Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Thanks Rod. Yeah, you have to fiddle a bit (including soundhole placement) to hit all your marks. I expect Bob altered plate thicknessing down the center to allow for nonstandard placement of parallel bracing. The guitar sounds nice ... very rich & full ... less of a mid-range bias than an f-hole bo...

Go for it Rod!
I did one a couple of years ago.... used a wide open X (about 86 degrees... close to your dwg. by the look of it) and added a transverse brace under the pickup.

Good recent discussion of which to get here.
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/view ... 8e1b7dd9c1

Yeah, what did they know!? Seriously, I think you have consider of how bridge downforce tries to distort & break apart the plate. Forget about the viol family ...absence of a post changes everything IMO. I think Michael Lewis had the best explanation ...." my guess at the center seam reinforcements ...

FWIW, John D'Angelico sometimes used cleats (.. so the D'Aquisto reference wouldn't surprise me). They show up periodically during restorations.

Check out Erich Solomon's archtops .... he uses a tailpiece that basically doesn't turn the corner over the guitar's top. When I contacted him once re giving his design a try, he gave me this heads up... Due to the length of available strings this only works on smaller bodies! I use it on my 16" gui...

Rod, I did a tutorial re bolt-ons for archtops a while ago on OLF .... may be of interest. http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=16049 As you'll see, I believe barrels are definitely superior, because the screws don't enter the tenon squarely (and barrels allow for a few degrees...

Search the web....tons of opinions. They seem to fall into two groups: those that have/use them and are convinced they work and those that don't and are convinced they can't possibly work. It was worth $20 to me to test the idea, so I made mine from an aquarium pump. I feel it definitely works on ne...

Is that before or after using the "tonerite". (Actually, that's a couple of closeups I'd LOVE to see!)

Definitely into the extension Alan. I run mine in about 2 1/2". (Also helps with alignment during glueup.)

You're welcome Alan...glad I could help.
BTW, you may find you have to go to 5/32" holes to get enough tailgut clearance...I did.

Thanks Nick. Alan, strangely I don't have much in the way of pics of completed tailpieces. Here are some prototypes & works in process that may help, as well a as pic of postioning a pivot for CA glueing. (Or you could try the "raised saddle" route as Dominic showed above). I hollow the underside a ...

Allen, it's basically Benedetto's design right out of his book. This is an older shot showing the various jigs I use to make it, as well as a couple of prototypes. For those interested, the jigs are 1) tap the (pattern-sanded) blank for tailgut hole location 2) holds blank vertically while drilling ...

Nice, although in wood that one piece design invites potential failure in shear along the grain (above the pivot) that you don't have with the more traditional construction (where there's no shear, only compression). Also, not sure I want to see those adjusters so visable, rather than tucked away in...

Hi all I'm new here & I hope you don't mind me buttin' in ....been a longtime lurker and, seeing this discussion (and being a somewhat opinionated SOB), decided to climb on board and offer my take. Properly done, this should be a zero stress gluejoint. The tailpiece pushes down on the pivot, which p...