Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Great progress Martin! If you do another half, you'll have a slightly misshapen football! American style football!

Allen wrote:That one was great Robbie. Some good tips in there that apply to lots of other things. And the sharpening jig tip is going to get a lot more use in my shop.

Cheers mate.

Yes, that was an outstanding tip. I never would have thought of that.

That does fill up a work bench, doesn't it?

The guitar is a beauty! I agree with Lillian on the pickguard. Clear would really keep the vintage look alive. The one you pictured modernizes it too much, IMO.

Nice looking guitar, Liam. Nothing like stringing up your first one, is there?

Thanks guys!

Well, I finally got my friend, Johnnie May, to do a sound clip of my second guitar. In case you don't remember the guitar, Here is the link. This was recorded on a Zoom H4, which was sitting on a card table, in his apartment. No special effects, only normalization to about 90%. He wanted me to add s...

Because there is no tension on the neck and the truss rod is set to dead flat when setting up originally. When strings are put on and the truss rod is adjusted, the attitude of the nut, relative to the frets will change slightly. The induced bow created by the string tension is why a zero fret works.

I believe chalk is the preferred method of tracing human bodies!

Nice, Taffy! It's gonna light right up with a finish on it. Looking forward to the details, and a sound clip.

The varying heights is a Romanillos iteration of the old Spanish style of building. When you use individual blocks, called Tentellones or Dentellones, depending on who you are, it is very difficult to have them all exactly the same size. Romanillos figured out that it is more pleasing to the eye, an...

I'm getting close to closing up #3.

Another place to check is craft stores. I have bought rolls of cork and some thin cork, self-sticking tiles.

I think the difference is, that Bendywood, is not purported to be applicable for structural uses, but more for furniture and decorative interior applications. They have lots of pictures of curved hand rails, curved stair lips and aprons, etc. Most of the stuff is smaller than the 2x6 application in ...

I didn't watch all the videos, but it looks a lot like a product I saw at the woodworking show in NC a couple of years ago. The product is called Bendy Wood. The process includes heat and pressure, but the wood is compressed, lengthwise, so the cells are crushed into each other, and, sort of, overla...

Not stainless, Rick, but it stays rust free in my humidity controlled environment. I keep it wiped off, and scrub it with one of those synthetic steel wool pads when I'm through with it. If it does start to rust, I'll sand it clean.

Here is my bending iron. Truck tail pipe section, electric charcoal starter, router speed control, grill thermometer. I have done two guitars with it, and it works just fine.

Thanks you two! Richard, that sound clip is from #1, not #2. This one is better. I used the Romanillos layout for the braces, with the open Tonne Bars and finger braces in the upper bout. The lower bout is domed at 25', and is tapered down about 5mm from the waist to the widest part of the lower bou...

Bob, it sounds great, to me. Much bigger than the first one. Martin, I did pore fill with pumice, and it needs a bit more to close a few scattered pores that didn't fill. Nick, the Romanillos design is pretty much a variation on the Torres design, but with more of an open upper bout. I think the big...

Thank you, Allen. It does take some time, especially when you have to do it over several times to get it right.

Well, here is my second guitar, after many new learning experiences on making V-joints, replacing rosettes, replacing the back, etc., and etc. 1973 Romanillos plan EIR / German Spruce Lace Wood bindings Ebony Fingerboard Cocobolo Bridge Gilbert Tuning Machines Mahogany V-joint neck with Sp. Cedar He...

Lacewood looks pretty good with dark back and side wood.

You guys are all too kind. It held up well at ensemble practice last night. I am a bit disturbed by a bit of tubbiness in the G string (NO, not that G-String, though the word combination fits nicely! :D ), but it's probably the strings. I put Medium tension DiAddario's EJ-45's on, and I'm used to pl...

Thanks, guys, I'm pretty happy with it right now, but I'm pooped. I have another set of parts made up for #3, and it can go into the solera now. The top is ready to be braced. It's going to be Lutz Spruce and Bubinga, with a Spanish Cedar Neck.

And, just for fun, here's the front of the headstock.