MIMF

Hi, all, I recently came across a book called Making a simple violin and viola by Ronald Roberts. He'd built several violins and violas with trapezoidal soundboxes, based on some experimental work done by Savart about a century ago. He claims that the sounds are comparable to the conventional violin...

I met a guy in the tonewood business on monday who had part of the tip of his left index finger missing thanks to a bandsaw. He has some nice guitars but can't really play them any more. That didn't stop Django Reinhart. Over the years, I've done horrible things to my right hand (I'm left-handed). ...

Clay Schaeffer wrote:D'Addario posted a guide on line for telling counterfeit strings from authentic.

http://www.daddario.com/upload/DABR_...wRes_12587.pdf

That's the first place I went. Ball ends were the right shape, wrapping looked good, so I assumed that the strings were the genuine article.

Hi, all: While stringing up a new build with D'Addario EJ16 strings, I happened to notice that the color-coded ball ends on the two upper strings were switched ... the first string's was purple, and the second string's was silver. I caught the error right away, but got to wondering if anybody else h...

Just to expand on my comment, linseed oil is a drying oil - similar to a varnish. The difference is that "boiled" linseed oil is partially oxidized, so it dries and cures really fast. Raw takes several days, sometimes more than a week to dry, and longer than that to fully cure. Old time woodworkers...

Chisels should be very sharp on one end only. That end should not be pointed at body parts. I have 4 stitches in my left hand as reminder of that simple rule. Remember to keep the sharp side directed away from the parts you want to keep. -Jim I second that, having put a nice gash in my off-hand ind...

Alan Carruth wrote: All I can do is tell you how I do it, and that may not be your cuppa.

Good enough for me.

Thanks for your response, Alan. I'm going to go for 2.8. If it ends up thinner than that by a wee bit, I can always make the braces a little taller. In fact, that might be the way to go, since I can always modify the bracing when the strings are off at string changes, reducing their height if the bo...

Thanks for your responses. The scale length is 24.9", and it's going to be a finger-picking guitar. I'll be putting either lights or extra-lights on it. As for the feel, I'm really not skilled enough to give an opinion, but it seems a little stiffer in flex than the spruce tops I've used before. I'v...

I'm building a 000 12-fret with a western red cedar top. It's currently just a shade over 3mm thick. I've gotten two conflicting opinions from luthiers about what the optimum thickness should be: one says 3.5 mm and the other says 2.5 mm. What has your experience been with this material?

I'm building an acoustic guitar in which I'm installing an active microphone system (a Baggs Lyric). The unit came with one of those little nylon battery bags you're supposed to attach to the inside of the guitar with Velcro. Instead of using that, I'm going to build a battery case into the body. (I...

This is a tool I've come to use all the time: http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Scrapers/Scraper_Burnisher.html t's really a "last step" tool for setting the hook. Most of the real work in sharpening scrapers, like sharpening plane blades, is truing up the surfaces. The flat surfac...

Greg, make sure that your method didn't round off the joint in the sideways axis. This can happen when working freehand. The joint may look light tight, but can still have open places in the joint that can result in subsequent joint failure. That can be prevented by sandwiching the soundboard or ba...

If you're interested in retrofitting a guitar to a zero fret, there's a company that makes that easier:

http://www.zeroglide.com/details.asp

I haven't tried their product, but it seems sound in theory, and will save you a lot of experimentation, tool buying, etc.

I've been using the JJB Prestige 330 in a couple of my guitars, and am getting another build off the ground. When I went to their website, I noticed a new product of theirs, the SHC-200, which seems to be a version of the 330, using the same transducers, but with passive volume and tone controls. No...

Very pretty. I'm glad it worked out well for you.

I have used the Epiphanes gloss varnish for a couple mandolins and was pleasantly surprised how it went on and how good it looks. I have been told the oil varnish from Ace Hardware stores has a high phenolic content and dries very hard, but I haven't tried it yet. I used to use the Behlen's Rock Ha...

I used to send my instruments out for finish but due to occasional shortcomings in the service I just bit the bullet and went back to doing my finising. Nobody cares about your stuff like YOU do. True, but care as I do, I'm still not satisfied with my work. Is the guy you used to use still around? ...

Congrats to the winners!

Andrew Porter wrote:I'll post a picture and let you know how it turned out.

Great! I'd love to see it!