The Luthier Community

Bad luck with the side bending mate, I have to say for years I couldn't get sapele or mahogany to bend without it cracking like that untill I started using a backing strap and my new home made electric bending iron. Now it bends like butter as does Padauk, another wood I had struggled to bend previo...

If the wood is that stiff at 4mm I would definitely have planed it down to somewhere around 2.5mm before bracing or maybe even less . I usually go for 2.5 to 3mm in spruce and probably lose a little bit sanding the top after its fitted. I'll be interested to hear the outcome though.

Well its looking good to me so far, The last OM build I did only had a 2.5mm thick back and sides and it seems strong enough to me , Its currently getting finished ....slowly, Its the one with the 3 piece back in my getting there slowly post. To be honest I was also wondering/worrying about the back...

Here are the pics of my latest Prs style build, this one is a 22fretter with a semi solid body seeing as the trend for weight reduced guitars seems to be in full swing here in the uk ..... Time was cheap guitars were too light , now it seems everything needs to be super light! Ah well how times chan...

Well seeing as I have managed to upload some more pics to photobucket I guess I better share them. This guitar came about as a result of some very frugal buying and finding a 42 x 16.5 x 1.75 sapele board on the offcuts bin at my favourite local sawmill..... did I mention it was dressed to 1.75"...

well I seem to recall something from another article on bass ports in speaker cabinets suggesting that if calculate the area of your standard sound hole then work out the area of your natural soundports and reduce the main soundhole area by the same amount the sound should remain constant with a sta...

I got one of these.....dont get much cheaper andit seems to work well enough http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Indoor-Outdoor-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Temperature-New-/250866177755?pt=UK_Kitchen_Accessories&hash=item3a68ca16db" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... I'm gonna get one ...

Well I'm hoping santa brings me lots of wood next month, but in reality I'll probably have to buy it myself! I have ten book matched tops in stock that have been here a little over a year in rough form and I'm toying with the idea of using some of my sapele as a top wood which would be a first for m...