Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Stewmac......TaffMac

This is a group reply So you guys are telling me if I went through bunnings and found a really straight grain piece for an acoustic guitar it would already be dry and stable enough to use, for back and sides or neck? And people would still buy a guitar with bunnings supplied tasmainian oak back and...

Cutters I use the most in my shop: - straight and ball end cutters for doing truss rod slots - double flute cutters with bearing guides (top, bottom, top and bottom bearings) for use with trimming up to templates. - a 45 degree bevel cutter for classical bridges (ramped backside of saddle slot). - a...

A router table one of the best tools I made up for my workshop. I got my hands on a Unilift router lifter and made up the table myself. At the time the Unilift was the bees knees of lifters but these days there are other makes available that do an adequate job. As far as router safety goes.....learn...

I've genuinely tried to research but I'm at a bit of a loss. If I was to write a shopping list of a minimum set of router bits, what would I need to: - do some contouring steps (eg LP's) - round over bit (tele/strat) - binding - finishing off body shapes using a template (don't know a better way of...

LOL..oil versus no oil. I'm in the oil camp. I've tried all sorts of oil but these days I generally use walnut oil. I use as little oil as is required to allow me to apply some serious pressure and not have the pad get sticky. Anyway.... stick with Allan's sagely advice since you're already in the n...

Do you guys think it would be possible to re amalgamate the cracks on the existing finish? The crazed layers haven't amalgamated with underlying layers so really you need to remove the crazed layers down to competent layers. I'd be cutting back until you get a nice uncrazed surface and go from ther...

Welcome to the forum Martin. Look forward to posts and photos of your builds.

Cheers Martin

I started out doing 4 coats in a row, just going over the entire guitar once per coat applying it wettish, 4 times in a row. After a 3 sessions of that (12 passes over the guitar) I changed to waiting 2 hours in between each coat. Still 4 in a day. I did 24 coats in total. It's possible your applyi...

Jeff, whats the shellac mix you're using? Is it hard shellac or conventional shellac? Whats the cut? What sort of oil are you using?

How long are you waiting between bodying sessions

Dunno mate.....maybe this will help. The calculator might be useful for double checking calculations.

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/shear-stress

Trevor will no doubt respond as he always does with his sagely advice and make it all look embarrassingly simple

"Orfeo"?? Sounds like the name you'd give a 1970's European porn magazine

I had a customer with a guitar I built for him that had one such inlay feature added. He asked for that feature to be included in future builds I did for him. I recently had to help a mate finish a guitar he'd started at a guitar making school that had shut down. Somehow the instructor had made a s...

And it appears that it is my very good luck to land here and hopefully get the perspective of better minds than mine when the inevitable head scratching moments occur. Not so much better minds...more a case of people who have learned how not to make stuff ups ...by learning from their stuff ups :mr...

It's a good idea to reduce risk of stuff ups by 1. going in with a plan and 2. not rushing.

If something doesn't feel right or doesn't make sense...down tools, step back and think it out.

This might help: https://rarefindtimber.rocketspark.co.nz/

Thanks for the update Chris. It looks like you're making good progress. I find violin and cello making fascinating...

LOL....reminds me of the first time I tried bending the tight upper bout on a Gore style OM.

LOL...a valiant effort with those F hole bindings. 10/10 for persistence and tenacity.

Nice work Taff.

Is there a safety feature to prevent the disc spinning too fast and taking off across the workshop?

I don't work without a plan....and being a bit anal I go to the extreme of drawing up a full scale layout of string runs so I get it right with things like bridge pin holes etc.

The cheap supermarket fabric softener is great....even if you end up cracking your side set you end up with nice soft hands

Merry Christmas!!

The active ingredient in the Supersoft 2 veneer softener is Diethylene glycol monoethyl ether.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-a ... pLjERgP0ZG

The Admins and Mods at ANZLF would like to wish all our members a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers Martin and Jeremy and the rest of the ANZLF team.

- Bolt and barrel: ok I see a good discussion from 2010 on here. Makes a lot of sense. Is there a particular type you recommend that I can purchase or decent ones from hardware stores are fine? Available one Ebay and Amazon: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/121765754370 Note barrel nut length can vary s...