MIMF

Tom, there are Greek instruments of various sizes. The smallest is the baglama, and it can be made very small with a body usually carved out of solid wood (about the size of a large cup), and about half scale of bouzouki. Then there is a 3/4 sized body with a scale a few inches shorter than the bouz...

I have used Solarez a number of times, with great results. I watched the Highline Guitars YouTube videos where he explains the properties, and how he uses it. I got great results. Just remember that if you try to use it to filll large voids and gaps, it will appear white. As a grain filler, it is cl...

I have used Brite Tone a number of times, and got great results. I pretty much followed the process layed out by Highline Guitars on his YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFtsXkHCbgM&t=2536s

On a guitar where the top of the body is rounded, rather than completely flat, how do you route the dovetail into the neck portion? It seems to me that the body part of the dovetail routing would be easy enough, but on the neck side, if the body is round, rather than flat, you will have large gaps i...

That looks fantastic. Top work!

Fantastic tutorial. I am thinking of using elliptical soundports on both the bass side upper bout and the side of my next archtop, so this is extremely helpful. I am trying to figure out which side to put the side port seam of the binding, towards the top of the guitar or the back. Initially I was t...

Thanks Alan! That is exactly what I am aiming for - a sound more like a flat top than the woody muted sound of most archtops.

Barry, thanks for that info. I was not aware of that. However, I am trying to do something different. I want to try an archtop with an oval sound hole in the upper left of the soundboard (so bass side upper corner) along with a side port. Obviously, there are no plans for such a guitar, and I am at ...

Thanks Alan. Do you know if will calculate volume, so I can try to calculate the correct Helmholtz opening size, or is there a better way to do that?

Thank you Alan for your response!

I'd like to build some smaller archtops - 15" and 14" lower bouts, and am planning on using a 25" scale (at least for the 15"). I have seen some with the normal neck connection at the 14th fret, and some with a connection at the 15th fret. When guitars mostly had the neck join th...

I do the same as Alan, foam block. Places that sell auto body supplies will have foam blocks of different densities. I bought a few different ones, and cut them up to a smaller size. You can even shape them with sandpaper to fit various contours.

I used to live very close to the Chicago School, when I was in Chicago (it is actually in Skokie, which is better). I brought my lawnmower for repair to a place right next door, and I saw the sign on the door. I was not involved in lutherie back then, so I never knocked. It is a humble looking build...

What are you using stabilized wood for (what part of the instrument). I would think the stabilization process would destroy the tonal quality of the wood. However, if you want a source, I have purchased stabilized knife blanks from Arizonaironwood.com. The owner is great - very accommodating, nice g...

Unless you are trying to sell something, you can do whatever you want - flat staves, rounded staves, in Greek bouzoukis, there is even a technique for hollowing out the center of each stave, with a scraper to make the stave concave, so the seems are raised.

On lutes, the staves are very thin (maybe 2mm or so), so to round the back of the instrument to eliminate the flats, if there are a low number of staves would remove the wood from the stave joint, before you rounded the body. Most lutes of a pretty low number of staves. Ouds generally have a higher ...

Very cool. Would be great for some surf rock. Love the care theme (at least that is what it looks like to me, a woody with a surfboard).

Alan, thanks for your reply. You always have good, well thought out responses. One of the reasons that I never got into violin making (although I did do quite a bit of research) is that you have to make copies. Sure, if you are making instruments for non-concert violinists, or just for fun, you can ...

I recently saw a young maker's bracing pattern (I think it Tim Frick, who studied with Tom Ribbecke, but don't quote me on that) and there was a pretty substantial upper transverse brace there. I assumed that it was there, as Barry notes, to prevent the rotation of the neck due to the string pressur...

Awesome!