Is this OUR George Wilson??? Great luthier video!

[bob blakeborough]

I was wondering George, is this you in this video? If so, that is awesome! I found the video very interesting. I love your veneer saw at around 5:00 minutes in...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K48FezBoPWg

[David Weaver]

Yes, that's definitely George.

[Harold Burrell]

Man, George! You are like a rock star!

Could I get your autograph...on one of your hand-made guitars...for free? :D

[Robert G Brown]

Thanks for finding this. It was very interesting.

[Gary Hodgin]

Nice video, thanks for posting.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Yes, that's definitely George. I don't know him in person but have seen several videos with him. Thanks for sharing this video. It doesn't only show his outstanding skills. Like with every video, that I've seen with him, I detected some great things, that make the woodworking easier. Nothing beats a view over the shoulder of a true craftsman and artist.

Klaus

[Jim Underwood]

Fascinating. What craftsmanship!

[David Nelson1]

Here are the other parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1IiOTLX-Aw&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNqFsycYWDw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMn5LX1bcHk

[Richard Jones]

Absolutely fascinating. A true artisan.

[Mel Fulks]

Had not seen it in several years,so I watched again. It holds up as well as THE GODFATHER. Glad Brando lost out to George on the part.

[John McClanahan]

In case anyone missed it, that is part 1 of 4 parts. Almost an hour of viewing.

John

Well, someone posted links to the other parts while I was watching them.:rolleyes:

[Ernie Miller]

As a harpsichord builder, I've watched these videos many times over the years. I still find them inspirational and make it a point to re-watch them every few months. In fact, I joined the Creek when I found out that George was a member here - I suppose with the hope that some of his exceptional skill would rub off on me - it hasn't! I'm so glad to see that George's unique abilities are appreciated here on the Creek.

[Gary Herrmann]

I have exchanged private messages with Mr. George Wilson.

Ahem.

Thumps chest.


Hoping I can drop by his shop some day for a tour...

[george wilson]

I must apologize for the rather bad violin playing. The musical, consultant to Col. Wmsbg. got a friend of his to play the finished violin. He was not used to playing a baroque violin.

This movie was made sort of in the "dark ages"of tool authenticity in the museum. It didn't become a serious endeavor to make correct period tools until I was made toolmaker in 1986,and began too re equip many of the shops with authentic tools copied from originals selected by the curator of tools. I was only 33 here,and was still pretty new to the business of working in a museum setting.



I did not have time to make more correct 18th.C. tools. the "We are going to make a movie about instrument making" was sprung on me suddenly!! Many things were done that way,it seemed. It'd have taken me months to make authentic tools for everything we used in that film. I just wasn't given the time.

That's an original veneer saw.

The inlay in the spinet's name board was done in 3 hours flat,with the camera crew standing around waiting.

18th.C. builders used nails a lot more than we do today,out of practicality and speed. Even Stradivari nailed his violin necks on. We copied an original spinet here,using nails just as it had.

[Harold Burrell]

I must apologize for the rather bad violin playing. The musical, consultant to Col. Wmsbg. got a friend of his to play the finished violin. He was not used to playing a baroque violin.

This movie was made sort of in the "dark ages"of tool authenticity in the museum. It didn't become a serious endeavor to make correct period tools until I was made toolmaker in 1986,and began too re equip many of the shops with authentic tools copied from originals selected by the curator of tools. I was only 33 here,and was still pretty new to the business of working in a museum setting.



I did not have time to make more correct 18th.C. tools. the "We are going to make a movie about instrument making" was sprung on me suddenly!! Many things were done that way,it seemed. It'd have taken me months to make authentic tools for everything we used in that film. I just wasn't given the time.

That's an original veneer saw.

The inlay in the spinet's name board was done in 3 hours flat,with the camera crew standing around waiting.

18th.C. builders used nails a lot more than we do today,out of practicality and speed. Even Stradivari nailed his violin necks on. We copied an original spinet here,using nails just as it had.

