Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Congratulations, it looks great. As with any instrument build, in paticular, only the builder sees the "problems"!! With my Lute, I brushed (many coats) of white shellac which was a good learning experience. When it comes to the belly ,stay away from anything which may dull the sound/vibrations, tho...

Nice Shed but if not laid out practically will drive you up the wall in the future. From designing darkrooms and farm workshops and even sheep yards, start with a largish, A3 minimum.drawing of outline to scale . Preferably graph paper plan, and then draw all machines,shelves,doorways etc on a simil...

How important is grain runout when choosing bellies ? I have only made a Lute with AAA Sitka. Beautiful timber with over 40 rings /inch but certainly not a split belly. As the Rose is carved into the top one certainly needs the superglue handy. Any thoughts appreciated

Thanks
Tom.

From your list I presume the Lute is

1 Finished but not considered worthy of noting
2 unfinished but forgotten
3 dropped off the shelf and is designer firewood
4 An ornament so does not warrant mentioning!!

May the New Year be more predictable than the last
Tom

In keeping with my general philosophy ,here are some of the tools i made/used for building DSC_0737.JPG DSC_0735.JPG DSC_0732.JPG DSC_0730.JPG Under the reamed is my modified drill. I had to drill new bridge holes after the belly was glued on which proved tricky. A local vet and medical practice soo...

I accidentally posted this in Anything Goes under " Ornament or Instrument."

Cheers Tom

Sorry about the images at the end, I am just getting my head around the technology!! As this lutes builder ,I will give ,for those not so familiar with the instrument a brief overview. For more details see Martins build discription some years ago. This is a general description with much variation be...

Well, at long last my instrument is all together. I first became interested in the lute in early 60's and finished building one recently. So, what is this topic all about, just what the title says!! I will go through the general gestation and discuss the methods and tools in another post. As a gener...

The gestation of my Lute is over!!! Only about 40 years. Thanks to Martin and bits of incidental information from many members I now have to learrn to play. My query is regards weight of acoustic guitars in there various forms. Do you aim at a specific weight range or go for aesthetic and measured v...

Milling with a drill press is somewhat problematic. I have a NOVA voyager DVR press, which is able to achieve up to 5000 rpm ,however one needs to be extremely careful that the spindles are secure as most are only a morse taper and the chucks do not even have a tang. It is very disconcerting to have...

It is good once again to see again a "different" instrument build. I am continuing to build a lute with a very slow gestation, however a few thoughts to put into your mix for consideration. For thicknessing ,make or buy a sanding drum ,possibly 50mm,Diam X 60mm high and use in a drill press. Not exp...

Don't forget to have Filters/dryers on the outlet of the air supply. It may come as a surprise to see what is in the air if directed at a shiny surface or pane of glass.
Don't forget to drain the air tank frequently, particularly in humid areas.
Tom

When LANOTEC products became readily availably quite a few years ago, I thought it would be good for rust prevention, mentioning it to a pharmaceutical chemist relation his first reaction was that lanolin is hydroscopic. While it might be good for minimising rust initially, once the solvent has gon...

Pete I have found it very helpful to saw/split logs into quarters or at least halves ASAP. Apart from minimising end splitting it is MUCH lighter!!! I paint the ends with whatever is at hand ,any paint, acrylic will do at a pinch with a thick coat but I prefer an oil base. It seems to work with Sil...

[img]Mike , your build seems to be outside most peoples radar so I will send the first page for info. Each page is about 280Kb. It was originally printed on glossy paper which caused a few problems.If you want the full article contact me off line .
All the best Tom .[/img]

Migal The specialist publication No.10 by Model & Allied Publications in the UK reprinted a series of articles from the Woodworker Magazine, on building a violin.balalaika and guitar.This was probably about 30 to 40 years ago.I have a copy ,about 25 pages double sided. I could try scanning parts sh...

The glue for emery discs for sharpening shearing tools is coated on both surfaces and pressed together in a clamp. This would not be necessary for a drum sander I think.To remove, it peals off on the break line and is possible to rub off both surfaces with effort. Heiniger is probably the main supp...

It is good to have a variety of opinions on any subject,much of what we say is based on our experiences. As with all of life it all depends on appropriate communication between all parties. The two fullsize plans I have ,both mention that they may be not absolutely true to the stated measurements p...

I would save your toes on the kicking!! The % change in the copies size is not very great and one should not expect them to be EXACTLY the same .Because of types of paper,Weight, heating of the paper in the copying process and varying humidity. No doubt some processes may achieve exact size reprodu...

Martin Great to see the progress. We would all agree life not running smoothly in ones own house is bad enough without problems a "long"way away all, the best. There have been comments regarding weight of lutes.Some years ago on another forum I was curious on weights and asked all.I quote from an e...