Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Wow! Hats off!
Wouldn't even know where to start, or even have the patience to finish such a thing.

Found some time to work on it again. Costumer is not in a hurry, so this wont have priority. I routed out about half of the top (sorry no photo of the router setup) and cleaned out the wood between the rosette and soundhole. Made a matching (as good as) piece of inlay (thx again Woodrat!) which will...

Mine was dated 1905-1906 so sort of the same. I'll post a pick when i find the time.

There are plenty of Woofing jobs here in Gippsland - VIC. Horse's, Olives, Farmwork... It's unpaid, but it will help with the visa and most of the times you get fed and livingspace as well.
http://www.wwoof.com.au/

Looking good indeed! I have the exact same guitar! Bought it on ebay quite a few years ago and had no problems with Customs bringing it in Australia. Mine has a few large cracks on the back and the neck is loose with a broken fretboard on the 12th. otherwise its in quite a good state. it still had t...

Hi all, Got a costumer who brought a Seagull acoustic guitar in last week. He needed a setup and wanted a clean and refinish on his top. He wore out the soundhole to much to just cover it up with a new scratchplate, so we decided to do some little "restoration" on this one. I didn't have any of my o...

A good indicator to the right* heat, I've always found (and is a 'standard' test), is to drop a few drops of water on your tube/iron and if the drops "dance" around rather than just turning straight to steam you are ready to bend. Also as Steve stated, 5mm is a bit thick, 2mm is better :wink: and a...

Oh I see. And how does it affect sound and "workability"? Can you still use a plane and sand it like non-aged wood? Does it become stiffer?

So, is it brown/gray by itself? Like maple is white and rosewood is brown? Or is this due to the fact that it has been under ground for 300 years? Like spalted wood.

I'm stunned! So beautiful! I'm a bit in love with ukes and every time I see a special specimen, I remember why
BTW, what actually is "ancient spruce"?

He got back to me and said that he has some other plans (Danelectro as well), but those are not for free. So they're not on the net. It's: -Harmony Stratotone H42/H44/H88 (3 on one plan!) -Danelectro Pro 1 (1963) -Silvertone (Danelectro) 1449 amp-in-case -Silvertone (Danelectro) 1444 'Dolphin nose b...

The Biscuit PU is a cast resin one. I made a latex mold of a cookie first, then poured resin into it et voila

Don't know if it really adds something, but I've already tried this with success. For laying on the base coat (after pore filling!), I use a broad brush (soft haired) and dip it into fairly heavy cut shellac (not sure what the ratio was, sorry). then apply it in even strokes until you've covered the...

I will . I'm pretty sure he's got more online somewhere. I'll ask him and post them here...

Pretty nifty! With this method the machines "line up", but what if you wanted them to go in a curve following the side of the headstock?

I've learned to scrape the sides to the desired thickness where they go into the neck. But then a 1 mm cut is a bit thin. Can't you set it like 1.5 and then do the scraping method?
BTW, if you scrape, do it on the inside (pretty obvious, but worth mentioning).

EJ

While I was waiting on my tools (which were in the container coming from Belgium), I just wanted to do "something"... Used a file, a rasp, a handsaw and some timber from Bunnings... In the end it looks pretty ok :mrgreen: Has a handmade PU too! Ceder neck, Cypress fretboard. http://d2bm3ljpacyxu8.cl...

Don't know if this one has already been linked (just remove if it has).

http://www.gitarrebassbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6

It's in German, but the names speak for themselves (or use Google Translate on the site)

EJ

A Dutch friend of mine has taken a habit in drawing quite good plans of instruments he likes.
Here's one of them:
http://www.javaca.eu/Plan/LonghornPlan.pdf

Hide Glue is so convenient. I use it for gluing the tops on a lute. Especially because lute tops may need to come of more then often. Did you know you can also loosen hide-glue with pure ethanol? Just watch that finish though. The alcohol extracts the last bit of water and makes it very brittle. I u...

I always use an oil/turpentine (is that white spirit?) mixture before fretting. But then, I don't glue my frets...

Hi there, I use the pumice (or brown ones for darker wood, not sure what its called) method. I tend to use a little shellac in the rubbing cloth as well, to make the pumice/wood-dust stick into the pores. Always worked for me. It's pretty traditional, but a little labor intensive. You pretty much ne...

Thx to all!

EJ or Ernstjan

Oh well, There's like one million thing to tell about it. They say that "the" lute was introduced into Europe in the 15th century, coming from the Moorish Ud or al' Oud meaning "wood". From there it spread over Europe and there are different branches in England, France, Italy, etc. It changed during...

Thx Col.

No unfortunately I don't have a soundclip. Maybe I should try and get one someday.
I'll try my best in sharing, but I don't have any infinite wisdom or anything. Just what I learned and what works best for me.