MIMF

Hey guys, I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the replies including well wishes and advice. This is a tough life decision for me as I’m now retired with time on my hands. The majority of the archtops were built while I was still working the full time day job. The irony is that the hours were tough at times...

Hi guys and gals. I haven’t posted a whole lot lately while taking a break from building after 95 archtops in the last dozen years. I’ve developed some health issues between the sawdust and lacquer fumes and need to decide how to proceed. I think the nitro lacquer is the main culprit as I have alway...

Glad you like it, Dave.
I was concerned that it would be difficult to hold the tool level enough to get a consistent cut but seems to work okay. I had thought of using a Dremel but was unable to find a source for a piloted cutter with the small shank (1/8") to fit a Dremel.

In the past I've always done the body binding radius by hand but it's a tedious process. These pics show an attachment for a small pneumatic die grinder to allow using a corner rounding bit (1/16" R.) with 0.500" pilot bearing. I made the sleeve from 1.5" diameter aluminum stock by st...

Gotta get me one of them there glueboxes.
Seriously, it is an interesting video.

David, you presented enough evidence to make a believer out of this old man. Makes sense to me now and interesting discussion.
Nelson

I've been around machine tools all of my working career and I've never heard of one type of motor making a better finish than another. Is that some kind of old wives tale?

I like the scraper marking idea, Dave. I used the scraper to this point but it sure has to be sharp to avoid tearout on the figure. After a little more thinking about the white coating I mentioned in the first post, I believe that was a kind of masking material. It was to be brushed or sprayer on an...

This is the particular area. I can get by using the low light method but just thought there might be a quick trick of which I was unaware. It's a little time consuming to get the transition ridge nice and uniform. I don't do a lot of Florentines but have some in the works currently. I do this type o...

What do you guys and gals use to highight contour when doing fine carving and sanding on highly figured woods? That would be flamed maple in this case and carving the transition ridge between a Florentine cutaway and the rest of the plate on an archtop. I know that the autobody people use sanding pr...

Is that California bedtime or UTC bedtime?

a few years ago I used some bracing like this. In '98 I used bracing of this type for the very light back plate to good results. For tops I have used this style of brace for only 2 instruments. As long as the glue joints are strong there is no detrimental result that I know of. I leave one brace co...

Hello Jon,
You should be able to use Windows7 "Program Compatibility Troubleshooter" to install your older software. Do a search for it in windows7 help. It will let you run the setup file in compatibility mode. Worked for an old version of Autocad anyways.
Nelson

Will you be applying binding and purflin to your headstock? If so, that reduces the width requirement for the veneer.

Philip, one solution is to bookmatch a piece of material to get the desired width leaving the seam down the center of the headstock. Another would be to splice small pieces along the outside edges of your veneer. Ebony is very forgiving as it blends very well. A good glue joint is key when bookmatch...

Sorry for being "after the fact" here, Arnt. I hated to be negative after you said you had ordered the Trend airshield, you may find that it works quite well for your needs. Having allergies is seriously not fun and anything you can do to prevent reactions is time and money well spent. Nel...

I have the Trend Airshield Pro but rarely use it as it is very cumbersome to put on as well as remove and takes up a lot of space when not being used. Other than that it's okay. :) With that said, the filtered air passing over the user's face has a cooling effect as Charlie alluded to above. I have ...

Good to hear from you also, Michael! Do you prefer straight or tapered dovetail?
Edit: I use a straight but the body dovetail is narrower at the bottom end where the string load puts it in tension.

Mark, I could possibly see gluing only the dovetail if the body and neck were going to be finished seperately and then assembled. Probably would also need to allow a little bit of "room" for finish thickness when flossing if assembling after finishing. I've never had to floss an archtop ne...

Dave and Michael,
I understand the utility of the undercut mentioned but my concern is that some glue surface will be lost if the undercut if too deep.
Maybe you're talking just a couple thousandths undercut so that glue strength isn't affected significantly?
Nelson