Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

There's an interesting reason to build putting the back onto the sides first... When people look inside the guitar, the glue joints they'll see will not be top to sides...they'll be back to sides. OK, if you've ever looked inside a "golden era vintage Martin or Gibson) you'll see a ton of glue squee...

When you are talking about African mahogany, be sure of what species you're dealing with. Sapele...is not considered a true mahogany, Khaya is. Both can be excellent guitar woods. I got a bunch of billets of Honduras mahogany that had been grown in India...same deal...the Brits planted it in the mid...

The first real trick is doing the centerseam glue joint on the top and the back. It's a bit more difficult with a Weissenborn-style instrument given the length of the seam, but with patience and a well tuned plane you can do it. There are some interesting designs for shooting boards where the workpi...

The real key to dust control...and take it from one who doesn't have very good dust collection...is catching the dust before it gets into the air. You've got to get it right at the source. Then an air cleaner will make for healthier lungs, but if it's in the air, it's in your face... My friend Sando...

The other real issue is a vapor barrier on the inside of the insulation. Consider 10 mil plastic...the stuff we call "Visqueen" http://www.visqueenbuilding.co.uk/ Put that on the studs before you nail up the wallboard. It will make humidity control much, much easier.

He's a backdoor man...

sorry, mates, couldn't resist...

Well, four glasses of nice Merlot spaced over about four hours tonight was just fine. I'm getting used to playing under-rehearsed with these pickup bands as long as nobody complains about music stands and chord charts... "Back in the day"...when I gigged more or less professionally, we rehearsed a l...

Dom,

The writer/editor in me can't help but change "heal" to "heel"...

Sorry, mate, but that just gets under my skin worse than visions of sheep and chaps...and that's already not a pretty thing...

In "Master Class" situations, I do best with a Q & A format. I want to talk about what you want to know, not some canned spiel of my own. When I do this, I usually start with a bit of a "slide show"...photos from my computer, hopefully hooked up to a big screen. I talk a bit about how I started, and...

I think Lillian got the picture all to clearly...

Bolts heated with carborundum and cooled with a fart...

Kim, we're both encouraging those with the highest levels of expertise to come here and share...that goes to the heart of the whole thing about and with Ervin, too. You can Google "epoxide rings" and find a ton...a ton of stuff that organic chemists would revel in that I do not pretend to understand...

HiString, it is sometimes helpful to identify yourself more completely when you jump in on a discussion like this one where the level of expertise that you obviously have could be very important. Most of us have learned this stuff empirically...the hard way...and none of us have learned a harder way...

I do like the Aussie humor!

If the bolts/screws are too long, just cut them down to length and roll the tip a bit to make the threads engage more easily. I cut with an abrasive cutoff wheel either on a grinder or on my table saw. Hold with ViceGrips...or whatever your Aussie equivalent is.

Kim, I gave up on flashbacks. Flashforwards are much more fun!

This all makes the drugs we used to take look positively benign!

Mike, apparently not. It's designed to help flatten warped fancy veneers prior to laminating them to substrates. I've not read of any luthiers having a problem with it, and having just taught a mando/uke course this weekend with two mahogany uke side sets glued up, I can say that there was no eviden...

Bob, I just used SuperSoft sprayed on the inside of mahogany pineapple uke sides while I sprayed water on the outside. I was a bit concerned about the SuperSoft possibly staining the wood, but no problem, and the mahogany bent easily and held shape beautifully. Mahogany is actually not a great wood ...

I believe the fabric softener of choice is "Downy".

Also go to Joe Woodworker's site and check out SuperSoft II...a veneer softener. I've started to use it to treat difficult to bend woods. So far, so good.

If you're using an epoxy to laminate and then seal under finish, it doesn't matter if it bleeds through. The wetting of the wood will be even. Steve Smith has an interesting explanation of why epoxy does such a good job of "popping" figure. To paraphrase him, the epoxy helps draw light down into the...

I'm still trying to learn something old!

Good info, Hesh, the only thing I'd add is yet another caution about "amine bloom" which bit me in the arse on a couple of guitars we had to strip and refinish because of poor adhesion of the finish to unsanded, unwashed epoxy filled wood. Google "Amine Blush", and you'll find all the info you never...

I would not agree that the timber in a solid body is of less importance than pickups, electronics, etc. It's all about how the structure makes the strings vibrate. Pickups, etc. are just a window into the vibration of the strings...and body. Alder makes for decent Strat bodies, etc. I've used it for...

I'm a fan of the WEST epoxy, and their metering pump system is really convenient. The Smith products are also really excellent, and I'm about to try their CEPS (Clear Epoxy Penetrating Sealer) on instruments as a sealer/tie coat for finishes. The WEST epoxy is a good sealer under tung oil, but if yo...