MIMF

I forgot to mention the resins. Delron works well. Many high end makers use polyester faux ivory. Acrylic is hard to polish out clear. Having helped 'fix' proto type plastic recorders for a manufacturer all I can say is acrylic wreaks havoc on reamers.

As stated, harder wood than maple or pear will be more stable, and in a better quality instrument it is less problematic. But be prepared to pay more money. And it will sound closer to your plastic recorder. Have you tried a drop of dish soap in the wind way. It is a surfactant. It breaks up the wat...

Great job Yuri.

Yamaha now is producing a recorder from plant derived plastic. I hate working in plastic. Get one printed. Also though I agree there are some nice contemporary instrument designs. Very few recorders can stand up to the designs of "100's of years ago" . I would suggest the bulk of modern re...

Trevor, thank-you that is quite informative. Oddly enough, as I am primarily a violin shop focusing on historic instruments and typically only work on guitars over 100 yrs. old, I have had quite a few Ramirez come thru mostly 60's and 70's, 1A's and 2 A's. I prefer not to make a judgment on the timb...

Michael, Thank you,My own experience in having success in getting more low end has been in thinning around the edges of the top. I agree intuitively that thinning braces sounds as a possible solution, to adding more low, but also adding more wolf. My concern is that I have seen a great many 'improve...

Here is the deal, a friend crushed the top of his Ramirez and had someone quite proficient replace the top, the workman ship is flawless but it is not Ramirez bracing. The sound is good and complex but lacking a strong low end and tends to be overly bright in comparison to the original top. As there...

Does any one have an understanding of the function of the slanting "harmonic bar" on Ramirez guitars. Is it possible that it cuts the brightness and adds more low end ?

If the horn is lacquered, as many horns are, the heat gun can damage the finish. A soldering iron used to loosen screws can as well loosen solder joints, been there. Liquid Wrench is what I suggest to use. If the rod is rusted in, heat and damaging the finish may be your only hope. You may be doing ...

Gull reeds are some screwy idea out of the catacombs of my warped mind. It is not the reed for your pipes as it is too stiff for a free reed and needs the lips to control it. Really it would be much easier to make the cane reeds that are specific for your instrument. Your reed is like a very skinny ...

Oops missed out on editing . The straw reeds shown are of thin plastic and work well free blowing(without lips) some heaver straws need wire bent around them to keep them flat. I have as well has success with this style reed made out of gull feathers. Here is the type of reed usually assorted with t...

These straws are skinny and thin . You do have to flatten them at the playing end. The flexy part helps the reed speak. All I do with these is rough sand the tips by putting the tip between folded over sandpaper between my thumb and forefinger and pull. Thicker plastic straws need a small wire wrapp...

Plastic drinking straw reeds, used with balloon bagpipes and other obnoxious inventions. They can be trained, tuned, and refined. Time to construct-10 seconds.

That is a great question. I know good sources of box still exist, some commercial and some thru friends and not public. However, I agree alternatives should be sought out, especially in the learning years. Crocus, Ebony, African Blackwood and the other high end rosewoods are going up and up in price...

Nicholas, Good point on the PVC oil treatment. My variation is using a venturi vacuum device (as used with vacuum bag gluing) along with my compressor, then letting in the oil after the vacuum has begun. I only use hard drying oils of cold pressed linseed or walnut. Concerning box wood, be carful no...

Logical and factual if it weren't for the fact in this instance that the squire bore instruments were made of plywood , allowing them to be thinner.

Not stopped , interesting, had not thought of that. My first response is that they are somewhat short and the blowing technique is quite different, not very seamless. Like Aulos, variations on the theories of Greek music abound, I just gave you a little piece that might help you in your tasks. Boeth...

Google reheading djembes with synthetic heads. Just glue no hardware. But you have got to learn how to stretch and rehead.

Synthetic heads are plentiful, google is your friend. Remo makes some nice 'natural ' looking ones that are easy to work with. Cool idea, I love the sound of rain on a roof.

don't worry bout the #7.