In this video, Jimmy finishes installing the tuning keys. He then begins work on the bone nut. He measures, cuts, and installs the nut, and then he grooves out the nut for the strings. Now the guitar is ready for its first strings and first sounds. Once the guitar is strung and tuned, Jimmy makes the final adjustments to string spacing at the nut, bridge, and saddle. He then adjusts and measures the string height at various places on the guitar neck.

In this video, Jimmy finished up the guitar sides. You will then see him tapping on the top in order to tune it. Then Jimmy stamps the serial number of the guitar on the back of the headstock. Once that is finished, he trims the F-hole binding and applies another coat of finish to the back of the guitar. All of this is to get the guitar prepared for the spray room, where Jimmy creates the final finish of the guitar. Then he scraped the guitar binding clean. Jimmy then completes the final sanding before buffing the guitar. Once the buffing is finished, Jimmy routes and buffs the tail piece.

In this video, Jimmy begins to complete the guitar neck. First, he installs the frets. He cuts the frets to size, adds the glue, and hammers them into place. Once the frets are in place and smoothed, Jimmy takes the neck to a buffer, so the frets can be buffed. After the neck is completed, Jimmy begins work on the top. First he must cut out the guitar top from a piece of wood. After the top is cut out, Jimmy adds the X-bracing to the guitar top. You will also see him bending wood to use for the sides of the guitar.

In this video, you will get an introduction to Jimmy’s shop. He begins making a guitar by using a thickness planar to create a piece of wood that will be used for the guitar neck. Once he applies a finish to the wood, he then cuts a series of necks out the wood. After all the pieces for the neck have been smoothed and cut, the glues them together using a series of vice grips. He then shapes the neck and applies another finish. Now on to the fingerboard. He sands the fingerboard, applies the inlay, and shapes the fingerboard to size. Finally, JImmy making the binding for the guitar neck.

Guitarist Ted Ludwig interviews jazz guitar lutheir Jimmy Foster, the most celebrated luthier in the New Orleans area. For the past thirty three years he has made guitars for many of the finest players around the world. What makes Jimmy special among his contemporaries is that he is a brilliant 7 string guitarist as well as a wonderful luthier.

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