Official Luthiers Forum!

Don't you mean Black Acacia?



Kidding kidding!!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Right Don and the same applies to Koa too.

it's Australian blackwood.......

My tip to anyone like me is to listen to these guys, they know what they are talking about!

on a similar vein, if u dont know, ask! somebody will know and answer or have a solution

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"Anything that happens, happens. Anything that in happening causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that in happening happens again, happens again. Though not necessarily in that order." Douglas Adams

Use a compass to center position markers on the edge of the fretboard.

Open the compass to your best guess for half way. Drop the pointy end in one slot. Plant the other end and swing the first leg around to the next slot. Adjust until the first leg fall in the middle of both slots.

Better still, if your compass' pencil end reverses to a second point, then you can lightly punch the exact middle - a starter for your drill bit.

Larry

Never work with power tools when tired, angry, or upset. Never reach over a table saw blade. Put chisels angle side up. Walk away for another day.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

One of my personal rules is no power tools if even a drop of alcohol has touched my lips that day.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

When bending sides, attach two of the bindings to the 'top' side of it. This allows to bend bindings at the same time as the sides, thus saving a bending cycle.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Here's one I just discovered

If ever you have a question, or are in doubt, ask the fine folks here at the OLF.

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

My wife tells me, "Strive for Excellence, not perfection." This is good for me because I get so fussy and particular that it can take some of the joy out of building... Another quote is "A man that does not make mistakes rarely makes anything".

Never leave your shop unattended while bending or using any not thermostatically controlled heat source, be it open flame or electrical.

Things can happen that prevent your predicted time of return.

When clamping workpieces that are not pinned, you can reduce creep by rotating your clamps back and forth a bit as you tighten them. It lets the clamps "find" where they want to sit rather than moving the workpieces around to the clamps' liking.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Alain that`s a great idea.That green tape doesn`t cause any problems?
James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Thanks to my girlfriend who thought of it!



Nope, except you have to clean the gluye goo that remains after bending.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Thin your wood bindings down to .06" and you will have a much easier time getting them to fit tight.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I imagine others do this as well, but nevertheless...
When cutting your not slots to final depth, take a standard OLFA boxcutter blade (6" x 1" approx) and gently dull the cutting edge with a file or drag it across some 100 grit or what have you. Then put 5 or 6 (or however many you need to make it taller than your frets) strips of masking tape along it lenghtwise. Butt the flat edge against your nut then cut down till your files hit the blade. Then to adjust the depth, pull off a strip of tape, cut, measure, pull off a piece, cut, measure etc. That way, you lower your nut slots exactly the thickness of the tape each pass, about .0065" depending on your brand of tape of course.
Simple, but saves your feeler gauges from getting trashed...

When pressing in your frets use a pipette with Titebonds-liquid hide glue to
lubricate and glue each fret . They slide in nicely and stay there!
Another Mario tip. This is the only thing I use this glue for.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

This is a very good tip. I actually sand mine to .062, cut my ledge to .06, and then scrape the binding to it's finish thickness. I've never understood why some builders make their bindings so thick. I've seen bindings as thick as .09-.10 on many high end instruments and to my eye they look out of proportion. Years of looking at .06 thick bindings on Martins, I guess.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

I like the look of thin bindings also!
I've repaired many 19th century instruments and the wood or ivory was around .060 !
Plus they are more flexible-easier to apply -players never care about
these specs!!!!

Also-if you want level bindings use a router with a flush cut bit!!
NO scraper marks to sand off-if you should make a slip!!!!

Mike

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Mike Collins