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Private member DiscussionFolk, Bluegrass, Irish, Old Time Instruments

Lighthearted entertainment from India. DIY build.

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

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Private member DiscussionGeneral

Tiny fret slot blues

Hey lads I'm in a bit of an indecisive spot with a 70's yamaha acoustic refret. Pulled the original frets and the tang is .018" with no barbs just divots pressed into the lower edge. The slot is measuring .018". Struggled to find any suitable sized fretwire in stock in the UK that match what the customer wants that'll fit in the slot. Sintoms looked ideal but couldn't find any, so went with something with 0.20 tang and they're not pressi…

5 replies
5 replies
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Private member
Yes, a dremel is not ideal. Ideally you want an air tool with tighter tolerances. Do you have any pawn shops or junk around your shop? Practice on something, you will get a feel for it.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Temp Dovetail Holder for Finishing

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,

6 replies
6 replies
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Private member
If you haven't settled in on anything yet, I might suggest the Total Vise Small-Shop Finishing Station https://dev2.loothgroup.com/sponsor-post/the-small-shop-luthier-finishing-station/ Its much more v…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

More Tanglewood bridge issues

The COE reviewed this bridge disaster in January, a Tanglewood acoustic given to me that had the bridge ripped off as well as some of the underlying top, and an attempted repair with spruce veneer (COE video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlpOIWQrAlw&t=2685s). The general opinion was to install a bigger bridge plate. However, once I removed the existing bridge plate, I found that the underlying repair had not been fully done,…

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5 replies
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Ian Davlin
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Seagull Acoustic Neck Reset...

Hey everyone, I wanted to do a bit of a follow up on a repair I'm doing. A customer brought in a Seagull acoustic guitar that had been dropped, causing the heel block to separate. I managed to get that glued back together with pleasing results, however I did need to take the neck off by removing the two bolts which thread into the heel block, and unglued the fretboard extension. All went well here, although I'm left with a situation whe…

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Private member
One other issue with the guitar that I wanted to mention was a fairly sizeable split in the back. At its widest, there is a gap of about .015" and I'm curious to know how you all would handle this? I…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Repairing braces that do not close against soundboard

Hello Friends, I've had a vintage Epiphone acoustic stored at the shop for almost two years and it's about time to wrap it up. That never happens, LOL. It has a few loose braces, which is a repair I've done in the past. The problem with this one is that no matter how I jack up the loose braces from the inside, some parts of some braces simply do not move enough to come in contact with the soundboard. This is happening in a couple…

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Ian Davlin
00:23:28 Q3. Re-gluing Stubborn Loose Braces @member your video sir.
Private member DiscussionGeneral Business

Full Service vs. Selective

I’m curious to hear from everyone in the trenches, how they manage repairs they really don’t want to do. At this point I am offering customer work again to a small group of people who know me and have worked with me over the years. I’ve had a few people email that I don’t know, being a little pushy wanting to know price and turnaround time because “I need this by the xxth of the month”. I’ve simply offered them a referral to another sh…

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i prob turn about 70% of repairs down but i tell them sorry the building business is my priority & truthfully id rather leave les paul breaks , bridge reglue , pickup swap etc to people that do it mor…
Private member DiscussionFinish New Builds

Ken Parker finishing with the Bridge on

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…

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Ian Davlin
Which finish are you talking about ? It sound's like it's hand applied.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Cracks in acoustic top

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…

8 replies
8 replies
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Private member
Thanks for talking me down. That’s the right decision. Even though it’s my ‘learning’ build for my own use I need to build it like I would for one of my electric customers. The cheap in me almost won.…