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It's really worth doing this! I looked around for humidity expansion figures for meranti but they are hard to find - it appear that meranti might move around 50% more than mahogany. That suggests that a 10% increase in moisture content (seems plausible) could lead to 3.6% expansion. Those...

I think it will be more complex than that, because world herd immunity through vaccines is, I estimate, at least two years away. So new variants will arise, and one response is likely to be local restrictions. So ... Universities (my students are 90% non UK) Theatres, music venues etc, for...

On radio news over the weekend I heard the head of Qantas, suggesting that the airline would require all its passengers to have been vaccinated. The justification was the health risk to other passengers and its staff. I imagine universities might be considering this too, as a lecture theatre...

I've used Z-Poxy as a filler on instruments. It sets with a noticeable yellow tint. But I suspect you could buy lamp black from an art supplies place, mix that in, and then you'd not notice the yellow. Z-Poxy is very runny though, so I doubt it would be suitable for deep fills.

For small splits, pound shop superglue (CA) will work. Multiple applications to build it up above the surface. A deep glob of glue might bubble up white as it dries. Epoxy for larger splits, but it tends to have a yellow tint. In both cases, scrape or sand back to bare wood - any CA or epoxy...

It might be worth, once they reopen, visiting one of those antiques centres which have display cabinets from dozens of dealers. There is often a cabinet full of hand tools, occasionally priced as decorative (ouch!) but often maybe only 10% above eBay prices. You can inspect and handle these...

Don't think it's an insult - both spellings are common. And Sellars and Yateman wrote "1066 and all that", a history text (of sorts). I think I'd write Sellars automatically, unless I checked. BTW, I find his style too slow for me, but full of good stuff. I don't take sides in the various...

Spending £5 on a cabinet scraper might be worthwhile, to remove the varnish before sanding. You can just draw a file along the edge at 90 degrees to sharpen it as you don't need a fine edge for that job. Hold either side, press with your two thumbs in the middle, angle it forward slightly and...

You could use the cellulose sealer first, provided you sand all glueing surface back to bare wood once it is dry. Wax has to be after - wax on the glue joint will lead to failure, and wax doesn't really sand off.

If you run the drill backwards for a couple of rotations, or even turn it backwards by hand, the bit scores a nice circle. When you run the drill forward, that should give you a clean entry hole. On soft, splitty pine you have to score much deeper though, otherwise when going forward the bit...

Wooden pegs are ... wood ... so they move around. Violin makers have a matching reamer and peg shaper, to fine tune the fit. As supplied wooden pegs are just fairly close. The original poster was planning to make metal pins, and my thought was that he could match the taper on a bought reamer...

Indeed so! I think I'm right in saying that all the research into incentives is based on assumptions about all the other incentives and pressures on human decision-making remaining unchanged. Mainly because the modelling or maths becomes too complex otherwise. But changing one thing changes the...

Ah, from my experience using one of those for wooden tuning pegs, it won't do! The taper is not long enough, and so the tuning peg slips. The forces of metal strings on friction tuning pegs are even higher. This is the kind of thing, around 30:1 taper: TAPER PIN REAMER HSS 2MM 2.5MM 3MM 3.5MM...

If you are making the pegs to fit your reamed holes, a taper pin reamer from Ebay is I think 32:1, and 1/4 the price of a luthier reamer or less.

I'd make the chisel into a temporary router by cutting a mortice in a block and then wedging the chisel so it protrudes 1.5mm. I flatten the bottom of saddle slots this way.

I'm guessing you will make two saw cuts 3mm apart and then remove the waste in between. How will you ensure these are at 90 degrees to the neck alignment? You have the fretboard taper plus the fretboard radius to cope with, and I can't immediately see how you'll manage this without making a jig...

If it's wet it won't half move around as it dries. Maybe find some wood better suited to the task?

I was imagining a mechanical item with rechargeable batteries, "Aphrodite" brand, satisfaction guaranteed ...

I'm just an amateur builder, so my instruments are gifts or for my own playing. I've never had a complaint about finish being fragile, even though both shellac and Tru-Oil are said to be problematic in the hands of musicians :) I'm guessing that if you sell your instruments you're selling to...

Can't help you directly, but I've finished instruments withTru-Oil, a gun stock finish. That barely penetrates the surface, no more than shellac does. HOWEVER, softwood tops absorb it unequally, leading to blotching. I'd guess Osmo is the same. Spruce or cedar will need shellac wash coats first.