Stan Charkey- assembly through finishing shots!

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:18:39 +0000

I made some huge progress on the 16″ 7 string archtop i’m building for Stan Charkey. These pictures show the progress of the build in the last week or two: Side bending, neck building, bracing, the special steps taken to construct the high access neck joint (which is a feature on all my guitars now), assembly, detailing etc etc… Theres a couple pics in there that show how i tune the plate’s final responsiveness after machine carving. Each plate is slightly different and i remove wood at the perimeter of the plate until it has a slight “give” with thumb pressure. This makes sure the top is moving like a baffle and vibrating nicely. Not too much though or the guitar will feedback. I also tap around different parts of the guitar and take a little more away where its a little stiff or too tight.

Also shown is the detailing prior to finish, as well as the staining. Last shots show the color after getting a few clear coats. Stan asked me to paint the guitar with this guitar i did a few years ago in mind (more pics here). It is a golden brown stain topped with a yellow stain. It takes its final shade after the first coats of clear hit it. The spruce has some killer figuring- it looks electric! Maple is rock’n too. Final clear coats go on tomorrow!

Model 16-7 for Stan Charkey! Underway!!

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:18:28 +0000

I started on a project for Stan Charkey, who plays a seven-string electric guitar retuned as an Elizabethan lute. He is on staff at Marlboro college and is a composer / performer. He came by the shop last year to discuss his needs in a guitar and to show me the instrument he is currently using. He uses a special tuning D G C F A D G. We settled on a list of specs and i got started this week on it. Very exciting, heres what i have so far… I love doing the seven’s!

This post shows the plate work- i started off by splitting up some big blocks of spruce and picking the best one. All the rough carving is done as well as the routs. My carving templates are very detailed and accurate, and now I’ll spend some time fine tuning the responsiveness using thumb pressure at the bridge and removing wood from the perimeter to create the right spring in the top.

Model 14″ Laminate Archtop project for inventory!

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:12:17 +0000

I’ve had some really great results with my laminate 14’s lately. This project is an experiment with the same body style, but this time with a carved top / back and traditional bracing. Its basically the same guitar as my floating block semi 14’s, but with no block. Gilad Hekselman came by the shop with his guitar which is basically a super customized floating block semi 14, and gave me the idea of doing a hollow version. The laminate 14’s sound great and the carved woods version should have an even woodier sound. These pics show the guitar going from raw woods, through assembly and into the staining and paint stage. It is a Burnt sienna violin color and will have a flat satin finish like this guitar.

Victor Baker Compositions “Neverend” and “Forward”. Sound clips on Laminate 14!

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:54:29 +0000

Ive been trying to document more of the guitars through recordings, as well as play my own compositions. A lot of people have been asking to hear the guitars, and its a lot of fun to record them so its a win win all around! Here’s one i did the other day with some friends using my laminate 14 7 string:

Guitar: Laminate 14 7 string model- w Dimarzio PAF® 7 DP759 pickups. I used the neck pickup with volume on full, slight 10-20% roll off on the tone knob. Strings are Ernie ball custom set (14-52 w 72 on low B).

Amp: Very OLD model polytone with a little chorus and delay effect added.

Mic: Zoom H2N recorder on the bass and drums. Older model zooms on guitar and sax. Certainly rough sounding- the zoom on my guitar was distorting a bit. I will continue to refine my zoom techniques, but good enough for a quick blog post!

“Neverend”: www.paintmyaxe.net/victorbakermusic/Audio/April262012QuarSessionRoughs/NeverendLastTake.mp3
PDF Chart: www.paintmyaxe.net/victorbakermusic/pdf_charts/Neverend.pdf (Tricky tune in 11!)

“Forward”: www.paintmyaxe.net/victorbakermusic/Audio/April262012QuarSessionRoughs/UntitledOriginalTake1.mp3
PDF Chart: www.paintmyaxe.net/victorbakermusic/pdf_charts/03052012Untitled.pdf

thanks to:

Tom Tallitsch- tenor

Trifon Dimitrov- Bass

Manuel Weyand- Drums

we did a couple more tunes i’ll try and post them too… stay tuned!!

