Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Any of you out there trying waterborne finishes? After 40 years or so of spraying nitro, I'm trying to see if I can convert to waterborne. It ain't easy. What I know about spraying nitro has not prepared me for waterbase. I am currently , for more than a month of testing everyday, trying a Crystal L...

On acoustic guitrars and ukes I shellac my bridges with a coata of 4# cut and steel wool most of it off, leaving just a little in the pores. Then i give it a coat of Renaissance wax and buff it lightly.

Never heard the term "backsawn" before. I assume that it means the opposite of "quartersawn" which we use on our side of the world. Just curious.-Bob

I don't like seeing the bolt at all, so I cover the countersunk bolt head with a separate piece of wood with a simple inlay in it. That is stuck to the neck block with the 3M double stick that is used on pick guards. That will be a bit of a mystery for future repair people because they won't know th...

Is that just a square cutting edge on the back of the bit or sharpened similar to the front of a spade bit? Thanks, Bob

Taffy, So, I burned some hours, which at 78 are becoming precious, making 3 iterations of a fretboard tapering jig. They ran the gambit from adustable to size specific. In the end I have decided that the old band saw close to the line and then finish on the edge sander is about twice as fast, and ju...

Taffy, Thanks. I'll let you know what I come up with. Bob

Taffy, Thanks for the tutorial. I was thinking of something similar, but was concerned that the fretboarad edge being sawn would blow out on the bottom because it was not suppoerted on the saw table. Any issue with that? Light cuts to avoid it? Thnaks for your time.-Bob

Epoxy them in wth good epoxy, not the 5 minute kind. Also, add a couple mm wood filler strip over the top so that you still have a little working room to plane the neck to straighten it or put relief in.Bob

I have had several fretboard tapering methods over the years, but have never had I one I really liked. Ideally it would be one that is adjustable to different sizes of boards, but I'm not ruling out size specific jigs. My jigs have always relied to some degree on my hand and eye skills. At 78, I wou...

Now that I have done some cue ball slicing, the next logical step is bowling balls. I wonder if they are homogeneous in color internally? I'm always interested in the closely held secrets of the universe!-Bob

That might work, especilly if I epoxy it into the wood. Thanks, Bob

I have sliced 2 cue balls for use as inlay in the past. Available on eBay in the U.S.They had a nice creamy, ivory like look and are about the right size for my logo. Time to do another one. Problem is it scares the #### out of me to slice them. I do it on my small 14" bandsaw, and because they are ...

I wonder about this same issue in the U.S. Where did everybody go? Those of us who have been in lutherie the last 30-40years have grown accustomed to having a lutherie community with organizations like A.S.I.A. and the Guild of American Luthiers in the U.S., and I assume other countries had some sor...

This is a way simple idea, but it works great for me. Here’s is a way to make a straight edge not slip away when you’re trying to draw a line. No clamps. Cut a piece of plexiglass straight and about the size of a yardstick or what ever size you want. Stick pieces of sticky back sandpaper on it every...

Plenty of Toon grows here in Hawaii. Some builders use it for uke bodies, and for necks with CF rods. It makes a good sounding uke, but it's only drawback is looks. Koa is king here, and even fairly plain koa has more of a look that people want than the look of toon. Great to work with. Machines eas...

Here is what the String Pluckery radius jig looks like. Very compact. You order it to fit your router, and supply a couple of flat, straight pieces of wood to run it on. The yellow tape is an add on that I use to index the cut. One defect in the jig is that it hides the cut and it takes a little exp...

Another radius jig to check out is the 3D printed one from String Pluckery. About $100 U.S. Comes in a variety of easily exchangeable radii. I tried one of those router bits that you can use to cut the radius aginst a router fence, but did not like it at all. Very touchy tool. The String Pluckery ji...

I use lazy Susans too, but not being as tricky as Taffy, I just buy a $20 lazy Susan bearing at a hardware store or on Amazon. I have a few and use the 12" size. Takes maybe half an hour to make a useable unit out of a couple of pieces of plywood. My main use is to hold go-bar decks for easy glue cl...

O.K. Makes sense.-Bob

Thanks. I was thinking maybe a little set screw, but that means going to look for the Allen wrench to change files. I'll try the shim fit.-Bob

Those files are indeed expensive, but they are worth it. I have several different sets of files, and in truth no set works for every occasion. The Nomad files are very good. I like the Nomad files better because you don't need to worry about them binding. When I use my Japanese files, I plunge them ...

Here is my unpopular take on the health of lutherie in general. In the 1980's I first began to notice an uptick in builders here in Hawaii. Mostly ukes, but still lutherie. I work at home now, but back then I had a shop in town in Hilo, Hawaii. Since I already had the contacts with various industry ...

In general, quality dovetail neck guitars are not difficult to do neck resets on. The dovetail, done right, is easy to take apart. The repair person does need to have neck reset and finish touch up experience, but not necessarily loads of it. It ain't rocket science. Good luck!-Bob

For what it's worth, we have the same issue here in the U.S. I can't send anything out of the U.S. valued at over $2500 ( may be $2000 can't remember) without paying a customs broker about $75.00 to do the paperwork. Customs won't let me do it myself. Under valuing has usually been the work around, ...