Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Make sure the base of plane is flat. If there is the slightest concavity you’ll round off the leading and trailing edges of the soundboard.

No need to re-harden the grub screw. Even annealed they are tough wee buggers. You have a lot more thread up it than a normal nut and your rod will be softer anyway. If you want to keep their hardness, you can drill and tap them in a lathe. Make sure your drills and taps are sharp, go slow with plen...

You should be able to get unf taps and dies from any 1/2 way decent engineering or machinists supply shop. It is not an uncommon thread size. I'm in NZ so things may be a little different on the other side of the ditch. Buy high speed steel (hss) taps & dies. They are more expensive than carbon stee...

It's a long shot
Any antique airplane builders / restorers near you? The old planes were all spruce frame work.

I like it Mark, it appeals to the maintenance fitter in me. A simple effective fix that gets things up and running again.
But I'm going yo wait for Petes post on cf bracing and go from there.

Sorry didn't mean to put thar up twice..

Thanks Peter, I've had a lifetime of doing quick and nasty fixes, that rules out the cf patch. The bracing pattern is no good, out goes the x brace. And I'm not here to do things easy. Which only leaves the retop job. I have plenty of matai to make another top, so that wont be a problem. I'll get st...

Thanks Peter, I've had a lifetime of doing quick and nasty fixes, that rules out the cf patch. The bracing pattern is no good, out goes the x brace. And I'm not here to do things easy. Which only leaves the retop job. I have plenty of matai to make another top, so that wont be a problem. I'll get st...

I made this mandolin quite some while back. It was one the first 1/2 way decent instrument I built. But the soundboard collapsed a few months after stringing up so I loosened the strings of and buried it the garage while I decided what to do with it. It’s X braced with spruce (from an old piano soun...

Play another tune, you handle it well.

Time you guys built a bridge and got over it.

Sweet as Taff, don’t fret over it.

Hi Taff, Sorry for the late reply. I found an online site has a set of building instructions and a full set of plans. I’ve bought a set of plans and instructions off him. Sligo harps if anyone is interested. The lyre though, those plans I’d love to get off you. I’m in NZ so postage won’t be cheap. I...

Hi Taff,
How much for the harp plans? They’ll be well out of temptations way over here. And I even have a wee lass asking me to make one for her.
Cheers
Andy

I just enjoy the quiet and curse my earmuffs when I have to use a power tool.
But then I work in an engineering shop. We have machine tools and a radio blearing over the top all day.

Mangeao for the top and bracing.
Tawa or tairere for the neck

If you find a source of mangeao please let me know.

Go for it bro. It’ll either make you or break you. When I started guitar making (3 so far + a balalaika, 2 mandolins and a hurdygurdy) I couldn’t plane a piece of wood down without getting a 3mm taper in it. Down to about 0.1mm now. The first guitar was more like a patchwork quilt. Don’t be disappoi...

Probably best you err on the side of caution. I've seen a chipboard factory burn down from sparks going down the extraction pipes.

Interesting stuff Mark. There is a whole world of macrocarpa I never knew existed. I always regard macrocarpa as good old mac. Knotty, twisted and only good for fire wood. I've spent eons looking for monterrey cypress, only to find out I've been burning it for the last 50yrs. Since all the covid non...

Thanks for the positive comments.
When I see the exemplary standard of workmanship here, I have a lot of improving to do yet!
Thanks to all those who freely give there skills and knowledge here. Without you lot I'd still be blundering around in the dark.

I'd try an electrician. No matter how expensive he is, it's cheaper than burning your workshop down.

It’s been a long hard road but I’m finally making some 1/2 way reasonable looking instruments. Top mangeao Bowl Maire Neck Tawa Fretboard swamp maire 6A3D7D39-B341-4979-9474-8EC1DFF0A1BA.jpeg E937CFC9-F2D9-463B-85A0-6F664DC91043.jpeg 20E3E197-2DFE-4D1E-8432-EB90B53D69A6.jpeg 57A5984C-02A1-4D79-9A50-...

Thank you for those setup links.
I have a 14" x 180mm depth of cut modified to 220mm with home made roller guides. It's taken me weeks to learn how to sort the drift out and a 30 min video to find out I've made every setup mistake in the book.
Some lessons are hard learnt!!

Try a good engineering supply shop. They should have a 10mm counterbore with a 6mm guide. ( Used for counterboring cap screw heads)

This is what 20,000 years in a swamp does to rimu.
A b&s set of rimu milled 40 years ago and sitting on top, a piece of 20k year old swamp rimu.