The Hub

Hi all. Brand new member. I’ve been building a classical guitar via kit from LMI for a couple of years now. I keep putting it off but recently became motivated to get back to it. Unfortunately LMI is out of business so I now have no one to go to to ask questions. I’m at the stage where I’m putting the sides together in the form. I followed the dimensions for the form based on the plans as I measured them, but the sides overlap pretty ba…

For those of you who regularly do semi-hemispherical frets -- how long do you make your frets? Specifically for a bound fretboard (although I suppose this would apply to either bound or unbound) do your frets come up a little short of the outside edge of the binding? And if so, how much gap do you leave? I did my first semi-hemis on a new build and made them end flush with the outside edge of the bindings, but it doesn't feel right.…

Hi all. I'm in the process of working with a landlord to customize a space for my growing repair and building business. The space is approximately 800 square feet and broken into a major space (around 400 square feet), and 2nd large space (around 300 square feet) that I'm thinking of as a machine/sawdust room, and 2 smaller areas that I'm considering as a spray booth and a wood/guitar storage closet. I'd love to hear about lessons learn…

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…

Speaking of Trevor Gore... I've started using falcate bracing on my ukuleles and in making the braces, 3 strips of .0625" spruce are bent and then put in a bent lamination glue up rig using epoxy. Bending spruce is no fun on a hot pipe. It's slow, fussy, the fibers want to delaminate. I have been thinking about building a small dedicated steam box. Pulling all 3 of the strips out at once and bending them over a form with a metal back…

Hello All! My first post and I'm very happy to be here and share the highs and lows of this pony ride. After years of bending sides on a hot pipe or bending machines belonging to 'other people', I finally built myself a bending machine. Functionally it is great, but the result on some test material was far from great. See pictures attached. What you see here is a doug fir 'test side' that certainly came out guitar shaped, but oh my, what…