Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I've had a monstrous weekend with work, so with everything over this afternoon, I was keen to try and get moving with finishing things. I spent a more time just trying to get the reliefs right for the piezos under the bridge. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slyd...

kiwigeo wrote:Asthetics is another area where I think some people have a good eye for what looks good and others have absolutely no idea.

Oh man, taint that the truth. There've been some truly awful things done the name of "decorative grain" and even worse in the name of "new shapes for electric guitars".

^ Ouch...

Kiwi, I think I'm with you on MOGSO.

Depends what you call "luthiery". I was talking to a mate the other day who was a builder and a chippie. I told him, "building electric guitars is not really even joinery". You barely join a few bits together. Most of the work is in making sure the neck and frets are straight. Everything else is jus...

We disrupt the piano scavenging adventures to actually finish something... This is one of those little jobs I've sworn off before because I hate the thought of screwing it up. Drilling the holes from underneath the bridge to the back of the body, I already got the holes a little off. So yeah, I was ...

This build is amazing!

^ That was great! Thanks for that link.

Cheers.

Hey all, In the last week or so, I've been pulling apart our family piano after it stopped holding tune. It's 135yo, so it's done it's time. The idea is use the timber for some instrument building projects. I've got as far as pulling the frame out. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpetersci...

Having taped up the board and leveled the fret, I realized I'd made a pretty big mistake. :( Basically the issue was I'd adjusted the double action trussrod too far forward and ground the first fret WAY down. Now the fret 1 was a little tall, but even still. After grinding it too low, re-crowning wa...

Hammer time! http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20161011144103_zpsyposeojd.jpg This is gonna sound weird, but fretting a flat fingerboard is actually harder than a curved board. Still, I got the hang of it and the board is all fretted except for the ze...

Raised the grain and sanded the board from 240 through to 1200 tonight. Also got the frets cut to the length and the ends trimmed. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20161010204146_zpsiggyeh41.jpg Bed time now, but I reckon it's ready to start fretting.

Ok, so I have a question for you all. The timber on the back of the guitar is slightly distressed pine. You can see the colour of it here... http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20161006201323_zpstz9d2bqu.jpg http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpe...

With a belly full of lamb roast, I decided it was time to have a crack at installing the bridge. This again, is one of those things that gives me the heebie jeebies. But really I shouldn't stress so much. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG201610081951...

Didn't have a great sleep last night, but drugs seem to be kicking in and I'm starting to feel almost human again. So I dragged myself out of bed this arvo and had a quick look at the tuner issue. I messed around with a few different drill and router bits on some scrap. In the end I came up with thi...

As I update this, I'm lying in bed. I'm back on the drugs and hoping my throat returns to the land of the living sooner rather than later. Still, I manage to do a little more before dragging myself off to the doctor this evening. No rest for the wicked. :( The d-tuner/x-tender (or whatever you want ...

Last thing last night, I dug these out of my draw and got them installed... http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20161006221527_zpsabdqmpcr.jpg http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20161006222525_zpsgk6pelei....

Day off today and I hit the shed in between other adventures. I spent a fair bit of time trying to get the volute right. It's not 100% yet, but it's probably pretty close. Just a little more shaving and sanding. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20161...

I spent all of last week in bed, just dragging myself out from time to time to deal with some work commitments. I can't believe how sick I was. I won't go into details but lets just say I lost 5kg in 5 days and it wasn't even a tummy bug. Still back on deck. Today I started working on the body. I sa...

It's my day off today. In between school presentation assemblies I hit the shed. I wisely decided to come down with a cold 3 days before the biggest week of the year at work. So picture me carving with a tissue shoved up my nose. Literally. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%...

Today is exactly a month from when the guitar needs to be finished and ready for an outdoor blues gig we're doing with my church. Time to hurry up. Expect LOTS of updates!

Hit the shed again this evening and started working on the neck a bit more properly. I got the neck trimmed down to size and the sides planed and ready to carve. I also did some work on the transition from the headstock to the nut. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%...

Back in the shed this afternoon... trim-routing the headstock. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk127/stpeterscia/Build%2011%20-%20slydebyrd/IMG20160917171446_zps7gzyb8wn.jpg Got a little carried away and ended up with some tearout, but nothing I can't finesse later on. Just a shame. Then is was t...

I've used toothpicks for pins. They work reasonably well.

Wow, cool trick. Thanks man! :) Hit the shed again after dinner. Time to shave the tenon down for the neck joint. To be honest, this whole process terrifies me a little. If you get it slightly wrong, you can have the neck pointing weird directions. That said, it's not the end of the world. http://i2...