The Hub

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.

I'm using hide glue on this 1st build. So far I've glued up the kerfing, back braces, and the top "X" brace. I'm using the 190 grade glue. Working time is short at best. I heated the top "X" brace surfaces (brace & top) with a blow dryer and that seemed to help, a little. How can I get enough working time to glue the top, and then later the back, without having to rush and creating a real mess in the process? Suggestions and reco…

Hi Everyone, I believe this may be my first post here, so just a quick introduction — I’m Andrew in Milwaukee, WI. I’ve been building a few years. My luthier eyes were opened first by Charles Fox in Portland which led me to the Gallop School. I recently retired from a tech career and I am now based in Milwaukee, WI focusing on acoustic builds. I’m currently exploring wood-body resonator guitars, and I’d love to learn more from t…

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…

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 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…

Hi, I'm wondering how to achieve this color on a guitar. It's Sparkle Burgundy. I suspect the clear varnish has yellowed with age, which is why it has a coppery effect depending on the light. Can you recommend a varnish to achieve this effect? ​​Should I use a UV lamp after varnishing to age the varnish? Thanks in advance for your help.

Hey everyone. I'm wondering if anyone has a good recommendation for a water based finish that buffs nicely. I currently use lacquer but I'd rather use something less toxic. One finish that's come up in my research is General Finishes Enduro line. Has anybody used that before?

After installing purfling and bindings I noticed a black dot on one of the maple lines— and right at the florentine point! It’s not sanding out. Bummer. As I get close to finish prep does anyone have recommendations on acrylic touch up paint SKUs that work well with maple? These maple purflings happen to be from Gurian Instruments, for what that’s worth. Also, if anyone has an idea of what this dot is and how it got there I’d love to he…

Hi -- I'm building a Thinline Tele and accidentally over-planed the mahogany neck blank. It is now 18.7 mm thick on avg and my rosewood fingerboard is 5.95 mm -- for a total of 24.65 mm instead of the recommended 25.4 mm (1 inch). So the total thickness will be thinner by 0.75 mm or so. 1. Am I still within practical tolerance and therefore should just go ahead with the build as normal? 2. Should I try gluing a 0.55 mm maple veneer I hav…

Hi all, Not sure if this post should go here. I usually do a simple inlay on my guitars like the one in the picture, nothing complicated. I used to have access to a laser cutting machine, but I can't use it anymore, so I do it by hand and I always get some slots that I have to fill with glue and sawdust, so it could look better. Does anybody know any online courses on inlaying techniques? I would like to improve mine. I know Robbie O'Brien…

Hi! I just made a headless electric ukulele by misusing Steinberger's headstock tuner drop-in replacement: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD0nVr_NWnV/ It's fun, and I'd like to make more, (maybe even actually sand and apply finish to one!) but it sure would be nice to get the tuners at a wholesale rate if there's a possibility of selling an instrument. I got these at 6/$100 from Stewmac (https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/tuning-m…

I just wanted to put in a plug for classicalguitartuners.com and Zebulon Turrentine. I was looking for some single classical tuners for a 7 string project and found his website. I was a little confused at first because he catalogs all the available tuners including ones that he doesn't sell but he supplies Der Jung (from Korea) and Gotoh tuners among others. I believe he can also get steel string tuners. The service and shipping…

I am having a little trouble bending my first acoustic sides. The wood is a interlocked mahogany. I am hand bending on a temp controlled 2" curling iron. I have thicknessed the sides down to 1.9mm but still got some wrinkling and cracking trying to bend around the cutaway. I am trying to figure out how to improve this for the next attempt. I have read some conflicting information on how to do this though. Thus far my plan for the next a…

Ian - that was some really interesting stuff he presented today. I plunked down the $ for his book and will be picking up the recommended USB microphone- oh, some oregano too. So here’s the suggestion: maybe every broadcast/recorded program should have a thread for q and a and discussion. I assume you would want to start a new section an populate it with all of the programs in advance - yeah, we love making busy work for you. And I am rea…