Inside The Secret Underground Laboratory

[wraub]

Bruce,
thanks for the update full of good news. That stuff is in short supply these days, you brought a truck load.
Glad to hear all is as well as possible with you and yours.
I also would be interested in t-shirts.

 

[tbrannon]

my favorite thread anywhere on the internet. Glad to hear all the good news, Bruce.

I'd be down for some Tshirts too!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

A note to any of you pro and hobbyist Luthiers around the northern LA area:

Would you like to have a part-time shared shop space to build instruments in, here in the legendary Secret Underground Lab? In the coming couple of months, I may be taking over some additional shop space here in the Lab. I'm looking at using part of the space for my own machines and stuff, and then sub-renting out areas to local Luthiers. Low price, shared time use, some use of shared machines. And, I would be right across the hall, and available to help with some limited sawing, routing, machining services.

I'm just putting this together and figuring out how it might work. PM me if you are interested.

 

[MPU]

A note to any of you pro and hobbyist Luthiers around the northern LA area:

Would you like to have a part-time shared shop space to build instruments in, here in the legendary Secret Underground Lab? In the coming couple of months, I may be taking over some additional shop space here in the Lab. I'm looking at using part of the space for my own machines and stuff, and then sub-renting out areas to local Luthiers. Low price, shared time use, some use of shared machines. And, I would be right across the hall, and available to help with some limited sawing, routing, machining services.

I'm just putting this together and figuring out how it might work. PM me if you are interested.

If I lived near you you could be sure that I'd rent some space just for the possibility of hanging around and harassing you with endless questions. Hopefully something like Stargate or Star Trek teleporting technology is developed fast!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Some things are happening here in the Lab! My fellow Luthier Keith Horne is moving out. He and his wife found a nice little house down in the valley, about 30 miles from here. It's a great location for her work, and it has a nice big attached garage and shed. And a nice fenced yard for Jet to run around in and protect. Keith's going to move most of his operation into the garage and shed, and he'll be able to work from there. No more daily commute up to Fillmore. It should be great for him. More daily working time and less overhead, renting the shop here.

He'll still come up here now and then, and rent some time on some of my machines. The big pin router, table saw, fingerboard slotting machine, etc. He can spend a day here, roughing out a batch of necks and bodies, and then spend a few weeks at his home shop finishing them up. That's how Rob Allen works. Rob comes into his shop here one or two days a week, cranking out the heavy woodworking. Then he does all the rest of the work at his home shop in Ventura.

I'm taking over the lease of Keith's shop space, adding it to my empire. It's about 500 sq ft, bringing me up to 3600 sq ft. I'm going to use it as an auxiliary shop. I have a bunch of machines that I need, and intend to keep, but only use once in a while. Jointers, planers, drum sanders, sheet metal brake, hydraulic press, sandblaster. Small machines on casters, easy to roll around. They are crowding me here in my main shop. I'm going to move them across the hall, into that shop. More space to work with the machines that I use daily. Make myself more efficient.

Keith's shop also has a cleaner room in the front, which I may turn into the Pickup Lab. Move all my pickup making equipment in there. And possibly sub-rent to a local pickup maker, to do his own work here.

Overall, I'm reorganizing my shop to make myself more efficient at turning out Scroll Basses steadily. That's the priority. But I also want to build up a small group of other Luthiers, like Keith, who come in here and work occasionally. They can rent bench time in the auxiliary shop from me, by the month or by the day, to do work on their own instrument projects. Using some of my specialized machines. And we can make deals to do work for each other.

I know several other guys who may join in. Let me know if any of you who are around the area are interested. I'm still thinking out the rules of how to make this work.

 

[BTL]

@Bruce Johnson Change is inevitable, and I'm sure that building has seen a lot of it over the decades. It's nice to see that things have settled down and you are finding a path forward that suits you.

As a random thought, I have a buddy in Glendale who is in the entertainment industry and he was encouraging me to try my hand at writing a script for a pilot. I had an idea that it would take place in a maker space, and it just now occurred to me that The Secret Underground Lab would be the ideal setting, or at least a fictionalized version of it.

