Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

If you all can help me come up with topics, I'll write up some handouts for such a class. Yes, carbon fiber. Also where to use different adhesives, a range of info on finishes, turning drawings into working templates and fixtures, pickups and electronics, and ????

For another related discussion:

http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubbcgi/ul ... 029843;p=1

It's really easy to get all up in your head about bracing patterns and start seeing things that may not be there. It's also entirely possible that Weissenborn came up with a bracing pattern that works...but came up with it by accident and then stuck with it. Remember that when we're talking about hi...

I'm wrote a piece for my website on "tone wood"...a kind of hackneyed phrase, but one which should actually have true meaning. Tone woods shape the response of string vibrations in various ways, and to do so, they have to have a blend of characteristics, most of which are really structural and/or es...

A couple of observations... Just because there are some interesting vintage guitars with koa tops that still exist, that does not mean that they are the best or worst sounding guitars on the planet, but the higher the degree of figure, the more long term distortion of the top you are likely to see. ...

Pretty wussy Les Paul...

That's not how they did it in the mid 1950s!

This is starting to remind me of the Bluegrass banjo guys who get a 1932 Mastertone tenor and have a new neck made for it...then put in a new cryogenically treated Kulesh tone ring...and a new Remo plastic head...and a magic wood bridge... and then start talking about a how good the reclaimed lake b...

Just a comment on Huon pine... I'm in the middle of writing a magazine article on "Mrs. Wilson's Dingy", a boat built in 1871 of which my friend Ned Trewartha has made three replicas. Ned is a master boat builder, and I've spent a bit of time with him in his shed learning about his craft and sharing...

Kiwi, note that this is a HUMIDifier, not a DEHUMIifier. This is for adding moisture to the air, not sucking it out.

This is for those folks who live in dry desert areas or places where the winter heating systems tend to suck moisture out of the already cold air.

Bob, yes, I'd say that given the critical nature of guitar soundboards, that being tone comes first over beauty, and that having to make up for inherent weakness of flamed figure with heavier bracing would mean that the plainer stuff can be worked to sound better. You can take it thinner and brace i...

We have Tasmanian blackwood growing here in California; it was brought over as an ornamental tree in the 1880s and has spread from SoCal on up the coast. The California grown Tassie blackwood tends not to have quite the figure you get in Australia, but it's texture and density is about half way betw...

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4

Yeah, the timing is a bit weird for Aussies, but what the heck...

I hope that's Coke with a capital "C"... A forestry guy once made me a table that showed how much heat it would take in the winter time to lower the RH of my workshop from the RH outside. As I recall, it didn't take much of a rise in inside temperature to make a significant difference to the RH, and...

Hesh, you've no doubt noticed that I suggest that the Symogyi style of building may truly be best for a living room/house concert (no amplification) type player whereas the Smallman/Macaferri/stiff backed style instrument will be better at punching through in a more live situation. Here's an example...

Kim, note my comments on the directionality of guitars with reflective backs vs. resonant backs. Both can be extremely responsive, but the dispersion pattern of the sound will be quite different. To use a microphone analogy, it's cardiod vs. omni with guitars going as far as Greg Smallman's being pe...

Acoustic guitars are really mechanical resonant transformers that match the impedance of the string's motion to the medium of air to set up alternatively negative and positive air pressure zones...sound waves...which the strings themselves are very poor at doing. The transformation from string energ...

Nick's suggestion is spot on..

"Aircraft drill bits..."

Try these guys: http://www.aircraftspruce.com.au/Tools.asp

One other observation that may incite some controversy: I believe that the sound of a good under-saddle pickup, properly installed is actually a more accurate representation of string vibration than is the acoustic sound of the instrument. What we have come to love about the tone of acoustic guitars...

With regard to the whole "guitar box as loudspeaker" thing...well, that's partially true, but you have to separate the various components of the box. In a Smallman style instrument with a very stiff back, rigid sides, and virtually immobilized upper bout and soundhole area, the loudspeaker model wou...

Bob y Bob (that's kind of Spanish...), I'd agree re. King Billy being somewhere between Engelmann and WRC. At least the stuff I've seen is like that. Middleton, TAS boat builder Ned Trewartha has shown me some incredibly nice King Billy that he's got stashed away and that finds its way into boats......

There is a strong tendency among early years luthiers...and I'd put that at those up to 5 to 10 years experience...to want a magic formula which, once read, experienced, practiced, understood (?), and integrated, will assure masterpieces of every guitar (mandolin, uke, violin, whatever...). Some are...

I'd like to perhaps clarify my own position on Ervin. I don't particularly fall on one side or the other here, rather I think that in a particular direction, Ervin's guitars are really pretty amazing. They are certainly built at the highest level in our craft using the finest in materials. I just do...

Hesh, maybe I'd been spending too much time in Australia, and the direct and blunt factor had taken hold! :D That is one thing I've come to really appreciate about Aussies...they tend to tell it like they see it, and if there's a bit of offense, they get over it pretty quickly. Here's a funny exampl...

Bob, my boat builder pal, Ned Trewartha is now making tenor ukuleles, and he's using some superb King Billy for soundboards. The stuff I've seen in his shed most resembles our Engelmann spruce in both appearance and hardness (not very...) and stiffness (pretty darned good). The ukes sound wonderful....

OK, couldn't help myself...

A friend of mind in Tasmania:

http://www.sche.com.au/

No, not quite as the topic states...but more interesting...