Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

This has probably happened to all of us at some time. Unless you are particularly good with the bending iron the most consistent method is with some kind of variation on the Fox bender, using those metal slats to fully support the outside of the bend. As has been said elsewhere you can do some sandi...

This is probably not original but I thought I would throw it up. I added a curved piece of Al to my bending iron help produce the vertical bend in the bindings, particularly on the back at the waist which I have struggled with in the past.

David that top bracing is incredibly clean. I know just how hard it is not spray epoxy all over the place. Also that Laurel looks rather fine. Doing cutaways seriously adds to the difficulties but I have decided that the advantage to the player means I should pretty much always do one. Having built ...

Over on the OLF forum Alain Lambert is offering some spectrum analysis software he has written with guitar makers in mind. I haven't quite sussed it out yet but it could be useful. Worth a go I think although we perhaps need some more detail of the technicalities underlying his program. All kudos fo...

Ross that is interesting. A Little counter intuitive as one would think a drier atmosphere would be healthier. Here in the UK with a pretty consistent high humidity I aim for around 50 % RH or just below so I guess I am in the range seen as sensible. I have thought about other possible effects of a ...

Alan that is indeed looking good. If you have (finally) received the Jeff Elliot plans for FE 114 you may be as surprised as I was at how small the fan bracing is. You have the wider bracing I notice that Torres seemed to use earlier. I was quite worried that the thing would give up on me when I got...

I have been using more or less the arrangement that Trevor recommends for gluing the headstock to neck scarf joint in my previous builds. I was doing a couple just now and could feel one of them slipping and had to reseat it, the second also moved and I was unhappy enough to take it apart and clean ...

Have to say that when I've had grain runout like that I never could get it to bend using the hot iron.. This rosewood I was working with and I only got it to go in a bending machine where it was fully supported.

Thanks Ross, interesting.

Do I take it that you make these? That bracing certainly looks weird when we are all used to the x or fan bracing

And Jeff at least getting into the box would be fairly easy!

I was listening to this chap the other day: Joscho Stephan, who is very good - these guys must have the highest work rate than any guitarists other than Flamenco players - but I was struck by that huge soundhole. Presumably there must be a huge amount of support in the upper bout and around the hole...

Alan there is a pic of a gabled brace in section 7 of G&G first edition - probably the same in the second. Fig 7-8.

I liked their jigs for routing the curved base and the gables. Makes the process much quicker.

I have been building roughly to the GAL SE 114 plan and going to have a look I see they taper the back bars: Head end 6.6 to 5.2 next 8.2 to 5.6 next 9.9 to 5.2 All at 18 high. I couldn't persuade myself that these shapes were important so went for 10 by 20 high, rounded over at the top, and scallop...

What was your regime Allen?

Good stuff Mitch. I haven't been able to get my rosewoods below about 23 - 24 gm. I have stuck with it so far to keep the aesthetic right with the fretboard.

Without commenting on the structural issues since I'm not qualified to, it did strike me when reading about repair issues on another forum that the layer of carbon fibre and resin should substantially reduce problems with string ball end damage to the bridge plate.

That was very interesting. A somewhat devious route to high class guitar building!

Some of Michael Bashkins other podcasts are also worth seeking out.

I would just add that you are not alone! Edge jointing of boards is a skill that many people struggle with. Most of us have gone through that litany of sanding, routing etc at the start. However the reasonably long plane (I use a number 5) and a shooting board is by far the best setup to use. Trevor...

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Trevor. Jim's 320 really is narrow but as you say sounds fine. I've been building my classicals like this which has the overall dimensions of Torres SE114 but using your high waist which I like. With the lower bout at around 350 the outline doesn't differ very much...

My last two builds have been Torres size classicals, using his very light bracing pattern which have worked very well. But this week I went back to my last Gore design medium steel string to finesse the setup and am very struck by the very much bigger body size. I seem to remember talk of a larger b...

Thanks Mark and Allen. I feel really stupid but thought throwing the pics up might help other starters like myself to get it right. Your suggestions are all correct and I thought I had absorbed those lessons, but that quick rush to the head betrayed me. I think this is a general lesson for we amateu...

I was reasonably pleased with my latest classical. First time not using Maple for back and sides so I had to think about the purfling scheme. However I was reminded by what Robbie Obrien said in in a recent video - and Trevor has said - that if you are going to do mitered joints then they have to be...

Just to add to this story from the UK. I had an order - as it happens - with Stew Mac which was delivered in good time to our local postal service which asked me for the import duty. I paid this then waited. And waited. Turns out they had lost the package. As in completely lost it! They managed a re...

There are much better qualified people who could answer - but here goes. I have no experience with that tuner so don't know, but see Martin's comment above. I was talking about testing the finished, strung up guitar so how you put it together doesn't matter. (Trevor does justify his method in the re...

For checking after the build is complete you need to be able to examine the spectrum so as to identify the first three resomances as Jeff says. Trevor describes how in detail. Many of us here use VA software for this. It is free and runs on Windows. It is not trivial to learn how to drive but there ...

You guy are seriously luck to have that blackwood available. I keep seeing pics of it from Trevor to a half dozen other makers and I love it.

And that is one seriously nice looking giutar.