Odds are great that the script will never get completed, but be aware that your work is inspiring creativity in ways you might never have imagined.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I wish you were closer to me. I have no desire at all to be in California, but man what an awesome place you've built there and the thought of learning from you would be amazing. I feel like every state needs a Bruce and a Secret Underground Lab.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Let me clarify: I'm not turning into a Maker's Space sort of thing. You can't pay by the hour and come in here and use all my shop and machines. No way. Or hang around all day watching me, learning from me. I'm not intending to become a school, or have apprentices. That's not going to happen. Way too much risk of you injuring yourself or damaging my machines. And I generally won't have anyone else in my shop when I'm doing serious instrument work.

The idea is that you can rent workbench space, part time, in a nice shop across the hall from mine. It's a closed in shop with a door. You do your own thing, your own projects, with most of your own tools. If you need to do some operation on one of my special machines, ask me. If it's something quick, I'll do it for you. If it requires more of my time, then I'll charge you for my time (usually $0.50 a minute, $30 per hour, or an agreed quantity of burritos). As I get to trust you, I may give you permission to use some of my machines. I've been working with Keith for about 5 years now, and I trust him to safely use most of my machines.

And, in general, I'm only going to rent to folks who have some woodworking/Luthier experience. No complete beginners who've never used shop tools before.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

As a random thought, I have a buddy in Glendale who is in the entertainment industry and he was encouraging me to try my hand at writing a script for a pilot. I had an idea that it would take place in a maker space, and it just now occurred to me that The Secret Underground Lab would be the ideal setting, or at least a fictionalized version of it.

One of our tenants here is an Attorney by day and she writes romance novels by night, in her quiet little office upstairs. I suggested a theme involving handsome Luthiers and sawdust. She tried to contain her laughter. But I could see her thinking about it.

Edit: I suggested a working title of Sawdust Tickles

 

[coy garcia]

Let me clarify: I'm not turning into a Maker's Space sort of thing. You can't pay by the hour and come in here and use all my shop and machines. No way. Or hang around all day watching me, learning from me. I'm not intending to become a school, or have apprentices. That's not going to happen. Way too much risk of you injuring yourself or damaging my machines. And I generally won't have anyone else in my shop when I'm doing serious instrument work.

The idea is that you can rent workbench space, part time, in a nice shop across the hall from mine. It's a closed in shop with a door. You do your own thing, your own projects, with most of your own tools. If you need to do some operation on one of my special machines, ask me. If it's something quick, I'll do it for you. If it requires more of my time, then I'll charge you for my time (usually $0.50 a minute, $30 per hour, or an agreed quantity of burritos). As I get to trust you, I may give you permission to use some of my machines. I've been working with Keith for about 5 years now, and I trust him to safely use most of my machines.

And, in general, I'm only going to rent to folks who have some woodworking/Luthier experience. No complete beginners who've never used shop tools before.

Oh bummer... I was just thinking I may have more fingers than I need..lol

 

[Jon Clegg]

Yeah, well, we luthiers can be a pretty steamy bunch.

I mean have you ever read @Rôckhewer 's description of carving a neck?

 

[dwizum]

One of our tenants here is an Attorney by day and she writes romance novels by night, in her quiet little office upstairs. I suggested a theme involving handsome Luthiers and sawdust. She tried to contain her laughter. But I could see her thinking about it.

This sounds like the beginning of a Hallmark movie. Stunningly attractive female power lawyer From The Big City comes to small town to shut down Local Instrument Craftsman who's building was bought out by The Evil Music Corporation. Damn the fact that he's a struggling single parent and also really good at making gingerbread houses!

But little does she know, she will soon be quitting her job in protest and moving to the little town to help the craftsman open a bakery...

 

[Beej]

This sounds like the beginning of a Hallmark movie. Stunningly attractive female power lawyer From The Big City comes to small town to shut down Local Instrument Craftsman who's building was bought out by The Evil Music Corporation. Damn the fact that he's a struggling single parent and also really good at making gingerbread houses!

