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…

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWAuW40jAR_/?igsh=MW1jNDdoYzllMGFmMA== I’ve spent a few overly caffeinated days bouncing between modelling environments, different combinations of operations, tools.. subtle differences in how the coffee is brewed. In short… • Building Iso Curves in Sketch. Defining the surface structure and flow • NURBS Surfacing from curves, smooth intentional surface topology. • BRep Face to T-Spline in Form Environment. Org…

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.…

Just something I stumbled across on YouTube. He has also built an acoustic guitar from a 5 gallon bucket.

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…

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…

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,

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…

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!

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…

Hey! I have a friend who builds flat tops who wants to give stainless a try. I have done a handful of refrets and he was asking advice. He is using a compound radius from 14” to 20”. Jeskar sells the coils and they come in 10”. I have only done installs where the wire matches the board precisely. I bought pre cut pre radius bags for these re frets. Has anyone worked on a compound radius. Do you radius each fret on a bender or can you get…

Hey everyone, I had a question on guitar building and overcoming something of a mental hurdle that I have. Quite awhile back I had access to a CNC machine and routed some Stratocaster bodies which you can see in the pictures. I was mostly pleased with how these turned out, but there are a couple of issues. On the cherry bodied guitar, the seam is off center and I had some blowout at the upper horn location, which caused me to try and cu…

Hello. I am interested in the luthiers opinions about using Osmo oil as a finish on acoustic guitars? Advantages vs disadvantages. I am a new builder with small home workshop, mostly using hand tools to build my first acoustic guitar, an OM pre war style. Thank you all.

Technically this is a repair, but I thought there would be some crossover with building, so I posted here as well. A 1950s Gretsch Town & Country Rancher 6021 is missing the two braces on either side of the sound hole (see photo). Because this is such a wide instrument (17” lower bout), I’m thinking that installing those missing braces will help with the stability of the top in addition to repairing the cracked/loose ladder braces. The…

As one does, I got distracted designing a fretboard for my newest acoustic build and thought 'Wouldn't it be great if there was a plugin to do this automatically?' Several days and 1000 lines of Python later, it's definitely possible. But then I thought "What else might be interesting as part of a plugin like this?" So I'd love to hear what you think, including: - Is this something you think is valuable (irrespective of price) - If it is va…