I notice that you failed to address my request for your autograph (on a free guitar).

I'm going to take that as a "maybe". :D

[Andrew Hughes]

I enjoyed watching the video,the veneer saw and the clamps with the hoops for handles are very cool.

[Adam Petersen]

I very much enjoyed the first video and can't wait to get home and watch the last 3 parts. It is a joy to watch you and your journeymen work George. I like the old narrated videos too, there's a certain charm to them that today's videos lack.

[george wilson]

The C clamps were made by a blacksmith before I ever came to Williamsburg. I don't know which blacksmith made them,but they were pretty authentic,based on old prints. Glad you all are enjoying the video.

[David Weaver]

there's a certain charm to them that today's videos lack.

Yeah, continuity and the lack of overproducting and overediting.

[george wilson]

Our director was pretty formulaic (sp?) in his approach to making "craft films". I think this film was the very last craft film that was made. It was the most ambitious film they made,making 2 major items,violin and spinet. A problem was that the whole film had to be made during the quiet part of the year,when tourists were not constantly making noise,knocking at the door,ringing the bells on those infernal bicycles they rented(WHY did they have BELLS?????) The left hand knew not what the right hand was doing around town(the historic town),too often.

We were really working ourselves flat out to get the film shot during the few "quiet months" we had. The floor was a snake pit of large electric cables,and it was VERY hot working between the 2' diameter spotlight and that large fire place.

When I heated the spinet's soundboard before the fireplace just before gluing it down,there was real purpose. I carefully measured it's width across the grain before and after heating it. The heating took 1/16" off the width, The soundboard never has subsequently cracked. They did this in the old days.

The "wiglet" pinned to the back of my head was really an annoyance. It constantly pinched my scalp the whole time.


We hired a new guy near the end of the film(Mr. Sim's son,the hippie) at the request of a vice president who wanted the director to give him a second chance (he'd been fired elsewhere). Mr. Sims was the old English furniture conservator,a great guy. His tool chest was featured on "The Woodwright's Shop" years later. His son was incredibly clumsy,and constantly fell over the mass of cables on the floor. He couldn't manage to do anything correctly that I hastily assigned to him,and was a liability rather than a help. I had to re do any gluing up or other jobs he was supposed to do. He was supposed to glue up the 2 wide boards that made up the spinet lid. Couldn't manage to make the wooden bar clamps to work,and tried to tape them together with masking tape!! I've described him in earlier postings. He was very disrespectful of his father,who just ignored him,and would reply: "Shut up and sweep the floor"!!:) One time I was there in the conservation shop when he was measuring 2" down the sides of 4" plywood squares,and drawing lines across to locate their centers-INSTEAD of just drawing diagonals to locate the center. The whole time he was mumbling about how incompetent some of the maintenance men were!! He and his father were both fired soon thereafter. His father was over 70,and was building cabinets and an island for his new house,and a wooden double width garage door he had made dominated the room. Clearly by this time in his career,he had given up on doing work for the museum,and was working on his own stuff!! I really loved the old guy,though. Learned a lot from him when I was first at the museum,trying to learn early ways.

Mr. Sims was the only guy I ever saw who had his sharpening stones screwed down to a counter. His son constantly complained that we didn't have ours screwed down!! Screwed down to WHERE? A workbench top? Our shop was pretty small. Besides,I had no desire to screw down the stones!!

The walnut in the spinet was from 16" wide planks of walnut from 150 year old church pews that they had a large pile of at the museum. Just plain walnut,nothing fancy.

[Steve Friedman]

The "wiglet" pinned to the back of my head was really an annoyance. It constantly pinched my scalp the whole time.

Wiglet? I assumed it was your hair! How disappointing.

Seriously, great video and even more outstanding skill.

Steve

[ian maybury]

Dead interesting George. Learning to work using authentic tools must have taken a bit of getting used to, but judging by the nice straight veneer cuts the methods worked pretty well........

ian

[Mel Fulks]

I think part of the charm factor is how interesting and immediate the more distant past is compared to the now 'old fashioned' style of the narrator . Why is the recent past always out of favor? My guess is marketing.

