Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I got a set of buffalo horn bridge pins from LMI. Very nice, but they don't have any slots for the strings to run in. I like slots in my bridge pins so I decided to cut some. You can buy a special jig for this task from Stew-Mac or LMI if you want to part with $US63.48. Basically all you need is som...

That walnut is gorgeous. Goes really well with the bindings (maple?)
I drove over my first guitar (an epiphone), which dented it pretty badly but it still lived.

I was using a white chinagraph pencil, which leaves good marks but it is hard to get to a fine point, and they are expensive. Since Allen's tutorial I have used the scalpel and chalk trick - very happy.

I thought I'd give you an update on my collapsing soundboard. Basically, it seems that Craig's advice about the Bridge Doctor has been a lifesaver. I first played around with Dominic's idea of carbon fibre reinforcement. I got some CF tape from a local supplier. It only cost a few bucks and I tried ...

Colin
I have been sitting here listening to that one piece over and over for half an hour and I am now in an unaccountably good mood. Absolutely beautiful. Please let us know when the CD is available.
thanks
Mark

Great job for a first guitar! I like the curves on the bridge and the headstock.

Nice work Thommo. I hope you are enjoying a bit of time playing #1 while also building #2. I like your choice of Australian timbers. I also finished my first one recently and I got some good advice and tools from Gerard - and I just bought the timber for my next build from him. You will find the exp...

Hi Robbie
Nice video, as always. The 360 degree rotating clamp system looks very useful. Where would I get one, and at what cost. I can see that they would be very worthwhile in a busy workshop, but I am a one-man weekend hobby builder.

cheers

Mark

Make a clear perspex template. It only needs to be the size of half the soundboard (down the long axis). Like Dom said, then you can see the grain through the template which helps to decide where to cut. Drill holes through the template at the points corresponding to ends of each brace so that you c...

I am sure you are all correct. I made a big mistake scalloping the X-braces in front of the X. Looking back at the plans I was following there is not supposed to be any scalloping there, as you all identified. I copied it incorrectly onto my brace layout and didn't know enough about what I was doing...

OK, I live and learn! It is likely that I have made some serious errors in the bracing. Another factor I just thought of is humidity. When I glued the box together, and also when I did the set-up, the humidity was around 40%. Last week when things started to go pear-shaped we had a lot of rain in Sy...

I was pretty proud of myself when I posted the pictures of our first guitar 2 weeks ago - but now I am a bit worried. It seems like the top and neck angle are not holding up so well to the string tension. The main symptom is rising action, and pretty horrible intonation. When I did the initial neck ...

Congratulations on the top mark Josh. I am sure you will really enjoy putting your skills into building number 2.

mark

That is another excellent tutorial, Robbie. Even when I think I know how to do it I always learn an extra trick or two from watching your method.

cheers

Mark

Another great lesson Robbie. The positioning of the nodes and the general measurements are very useful information. I wasn't sure what to do if I didn't have an explicit set of plans to follow - but this gives me a good rationale for planning my own bracing layout in the future. BTW, I just posted s...

Thanks again for all of the help I have got from the forum. I will go back and move that tuner one day, but mainly I want to get on with the next one. I think my wife has some gardening tasks lined up for the next few weekends though :roll: Martin, the back braces were according to a plan which copi...

Do you have a local supplier? I can't seem to find that gear in the StewMac catalogue.

Thanks for the encouragement. I do find it amazing that 2 guys with no woodworking experience can manage to knock up a decent instrument in the garage on weekends. But I'm not planning to give up the day job and live off my lutherie skills just yet. We tried to copy the neck profile and the setup me...

Yesterday Jack (my 17 yo son) and I strung up the OM that we have been working on for about 10 months. Such a great feeling to get it done and find out that something that we built actually plays well and sounds great. Learned heaps along the way - much of it from you gentlemen. It is EIR and Wester...

That is outrageous! I've never known someone take what I say so literally! I will need to be careful about joke suggestions from now on. But if you go to the trouble of making a tool look better than it needs to, why not go the whole way? The resident heretic will probably say that we shouldn't be e...

Hey Craig, it seems that you make tools that are almost as beautiful as the guitars. That is a really cool jig! Just needs some abalone inlay on the handle.

I used a Stew-Mac router base for the Dremel, with their binding attachment. It also has the problem of a flat plate registering on an arched back or soundboard. But the problem is more likely to be with the operator than with the tool. Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to checking the depth ...

Thanks Robbie I have been enjoying your DVD and all of these videos on the forum. I use the Safe-T-planer and have some of my own tricks. You have taught me some new ones - especially about the sharpening. I have used it to thickness wider plates, such as an already jointed top. You can't do that wi...

Thanks Martin. These forums are incredibly useful, and friendly. I have been lurking for some time but never felt qualified to contribute until Jake started a thread about how to be a beginner. I am experienced at that. I agree about the Dremel being a bit gutless for cutting binding channels. I tri...

Hi Jake I am also a beginner and last night I got to the exciting stage of fitting the neck to the completed body of my first build. I have been doing this project with my son, Jack, who is in year 11 like you. I cannot give you the experience of the other experts here but I can give you the perspec...