Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

If you have used a fan bracing pattern and there are "dips" between them, then my experience is that you have taken the top just a bit too thin. I had this problem on earlier instruments until I tried going with slightly heavier soundboard and lighter bracing. I'm not sure what you are refering to i...

I got a used potters wheel on local buy and sell that I converted into my motorised sanding station. I'd never go without it. I hand bend all sides and bindings on a iron and then set the shape on a solid form with heat blanket. You don't have to get them exact when hand bending. The final set of sh...

My workshop is in Cairns and is 9x6m metal shed with insulation under the roofing metal. I work with 2 large bay doors open to my back yard. Inside when we purchased this place there was a slightly smaller than 3x3m room that I further insulated and sealed with plastic then lined with plywood. This ...

I use the 2K Polyurethane sanding sealer in the system I'm finishing with. All finishes are speced to be sprayed at 20C to achieve the correct viscosity per their reducer / thinner recomondations. If it's still too thick for your liking then warming it up even more certainly will help with spraying ...

If you are going for a high gloss and perfect finish, then your pore filling / sealing has to be pretty much perfect before you proceed onto your top coats. Most people are far too impatient and jump ahead before getting this critical step done. There are lots of methods to prep that timber. I've tr...

I had some Blackwood that would do that no matter what I did while bending. Sometimes wood will just do what it wants to do and we have to either walk away from using it, or learn to live with it. If you are going forward with it as is then using a low gloss / satin finish will help disguise the wav...

I explored that option that Pete is using by going into our local Pack and Send and getting a quote to send an instrument to Hong Kong. If I packed up my own instrument and dropped it off at the depot then the cost was approximately $100 more than if I booked on line and had one of their contracted ...

I fret the entire board prior to gluing it to the neck an can't come up with any reason why you wouldn't in the initial build. I locate the board with a dummy nut to space it from the peg head, and use the Carbon Fibre truss rod as a locating key. The bottom of the fret board is has a 4mm x 2mm deep...

I get them on eBay.com.au

Just do a search for Martin Baritone Strings.

No. Not used them. For my Baritones I string them with Martin Baritones.

The price difference will absolutely astound you Martin. $83 AUD for AustPost. $450 AUD by DHL and even higher by others for the exact same package. I went through the exercise for the last instrument.

I don't want to get any busier. The biggest issue I have is getting them to clients overseas. What use to be 4-5 business days to the USA is now 20+.

If you are using pumice with the shellac then you can get very good results. Though it is very time consuming. It's the first step in a full French Polish finish. The pumic is inert and the shellac binds it. You still need to leave an appropriate amount of dry time to get the alcohol fully evaporate...

In deep pores using this method you are going to experience some serious sink back down the road as the lacquer continues to dry. And that process of drying / shrinking never stops with a solvent based lacquer. That's why when builders are serious about dead flat and high gloss finishes that last th...

That's a great looking instrument Graham. Love the headstock.

The Gold Standard would be Mirothane Polyurethane. But you'll be up for even more than Mirotone lacquer. It's also much more difficult to spray unless you are competent with a gun.

You will be very hard pressed to find a harder, yet more flexible finish.

If your sides are the same depth at tall block and neck then your uke is going to look pretty strange. They should taper in body depth from deepest at tail block to the neck. I use 10mm between the two on all sizes of my ukes. Pretty easy to achieve this by using a small plane and pare away excess f...

Makes very nice bodies and necks, but I'd never entertain the idea to use it as a fret board on a steel string guitar.

First time using Torrified Spruce. Was lucky enough to get 6 ukulele soundboards all with Bear Claw figure. Interesting to work with. Has a distinct caramel odour to it. No issues glueing, sanding or finishing. The back and sides are Ambrosia Maple with Australian Blackwood bindings. The rosette mad...

I'm not familiar with the Fuji system, but if it's one that the air is warmed by the turbine as in others that I've used, then my very first thought would be that the solvents will be evaporating before the product (nitro in this case) gets on the surface and will be too viscous to flow. Thinning mo...

It's fairly easy to get the waist in the right spot even hand bending. Give yourself some extra lenght at both the butt and neck blocks and mark your waist in the same spot on both sides. It's also a good idea to indicate the inside and the edge that will be to the soundboard. It's easy to get those...

Something like that.

My template is exact and pencil it to the straight sides then I cut just to the outside of the line. Then bend, glue in blocks and then final profile in the radius dish which takes just a few seconds with my set up.

I would cut them some or use a block plane to remove some of the material before going to the radius dish.

I have perspex side templates for all the instruments I make that leaves almost bugger all to remove in the radius dish.

Pretty easy to grow orchids when you live in Cairns. The challenging one has been our Vanilla that has to be hand pollinated just the right way early in the morning. Second year now that we'll have a crop that takes 8 - 10 months to be ready.

Some of the nicest Australian Blackwood that I've had the pleasure to use. The bindings are sap wood from the same flitch. The inlay is Faux Ivory that I've added scrimshaw shading and then further colored with a translucent mauve to color match an orchid growning in our yard. Blackwood Concert with...