14″ Laminate Archtop for Brian Mikiten- COMPLETE!

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:51:45 +0000

Heres the photo finals for Brian’s guitar that shipped out last week. Turned out great! I didn’t have a chance to do any recording with this one unfortunately, but it sounded similar to the other ones in the batch. Heres what Brian had to say about the guitar (wow thanks man!!!):

Victor -

The guitar arrived and I can’t believe how wonderful it looks and sounds. I must admit I was not expecting such a fine instrument in a laminate model. I’ll call you and thank you as well but wanted to offer some comments for everyone else considering this new design:

1) The tone is wonderful. Notes do not get lost in the body but this may be more because of the build quality than the overall design. I have several larger carved and laminate arch tops but the VB has a clarity not found in any of the other laminates including some twice the price.

2) The workmanship is first rate. I love the double relief for my arm and body. It makes for a very comfortable instrument. The binding, finish and overall feel are well done.

3) Plugged in – your selection of pickups and pots provides for a really dynamic range of tones from dark and mellow to bright. I hadn’t expected this and it was a really nice surprise. The guitar is truly versatile.

4) Neck – very playable. It was flatter than I expected but I’ve been playing Benedettos and Les Pauls (odd combo, I know) lately so the comparison may not be fair. I found it easy to play.

Back to playing. Thank you very much for such a great buying experience. I couldn’t be happier!

Brian

Ergo design Archtop guitar for Dan Phillips- COMPLETE!

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:28:03 +0000

The Ergonomic archtop project I’ve been having so much fun working on is a wrap. It left the shop Thursday for Chicago to meet Dan, and will eventually find its home in Bangkok Thailand where he teaches. I have a bunch of stuff to present in this post about it, Ive had TONS of interest in this style of instrument and I thought I’d take the time to do a nice big post on how it turned out.

First pictures of the completed guitar!

Now the sound! I got some friends together (Trifon Dimitrov Bass / Gernot Bernroider Drums) to play some trio and recorded the results. This came together Thursday afternoon and I boxed the guitar up and shipped it literally a couple hours later. Heres the scoop:

Guitar: Dan Phillips Ergo model- w Lollar High Wind Imperial humbucker pickups. I used the neck pickup with volume on full, slight 10-20% roll off on the tone knob. Strings are Ernie ball 12’s set (12-52).

Amp: Very OLD model polytone with a little chorus and delay effect added.

Mic: Zoom H2N recorder- i actually used 2 of these. I just bought them last week for doing clips and i like them a lot so far. I used one on the guitar, and one on the bass and drums. In the future i will put one on the drums and a separate 3rd one on the bass to give it a bit more clarity. We got together at the music rehearsal spaces downstairs in my building and the drums arent the greatest, a typical rock kit. Overall the sound is not bad for a home recording, but certainly rough.

These are all my compositions and the guys did a great job of sight reading it.

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Audio Track: Weird Bread

PDF Chart:

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Audio Track: Into The Conversation

PDF Chart:

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Audio Track: Right Sight

PDF Chart:

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Some of my thoughts on the guitar:

Playability: The guitar sits very comfortably on your knee, and the ergonomic design really works. The neck sits at a much higher angle than a regular guitar and this allows the arm to extend naturally with no twist to the wrist. Its very balanced since there is no head to drag it down. The guitar is very lightweight even with the large aluminum bridge.

Sound- the guitar is very well balanced in all the registers. The guitar is largely hollow and there is a lot of air to the sound. I didnt notice any dead spots. As with any guitar with 24 frets it has a more mid rangey sound to the neck pickup. This is because the pickup is closer to the bridge than a guitar with less frets, and acts more like a “middle” pickup. 24 frets is a very popular thing among ergo players. I personally would rarely (if ever) play that high, i’d really only need 20 frets like on a regular archtop. If i were to make one of these for myself I’d redesign it with less frets, and that would make the tone even fatter.

