The Hub

Here it is. I thought it turned out ok. Hopefully it's a help to someone. ☺️

Hi friends, I was at a colleague's shop this morning. He’s a pretty well-known builder. A customer has asked for names (several… grandchildren, you know) being inlayed in abalone in a fingerboard and he’s feeling out of his depth for this task. I have volunteered to help find a colleague who'd be willing to do it. Anyone interested in doing this? Any recommendations for a talented colleague? Thanks friends.

https://reverb.com/news/take-a-photo-tour-of-the-1904-harmony-instrument-factory?

Hello to the Council of Elders! My name is Joe Byron, and I am president of the Stringed Instrument Makers of Southern California (SIMSCal). We have been around for over 30 years and have a large number of members and followers. Our membership includes both professional and non-professional luthiers. SIMSCal meets 4-8 times per year (both live and virtually), and we share tips, processes, stories, and show off our work. We frequently inclu…

When using epoxy (either silvertip or epoxy), I try to sand back the epoxy on the surface and only leave it in the pores. I'll start the process with sanding to 320g or so then using an air compressor to blow out the pores. The challenge that I run into is opening new pores in the process. I use a block of wood and long strokes in an attempt to avoid uneven sanding. Ultimately I'll get a good pore fill but I tend to apply several coats…

Hello, I just received an unfinished, slotted but not fretted maple neck from Warmoth. I believe standard practice is to fret then finish but I’m curious if it might be better finish before fretting? I understand one would want to prevent finish from entering the slots. I’m and going to use tru oil and do a light finish, maybe three or four light coats. Thoughts for this beginner? Dave

I've built a number of classical guitars with an adjustable neck and they seem to gather quite a bit of interest, so i'm currently in the process of looking to refine the design and build. It's quite a simple construction where the neck is held together by string tension and hangs on a pivot. I developed a 3d printed "socket" which acts as the interface between the body and the guitar and allows for some fine tuning of the alignment of t…

Anyone have plans/drawings for a vintage spec AJ they can share, or a link where I can buy them? I haven't been able to find anything other than J45 plans with general notes on the differences that aren't clear enough to follow. Thanks!

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…

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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.