Official Luthiers Forum!

As suggested by Lance in his bruised lining thread.

I let some of my bracing into the linings, but not through the sides. I just discovered it's much easier to mark the braces for cutting to length if I mark them BEFORE I glue the linings to the sides.

Also, setting the neck angle is much easier if I get the slope of the top in the upper bout right first, as determined by running a straight edge along the surface for the fb extension to the bridge area, with the appropriate gap (for my setup) at the bridge.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Uh.... let's see..... buy low sell high!

Seriously though, one of many I could offer but this one is first in my thoughts currently. I like to use a couple of little home made hold downs made of aluminum with cork on the bottom to clamp the back or soundboard onto a sanding dish while carving the braces. This works out very nicely holding the piece firmly to the correct radius so I can simply focus on the carving process. To reposition during the carving process, I simply spin the dish a bit and no worries about the plate slipping causing the chisel to slip and gouge the top or back in the midst of a carve.

_________________
Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Good one, Bill! I like simple solutions.

_________________
Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com

my dad taught me this one ...probably obvious for many:

put wax paper, not newspaper under glue jobs. it won't stick. easier to clean up.

_________________

_____a_____d_____a_____m_____k_____a_____y_____

yakmatter.com

One of the thing alot of people hate about Hot Hide Glue is the smell. Adding a few drops of vanilla extract when mixing the glue does wonders for the smell.

_________________
I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

This isn't mine, it's something I learned from Al Carruth, it's the most amazingly clever thing I have ever seen.

The story goes that Al came up with this technique after he broke his arching plane.

To arch his braces, Al takes his Bailey no 4 and super glues a tiny brass shim about 4 inches or so back from the blade. He has two lines that he marked across his plane, one for back braces, one for top braces, with the shim glued in place at each line he gets the arch he's looking for. The super glue holds the shim securely enough for planing but it's easy enough to take off.

This photo will give you an idea of what the plane with the shim looks like:



Then he clamps the braces in a vise and planes away. I'm showing just one brace here but he does all four back braces at the same time, and it works better if you do that.



And out comes 4 braces with the correct radius on them, believe it or not!

For anyone that wants to try this at home, here's a web site that will help you with the math to figure out the size and location of shim you need for a given radius.

http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/explain/atmo ... rizon.html

I stopped using this because for me the hardest part is not getting a decent arch, it's keeping the plane perpendicular to the side of the brace. So I just draw an arch on the brace and then use a block plane on a shooting board and plane to the line.

Al's technique with a shooting board ought to give a perfect arch every time. I'm going to have to try that.

I made this to keep my herringbone in shape till i'm ready to use it.

_________________
"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

I saw this on some photos from Joe White. Closed-cell foam to keep the tuner holes from filling up with varnish, pilfered from my kids' swimming noodles. They're impervious to Behlen's Rockhard Tabletop Varnish, other materials perhaps not, so test first.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com