Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

If you want the appearance of “blind fret slots” (I.e. ends of the frets not showing on the edges) you can just bind the fretboard in the same material. Thickness the blank, then rip two binding strips 3mm wide off the edges and put them aside. Then cut the fret slots with a saw, old school. Then cu...

I like Martin’s idea, and Taffy’s. Hopefully that gets you out of trouble. Also, Frank Ford at Gryphen Instruments used to sell a tool called Jack the Gripper, which is a tool that inserts into the 1/4 inch jack hole and expands in there so that you can manipulate the thing. I don’t know if you can ...

I just saw some flat interlocking sheets of that type of stuff at Bunnings, sold as flooring for your caravan annex or Ute tray. Cheap.

I'm impressed. It is looking good, and that much progress usually takes me about 6 months.

Great project Kim and Caitlin.
I have done the survey and encourage my luthier friends here to do so too. I will be interested to see some of the findings.
Cheers
Mark

That is a real looker Bob! And if you are happy with the sound too then you have the whole package.
What do you think of the Osmo hard wax oil? I am really partial to it, but my experience so far is limited.

Everything I bought from Bob was great quality, and backed up with really good service and communication. I never met him in person but it is clear that he was universally revered. I note that one of his sons is continuing the business, although at smaller scale.

You know how you can buy feedback busters for acoustic guitars with traditional round holes which are just a rubber plug that blocks the soundhole. Well, there was a guy who had a business in the USA called Doug’s Plugs and he made f-hole shaped plugs for archtops. His website had a hundred or so ar...

It is really worthwhile making a shooting board and doing it with the boards flat and the plane on it's edge - like in the video (which is great BTW, thanks Martin). The shooting board can be a pretty basic design and still be effective. If you do it in a vice as your photo shows it is easy to have ...

This might be from the same lovely lady who phoned me yesterday to say that I had just been signed up to an Amazon service at a cost of $99 but if I thought this was a mistake all I had to do was ring her back straight way and she could sort it out with my bank.

She is a stunner Taffy.
Are they original pickups or did you need to source new ones?
And how did you get around the problem of the thick headstock? Thin the timber, or replace the tuner posts with longer ones?

Could you cut a cueball-sized hole in a chunk of sacrificial wood and embed the ball in it - then slice through the whole thing?

So, now it is a Taylor with a Bunya top? Unique. I agree this is a very nicely executed repair. I also really like the reuse of the original rosette.

Like Blackstar, I also got some sitka billets from Mathews Timber in Melbourne a couple of years ago and I am using the first of them at the moment. Certainly worth contacting them to see if they still have any.

Already looking promising, and I can just about smell it from your photos. Lovely.
I wouldn't hurt to be a few mm thinner than the plan, surely?
So what are you going to use for the soundboard?

I agree that the Carruth scraper is the best of them and, like Martin’s, my card scrapers stay in the drawer these days. https://umgf.com/viewtopic.php?p=2804821#p2804821 However, it must also be said that hardwoods smooth well in response to scrapers and soft woods just don’t tend to respond the sa...

That looks like a beauty. I am having a new love affair with slope shouldered dreads. Yours has the great J45 shape, and the wenge/spruce combination looks tremendous. A few days ago I was in Copenhagen and visited a local guitar shop that had for sale a Martin 12-fret slope shouldered D-28. It was ...

It is so great to see Nick and Dean showing up here again after all this time. Good to hear that the interest is still there even if time and opportunity has been leading you elsewhere. Nick, you were one of the regulars when I was a newby at ANZLF. I hope you get a chance to get back to the wood st...

I must admit I’m amazed of the colour pallet of Australian tonewoods it’s kinda hard to pick out bindings and purflings to match without taking the shine off eachother Bindings don’t always need to be a contrasting colour. You can trim some binding strips off your sides and use them to do a matchin...

As far as bending that would be done by hand I’d be building a j45 It’s obviously big but not as curvy as other body shapes Thank goodness for body mold’s and spreaders This is the set I’m thinking of getting when money comes in if it’s still available https://guitartimbers.com/wp-content/uploads/2...

Hi Rob. That looks like a nice job for number 1. I reckon we deserve a few more pictures than just the one? Regarding number two, I recently bought some curly maple back& side sets from Stew Mac for an arch top build and was quite pleased with what was supplied. I think a more important question is ...

Looks great Joel. The knot on the neck is a perfect example of wabi-sabi and the art of appreciating the imperfection of materials (and the craftsman), and the impermanence of all creations. It is perfect by including that imperfection. What are you planning for number three? Come on, don’t pretend ...

That is a good week (and a bit) of work! I hope your father loves it. Very nice work to produce such a meaningful gift, and it looks like a great instrument.

Coming back to the pore filling question: East Indian Rosewood often has quite a lot of pores, but it can vary significantly between pieces. If you want a perfectly smooth professional finish with zero pores to be seen or felt most people would use epoxy. Timbermate might get you close after 2 or 3 ...

Here is an interesting video about the spontaneously combusting rags question. Bear in mind that what you are planning to use is essentially equivalent to Rubio monocoat which is one of the products used in this experiment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gqi2cNCKQY&t=1149s