Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hello all, I am after some advice on the best way to line my radius work board with sandpaper. They are made from MDF and I have concerns about the paper wearing out and destroying the dish when trying to replace the paper. What is the best way to adhere the paper? Best type of paper (fabric backed,...

Sound,
The first 15sec are acoustic (in to a mic), the next 15sec is the pickup.
Luke

Hi The top and back are flat, the total body thickness is about 36mm. It is 2 pieces of 18mm oak carved out and joined together, the top and back "plates" are 3mm thick no bracing. I did all the body routing on the CNC at my old work, I had free access to the CNC and want to do something more intere...

Hi,
For a bit of fun I made this ukulele last year, it has steel stings and a pickup.
Luke

The new joint is basically a glued butt joint. With the new neck joint I was trying to resolve some things I didn’t like about my old method. My old joint had a large head block and I routed a cavity like an electric guitar, then I glued it in place. I was concerned about the size of the block and t...

Hi Rod, Just posted some pics of a blackwood uke in the gallery section. For this sunburst I only used Black and Brown tones, I think it suits blackwood more, adding reds and yellows is too much colour. I just add the dye to some Laq. and thin it down (70%thinner). I build the colour up with lots of...

I finish this one about a month ago, Blackwood top with sunburst spray. I also was trying a new neck joint/heel.

Hi, Yesterday I started to prepare some bone. My process was to simmer it for a few hours, scrub it clean then bleach it overnight and let it dry for a few months. After reading the article by Sean Barry I won’t put it in the bleach, do you think I should let it dry, then soak it in Shellite?? Do yo...

The back is not live, it's a conventional ladder braced. As for the Body resonance it is at 103Hz, Top main is 185Hz and the other peak is 358Hz. I am concerned with frequency falling very close to the G# and F#. Not to sure what to do but I would like to drop the main by 5Hz. The sound is ok, I thi...

Here is the Frequency responece for a guitar I make several years ago. X braced, 14 fret neck joint. It is my best one to date but after read the book I think there is room for improvement.

Luke

Can someone help with the settings for VA, Im not sure what settings I have to adjust. I have done the Sample size(16384) and sampling frequency (11.025kHz), anything else?

Thanks Luke

I have achieved a nice satin finish with a gloss product. I do a few coats with light sanding between. When there is enough finish on it I sand it fairly flat with 400-600 sandpaper and spray a finishing coat. The trick is to set the volume control on the spray gun to almost none (just a tiny mist) ...

Hi all,

John the finish is durobond 851 Guitar Lacquer (Nitrocellulose), I also used their dyes (brown, red and yellow) in the lacquer for the sunburst. I buffed the finish with stew-mac buffs and the stick compound.

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Luke

Hi,
A few pics of my last two builds. One Mahogany with sunburst finish, the other Spruce top and pressed Zebrano Veneer back and sides.

Hi,
Just a quick question about the Carbatec drum sander. In the specs its min. sanding thickness is 6mm. How does it go with material less than 6mm, do you use a packing board under it??

Thanks Luke

Hi, Lately I have made a few concert uke's with different wood for the tops (spruce, blackwood and mahogany). I have also tried different strings Aquilla's (I got some online for $10 a set), Worth ($25 but you get enough length for two sets) Orcas ($15 a set, black fluoro-carbon string). I have foun...

Hi, Sorry for the slow response. The second package arrived 1 and a half weeks later. Martin, I was simply explaining my experience, I waited a month for my order and when it arrived it was not complete. At the time of my last post I was unaware there were two packages sent. At no time did I suggest...

I placed an order a moth age. I only recieved part of my order yesterday, 10 bridge blanks and 5 fretboards missing.

Hi all,

I finally transfered the money, it was a hassel. I could only do it from the bank at a cost of $30 aus.

Luke

Could anyone help me with the banking details of Parekh Exports.
I palced an order and went to transfer the money, but there was a proble with the account details.

Thanks Luke

Hi all, I have been experimenting with veneer uke back press into a radius. Here are some pics of the jig I used. BackJIG.jpg It’s a two part mould, positive and a negative. I used 3 veneers and the centre one is cross grain (like ply) and Urea-formaldehyde resin to glue them. The thickenss is 1.6mm...

Nick,

Im not sure what you mean by wide, but 5mm bone they are fine. I start the wider slots with a saw or triangle file.

Hi All, I just wanted to share what I have been using to do my string slots. All you need is a feeler gauge and a Dremel with a fine grinder blade. Basically you are just turning your feeler gauge into a file, you will get a range of thickness for about $10 I round the bottom edge of the selected ga...