Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Enrico, It's pretty well all in the book. There isn't any more to add. Does the lattice braced need to be tuned to a specific note? In terms of free plate tuning, no. For a lattice braced classical, aim for a T(1,1)2 of ~214Hz or higher. Because the soundboard doesn't subdivide very much there tends...

I hope you get to enjoy the workshop with Jim, Matthew (and hear what he has to say about mass loaded sides! )

Yep, lead is pretty massy.

I thought you bass builders liked lining your ribs - preferably with silk. Though I do agree that gold lined would be a bit of one-up-manship on James Ham.

Ahhh, a B-dub with a manhole and crawl space. What next?

Not sure whether it's a good place or not, but there's probably enough wood in the lower bout corner block to screw something into, if you feel you have sufficient longevity.

I guess it should work - the laws of physics tend to be universally applied - but I've next to zero experience with B-doubles. And, even with their size, once the box is closed, you can't get your hands in!

Trevor, what are "mass loaded sides"? Just heavily built ribs or something more elaborate? Something more elaborate! There's some more details here: http://www.goreguitars.com.au/main/page_innovation_summary_heavy_sides.html A slightly more technical explanation: A guitar has a "main wood" mode of ...

There's a good few pics of my bench (Tas oak/Vic ash, second hand wood, so who knows?) in "the book". I just oiled it with boiled linseed oil. If building another (unlikely - the top is 50mm thick), I'd do it the same. It's pretty much a damage-proof finish in that you can just scrape it clean with ...

The mass of the saddle and strings may well bring it down a bit, so beware of that if you're close to a good number.

Scott, in a word, No! Your best bet, though, is to try to get a value for Elong using a static deflection test. Use a short span in the lower bout where the width is fairly constant, e.g. 50mm or so either side of the maximum lower bout width. You then have a span of ~100mm which you can load up wit...

how about a simple box jig that, when the neck is properly fitted, can be run thru with a router or laminate trimmer fittted with an appropriate bit? Not quite as simple as it sounds. That was some of the original thinking behind the tooling in the top pic, but you always get split-out one side or ...

In the current edition of American Lutherie, the quarterly publication of the Guild of American Luthiers there's a full review of "The book" by R. M. Mottola. For those of you yet to receive your copy of AL #109, you can read a reprint of the review here.

PS for info takes him almost a day to cut a nut and reshape a slot and he still gets it wrong in the end. Should only take 45 minutes. Days wages to stuff it, is 200 bucks I pay and the blanks, hence why I was looking for a jig to help him out. Loosing money..... is not a good way to run a business...

Def. works, but may be OTT.

I've tried toothing planes...nowhere near as quick and clean as cross-grain planing. Use a standard angle plane, preferably a #5 or larger, sharpen the blade so it has a crescent shape (scrub plane mode, as per "the book") and off you go. If you have a #5 1/2 it's quicker still. If you want to do si...

I'm unfortunately unable to discern one side from the other... There's not much in it, Derek, that's for sure! The difference was quite a lot clearer before it was MP3'd, but on headphones I can still hear the different channels, mainly because the mic is picking up the sound of the rain on my tin ...

Well, not sure if this is going to work (for a whole lot of reasons)...but anyway, here, I think, is a recording of me playing "The Shed" guitar, with dead strings. Maybe... If you hear anything, the left channel is from a condenser mic and the right channel is from the K&Ks. If you don't hear anyth...

Brilliant work, Graham!

Eric, I think you have plenty of choice for your acoustic build. For a little inspiration (perhaps!) have a look at this thread: http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3842 Jarrah moves a lot with humidity, so probably not the best for a back at the thickness it will end up. For a bending pipe, s...

Nice build, Martin. The first thing to ask yourself is which version sounded better? Get people on both sides of the guitar to give a view, though that might be hard if you didn't do a sound check prior to the back brace mod. The basic rule is don't fix things that don't need fixing. Next thing is t...

is there somewhere in the book that explains the amount of acceptable mass? The top mass depends on the size and shape of the guitar as well as the top's material properties, so whether a top is too heavy or not for a particular design can only be compared to your experience with that design. BTW I...

mhammond wrote:I think I want a Tesla coil just like that one!!!

Would keep the possums off the veggies...

Scott, I don't have any trips planned currently.

I don't suppose anyone else is going to answer this.... It seems to me that making nuts this way is kinda locking the end user to a prescribed tuning and string gauge forever... Well, standard compensation "locks" you in just as much, but to a wrong solution to the intonation problem. There is no co...

Is the statement that for a classical or flamenco the T(1,1)2 may be raised, an outlier situation rather than the norm? Yes, for that sample. The main message for fan and falcate braced classicals is that it's very variable. This is partly because that sample is of guitars made to a variety of spec...

I've never built with nut compensation, what would you say is the advantage/s of a compensated nut Trevor? Plays more in tune to the equally tempered scale (less extraneous jangle) and therefore sounds better. For people who are bothered by so-so intonation, once they've heard the difference there ...