MIMF

I have the Dragon, and some Ariou. I have never done a side by side comparison, but I always seem to reach for that Dragon. It does, however, tear the heck out of my thumb holding the tip (I have one of those wooden knobs from Lee Valley, but it comes loose a lot, and always seems to be in the way)....

Do you have drill press? If so, StewMac sells a version of the old Wagner Safety-Planer. Pretty effective at thicknessing sides, backs and tops, and around $50 (or less).

I contacted Crystal Lac on Facebook, and they responded very quickly. They said that with 2 to 3 coats of sanding sealer, then 2 coats of pore filler, and 5 coats of Brite Tone finish, the pint starter kit will do two guitars, and maybe a bit more. So, since I am working on 3 instruments, I am going...

Actually, I just looked at their site, and the starter kits is pints, not quarts. I probably need more to do three instruments. I emailed them to ask what they estimate the coverage of a pint is.

I bought the one quart kit, that comes with a quart of sealer, quart of finish and grain filler. What are your best guesses on what that will finish. I was planning on using that to finish three electrics. Is that not enough?

So, I was looking for the brand I used to buy, and found this article https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-brand-of-super-glue , which says, basically, it is all the same, and probably made by the same company, Permabond, and privately labeled. Wow, the Permabond brand is outrageously expensive, t...

The main grounding wire from the water main to the ground rod in my yard runs right by my Oneida cyclone dust collector. When I was putting it in, I just screwed a ground wire to the aluminum tubing and attached it to the ground wire. I have not had any sparking issues.

If I am making a guitar with a set neck with two humbucker pickups, does it make any sense to shield the pickup cavities and control cavity with copper tape? I have never seen similar guitars made by corporations shielded, but that doesn't mean it would be a bad idea. But, I don't know if it would b...

Thanks folks. You are right. I totally forgot about the fact that all those nodes will change, once you start fretting strings. So, if the scales are the same, is the only advantage the added two fret range? It seems to me that on every fretted instrument I have ever played, that those last couple o...

I have read some articles lately about the 24 fret guitar, and that it places the neck pickup in a better position, related to the nodes of the strings, to produce a better sound. I don't really have any experience with 24 frets, and would like to know some more about how they are built. On the Les ...

I know it is very difficult to accept mistakes (and I am guilty of this myself), but really, this is how you grow and improve in anything. Seeing the mistakes, and being able to look at your own work with a critical eye will help you improve much more than if you look at your instrument and always t...

Looks great. Congratulations! Are you planning another? Keep up the good work.

Looks aged all right. Not my thing, for sure, but there are all kinds of tastes in the world, and somewhere, somebody will think this is the coolest thing in the world, and they will love it. That's the only thing that is important.

I can't speak for how Martin bent his binding, but I am working on a carved top, set neck guitar, and I used curly maple binding. I saw some videos where people where bending wood by soaking it in ammonia. So, I ran a few tests, and it seemed to work. I should have run some control tests, and soaked...

Fantastic job! It looks awesome. Love the top.

Not really much extra work. I made a couple of archtops using Benedetto's book, and his technique of buying flat sawn curly maple 1 inch boards, cutting out three neck profiles, and gluing them together. On a current project, I bought some 2 inch thick curly maple, and had to cut a scarf joint to ma...

A long time ago, I started buying Bridge City Tool Company tools. I then joined the Founder's Circle and got on an automatic purchase plan where they sent me every tool they made with my initials and special serial number engraved on the tool. While almost all of these tools are beautiful and very h...

Bryan, that is a killer sounding and very beautiful guitar! Congratulations. Have you checked out Robbie O'Brien's French polishing course (he also may have some free videos on his YouTube channel). He uses Royal Lac, and he does a very fast French polish finish, that always looks great - he has to,...

Sounds like something Google translate might come up with. Maybe they were, as Mario noted, trying to up-market the instrument, and were trying to say that it was a higher or better grade of spruce, and ran it through Google translate, and that it was came out. For fun, my daughter likes to take the...

Beautiful. Lovely ebony!