Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

These are guitars taken to an extreme in build. Ken is fascinated by high performance racing sailboats, and I think it shows in his designs. These are not guitars for bar fights, though! Especially at 30 K USD a pop... This is the final re-constructed message of this topic posted by the ANZLF help t...

The way I do it is much like a tripod which pretty much guarantees good contact at each of the three points. The coupling between neck and body is just fine that way.

That "brass" block is, I believe, gold leaf over carbon fiber.

Yeah, Ken has taken minimalism to another level there. BTW, that's a veneered neck...the core is carbon fiber. And, no, you really can't compare that guitar design with anything based just on the neck joint! As I recall, the article in the New Yorker suggested that the music for Ken's new guitar has...

I build guitars with just about the least amount of physical connection between neck and body as can be done. There is considerably less than 30 sq. mm of contact in total with the bolts used in the joint, and there is no wood to wood contact whatsoever. Ditto on the Howe Orme guitars from the late ...

I don't even particularly buy into the "transfer of energy" theory of neck joints. I believe most (by far) of the transfer happens at the bridge. Certainly a good fit is needed, but that is as much to prevent wasting of string energy as to transfer it from one place to another in the guitar.

Hiya, guys, especially to you, Mike! I'm at a point where I honestly can't tell the difference between bending sides for a semi-hollow guitar or routing out a solid block as far as ease of build goes. It's almost literally six of one or half a dozen of the other. I can understand that for someone wh...

BTW, I consider the semi-hollow build to be easier and more efficient with timber resources in many ways than a hollowed out "nut bowl" guitar, not that they don't have their place as well.

My crew and I have built over 2,000 semi hollow "amplicoustic" guitars and basses. They have bent sides, bookmatched tops and backs, and a solid Western red cedar center block. Think 335 meets Telecaster and a Ramirez. They work just fine. Take a look at: http://www.renaissanceguitars.com Yes, we al...

Hesh, once again, it's many years in the front lines of guitar repair that led me to tilting the saddle back. Yes, there are literally millions of guitars with vertical saddles...and as a guitar repairman, I've had to repair a lot of cracked bridges, warped bridges where the front wall was bulging f...

If you're concerned about intonation, try making a temporary tailpiece for the guitar that lets you string it up before you glue the bridge on. The tailpiece can be attached at the strap button hole in the end of the guitar. Once you have a good idea of where the saddle witness point has to be for b...

Dan, that would work, and it's basically the equivalent of putting in a shim slightly thinner than the pickup.

My question, though, is do you really need a wide saddle to get intonation right? I find a 1/8" saddle at the right slant works fine for me.

I hope my answer was clear re. "along the front wall". Of course, the pickup has to be at the bottom of the slot, but snugged up to the front wall of the slot. BTW, as many have noted, the tilt-back saddle has multiple benefits whether you put a pickup in or not. It makes for a stronger bridge; it s...

Along with Ervin and Toru, I was one of those who gave eulogies at Taku's funeral. It was an incredibly moving event; Ervin's comments elsewhere here on the forum were right on the mark. This was a heavy-duty, open casket funeral conducted by an absolutely enlightened Catholic priest who honored Tak...

Comment re. vertical grain (or end grain or however you want to describe it) between CF skins. You can design them to have whatever degree of flex you want just by...well, the word is "design". With CF you have a certain degree of liberation from stiffness, toughness, tensile strength and all being ...

Mike, Greg Smallman does exactly that...he caps balsa braces with CF. I've done that in a couple of ukes as well, and it works as you would think. Greg's issue is that there is no room for error, and if he decides he doesn't like the sound of a guitar top, off it comes and off to the tip with it, an...

On my guitars, you can do a tap test of upper and lower bouts and get a virtual tweeter/woofer response. The upper bout is definitely happening...and I do not have an upper transverse brace in there killing off upper bout top vibration. I have no need of an upper transverse as the fingerboard is can...

I refrain from gluing CF directly cross grain on the backs because I want there to be a slight allowance for wood movement. Gluing CF to the tops of the braces only makes them as strong as you could possibly want. As pre a previous thread, I also glue CF to the top of the center seam reinforcement c...

Look for tung oil products that have resin additives for a harder finish. Technically they will be varnishes, thought probably not labeled as such. There's also a marine finish product called Deks Olje that I've used on boats that would probably be pretty good, too, though buying it in small quantit...

Rick here...loving every minute of being here and enjoying the best hospitality in the world. It's been wonderful working with Allen; it feels like we've been working together for years. We started on Saturday with making the soleras on which to build the ukes and with the help of one of the Woodwor...

Very nice, Bob. We do that carbon fiber cap on the upper transverse braces on our Compass Rose Ukes, too, and it's great for keeping the upper bout top under control. Beautiful craftsmanship, too... _________________ Rick Turner Guitar Maker, Experimenter, Diviner www.renaissanceguitars.com www.d-ta...

Precisely, Allen. I use a 1/4-20 piece of "all thread". Not sure what your Metric equivalent is. At some point I'll photograph my various holding fixtures for spray work. It really takes the pain out and enables me to do a better job because the instrument parts aren't swinging in the breeze. It's e...

And one more thing... Make uke handles with some dowel and "all thread", and thread that into a threaded end pin hole to hold the ukes firmly and horizontally for spraying. I have a pipe fixture mounted to the floor of my spray booth to hold guitars and ukes while I spray. I just hate spraying hangi...

Oh...suggestion...put a couple of 100 watt light bulbs inside the form as well as using the heat blanket on the outside. That helps get the bend set nice and quickly.

Allen, I've been following this, and it's a wonderful thing that you've done! I look forward to seeing you next June.