Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

WONDERFUL!!!!

My 10 yr old plays cello and I'm planning an electric for him some day....

carving a top on a "real" cello terrifies me!!

I get a block of waste wood with a 3 or 4 mm hole in it.

I put the fret in the hole and bend it towards the tang.

then I flip it and do the same at the other end.

I press them into place with Stewmac's arbor fret press caul.

works fine for me, and possible even lower tech than Mario's!!

I gotta say I like that!!!

Ah to be 14 again!! here's one of my pupils road testing the doubleneck....... it's prize night tonight and he's playing guitar in a musical interlude and he BEGGED me..... but it's still got as couple of dead frets so I had to be a meanie & say no!! http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e328/gowanedwar...

I can only reply in my own venacular......

houl yer whicht or I'l slapye wi a gutty














or please be quiet or I shall strike you with a running shoe.......

route off the binding and then heat ope the glue holding the side to the top/back

but the fact that guitars have a big soundhole that you can get a hand/mirror/finger plane inside mean it's not usually necessary to open it up.

here y'go then this is before the carving is finished obviously I'm not TOO concerned about being over braced as it'll be a plugged in kind of thing, and I'd rather deal with a EQ issue than a ripped off top issue...... :? the soundhole patch is a bit rough, but no-one will see in there, will they? ...

OK, the doubleneck progresses... Double neck bridge..... http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e328/gowanedwards/40600678-1.jpg removing the varnish from the top so that the glue will hold the bridge in place..... http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e328/gowanedwards/40600679-1.jpg glued & clamped http://...

Hi Dennis, This beast is for me till I get bored of it and then I'll prolly bung it on ebay to get the £200 or so back out again..... the switch is as you suggest, my last double (for a pal) had a blend pot and it just didn't really work right, (sounded muddy in the middle) so that's why I'm switch...

Ah go on then Serge, here's another attempt at the outer & inner rings.....

I re-cut the grooves and filled them with a wider bwbw strip

still to be sanded out.........

Lookin' good!!

Gotta say Ron, even if I didn't get my walnut for free, I'd still be buying it, it works so well, bends like butter and even SMELLS lovely!!!

Not totally happy with the close up outcome. the outer an inner rings aren't as.... well..... circular as I want, so I'll re-do the process when my engleman arrives........ Ah well, so who's perfect? lucky I have the other 12 segments in an envelope, all numbered, ready for use!! http://i42.photobuc...

Well, it's not ALL out of the dumpster!!! I bought the top........ the fretboards....... the maple on the necks is from a builders yard........ the back & sides are from the shopfitter's dumpster and the mahogany lams in the neck and the mahogany binding was too....... The leopardwood in the rosette...

BillyT wrote:That's great Martin! How lond did it take you to get that far?

all in those pics about 90 minutes

glue & dry then another circular cut & the inner ring fitted, another 10 mins.......

Sam Price wrote:Oh Martin, please don't!! STAY outside the box!!

I can't even remember where the box is!!!!

current project........ walnut/sitka 6/12 doubleneck. necks are maple/mahogany/maple fretboards rosewood with fender scale 12th fret body join & as small a 12 head as possible to get it less head heavy........ There will be a built in tuner and a Les Paul style switch to switch between the two under...

OK gang, here's how to make a segmented rosette...... this is for a guitar shaped mandola I'm mking for a guy in England. Cut a donut of solid wood and cut two grooves to match on the top. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e328/gowanedwards/mandola24/40600683-1.jpg route the gap between the cuts on ...

you're all mad................