Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Rick, could SuperSoft compromise gluing?

Thanks Kim. It's always nice to learn something new.

Thanks everyone, I'm overwhelmed by the responses. Taking some of them in turn:- Kim, the warnings about the toxicity of epoxy are well taken; I shall try to be careful. The Smiths epoxy looks useful, and is also recommended by Rick In fact, Rick, I believe, gets the credit from LMI for putting them...

Thanks Nick, Jeremy, and Allen for your replies. Nick, I've been following your builds with great interest, and the least I can do is take some photos of mine, and post them for everybody's amusement. When I get to the making stage, as opposed to the jig and mould stage (which is now almost finished...

I'm about to start laminating the back and sides of a Maccaferri "grande bouche" style guitar, and it's my first. I'm using a vacuum press. I intend to use laminating epoxy to glue the veneers, although I believe others e.g Michael Collins, use urea formaldehyde. I know that Greg Smallman uses epoxy...

Martin, a few years ago, when I lived in Adelaide, I used to get some of my timber from Otto's. They certainly had good stocks of maple and beech 6 or 7 years ago, but maybe they've gone downhill a bit since then, at least for our purposes. Still, they may be worth a try, if you haven't already.

Rick, as Graham McDonald said, Carbatec in Launceston are fine as long as what you are looking for is the typical reasonable quality Taiwanese machinery, rather than the higher end stuff. Specialised Joinery Supplies at 43 Burnett St., North Hobart carry a selection of Carbatec labelled machinery, a...

Ultimately.you probably need both. The gouge for getting close to dimension quickly, and then a plane for smoothing. Finish using a scraper. If you can only afford one, get the palm plane.

No, you don't need anything extra special in the way of equipment. The major requirement is the ability to sharpen. If you can get a chisel and plane iron sharp, you will be able to sharpen a gouge, with practice.

Vandenboom, I would steer clear of the Pfeil "violin maker's gouges". I don't know of any violin makers who use them for carving the tops and backs of violin family instruments. If you look at the picture in the Carbatec catalogue, you can see that the bevel is on the inside of the gouge, and it nee...

Nick, I really like the aesthetics of this design. It has an art deco look which is entirely in keeping with the style and period of the original Maccaferri guitar. And the execution is first rate.

Go ahead Rick, tell the story. For me (in a perverse kind of way), it makes the instrument extra special.

I attended Rick's first Tasmanian mandolin making course, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only did we get to make a mandolin, we got to do it with someone who is very significant in the lutherie world. And Gary Rizzolo was a real bonus.

My avatar is the Mandolin I made at the course. Thanks Rick.

Selmer Maccaferri guitars (i.e. the grande bouche steel string) made in the early 1930's, had necks reinforced with four 12mmx2mm dural bars. Dural is a hard alloy of aluminium with copper, manganese, and magnesium, and was used in the aircraft industry at the time. Apparently, those necks were very...

Dennis, as I understand it, unidirectional carbon provides maximum resistance to bending along its length i.e. a carbon rod used as neck reinforcement needs to be unidirectional since the main force being countered is the tension of the strings. And because carbon works most effectively in tension. ...

Nick, much of what you say about the soundbox in the Selmer Maccaferri guitars is true. The soundboxes were generally not liked by the players, and the majority were quickly removed. They were a significant complication in the manufacture, and added a lot to the cost of the instrument. By far the ma...

Yes, Nick, rattle away. All of this is very interesting. Your comments on the relationship between the stiffness/thickness of the back and,as you put it, the "voice" of the instrument are significant. In the violin world I believe that there is a generally recognised link between the stiffness of th...

Nick, thanks for the comprehensive reply. A further question if you don't mind:- the originals used fairly thin tops and backs, very close to 2mm for the top, for instance. Did you do the same?

Nick, thanks for the photos, and all the explanatory comments. I found them very useful. I may be anticipating difficulties that don't exist, but I wonder if you had any problems in getting a good fit between top and sides, given the complex nature of the doming/arching. Did you use Michael Collins ...

Nick, I am new to this forum as well, and like you, I shall introduce myself properly in another post. But, in the mean time let me say that your Selmer looks most impressive. I have long held an ambition to make a full quintet of Hot club instruments, and so far have the violin. I am now making mou...

I'm a new member here, much impressed by the wealth of expertise on this forum. My first question (I anticipate there being many more) relates to the Ribbecke style binding cutter jigs sold by StewMac and LMI. I am likely to be buying one of these, or making something similar, in the near future. I ...