The Hub

Hello, One of my commissions is coming down the pike and it's going to be my first time using bar frets. I could use a once over for any helpful tips if you have any. About the guitar: Aged HD-28 but mahogany back and sides. I think Martin called this a HD-28 M? Skipping the truss-rod and using two carbon fiber strips. My process for Frets: 1: I CNC my fingerboards to a 16" radius and for T-frets I use a .023" to cut slots with a mat…

Hi all, I am building a mandocello, Gibson style but with f holes, currently working on the top. I got to a point where I carved it to about 5 mm in the center and about 3,3 around the edges. If has some flexibility but still feels quite stiff. I tap and listen but having experience only with flat top guitars I don't really know what I'm looking for in terms of tap tone and flexibility. I know there is no correct answer to this, but anyo…

So, I've stained the body and neck and I'm in the process of applying several (3 or 4) coats of epoxy to them for pore filling. I watched Michaels video on the subject. My question is: When sanding the epoxy I beleive I should stay above the wood (stay in the epoxy) since it is stained, right??? When doing this same process on a body and neck that is not stained, I could sand back to the wood without consequence if I'm consistent…

can anyone help me determine the neck angle on a 12 fret to the body neck Robbie Obrien says the gap betwwen the plane of a 14fret neck and the top of the soundboard at the bridge should be3.5 mm. does that hold true for 12 fret necks

Has anyone developed, or know of for sale, a fixture that can be installed in an acoustic body (dovetail neck) during finishing? I'm approaching the spraying stage of my build and would like to be able to have a "handle" on the body that I can use to hold & hang the body during that process. Regards,

Hey all, My father-In-law would really like to make a rickenbacker 4003. I’m based in the UK and I can’t find a suitable template/templates for this. I wasn’t sure to post this in the CNC forum but thought I’d post it here first. I have tried crimson but no luck, but they’ve mentioned many people have asked about them. Thanks for any help it’s much appreciated

Hi -- I am planning to have a maple Thinline Tele top painted by an automotive paint shop. They've made a glossy and a matt sample for me and it looks great. I wonder if anyone has any experience with this, and specifically: - if I bind the top first, will the paint stand very proud above the binding once I scrape the paint off the binding? - the matt looks terrific, but it looks like it will burnish and get shiny in spots or line…

I cut the fret slots for a baritone guitar build today, so I thought I'd share my method for cutting fret slots, as I think it is a bit unusual. I radius and profile my fretboard before I cut the slots. I print out a paper layout of the fretboard, double-stick tape it to the radiused and profiled fretboard, line up the saw by eye to using red hatch marks on the printout, and saw the fret slots with a 3" circular saw that rides on…

Hi folks, I thought you might be interested in this approach to having easy height adjustment for a GoBar deck. I learned this tip from my buddy, Don Parker. He lurks around here too from time to time. :) The basic idea is rather than having a booster platform on the base for use when gluing braces to plates you bring the roof down lower. There is a 3D printed spacer in black in the pics. I linked to a downloadable STL and 3MF of…

To the builders out there, how/where do you store wood for builds? Is it different for back+sides vs tops vs neck blanks? Any periodic maintenance required? Thanks in advance!

Hi there folks! Many months ago I watched a video (or probably a live streaming) with Doug Proper -among others- in which there was a part where he talked about necks weak point in the heel area and other stuff such as neck relief terminology. That topic keep buzzing me in the head, is possible to have a proper (small) discussion about that? I have a couple question

Just wondering, anyone doing Ken Parker finishing on an acoustic with the bridge glued on? I've been using the finish for a while but I'd like to start glueing the bridge on before I finish so I can acoustic test everything in its final state. I can't see a reason why I couldn't wipe the epoxy and oil up into the bridge joint and then remove it by rubbing but I was wondering if anyone has done it already. It would mean finishing the…

Hi everyone - I recently ran into trouble making new nut for one of my necks that needed to be trued and re-fretted. I roughed in the nut as usual and then, with the bass guitar fully assembled and strung up, I started cutting the slots to depth. I use the StewMac digital nut slot depth gauge and have had good results in the past. I marked the nut's lowest points (radiused) using the guitar nut scribe tool (first time using this!) and c…

I’ve been building electric for a few years but decided to make an acoustic this time. I have some German spruce panels I was going to use for the top. While running it through my drum sander to dimension it, I noticed that both panels have matching 6-8” cracks so the original blank must’ve had a split pre resawing. Would I still have good results if I glue the panels and move on or should I buy a new top set? (I can’t return what I have…

I just read a small note in a new OM plan (GenOne) I'm using that suggested maple as an alternate wood for the inside center strip between the back braces. Wondering what would be the downside of that (passive back). A curly maple strip would certainly be attractive, and the mass/ stiffness difference is virtually negligible for a passive back. Thoughts? I'm cutting braces this week...