Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Here is a video my guitar instructor Doug Rice tring this guitar. His main guitar now is one of my falcate classical guitars. Here is his description of the sound he hears from this falcate bracing pattern. " Their superb basic tone color and resonance, especially their high overtones presented a ha...

I do have spectrum graphs of the tap for this and the Osage Orange guitar I posted last week. You will see they are very close. The Pernambuco has a sound port which accounted for the higher Air resonance. I am not sure what the cutaway does to the air resonance T(1,1)1, I do know the sound port wou...

My last complete instrument for a short time (I promise.) It is just that I had two going on and the scheduled Ukulele class. In any case this is a "Contemporary Classical" Guitar. I get it, an oxymoron. The basic body shape is a Hauser 37 with the cutaway added. The contemporary features are a bolt...

I held off giving my own from my hind side comments on blind listening tests mainly because of where I am pulling them from. Here goes ... Part of the context for my point is that humans are not like a microphone and a computer, we do not hear reality rather we have learned through evolution and in ...

J Of the bridge I notice that you have quite a lot of saddle showing. Is that due to trying to keep the bridge mass down? And I see that you haven't gone for the twelve hole string tie. I rather like it for the good and more regular break angle though I still have to think quite hard when putting o...

I strung up the guitar a few days ago. I properly set up the guitar today. I do not have any post build modal tuning I will do right now as the spectrum plot T(!,1), backed up with strobosoft are 93 Hz - 190 Hz and 244 Hz As this one's for me it kept be pushed to the back burner for other commission...

Paul Henneberry wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:57 pm

Hi John,
nice looking uke. Just out of interest what strings did you originally have fitted?
regards
Paul

Aquila Nylgut strings. I switch to D'addario strings Titanium strings.

In the pictures it looks pretty good. I mostly like to leave the finish looking off the pad so that people will know it is french polished, I have no ridges when I am finished but it is a different look than leveled with sandpaper (which also looks very good). I do three wash coats (just pad it on) ...

I had my first teaching\mentor experience; Lily an 18 year old girl in a one week ukulele course for her senior project. What a trip building an instrument in a week is way faster than I even make them. It turned out nice, and after fixing the neck resonating exactly at 392 Hz cursing a horrible wol...

Thanks Allen,

I did calm down, I went over the instrument fixed a few unrelated things, One change that might have helped was close to the nut the neck was a little squared off so I took that wood off to match the rest of the neck and I went to a different brand of strings. Sounds good now.

I had a niece build a tenor ukulele in my shop. We ended up with an interesting wolf note on the high G string or the A string tuned to a G. Actually a little flat or a little sharp no problem. We put strings on the Uke and strung it up with the neck clamped in a vice as shown in the picture and all...

Thanks Peter, On your first post I had trouble imagining what the control would be. I appreciate your detailed explanations. My understanding from your comments is that without the control, testing with instruments that clearly sound different, we have to assume or be convinced that their methodolog...

....The poor ability of guitarists to discriminate under blinded conditions between guitars with backs and sides made of different woods suggest that back wood has only a marginal impact on the sound of an acoustic guitar . I question the study not so much for the scientific methodology and am happ...

The low and wide is not a bad way to go, especially because you like your last guitar. Was the plot of the last guitar with a bridge and strung up. Its numbers are within my range of where I would like a steel string. If you just closed up with no bindings, I would consider thinning around the lower...

If you thin the back more you will lower its resonance. I would work on the top a bit to loosen it. It will change with a bridge and strung up. You can tune the inside braces after the guitar is strung up and see its finial resonance. Also you can hear it at that time and decide if you want to chang...

217 Hz for the T(1,1)2 is what I would have said from the first graph. With the bridge and strings it should come down maybe to 207 Hz or so. Is the top the Martin x-brace design? If so you can reach in and tune the top after the guitar is finished. Low and wide is a lot less stiff than the taller b...

Okay. But I must say I’m a bit confused what you all mean by “Practice Sets” isn’t that a expensive... or do you mean from any hardwoods I have lying about?? Joseph Many of the tonewood sellers have orphan sides, seconds and the likes; basically wood that they can not sell as part of a set for any ...

Figured Mahogany, first time bender, a venetian cutaway ... what can go wrong? I have found some honduras Mahogany to be very brittle and resistant to bend. Other times it has bent OK. But please get some practice sides and bend them to your shape first. A venetian cutaway takes some practice as it ...

Wow! gorgeous instrument.

Dave, I got the wood at Cook Woods https://www.cookwoods.com/ . The pernambuco really darken with age. The board that came in was a very different color than the surfaced wood I have now. It has the stiffness and density I would expect. Here is where I am at. I need to do the final prep for finishin...

Not in Europe, but I use sitka and englemann spruce. I thickness to 1.7 mm strips and bend them to form on a hot pipe before laying them up. What issues have you had with spruce.

johnparchem wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 11, 2019 3:24 pm

... T(1,1)1 90 Hz T(1,2) 195 Hz and T(1,3) 261 Hz. ...

Should be T(1,1)1 90 Hz T(1,1)2 195 Hz and T(1,1)3 261 Hz.

sorry about that :<

Today I bound the body of the guitar with the three piece pernambuco back. This is a contemporary classical edging on being a crossover with a 49 mm nut. I took my first tap and was happy with the results without a bridge I am at T(1,1)1 90 Hz T(1,2) 195 Hz and T(1,3) 261 Hz. I get a pretty good res...

I could not see that it was cracking the finish. If it was cracking at all the finish would be cracked. I just had a very figured cocobolo back this did move not even crack on a grain line and it open a finish crack. I refinished but told the owner that the finish my crack there again.

I think you are good; whats a thin strip of top relative to the mass of the bridge? Just a thought, if you are OK with the current width of the saddle slot, glue in a strip of rosewood just thick enough to give you the correct slot depth into the slot. Then there is no need to reroute. You have it e...