Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I've built 2 of these years ago and went with Ameritage cases. Heavy, and pretty well made. They were the only ones I could find that were a good fit.

https://www.ameritage.com

Sound sample of this instrument.

https://vimeo.com/540935805

Beau Hannam built a tenor uke with Paulownia about 7-8 months ago as part of a project using wood from President Carters plantation. He laminated the soundboard with spruce as it was just not suitable on it's own. Also ended up using a dark sunburst stain on the instrument as it's just plain dog ugl...

I've had 2 clients purchase my instruments after having purchased blatant copies made in Thailand that were so poorly constructed that they came looking for the real thing. That was about 8 years ago now and I've not seen anymore pop up so perhaps they were a victim of their own ineptatude. Anyway I...

Hi Allen, Another stunning uke! Just out of interest, have you ever tried dye-ing fiddleback Blackwood? Any colour? I'm thinking a red-dyed front, back and side fiddleback Blackwood with Maple binding uke might look a bit nice! Thanks, GregL. This is the first time I've ever used dye on an instrume...

Yeh, SM. Have had the full set of colors for over 10 years.

Done by hand. I stained the body black before adding the bindings. Then when leveling them I sanded it all back so just the black was left in end grain. Masking off the bindings and applying blue mixed with alcohol carefully so I got very little bleed out under the tape.

I've been wanting to do something like this for quite some time and finally got around to it. Maple body with Australian Blackwood bindings and the rest is ebony. Gotoh UPT tuners, strung up with a low G. Blue Maple Tenor0.jpg Blue Maple Tenor1.jpg Blue Maple Tenor2.jpg Blue Maple Tenor3.jpg Blue Ma...

WEST Systems is extremly sensitive to under or over use of their catalyst, so when making small batches it's very easy to stuff that up. I make up 10 grams at a time. Also the amine blush you get from WEST Systems can be very problematic causing adheshion problems with your top coats. Bote Cote is d...

Had this set on the shelf for 12 years and finally got around to using it. Pink Abalone inlay with Indian Rosewood trim.

Well, I don't spray lacquer anymore but when I did it was Mirotone 3220 thinned with their solvent and adding about 5% and no more than 10% of Ultra Slow or Retarder to the mix. The last ingredient will make all the difference to your ultamate finish off the gun. I always thinned it more than Miroto...

Airbrushes are an artist tool that simply will never apply enough product to the surface. Impossible to keep a wet edge that is critical in getting a smooth flat finish. A automotive touch up gun that is gravity feed would be my recomondation if you can't handle a full size gun. The rest is the prod...

I did one for the Cairns Woodworkers Guild that was successful. So much work that as far as I'm concerned it wasn't worth it. So many revisions, clarifications, dealing with too many people that continually move and totally change goal posts, only to be sent back to the original person and they sayi...

Thanks for the all the replies. I'll have a look into stripe and transferwise. Direct Deposit from their Bank to yours. This one is prefered by most of my clients in Europe. Allen is this just as simple as swift, bsb & account number via email or on a vincoie or is something else required? Yes, it'...

Well over 50% of all my business is from overseas. There are a few ways of dealing with the fees. PayPal and you eat the fees. PayPal and charge the client an extra percentage. PayPal and have them send funds as "Friends and Family" My preferred method is either of these. Direct Deposit from their B...

I searched your name Steve and you don't appear to be a member of that group. I've forwarded your name.

The reason that there is a Pro only forum I mentioned on Facebook, (and you have to be invited and vetted), is that when you allow amateurs / hobbiests in, the conversation and topics very often strays into the absurd. I imagine this is what Trent's comments are about. Also there are topics as pro's...

There is a very good private group on FaceBook that only allows full time luthiers and a few in the allied support businesses. Members from all around the world and several that are members here. May be a better option for you and any others that would qualify.

I use 45mm width at the nut and 53mm on centre to string spacing at the saddle. I did one out at 50mm at the nut and I think from memory it was 56mm at the saddle for a client that was coming from Classical Guitar and he liked it but I thought it was way too wide for my liking, and it just looked re...

I've built several Guitalele's on both the tenor and baritone body size. The more traditional one is on the tenor but I think the baritone size with a 21.5" scale suits the tuning of A-a better. All my necks get a CF truss rod no matter the size of the instrument. I use Requinto strings or alternate...

I never leave a "layer" of epoxy. But it's a fine line of sanding so you are just leaving it in the pores or cutting timber off and exposing more pores.

Same for for all subsiquent coats as required.

For softwood soundboards that don't get pore filled I will sand up to P320 with my Festool fine orbit sander. It gives an effective finish as if you were going P400 by hand.

My business has had it's own domain / website since 2008. I would consider it pretty much essential to have a decicated name if you are to be taken seriously. You also have to have an SSL certificate installed for that domain or many if not all the web browsers are going to through up a warning now ...

It depends on what finish you are using as to what you can go with for sanding grit. Some requite no more than P400 for a good bond. Others can be up at P800 and still work out fine. Just depends on that particular finish. Many used in the automotive trade require P600 to P800 and nothing coarser or...

I would never go below 2.0 on a Baritone top.