Bridge: There arent many options at all for headless guitars of course. This one is made by JCustom headless research. Its a quality unit, but is hard to tune and intonate. If i were to make one of these guitars for myself i might opt for a regular (small) headstock and traditional bridge and tail. Or perhaps i’d do an original take on the headless system with something custom made here.

Center Blocks: Dan and I decided to experiment with some removable center blocks to convert the guitar to semi hollow. Regrettably i didnt have time to experiment with them much. They insert quite nicely though and were fun to make!

OK!! I’ll be updating more thoughts on the project soon as i think of things. My fingers are sore from typing for now :^). If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask!!

Model 14″ Laminate Archtop for James Aston- COMPLETE! pics and sound!!

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:35:07 +0000

James’ laminate 14″ shipped out on monday, but before it left for its new home in the UK I snapped a bunch of pics and recorded some audio. Theres an excellent recording studio right down the hall from my shop (Soundworks), and i decided to kill two birds with one stone by recording some of the music Ive written as well as get some clips of the new guitars. I recorded the session with a different guitar (my own 14″ laminate- i’ll post that audio too). I went back and recorded a new track with James’ guitar on my home pro tools. Heres the specifics:

Guitar: Model 14 Laminate- w Dimarzio PAF 36th Anniversary pickups (I discovered these on another project and they sound awesome! They are a vintage PAF reproduction like an old Seth Lover). I used the neck pickup with volume on full, slight 10-20% roll off on the tone knob. Strings are Ernie ball custom set (14-52).

Amp: Fender Deluxe Tube amp

Mic: RE-20 close mic’d and tracked completely dry. Afterwards I threw a touch of chorus and delay on the sound in pro-tools (via Guitar rig software). The clip is a VERY rough mix. I’ll go back and work on it more later… I cranked the guitar a bit in this rough mix for blog purposes :^)

MORE Pics here: (previous post)

Audio Track: “Eclipse” CLICK HERE FOR MP3

PDF CHART: EclipseAminor

VB- Guitar

Trifon Dimitrov- Double Bass

Steve Einerson- Piano

Justin Leigh- Drums

Montreal show guitar- Headstock inlay

admin — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:35:24 +0000

This week I took a break from my current projects for a couple days in order to do a CNC inlay project i’ve been planning for a while. I was checking out some works by art nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha, and found one of his works “Dance” that blew me away. I decided to try and adapt it as a headstock inlay and this is what i have so far. I started by importing the image into my CAD program and picking parts of the painting that would adapt to inlay. I traced lots of stuff and planned the layering steps for doing the inlay. The pieces were cut out of various materials, and then stained and highlighted. Some of the pieces needed to be cut with a tiny .015 cutter, and the engraving tool has a .006 wide point!

The pics are pretty much in chronological order, next step is to apply a light leveling glaze to make the surface perfectly smooth. Fun stuff.

This inlay will go on a guitar i plan to take to the Montreal Guitar festival this summer. I’m not set on the other aspects of the guitar, maybe 16″ archtop with some killer woods…. Stay Tuned!!

14″ Laminate Archtop for Bryce Sutherland- sneak peek!

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:36:28 +0000

Here’s the last of the 4 laminates in the run, this one is a custom color request in transparent dark purple. Bryce set me a photoshop edited version of one of my previous guitars. He had come up with a deep dark trans purple color for me to reference. I’m always excited to do one of a kind or out of the ordinary stuff, so i quickly agreed. When will i ever get to do a purple jazz guitar again?!? Needless to say I had a lot of fun doing the staining stage and coloring.

Here’s Bryce’s original sketch:

And heres the new guitar during initial setup and fitting. It will also get ebony covers on the pickups as well as an ebony pickguard. I had to get just the right angles to highlight the purple, you could mistake it for a black guitar. But when light hits the guitar it definitely turns electric. wow!

Ergo design Archtop guitar for Dan Phillips- finish complete- setup time!