But little does she know, she will soon be quitting her job in protest and moving to the little town to help the craftsman open a bakery...

 

[BTL]

 

[Freekmagnet]

This sounds like the beginning of a Hallmark movie. Stunningly attractive female power lawyer From The Big City comes to small town to shut down Local Instrument Craftsman who's building was bought out by The Evil Music Corporation. Damn the fact that he's a struggling single parent and also really good at making gingerbread houses!

But little does she know, she will soon be quitting her job in protest and moving to the little town to help the craftsman open a bakery...

Actually, one of the few things we have here in Fillmore besides the Secret Underground Laboratory is a really good bakery. Re-opening the historic town theater would be a good plot line.

 

[Bobo]

@Bruce Johnson Change is inevitable, and I'm sure that building has seen a lot of it over the decades. It's nice to see that things have settled down and you are finding a path forward that suits you.

As a random thought, I have a buddy in Glendale who is in the entertainment industry and he was encouraging me to try my hand at writing a script for a pilot. I had an idea that it would take place in a maker space, and it just now occurred to me that The Secret Underground Lab would be the ideal setting, or at least a fictionalized version of it.

Odds are great that the script will never get completed, but be aware that your work is inspiring creativity in ways you might never have imagined.

never say never, Bee! go for it!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

A couple of months have gone by, and things have been happening here in the Secret Underground Lab. Tenants moving out, new tenants moving in. Some shuffling and moving of tenants from one shop space to another. We're actually getting fairly full of tenants now. More T-shirt printers, video processing labs, video game tester, a dental jewelry (!) distributor, etc. Quiet businesses run by young local folks. That's okay by me. They are nice people. We're down to only 3 Luthiers.

Amazingly enough, we finally got approval from the City on a package of "safety" upgrades to the building. After about eight years of fighting. Minor things, mostly reworking several of the staircases to meet ADA standards. And a new basement bathroom! The work is supposed to start in May. When the work is done and inspected, supposedly we will finally be awarded our Certificate Of Occupancy. And be allowed to be in here. Groan.

I'm expanding my empire in the building. I'd mentioned above that I've taken over Unit 3 (where Jon Wilson was) and Unit 2 (where Keith Horne was). I'm renting most of Unit 3 to my friend Scott Duckett, our in-house computer/video/marketing guy. He's got a nice podcasting computer lab set up in there. I'm setting up Unit 2 as an auxiliary woodworking shop, primarily for heavy routing of neck and body parts, and use by associate Luthiers.

I'm also now looking at taking over Unit 15, a long narrow closed room right next to my main shop. The previous tenant just moved out, and I'm thinking of grabbing it while I have the chance. It'll be a clean warehouse storage space, for instruments and amps and things I want to keep out of the shop dust. Possibly with a little music playing space up in the front.

Overall, acquiring these other spaces will be clearing junk out of my main shop. More working space between machines. More valuable machines pulled out of dark corners and made functional. Stockpiles of parts and materials more organized and useable. Making my shop into an efficient factory, cranking out Scroll Basses!

That's my overall goal for 2021. By the end of the year, I want to be steadily turning out 2 basses per month.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Okay, okay, I know you want to see some machines.....

Last week I cleaned up and reorganized the cluster of drill presses in my machine shop area. I have 8 drill presses in this area that get almost daily use. One big one and a row of seven medium and small ones arranged tightly along one heavy bench.

Why do I need so many drill presses? They are all set up for specific jobs that I do repeatedly. When I'm going through the steps of drilling holes in metal parts, it saves so much time having individual machines all ready to go to do different operations.

Starting at the left end is a floor model TestRite, made in Taiwan, that I bought new in 1982. It was my only drill press for many years, and it's still running strong. I fitted it with a keyless chuck. It has a table that cranks up and down easily. I use it for 0-1/2" drilling that requires extra vertical height.

To the right is a 1970's Walker-Turner WP500 15" floor model. This is my main metalworking drill press that I use for most 0-1/2" drilling. It's a workhorse, and I use it every day.

