Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

The saddle is Ebony. Requested by the customer.

Picture of side.

This is my first Brazilian Rosewood guitar. Red Spruce top, EIR bindings, Honduran Mahogany neck, NSW Rosewood rosette with Paua ring, Ebony fingerboard, Red Spruce (Adirondack) top. This is a lefty so I can't evaluate it properly dammit. I suck as a guitar player, and really really suck playing ups...

You left out Red Spruce, i.e. Adirondack Spruce.

Customer now has the mandolin, phew, we made it.

Well finally looks like the problem has been resolved. As a result of my email to Parcelfarce pointing out the wrong address, they finally looked at the parcel and photographed the label. Apparently it had been classified as a "Trade" import rather than a "Private" import. Trade imports require a nu...

The latest I have heard from the customer is that Parcelfarce has informed him that the package has been delivered and can they close the case. The customer was wary of that and told them to wait until he got home. Guess what, no delivery. Australia Post tracking tells me it has not been delivered, ...

If you are sending an instrument to the UK, use a courier, don't use Australia Post. There is nothing wrong with Australia Post, they will get your package to the UK ok but once in the UK it gets passed to Parcelforce, more accurately described as Parcelfarce. Parcelforce handle the customs clearanc...

I built my workshop from a shed frame. It has Hebel panel cladding that is screwed onto the shed frame instead of colorbond steel. The Hebel panel provides insulation and is fire proof, but you need to make sure the foundations are big enough to support the extra weight. I lined it with insulation a...

Most of my sales are in Australia, but about 20% gets exported to the USA, Canada and Europe. I have sent a guitar to Canada and one to Belgium and the rest have been mandolins and octave mandolins. The guitars had to be sent via courier because of the size restriction of Australia Post. I used Pack...

My mandolin had a declared value of $5000 AUD so is well over the limit.

I have just shipped a mandolin to the USA. It went straight through US customs, no tariff, no Lacey Act paperwork, no problems. Unfortunately that was not the case in Australia. I have a new ABN which caused all sorts of issues here, but eventually got all sorted. US customer has the mandolin and is...

That is normal for King Billy Pine. Resin comes to the surface if the tops are stored up against each other and it gets worse the longer they are stored. Solution is to leave a gap on both sides when you store them. That will stop most of the resin. It is usually just a surface thing so whack it thr...

Yep, as far as I know Epiphone manufactures in China. The latest I have heard is that things are so chaotic in the US that the tariffs are not being collected by US Customs at the moment. I would assume that will change.

My American customer cancelled so it will be a while before I know what happens when exporting to the USA. I do have another American customer, but the mandolin is fair way off being finished so will be a while before I send it off.

Ha ha ha, Trumpsy's minders did not do their research properly. That really is a silly screw up.

At this stage I don't know much. I would expect that an American customer would need to pay the tariff when the instrument arrives at US customs before they will release it. I have a mandolin destined for the USA soon, so I guess I will learn soon enough. My concern is that there is likely to be a m...

All very impressive. I am still using the bench I got from my father, and he got it from his father, so is the bench of my grandfather. Basically is two massive planks of Oregon bolted together with legs that I made after we moved it. I learned woodworking on that bench when I was kid. Can't see any...

What tone did it produce? Any rough comparison? The only real comparisons I have done was with some mandolins I made with Tassie Oak back and sides. With Carpathian Spruce tops, comparing with European Maple and Tassie Myrtle backs, also with Carpathian Spruce tops. The Maple had more clarity, the ...

I would not use it as a soundboard but have used it for back and sides on guitars and recently an octave mandolin. No idea what species it is, I just kept sniffing around at Bunnings until a nice piece appeared. Nothing wrong with it, it makes nice instruments.

As far as I know it is not possible to legally import any species of Dalbergia back and side sets into Australia without the CITES paperwork. Some items are ok, but only if they are "finished". So, Indian Rosewood bridges, slotted fingerboards are ok, but I think that only applies to Indian rosewood...

I second Kinkaid book for steel strings. That is how I started on guitars.

I use Target Coatings EM2000 on mandolins and also on guitars. Have been using it or it's previous equivalent hybrid varnish on mandolins for around 25 years. On guitars I started using nitro, but switched to EM2000. I changed to EM2000 on guitars after I exhibited at the NFF and got so many positiv...

I have a CNC, but have never used it to cut fret slots. The reason why is that it is very slow and as you already said the small bits you need to use tend to break. It makes much more sense to cut a template on the CNC and use the template on the table saw to cut the slots. I can cut slots on a fret...

Yes, I came to the same conclusion. I got an application form from the Chinese domain registry but replied telling him I can't buy them all, and since I don't have any Chinese customers and am not targeting China forget it. If I was trying to sell in China that would be another matter.

I use Target Coatings EM2000 which is a water based oil varnish emulsion. I brush it on, but you can spray it. Have been using it in it's various guises for at least 20 years. It is an American product, I have not found anything equivalent locally, so is difficult and expensive to import. However, i...