Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

John,
We're all waiting with bated breath for the next instalment post.

Martin, I'll give you my 2 cents worth in response to questions 2 and 3. For calculating the action values at each fret position, I don't think it really matters whether you use the compensated length or uncompensated length. The component of the action value due to neck relief is quite small and th...

Martin, I may have mentioned this before in another thread. I adopted the "trial value" approach to the calculation of nut and saddle compensation for each string using Excel. Choose a value for both then get Excel to create a graph of the intonation error. Keep adjusting the trial values until you ...

I think the piece I was trying to bend is particularly difficult for some reason although the iron was probably not hot enough also. I bent a 2mm thick piece from a different NGR stock after a light spray with water and it was really easy to bend to a tight radius. Iron temperature was closer to 200...

I have only had time to check the temperature of my bending iron and to try a 1.8mm piece (from the same source) using a metal bending strap. That bent more easily, as expected, but still a bit of a struggle. I checked the temperature of the bending iron with another thermocouple thermometer and I a...

Thanks everyone for your advice. I can check all suggested improvements. I have another piece of NGR from a different purchase which is a very different colour. I can check the temperature of the bending iron. I too have a home made one using a Chinese heater element and a controller but I do also (...

I attempted some trial bending of New Guinea Rosewood last night in preparation for building an F style mandolin. Using a bending iron, I found it quite difficult to bend. The gentler curves could be achieved eventually but I could not get the tight bends that would be required at the head, scroll a...

My experience with Stewmac is that they will send replacements for defective parts, no questions asked. Worth a try, even if the order was large.

John,
I have sent you a PM about design of falcate bracing for a 12 string

So poor old Jon English doesn't rate a mention. RIP

That is a fantastic job. Well done. I'm sure no one will find any flaws except for you.

I think that quite a few people use "filament tape" for gluing bindings. It's the tape with fibreglass fibres and readily available from Officeworks and ebay.

How does it correlate to dynamic testing results? For the pieces that I did a twist test on, I couldn't get a good value for Glc from the dynamic tests because I was not getting the distinct peaks for the longitudinal and twist frequencies. I determined the Glc using FE analysis of the panel and ad...

In my post above I said that I don't have a formula for the corner deflection of a rectangular panel as a function of the Glc. However, I have just realised that the deflection of the corner of a rectangular panel with the other three corners supported is equivalent to the twist of a "beam" with one...

Provided the variation in width is not too great, a beam deflection test on the whole piece should give a reasonably accurate for El. You would base the calculation on the average width of the piece. That will be easier to judge if the two long edges can be made straight - it would be the width half...

I'd like to verify some things regarding the units that are input into the formulas. deflection = mm .266 in my case Load = newtons 12.106 using 1235 gms Freq = hz 151.4 (plugged Top) The monopole mobility you calculated from these numbers is correct, by my spreadsheet. In my case this came out to ...

"Carbon fiber (CF) "strands", which consists of thousands of CF strands of about 7 microns diameter, only has stiffness (high elastic modulus) in tension in its longitudinal direction. When formed into a laminate by embedding the fibres in an epoxy matrix, the stiffness of the laminate parallel with...

I've been trying a different type of scallop that is a bit easier to adjust and it seems to work OK. I just file a notch in the centre of the lower back brace using a piece of aluminium tube about 140mm long by 65mm diameter with coarse sand paper on one side and fine on the other. I file a starter...

If you don't think book-matched halves will look good in the peghead (there is no veneer to cover) then you could consider a contrasting stripe between the two halves - sort of like a full length "skunk stripe", possibly in walnut.

That's a great looking guitar. Congratulations. I'm really impressed with what you took on as a first build. What's that saying? "bite off more than you can chew and chew like hell". the 1st was nitro cellulose and had some 'blooms' that I attributed to a lack of filter in the air line during sprayi...

I bought a few router bits from MLCS in the USA (when the Aussie Dollar was better), including a 2" long double bearing flush trim bit from their premium "Katana" range. It is only 2 flute but is really good quality. See link http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/kata...

Beautiful work Trevor, as usual.

Do you think your 14 fret falcate braced SS sound as good / loud / responsive as a similar 12 fret?

A very impressive result. I particularly like the "rosette". I haven't seen one like that before.

How do you like the sound?

Martin, I'm interested in the approach you're adopting for your compensation spreadsheet. A while ago there was a discussion in a thread about getting the spreadsheet to determine the optimum nut and saddle compensation for each string. That was way beyond me so I decided to adopt the simpler approa...

Great looking guitar.
Like others, I love the rosette particularly. I cut some burl pieces recently to make a rosette. I think I'll do one similar to yours.
Keep the posts coming.