The discussion James and I had about selecting the bars was mostly around the relationship of pitches between the two bars selected. Of course, if one of the bars sounded dead (as several did), they...
The discussion James and I had about selecting the bars was mostly around the relationship of pitches between the two bars selected. Of course, if one of the bars sounded dead (as several did), they...
James and I strung up my top in the test rig yesterday. I'll work on getting some videos of that as I finalize the voicing and cut the ff holes. Here is a video to show the tonal difference up...
in the other thread is the movie from the gibson factory, movie has a short segment where they install the frets. chop, chop, chop style, impressive, very industrial.
I fret after gluing board to neck. I like to have surface prepared to perfect straight before I install frets and I don't force frets but rather remove a bit of the fret nibs with flat file so the...
I build mostly flat top instruments. I glue the fingerboard to the neck, finish carving it, then tap the frets in with a hammer as I was taught at C F Martin.
I like to press in frets using a fret arbor press and caul. I get a more level and cleaner installation this way. Typically, I don't have to do much fret leveling with a good fret press job. When you...
Here’s a quick video of my top on James’ test rig. Sound holes rough cut and braces shaped!
https://youtu.be/QI7IRJEizK0?feature=shared
I am a newish builder, but I do the frets first before gluing it on.....particularly because I dont want to press or hammer frets and risk the instrument taking the stress, especially if you have an...
Afterwards for me, though I don't have "floating" fretboard extensions to worry about. I feel it's easier to get a good level fretboard that way - so less fret levelling afterwards. The thing is...
With guitar builds I fret after gluing the board to the neck and setting the neck in the body, with mandolins I fret the 'board before gluing to the neck/extender.
I can't really give you a reason...
The grading stamp has 'SPF' (spruce-pine-fir), which groups western species of similar strength. The spruce is Engelmann, the pine is lodgepole or other similar western pines, and the fir is white...
To follow Adrian’s comments about non-ergonomic use of hand tools, certainly in the West, I’d like to mention that before power tools were widespread, hand tools evolved to maximize human strength....
I was a kutzall fan but the dust they creat will go right to you lungs leaves an abraded surface where the Arbortech producers create chips. And they also make their power carving tool that is a...
Today was a lot of fun. We opened up the soundholes while Luke's new red spruce top was on the test rig with him playing it live. I also did the same on an almost finished mandolin (2nd one this...
Beautiful Graham.
I wish more people understood and accepted the zero fret!
It is a satin rattle can lacquer from Germany, made by Wurth, who have branches out here. One can does a mandolin quite nicely. The top coat over the sunburst is three double coats, cut back very...
Yes you are missing something. The amount of diameter reduction is minuscule. It would be the fifth decimal place inches for a 0.010 E string at 25 lbs tension. It is not measurable with a normal...
I have an extremely fussy (former) customer who is very specific about his setup requests.
I'm generally a very methodical technician who has a good education in mathematics and science....
Not quite a traditional F-5 but in the sprit of. European spruce and maple, ebony fretboard, Gotoh tuners and an Allen tailpiece. A K&K twin pickup installed with the socket mounted on an extra...
Joe… I think the problem has more to do with your caliper than with the accuracy of the strings. A vernier caliper is not the ideal tool for precisely measuring musical-string diameter. We use two...
I used Dave's math to mix 2-lb cut shellac, saw what the amounts looked like and then began doing it "by eye", figuring that the exact ratios are more or less arbitrary and anywhere close is still...
Double basses are half of my business. I build them, I restore them, I gig almost 100 nights a year on them.
Dremeling away the rib garland for a simple crack is not...
I've been using airbrush for this and never had problems. I have larger nozzle on my airbrush for larger pattern and try to keep pressure low for less shellac bouncing off. I use approximately 15-20%...
(i am only a long time OM player, not a builder, here is my 2 cents anyway). when selecting OM strings it is very easy to make a mistake and install too-heavy strings on the bass side and too-light...
I used this approach on a mandocello neck not long ago. It was an arch top to mandocello conversion and the new neck was pretty slim but it was a laminated neck.I didn’t want to take any chances even...