Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I ran your figures through my spreadsheet and target thickness comes out the same as Trevors calculations at 2.7mm

Gerry,

I got mediocre results running via a Shure SM58 mic into a Windows machine running VA. I slapped a preamp between the mic and computer and got better results.

Hard to say from the pics. They look a bit like pitch pockets to me. I know Queensland Maple often has similar "defects" which from a distance look like cracks but they aren't. Here are some pitch pockets in some cherry:

So, just so I have it right as a beginner, as I have used a bit of titebond, I can just carefully pull out the frets - no heat as it won't really soften and doesn't adhere to the frets anyway. Is that the consensus? I didn't mention but this fretboard is ebony not rosewood. Does that require a slig...

More thoughts on gluing in frets.

Are we actually gluing in the fret (ie a metal to wood bond) or just stiffening up the sides of the fret slot to improve the tang seat?
If fret slotting and fret fitting is done carefully then do we actually need glue?

I also read that you used titebond on the frets? Titebond isn’t suitable for fretwork. It’ll adhere to the fingerboard but not the fret. It needs to be CA/superglue. Have acetone handy for cleanup too as you’ll need it. I take the view that the water from the Titebond swells the wood surrounding th...

You keep a record of the number of frets you hammer in??? You need to get that OCD treated :mrgreen: Happy new year everyone. As someone said last night - "Do what you did in 2018, but do it better in 2019" Hope you all have a great time making more beautiful instruments throughout 2019. Also, huge ...

How hot do the frets have to be to soften titebond? I might try one and see what happens. If I can't get them out without major issues, what is the downside in terms of playability if all the frets are leveled and crowned to the same height, but not completely seated? I guess the frets will have a ...

Looking at the bottom photo and in particular the side of the fretboard there appears to be a gap between the bottom of the fret tang and the bottom of the slot. is this actually the case? If so then slot width could be the problem. Regardless recutting the slot is IMO the best option. Jamming frets...

When I cut my fret slots I have a piece of fret wire with tangs filed off that I run through the fret to check that the slot is deep enough. The solution to your issues - it sounds like the slot depth (or possibly width) is the issue so a fret pull is really the only fix. My method of pulling frets:...

A nice looking guitar and I'd be quite happy owning this instrument. My one question...why cover a wooden core with carbon fibre/kevlar? The CF/Kevlar certainly produces a visually appeal but are there other reasons for doing this?

You could just slap on another layer of veneer on the peghead. Drill through tuner holes from back side with a brad tip bit till tip just penetrates the upper surface of the new veneer and use this hole as a guide for the same bit drilling through from upper side of veneer.

Back stiffness can be most effectively trimmed by adjusting the height of the lower bout cross brace. Stiffness can be reduced by taking wood out from the central section of the brace or increased by carving a flat spot in the central part of the brace and gluing in additional wood. Thanks for that ...

The specs in The Books for a live back are based on the radius figures in the books. You can go for a different radius but the way I understand things you'll need to tweak brace stiffness accordingly. I build with a 25' radius back and on my first Gore build I had to play around with the stiffness o...

A Happy New Year to all our members and a big thanks to you all for your sharing with others your wealth of knowledge and experience.

Cheers and a big thank you from Jeremy and Martin

Hi Gerry and welcome to the forum. Despite the name we welcome members from any part of the globe. The only requirement is at least a mild interest in stringed instruments. You mention you've just bought "The Books" which is another good reason to join our community. Quite a few of our members also ...

Thanks for the post Bob and thanks for letting us know you're still around. I hope you get your health issues sorted and get back to building soon. No good having a pile of lovely tonewood sitting in your shed looking pretty....it'll look much more pretty on guitar :) Hi Martin, I have been a member...

What's that gun youre using?

Go it stashed away somewhere...just have to find it.

My hoop pine go bars generally exert pressure around the 7Kg mark. Not huge when you consider how much pressure you can exert with a cam clamp. "I'm wondering where the 7 kg figure originated here? With additive force on the braces, given that for each brace there are multiple rods, is 7 kg overkill...

The way I see it the important thing is not to detrimentally change the Helmholtz frequency of the instrument. Hi All I am interested in knowing whether increasing the standard guitar body depth of an acoustic guitar be it for example an 'OM' or 'GS' size model in the range of 2mm to 4mm would have ...

If the fret board is tapered it won't be an issue as on a router table you're registering the end of the fretboard against the fence. That said it's best to have a bit of meat either side of the final fretboard edge to allow for break out from the nut ledge routing operation. It can still be done th...

Is this worth attempting for a beginner? My last and only guitar has a standard setup. The D chord is noticeably out of tune to me. Whether that is my construction or the type of setup, I'm not sure. Will a compensated nut fix this intonation issue? I had intended to produce the ledge for the nut u...

Thanks Bruce. I had a vague memory that falcate braced ukes had been discussed a while ago,

but with a soundboard the size it is on a uke what are the advantages of falcate bracing I was sort of joking and fishing for comments, Martin, not being a Falcater like you...but one of my ambitions of course is to try the design on a guitar at least. I'm too stuck on the Selmac experimenting...st...