Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Thank you everyone for your suggestions , I have ordered a set of spring steel slats from LMI , should do the trick .
Thank you again for taking the time to post your suggestions

Hi all , while I practise with my new bending iron I will still need to use my homemade Fox Bender utilising a heat blanket and stainless steel slats . The stainless steel slats I am using ( .6mm thick ) have taken on the shape of a guitar side and make the setting up of the side to be bent awkward ...

Thank you once again , I get it ! Thank you everyone I really appreciate the help , I normally use straight slats of wood to push against using a variation of the tent method . I couldn’t quiet get my head around pushing against edges which are irregular but I can understand how to do this now Once ...

Hi All Another beginners question , I have Adirondack from Old Standard Wood in the US I found John at OSW very helpful he even asked me if the guitar was being used mostly with a pick or finger style . It will be used most of the time finger style and he selected a set to suit .It is light stiff an...

Thank you Mark I have a fair few plans here and why I didn’t realise that all the X brace plans pass the lower legs of the braces under the wings of the bridge I don’t know ! Once I looked it was obvious . The angle of the x brace is interesting and I do notice that in the smaller guitar plans the a...

Thank you John and Martin , information gratefully received
Peter

Hi This is another beginners question , I am building a small acoustic ( slightly larger than 0 size ) I have the specs such as , Length , Upper Bout , Waist , Lower Bout Scale length etc so have drawn the body shape and am happy with that . I now have to draw a bracing plan ( x bracing ) and I am w...

Thank you for the replies everyone , thank you for the link mark that Neck system looks interesting . I think this is an interesting subject so if any other members know of supply options why not share them here could help a lot of beginners
Thanks everyone
Peter Lynch

Hi I have built two guitars now , using mortice and tenon bolt on necks .I used a commercially available bolt set from a luthiers supplier . These were the only optionI I found on the web . I wonder if anyone knows of a supplier of high quality bolt assemblies for acoustic guitars . I appreciate tha...

Thank you everyone for your input , I have ordered a bender from the LuthiersBench should be with me in about two weeks .
Once again thank you for your input , very much appreciated

Hi I am a beginner , I have built two instruments so far which I play and enjoy . I currently bend sides using a form and heat blanket , I would like to try a cutaway and feel I should learn to bend using a commercial bending iron (stewmac etc ) or go with a hot pipe ( gas ) . Could anyone offer som...

Spring The guitar looks good , glad you are getting something from these posts I feel we are very lucky that members like Mark are so generous with their knowledge . I will attempt to post my two efforts , both 12 fret 24.9 “ scale Blackwood Back and Sides , Engelmann Spruce Soundboard , red spruce ...

Than you Mark you have given me some very valuable information , you have been very generous with your time . The information you have given me will help me enormously , great stuff thank you
I am finding membership of the forum very informative and friendly
Once again Thank You

Thanks Mark , you have given me a lot of information which is like gold to a novice . I appreciate the time you have spent no doubt other novices are reading your replies as well and learning from them . You mentioned bracing near the linings assuming I use normal Kerfing which is of course in segme...

Thank you for the reply’s , every one
Cheers
Peter

Thank you everyone , I didn’t know stepped drills existed but it would make things easy , I will check it out .
Cheers
Peter

Thanks Mark , I have the plans for a Martin 0 vs , I will look at adapting that , would you have an suggestion on how thin I should make the top I have a set of bear claw Sitka or a set of Appalachian Spruce ( red ) to chose between
Cheers
Peter

Hi all , I am now building acoustic guitars as a hobby , so far I have built a copy of a Martin 0 and 00 size. The guitars I build are for my playing pleasure any spares will go to the grandchildren who have indicated they would like one . I have just finished the 00 and am amazed at the difference ...

I fitted a set of these tuners to my last build . The tuners have a 10mm collar and 6mm post . I found these really hard to fit , has anyone some tips how these can be fitted accurately , I am afraid I made a bit of mess of it .

Thanks

I am looking for a simple way to work out how thick I should make a soundboard . I watched a utube video where the presenter had a simple jig where he rested the soundboard on two 3/4 inch battens 18 inches apart with a 1/2 inch batten halfway between the battens . He then rested a 5ib 4 oz weight c...

Thanks Bernie , it’s a very addictive hobby I am building a 00 myself at the moment

My first guitar copy of Martin 0 size
Engelmann Spruce/ Blackwood / Ebony Fretboard & Pyramid Bridge / Qld MapleNeck

Thank you for the reply’s , I appreciate all information shared .
Thank again
Peter Lynch

Hi I am currently building a 00 for fingerstyle playing . Engelmann Spruce / Blackwood 12 fret to the body , 24.9 inch scale my beginners question is this Some people notch the lower arms of their crossbraces in the Kerfing and some notch right through the rim and some seem to end the lower arms of ...

Hi Has anyone had any dealings with Kootenay Tonewoods the website reads really well and I liked their criteria for grading Engelmann Spruce Soundboards . The issue is I can’t get them to reply to my emails . I have used their site to contact them on at least five occasions without a reply . I can’t...