Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

The piece I am considering strengthening is is a is a block of Douglas fir 3"x 12" long 1.5 thick at centre tapering to .5" at each end that will serve as a combination upper transverse brace ,sound hole edge and neck block. I guess I could vacuum bag the part to protect it from humidity during auto...

I copied this post from the Trevor Gore section Hi all, I'm considering some carbon fiber use in my next build. I built a Lotus 7 type car about 10 years ago , and when I did my reaearch , the consensus was that non autoclaved carbon fiber was more of a cosmetic thing over fine woven aircraft qualit...

Hi all, I'm considering some carbon fiber use in my next build. I built a Lotus 7 type car about 10 years ago , and when I did my reaearch , the consensus was that non autoclaved carbon fiber was more of a cosmetic thing over fine woven aircraft quality fiberglass when used with a high quality epoxy...

Yes I'm comparing an arch top and a flattop with the same body volume.What I meant was when you alter the shape of the top it alters the body volume.Since it does that, in order to be comparing the same two guitars you would have to alter the height of the sides to compensate. Thats what I meant by ...

What I mean is total body volume. like if you filled the two guitars with water and poured it out they would measure at the same amount. that and the port size determine the helmholtz resonance, what you get when you hum in the sound hole.

Add grain runout to the list

I like to think of truoil over shellac as french polish without all the work plus alcohol and water resistance.

Hi, I'm designing my second archtop guitar. Every archtop I've ever played sounds different and to my ear at least, not as desirable as a traditional steel string acoustic. I've read Benedetto on Archtops and Somogyi on the resposive guitar. So here's my question. Assuming Strictly Acoustic (no pick...

I use Sketch up . Its free and very easy to use once you understand CAD. You can extrude,scale rotate create componenents and groups to build a fairly accurate model quickly. Heres two pics of a build I'm planning.

Sorry for the dumb post. Brain wasn't working so great that day. I measured the set I'm planning to use. Plenty of room

Hi, I have used Tru-oil successfully on a few of my electric builds. Just a warning it will not set on anything in the Dhalbergia family. Apparently the oils in the wood interfere with the polymerization process. The fix is to build up shellac until all the wood is covered and level. I used a brush,...

Hi, I have used Tru-oil successfully on a few of my electric builds. Just a warning it will not set on anything in the Dhalbergia family. Apparently the oils in the wood interfere with the polymerization process. The fix is to build up shellac until all the wood is covered and level. I used a brush,...

new logo from an old wax seal of my family crest

Hi everyone, I have been searching high and low for this info and remembered the friendly responses I received here in the past. I am designing a (hopefully) unique new arch top guitar. Does anybody know what the total average non custom supplied string length from major manufacturers are ? I usuall...

I am currently building a neck through stratish custom with a birdseye fender "skunkstripe " style one piece neck . I fret sloted the 2" x 3.5" neck blank whole then milled the truss slot in the back. Then profiled neck and incorporated the flame maple laminate body. Bound the fretboard and still ha...

thanks so much for the thoughtful replies. I too have built tops and braces with perfect runnout free ,old growth ,very dense ,high ring count true douglas fir. Unfortunately its as brittle a glass of the same thickness. No doubt it is strong in compression, flexion tension. It does not appear to be...

sorry to bring this up so much later. Great info. Believed so myself for years .In our building code(canada) can span greater distances than red,white or blue spruce. Have intuitively made very thin tops from it that seem to sound great. Works as braces for same reason. Thanks for the confirmation. ...

OK , here goes dumb question #1 I've read quite a bit about the tonal difference between a 14 fret and a 12 fret to body neck. Is the majority of the tone difference coming from the neck length or the bridge placement on the soundboard ? I'm thinking of building a double cutaway guitar( about dreadn...

Hello All Just thought I would introduce myself . I am an amateur builder from Canada. I just sort of fell into this about 18 months ago . I have been a guitar player and woodworker for almost 40 years. It all stated about 18 months ago when a fellow bandmate showed me a Youtube video of Andrew Wint...