[george wilson]

Knowing the film department at that time,I doubt they had the marketing sophistication to choose narrative styles. They hired someone in Richmond to do the narrative. He died several years ago.

Ian, of course,we already had the hand tool skills to saw straight,but using the veneer saw was the first time we had tried this tool. Skills transferred readily to it. It had pretty large ripping teeth. Starting the saw was the trickiest part. Marcus did very well,having only been with me since 1970. He had never made anything before he joined me. The inside of the original spinet (1699) was veneered with cypress,which is what we also used. Curiously enough,Mr. Sims told me that imported Italian cypress "sets" of wood for using as secondary wood in English furniture was still being done some years back. Flying over Italy,though,I noticed how very few trees there were. Only seen as wind breaks around fields until way up in the Northern part,near Switzerland. Cypress trees are considered mourning trees there,planted in cemeteries. Also used for boat building and coffins until more modern times. I was hoping the canal boats in Venice were made of cypress,but they were not.

Not unusual for the English to import wood. They had to buy Yew from Spain in the middle ages for their long bows. Agriculture,building,and charcoal burning had long before made wood a scarce commodity in England. Wood was hoarded in the Royal forests four ship building. Oak trees were tied down to grow in bowed shapes for making ribs. Woe betide anyone who poached wood. I think it took something like 2000 trees to build HMS Victory. Sad to note today that it has been re planked with pine,not oak. Yet,the Tower of London is full of floors,ceilings and stairs made of English brown oak which I admired. It wasn't to be painted like the Victory is,so I guess they had to use oak since it was seen. They use fake fiberglass cannon on the Victory today,saying that it isn't strong enough any more to support the weight of the real guns. Perhaps the pine planking has something to do with that,or maybe it is because the ship is blocked up in its dry dock rather than floating.

[Mel Fulks]

The narration is perfectly competent ,and the voice easy on the ears .Its hard to say what dates it .My point was just an observation of how everything is being 'upgraded' and how subtle it can be.

[Pat Barry]

Super interesting video of the process. Mr Wilson's comment about not using screws was also enlightening but it got me thinking, maybe they just didn't have screws to use way back when.. I can see the video attempting to replicate the old masters' work. Anyone know if screws could have been used? Just curious.

[george wilson]

The Romans had nuts and bolts. They had them in the 18th.C,even mass produced them. But not as fast as we can today. They cost too much to be casually used. Nails cost less,but were still expensive enough that in Jamestown,a law had to be passed to prohibit the burning of houses to get the nails. Many screws were hand filed out,too.

[Harold Burrell]

Super interesting video of the process. Mr Wilson's comment about not using screws was also enlightening but it got me thinking, maybe they just didn't have screws to use way back when.. I can see the video attempting to replicate the old masters' work. Anyone know if screws could have been used? Just curious.

Yes they had screws. In fact, the wood screw was invented in 344 BC by the Egyptians.

Unfortunately, the screw driver was not inverted until 1810 AD...





OK...I made all that up...and it was stupid. I apologize :o

[Susan Kahler]

I must apologize for the rather bad violin playing. The musical, consultant to Col. Wmsbg. got a friend of his to play the finished violin. He was not used to playing a baroque violin.

Well, no wonder... It's baroque! :p


Sorry, old theater joke. ;) What an awesome video--thanks for sharing!

[Kees Heiden]

Fascinating!

Well, of course, a frog has more musical sence then me, so I have no idea what's it all about, but even I can see the craftsmanship.

You all look very serious though. No fun in the shop sometimes?

[george wilson]

I used to tell shop visitors(tourists) "It's brand new and baroque already".

The museum apparently didn't want humor in their films. When I tried to put some into the failed fire engine film,they said"it made 18th.C.people look stupid!! I think they needed to lighten up! The film failed because the film director didn't take enough footage. He didn't last much longer after that. I think he was last seen making commercials in some small outfit.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with George ,makes me wonder again how much some of the experts know.Play on words and puns were major parts to earlier humor. To put it into guide speak "Seinfeld hadn't been invented".

