Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Sorry wrong second photo.

Rather than spending rather a lot of money on a nice new Stewmac bending iron; something I might not be using a great deal. I decided to copy an idea from the English guitar maker, Rik Middleton. There are several pictures in his book, The Guitar Maker's Workshop, of a bending iron powered by a pain...

IMG_20220724_161429.jpg One of the many things I miss since finishing college is access to the seriously well equipped workshop. I've been collecting tools for a couple of years now but there still a few that I would either like or need. I'm currently working on a mountain dulcimer as a prelude to ...

Unfortunately it wasn't too much of a success. Even with the drill guide clamped very firmly to the bench it woobled horribly. I ended up just drilling freehand with the engineers square along side as a reference. That gave a better result than my previous attempts. I thought I'd try drilling a guid...

On more than one occasion, after bushing a violin pegbox, I've managed to ruin it by re-drilling the holes badly. I've always found this task difficult as there isn't an obvious reference point. I've thought about making a jig for some time now and having just made a complete pig's ear of another bu...

Hi Guys, sorry for the long delay in replying. I added a 25mm battern on the base board that can either be clamped into a bench vice or used as a bench hook - not very stable, in bench hook mode but passable for some actions. The clamp makes life much easier for a lot of tasks and I'm glad to say it...

Just finished a violin vice/clamp based on a series of photos of a device made by Stephen Churchill, an American violin maker. IMG_20220518_203854.jpg Seems to be functioning OK ; about to start my first solo - without my tutor breathing down my neck - neck mortise...bit nervous, hope I've measured ...

Hi Mark,
Yes it was fun to make. I'm a beginner student luthier so chiselling the mortis for the blade was a good exercise.

Greetings from South Ronaldsay in the far northern Isles of Scotland. I've been meaning to make a peg shaver for many months now and have finally got to it after reading Charangohabsburg's excellent post. The base is an old piece of sapele rescued from a house renovation; the metal work was scavenge...