Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi there It's been a while since I have been here, or been in the shed for that matter :(. I've been wondering about making a Uke for my son, as he strums a cheap one now and again, and having not made anything musical for a couple of years, I have a yearning to make something, and this seems like a...

Thanks Allen, that's helpful. I might have a go with egg white on some scrap. I'm sure epoxy is great but as I've never tried it I don't know what I don't know. At this stage, low risk is the best option. My joints are in reasonable shape so that's not my main concern right now :). Cheers Richard

Thanks Allen. This is guitar 3 for me so I'm just at the starting point. Being fairly inexperienced at bending sides it has been suggested that if you cant get the waist in exactly the right place, it pays to bend straight, un-profiled sides. I guess with experience, profiling the sides before bendi...

Thanks Allen. So, just to confirm the sequence, 1 I'll plane the taper on the back of the sides from the waist (120 mm) to the headblock position (100 mm). 2 Then glue in the head and tail blocks. 3 I can then put the the sides in the mold on top of the radiussed dish and transfer the profile from t...

Hi - I'm in the middle of making my third guitar but as it has been a couple of years since the last one, I'm struggling to remember how I did a few steps. I'm having a mental block when it comes to making the side profile. So, I have bent parallel 120 mm wide sides in the mold and am about to make ...

Hi Trevor I downloaded Visual analyser - it seems far better for this application. I also found your instructions for it's use that you had posted earlier to someone else, so managed to set it up. I generated this response from my J45 using a small external omnidirectional microphone used for calibr...

Hi again. I've downloaded Audacity and SpectraPlus (realtime ed). I managed to get a spectra of sorts using SpectraPlus, after tapping the bridge, but it doesn't have the controls discussed in Appendix 1 - can't even adjust from a log scale of frequency to linear. Can't make head nor tail of Audacit...

Hi Trevor thanks for your reply. Having just had a quick look at 4.4.9 (must admit I haven't picked up the first book in a while) it appears the answer to my question about radial brace dimensions is: it's 10 mm thick and 20 mm high - the "standard solution that has worked well on many guitars". I ...

Hi Trevor thanks for your reply. Having just had a quick look at 4.4.9 (must admit I haven't picked up the first book in a while) it appears the answer to my question about radial brace dimensions is: it's 10 mm thick and 20 mm high - the "standard solution that has worked well on many guitars". I u...

Thanks Trevor. I must have read that bit last time and gone with the traditional 4 transverse braces of 6.3 wide on 2.8 mm thick mahogany - which, I hadn't understood, gives a 'live' back after all - a contribution to the sound from back vibration - which I take it is better and richer in complexity...

It's very easy to over-build a J45. The originals were made with less-than-best wood and retailed for $45 (i.e. cheap) compared to say the J200 which was originally $200. So if you choose good materials it's easy to end up with everything too stiff. Having just re-read Section 7.1, I can see that i...

OK thanks. Its appears a bit big to me, which is why I asked. Perhaps I'll cut down the gaps from 4 mm to 3 mm to get the rosette a bit tighter, although that'll make little difference in the scheme of things. Cheers
Richard

Hi Trevor - several pages are dedicated to abalone rosettes so thought I'd try that on the latest build. The rosette former seems a cunning way to assemble the rosette so I was just about to make one but don't really follow the measurements in the book (6.4.1.1). On a steel string with a 102 mm soun...

Hey Richard thanks for that. I've bought wood from Timspec before for clocks and a couple of harps but just got what they sent, which was fine for the job. Looks like I'm going to have to spend a day or two in 'wonderful' Auckland hunting through wood piles. I'm in Palmy and there is nothing local -...

Rarefind timber has some very nice wood - I have contacted them before. However, I think $400 for a set is beyond my budget. In the end its probably still most economical to import. I'll keep looking.

Cheers
Richard

I'm only an amatuer at this myself - and a rough one at that. The closer to the 1/4 the better BUT I work on the theory that until I can produce a well hand crafted guitar I'm not going to waste a good quality piece of wood. Having done that once already with a lovely piece of indian rosewood! If y...

Well this is the back of my second guitar - mahogany. I was pleased enough with the grain and it seems very stable but I'm not sure how it was sawn. Sounds good.https://www.flickr.com/photos/143232438 ... ed-public/

Cheers
Richard

Thanks Ando. I'll drop Graham a line and see what he has. I found a bit of mahogany (or sapele?) I had forgotten about from a table made many years ago. It has a nice grain but appears to be flat sawn (as the growth rings seem to be on diagonals...is that right). I understand that soundboards are qu...

Hi Folks Not sure if this topic has been done to death and I just haven't searched correctly. Anyway, I have always found sourcing and selecting wood in NZ (for anything) a bit of a process. Even more-so for guitars. I have resorted to importing the woods for the 2 guitars I've made from Australia a...

Thanks all, slots made deeper and a bit wider and re-fretted. Guitar finished and sounds good.

cheers
Richard

Nice work Richard. These Gore builds can be a challenge at times (my last one took 2 years) but when they're done its well worth the extra effort and you learn a whole lot in the process. Thanks, yes learned a lot and have a much better idea for the next one...might make something simpler in the me...

Finally finished. Far from perfect but it's only number 2 so I'm pretty happy. Sounds good. That's the main thing. Thanks for all the help.
Cheers
Richard

OK, thanks, so better to have the pins in a straight line if no nut compensation, I thought there was mention of a slanted saddle. Sorry, somehow missed the 6.5 mm deep slot. Yes, saddle not bridge. I'll make a new one.
Cheers
Richard

Hi all Just pulled out the frets using the approach recommended with a soldering iron and walking the iron and my old jewellery pliers (that are similar to fret pulling pliers) along the fret so the bit being pulled was hot. Worked perfectly with no major chip-out - the heat makes a big difference! ...