We are making a few of the archived discussions our members have found useful or interesting available so you can see some of what we do on the MIMForum. Access to the complete archives is reserved for registered MIMForum members. New to building? Be sure to read our New Builders' miniFAQ. If the files we link to here are of interest to you, we invite you to stop by the Musical Instrument Makers Forum for a look around.
FEATURED DISCUSSION:
Amy Hopkins and the amazing technicolored snakefiddle: a photo-essay on designing and inlaying very large and complex inlays into a violin back, top, fingerboard and tailpiece.
Mark Swanson's spruce/cherry octave mandolin, cherryburst finish.
Newbie to lutherie: start with kit, or build from scratch?
Tools of the Trade: lutherie tools and their uses.
Making a guitar neck from a blank.
Wind Instrument Mathematics (It only looks like rocket science).
Potentially Toxic Woods.
Home made wood turning lathes.
Alternative Soundboard Woods.
Acoustic Guitar Body Size: Soundbox Volume/Shape vs. Tone.
Making your own pickups.
Acoustic Steel-String Guitar Fret Installation.
Side Bending using the Universal or Fox Side Bender.
Accurate Binding Routing: how to rout accurate ledges on domed surfaces.
Rosette channel cut too small: how do I enlarge it?
Violin Plate Edge Final Thicknessing.
How important is quartersawn wood in guitar making?
Polishing Brass Instruments.
A modification to the traditional clothes pin clamp for linings.
Murphy's Laws of Lutherie.
Polishing Nitrocellulose Lacquer.
Renting / Building / Tooling the Small Workshop.
Building Your Own Thickness Sander.
A loud, low cost cornemuse you can build from CPVC in 1.5 hours.
How do I bind a fretboard?
Cautionary Tales: Shop Safety.
Building your own resonator guitar and resonator mandolin.
Building an archtop guitar: how hard is it, really?
Starting out in guitar making.
Dimensions of Martin guitar models.
Reviews of freeware and low-cost shareware CAD programs.
How to make your own rainstick.
Plans for a jig for cutting a binding ledge.
Repairing cracks in violin soundboards: humidifying, splinting, cleating, and types of glue used.
Buffing out lacquer: techniques, pads, and compounds.
Dremel vs. laminate trimmer vs. router: which jobs for each?
Building a cookie-tin (backpacking) banjo.
Blocking mandolin "F" holes during spraying.
One method of resetting violin necks.
Mountain Dulcimer Fret Calculator.
44 reasons why professional cedar shingle siding installers hate employing luthiers