Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Yeah please keep us posted on what you find -- I've been wanting decals for my electric guitars for some time.

What's the international supplier you've been using thus far?

Looks like I did the silly thing and spent my play money on visiting the US (got back on Friday) instead of buying toys... just need this dollar to hold our for a few months and I can hopefully make some extravagant purchases!

I just quickly went through the ALS order process (without placing an order) and the end total they wanted to bill my credit card was the same as the listed price for the items + postage. No GST added after-the-fact. As for ordering wood from Stewmac, I wouldn't place an order with them solely conta...

Last week a package of mine left Boston on Wednesday morning (our time) via DHL. It was in my hands Friday afternoon. I find Stewmac orders placed early Saturday morning generally arrive the following Monday. Where I am (Brisbane -- so most packages I get from the US land one short ride in the back ...

There were original Weissenborns with spruce tops. Of course with the way that spruce and lacquers age, most of these that remain today have naturally yellowed to the point that they blend in with the Koa and so aren't as conspicuous as a brand new spruce/koa combo. Bunya isn't my favourite wood but...

This fella shows himself every now and again. This is him on the roof of the shed. I heard the birds outside going nuts, which generally means they're either having a go at the cat or this guy is crawling around... unfortunately by the time I got my camera and back outside he was mostly hidden. Last...

My finger braces are two braces parallel to the x-brace. My bridge plate is something akin to the teardrop photo; I don't go all the way with the christmas tree shape but it does extend up to the x-intersection. I also use tonebars like on a Martin guitar (angled from the bottom of the bridge plate ...

Graham McDonald wrote:Richard
Who are SitCo and how does one get in contact with them

Sounds like Tim is the one to go to for this stuff for lutherie purposes, but Sitco are a Brisbane timber dealer: http://www.sitcoaustralia.com.au/index.php

I've never worked with it but I did receive an email from SitCo a while back advertising the wood. Here's what they had to say: We call it "Solomon Blackwood" but often refered to as "Queen Ebony" - Queen Ebony name is mostly derived from the generally dark brown to black in colour of the wood, alon...

I've been using Mirotone precat lacquer for a number of years now. The majority of my finishes are satin (3220/30 I believe), but I still go through a few 4L tins of their gloss every year and I find it does a great job. It polishes up beautifully and is about as painless to apply as finishes come.

With the way our dollar is, it's not surprising that Australian builders will be sending more guitars abroad. Over the summer I think I had about half a dozen sent to the US and Europe, and I can't recall any similar periods of international customers in recent years. I'm a bit different with the We...

Yeah, it's got that alpine ash sort of look to its figuring:

I think my best lutherie investment last year was to build a 2x3m sealed and insulated room in my workshop with a dehumdifier running 24/7. I keep all my tonewoods and partially completed builds in there and also have a bench with a go-bar deck. It gets stinking hot on sunny days, but most of the ti...

kiwigeo wrote: A search of his car uncovered pornography, a home-made sex aid, women's stockings and a Jack Russell terrier.

Is anyone else mainly disturbed by the most normal thing they found in the car?

Offcuts from the back/sides are an easy way to get a matching headstock veneer. If you don't have anything wide enough from one back half or would prefer a mirrored look to match the rest of the guitar then you can easily joint a bookmatch from both halves.

Can anyone see any reason why it wouldn’t work? id just hate to get it knocked up and have it not produce the full sound that those mini matons get coming out of them. I see no reason that it wouldn't out-shine a Mini Maton acoustically. Personally I've always found that unplugged they have a ver...

All 510s I've ordered from Stewmac have come in plastic bags. In fact all Gotoh parts I've ordered from them have come this way. Never had an issue but I guess it's luck of the draw when they're manually sorting/packaging like this, and of course you can always trust Stewmac to make good. Several ye...

Haven't posted in one of these in a while so thought I'd share... Spent a week finishing guitars about two weeks back so they're all now at a stage where they can be completed. All three are Blackwood with satin finishes, one with Maple binding. Two Qld Maple electric lap steels are behind them. htt...

Agreed with Kim -- when I bind with Ebony I simple use regular binding and with dust and CA. The joint is completely invisible.

I just measured the side offcuts from my alpine ash and they came in at 2.2mm (0.087"). I tend to leave the sides a tad thicker on Weissenborns than I would for other guitars of a similar body size because of the integrated neck. 2.5mm for me is relatively normal. I think the scorching tells it all....

The problem to me sounds like you dried out the wood before starting the bend. My procedure for bending is to firstly run the sides quickly under a tap, then get everything in place, switch the blanket on and start the bending procedure ( bringing down the waste clamp, working the cauls down the bou...

Looking very nice. I'm guessing influenced by Tim's pear-shaped models but you've given it your own unique look. Going with f-holes on your first is particularly daring/commendable. With CA/supergluing palstic binding, to cut down on mess I'd recommend using less of a stronger tape (the binding tape...

Looking good so far. The lack of info out there about them can be daunting, but I think with a good working knowledge of normal acoustics it shouldn't be a problem. The fundamentals are all the same. You should find that once the box is closed the tricky stuff is behind you. The lack of neck angle, ...

The one bunya pine topped guitar I've got at the moment is about 2.8mm. Turned out to be a very loud instrument. I've taken it down to 2.5mm before no worries. Every piece of wood is different so you'll have to find a thickness that suits what you're building, though I wouldn't be worried for a seco...

For alternatives to go-bar decks, you can make radiused cauls from a length of wood about 2" wide. Just pencil the radius in, cut it on a bandsaw and sand it smooth. Glue the braces one at a time, clamping the caul under each brace. Plus you can stick some sandpaper to them and use them to correctly...