Search found 1264 matches

by Alan Carruth
Tue Feb 20, 2024 10:39 am
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Cutting carbon fiber rods
Replies: 2
Views: 612

Re: Cutting carbon fiber rods

You can grind, sand, drill, and tap carbon rods, and cut them with a jeweler's saw, or (surprise!) a knife, but that's about it. They are not kind to any cutting tool, in any event. Do not try to run one through a power saw, joiner, or planer. If you need a custom size you could try making one using...
by Alan Carruth
Sun Feb 18, 2024 3:43 pm
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Steel & vinegar ebonizing
Replies: 7
Views: 836

Re: Steel & vinegar ebonizing

Vinegar is a very weak acid; it takes more than a few days to get a usable solution for staining. If by 'resistance' you mean the 'stiffness' of the wood, I'd say no, but that's not based on data. At any rate, the dye probably would not work on a soundboard, since none of the softwoods I know of hav...
by Alan Carruth
Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:48 am
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Neck dovetail with a rounded body
Replies: 6
Views: 1120

Re: Neck dovetail with a rounded body

In some cases, where the bolt-on hardware is heavy on a light body, the added mass can drop the 'neck' resonance pitch, and alter the feel, and maybe the sound. Using lighter hardware instead of cross dowel nut and 1/4-20 furniture bolts, can help.
by Alan Carruth
Fri Feb 09, 2024 12:49 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Neck dovetail with a rounded body
Replies: 6
Views: 1120

Re: Neck dovetail with a rounded body

Don't feel too bad; this is always the hardest part of making the guitar for my students. The important thing is to make one surface (usually the shoulder of the guitar) to the final shape, and then fit the neck to that without taking more wood off the body . Do one thing at a time: align the neck w...
by Alan Carruth
Fri Feb 02, 2024 10:36 am
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Flame maple coping with flame chip out
Replies: 7
Views: 2313

Re: Flame maple coping with flame chip out

I'll note, too, that different species of maple vary in this. Rock maple tends to give a bit of trouble, soft (European or Red) maple in general a bit more. Broadleaf maple is sometimes good, but more often it will chip, crush, or tear out, when cut along the grain. Even a razor sharp scraper can gi...
by Alan Carruth
Wed Jan 31, 2024 11:04 am
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Flame maple coping with flame chip out
Replies: 7
Views: 2313

Re: Flame maple coping with flame chip out

The figure is caused by periodic changes in runout, so sometimes you're cutting with the grain and sometimes against it as you go along the grain. Violin makers often carve across the grain to avoid this, and finish up with scrapers and sandpaper. With birdseye that's not an option: there's no 'good...
by Alan Carruth
Wed Jan 24, 2024 11:28 am
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Almost consistently bad glue joints...
Replies: 36
Views: 44108

Re: Almost consistently bad glue joints...

In theory, you can soften Titebond joints with water, but I've always found that the wood goes to mush before the glue lets go. When you can use heat that will work as well, as anybody can attest who's left an instrument in a hot car... Acetic acid will break down Titebond and similar glues. I once ...
by Alan Carruth
Tue Jan 23, 2024 12:35 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Notches in rims for brace ends
Replies: 4
Views: 1548

Re: Notches in rims for brace ends

Top braces below the bridge can probably be feathered out to nothing, but the ones above the bridge are under some download, and I feel they need to be left with some height at the ends, and inlet into the liners. Gibson used to feather them all down to nothing at the very end, but they had a little...
by Alan Carruth
Tue Jan 23, 2024 12:29 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Almost consistently bad glue joints...
Replies: 36
Views: 44108

Re: Almost consistently bad glue joints...

