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If it's the unusually low humidity it will move back to pretty much where it was once humidity rises. Unfortunately it will move again when humidity changes. If there were internal stresses in the wood, released when you planed it, then it may have done all it's moving. Clamping, maybe with...

Cracking comes from shrinkage in low humidity, so if you attach the top when humidity is low your problem would be the top swelling. As it's fairly thick and the movement is small you may well not see any doming - but if you removed the screws at that time then the holes wouldn't line up again!

Good move. Do you know how compensation works? This might be important because you're changing the scale. Simply, in theory the 12th fret should be half way between the nut and the saddle. But in practice when you press down a string you stretch it, so the note it plays rises. To compensate...

Ok, looking away, but ... Two tips: You'll probably be too scared to take enough wood off the neck first go. I built essentially square necks for my first 3 or 4. So carve the neck, then keep playing air guitar on it for a few days. Then carve away the wood that's in the way for playing. I've...

If it's really dry conditions now I'd want to see how it reacts to higher humidity. Maybe put it in the bathroom and check it an hour or so after a shower or bath. It might be that you released stresses by cutting it and it's finding its new stable shape. Stable is fine. But if it keeps...

It's brand new stuff but I'm pretty sure it's celluloid - the right smell when cut, and suitably flammable! It comes from China as guitar head plates. I can't get full size sheets, so this fretboard is three pieces, with the joins set at fret locations. The material you can buy as larger...

Sorry for the long delay! Lots to do at work, and last weekend I was away playing at a music festival. But progress has been made on the neck, in 30 minute bursts. Step 1 was to create a neck blank, which is the width and length of the final neck (or a fraction more, probably quite a bit more...

Some years ago a friend told me that her Welsh mother had no fear of the steep path to the outside privy, because of her new Supagrip wellies!

Thank for correcting that. As I said earlier, don't rely on anyone here but go to the source documents! I'm sure this quote is correct, but there might be an exception for items above X% of turnover (or there might not). Always check. And note it's turnover for the £150k. If you buy materials...

I can't speak for others, but I could maybe turn a small surplus selling ukes and guitars. The reason I don't is that I'd be valuing my time at below minimum wage (to charge more, I'd have to work differently and build to the market, not my interests). And fortunately I can afford to find my...

I don't think anyone would arrange their tax planning just on your say so, or even mine. I only really know about taxing online multinationals :) You can carry businesses losses forward, but only for that business. There's a time limit of course, but it's useful when starting out. The HMRC...

There is quite a lot of incorrect information here. And setting out to challenge tax law is not for the faint hearted because HMRC is empowered to level substantial penalties in addition to claiming the tax. 1. Income in the form of profits from running a business is taxable. As correctly...

Swapping the fence over makes it much easier to hold! From Cheshire's chap's first description of how to hold it I was thinking I'd need contortionist lessons. One of the arms had swollen a little, but 10 mins work with a cabinet scraper now gives me a reasonable sliding fit. Sadly the depth...

Thanks Cheshirechappie. Wedges and screws were all loose and still nothing moves voluntarily, so its disassembly and cleaning I reckon. Anyone know about dates? I've found an eBay advert for another Wilcock plane which says (roughly) 1850-1880, but that's not exactly a reliable source!

This just arrived today - a mere £12 delivered and the iron is 1/4 inch which exactly the size I need to plough the truss rod grooves in the guitar necks I'm making. Result! Looks like the maker was Wilcock of Manchester (any reputation as a maker?) with the last owner's stamp as F...

I really wouldn't bother. Light bulb benders take a long time to heat up, and the waist (which is the hardest bend) tends to be too cool. You could just make a bending form and buy a heat blanket. Heat the wood and use cauls to clamp it into the form. Cheapest is a steel pipe and a heat gun on...

Once the sides are on they need shaping. My neck block is 2 3/4 ins deep, my tail block 3, and the sides are 3 1/4 at their highest point. This gives me a nice curve lengthwise along the back. Linings are glued in (in this case I'm using 1.5mm plywood, cut along its bendiest axis because it...

I don't have any view on whether bevel up or bevel down is better - I suspect much the same, outside special uses. What I can say is how I found using both. I have a Quangsheng 62, which is a BU jack, and it works very well. But it just doesn't suit me - I find the lateral adjustment is not...

I forgot to add, thin finish is the way to go. If you can cope without full gloss and don't mind visible pores, a few coats of shellac rubbed our and buffed works very well.

Red spruce I can't help with - I mainly recycle wood. But if you think it through, guitar wood is going to be expensive. Structurally you need, for the top, wood which is as near perfectly vertical grain as possible with no defects. Maybe one board in 20? Resawing wastes a lot of wood and some...