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Private member DiscussionDiscussions

Anyone know where I can find a Thumbwheel tone control assembly like this?

Client wants me to add a Tone control similar to this (pic) to his archtop. where can I get one? Thx!

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I get them from Mouser Electronics but you can also get them from WD Music Products https://www.wdmusic.com/alpha-thumbwheel-potentiometer-250-kohm-500-kohm-details.html#menu
Massimiliano Monterosso Maxmonte Guitars VideoNew Builds

Acoustic Guitar Builders Club: The Perfect Edge, with Wolfgang Hess of Tormek

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Private member DiscussionShare Your Repair Content

Introducing the NutBuster

Hello All I have been using Ted Bergstrand's online nut calculator on Benchmuse.com which is excellent. It allows you to have a consistent gap between each strings vs the progressive gap that the Stewmac rule gives you. Or you can do consistent centers to the strings. I have definitely found measuring the nut with calipers to work a lot better than the stewmac rule and don't use the rule anymore. I wanted some additional functionality…

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PS All Hail Ted Bergstrand who introduced me to many very useful things. Kind of nuts how many things I use now that Ted turned me on to.
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Sadowsky bass help needed please 🙏

Sadowsky use unique control plate screws which are much smaller than common plate screws. I believe the ones they use are: #3 × 3/8" Phillips Pan(domed) Head Black Oxide csk self tapping Sheet Metal Screw Type AB thread. Being in the UK, these are really hard to find, pretty much don’t exist here, so can anyone please help me or point me in the direction of a supplier? I’ve contacted Sadowsky direct with no response and also many of my main…

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Hi Nigel. #3's are impossible to find. Can you step up to a #4 like these? There slightly larger. https://accu-components.com/us/shop/precision-components/drilling-tapping/self-tapping-screws/counters…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Nominal Normal Thickness of Barb Thickness for a .022” Tang Wire?

Let me start with this; I'm trying to find the root cause of difficult fret wire installation of two different SM fret wires. I've spent a lot of time gathering dimensions and experimenting with techniques wich could cause the problem. I enlisted the help of a colleague who arrived at a similar poor performance. His solution was to glue the fret ends/ beat the frets in. My "rather" is to find the root cause so I don't have to go thr…

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Matching the fretwire to the fret slots (and visa-versa) is a huge subject. Dan and I did an entire episode of the Dan and Doug Show just on fret slots. I'll be revisiting the subject of fretwork in…
Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Node Atlas v1.1.0

Dialled in the Beta, much further. Now at v1.1.0 Echoing Christopher Alexander’s argument in the first half of “Notes on the Synthesis of Form” here. Parametric, Semi-Lattice Structures. Centres within Centres, interacting to form the whole. A living structure. Because of the dimension of time, and feature hierarchy, and methodology we end up with a Centre Oriented Semi-lattice Hyper-graph, or COSH for short. This will be available on the…

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Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

Tool for shaving back braces

I am retopping a guitar and while it's open I want to reduce the mass of the back braces. Since the sides are in the way, I can't figure out how to cleanly cut the excess brace wood away; anything I've tried involves the handle hitting the sides and preventing a controlled, clean cut. Is there a tool - say a "pull finger plane" - that I can pull from the edge to the middle of each brace to facilitate this?

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My problem in this parlor guitar is that any chisel I currently have is too long and I can’t address the middle third of the brace without coming in at such an angle that I can’t control the chisel pr…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Heat Blanket controller....

HEy FOlks. Ive Been using a really old timer and reostat control, with a separate thermometer, on my heat blanket set up for a while. Its worked, but id like to be a bit more mindless about it if possible. Does anyone have suggestions for heat blanket controllers that have a digital readout and built in temp control sensor?

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Sounds good. The reason I picked this model is because is can use a "K" style probe or a thermistor probe which will work in a wet environment (greenhouses etc.). I posted a flat probe upstream that…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Replicating Kurt Cobains 59 Martin - bad idea?!

Greetings fellow Looths! I recently received a request from a customer to replicate Kurt Cobains 59 Martin, starting with a Sigma DM3. I have pasted the customers email to me below. While I have been a looth hobbyist for many years, I just recently opened my official business, Finger Lakes Guitar Works, and am just getting off the ground and a good flow of repair work is already coming in. While I feel 100% confident in my abilities to…

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Seems kinda annoying to me. The guy wants to spend a ton of money building a replica of a guitar but he's going to not use a guitar by the actual brand to do it? I'm going to go with this is going t…
Private member DiscussionCAD/CAM

“I live my life a 1/8 mm at a time”

Guitar neck topology is worth going microscopic. 🔬🦠 After building my starting surface from a wireframe network in the sketch environment; a system of 4-degree control point spline rails, tangent to projected isoparametric curves along the shaft — I can convert the NURBS surface to a T-Spline and start cleaning up the artifacts left behind by the original loft. In this demo I’m turning on Box Display, which feels strange at first because…

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Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Mandolin acoustics academy - Hub Of Acoustics

Hi everyone, I'm Martino from Hub of Acoustics, a collaborative project created by luthiers for luthiers. Our goal is to explore and teach acoustic principles that are directly relevant to instrument making. In 2026, we’ll be running four courses in different parts of the world, all focused on giving luthiers practical tools to better understand and control the acoustics of their instruments. We’re excited to introduce our very…

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Private member DiscussionCAD/CAM

Fast & Curious 3: Parametric Drift

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…

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Brett -- If you are doing free-form modelling, have you tried using Shapr3D software? I just started playing around with it and it seems to be reasonably intuitive and easy with which to get started.…
Private member DiscussionCAD/CAM

2 Surface 2 Transition

Back at tinkering with the new Isoparametric Curve tool in Fusion. Scroll down to PICTURES LETS GO! If you want to skip this little walk through Autodesk Fusion memory lane, clearing up some of the UI conFusion. Why something so seemingly basic, is just being added today. 2009- Autodesk Inventor, hybrid modelling experiment, parametric and direct CAD in one hybrid system. 2011- Autodesk acquires T Splines Inc. an organic modeller still in…

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Private member DiscussionCAD/CAM

Fusion Surface Transition Update

I had a feeling I should have updated Fusion before 3D Club... Todays New update introduced Project Isoparametric Curves "Isoparametric curves in the Sketch environment, adding new ways to extract surface U and V curves for more controlled lofts, rails, and surface transitions" ...The meridians on the shaft surface seen in the attached photo. I still haven't fully grasped how to align these between faces, attached is a quick…

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Private member DiscussionGeneral

Humidity stability, moisture meters

It's that time of the year when I start to get all paranoid on the humidity levels of my shop. It happens at this time as the heating seems to send my hygrometers out of whack and it's quite difficult to keep things stable. So far i've been relying on keeping a 45% constant humidity in an automated system I built on Domoticz (similar to Home Assistant), which control a humidifier and dehumidifier. I'm not that confident i got this nailed…

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Thanks both for your replies. In all honesty so far I have not had any issues with my builds. The Trevor Gore books do mention that gluing should always be done at 45%RH, so i'll keep trying to stick t…