MIMF

Thanks David. You bring up a good point. She. I say chrome plating, I probably mean nickel. . .

Thanks Clay. That’s pretty much what I plan to do but with vinyl stencils made on the cricut machine. I suppose it doesn’t really matter much what electrolyte I use. My only reservation now is if the etching will cause the chrome plating to flake around the etched edges over time. I’m thinking that ...

The answer to this may be obvious but I have only once etched metal so I have basically no experience. I etched a piece of brass by suspending it in a copper sulfate solution and using a 12 volt power supply. I got acceptable results and learned enough to feel like I can do that project much better ...

Welcome, good to have you here!

I cant wait to see it all strung up and playing. Make sure you remember this thread.

Nice! Let's see some more pics.

I radius and fret my boards before gluing to the square neck blank. I freehand a compound radius onto my boards by planning them (after they are slotted and tapered) focusing on getting the radius I want at the nut end and following the taper of the board. The radius at the bridge end comes out to w...

To add to Clay's point, the various types of traditional woodworking benches may or may not be better suited to instrument making. I do not have a traditional workbench by any means. I haven't even really bothered to examine the types and styles. I had no woodworking experience when I decided to tak...

I would guess you have an acute understanding of how high you like your work to be so that you can do it for long periods of time. You have been raising and lowering the dental chair to custom heights so you are in a better position to make the call than most of us are for ourselves. I thought long ...

What Bob said, with emphasis on right height FOR YOU. I’m shorter than Bob (5’ 11” or 5’ 10” depending on how straight I can stand) but have chronic back issues. His bench would be a bit too low for me but I can happily work at mine at 40”.

Tom Bills uses French polish on his guitars. He stopped using lacquer some time ago. This may have been done before he stopped spraying lacquer, it is hard to say. I do know that he is pretty good about answering emails. You should ask him how he did that particular guitar.

That looks great so far. I can’t wait to see it when it is done. Thanks for the tip about degassing in a syringe. That is a great idea. I don’t have a vaccine pot or enough justification to get/make one. Every now and then I need to do a small pour of epoxy and wish I had a good way to get the bubbl...

I'm not an uke guy so my reply may not totally apply but should get you thinking. The location of the bridge is 2xs the distance from the nut to the 12th fret plus whatever compensation you intend to add. That compensation will depend on the instrument, scale length and type of strings. Steele strin...

kudos to you for that. It looks great so far.

I've never heard of using lycopodium spores before. That may have been able to save me from enlarging a rossette or two.

That looks really nice! I like the way you did all the appointments, they are subtle and let that nice maple do the talking.

That looks awesome Darrel

I'm interested in following the comments here. I didn't know anyone was using epoxy as a clear coat on guitars. I thought it would be too soft. I know it is used as a pore filler. I use zpoxy to fill pores. I like the look of it and have often wished it was durable enough for a top coat. What epoxy ...

There is a lot of good stuff in there to be sure. I read so much of that library when I was getting into this. I had no experience at all, didn't know anyone locally and your tube wasn't really a thing. At first I didn't even understand most of what I read but I just kept reading and rereading discu...

In my humble opinion there are two ways of looking at this type of thing. On one hand there is lots of bad advice to be found on youtube and social media. It is hard for someone new to this to know what is and what isn't good advise. Often what is acceptable or not, needs to be viewed in the context...

Congrats! I hope you and your friend get much enjoyment out of playing the twins together!