Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hank
Check out the 3-piece back on Taffy's beautiful "Madeleine" guitar in the Gallery section of the forum.
Mark

Taffy
From a distance that is a nice looking blue rosette in that cedar top. Can you give us a closer look of how it is made up?

Mark

Will I have to grow one of those beards?

Thanks Jeff - just what I needed to know. I'll start with those specs and then play around with it.

Alan, that is very generous - and I will take you up on the offer of the tutorials. I'll send you an email today.

cheers

Mark

Thanks Paul
I am going to give this a go for my next top.
cheers
Mark

OK, I think I get it. So when you cut it out you remove those BWB rings - since they are not glued in - and you end up with a donut which is the segmented timber ring and the abalone in the middle of it - but no BWB rings. You check it in the MDF for depth. And then when you inlay it in the guitar s...

I have a D-18 copy made in the 70's by Terada. It is a nice solid back/sides mahogany and sitka guitar that I found in a pawn shop for a good price. I would like to set it up for playing slide (I have never played slide before - but keen to learn). I am thinking that I will probably play with it in ...

Paul, That is really cool. The end result looks great. You glue it up with the inner and outer BWB rings, and then you need to cut it full thickness exactly at the outer/inner limit of those rings. Is that hard to achieve? Did it need any cleanup of the surfaces before you glued it into the top? Mark

Hey, I use bamboo stakes in the go-bar too. Cheap as chips and very effective. I buy packets of little rubber caps from Bunnings to put on the ends of them (get the white ones - the black ones leave marks on your work). I haven't used many Aussie timbers in my builds so far, but I want to get into t...

Looking good so far Liam. The bookmatch on the back looks very nice. You wanted suggestions for binding - the NGR will be gold-brown so the best binding would be something much darker (EI rosewood or walnut) or something really pale. I would probably go for maple. But your decision, and the good thi...

Taffy, she is an absolute beauty. I love the customized detail which has just the right amount of restraint for my taste. Especially the end grain inlay and the one on the heel cap. I bet the guy will be stoked! He won't swap it for another D-35 in a million years. Please tell us more about how you ...

Fantastic thread Kim. Thanks for taking us on the journey. The end result is a fantastic retro guitar, and you have taught us all heaps. I am impressed by your inventiveness and vision. In years to come someone is going to get hold of that guitar and sing the praises of the old Maton factory for mak...

Thanks for this thread Kim. It has been fascinating and taught me a lot too. I have a Taylor Big Baby with a a similar neck joint - no heel and 2 screws straight through the fingerboard and into the headblock at the 16th fret. It makes the guitar a lot lighter and helps with access to the higher fre...

Far out! I'm sitting here with my sunday morning coffee and you give me that as a wake up message. Hesh, that is one eye-popping collection of guitar flesh. You do stunning work mate. A match of beautiful woods to great classic designs. What is that dark coloured top (no, not the black one) - is it ...

A beautiful package Rod. I recently made a Nick Lucas and I love the design. I am sure your Dad is going to think it is very special.
Mark

Hi Robbie
Some of those tips are gold. "Straight to the pool room".

thanks
Mark

Looking very good Rod. I love the blonde on blonde colour scheme. Molly duker??? Please explain........
Mark

Jeff, that is simply sensational. I think the inlay is among the nicest that I have ever seen. And the monkey pod IS crazy. I want to see more pics too
Mark

I got one of these (made from MDF). I got a 16' dish (plywood) from them as well. They are fine, but they did seem a bit expensive to me.

OK, I am starting to get interested. Dom - that is a nice looking top. What width did you use for the rosette, 0.047" or 0.064"? Have you put a black strip alongside the flexi-shell stuff or is that black accent part of the product? Does it have hard or flexible sides? If it has a little bit of give...

Great first guitar Liam, and with that shopping list for tools and jigs it sounds like you are going to be making lots more. It must be satisfying to come up with your own design for number one, and then pull it off. I'll look forward to your future posts.
Mark

Dominic You asked about the soundhole binding. I followed the technique that Nigel Forster shows in this Youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f_t-wGo30o&feature=related The top was about 3mm in thickness and I added a reinforcement ring around the soundhole instead of using popsicle soundh...

Yeah, that is way too slick. It is a shame to cover it up.

Thanks for the encouragement folks. I will definitely lose the pickguard. I play fingerstyle anyway so I don't really need one. Nick - the L-00 is a great classic Gibson small body style that has been around since the 1920s in various guises. I think the shape is nice but some of them sound a bit we...

Hi Ricardo, I love your number 2. The timber choices are very elegant and the headstock veneers are a really nice touch. What did you use in the rosette? It looks nice but I can't get a good enough look to work it out. Great work. Will you be starting number 3 soon? This gets really addictive doesn'...