Search found 1309 matches
- Thu Jun 19, 2025 10:19 am
- Forum: Archtop Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Alternative to X/Parallel bracing
- Replies: 15
- Views: 31591
Re: Alternative to X/Parallel bracing
I've used X bracing on all but one of my arch top guitars. That one was an 'homage' to a Lloyd Loar L-5, and I used 'parallel' bracing (which is really more like an 'A'). On round hole arch tops I also use a cross brace/patch above the hole. I've gravitated toward more or less uniform top thickness,...
- Mon Jun 16, 2025 10:28 am
- Forum: Tools and Jigs
- Topic: Fixing those cheapo screwdrivers
- Replies: 2
- Views: 166
Re: Fixing those cheapo screwdrivers
I just checked out that video, and wanted to post a tip, so to speak. Good screwdrivers are hollow ground, so that the blade a short way up is actually a little thinner than the tip. Sharpening the faces of the tips on stones, as he shows, makes a wedge that pushes the blade upward when you turn it,...
- Sun Jun 15, 2025 2:53 pm
- Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
- Topic: No science, just guess
- Replies: 3
- Views: 195
Re: No science, just guess
I feel that most of the sound is in the top, and what the B&S do is mostly related to density and stiffness, with, possibly, some influence from damping. All woods vary a lot within species, which means there's a lot of overlap between species. Some mahogany is soft and low in density, with high...
- Tue Jun 10, 2025 10:38 am
- Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
- Topic: Appalachian dulcimer mould
- Replies: 5
- Views: 244
Re: Appalachian dulcimer mould
I've always used a peg board for hourglass and teardrop shaped dulcimers. The sides are threaded in and out of a pattern of dowels to define the shape. The dowels are short enough to allow for gluing in the top liners. Once they're in the top edge is dressed off, and the top glued on. When that's dr...
- Wed Jun 04, 2025 5:04 pm
- Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
- Topic: How Much Is Too Much Checking?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 131
Re: How Much Is Too Much Checking?
I'm not entirely sure of what I'm looking at here, so I'm reluctant to say too much, but I consider any amount of checking in tone wood to be concerning. Some of that does look like 'honeycomb checking', characteristic of too rapid drying. The outside of the piece gets 'case hardened' and can't shri...
- Sat Mar 29, 2025 9:44 am
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: First Guitar Build
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3588
Re: First Guitar Build
That's what I do now. Again, the tenon captured in the mortice is your 'safety'; even if the heel splits it can't go anywhere, so you won't drop the box. The tenon need not be a tight fit, but it's also a useful locator.
- Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:48 am
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: First Guitar Build
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3588
Re: First Guitar Build
"Also, why not drill the hole from the top and hide it under the fingerboard?"
I've got the truss rod in by then.
I've got the truss rod in by then.
- Tue Mar 25, 2025 6:12 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: First Guitar Build
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3588
Re: First Guitar Build
The only down side to a bolt-on I can think of is the weight of hardware on a lightly built instrument. It seems to make a difference in the sound of Classicals, but on a steel string not so much. If you're using furniture bolts with cross dowel nuts be sure to put the nuts in the heel vertically wi...
- Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:18 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Double X Bracings
- Replies: 11
- Views: 27680
Re: Double X Bracings
Matt Umanov gave a talk at a GAL convention years ago where he mentioned the Gibson issue. He said that, when they were taking down the machinery they had used to make them somebody thought to check the top sander. It was set at .095", not the .125" called out on the prints. Maybe the heav...
- Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:36 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Ebony Nuts?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3886
Re: Ebony Nuts?
Violin family instruments use flat wound strings almost exclusively, which don't cut into the nut the way round windings do. I say 'almost' exclusively: I can't recall seeing any new violin strings that were not flat wound, but I have not seen them all. Violin makers are very fussy about how they cu...
- Fri Jan 17, 2025 11:52 am
- Forum: Glues and Finishes
- Topic: Grain Filler
- Replies: 10
- Views: 11212
Re: Grain Filler
I do essentially the same thing with slower curing media. I seal the wood with shellac, fill with shellac/pumice/wood dust, and seal again with varnish. The pumice fill is somewhat porous, and absorbs some varnish, which then shrinks, so it typically takes three thin coats of varnish and a level san...
- Wed Jan 08, 2025 1:21 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Anyone built a maple topped acoustic?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2429
Re: Anyone built a maple topped acoustic?
Hardwoods are not usually used for tops because they are denser, but generally no stiffer at a given thickness, than hardwoods. Curly maple also loses some stiffness because of the run out in the curl. The heavier top is harder to drive with the limited horsepower in the strings, and especially at h...
- Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:24 am
- Forum: Glues and Finishes
- Topic: Practical need for Nitrocellulose?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 44842
Re: Practical need for Nitrocellulose?
I can always fall into my usual rant against nitro. It is a health, fire and safety hazard to use, and breaks down inexorably over time, producing toxic and corrosive fumes. Most of the benefits of using it accrue to the factory that has invested in the technology to work with it more or less safely...
- Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:15 am
- Forum: Glues and Finishes
- Topic: Grain Filler
- Replies: 10
- Views: 11212
Re: Grain Filler
After trying a bunch of different things I've pretty well settled on a French polish type pumice fill. It takes some time and effort, but gives a good result that is really durable.
- Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:12 am
- Forum: Glues and Finishes
- Topic: Burst finishes in the old days?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 4495
Re: Burst finishes in the old days?
There are two basic ways to go about this; color on wood or colored finish. Coloring the wood directly accentuates things like run out and changes in density. On curly wood, for example, it makes the curl stand out because the end grain absorbs so much more color. On soft woods it effectively revers...
- Sat Dec 28, 2024 12:45 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Double X Bracings
- Replies: 11
- Views: 27680
Re: Double X Bracings
I don't think you'd need a bridge plate with a pinless bridge. I don't use them on Classicals.
- Fri Dec 27, 2024 3:28 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Double X Bracings
- Replies: 11
- Views: 27680
Re: Double X Bracings
No; those guitars are long gone.
Here's a shot of the scalloped bracing on an Oak/Sitka Dread. The top bracing could have been a bit lighter.
Here's a shot of the scalloped bracing on an Oak/Sitka Dread. The top bracing could have been a bit lighter.
- Tue Dec 24, 2024 11:36 am
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Double X Bracings
- Replies: 11
- Views: 27680
Re: Double X Bracings
I'm not sure what 'modern' means either, but your guess is as good as any. 

- Mon Dec 23, 2024 7:04 pm
- Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
- Topic: Double X Bracings
- Replies: 11
- Views: 27680
Re: Double X Bracings
brace trim 1.jpg I've been using double-X bracing for years. Here's a shot of the initial trim of the top and back for a 12-fret 000 in BRW and Red spruce. This was intended as a 'fingerstyle' guitar; hence the 'tapered' bracing profile. I've also made them with a 'scalloped' braces for flat pickin...
- Thu Dec 12, 2024 5:39 pm
- Forum: Glues and Finishes
- Topic: Shellac dyed/tinted
- Replies: 4
- Views: 5198
Re: Shellac dyed/tinted
So much depends on the dye. I've used opaque pigments on occasion when that was what was wanted, but some of the dyes, most notably the black, tend to be pretty opaque in themselves. It's not something I do often, so I don't have a lot of experience to say what's 'best'.