The Hub

3D printing and CNC are two areas that I am interested in as a way to facilitate acoustic building. Two questions: 1) For those of you that have both capabilities in your shops, which do you find more useful or more often used on a regular basis? 2) How did you choose a cnc machine? Given the high cost and huge number of products in the marketplace the decision is a bit daunting. Given that the learning curve is steep, I am inclined to b…

Im going to be starting my 6th acoustic build soon. One issue I continue to have is low spots on the sides. I use an LMI bender with the spring steel slats that LMI provided (they are pretty stout). One observation, sometimes there is a bit of rebound in the sides as I take them out of the bender. I sort of force them into the mold to glue the neck and tail blocks. I’m wondering if that may be where the issue is occurring. After removing…

I'm curious to hear when other acoustic builders attach their bridges, before or after finishing the top?

Hey y'all, I've got a mid budget lefty acoustic in the shop for some work and one of the bridge wings is starting to pull up. I know some people are content to just squeeze some glue under and reclamp, but from what I can see underneath it the finish goes back a long way before we even start to touch the wood, if ever. So I'm leaning towards pulling it to be safe, but just making sure I'm not being overzealous before deciding on that co…

What size do I need for gluing acoustic bridges (5"? 6"?) and is there cost effective source for these? Thx!

A client has asked me to build an acoustic guitar using crelicam ebony for the back and sides that he is getting form Stewmac. I have heard it's challenging to bend, and this will be an OM so the waist is pretty tight. Any thoughts or suggestions for bending these sides? I use a homemade bending machine modelled after LMI's latest design (may they rest in peace) and I have had good success bending rosewood, walnut, mahogany, and pau fer…

https://northampton.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/NCC/details/Luthier-Instructor_JR3840 The staff and faculty of Northampton Community College share a single goal: to help students transform their lives through education. It's a goal that reaps rewards thousands of times over the course of a career. Employees at Northampton receive competitive compensation and an array of benefits while working on campuses located in a region with a very h…

Hi, does anyone have experience with Stainless steel fret wire on acoustic guitars or more specific on classical guitars? Up to now I only used the traditional Nickel/Silver fret wire but recognised that after a few months they start to get mat or tarnish despite polishing them. I wonder if that is because of the origin (Producing Company) of the fret wire or due to the alloy? During my search for fret wire that is not Sintoms and also av…

Hi, I have been sent a couple pics from a customer and they want to know what guitar they have. No branding and not something I recognise. It looks old though, tortoiseshell binding. But tail pice looks on the cheaper side of things. Any pointers to identify this one would be greatly appreciated. Apologies for the bad photos. I didn’t take them!

Hello everybody! I've got a newer Martin Special 16 (all solid wood with matte back/sides and gloss top) in for some loose braces. Here in Houston I'm used to dealing with acoustics damaged by over-humidification or extreme heat rather than what I often see addressed in the group by you wonderful folks in your colder (normal) climates. My customer had this guitar shipped to him from Wisconsin, and I suspect it was exposed to some extreme…

I am switching from NC lacquer to EM6000. I also want to switch from black WB filler to blackened epoxy grain fill. My question relates to keeping the color in the pores and off the surface wood, and whether to vinyl seal before and/or after epoxy fill, I already know how to tint epoxy black. Could black grain fill style be accomplished with black epoxy as the grain filler and would a vinyl sealer be used at all, or just use EM6000 for…

First time here on the forums, not sure how often I'll check in, but thought this the best place to post it. Was playing with an idea proposed by Buck Van Laarhoven on a parametric model for bolt-on neck shims, and found the formulas I wrote up translated easily to Taylor and conventional acoustic neck joints so decided to add boxes for those as well. I'm not well versed in Google Sheets, but couldn't see a way to upload the file direct…

Hey! I am in the process of switching to full time repair from a home shop and in preparation have picked up a few product lines. So far I have D'Addario, LR Baggs, K and K and Fishman. I worked at a retail store and did all the ordering so it was easy to get these set up. Does anyone on here have opinions or suggestions for lines that they do well with. I do a lot more acoustic than electric work but was considering seymour duncan as a l…

I am here in hopes people who serve guitarist will become aware of a pursuit of sound we have been on for 12 years. Since 2019 that effort has been known as Go Acoustic Audio. Goacousticaudio.com We have gained the support of a host of great musicians overtime. Peter White, Rick Vito, Larry Koonse, Greg Poree, Arlen Roth, Jack Pearson, Jonathan Butler, Pat Metheny. We also have 3 Winfield Champions, John Standerfer, Marc Sganga, and…

Hello, Just heard of this group and decided to join. My name is John Read and I live in Indianapolis, IN, USA. I have been building Martin style acoustic guitars for 5 years and am on scratch build #28. I am also the website administrator for both kitguitarsforum.com and asiartisans.org/guitarmaker.org. Loothgroup looks to be a fantastic, next-generation communication tool and I look forward to joining into the conversations. Here's my c…

Hi everyone, Thursday we will be doing a video feed with Ian to discuss our work, Developing an Acoustic guitar amplification system that provides players a better option than the common concepts so exploited for so many decades. As part of this discussion we would like to have people offer there issues with pickups and their concerns about what we offer. Given Pickups are so much part of Acoustic guitar performance we would like to hav…

Finishing up a new cutaway acoustic. I thought I had it right before finishing, but now that the finish is done and the neck is bolted on, a straight edge on the frets is 3/32" over the top of the bridge. Can I work with that, or do I need to either add a shim under the bridge, or just cut a new bridge? Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Paul in Chicago

Hi everyone, I was hoping to get some advice on training opportunities. My background and situation (briefly), I’m a self-taught guitar tech and electric luthier with 3 years experience (after 20yrs office work). I have a job in a high volume guitar shop doing setups and quality checks on outgoing/sold guitars. The store does repair work but I have not been included in this, despite many requests. I do not believe this is due to skill le…