European spruce would be practically extinct as a "tonewood" if only old growth wood could be used. It's been harvested for centuries in most places, but luckily you can find usable pieces from...
Type: Posts; User: Arnt
European spruce would be practically extinct as a "tonewood" if only old growth wood could be used. It's been harvested for centuries in most places, but luckily you can find usable pieces from...
Hi Gary, I don't have my notebook handy, but the graduations are a bit thinner than my 'teens Gibson A, and similar numbers I have seen for other instruments from this period. I don't have a large...
OK, here are some more. ;-) It looks more bright yellow than it really is in some of the pictures, oh well.
147847147848147844147845147846
147538
Red spruce / red maple oval hole getting first strings
I use a shim glued to the face of the peghead as desicribed, and sand the back of the peghead to the correct thickness and taper on my home made drum sander. I use the drum sander even on my...
Sorry to hear that
Could be walnut I guess, but most that I have seen (online) are oak. He dyes it really nicely too, its a quite striking look. I agree about the purflings, rosettes etc, they really look terrific. ...
I wouldn't waste any money on those chisels, most of them are the wrong shape for most of the operations I do instrument making, even if they were good quality tools. I have lots of chisels, but I...
One of my favourite "sanding sticks" is a flexible 100 mm (4") steel ruler, on which I put adhesive backed sandpaper. Great for certain detail work operations.
"The Mandolin Project" by McDonald has plans for both carved and flat top instruments, and is a good reference for both. The oval hole A-mando plan by Scott Antes is also pretty good, and the...
I saw a comment years ago regarding the ABS/PVC type "Boltaron", that it got its name to reflect the only way you could make it stick to wood...
In addition to the glues mentioned, it is possible...
I wonder why its called Norway maple in English speaking countries, we have very little of it up here (BTW, we call it "spisslønn"=sharp maple, I guess because of the pointy leaves?). Perhaps its...
Billhay4, thanks for the nice words. Rian is my last name, and anyways I couldn't come up with anything really catchy, so I just stuck with it. It's also short, so pretty quick to cut from shell... 😉
I was made aware of this thread (hi Lars!). As has been said, I'm an independent luthier over here in Norway. I make mostly steel string acoustic guitars, and the occasional mando family instrument...
What they all said, and... Thin super glue tends so soak into end grain by capillary action, sometimes staining spruce an ugly yellow, or ruining otherwise nice looking miters in light colored...
I use a little fish glue on the tangs, for lubrication, which seems to help them go in more easily. Hard to say if it makes them stay in better (they stay put, I know that), or if there is any...
There are several alternatives, but to some degree you have to balance feedback resistance to sonic quality. In a crowded, loud live sound situation, the latter may be less important. My current...
I won't mention any names either, but a customer came to me after he'd had a pickup mounted in a similar manner on his Gibson F5. The work was done by a local repair person, who works more with...
Garry now sells these (I have no financial interest in the enterprise, even though there's a picture from my shop on his web site).
http://www.luthiertools.co.uk/
I don't think Giacometti ever made a mandolin, but I'm actually a big fan of his work. I bet it would have looked fantastic, though!
97618
I have posted pictures of various works in progress on the web for years (guitars, mostly). I see it a little a little bit like teaching, as in order to explain something clearly, you have to...
The "arm" part of my jig was made by Gary Hallam in England, who is a guitar maker / machinist. He made a batch of 10 units IIRC, for a group of guitar builders over on "Luthier Community", and the...
Yes, you have pretty good control with this system. With guitars, I always cut from the widest part of the bouts towards tail-waist-neck block, it seems to be the best way to get a clean cut. With...
I gave mine away, too (to some poor unsuspecting soul...:whistling:)
I guess we all prefer to use whatever tools we are most comfortable with. I make mostly guitars, so it is natural for me to try to adapt some of the techniques and procedures that I'm used to from...