[Christian Castillo]

You're one of my arts/crafts heroes George. I would have said woodworking, but you do so much more.

[jim vancampen]

Good thing there were no power tools... those shirts look dangerous. Seriously though, that is an experience that is so unique, so valuable and hardly anyone gets to do it. I am jealous. At least I can watch the videos. :)

[David Weaver]

I think he was last seen making commercials in some small outfit.

Let's hope it wasn't a bikini!

[Mel Fulks]

Thats hilarious David . And it was right in front of us! I'd like to at least think we would noticed something wasn't right if a photo had been posted.

[Bob Glenn]

I guess I didn't know that George is left handed. Not surprised though, many artistic people are left handed.

[george wilson]

Left handed people think on both sides of their brains. I only found that out recently. A doctor told me that. My left handed wife didn't believe it till she googled it. She is an artist,too.

I thought this movie was old news around here,but apparently not!

[Mike Henderson]

I just watched the set of videos. Wow, George, I'm really impressed. Where did you learn your craft of making instruments?

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

That's why left handed are usually actually more ambidextrous than truly left handed.

[george wilson]

daVinci and Michelangelo were left handed. I missed out on their gayness,though!!:)

[Zach Dillinger]

Only lefties are truly right.

/Fellow Left-Handers, unite!
// I plane right-handed, but saw and chisel lefty.

[george wilson]

I'm all lefty,though I forced myself to learn to play guitar right handed. I was not going to be caught in the same situation as never being able to have a left handed baseball glove.

[Zach Dillinger]

My dad made me learn to play golf right handed because left-handed clubs are nearly impossible to find for kids, like lefty ball gloves are / were. Of course, that translated into playing tennis right handed, so I really curse that decision on occasion.

[Mel Fulks]

When my left wrist was broken in a car wreck I was easily able to write with right hand but developed a slight intermittent stutter that took a long time to stop. Docs say that is common. Golf and guitar much easier right handed but poor performance on both. I've always found left handed athletes a puzzle since it is often associated with some awkwardness and lack of speed.

[george wilson]

I had plenty of speed and was not awkward,but never was interested in sports much. I guess I liked baseball a little as everyone at least has a chance to get the ball,as opposed to football.

[Adam Petersen]

Well I'll be. All this time I thought I was just a dullard when it came to artistic design, now I have an excuse! I'm a righty! I'll have to start practicing sawing left handed, see if it wakes up the other half of my brain.

[Zach Dillinger]

Adam, you aren't far off with crosstraining. There's an interesting book called "How to Think Like Leondardo Da Vinci". Amongst other things (no, not THOSE things), it mentions using your off-hand for daily tasks, such as brushing your teeth or eating. Apparently its supposed to spur creativity for both lefties and righties.

[Pat Barry]

Jimi Hendrix did all right with this didn't he?

[george wilson]

He used a right handed Fender with the strings reversed,I think,though I'm not a rock fan at all. Setting fire to the guitar with lighter fluid is not recommended!!:) Neither is kicking in your speakers,slamming guitars on the floor,etc!!!

[daniel lane]

As a devout lefty (not much choice in that matter), I've spent a lot of time working on ways to adapt typical (righty) neander tools to my own use. I'm pleased to know that this effort is in support of my tremendous creativity! Truth be told, I spent some time today rough planing a panel and switched grips to plane lefty or righty, depending on access limitations. (I don't have a real workbench <yet>, and work as I can with clamps and planing stops.) Perhaps I should further investigate! :)

Back to the OP, George, I'm impressed (as always) and inspired. I hope to do something as well as you did back when you were...what was it, 33? :)


daniel

[John A. Callaway]

I have been up almost twenty four hours, dead tired in a hotel room.... browsing the internet to wind down... and I saw this thread. I had to watch every part of this. Truly great stuff....