Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Jeremy, thank you for taking time to write a long post; from your knowledge base and that of Kim's we now have a greater appreciation of this technology. Cheers!

Thank you all for the offers of advice; very much appreciated. Also to those good people who have PM'd on the topic. Have had a follow-up thought, given a mando and a uke have similar fingerboard widths within a few mm at the nut, to score a strip of four mandolin tuners for the build, i.e. buy just...

... it often starts to blush up or redden in patches like a peach if your pushing things along too hard ... it can permanently darken the colour of the set and reduce contrast deeper into the wood to the point that no amount of hand sanding will remove the colour change completely. Yep, that's exac...

Kim wrote:Yes John, WA Sheoak is another species of wood that must be sanded with 'very' light passes.

Fast or slow speed?

G'day all Suggestions wanted for relatively small , light-weight four-in-line guitar machine heads for a commission build of a 14-fret-to-body Tenor ukulele. The cient is a 'Fender Freak' so thinking of building him a similar style headstock. I normally use Stewmac's affordable Grover 2-up/2-down tu...

Thanks Kim - great tute and very practical solution.
I've had dramas in the past with WA Sheoak leaving black chunky streaks on belts (and black burning marks on subsequent boards put through) and till now have 'picked' these bits of cr*p off with the end of a small old screwdriver ... tedious.

Kim, very glad you've chimed in on this thread. Such a great knowledge base are we building here?!

Simply elegant, Sean ... a really nice build!

Martin - thanks for checking; Bruce - good tip ... am fairly sure there's a copy of Bootle in the TAFE library - will check it out; Kim - thanks for the words of wisdom; since we in Albany started out in lutherie in 2005 we've collectively amassed several odds-n-sods of 'green' timber in billet and ...

Martin - I have just done a search of AWR's online magazine index and found these issues if it's of any help: Moisture meters: guide ... Issue 15 : Page 58 buying ... Issue 35 : Page 73 low-tech gauge project ... Issue 73 : Page 84 Will suss out the library here at Albany TAFE where I work and see w...

You're a champion Martin, thanks ... after several days of no posts I was beginning to think no-one here used such a thing!

... What say you Mr. Maddison? I'm with you Allen; all that science left me (and most other makers in the room) cold and bamboozled. I built a replica of David Hurd's rig prior to his arrival in Albany, however much to David's disappointment could only lay my hands on a hand-held signal generator w...

G'day All Can you recommend an affordable wood moisture meter which represents value-for-money; maintains accuracy; reads an appropriate range of moisture percentages; possibly has pre-sets for preferred lutherie species and/or can be calibrated for other species; is easy to use, and is available in...

Kim wrote: ... a worthy nomination into the Aussie chippies power tool hall of fame...

Worthy of a whole new thread, Kim ... what else would you include?

Try untying the string from the post, then give the post & shaft a few squirts with Inox (the 'Supreme Lubricant' - comes with a thin plastic tube that fits in the nozzle for fine spraying) then give the tuner a few vigorous turns: inox.jpg Failing that check with your local music shops to see if th...

Just to echo Alan, "it's all good fun."

Feel proud of your achievements, Matt - she's a stunner for a #1 ... am thinking ukes are a great way to get into building; regardless of how they turn out you can always get a half-decent sound, while successive builds teach you the art of refinement.

woodrat wrote:You blokes certainly have something special there in Albany ...

Yep, we call it "beer" .

Goodo Matt, and I'd encourage you to visit the link to the Ukulele Underground's Luthier's Lounge in my previous post ... there are a number of ANZLF members who contribute their expertise to the database of knowledge about uke building that includes Allen Mc, Liam in FNQ and Rick Turner.

The link to this video arrived in my in-box from the Ukulele Underground tonight. A timely addition to the discussion on this thread.


youtu.be/


The Forum on UU includes a section titled Ukulele Building / Luthier's Lounge; it's a great resource.

... i don't hear tenor players complaining of bad strings ... you have to find strings which suit you and your uke. ... you might find the uke doesn't like your first choice of strings. All very good and salient points, Chris ... a further consideration is that one needs to allow the wood(s) in any...

Aquila vs. W o rth ... try to pick the difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3x75ftUKCk OR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5yU85FM8Fg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ... My favourite strings for tenors are D'...

Further to other threads about The Lacey Act (1900) in the USA, which in 2008 was amended to combat illegal logging around the world, here's an opinion piece from The New York Times online.

All I can say is Wow!

Stunning work, Craig in every respect - a classy use of materials! ... the Bunnings Challenge : ... make a half decent instrument out of only what I can find at Bunnings ... I'd be up for that too, Paul; it'd make for an interesting discusion thread here re what can be built just using off-the-shelf...

I should mention that first picture Discussion Group shows us sitting around the heater in Pete's shed at the end of a Saturday afternoon on the tools, rugged up to the eyeballs on a typically wintry Albany day with the mercury hovering on 7 or 8 degrees and a stiff sou-wester blowing. But where wou...