In the early eighties and doing temp work, I decided that only way I was going to have a small-bodied solid 335 style guitar would be if I built it myself. I got a local joiner to glue some mahogany…   Read more»

This is not for the squeamish  Being a student in the early seventies, playing in a band and having no money, I decided to build a kinda Les Paul/Telecaster cross. I knew the body should be a hard wood, so…   Read more»

someone’s got to support @jamesbisset for an archtop masterclasscourselessonvideotutorial

@james-chacewatergmail-com-2 At last – someone who understands!

Posted by: @tv1010101 Sound is in the fingers more than in the choice of wood (or choice of glue, or, etc …), IMHO of course! So ebony is going to sound just as bad as all my other guitars then…   Read more»

@darrenking We need to talk! I haven’t got to the Bagpress bit of the pre-planning yet, but I was assuming that I’d need to either build a 3D model of front and back that I could put into a CNC…   Read more»

I’ve been measuring my favourite guitars before spec’ing my own choice. They’re all between 2-2.8mm wide and 0.9-1.2mm tall. If you use 1.2mm height nickel frets, then a couple of fret dresses later they’re going to be less than 1mm…   Read more»

I’ve just voted for more edited videos. ARCHTOP! But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy tuning in every week. I do! I just think once a week is still awesome, and also let’s you spend more time building an archtop…   Read more»

Yeah – I like that cut across. Reminiscent of the bar on the ƒ. I’m guessing that binding it will be fiddly, but wee straight pieces of binding should be a little simpler to fit than tight curves? Or leave…   Read more»

@tv1010101 That one looks like it’s crying tears of laughter. :¬D I’ve printed them all out. I’ll keep looking at them and see which ones grow on me. It’s only just dawned on me that I should have laid them…   Read more»

@james-chacewatergmail-com-2 The teardrop was deliberate, BTW. It’s an ancient decorative shape in Celtic / Indo-European culture from thousands of years ago, but it was made famous as the Paisley Pattern. And Paisley is another thing Ayrshire is famous for – possibly…   Read more»

@james-chacewatergmail-com-2
Yeah – that’s where we are. 😉

No. The string tension will be identical unless you change the tuning or the scale length…

Jol Danzig sets up a rig to test string tension:
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/30517-jol-dantzigs-esoterica-electrica-the-doors-of-perception-Luthier-lutherie-Jol-Dantzig-Hamer-guitar-builder-string-tension-myth-busting
If proof were needed…[Read more]

@rocknroller912 This takes building a guitar on the kitchen table to a whole new level!

@rocknroller912 Thanks for that. Would I be right in thinking it’s a fairly expensive way to finish a guitar though? Would you do it?
Touchstone Tonewoods varnishing set for oil varnish

Can’t get the ‘edit’ button to work, so I’ll just stick this in a separate post – oil vs spirit vs Stradivarius:
https://www.violinist.com/discussion/archive/14324/

It appears that there is a debate eternal in the violin world over oil vs spirit varnish. It always reaches the ‘what would Stradivarius do’ stage. Essentially, spirit varnishes are quick to apply and bright in tone. Oil varnishes are…   Read more»