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:36:05 +0000

I wrapped up the painting process on Dan’s ergo archtop yesterday and also did the preliminary fret work and setup. Very cool! The guitar is unconventional to say the least but has a nice sound from the get go and is undeniably comfy to play. I havent tried it with the strap yet, but while sitting the guitar kinda balances itself. The way the body is shaped it naturally puts the neck at a much higher angle than a regular guitar. This places the fretting hand in a natural position with no twist to the arm or bent wrist. I noticed my back was more straight too- i’m a notorious sloucher. The upper register is completely accessible too. Also since there is no headstock the whole guitar balances nicely by itself- no need to prop the neck up with the left hand or clamp the body with the right arm- theres no weight up there.

So far the acoustic sound is fairly similar to one of my smaller archtops. The whole guitar body vibrates and i bet it will open up nicely over the next days. The volume is well balanced all over the neck. The pickups will be a set of Lollars and they will arrive this week- Im dying to hear the amp sound.

My only gripe is that i’m constantly reaching up to the “headstock” to tune it haha!

Victor Baker Quartet- original compositions “Silk” and “Cherry”

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:51:32 +0000

So i was going through some old recording and music and found the EP i was working on back in 2008. I never actually finished it, which i really need to do (!). Thought I’d post some clips. These are my tunes “Silk” and “Cherry”- hope ya like!

This music is a cool snapshot in time- I was shedding every week with the guys that played on the tunes. John Stenger (p) Paul Gehman (b) and Justin Leigh (d). I forget which guitar i used on the recording- it was a semi hollow i believe like this one. These tunes are rough mixed and not mastered.

copy and paste the addresses into your browser:

Silk- www.paintmyaxe.net/victorbakerguitars/music/Silk.2_08-02.mp3

Cherry- www.paintmyaxe.net/victorbakerguitars/music/Cherry.2_04-01.mp3

Ergo design Archtop guitar for Dan Phillips- color stage

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:09:30 +0000

I’ve started the finishing stage of Dan’s ergo axe- here’s the coloring steps. First pic is the Hofner guitar Dan gave me to reference as inspiration. It is a amber color with a slight sunburst, and the trim is in all black. I start first by applying a clear primer and cutting that flat with 320 sandpaper. This gives a super smooth surface to start the coloring. The pics pick up here, I continue by masking off the entire body except at the corners with motorcycle pinstriping paint and clear film. The body corners are then lacquered black, the masking is then removed and the edges are left with the binding effect. The body bevels are dressed black as well which looks really slick. The guitar will have a nice vibe with the black trim combined with all the black hardware and components. Then the amber color is sprayed in layers and darkened toward the edge. sweeeet. Next up clear coats!

Ergo design Archtop guitar for Dan Phillips- assembly!

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:26:45 +0000

Dan’s guitar came together this week, what a fun project. Like I said before i never gave much thought to ergo minded instruments before this project request, but i definitely see the advantage now. The guitar is super comfy in the playing position and is very compact, although it has a decent amount of air space inside so i bet it will have a very convincing archtop tone. These pics show the various trimming steps, arm beveling (including my “improvised holding platform” i.e. me winging it with hold-up blocking) and also the guitar after sanding / clean-up. I also had to deepen the neck pickup pocket with a new cutting path since it turned out it wasnt deep enough to house a pickup. Things dont always go in order on a prototype- Its always a little dicey doing things later like this, but after i got it all lined up it turned out perfect. On to the finishing stage- stay tuned!

14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! SNEAK PEEK 2!

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:28:30 +0000

I strung up the second of the four laminates i’m working on. This one is a “student” model with a satin violin finish which is a little (ok a lot!) simpler to apply than the high gloss, but i think it looks really cool as well. Plus it is very low maintenance for players who dont polish their guitar all the time like myself. Its sounding and playing great so far, just have to give it some time to settle in before it ships out to its new owner in the UK!

14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! SNEAK PEEK!

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:55:03 +0000

I strung up the first one of the four laminates i’m working on. The first one is the 7 string (Hmmm i just happen to play seven string.. coincidence? haha). I made all the hardware earlier and did the initial setup this afternoon. Sounds killer! More soon stay tuned!

