Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

If you have some left over after a glue up you can freeze it. I make it up in a small jam jar that sits in a baby bottle warmer during use. After the job is done just put the lid on and stick it in the freezer. Then straight back to the warmer when you want to reuse it. You can leave left-over glue ...

A fascinating project, and nice design. Shame it missed out on the scrimshaw treatment.
15 fret. Is that unusual?

The grins there are priceless!

So now I understand why it is called Qld walnut - it looks just like walnut, which is one of my favourite guitar timbers. That instrument looks great! How is it to work with? It is nice to see indigenous timbers pairing up so well.

Very interesting to see Norfolk Island pine used in instrument building. I have been considering various options in local timbers and hadn’t considered this one. Thanks for sharing your experience with it.

You are right Dave - they make absolutely no difference to sound or playability, but a big contribution to the “snazzy factor” of the look. I haven’t perfected it yet either, but I know a few elements that make a difference: 1. Wide purflings like yours are harder to get right. Even a slightly “off”...

“To err is human - but to really fuck things up you need power tools!” Commiserations about the router mishap, but we have all been there at some stage. Regarding the dilemma of whether to use nice wood for your top, let me relate a tale. I built my first (acoustic) guitar from a kit, so it had pre-...

Lovely guitar, and great photos. I like it a lot.

Yeah - you have left us hanging out for a long time for another one of these tutes. Keep them coming Steve. All good stuff, and we are vicariously living the dream of being a big-time repair guy.
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Fantastic work. It is lovely art in its own right, but also marries perfectly to the aesthetic of the instrument. Inspiring.

Hi Andy, and welcome. There are more acoustic than electric players/ builders in the forum these days? But we all appreciate the skill put into each instrument, of whatever type, Please keep showing us your stuff.

Lucky it is almost light as a feather, but not so light as to blow away over Bass Straight! Obviously indicates a finely crafted instrument.

Nigel I love the reliced look you achieve. Maybe I am interested in this because my ability to produce a clean conventional finish is very poor - and I realize I should work on that. However, the ability to produce something that looks plausible used and worn is also something that I am interested i...

Sad news, but thanks for passing it on Martin. The story around that guitar really represents what I love about this as a pass-time (with no disrespect to the few that are making their living from it).

That is stunning figure in the timber. I am glad you managed to pull that out of the vege patch and make something nice out of it. Are you going to scrounge for the guitar timber as well? Start checking out the dunny door and so forth

I couldn’t agree more. Build for good sound, and FEEL. Aesthetic imperfections are pretty meaningless. The most beautiful instrument in the world is going to quickly lose its beauty with time and use - but it will not gain in sound quality if it does not have that attribute to begin with. That looks...

Pete, to my eye the one with the herringbone trim looks no less shapely than her sister. I like the classic look of the herringbone. If they are looking different it might be an illusion produced by the presence of the fingerboard and strings on one of them, rather than the purfling. But it is all i...

Yes, that is a really nice discussion of wood toning. Thanks for the link.

I have never tried ebonizing timber. How deep does the colour change go into the timber? Wayne Not very deep. It probably depends on the porosity and thickness of the piece, but when I ebonized an entire neck (blackwood) I found it only penetrated about 1-2mm. This is basically a finishing step. Yo...

Wow. For a first time build he really nailed it. He must be stoked, and I guess his teacher is too! The design and execution are excellent, and it looks like you could dive into the figuring of that blackwood.

Both looking great. It must feel great to put something together that works exactly as planned. I am not an electric guy at all. But your first photo reminds me that I have got an old Ibanez Jet King 2 sitting around in the workshop that doesn’t work (the orange finish and twin humbuckers in yours a...

Your build is progressing very well Pete. I certainly would not consider that to be an inferior looking piece of Koa! I like your technique for splitting the bindings. I can see how this makes sense for a uke where you want quite dainty bindings. Also very frugal. Regarding routing the binding chann...

Yes. Impressive work, and very individual. I am looking forward to seeing the end result (and more steps in between if you want to share).

For iron acetate you go to the supermarket and buy a 2 litre bottle of the cheapest white vinegar that you can find. And while you are there grab some Liptons teabags, or Twinings if you prefer. Put the vinegar in a container with a lid (it is going to get smelly) and add a good handful of steel woo...

Hi Wayne
Thanks for showing us your work. I like the little details like the symmetry of the headstock and bridge shapes. It is looking really good.