Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Really beautiful and restrained, Steve!

Frank

Hi all. I finished this baritone ukulele a little while ago (along with a pair of flamenco guitars and an eight-stringed tenor ukulele), but I've been really slack in getting these instruments photographed. This instrument is made from: Queensland Rosewood / Rose Mahogany (back and sides), Mountain ...

And a really smart and sobering chat it is, too!

Frank.

Whoa!

I've not been paying attention!

Where and when? This weekend (25 and 26 Feb) or next weekend?

Frank.

Hi Dave. Yes, the two brass bridge-pins were used to slightly weight the bridge, to bring the T(1,1)2 as close as possible to 180 Hz. Had I not done this, and used 6 wooden (ebony) pins, the T(1,1)2 would have been around 181.5 Hz - which would have been OK, but I got all fussy and competitive! I'd ...

Hi Martin.

Yes, I concur with the others; very well drawn and dimensioned plans. I'm intending to make a Tenor instrument soon, and these will now be my go-to drawings.

Thanks.

Frank.

Hi Gazm.

Thanks for the nice words.

The wood is Purpleheart (probably Peltogyne purpurea). Always available at the local branch of the (Melbourne) timber merchant, Mathews Timber.

Frank.

This is a guitar that I'd been working on for some time, as a gift. I was asked to use the particular materials from which the instrument is constructed, and the colour combination and textures have led me a merry dance! I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. The binding and purfling were a l...

Hi everyone who has replied.

Thank you for your advice and sage words. I'm going to try all these things and see what works best for me.

I'll post photographs of the finished instrument reasonably soon.

Thanks and gratitude,

Frank.

Hi fellow luthiers. I've been asked to build a guitar with Sassafras back and sides, Quandong soundboard, and Purpleheart fingerboard and trim. (The aesthetics have been leading me a merry dance, but that's not the issue here). I've made and installed the bindings of ebony, and I'm dismayed to disco...

Yeah, I like these chisels. I bought a set of long handles and the set with stubby handles about 8 years ago, when they were really cheap, and I've been using them, and have been happy with them ever since. It's definitely NOT a "bad idea". It's a GOOD idea! As for sharpening, I sometimes use stones...

Yeah, Simon's service is usually very good - as are the pegs. Over the years, the set of instructions that come with the pegs have changed and improved, and there are no problems in fitting the pegs, if you follow them. The last time I installed pegs on a flamenco guitar, I lived by the instructions...

I'd like to jump on the bandwagon, if I may! It's not about guitars per se, but rather has to do with family members of the famous violinist Jascha Heifetz. I'm looking to find an article in The Strad of February 1986 (pages 776 - 777). This was an article written by Heifetz's cousin Gertrude Reed o...

Whoops!

Just started idly looking on eBay, and saw these - 0.5 mm router bits.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/35264226633 ... Swu8dgWnoe

They appear also to have available such bits in 0.6 mm diameter.

Maybe these can work for you!

Frank

Hi Nigel. You've not stated the particular method whereby you'd clean out a fret slots with a drill bit, or your particular application. Frets tend to be cut to a width of 0.46 mm - 0.58 mm. StewMac sells a Fret Slot Cleaning Tool that is around 0.44mm wide, and a Japanese Fret Slot Cleaning Saw tha...

Wow Steve! That's really shaving it right to the "edge of failure". I'll bet it sounds really "barky" and in your face - as it should. Don't you just hate it when you've slaved to get the weight down, then you've got to increase it again by adding those heavy pieces of golpeadores (thin plastic tap ...

I don't usually worry about the weight of steel-stringed or classical guitars - depends on their size and philosophy of construction - but am quite conscious of the need to keep down the weight of any flamenco guitar I'm making. The reasons - I tell myself, but I know that many others concur with so...

Yum!

Frank

Absolutely stunning, Allen!

I'm always in awe of your eye for colour and design and, of course, your ability to execute at this ridiculously high level! Ever since first seeing your posts of the instruments you make, you've been the standard to which I aspire - but still can't achieve.

Frank.

This is a ukulele I finished a few months ago. I just got lazy about posting pictures on the forum, until now. Back and sides - Movingui ("African Satinwood"). Back - and end-stripe - Queensland Rose Mahogany. Soundboard - Queensland Rose Mahogany. Bindings - Quilted Maple (Acer spp.) Head-plate - B...

Aww,

I made a mistake!

https://www.bscindustrial.com.au/taper-gauge-0.3-4mm

The taper gauge I looked at was priced at $282.76. It seems that they must have been "flying out the window" at that price, because there are now none left!

I KNEW I should have bought one while I had the chance.

Frank.

Yeah,

I've wondered this myself. I thought to buy one the other day (here in Melbourne), but the cheapest I could find (in a shop) was around $230, so I gave up the idea!

Frank.

Hi Mark and kevjed. Yes, Jack uses the dragonfly a lot. Perhaps we've met. I live in Emerald, (as did Jack - although I'm sure you'll know that he last year moved to Boolarra, in Gippsland), and visited his workshop frequently. With regard to photography, I've been an amateur photographer since I wa...

Whoops!

When an instrument has strings that get progressively higher in pitch, from string to string, that's NOT re-entrant tuning!

The "normal" tuning on a ukulele - where the 4th G string is higher in pitch than the 3rd C string - is referred to as re-entrant tuning.

Sorry. My bad.

Frank.

Hi Gaz and asgilbert (?) With regard to the strings, they are a set of Aquila Red tenor 4th (low-G) wound ukulele strings; that is to say, the 4th string is a "re-entrant" low G, and it is wire-wound to make it as dense as possible so that it can be tuned an octave below the "normal" G usually found...