Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I have a large, heavy, 1400w Hitachi router that is getting on for ~35 years old. It's a survivor from my boatbuilding/furniture making days, and while it's great for heavy duty jobs, it's too heavy and a bit too much of a handful for jobs such as cutting saddle slots and binding channels. Does anyo...

Actually, after a bit more of a web search I found that Canning Vale Hardware in Perth had a good selection of Nicholson files without handles on their web site at what seemed good prices, so I ordered what I wanted from them: http://www.wahardware.com.au/

Anyone know where I can buy files without handles already attached? I toured around all my local hardware stores yesterday (Bunnings, Fisher Discount, Gasweld, Fitch, etc), and none of them had any files for sale that didn't already have handles attached. I guess if I have to, I can buy them with ha...

A friend who lives in Bega alerted me to a series of programs on their local ABC radio with a couple of luthiers (Robin Moyes and Jim Williams). The MP3s of the programs can be listened to on the ABC web site: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/05/12/3215407.htm?site=southeastnswµsite=sen...

After reading the suggestions, this is my ultra-cheap solution. Cut a skinny piece of 6mm ply about 100mm long, cut a slot in it just deep enough for the fret tang with a dremel cutting wheel, clamp a couple of bicycle tyre levers to the sides of a trestle so that they support the ends of the ply ab...

Any suggestions on the best way to straighten fretwire before using it to refret a classical (flat) fretboard. I have some EVO jumbo fretwire which came coiled, and when I press a piece flat in the almost-closed jaws of a metalworking vice, not only does it require considerable force to get it flat,...

There are quite a lot of different species that can be called meranti. It can vary from dark red through light red to almost yellow, and can also vary a fair bit in density and hardness. I used some light red meranti for some necks a long time ago, mainly because I had several nice well-seasoned pla...

This won't be used in a musical instrument, but it's a nice slab of red ironbark that's will become our kitchen dining table. It's about 1900x700x40, and only just fitted in the back of our car for the trip home - the front passenger seat had to be folded forward and my wife had to sit in the back a...

If the T structure is rigid then for the same X, the forces at A and B have to be the same in both diagrams. That's elementary first year engineering statics.

There are a couple of good youtube videos on how to fold a bandsaw blade. e.g.


youtu.be/

I seem to remember (or am I imagining it) that there was a thread a while ago that had photos of people's workshops. I had a search but can't find it. Did/does it exist? I'm just starting on the design of a new house and need to specify to the architect my requirements for a workshop, so I wanted to...

I notice that since the forum recovery, a number of the reconstituted messages in "Jigs & Fixtures" have the text recovered ok but the accompanying images have disappeared, which makes it a bit hard to visualize things.

You are viewing a re-constructed thread by the ANZLF recovery team. For more information click here . " Originally Posted on:Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:37 am " I don't know if this stuff is available in Oz - a Google search didn't find anything - but it sounds safer than the normal epoxy with its fairly pu...

I bought one of these a year or two back and have been extremely satisfied with it. I purchased directly from the manufacturer in the US - cost me about $A160 including shipping. The unit is small enough to fit in the small compartment under the neck in my guitar cases. Claimed accuracy is +-0.02 ce...

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Fretting/Fret_Puller.html And for the price it's probably cheaper than the time you'd spend in buying a set of end cutters and then grinding the bevel off the cutting edge. I purchased a pair of those in preference to spoiling my nice Bahco piano...

I have a Zoom H2. Cost me less than $300 a while ago from a mail order mob in Victoria. Though I see from a quick Google that the falling dollar seems to have caused an increase in price. The results are really impressive. Apart from using it to record myself playing pieces I've also used it to reco...

Any suggestions for what I can use outside of obtaining some from a luthiers supplier? As one of my other interests is building up bicycles and I have lots and lots of spokes lying around, one thought I had was to use some short pieces of 2mm stainless steel spoke. Main problem is likely to be the h...

I don't know if this stuff is available in Oz - a Google search didn't find anything - but it sounds safer than the normal epoxy with its fairly pungent smell: http://www.masepoxies.com/public/ . The MSDS sheets for the products are here: http://www.masepoxies.com/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=article...

Anyone tried this product?

http://www.coloursbynature.com.au/Text/ ... 7-8696.pdf

When I was last in London I visited the Victoria & Albert museum and had a pretty good look at their collection of musical instruments. They're been busy digitizing their collection and you can now see some of the instruments online. Here's the carved back from a mandore - predecessor to the mandoli...

Some of the local pricing is pretty outrageous as well - eg I was in Carbatec weekend before last and asked for the price on a Safe-T-Planer - it has just risen to slightly over $150. For comparison, StewMac's price is $US55, or about $A83 at the current exchange rate. OTOH, I bought some Gotoh clas...

For classicals, I think it's hard to beat Rosewood for its combination of good hardness, relatively low density, and good dimensional stability. It's superior to Ebony on all three of these criteria. Some of the local hardwoods - eg Mulga - win on the density and stability but are extremely heavy. F...

Is quite nasty on the allergy front - about 15% of the population is allergic to it. From an article in "Wood" magazine: This wood is a well-known sensitizer that can produce a poison-ivy type rash or other reaction in allergic individuals. If you have an allergy history, work cocobolo with full pro...

This article is worth reading:

http://www.newmillguitar.com/millen2.htm

It exclusively deals with compensation on classical guitar though.

The whole thing was done using slow-setting Araldite. I built it in 1976 in the middle of a bout of boat-building, and apart from getting bookmatched pairs of spruce and rosewood for the soundboard and back/sides, all the rest of the timber was selected from what I had accumulated for boats, as was ...