MIMF

Hi Matt, redwood can vary considerably in qualities, so I would take into account the weight and stiffness first, and since you say it rings like a bell I guess it is stiff. I have some that rings like cast iron or glass, and makes great tops for acoustic instruments. Bear in mind it is not as unive...

I assume you have the bridge. If you project the string path to the bridge position you should get a good idea of how much the top has or has not collapsed by the difference in height of the bridge and strings. Remember you have to allow for the action of about .060" between the strings and the...

The fret calculator on StewMac works just fine. I have a rule divided in decimal inches that makes it even easier to use, or you could use any rule for the nearest inch and then a dial or digital caliper for the decimal parts of the final portion that is smaller than an inch.

You might inquire on the mandolin cafe site. Probably in the VINTAGE section of FORUMS. I have seen only a couple of these instruments in 30 years, and don't recall if there is indeed any radius. The idea was to make a cheap instrument to supply the military during war time at a time of materials sh...

Looks nicely done, from here. Pretty over all design.

My first archtop took 95 hours to the point where finish started. The finish process probably took another 40 hours. It takes considerably longer now to make the body and neck but they are also much nicer as I have learned some things along the way. As far as time for a finish, the most work and tim...

Louie, I will send some info for this. To all: those of you participating in this project can see another thread when you go the the Archtop Guitar and Bass Guitar section, it appears above the main body of the list of discussions of this section. This is where we discuss more details and decisions,...

OK, we do need a neck. Steven Wilson had offered to make one on the old forum but I don't see him here. I'm not opposed to laminating a neck but I'm not a fan of putting dissimilar materials together. All maple would be nice. I can supply a Martin style truss rod, and will post measurements of it fo...

Sorry to get back so late. Too many other things to see and do, but I'm here now. I don't know enough about the differences between the African and Asian elephant patterns, perhaps Chuck Erickson could shed more light on the Schreger lines of those pachyderms.

The Stew/Mac tool is worth having and will pay for itself with two bridge plate repair jobs (after you fix this guitar) if you go that way. You can certainly try the brass plate but check for the hole spacing to be accurate on both the plate and the bridge. As mentioned above, you can make your own ...

The true bridal joint is a rather complicated bit of joinery to start out with. I suggest the V joint, which is a simplified version and still pretty strong if well fitted.

No button under the NEW TOPIC box. Tiny box at the very bottom of page for subscribing.

One big problem that often causes rust is intermittently heated shops . When you come in to work and fire up the heater the air gets warm far quicker than the big heavy cast iron tools, and they condense moisture out of the air just like cold drinks do.

For several years I got by using a couple triangular files. One with sharp corners and one with rounded corners. The sharp corners were for the smaller strings. I have been using the factory files for years and I agree you can get by with other means but the factory made nut files are far easier to ...

That is a nice tone you get. How thick is the top?

All in great fun, gang. Make those little gray cells work, keeps 'em happy

Louie, we have one offer of ebony but still sorting things a bit. I'm trying to come up with a way folks can participate and actually do some of the work, like make a fingerboard with binding, so the person making the neck can receive the fingerboard and fit it to the neck, then send the neck to who...

Finally found the subscribe button. It's a tiny thing way down at the very bottom of the page. Been looking and looking. I guess using a Mac makes me sort of different sometimes.

I'm in California.

I

Rodger, thanks for the nudge toward proper usage of terminology. I keep forgetting that in the scientific world words have very specific meanings, my apology but I'm just a civilian.<G> This reminds me of the time I first signed up to advertise with the new magazine, Acoustic Guitar. The company had...