Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Coding up a spreadsheet is the best way to get familiar with what Trevor is trying to teach in his books. I managed to code up a spreadsheet to calculate target top thickness and Im no maths wizard. Give it a go and then if you hit major problems start asking questions and someone will give you a ha...

Looks great, Rod. I notice you have the best plunge router on the market in my opinion, as I use the same. The plunge router base is excellent and opens up lots of other possibilities, is stable too. Great for template routing and more stable for dovetail joints with template followers, which are c...

Bracing may have to be rejigged if not symmetrical.....eg tone bars over lower bout if you're using conventional X brace design.

Thank you very much for the replies. I have the sockets already and they should stand up to heat. Tried heat blankets in the past and didn't like them, so the bulb idea sounds better. I will re-wire the box to take the wiring outside as soon as it exits the bulb sockets, add some more shielding and...

Reptile equipment supply shops are a good source for ceramic light sockets.....it's where I got mine:

https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Leviton%2DMfg ... 6303&rt=nc

Light bulb powered fox style benders discussed here. Do a search and you should come up with discussions on using heat blankets.

viewtopic.php?t=768

Welcome to the forum. For bending sides you're going to need temps generally in the range 176 to 204degF. If you're having issues at 200degC then your bender isn't going to work. The two main (practical) ways of supplying heat for a Fox style side bender are either incandescent light bulbs or silico...

Some Chladni testing can clear up what's going on... Hmm, but that means I aleady have a T(1,1)3 with 214Hz as this is the peak which vanishes from the spectrum when the soundhole is plugged. So I have to raise the top frequency? Ok, I will check the peak positions of the unplugged spectrum as soon ...

After a session of sanding rosewood or any other dark coloured wood be careful if you're sanding spruce or any other light covered wood. I generally reload the drum of I'm going from dark to light coloured wood

What everyone else has said. Also check your vacuum unit is working at full efficiency getting rid of the dust off your drum.

Just got the email as well.

According to the email response I got from Stewmac......if you ticked DHL and you end up with TNT delivering (or more likely not delivering) your parcel then its because 1) youre living out in the sticks or 2) DHL are overloaded and they've hand balled the job to TNT.

I don't have much time for couriers. Many is the time I've stood in my lounge that has a view down my driveway and watched a courier stop at my letter box and shove a card in my mail box to tell me that they called but I wasn't home. Lazy sods can't be bothered coming up my driveway and actually kno...

Stewmac should be chasing TNT not you. Very strange reply from Stew Mac. Seems to try to steer you towards FedEx which is not what we want. DHL use Australia Post for remote area delivery (I live in a "remote area"). They after all are owned by Deutche Bundespost so that is no surprise. FedEx use TN...

Me too....I mean that coffee cup sized hole is just asking to have a coffee cup jammed into it!!

RodC wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 26, 2019 8:47 am

very nice - I especially like the safety notes, cause I would definitely put a coffee cup there.

USPS is not bad for service but from memory DHL was always a bit cheaper and quicker.

Allen wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 28, 2019 11:37 am

The last time I ordered from SM the order came via Fedex / Toll. No explanation why even though I've always used DHL.

Over the years Ive used both Stewmac and LMI.....I've always found LMI to have the edge when it comes to service.

I received this response from Stewmac. A bit luke warm IMHO: Dear Martin, Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately, we have no control over DHL's practices in your country. In our experience, DHL only uses 3rd party carriers when they are overloaded in package volume or if they do not service a re...

Looks like you should be ok...

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier ... ellac.html

Not sure. It takes to epoxy resin ok.....I use epoxy for pore filling.

limehills wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:57 pm

Alright so I've never really used plastic binding before, and I'm wondering how it behaves with a french polish finish, does the shellac stick to it ok? i just don't want it flaking off after a while.

Peter,

Ive flicked off an email to Stewmac pointing them to your post. Let's see what happens.

+1 for comments regarding level of service from TNT. Moving from DHL is a bad call on Stewmacs part. Might be worth dropping a line to Stewmac and point them to your post.

Whoops....misread "W&D" as WD40. Time to head off to Specsavers

matthew wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 25, 2019 7:29 am

oil and kerosene i think not naphtha.

some use wd40 but i want to avoid oil residue

matthew wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 24, 2019 10:40 pm

Then I cut back with 600 W&D and kerosene.

WD40 is largely napthalene isn't it?

Thanks for the heads up Matthew.