MIMF

Cool! Like it's inspiration it will be a Classic.

Question for those in the know - I sometimes see reference to lacquer reducers, which never made sense to me. In other finishes, a reducer is a mix of solvent and e.g. urethane. I don't see that being the case with lacquer reducers. Mohawk told me that for their lacquer, even though they label their...

I use woodwind bore oil when I want to pay more for mineral oil in a small convenient bottle. I have also used lemon oil and beeswax when I want to use mineral oil that smells nice and takes a little bit of a shine. Mineral oil may reduce the tendency of ebony to dry out and crack, but not by much. ...

I would agree with Jim McConkey that the cap dimensions are probably not critical so long as the reed has the necessary clearance to vibrate. In Trevor Robinson's book "The Amateur Wind Instrument Maker" he shows designs for three krumhorns - Tenor, Alto, Soprano, and although they have di...

On the scallop shell backed instrument pictured above the owner wanted to go lower (CGDae) so we split the bass course as I mentioned. She was a lifelong mandolin player and an excellent musician with a beautiful voice. After her passing her son brought it by for a tune-up and new strings. She will ...

Hi Tim, Just to add some clarification - the reverse taper on the body allowed me to use a taller bridge with greater downbearing and the cylindrical arching added some stiffness to the soundboard which the combination of I think affected the attack of the instrument. Tilting the neck back to make t...

I think Barry may have found the problem. If you are using the wrong lacquer thinner the solvents may be flashing off in the wrong order. This article explains it better than I can:
https://thefinishingstore.com/blogs/new ... er-thinner

As Jim mentioned I also prefer a slightly wider string spacing than what McDonald uses, but again - it is player preference. On the shellback instrument the player eventually wanted to explore 5 course possibilities, so with the wider neck I separated the strings of the lower course (and changed the...

Hi Tim, I have made some short scale (22 1/2 inch) double strung tenors (as I call them) on an LG 3/4 pattern body. The are strung with octave pairs like a 12 string and have worked quite well. One of them did have 5 courses (10 strings) and also worked fine. On the Octave mandolins I found that usi...

In Graham McDonald's bouzouki book he shows the nut for a four course instrument as 34mm with the distances being (from the left to right in mm) edge to first string 3.5 -3.5-6.5-3-6-2-5.5-2-2 to edge of nut. Total distance of string band 28.5mm. At the bridge he has a width of the string band of 44...

Coming late to the party, but one way you can fill those areas is to scrape the CA to slightly below the surface and then cover it with a mixture of sanding dust from the same wood and the finish material you will be using (in your case - shellac). The finish material will act as a binder and often ...

Hi Sandy, If you have some small scraps of the pickguard material and a scrap of top material you could "test on scrap" as is recommended for most finish work. That might show some of the pitfalls and help you find a good technique to have a good outcome. On an early Martin made (S.S. Stew...

Hi Enrico, Thanks for showing the routing jig. I think it could be useful to smooth out the curve as Bob mentioned. Rather than sanding to the line, you could rout to the line. This might allow you to make minor adjustments and smooth the transitions of the bending and assembly forms. It might also ...

Sounds very nice. The cockatoo sang along in her atonal fashion.

Here is an extract from an article on sanding sealers, and some of the reasons I don't use them. They do build quickly and sand easily, but also affect the clarity of the finish: "Sanding sealer. Sanding sealers for lacquer and alkyd varnish contain zinc stearates, a type of soap. The stearates...

Plastic bindings are much easier to fit, and may not be a bad way to go until you have more experience bending wood. A well fitted plastic binding will look better than a poorly fitted wood one. I use plastic on most of my instruments because I think it is a better material for the intended purpose,...

If I am not doing a base coat of epoxy I "self seal" with the same finish as I am using for top coat (as Barry mentioned). Sanding sealers are designed to sand easily, so usually are a little softer than top coat. Self sealing with top coat helps me avoid having too many partial cans of fi...

With the exception of the Schertler, I've worked with the tuners you mention, and a few less well known ones as well ( Rubner, Sperzel, some better quality Chinese clones and some cheap ones too). For the most part you get what you payed for, but sometimes you get less and sometimes you get more. I ...

Hi Matthew,
If you find yourself pressed for time for completing the ukes, you might want to consider buying the necks and fingerboards off eBay. Although much of the work is done, enough is left to be done to make them your own design.

Hi Bryan,
Thanks for posting the additional photos. That looks like a well thought out design.