Two little drill presses. On the left is an import Tradesman, fitted with a 2mm bit. It drills the cross pin holes in all my truss rod hardware and anchors. On the right is a small 1960's Dunlap (Sears, made by King-Seely) bench model. I keep it set up with a precision spotting drill bit. Almost every hole I drill in metal gets spotted first by that little drill press.

On the left is a 1960's Walker-Turner WP500 bench model which I keep set up just for countersinking holes.

On the right is a 1960's Craftsman, made by King-Seely, fitted with a Procunier tapping head. It power-taps 10-32 threaded holes in all my truss rod parts, neck bars, body bars, etc.

Out on the right end is this nice old 1930's Walker-Turner that I found for sale here in Fillmore a few years ago. Unfortunately, it was left outdoors and has a patina of rust all over. But it still runs great. I have it set up with one of those cheap import X-Y cross vises to use for batch drilling of small metal blocks. I've made up several sets of special aluminum fixture jaws for the vise, which will hold the metal slugs when I'm making up various parts. I adjust it in using a Master part, lock it down, and run a batch of parts. It's quicker than the milling machine.

And right across the aisle is the big monster, a 1945 Royersford 21" Drill. This is the machine for drilling big holes, like 1/2" to 1 1/2", in metal blocks. It's also great for drilling delicate holes in large assemblies, because of the large throat depth and heavy elevating table.

Those are my in-service metalworking drill presses. I also have a small group of drill presses in the woodworking area, plus another ten or so antique drill presses back in Dinosaur Row.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Another cool tool added to the Lab......

I found this on the local CraigsList about a month ago, for $40. It's an HK Porter (high quality brand) 18" Reverse Bench Bolt Cutter. Basically a bolt cutter, made to be bench mounted with a reversed handle.

It's perfect for quickly snipping off the 3/16" stainless steel rod that I use for all my truss rods. I mounted it on an aluminum bracket on the front of the drill press bench, with a maple guide block behind it.

It snips the rod in a couple of seconds! I've been hacksawing them since forever. One of those small investments in a tool that will pay off over the years saving time and elbow wear.

 

[Bobo]

A couple of months have gone by, and things have been happening here in the Secret Underground Lab. Tenants moving out, new tenants moving in. Some shuffling and moving of tenants from one shop space to another. We're actually getting fairly full of tenants now. More T-shirt printers, video processing labs, video game tester, a dental jewelry (!) distributor, etc. Quiet businesses run by young local folks. That's okay by me. They are nice people. We're down to only 3 Luthiers.

Amazingly enough, we finally got approval from the City on a package of "safety" upgrades to the building. After about eight years of fighting. Minor things, mostly reworking several of the staircases to meet ADA standards. And a new basement bathroom! The work is supposed to start in May. When the work is done and inspected, supposedly we will finally be awarded our Certificate Of Occupancy. And be allowed to be in here. Groan.

I'm expanding my empire in the building. I'd mentioned above that I've taken over Unit 3 (where Jon Wilson was) and Unit 2 (where Keith Horne was). I'm renting most of Unit 3 to my friend Scott Duckett, our in-house computer/video/marketing guy. He's got a nice podcasting computer lab set up in there. I'm setting up Unit 2 as an auxiliary woodworking shop, primarily for heavy routing of neck and body parts, and use by associate Luthiers.

I'm also now looking at taking over Unit 15, a long narrow closed room right next to my main shop. The previous tenant just moved out, and I'm thinking of grabbing it while I have the chance. It'll be a clean warehouse storage space, for instruments and amps and things I want to keep out of the shop dust. Possibly with a little music playing space up in the front.

Overall, acquiring these other spaces will be clearing junk out of my main shop. More working space between machines. More valuable machines pulled out of dark corners and made functional. Stockpiles of parts and materials more organized and useable. Making my shop into an efficient factory, cranking out Scroll Basses!

That's my overall goal for 2021. By the end of the year, I want to be steadily turning out 2 basses per month.

Wow, that sounds great, Bruce! I’m very happy for you!