The Hub

Hello All I have been using Ted Bergstrand's online nut calculator on Benchmuse.com which is excellent. It allows you to have a consistent gap between each strings vs the progressive gap that the Stewmac rule gives you. Or you can do consistent centers to the strings. I have definitely found measuring the nut with calipers to work a lot better than the stewmac rule and don't use the rule anymore. I wanted some additional functionality…

For the council, any and/or all Can you describe a stumbling block, brick wall or other frustration you had while learned your craft that you felt held you back and how you overcame it?* *Apologies for this being the world's most annoying job interview question but the question remains...

Just wondering, anyone doing Ken Parker finishing on an acoustic with the bridge glued on? I've been using the finish for a while but I'd like to start glueing the bridge on before I finish so I can acoustic test everything in its final state. I can't see a reason why I couldn't wipe the epoxy and oil up into the bridge joint and then remove it by rubbing but I was wondering if anyone has done it already. It would mean finishing the…

I'd like to start doing a hard copy of notes on my guitars. Does anyone have a build record sheet that they could share? I have some ideas of what I want to put in it, but I'm open to suggestions. Ultimately I'd like to photocopy a bunch of them and get them bound into a book for my benchtop.

@member@member I was going to print your miter box but it appears like it's cut all the way through (the saw slots go all the way through). Am I missing something? In the pictures it looks like the three sections are connected. But this is what it looks like in my slicer (from the bottom).

Anyone have a suggestion for a do everything vacuum pump? I'd like something that could laminate sides, brace tops, laminate double tops, etc etc. I know @member@member has a cool cheap one. I'm not sure if that's powerful enough to do all building tasks? If it is, that's cool.

I just wanted to put in a plug for classicalguitartuners.com and Zebulon Turrentine. I was looking for some single classical tuners for a 7 string project and found his website. I was a little confused at first because he catalogs all the available tuners including ones that he doesn't sell but he supplies Der Jung (from Korea) and Gotoh tuners among others. I believe he can also get steel string tuners. The service and shipping…

I might be sending a guitar to Germany. I have no idea how I would go about shipping it. Is there an obvious choice for a carrier? DHL or something? It's a $2k guitar and I've tried to talk the guy out of buying it, I'm scared shipping might be horrendous.

I've never heard any luths mention them, I've bought a few things and found them to be super well thought out and really good quality. Prices are pretty reasonable too. Particularly good prices and variety of rulers but tons of other good stuff. https://taytools.com/

@member @member I have a question for you. I'm starting to measure spruce for a couple of classical guitars I'm going to make. I used structured sides (I'm calling them cored) on one of my last guitars and it came out notably great. I accidentally thinned the top more than I might have and it seemed to work very well. My thought is that the sides are so stiff that it's allowing the top to survive structurally even…

What are people putting on their benchtop for protection? Yoga mat, towel, nothing? I have been using a yoga mat but it's picking up junk. I can see how nothing at all would be good too.

If anyone is interested, I've been keeping a rolling list of suppliers...mostly tonewood. Other stuff when I remember to add it. I'm mostly trying to add stuff that is legit and has been recommended to me by at least someone, so some stuff I've left off if I've heard significant complaints. I have definitely not ordered from all of these places. Stuff in red has been highly recommended to me at some point. If you have something to recomm…