Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Nice build Taff!

Did you use colortone for the burst? Hand rubbed? Looks amazing!

Thanks for the kind words all!

Exciting times ahead JB. I'd recommend keeping an eye out on Facebook marketplace for free furniture. Often pieces come up with ample wood to build an instrument - you just need to make sure it's not veneered. You'd be surprised at how regularly a free mahogany table pops up. I have body and neck te...

kiwigeo wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2025 3:55 pm

LOL...a valiant effort with those F hole bindings. 10/10 for persistence and tenacity.

Tenacity.. That stuff makes Whisky evaporate in my shed.

I've finally reached a milestone with the top and back mostly complete.. Many hiccups and some lateral problem solving has made the journey enjoyable so far. Carving the bunya pine top was fairly straight forward and I've managed to keep the gradations fairly close to Benedetto's plans. I built a sm...

How are you dressing the gluing edges of the soundboard? My procedure: - place two halves of soundboard face up and side by side. - close up the two halves (face to face) and place on a shooting board. Secure firmly so the two halves can't move. - shoot gluing edge with a jointing plane (No eight) ...

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. Clever use of that makita trimmer guide!

Great story and re work Taffy! That burst looks neat. Which stains did you use? And how'd you make the bindings?

No shortage of challenges in the workshop this week. The back join didn't Leave me confident so I ripped the board in half and tried again. Its now even narrower and the wings to increase the width wont be absorbed in the binding. Today was spent levelling the back in prep for carving. 20240610_1132...

With the re curve I do it more by eye and touch than trying to get it exactly like the plans. I do try and get the right thickness though. I always thin my sides to around 2mm to 2.2mm, at the cutaway section I thin to about 1.7mm to 1.8mm, depending on what timber I use. Wayne Thanks for sharing W...

Progress has been slow and the work shop is cold. The back has been joined and some Bunyas in the mail. I have also found a few hours over the last fortnight to build some jigs and finished the form mold today. Hoping to get the side bender done soon I'm still in the process of reading on sidebendin...

Very nice Wayne!
Curious to know if you follow the same recurve dimensions as stated in benedettos book for a 16" (assuming you're familiar with the book)

What thickness did you take your sides to for bending?

Cheers!

Like Blackstar, I also got some sitka billets from Mathews Timber in Melbourne a couple of years ago and I am using the first of them at the moment. Certainly worth contacting them to see if they still have any. Thanks for the tips. I'll make my way down to mathews and see what's in the racks. Last...

Bunya top sets here: https://guitartimbers.com/product-category/archtop/archtop-soundboards/ If you want spruce you'll have to get it outside of Australia. Australia red cedar ( Toona) is a good choice, huon pine would also be a good choice but I'm not sure where you'd get that. Wayne Spruce used t...

Already looking promising, and I can just about smell it from your photos. Lovely. I wouldn't hurt to be a few mm thinner than the plan, surely? So what are you going to use for the soundboard? I did think about shifting to 16" but I'm already halfway through building molds, side benders etc.. You ...

First build back after a 10 year hiatus. Thought I'd settle back in with an archtop - Benedetto style. It might take 10 years to finish this one.. I've found two matching blackwood boards from the wood pile and borrowed a mates bandsaw to bookmatch the backplate and sides. The back plate board read ...

Hi all,

Dean here. I posted on the forums over 10 years ago until life kicked in and the workshop went to storage. I've recently unpacked what wasn't sold off and have set up a little workshop. Looking forward to digging through the wood heap and bending some wood again!