Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I Have made a bunch of the Doolin type ones. The angles of the pins are crucial to that design. The one I do in my school now mostly are more like the classical style thought the back of the bridge. This works great. Black wood or QLD walnut are good choices here both will end up very light.

Great work there Jim!! Love the neck join and the rosette looks sleek too.

The first pic is some Regum Back and Sides. It Is also Laminated Back and Sides.

I have been using Jarrah in the Guitar Making School but we always pit a layer of epoxy over it to sure up any cracks and make it stable. I also use Jarrah Veneers for Back and Sides. Looks Beautiful!!

great looking guitars there.

I love the colour of the tele!!

He has teamed up with Music Spruce Canada.

I bought a stack of Engelmann Tops a while back as he transitioned over to them.

https://musicsprucecanada.com

Looks and Sounds great John well done!!!

I have made a few double tops with no braces. I will tap test them and post the pics for you.

Nice work as always Nigel, I have been enjoying this design element as well and will have a go soon too!!

I wouldn't worry about it until you string the guitar up and hear how it sounds. I always tap test as I go as a guide to what's going on but only at the end after strings are on and I have listened to the guitar do I think about fine tuning frequencies only if there is a problem.

I have built a number of guitars with Red Gum. I have always used an epoxy finish to strengthen the timber to stop it from cracking as I do with Jarrah. The pieces I used have been dried for 20 years and had no cracks in it at all. I laminate the sides now but on a few we bent them and they bent rea...

I have just tried Solarez recently and I like it a lot. Brush on with a foam pad, let is settle for 5 mins, spend 2 mins in the sun and then start sanding. Its not Shellac but its easy to apply and you can buff it to a high gloss. Thin it out by placing a cup in a warm water bath and it thins out to...

I have found the air frequency (104) doesn't seem to drop much when adding side mass or mass to the bridge like you have done.

If you turn the guitar around and only tap the back it will highlight the back frequency for you.

I have retro fitted the Mass Support blocks a few times its not hard to do you just have to make sure they fit perfectly. I have used 5 minute epoxy to get them to stick. Just make sure you wear a glove!!! I would do this before touching any braces. Yes...I put the support blocks in as a back up pla...

kiwigeo wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 01, 2021 4:05 pm

Is your bridge on yet? You need to allow for the effect the bridge mass will have on main top frequency (it will bring it down).

Yes your right - I was assuming the bridge was on.

1. 95 would be better - 97 is close to the note G. I find that when I get this frequency I can get some nasty sounding G chords/notes 2. It is always wiser to bring the top down with side mass as it dose not effect other frequencies much. It's very hard to stiffen a top after it is built to make it ...

Hi,

You might try to install weights to bring the Top Main Resonance down from 177 to 170, It will Improve the over all sound giving you more volume and a wider bass response.

The "Double Yolker" as it has been lovingly called at the school is off to its owner tomorrow morning. Here are some pics. It sounds really good with a big full sound. I will take some video tomorrow before I send it to its home and post a link so you can have a listen if your interested. It was a w...

seeaxe wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:53 am

Nicely done.
Plenty of imperfection in my rosette but that to me is fine. Looks properly handmade.
Im about to start my next one.

thanks - I am about to start my next one as well!!

Hi There, I have been working on this rosette log during the covid lock-down when my guitar making classes stopped for a little while. I have finally cut up the rosettes and although they are far from perfect I am still really happy with the outcome. In the Pics above I used walnut and silky oak as ...

A thought.......the two necks I assume will be in the same tuning? If so I would expect the strings on the unplayed neck to resonate with the strings on the played neck.....that should be interesting :) The owner will have to sort that one out. I'd assume they would be tuned the same but one could ...

Hi Graham,
Send me a drawing with measurements and if is not to hard I will draw up a 3D image and send it through to you.

Thanks for the update pics of the build. How the guitar will sound will be interesting but looking at that massive bridge plate and the low area of unbraced or lightly braced lower bout I wouldn't expect a lot of volume. Main top frequency may also be off optimal value(s). Lets see how she sounds o...

The Necks and bindings are now on!!!

Great work, truly good stuff. I can’t wait to hear a review of how it sounds. I’m a little puzzled by the joining of the two soundboards along that straight line and how they might vibrate as a single plate. I completely agree. I explained to the customer that this would be an experimental guitar a...

That looks so good. Very Classical!!