14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Making all the hardware…

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:50:10 +0000

The laminates are getting close to being finished, one is set up and polished- the rest not far behind. Heres some of the various steps in the making of the hardware to be used on the guitars.

Ergo design Archtop guitar for Dan Phillips- construction!

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:55:06 +0000

After a lengthy planning stage, Dan’s ergo archtop took shape last week. It all looks super cool and I’m very pleased with all the components. Next steps are to assemble all the components, trim everything and sand / prep it all for finish!

14″ Laminate Archtop for Brian Mikiten- sneak peek!

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:17:12 +0000

Here’s one of the 14″ laminates i’m working on. These pics were taken during clear coats last week. All 4 of the guitars in the run are just hangin out while the paint sets up. I should be able to start polishing them out in a week or so (nitro takes forever). If all goes well i’ll be able to set them all up and start playing them ohhh yes.

Ergo design Archtop guitar for Dan Phillips- design phase!

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:43:49 +0000

Here’s a the beginnings to an interesting project! My client Dan showed me pictures of a guitar that he has, as well as his hand drawn plans for an archtop version of the guitar. (first row in this gallery). After plenty of back and forth collaboration I have the CAD rendered plans ready for what promises to be a very unique and interesting guitar! It draws inspiration from Klein-type instruments in that it is designed for ergonomics, vertical alignment and with a headless design. But with an archtop guitar mentality with a carved top and back. It will be very compact for travel, and I also figured out how to add a removable center block for louder gigs which will increase the guitars versatility!

Model 15 Thinline Archtop for Ken Nieves “Malia” model- Sound clip!

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:49:13 +0000

Ok now for the fun part- playing one of the guitars! Here’s a clip of me shedding with my client Ken’s new guitar that i just finished building. I’m playing over the changes of the Bill Evans tune “Very Early“. Mellow recording done after hours at the shop on my iphone camera with my zoom H2 as a microphone. Guitar plugged straight into amp (newish Fender tube amp), recorded dry with a splash of reverb added later in pro tools. Audio and video combined after. I love building guitars but love playing them more ! ;^)

Model 15 Thinline Archtop for Ken Nieves “Malia” model- Truss cover inscription

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:32:27 +0000

Here’s a quick little video of me inscribing Ken’s daughter’s name “Malia” on the truss rod cover of his guitar. The machining path is mapped out via CAD. The truss cover is attached to the machine bed with double stick tape and the tiny bit cuts the letters. Cool!

14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Color Stage

admin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:03:21 +0000

Two of the four guitars in this run will have a violin inspired paint job. These pics show the process so far. The guitars are given a dark amber stain, a clear coat and then some darkening with some burnt umber lacquer. I top it off with a touch of lemon yellow lacquer to brighten it all up. The arm and belly bevels are then masked off and painted black. This will look cool later with the ebony hardware in place. Now on to the topcoats, one will be high gloss, one will be a satin finish.

New tailpiece for Gilad!

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:19:31 +0000

Gilad Hekselman stopped by with his guitar the other day for some adjustments and tweaks. He travels all over the place with his axe and plays it quite a bit, so it was time for a quick pit stop. We also installed a smaller tail piece to do some experimenting with a longer string length between the bridge and tail. Its a cool new look to the guitar also! This is actually an older design but i might have to do more of these- they are slick!

14″ Laminate Archtop mini production run! Wood Binding for Brian Mikiten

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:51:10 +0000

Heres some pics of the binding process I did for one of the laminates in this run. My client Brian decided to add some maple binding on the guitar he reserved in order to get some contrast with the color he chose (like this). Its gonna look sweet! Binding work on the laminates is a little dicey, since the outer shell of the guitar is usually only .025 to .035 thick (about half the thickness of a dime). I cant disturb it in any way while installing or accidentally cut into it while trimming. That would suck. Big time. But after going slow and taking my time i got it all installed and looking good! There is a belly bevel installed also, and that will add some ergonomics to the guitar.