Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

besides the brazillian rosewood (poor cut though) and mahogany, everything else about this guitar is untraditional from Spanish classical guitar building. ie choice of back strip, lack of purfling detail, bracing choice, soundboard wood choice, tuner button and roller colour choice, rosette style, o...

nice work. great that you got the binding to match. what sort of bracing is it? fanned? and did you use traditional 3 braces on back? how did you decide the bridge shape? , looks very light weight, do you have a bridge plate? red cedar or Spanish cedar neck? it is interesting you got the weight down...

I tried Tru-oil for the first time, on the back and sides of a flamenco guitar. it is an interesting finish... 56% mineral spirits, 33% modified oil (whatever that is). and 11% linseed oil. Is it a real oil finish?? NO, just look at the percentages above - some people say it works like a polymer fin...

I've done a couple of electric guitars with the Aussie oil that arrived last week. I will continue to use it, however its a give and a take compared to danish oil. It takes a LOT longer to apply than Danish Oil, however it cures a lot smoother meaning less effort afterwards assuming you put the eff...

Jeremy, Yes I gave them a coat of thinned (20% turps) Feast Watson Sander Sealer. I usually stop at eight coats of Tru Oil but I have a Uke that I'm now up to 11 coats and can confirm what others have said. It just gets better the more coats you apply. My method of applying Tru Oil is to apply it s...

i am sure Paulownia can work fine as well. at 3mm thickness of paulownian probably works better and has more tap tone then a .9mm lattice braced cedar top as done by many lattice classical makers in AU. We all know your feelings about Smallman style guitars by now, no need to keep repeating them in...

for many years european spruce was considered the perfect wood... even other spruces were not considered. Western Red cedar then became popular, ahead of other spruces that were closer in properties to Euro Spruce. for me it has always seemed weird why the norm is this 2 contrasting woods of europea...

has anyone got any photos of guitars finished in gloss/high gloss with tru-oil? i understand it is easy to get a satin sheen, but harder and much more coats and polishing too for gloss. quite interested in this product, funny how it was made for gun stocks

hi Peter.Coombe this is my experience with CITES wood guitars, selling only to private addresses as a private seller, and i think you can easily no declare as commercial when you negotiate with your buyer (they will get commersial receipts over the net from you anyway). even if declared as commercia...

if the japanese use it for their native stringed instruments instead of their marvellous Yezo Spruce from Hokkaido, then it must have something going for it. it cant be worse then using 1mm thick spruce with carbon lined balsa bracing like aussie latticed braced classical builders use. thickness it ...

this wood is used for soundboards in Japan for the Koto, and other asian string instruments. worth experimenting with, said to be very light, but also very stiff.
it is interesting this wood like balsa, is a hardwood, and not a softwood.

no problem with usuing epoxy for spot damage - but not for filling all across the soundboard. if you are french polishing, maybe do the old pummice filling technique? there are a few videos on youtube, i know people who restore old instruments (ie 19th century guitars) - that have scratches, they wi...

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback so far. is Tru Oil a type of oil varnish that does not seep into the wood? i am interested in something like this. i see it is on ebay if you cant find it. interesting how it is made for gunstocks on rifles. Hi kpcart. You can find some discussion of what it is an...

is Tru Oil a type of oil varnish that does not seep into the wood? i am interested in something like this. i see it is on ebay if you cant find it. interesting how it is made for gunstocks on rifles.

well this could be it:
http://www.tonewood.rs/Electric-guitar- ... anks.shtml

i have just read a similar thing about the aus red cedar at this site i have just found http://www.wood-database.com quote: "Formerly placed in the Cedrela genus, Australian Red Cedar bears many similarities with Spanish Cedar (Cedrela odorata). Both species are in the Mahogany family (Meliaceae), a...

there is no more info about foliage, fruit or even branching, after i enquired today, , just vague third person commentary that it may have been a weeping willow or some other willow. the tree was located on a property that has heaps of conifers, some very interesting like ahuge dawn redwood, ginko ...

they are decent resonances and a good interval ratio top to back. i like the idea of carbon rods, it reduces the weight instead of using ebony strips or steel rods. how is the weight of the red cedar neck? what is it like compared to traditional mahogany, or the light weight spanish cedar? i am cons...

anyone know this wood? I have access to some long dried logs which are far more then wide enough for 2 pieces backs and long enough for ribs(sides) and for neck blanks. i cut this smaller piece at the quarter and the grain is good, with seemingly no grain runount over this size. i have had 3 oppions...

i have a friend that bought one of these sets from this ebay seller - but it was a couple weeks back when he had 2 piece sets. got it for $750 i think it was with an offer on the auction. im looking forward to seeing it before he sends it to a luthier for a build http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAZILIAN...

hi , i want to apologise if my comment came across as mean, the guitar actually caught my eye, i was very interested in it, but maybe my ignorance came through when commenting about this wider grain cypress (even though i said if it works, then that is great). i am actaully looking at building an al...

Hi KPCART, In order, Macrocarpa. 1.2 kg . Around 90 ish for the main air T (1,1)1 and around 172 ish for the top T (1,1)2 . No measurement for the back as all the flamenco guys I have seen play have the back firmly up against their gut's so was irrelevant for me. No WIP shot's , No internals. Top /...

hi, which variety of cypress is that? i am thinking of building a flamenco next. what weight is your guitar, and do you know what body resonance you ended up with and what interval the back pitch is to the top pitch? did you take any work in progress photos? interested to see inside did you use ligh...

celery top wouldnt be heavier then a rosewood though would it, considering it is a conifer, or does it not bear cones? i have thought about the 2 sassafras. is any one on this site willing to part with a good set of King Billy, and a good set of Huon. ones with as little as possible runout and good ...

back on topic, before maybe starting a new topic without jokes and sarcasm. i am looking into alternative Australian woods for a Spanish guitar project or 2. now, i read general consensus and obscure data, but i assume no Tasmanian wood is as good as European Spruce, which has been proven to transmi...