Category Archives: Workshop

Moving on

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

I do realize that I have been neglecting the blog for some time. Over the last months life has been a rollercoaster. Not just because of the world wide Covid pandemic, but for other reasons. Since September I have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, Projects, Workshop | 3 Comments

“The other Dual Tone”; Guyatone LG-60

Posted on August 3, 2019 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

About a year ago, a friend contacted me about an old guitar he found in the trash. He wanted to fix it himself, but lack of time had put it in a corner for years. If I took it in, … Continue reading →

Posted in Guitar, Guitar Plans, Music, Restorations, Uncategorized, Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The Beast unleashed”- the Lion Theorbo leaving the nest.

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

As you know I am working on a large theorbo after the Matheus Buechenberg (Rome, 1614) in the V&A museum. Nomally I make lutes with anything from 7 to 19 ribs. But making a 41 rib bowl in Yew heartwood … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Lute, Music, Printing press, Projects, Uncategorized, Woodworking, Workshop | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Ace of Spades

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

If you like to gamble, I tell you I’m your man, You win some, lose some, it’s all the same to me, The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say, I don’t share your greed, the only … Continue reading →

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Life as a Professional Time Traveller

Posted on November 3, 2018 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

Last week a friend called me a “Professional Time Traveller”. A joke, but I think in a sense he is right… I tend to take leapfrogs trough history one day measuring an original guitar from 1760, the next adjusting a … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, History, Projects, Re-enactment, Research, Think different, Thoughts, Uncategorized, Woodworking, Workshop | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

FREE Vihuela plans!

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

Yes you read it correctly. As a summer surprise I’m giving away one of my plans for free… A year ago some of my students at the Bouwerskontakt lutherie course asked whether they could make some historical instruments. A baroque … Continue reading →

Posted in Guitar, Guitar Plans, Lute, Music, Projects, Research, Uncategorized, Woodworking, Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

A special parlor: The Grunewald “Harp-Guitar”

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

One of the perks of guitar making are the special guitars that sometimes pass the shop. And being a somewhat quirky person I somehow manage get some of the oddest pieces of guitar history. Like this 10-string “Harp-Guitar” made by … Continue reading →

Posted in Guitar, Guitar Plans, History, Movies, Music, Projects, Restorations, Uncategorized, Woodworking, Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

King David and his pretty little lyres

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

When researching the old European lyres there are two pictures that always keep surfacing: The Vespasian Lyre Probably the most famous is the one of King David in the Vespasian Psalter (Southern England, 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 8th … Continue reading →

Posted in History, lyre, Music, Projects, Re-enactment, Research, Think different, Uncategorized, Woodworking, Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Dutch Tool Chest

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

During the days at the Batavia Shipyard it became clear to me that I want two new toolboxes, destined for the re-enactment events. The reason is that some of my tools are simply too dear to me to expose them … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Re-enactment, Tools, Uncategorized, Woodworking, Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We have a theorbo!

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Jan van Cappelle (Javaca)

Work continues on Jannemieke’s Sellas theorbo. We’re very close to completion… The bracing glued and shaped Time to close the box… Installing the fingerboard points… And time to attach the neck extention… The instrument is finally at its full length. … Continue reading →

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