MIMF

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...

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.

I stopped using fish glue to tack down the end of the fingerboards on bolt-on necks when I found out how hard it was to get the stuff loose dry. Hide glue is brittle and will fracture, but not the fish glue. I wonder if that has to do with the fact that it doesn't gel the way hide glue does? On the ...

I've used the planetary gear PegHeds for some time on fiddles and dulcimers, and as replacements on replica early instruments. They look and work like standard wood friction pegs, but offer a 4.5:1 gear ratio, which, along with a small shaft diameter where the string winds on, makes for precise tuni...

My students and I have made a lot of laminated necks without head joints, with no real issues so far. I generally carve them with a 'dart', similar to the back of the head on a Martin, which adds a bit of material in the weak spot just above the nut, but whether that has made a significant differenc...

The one I use the most is a Rigid R2401. It's the size of a trim router, but has more power than most, and it's quieter: about 3dB less noise by my dB meter. I got one for my binding setup, and liked it so well I bought another. I do have a big Porter-Cable that can take a 1/2" collet, but I on...

What Barry said: it's usually about right. If you lean on the file a bit around the 5-7 fret area you can mill in a bit of relief. Also, truly 'flat' files are not common; you may find the one you have is arched enough on one side (and cupped on the other, of course).

I had a student who was an art teacher. She said that it's possible to get acid free copy paper if you're worried about permanence, and that laser prints are considered 'archival'.

As far as I can see, nitro is nitro, including both celluloid and nitrocellulose plastic. It's chemically unstable. Being the little brother to a high explosive it breaks down over time, and releases nitrates that react to form nitric acid with moisture in the air, so it's considered 'toxic' to coll...

There are a number of ways to proceed once you have the arch roughed in; it depends on what tooling you have, and are used to. I mostly go at it with violin maker's planes, and hard scrapers. Some folks prefer gouges, and others like to use a disk sander. I make up a set of contour gauges and check ...

Usually that sort of twist is nature's way of telling you that there was some stress in the wood; built-in as it grew or due to drying. A look as the end grain might help to diagnose it. You might be able to clamp it down or cook it in some way to untwist it, but the stress would still be there, eve...

Backs usually only have cross braces, and they can straighten out, so the lengthwise arch is less than it 'should' be.

There is a whole-body vibration mode, analogous to the fundamental mode of a xylophone bar, than can couple usefully with the lowest 'air' resonance if the two are close enough in pitch. This dubbed the 'C-1', or 'first corpus' mode, or, sometimes, the 'neck' mode, since the neck bends a lot. When t...

Aside from the shorter scale I would consider both the plug-in neck and compensated saddle to be distinct improvements. Building on a solera in the usual Spanish style makes adjusting the neck angle to compensate for later body distortion very difficult. Spanish makers have often used a thick finger...

They used to sell quartered spruce for staging planks.

I've been using the cycloid arches for some time; done right they seem to be very stable. I've seen too many archtops with the bridges cranked up to the limit because of the sinking top.

I once had the black from a dyed veneer leach into a spruce top when I used epoxy to clue it in. Not wonderful. Try a sample first...

I doubt Tru-oil would keep brass from tarnishing. Lacquer or shellac might do it, but it won't be as shiny as bare polished brass.

The hard 'latewood' lines add stiffness, but also add weight, and the weight tends to go up faster than stiffness. What seems to matter is not so much the grain count, but the ratio between earlywood and latewood. Close grained wood with inconspicuous latewood lines can have low density, and wood wi...

If the boards are rectangular and reasonably uniform in thickness you can test the material properties. You'll need to measure the size of the board, get the weight, find the pitches of the long-grain and cross grain fundamental modes. Both can be found using a spectrum analyzer, such as the one in ...