The Hub

Hi Thought I'd say "hi". I've just joined the group. I'm Rob, I'm based in Yorkshire in North England. I'm mainly interested in elictric guitar and electric bass building and playing. I've built around 5-6 guitars/basses through 3d printing. I've two Prusa MK4's and been printing for around five years. The design and build of them is logged here https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/485214-a-3d-printed-six-string/ And https://www.basschat.co.uk/t…

Thinking of trying a scoop cutaway on my current acoustic build. I actually planned to do it but I’m having second thoughts. I have no issues bending a cutaway. Question for those who have done it - is the higher end of the fretboard still comfortably accessible with the scoop and, is there any perceptive difference in sound by saving that small portion of the upper sound box? I guess I’m just wondering if the extra work is worth anyth…

I usually build flat top guitars and usually joint the tops and backs with a Stanley no 5 style of hand plane ( only different brand). I want to build an archtop instrument, and the wood blanks I have are longer than usual and, of course, a lot thicker. What size plane do you use for kind of job? Would it be easier with a longer plane (6 or 7)? Thanks! Jorge

I'm having trouble getting my mic to work with REW. I'm at the beginning of a new build and would like to measure the tonewood properties. I am trying to follow Giuliano's instructions in his book. everything seems to be working but they don't talk to each other. I think its a calibration or pc setting but I'm not very computer savvy and what seems to go without saying needs to be said to me in step by step, very simple language. I…

Hi all, just sharing a couple of shots of my latest build, an A5-style mandolin with a goth soul 😉 Tonewoods Top: Alpine Spruce (Italy) Back & sides: Flame maple (France) Neck: Birch (Sweden) Fretboard & bridge: African Ebony Dimensions Scale length: 352.4 mm Nut width: 30 mm Fretboard radius: flat Total length: 660 mm Body width: 260 mm Finish Hand-rubbed stains and acrylic satin finish Features Hammered steel pickguard and truss rod cover Moose antl…

I really dont like doing to much repair work as it takes away from builds, but sometimes a friend will call who needs help so i'll take on the job & when the job comes in sometimes i regret it like i did this time... an older les paul came into the shop & when you turned down the tone on the bridge pickup, it would lose about 80 percent of the signal. almost like it was grounding out. at first im like ok, prob something simple so i chang…

This is just a rant against the Stew-mac touchup pens. Ive just never had them functionally work, without creating more of an issue than there was in the first place. Through an "act of god" I chipped a small bit of freshly buffed and polished laquer off the headstock of a Taylor that I refinished. The guitar had that nasty bubbling around the tuners and CA glue didn't fix the issue, so I stripped the front of the headstock and airbrush…

Hello all, new member here. I've been working as a touring tech for 20 years and just noticed this section of the forum was empty, so I figured I'd give it a kick. Are there any topics\questions\ideas\etc that people would be interested in hearing about or discussing from a touring perspective? If so, drop a comment here and I'll see if I can address it or post any relevant photos\content. I'm leaving Wednesday for a month in Europe fol…

A friend of mine put in my head the crazy idea of building a mandocello. There used to be a building plan available at https://www.hovingtoninstruments.com/ .... but the website seems to be down and it has been for weeks. I am trying to contact Tom Hovington on his FB and Instagram, but does anyone have other sources for building plans of this type of instrument? I've been searching but I can't find any. Thanks in advance, Jorge

Hello All. I'm new to the group and a beginner in terms of building (only built a couple so far). I was hoping I might gain some insight on the effect bridge type has on tone on a solid body guitar. I have been building guitars with hardtails but I'm curious about wraparounds. Of course, with hardtails the whole device is screwed to the top where the connection on a wraparound style bridge is not as direct being held up by studs. Any th…

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…

I have a 46' J-45 in need of a new neck. I figured I would scour the interwebs for a possible replacement before I go commando and build one to spec. Let me know if anyone has anything in this vein!

I was finally able to model something like a Gibson L7 top plate! Now I'm trying to build my f-holes... My only reference is the Benedetto archtop book, where it puts a few rules of thumb about how the f-holes should be placed. My question is, how precise are we talking here? One of the rules of thumb is that the bridge intersects at the midway point of the f-holes. Does this imply that the f-holes are at a certain location on the plate,…

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 rarely use pickguards on my builds, as most of my guitars are intended for fingerstyle players. That said, I occasionally need to install one, and I've yet to find a cutting method that consistently meets my quality standards. I’ve experimented with several techniques for cutting clear pickguard material, but the results are always somewhat disappointing. Using a brand new X-Acto blade gives a reasonably clean cut, but there's almost a…

Heres a link to a youtube video I just quickly put up unedited of my latest build!

I'm building my first BRW guitar, started with the back, pictured below. What do you normally thickness BRW sides to? I guess they can probably be a bit under 2 mm, but I don't want to overdo it in case there is some slight deformation that needs to be sanded later. I bend manually on a heating iron if that makes any difference.

Sorry for the multiple posts (limited by the photo count). Love to hear any general feedback