Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I can assure you that I did not leave looking any more beautiful than I already am. I have been playing a fair bit of guitar lately, every day I manage to pick it up for a while. A few days ago though while doing a bit of renovating on my home I tore my thumb nail right down to the flesh, always a b...

Merry Xmas ANZLFers

Good thinking Jeff, I went through the old PS2 box and found some at about 2.4mm so that's a little better than the Jaycar stuff.

Yep they are a bit cheeky Trevor, like we know who is the "very well known company" but because they don't say K & K their components could be anything. Cheers Gary, a couple of metres would go a long way if you can spare it. The 3mm stuff I have is the Jaycar single core and I could only find the e...

I like this quote from the JJB mob about their pure mini cloneish PU "Our new line of pickups are constructed with the finest components available today. In fact, they are the same components that are used by other companies that sell their systems for more than twice as much. This system is the sam...

I am curious about why you've been cutting up K&K leads Trevor. Don't you like the jacks they use?

Thanks Trevor. I have some single core coax that looks a bit thicker than the K&K stuff(from memory). The flex I have is 3mm Dia but does anyone know if I can get thinner than that? My guess is the K&K is about 2.5mm maybe less so someone must have some somewhere unless it is like the rubber case se...

Hmmm should I just shield the hot with the ground or shield both hot and ground with another ground?

True Trevor, won't take long to re-make it with a shield. I potted 12 discs so will play it safe.

Hey I recognise that guy in the photo from my last trip to the Adelaide hills Martin, is he a mate of yours? So I've just a about 20 minutes playing this guitar plugged with the two bob special PU and the K & K Pure XLR preamp. As a acoustic electric it's not too bad, a bit of knob tweaking as well ...

Ah yes and not only the potting, that you also CA it to the bridge plate so now you have it sandwiched between the potting epoxy and the board. Even without the shielding these things are not very noisy. I just went and borrowed that guitar, it was my first falcate and just has 3 x 15mm unpotted dis...

Yep Martin, I recommend to customers that they buy the K & K thought as far as the forums are concerned the JJB work as well but for myself I like to muck about and see what I get or I would just buy the K & K.

You have a way with words Trevor. So make it again with shielded wire, trouble is the shielded wire I have(the smallest I could find) is heavier than what I used and I had considered that. The wire is thin but the flex is thick giving it the extra weight. Okay so you reckon that when it come to thes...

I should add that I had assumed that shielding would be needed and I do have shielded wire so maybe I should re-make it with shielding.

I did a bit of reading up on them but it was some time ago. Now I may have this wrong cause memory isn't so reliable but some of the stuff I read seemed to indicate that a piezo disk is a piezo disk and as a simple non moving parts device it is hard to improve on. I also read that shielding on these...

A guy who bought one of my guitars("Rose Cliche") asked me to install a K & K Pure Mini, He bought it from our one and only music shop at about $240. I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a faker pure mini and put it in the guitar I play which is similar to his and compare the El Cheapo t...

Next time I find one in the pool I'll grab it for you Martin.

Just looking back over the thread John P. I caught something you said about the layup. I used four layers. First a layer of 10oz/m² or 280gm woven mat then two layers of 300gm/m² chopped mat then one more 280gm woven. I could add another layer of chopped which makes it tougher but adds more weight s...

So I just weighed it Ross and once I add a handle and feet it will come in a handful of grams over 5Kg so I am very happy with the toughness to weight ratio. Yep Pete people drive black cars up here too so either they suffer for their style or they always leave the car and its aircon running when th...

A mate told me I should not have made it white cause it will show dirt and marks but I'd rather have it a bit grotty and cool. Also to me it is the case that takes all the grot and bumps to protect the instrument and a case just looks better if it has a few miles on it, that's what it's there for. I...

G'day ANZLFers. Finally got around to using those moulds I spent all that time on, bad decision. Bad decision in the middle of the 'build up to start fibreglassing, what a shit fight. Almost done though just need some feet and a handle. I went okay but its a bit rough, good enough for me but will do...

Kiwis and Aussies don't mind a bit of a whine. I was in a pub in London and a discussion about the Australian expression "whinging Poms" had come up, I certainly didn't start it but was eventually used as a source for Australian cultural accuracy, I tried just looking at the ground but they persiste...

Thanks mate, I can see the appeal in wanting to make one of them.

I reckon if you want to use paulownia for a S.S. Christian then don't forget the scratch guard.

Nice board Craig loose looking but what is the brass screw for, does it hold a set of handle bars on? Do me a favour and orientate that screw slot perpendicular or parallel with the stringer please.

I use size 4 Chinese made cheap brush, the (I think pig) bristles are about 12mm long and I cut that square, down to 6mm giving a very stiff brush and I also use that brush to impregnate the CF tow on a bit of baking paper before applying it. I sort of scratch the epoxy on to the braces using very l...