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My assumption on this has always been that they were trying to introduce some asymmetry in order to prevent the tonebars from vibrating at almost exactly the same pitch, possibly introducing some...

I've used both Spanish cedar and khaya as well. Spanish cedar is nice and light but can be a little too soft for my taste. It's used for guitar necks a lot.

That's one of the only pieces I still bend on a hot pipe, because it's really fast. Like Adrian, I glue that piece to the block first, putting the longer adjacent treble-side piece in dry to keep the...

Hi Gary--I've certainly seen issues with shellac under various modern finishes, and I wouldn't recommend it as a sealer under anything else unless recommended by the manufacturer or tested...

I don't think I'd try cutting celluloid with a laser. It machines very nicely with a CNC router, so that's the recommended route. There are a lot of plastics you can cut with a laser so you may find...

The kerf width itself isn't an issue, but repeatability in the kerf width would be-- in my limited experience with these hobby-type lasers is that it would be very difficult to maintain a kerf width...

I have a lower power laser that I use for things not related to mandolins, and typically there’s a limit to the depth you can cut even with multiple passes because the light gets dispersed by the...

Interesting! In that forum they mentioned that they're using thin shell veneer-- I wonder if it could cut thicker shell as well.

Yep, I use the Grafix matte extra tack frisket, which is 0.001" thick. It's amazing stuff, and worked great for that purpose. I score around it with an exacto after the finish is all buffed out, and...

Your samples look good. I used Silver Tip on some guitars last year and it came out beautifully. The advantages over ZPoxy are the lack of amine bloom, as you discovered, and less amber color. It's...

Another little trick that I find works well with soundhole binding is to use a vertical scarf joint, i.e. cut both ends at a slight angle so that the joint tightens as you close it, forcing the...

Yep, definitely Gotoh tuners, in which case I'd just replace them.

Agreed. A handle of some kind is pretty much essential if you do a lot of carving.

I give my Ibex planes a hollow grind with a wheel on a Dremel tool, slow enough not to heat up too much. The hollow grind doesn't' have to be perfect-- it's just there to make honing easier, and to...

I used it on a few batches of instruments, but had severe problems with checking after a few years and had to refinish them all. So, I’m done being a finish tester;).

Oh, I see-- yes, you have to drill the bushing hole all the way through the headstock. I'm not sure why Stew-Mac suggests only drilling it partway through, and I do like that Escher drawing!
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Interesting—were your holes in the headstock the same diameter the whole way through? I’m only curious because I’ve done 150+ this way with no issues, using a taper similar to Gibson’s.

What issue did you have with having the holes perpendicular to the face? Was there not enough clearance inside the bushing?

The solution to this problem is to drill the holes perpendicular to the face of the headstock rather than the back (though few people do that). There have been a few threads here about this. The...

It may also be that the tuners have more backlash than you would like. Does the "delay" in responding that you mentioned happen only when you change direction, i.e. tune down some and then start...

Just a small oven, pretty ubiquitous here. It's combination of a toaster and an oven, and it doesn't work as well as either one ;) Good for soldering, though, and melting wax if you're not concerned...

I made lots of spoons out of lilac when I was a kid. I carved it green and then used an used an "old-timers'" method of seasoning it: Immerse it in melted paraffin in a toaster oven until bubbles...

It appears to be taken: https://www.kunm.org/post/axis-revolution

Just like every novel idea I've ever thought I've had ;). Google is constantly quashing my hopes and dreams...

Yep, mine's only an inch thick, but it stays plenty flat at that thickness. It spends most of its time on the floor under my bench, and I just lift it up and put it on the bench when I need it. It's...

I have one that’s about 6” x 24” that always has 80 grit stuck to it for flattening neck surfaces and small parts.