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Private member DiscussionJob Postings

Looking for CAD expert

Hello all! My name is Jake and I run a repair shop out of my NYC apartment. I am looking for someone who's experienced in CAD to help me with a project. I am working on a 5 string headless bass build for a customer. The neck & body are to be CNCed by a local mill here in Brooklyn, NY. I have a 2D design (PDF and CRD), but I need help making some modifications, as well as translating it to 3D. Pay is negotiable. I will basically pay whate…

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Private member Discussion3D Printing

More free prints

Few more prints up for grabs to anyone in the US who responds first. Fret sander and two screw holders with the gridfinity lobbed off so they are just free-standing.

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Private member
I am tempted by this offer, but I have already taken advantage of a free offer on here before. Need to give others their chance.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Cheap-ish Brace Wood Source

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/wppages/bargainbag_spruce.php The air craft industry uses 1/4 sawn sitka and this is a box of their "Scrap wood" that is a good value to have on hand, (usually like 36 in long and various width) imo if anyone is in need. It's an odd ball source, but just spreading info. Be well.

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Private member
Very cool! Thanks. Bookmarked. That website has some other cool stuff as well.
Private member DiscussionGeneral Business

Appraisals

Friend brought his "old guitar in the basement" over for me to have a look at. Long story short, it's a 1945 D-18, it's all original and it's a beauty. He had no idea. I explained to him that it was worth somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand bucks, that it needed some fairly routine repairs and that he should get - among other things - an insurance rider and take a little more care of the guitar than he has been. Picture attached for fu…

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Ian Davlin
The VG price guide is a pretty good place to start. On something like that, I'd be tempted to pay for an appraisal from Gruhn's though. They used to do email appraisals that were reasonably priced. Re…

Experienced Builder and Red Wing Grad

Howdy folks, I'm a 2026 graduate of the two year guitar program at Red Wing (Minnesota State College Southeast). Between my two years at Red Wing I worked at Collings Guitars in Austin, TX for two years in the acoustic neck department, shaping and finish sanding ~2000 necks, radiusing and gluing ~750 fingerboards, and pressing ~100 sets of frets. I also spent a couple months in the finishing department level sanding and pore filling ~300…

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Lucas does great work.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Mandocello neck block

I am building an archtop mandocello (A style) and I'm trying to find out how to make the neck block. It would be more or less like an A style mandolin neck block, but obviously quite a lot bigger. More or less like the image attached. The blank should be aprox 10 x 8 x 12 cm. I'm trying to find a piece of hardwood big enough for this, would it be acceptable if I made some kind of laminated piece? And how should the grain direction be idea…

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Ian Davlin
The traditional A style mandocello neckblocks were mahogany. There are some really good reasons for laminating them because there are forces on the block that make any single grain orientation a damne…
Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

LOOTHTOOL VL’s Precision Feeler Gauge Set !

LOOTHTOOL I've made some purchases on LOOTHTOOL, but it will not let me review. SO, the VL’s Precision Feeler Gauge Set is a rock solid 10 of 10 or five Amazon stars. Nice blades, EXCELLENT tool box, well marked, I'm thrilled!

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Private member
Absolutely worth a mention! Paid for itself in time saved the first week I put it on my bench. Thanks Buck for doing all the big thinking behind it...
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Drum Sanding Tops and Backs - When and which sander?

So it seems that a drum sander would be very handy for many parts of a "build from scratch". There are a few out there that cost under $3000.00 that can handle wood up to 4" thick and are wide enough to sand a back or top after the halves have been joined. Jet JWD-22-44 open stand, 22"width Jet JWDS-2550 open stand, 25" width SuperMax 19-38 opend stand, 19" width SuperMas 25-50 closed stand, 25" width Questions: Any recomendations on the sa…

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Tom Krebs
I have the SuperMax 16-32. Works very well. I have experience using an older Jet model. A few things about the SuperMax: The paper changing system is much easier. The quick release feature to raise/l…
Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

Suggest an alternative to concave fret file

(for background context, I'm probably in the dozens of fret jobs so far, and no I don't let frets leave my house like this) When I got started getting interested in building guitars, I got the StewMac bundle of fret files/book, which comes with the concave toothed file. Over time, I ended up getting both the Narrow/Medium and Wide/Jumbo files. I don't do it often, but occasionally I do something like shown in the picture, where I'm clearl…

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Private member
What you're depicting in the picture above is what typically happens when a hollow (toothed or diamond grit) file that is too small for the size of fret us used to try and introduce a crown to fret th…
Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Incoherence between CAD and test-piece

Good morning everyone, I was taking some measurement on production necks with scarf-joint (13° headstock angle) to add some machining process with the cnc. I so recreated the standard neck blank feature (100mm wide and 20mm thick), then drawed the 13° angle. Everything correspond the to the real piace but two measurement: the startingcut behind the break angle is ''off'' by 20mm +/- as well as the cut on the bottom, still off by 20mm…

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Is it possible that the angle of the scarf joint is different from the angle of the headstock on the real piece? Could be a manufacturing quirk
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

black limba for eel block

I don't have a piece of mahogany that is wide enopugh to make the heel block on a dreadnaught guitar. Would black limba make a good heel block? I have a piece of black limbaquarter sawn and 5 inches wide.

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Private member
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question I appreciate it