Guitars are not made to be disassembled, even if they're glued with hide glue. I've successfully used hide glue for everything at one time or another. I suppose if I kept at it I'd be more used to it, but I've opted to minimize some hassles.
by Alan Carruth
Sat Jan 20, 2024 6:51 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: How does soundhole size affects tone? PTII
Replies: 1
Views: 884

Re: How does soundhole size affects tone? PTII

That depends on how sensitive/critical you are. It's easy to make the hole smaller, and a few experiments along those lines can go a long way toward giving you a feel for this. Get some foam core poster board and cut a circle out of it that will just fit the sound hole of any guitar you have. It doe...
by Alan Carruth
Tue Jan 16, 2024 11:35 am
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Notches in rims for brace ends
Replies: 4
Views: 1548

Re: Notches in rims for brace ends

Yes; leaving a small gap at the ends does limit the amount the brace ends will push out the binding and the sides. This is a very common problem on old guitars. Admittedly, you won't have to deal with it, no matter how good your warranty is, but still.
by Alan Carruth
Sun Jan 14, 2024 4:44 pm
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Which of these cedars would you use?
Replies: 4
Views: 3152

Re: Which of these cedars would you use?

Long-grain stiffness at a given thickness tracks the density pretty well, on a more or less linear basis. Stiffness goes as the cube of the thickness. Using a low density top wood, and leaving it thick enough to get the right stiffness gives the lightest top and the most sound. OTOH, top weight prob...
by Alan Carruth
Fri Jan 05, 2024 3:42 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Guild 12 strings
Replies: 8
Views: 12700

Re: Guild 12 strings

Most steel strings have two more or less parallel 'tone bars' below the X braces in the lower bout. Guild used three.
by Alan Carruth
Thu Jan 04, 2024 5:56 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Guild 12 strings
Replies: 8
Views: 12700

Re: Guild 12 strings

I once worked on an extensive repair of one with my partner at the time. It had been re-conditioned at the factory and the owner took it with him when he went to work on a Vista project out west. A drunk broke into his tent and took the guitar. He held the head and dragged it along a dirt road for a...
by Alan Carruth
Wed Jan 03, 2024 6:28 pm
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Soundboard woods
Replies: 6
Views: 8346

Re: Soundboard woods

Redwood tends, in my experience, to be about as dense as the spruces in general, with similar long-grain characteristics. However, it is not as tough as spruce, with much more of a tendency to split. In this respect it's more like WRC, although redwood is harder (again, in my experience). To be reas...
by Alan Carruth
Thu Dec 28, 2023 11:52 am
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Soundboard woods
Replies: 6
Views: 8346

Re: Soundboard woods

In my experience, Redwood tends to be harder and denser than WRC, but otherwise very similar. I tend to use Redwood on steel strings for that reason. I would not roast either one. The 'terrified' wood I've seen has a strong tendency to split, and Redwood and WRC both do that anyway. The Young's modu...
by Alan Carruth
Tue Dec 12, 2023 10:31 am
Forum: Tools and Jigs
Topic: Position Markers -- Drilling holes and tear-out
Replies: 9
Views: 26756

Re: Position Markers -- Drilling holes and tear-out

One advantage to brad point bits in this application is that they can leave a flat bottomed hole, especially when you sharpen them yourself with no spur. The problem with a brad point bit is that it doesn't automatically center in a pre-drilled hole well. Once you learn how to sharpen them it's easy...
by Alan Carruth
Mon Dec 04, 2023 11:39 am
Forum: Tools and Jigs
Topic: Position Markers -- Drilling holes and tear-out
Replies: 9
Views: 26756

Re: Position Markers -- Drilling holes and tear-out

It's possible to sharpen any drill bit to a brad point, although getting the point centered can be a trick, especially with the small ones. Otherwise I'd just super glue a piece of something like maple onto the fretboard, and drill the hole. Be sure to get the depth right, of course. Once you've got...
by Alan Carruth
Wed Nov 22, 2023 11:10 am
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: advise for altered approach for helping a first timer
Replies: 20
Views: 37955

Re: advise for altered approach for helping a first timer

Just go the the URL listed and download the .pdf files. You'll need to get part1.pdf through part9.pdf, which are the separate chapters. The last one (iirc) gives a tutorial on download and use of the (free) sound recording, analysis, and editing program 'Wavesurfer'. What used to take $20,000 worth...
by Alan Carruth
Mon Nov 20, 2023 12:31 pm
Forum: Flat-Top Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Almost consistently bad glue joints...
Replies: 36
Views: 44108

Re: Almost consistently bad glue joints...

I have used fish glue for binding for a long time, with no problems so far. I'm just not sure I trust it for something structural.

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