Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

We're so sad to hear of David's passing.
He was a true gentleman, and a lovely feller. Yes his instruments are works of finest craftsmanship.
Had some great chats with him at the shows.
Maybe the 'rollies' finally caught up with him, whatever... Cya mate.

I've used these pins in the past and they are really, really good! BUT! They fit 180 degrees opposite to normal pins, - the string runs in the slot which is fitted to the rear, and then goes through the hole and out to the front and over the saddle. BUT... do be careful when you remove a pin to chan...

Nigel, I'm currently selling one. See my Closing Down Sale. It consists of a steel lid lined with rubber which has lots of holes drilled through. The outer face of the lid has two knobs which control the 'sucking area'. It was originally used in the printing industry for film-making. It easily hinge...

Since I gave up the fags about 8 years ago, I'd be hanging on to that fragrant smokey!

How could you get hide glue to wick into the crack?

Personally I like the ZF. Mind you, I often use a slightly higher zero fret, which allows for a slightly lower action 'up top' or heavier 'country pos' playing before buzzing becomes an issue. Obviously fret levelling needs to be done before the zero fret is inserted, (and I usually make the ZF slot...

A couple of small oval 3mm thick spruce patches epoxied on the inside spanning over the crack, positioned using magnets (ask), wick thin superglue into the split from the outside, and superglue to fix the binding. (IMO).

Just use West Systems... far better product!

Well buddy, try to get a genuine Gibson SG pickguard. They don't list a replacement part... and even if they did it would cost an outrageous fortune! I'm aware of the possible variations/accuracy issues, that's why I posted, -hoping someone might have encountered this so I can suck their experience!...

I'm fixing a 2005 Gibson SG standard (I think the stack may have fallen on it... the case is lunched!) I need to buy or make a new pickguard for it, (it's the 'full-face' type). I've found a supplier in America, but I need to know if/what variations there might be in the shape and screwhole position...

As I said, I haven't actually got around to building mine yet, :dru but hopefully the pic should tell a thousand words. Note that I've removed the friction wheel (it would be just above the plastic clamp) that makes the 'head' (the stikky out bit in front) rise and fall,- in prep for suspending it o...

Just in case anyone may be thinking of making one like Lillian's, (which is a beaut'), I think you could get one together pretty cheaply and very easily using an old photographic enlarger. Since digital, there's a million discarded photographic darkroom enlargers out there, I picked up 2 from charit...

Yes, thanks Bob, some really nice pics there. It was a great show I thought. Good variety, quality instruments, good company, good crowds. My highlight was peering over Harry Manx's shoulder while he played one of Tim Kill's evil machines. Very cool. One customer of mine who'd just bought a cigarbox...

Dominic, you can mix thicknessers with epoxies. The one worth trying would be Aluminium oxide. This is a very fine powder that thickens up the resin. You wouldn't need much, it mixes into a very smooth consistency. I use West systems epoxy, (a much better resin than Zpoxy in my opinion) and haven't ...

Very small resin mixes are a bit of a worry, -the less you mix, the less accurate your measurement. Epoxy resin is not gold dust so why not mix a bit more qty? You do need to be fairly precise, but a small say, 30ml medicine type measuring cup is quite accurate enough. I'd usually mix a minimum of 3...

Nice work Taffy. Busy boy! I've been doing cigarbox guitars for a few years... fun to play and very low stress building! Light relief after doing 'real' guitars. Here's a few of mine, a couple of 3-string fretless (slide) models, (I tune 'em GDG -good for blues improv). The other one is a 4-stringer...

Martin, it's not so much that it's not as strong, more about WHY it's not as strong. Has it cured to a really 'crisp' state or is the chemical process compromised so that it's a bit on the soft side? - I've seen mouldings that are like this, and if you tap them they're absolutely dead, whereas a pro...

Thanks for the input, all good points. I'll keep tabs on it and let you know how we go. First thing will be to check it out when it comes down, and we'll need to decide what lengths to cut for transportation, and initial storage etc. I'll be calling on the collective expertise soon I hope. A few yea...

A mate of mine is about to fell a big, old, good Bunya tree, (est 1.2 metre girth 120 feet in height) and I'm wondering about what interest there may be for the timber. (Nobody's interested in making bucks out of this, but if is there is some interest, I'll look into milling etc). The tree has been ...

I'd be very dubious about thinning epoxy resins to get better penetration into the grain. Typically you'll get 35% decrease in strength if you add even as little as 5% thinners. Epoxy chemistry is pretty critical, and not designed for thinning. If I use epoxy I want to get the absolute max hardness ...

Today I turned up some spacers on my ancient American lathe, sliced some bracings on my beautiful ol' German cast iron typographer's sliding table saw, then I was at a mate's making new blade guides for my bandsaw on his superb Fanuc CNC milling machine. Tools and machines, young or old, - beautiful.

Check this out. (And WTF does it take me months to do one!!!)
http://www.parkguitars.com/djangofest-n ... ar-raffle/

I wuz thinking about this one... I've made a range of geets using carbon/glass bowl structure with conventional spruce soundboards. I can't comment on Rainsong etc 'cos I haven't tried them. My conclusions (on my work) is as follows; My 12 string 'glass' version is more successful than the 6 stringe...

Here's the go... If you look at the tang of the fretwire you'll see small (usually) triangular shapes standing proud. These are like barbs. The reason it's best to bend the fretwire to a tighter radius than your fretboard is that if you tap the fret ends in the slot first, then tap them in working f...

Personal experience leads me to the conclusion that Bunya may work, but is rather bland in it's sound characteristics. Cole Clark bunya soundboards don't have conventional bracing, they CNC machine integral bracing into the top, which muddies the waters a bit when it comes to comparision with say, a...