The Hub

Hello to the Council of Elders! My name is Joe Byron, and I am president of the Stringed Instrument Makers of Southern California (SIMSCal). We have been around for over 30 years and have a large number of members and followers. Our membership includes both professional and non-professional luthiers. SIMSCal meets 4-8 times per year (both live and virtually), and we share tips, processes, stories, and show off our work. We frequently inclu…

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…

I've owned this Jersey City made 12-string/drone 'harp' guitar for a few years and want to get on the repair. I've taken the necks off many dozens of Schmidt-made guitars but never one with two necks. I've searched the web looking for harp guitar neck removal and didn't find anything of use. Asking for any tips/aids/experience from the loothers. My plan is to make a custom neck removal jig that fits the necks, and then drill the typical…

An old friend of mine, Les Stansell, who has been building some pretty high-end guitars and ukuleles for over three decades has had to close his shop for health reasons and is looking to sell all his tools and equipment. I’m spreading the word to help him find a suitable buyer – hopefully a new luthier ready to set out on their own. If someone is interested they can contact me here and/or contact Les directly at [email withheld]…

I did a pretty big update to my web tools last week. These are updated from the older versions I had up on celestialinstruments.com. There’s an updated FFT tool now, plus mode detection for guitars and plates, wolf note detection, played-note energy transfer, monopole mobility, plate thickness calculation, and 1/2/3/4 DOF modeling that can be prefilled from FFT data. The part I’m most excited about is being able to fit a measured guitar re…

I'm fast approaching the finish coating of 2 acousitcs. The sitka spruce tops are really bright. I'd like to tone them down a little and have been scouring the web for methods. Seems like adding amber toner in either the sand sealer or more likely the first set of nitro lacquer coats might be the the ticket. I see Stewmac has a Colortone stain called "Vintage Amber" that can be mixed into the nitro. Anybody have expirience with this pro…

I saw this advertised on the web and was interested in it as I had never seen a bridge like it before.. Just curious, thought some of you might recognize it..

Three evertune installs for this customer. This red tele looks great. Lots of tonal options with the DT Fluence set. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVG-vEhkbDI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== https://www.instagram.com/p/DVG-TLIEbWL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

My son in law texted me the following pic of a Gibson he once played and would like to find one for sale. I have searched the web to no avail, so I thought the collective here would have someone that recognizes the model. I was told it was an sj200 but I can’t find any sj200s that look like this instrument. Thanks in advance, Tom

Hey folks, I put together a video showing how I measure the long, cross, and transverse frequencies on guitar top plates before thicknessing, following the Gore method. I also walk through using the calculator I built (based on Trevor Gore’s equations) to get target thickness and track density / young's modulus. Fair warning: the video’s a bit YouTube-y in tone thumbnail faces, a little energy for the algorithm, but the content is genuine…

For folks familiar with the Gore / Gilet books and the top thickness calculations in section 4.5. I made a web based calculator to do the nasty spreadsheet math... So this is for once you've weighed and measured your top plates and then found the long, cross and transverse resonances it gives you the target thickness to hit a particular frequency for the long resonance of the plate. Just sharing so folks don't have to do the math for bu…

I recently put a strap button on a 2023 Woolson Soundcraft (Paul Woolson) guitar, and had a look-see inside. It has a sound port, and the sides are about 3/8" thick. There is no kerfing, the back and top appear to be glued to these thick sides instead. The web site says it has a "double top". Anybody ever hear of double sides?

I am not sure these are available anymore. Company in Germany, I believe, and it looks like they are not shipping. Not much info on the web other than distaste for the idea of a tuning system by Gibson owners. Anyone know where to source these? If not, I may just have to make one.