Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Yep, as far as I know Epiphone manufactures in China. The latest I have heard is that things are so chaotic in the US that the tariffs are not being collected by US Customs at the moment. I would assume that will change.

My American customer cancelled so it will be a while before I know what happens when exporting to the USA. I do have another American customer, but the mandolin is fair way off being finished so will be a while before I send it off.

Ha ha ha, Trumpsy's minders did not do their research properly. That really is a silly screw up.

At this stage I don't know much. I would expect that an American customer would need to pay the tariff when the instrument arrives at US customs before they will release it. I have a mandolin destined for the USA soon, so I guess I will learn soon enough. My concern is that there is likely to be a m...

All very impressive. I am still using the bench I got from my father, and he got it from his father, so is the bench of my grandfather. Basically is two massive planks of Oregon bolted together with legs that I made after we moved it. I learned woodworking on that bench when I was kid. Can't see any...

What tone did it produce? Any rough comparison? The only real comparisons I have done was with some mandolins I made with Tassie Oak back and sides. With Carpathian Spruce tops, comparing with European Maple and Tassie Myrtle backs, also with Carpathian Spruce tops. The Maple had more clarity, the ...

I would not use it as a soundboard but have used it for back and sides on guitars and recently an octave mandolin. No idea what species it is, I just kept sniffing around at Bunnings until a nice piece appeared. Nothing wrong with it, it makes nice instruments.

The National Folk Festival (Easter in Canberra) is looking for more music instrument exhibitors. They have room for more, but there does not appear to be a lot of interest. If you are interested in exhibiting please PM me and I will give you contact details. On line applications have closed, but the...

As far as I know it is not possible to legally import any species of Dalbergia back and side sets into Australia without the CITES paperwork. Some items are ok, but only if they are "finished". So, Indian Rosewood bridges, slotted fingerboards are ok, but I think that only applies to Indian rosewood...

I second Kinkaid book for steel strings. That is how I started on guitars.

I use Target Coatings EM2000 on mandolins and also on guitars. Have been using it or it's previous equivalent hybrid varnish on mandolins for around 25 years. On guitars I started using nitro, but switched to EM2000. I changed to EM2000 on guitars after I exhibited at the NFF and got so many positiv...

I have a CNC, but have never used it to cut fret slots. The reason why is that it is very slow and as you already said the small bits you need to use tend to break. It makes much more sense to cut a template on the CNC and use the template on the table saw to cut the slots. I can cut slots on a fret...

Yes, I came to the same conclusion. I got an application form from the Chinese domain registry but replied telling him I can't buy them all, and since I don't have any Chinese customers and am not targeting China forget it. If I was trying to sell in China that would be another matter.

I use Target Coatings EM2000 which is a water based oil varnish emulsion. I brush it on, but you can spray it. Have been using it in it's various guises for at least 20 years. It is an American product, I have not found anything equivalent locally, so is difficult and expensive to import. However, i...

I have just received an email from the domain registry fellow. This time I can't find anything to suggest it might be bogus. The return path is the same as the return email address, i.e. asianetwork.org.cn, and I can't find anything else in the header or email to raise suspicion. Asian Network does ...

Only high level domains are done by an international body. Lower level domain names are done by organizations in the individual countries' domain.

They are not getting any money out of me, and certainly not any bank account details, even if the scumbag does manage to get the domain name in my name. There is not a lot I can do if it all happens in China under the Chinese high level domain names. I did tell the domain name fellow that it looked ...

Thought I would run this through you guys and see what you think. Yesterday I received a strange email from someone claiming to be from the Chinese domain name registrar (asianetwork.org.cn). He has someone who has requested to register petercoombe.cn, petercoombe.com.cn and other domain names with ...

Use Epoxy.

I will butt in here since I have been using carbon fiber in my flat top mandolins for a while now. In the mandolin world there has been even more misunderstandings about carbon fiber. This is all covered in the Gore/Gilet book but bears repeating here. The advantage of Carbon fiber composite is resi...

On archtop mandolins they are all X braced. On F soundhole mandolins, the arms of the X are closer together, and the X crosses further foreward.

See https://petercoombe.com/construction.htm for pictures.

Well Mark it is your mandolin, you can do whatever you like with it. It is true that mandolins are quite different from guitars. The string pulling force is greater than a steel string guitar and the forces on the top are different. With a floating bridge, there is no rotation force on the bridge, j...

Yep, 3 transverse braces, but the brace under the bridge does not go right across the top, it effectively takes the place of the bridge in a classical guitar. It is not notched, although you can notch it if you want to make it neater and waste some time. With CF on the top notching is not necessary....

I have repaired a collapsed top before on a vintage flat top mandolin by removing the back. A brace had come loose from a previous repair because the repairer had not tucked the end into the linings. I used steam to remove the sag and re-braced, tucking the bracing into the linings. As far as I know...

I visited Frank Ford when we travelled to the USA in 1999, and had a good look around the shop. I left one of my mandolins with him and they sold it shortly afterwards. Frank was very generous with his knowledge and many of us benefited, including me. He will be missed.