Search results

I've made around 50 acoustic instruments - ukuleles, tenor guitars and 6 string guitars. Not as a business though. I'll post a few samples later. The hard part is walking the line between too heavily built to sound good, and too lightly built to hold together!

The recipes I've seen used boiled linseed oil rather than Danish oil. As Danish oil could have pretty much anything in it, and is designed to dry fast (compared to linseed), I think I'd go for the BLO version.

Not Wattisham by any chance? If so you disrupted several of my school lessons (splendid low level hooliganism!). And I currently live inside the Apache circuit in a house first owned by a Squadron Leader.

I suspect that record keeping in WW2 bomber squadrons focused on essentials. The average life of a Lancaster was less than 10 missions, and the kind of record keeping now required only came in with civil air transport. The question back then was whether it would fly, not whether all the...

Over 7,000 Lancasters were made, and the other types to which this was fitted must mean at least 10,000 of these instruments were manufactured. So I can't see any way of telling which of them this instrument was fitted unless ... ... you comb through any surviving tech logs which survive and...

I use hot hide glue for frets. It helps them slide in, and when set it fills any voids around the tangs. Fish glue would do just the same. One concern with fish glue is reports that it can soften in high humidity - for guitars we're talking Alabama or playing in the bathroom. I suspect that...

Oak has deep pores, so the glitter might have worked its way a long way down! I'd use a cabinet scraper to remove the old finish - quicker and less dust than sanding. Then try an old toothbrush to remove any remaining glitter. If that doesn't work ... Carry on scraping until you get a clean...

I think I'd want to use the ash. Oak would be quite ... assertive ... if unpainted, and it would be a crime to paint oak. Ash might look great with oil and wax, and if that doesn't fit the room it's bland enough to be painted. Humidity and wood movement is your big issue. I see this from making...

The thread originator talks of cross cutting and improved accuracy. Much depends on what he is cutting, and what kind of accuracy he is looking for. This is my experience: A dozuki (backsaw) can be super accurate. But not ideal for long cuts or deep stock. A katana (no back) can cope with...

The bottom oven of my Aga is around 100C, so I popped a stick of firewood in for 90 mins. No flames or charring, but it did come out a shade or so darker. If I need to deworm a chisel I'll try again, wrapping the wood in foil in case the darkening is oxidation. That aside, a low oven seems safe...

I had to look up 'basking' heaters - they seem to be radiant heat lamps, which don't seem appropriate to me. These heat the surfaces on which their light falls, rather than giving off steady heat by convection. Enclosure heaters (I guess the same as cabinet heaters) are designed for this kind...

It's worth trying with a domestic steam iron - that will usually (largely) flatten instrument sides which I've bent inaccurately, and those are around 2mm thick. With veneer I'd start with steam, then turn the steam off and keep ironing until all the moisture has gone. Putting it under weights...

Veritas apron block plane gets a lot of use when I make ukuleles, very similar to your work by the sound of it. Nice and small, so easy to work small edges.

I was wondering, Polyfilla with some PVA mixed in to make it less brittle? Then I read Adam's post. Might that work? I can't have been the first to have the thought.

A lot of people believe this, but I've never heard anyone cite a real life case where it happened. Insurance regulation requires insurers to treat customers fairly, which means only refusing claims if the customer's failure caused the claim or meant that the premium charged was too low. A...

As it's just a coat of oil, I'd take a scraper to the affected area until the white goes, then reapply oil. And yes, glue likes to spread it's goodness around :)

Most likely cause is glue residue, if you have any glue joints in the area. More sanding is the answer. Glue always shows under finish. If it can't be glue I'd need a picture to make other suggestions.

I understand John's problem as I build ukes and guitars. Because the back is domed, either: 1. the binding channel is cut at an angle (if the router base is held flat to the back), making the channel too deep and with a slanted base, or 2. if the router is held vertical, the binding channel...

A 20mm auger bit is under £10 from Screwfix and Toolstation. Accurate enough to use as a centre punch? Or even go mad, put it in a brace and drill the first few mm of the holes to use as a guide for later routing. Or even madder, go all the way with the hand brace! (NOTE: I have no idea what...

I'm not convinced you've sanded through veneer either - pic 2 as Triton notes. Splash a drop of white spirit on the sanded part, as it will change colour. It might be that you've just gone through a thick layer of varnish, in which case you will see that the sanded part looks much closer to the...