MIMF

I find that the personal horror stories are, most of the time, the best reminder to me. Even after 40+ years of working with power tools (or maybe especially after) it is easy to forget and do something dumb. Every time I read about someone else getting bit I am more cautious for a few weeks. A book...

Hmmm... I've never had a problem with poplar being fuzzy when machined - in fact one of the nice things about it is that it can be shaped very neatly, which is why it is popular for making cheap furniture. I wonder if what you had was actually willow or cottonwood, both of which occasionally get mis...

I like this idea. I use my spool clamps a lot and it is always a pain running them up and down the rods.

Very nice chair. The techniques and concerns for furniture building are so very different from what is important in instrument construction, a fact that was hammered home to me many times in the first couple years I was building guitars. I came to instruments from being first a rough carpenter, then...

Very nice! I've been eyeballing those vintage tuners myself. Good to have an actual hands-on report. I hope to have a shop again by the end of the summer so I can build something to try them on!

As someone who plays badly I would rather use up my time building. If I could actually coax real music out of an instrument I think I would have a bit different take on it. Basically, if I wanted to, say, start playing the banjo I would buy one because it would take me at least a year to get one bui...

Really like that overall look. Great build!

Something to tuck away for future reference would be to see if a company like Servicemaster in your area has an ozone chamber. After a fire we had a bunch of stuff treated and I was amazed at how well it took all the smoke smell out of things.

While I hate to see instruments going to the dump, there is also a very practical side to it. For most families any more the piano is just a large cabinet that collects dust and gets banged on by pre-school kids. There are also so many alternatives if you actually want to make keyboard music that th...

I like that a lot, Michael! I would like to see a better shot of the back of the neck and how you worked the volute in there.

I use the same radius for top and back, probably at least 25', but it is pretty approximate. So far, so good.

Sweet! Nice execution of the theme.

I just added "A Princess of Mars" to my Kindle. I somehow doubt that I'll get to the movie while it is still in theaters - just never seems to work that way for me.

I made the one in the center for one of the $100 challenges. Lower bout: 11" Upper bout: 7 1/4" Body length: 18 3/4" Thickness @ Tail: 3 1/4" (this was supposed to be 3 1/2", but ???) Thickness @ Neck: 3" Scale: 25.4" Dreadnought scale It definitely sounds like a &...

I do a sort of approximate radius, since I don't use a dish, but it is about 25' for both top and back. I think the one caveat with the flatter back is that you may want to make sure that you are building in the lower end of the humidity range.

Oh, yeah! That is one I'd take any day! Very nice job and very nice design.

Nice! Wish I'd had those when I was designing my headless acoustic.

Just spitballing, but I'd make redwood or cedar shells and use wood ring tensioned with stainless steel or brass screws. I think any normal drum hardware will corrode within a pretty short time. It's an interesting idea. Try just setting an old drum outside for a while to see what the sounds are and...

I really have to agree with Deb here. One of the real values to me on the old forum was cruising the "Proud of my work" section of the library for inspiration.

Nice work. I really like the neck and headstock. The outside workroom is a nice bonus of a dry climate - one that I miss since I moved to the rainy country.