Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Whilst the higher grades of aluminium are stronger (will take more load before they break or permanantly deform) they are not stiffer, with the modulus of elasticity staying around 69-70 Gpa. For a uke neck you would be fine with the cheaper grade aluminium. I would use epoxy for fixing it in place...

You've got it bad Tonxi! Great aint it! :) The Woodrat :twisted: d I caught it off you! :cl Yes it is great! :cl I just went through it all. The plank on top of the blackwood is actually Tasmanian Beech. I don't know if it is any good as tonewood but it is QS and I am going to try it. I also have 1...

Sorry for the delay but my mate came around and I went and surveyed his house for an extension he wants to build. The reason my sides are a different colour became obvious this morning when I had a look in daylight. :oops: I sawed the wrong plank! :oops: I cut blackwood sides and necks, not NGRW. Ne...

I have seen the idea touted somewhere. I have some and it seems like it is stiff and light enough.
Cheaper and quicker than sending for carbon and it would fit nicely into a saw cut as I have a 3mm tungsten tipped blade.

ProfChris wrote: I'd want it nice and springy, half way between stiff and floppy. How thick that is depends on the wood itself.

I've been trying to sell my wife on this idea for a while now. Especially when I'm feeling 'refreshed'.

Does it matter how the grain is aligned in Australian rosewood fingerboards ? I have a 2"+ thick slab that I plan to cut a 2" wide length off for fingerboards. The grain will be diagonal however I slice it. Should I try to get the grain closer to vertical through the 1/4" thickness rather than horiz...

Can I put the rosettes in and smooth the outside, then put them through the thickness sander again, inside up? :gui I wouldn't put a rosette through a sander....any dark coloured dust will darken up lighter parts of the rosette. The only tools I let near a rosette are a block plane and a cabinet sc...

Sounds complicated Tonxi. Looking forward to the pics. Problem I always have is getting the thickness right. Too thick means too much sanding and too thin.......well you can use it to start the fire. :) cheers Steve My mate works at the sheltered workshop in town. He will thickness sand the lot for...

I tried my hand at re-sawing today. I have a piece of 6"x1" NGRW that is QS for half its width then runs out. I took 30" an ran 2"+ off the run out edge for neck/ heel blanks. I sawed the rest into 5 strips. 2 tenor side sets and a soprano side set. I took 3 neck blanks out of the next 18". I have a...

Really depends on what you are planning with the backs. Responsive vs. reflective. For the tops I'd be looking at taking the mahogany a bit thinner, say 1.8 and the WRC down a bit as well to 2.0 to 2.2mm Really depends on the piece you have on hand and only experience is going to help there. With t...

For the grafts I would feel more comfortable with any kind of pine than with WRC. But it may work too. And certainly no grafts at all work too if the back is not "too thin". There are lots of ukes with 2+ mm 2-piece backs without grafts and they hold up just fine. You only need a soundhole patch wi...

I neglected to buy any material for soundhole patch, bridge patch and grafts. There were no grafts on the fist ukes I looked at. I saw somewhere that the grafts for over the back join should be cross cut from the same material as the back. I have no crosscut mahogany. Could I just use cross cut WRC?...

kiwigeo wrote:

Tonxi wrote:
It saws nicely if I clamp a board 1mm or 2mm closer to the blade at the front than at the rear. Is this normal?

Sounds like you need to adjust the fence for drift.

I think that is what I am doing by bringing the front of the board (that I am using as a fence) in a bit, isn't it?

After many trials and tribulations I seem to have it sorted out now. First I installed an on/off switch fom a dead GMC saw. Then I got the old motor running and mounted it better. It was on bent 5/16 bolts dangling 1 1/2" above the base. I put it on 3/8 threaded rod (to match the holes in the base p...

rocket wrote:Looks like he's hit it with a Makita belt sander by the size of the bare patch that's got the pink primer slopped onto it

How can you tell that it was a Makita?

It's a drum, not an instrument ;) I would consider the drum the oldest musical instrument known to man. :wink: Dangerous ground here. You are one step away from calling drummers, musicians! :lol: My Tama Royal Star kit is aluminium on the outside, fiberglass on the inside and wood between. It has a...

So I did - thanks, there was a niggling in the back of my brain that I'd got it wrong. Welcome to my world . :D I used to have the same niggle in my ear....but I divorced her :lol: The niggle in my ear sanctioned my purchase of a ryobi laminate trimmer at Bunnings on Thursday and topped it off 2 ho...

although, does anyone know how to repair chips in black gloss chinese finish?? Sorry I missed this bit Craig. If the finish is a thick epoxy you could build up in the chips with black epoxy or go out and buy some black nail polish (which is pretty much like automotive acrylic) then build it up in l...

I live on a shared property with 100 others. We tried democracy and nothing got done. Now the people who start and run projects are the only ones who have a say (unless you want to impinge on someone else). We have never looked back and are projects are far grander and numerous than before. I am qui...

I think you are onto something there. When I was young I was a fine, slinky steel. As I grew older and had a family I became more chunky and tightly wound. This progressed through flat to oval and bound with brass. Now I am older and more contented. My boys are men. I am synthetic gut with a happy t...

What happens to an instrument as you break it in? [...] What causes such a dramatic change in the sound? I don't know, and I don't know if anybody really knows . But i suppose it has to do with a change of stresses in the wood, further hardening of the glue, and further drying of the resins in the ...

What happens to an instrument as you break it in? I only started playing ukulele on March 10 this year. My $30 Ashton soprano sounds like a different instrument now that I have played it for 400-500 hours. (Maybe more as I have played it 12-16 hour on many a day and I usually put in 4-6 hours most d...

Despite what the description on ebay said my 14" bandsaw has 12" wheels. It does have over 140mm thick cutting capacity though and tensions the 1/2" blade that is on it easily. I could set to it with an angle grinder and get 15mm more capacity in 2 minutes. That will take care of 6" boards and meet ...

Thanks guys. I ordered 3 blades from Henry bros today. $18 for a 42"x3/16" 6tpi (to replace the one I broke on my son's GMC)and $45 for 75"x1/2" 3tpi bi-metal resaw blade I was going to buy a 75"x1/4"for $18 too but I upgraded it to bi=metal. I assume it will be $45 but forgot to ask. I also fancy a...

Where is the best place to buy bandsaw blades in Australia?