Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Bob, Thanks for the glimpse into your shop. That was a productive week! That Taz Blackwood neck is stunning. For the gold (slightly harder) fret wire: I'm curious if you bought the ultra-heavy-duty fret wire nippers/end cutters (the ones designed for stainless steel) or if your regular nippers are u...

That's funny, Serge! I wonder if it's really true, or just one of those fun stories that gets passed around, but nonetheless, funny!

Dennis

Lillian wrote:

Dennis Leahy wrote: Your mind is in the gutter. You are a very nasty girl. That can be an asset.

Dennis

That's why my wife married me.

Your wife is as wise as you are nasty.

Dennis

Tim, Kim informed us (on another luthier forum), that some Aussie scientist has proven that the genetics of all songbirds lead back to an Aussie ancestry. As those ancient Aussie birds took flight over water, perhaps their last meal included seeds from some Aussie trees, deposited with a nice blob o...

"... so I could use all three hands for carving." Some how I get the feeling I don't want to know. Lilian, Hesh mentioned carving with one hand, while holding the top steady with the other. By using the go-bars, it freed-up my other hand. The third hand was a metaphor for "I am a beginner, and I co...

Thanks Hesh. I didn't know if I should post that into your thread or not. Well, now I've done it. After deciding on a radial strategy for the soundboard, I looked at some X-braced back patterns to continue the radial concept. But, as noted, the X-braced backs didn't really look radial, so I started ...

The go-bar rods held this back tightly to the dish, so I could use all three hands for carving.

Dennis

Hesh, do you carve you braces with the plate on your sanding dish? Not having done it, I'm torn between it being a simple way of keeping the plate relatively still and worrying about gouging the back of the plate if it slips or is pressed into the dish too hard. Lillian, I'm not Hesh, but may I chi...

"Eddie" is Yauw Tju Jiang (say that fast 3 times, and you'll know why he calls himself "Eddie")

East Indian Rosewood (Back and side sets, fingerboards, neck blanks)
plus, some:
Monkeypod
Macassar Ebony

His email address is: sono_prima_usa at hotmail dot com

Dennis

Geez, Hesh! No wonder the Seven Dwarfs don't like you! You don't know your arse from your head! (bottom from your top)

Dennis
p.s. So, what kind of wood is that beautiful "crushed fiddleback" blond? Too dark for Anigre, but it seems a bit too light for Sapele or H. Mahogany...

Bob, are you saying that some human took the time to look at the graphic on the log-in screen, and typed in the characters? Or that a bot somehow got around it and registered? (I assume it had to be a human.) ================ A reminder as well that if you post your full email address online on a fo...

...What was most helpful was seeing "hands on" videos of how to build a steel string guitar. Several are available from folks like Robbie O'Brien, Frank Finnichio, and Stew-Mac ... Lastly I would also recommend a kit for the first guitar and a kit that comes with one of the instructional videos men...

On the back cover of one of my wife's magazines. There is this photo of Elizabeth Hurley, and when I saw it I said, "Oh my god!"

So you see, I have seen the face of god. (The rest of her is not too bad either.)

Dennis

Hesh, I don't know if I've ever commented about that guitar. So, I will. I know you have taken some heat over painting the top black, and if you had asked my opinion before you started, I would have said no paint - just wood. However, there's something very sexy about this guitar, beyond what it wou...

Dennis I've just logged into the link you sent, that is the most amazing thread. No only is the guy a perfectionist, he must have a great workshop...he certainly has all the nice tools. I'm starting to feel out of my depth! Cheers from gloriously sunny Palmy Hi Richard, Erik makes Hesh look like a ...

Kim wrote:... and a bloody good le'gopener.

Cheers

Kim

The only thing that I don't like about this forum software is that when I want to post a reply I can't do it with the rest of the thread available to me to scroll up to. So half the time I can't remember the comments of others. Hesh, When you post a reply, look down below the message input area: To...

When you enlarge that Somogyi picture, it looks to me like the last legs of the lattice braces that cross the bridge plate (LBCBP) are indeed different pieces from the lattice. They appear laminated with a thin CF strip in the middle (at least the "bass" side one looks like it.) It also appears that...

I'd love to enter into this discussion, but will wait for a while - because my perspective is from so far out in left field (or maybe the 3rd ring of Uranus.)

I will say that you won't be using my guitars as ottomans - well, that is, they won't last long as ottomans.

Dennis

G'day folks I have never built a guitar in my life ... A few days ago I woke up with a little voice in my head...build a guitar Richard, build a guitar. ... ... My daughter is learning guitar so I suppose making something half decent for her is my motivation. Richard, I am exactly one guitar past y...

Thanks, Hesh, I just couldn't resolve that to Babicz's string anchors. I have not had the pleasure of playing one of Somogyi's guitars, but from what you say, they are awesome. Still, to my tiny little beginner's brain with all kinds of romantic notions still stuck in there, a lattice does not look ...

I still want one of those Festool sanders to do the job with. Is there any of our American friends who'd be willing to post one to me if I send them the money. We can't order Festool from American commercial websites in Australia. Some protectionist nonsense I believe. We can't buy Elixir strings h...

Alain, what I am I looking at there? Is that Babicz's bracing? If so, I see a big bridge plate to hold the 2-part bridge, but where is the reinforcement (that I assumed HAD to be there) for the string anchors?

Dennis

My first 2 bakers worked perfectly, and left me with 2 flat sets. (I used the recipe that Alain mentions.) The third time I tried, I stacked all the wood from a resawn Lutz billet (about 5 or 6 top sets) with 1/4" x 1/4" stickers between them and baked the whole cluster. All of the wood now has a tw...

I have only made one set of bindings and only one guitar, but with that in mind, here's what I did to make bindings with attached purfling : Starting with a piece of flatsawn wood sanded to about 3/16" thick (~5mm), I then glued 2 layers of veneer on one face, using Titebond III, sandwiched between ...