MIMF

Tulip Poplar is a different wood from many of those called poplar. It generally takes finish well and can be stained to resemble many more expensive woods. I would consider it to work a lot like butternut.

That's a great story John,
So many old pianos have only the key tops saved. That you have made another musical instrument from the one which gave you so much pleasure I'm sure softens the blow a bit.

I guess it's like mp3's replacing analog recordings. Convenience trumps sound quality.

Pipe organs have the same problems with needing to be tuned and maintained. God forbid that they go digital!

" Bodged" may not be California compliant, but works fine around these parts. <g>

Chuck Tweedy wrote "I'm surprised people couldn't tell the difference between plastic pins and brass. That is a huge difference in mass." Who said they couldn't? Freeman said it was a "blind" test, and that no one liked the pinless recording. Was that the test where most people p...

Pianos are very mechanical. Someone with a little mechanical aptitude and Arthur Reblitz's Piano servicing book can fix most of the problems old pianos have. It's just doing everything 88 times that daunts most people. I took a course in piano tuning and regulation many years ago. There are a lot of...

Knabe pianos are very good pianos, generally. I was given an old square grand with a rosewood veneered case, probably dating from the 1860's or 70's. It still plays but needs some work. It was destined for the dump, but that would be a shame for such a nice old antique. Piano's are like old cars, mo...

With that vent pipe it looks like gas. Be careful when you're spraying shellac! <g>

Whenever you clean up the shop you are supposed to throw away all your jigs so you can make new ones with all of the improvements you thought of while using the first ones you made.

Great looking shop, Chuck! The couch is for the chicks and luthier groupies isn't it? They do have luthier groupies on the left coast don't they? One of my shops has a roller coaster floor, and the other one is for when you want to do it in the dirt. <g> You know you are going to have to increase yo...

Using off quarter wood might help, but making the bridge thicker and heavier might change the sound (better, worse?) Although it is poor form, gluing the saddle into the slot might add some strength. The over set neck and tall saddle is adding a lot of stress, but if the player likes the sound, leav...

Another way to look at it is when tuning a guitar, you fret the low E string at the 5th fret (shortening the heavier string) to tune the longer thinner A string. The mass of the string as well as the tension affects the pitch.

You could do it like they did lute necks - use a screw or a nail to attach the neck. Baroque violins had their necks nailed on also if IIRC.

Hi Jacob,
Santos angled the harmonic bar, not the bridge! <g>
Nice looking guitar. How did you like working with the blackwood?

Gold leaf has been used on the arms of arm chairs for century's. Used for faux finishes it was left bright where arms and hands touched, and paint was applied to give a patinated finish in areas that would not normally show any wear. It was done to give the impression the whole piece was made of gol...

Hi David,
My thinking was where the exit holes come out of the bottom of the dowel, the holes would be in a straight line. They would angle both ways from that point. The strings would all remain in the same plane so it shouldn't affect the finger positions at all.

Hi James, A light sealer or barrier coat of shellac under lacquer is usually not a problem. If the shellac has some "thickness" to it, it can affect the adhesion of the lacquer. You might want to put a little amber dye in the lacquer instead of getting all the colour by building a shellac ...

Another way to make wood take stain more evenly is to first use a thin wash coat of shellac on the wood (you can even spray it on, Chuck! <g>) The shellac will be absorbed more strongly by the end grain areas and seal them, so they won't suck up the stain like they normally would. But I agree with M...

If you made the exit holes come out at the bottom, and angled every other hole in the opposite direction, the twisting force might cancel out and you wouldn't have to glue the rod in. It probably wouldn't take much of an angle to "stop" the end of the string.