Posted on January 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Bosch Laminate Trimmer and Cheap Mando Family Letter: Bosch Laminate Trimmer and Cheap Mando Family by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #26, 1991 Concerning Bill Colgan, Jr.’s letter and the Dremel tool: it has always been a wimpy little router, but the new one really is a dog. My new one has the same problem as Bill’s. In the middle of cutting a saddle slot the chuck began whipping around, cutting a jagged slot. Adjusting the cut to almost nothing didn’t help. Dremel has always been very good about fixing or replacing their Moto-Tools (you have to have at least two, so that you can keep working while the broken/burned-up one is in transit), but this looked like a design flaw. I splurged on a Bosch 1608L laminate trimmer, and I couldn’t be happier. The Bosch is what all Moto-Tools want to be when they grow up. Woodworker’s Supply of New Mexico (among others) sells a kit of carbide bits, 1/16", 3/16", and 1/8" cutters on a 1/8" shaft. A brass collet adaptor for 1/4" collets comes with the kit, and once you have the adaptor you can use most of your Dremel bits. You have to make all new jigs, but it’s worth it. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Fret Shape and Tonality Questions: Fret Shape and Tonality by R.M. Mottola Originally published in American Lutherie #76, 2003 R.M. Mottola of Newton, MA answers Earles L. Mc Caul’s question regarding the effects of guitar fret shape upon intonation and tonality. The short answer is no effects whatsoever. There is a good (but highly technical) article on this subject by Steve Newberry in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Two, p. 106, “Fret Crown Radius: A Cause of Pitch Error?”
Posted on January 2, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Sharpening the Stellite Teeth on the 3″ Hitachi Blade Sharpening the Stellite Teeth on the 3" Hitachi Blade by Bruce Creps previously published in American Lutherie #91, 2007 See also, “Resawing Lutherie Wood” by Bruce Creps “Grading and Curing Lumber” by Bruce Creps With a shop-made jig you can sharpen your blade in place in less time than it takes to remove and reinstall it. You save money, conserve steel, and don’t need to fuss with fine-tuning a newly installed blade. I sharpen blades ten times, making my “cost per blade” under $13. I discard the blade after that because I have found cracks on a few blades after 12–15 sharpenings, and because the Stellite teeth taper in width so you lose set when you sharpen the teeth down to nubs. With insufficient set a band can rub the stock and heat up or wander. The blade will generally stay sharp for eight hours of production sawing of dry hardwood. I don’t go much beyond eight hours because a less-than-sharp blade may heat up and work harden the Stellite tips. The all-Stellite blade has a cutting (rake) angle of 22°, a sharpness angle of 50°, and a back (clearance) angle of 18°. For my purposes this blade is just right. I once used an alternate-tooth Stellite blade and got better performance when I increased its cutting angle from 16° to 22°. Otherwise I have not experimented with tooth geometry. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 2, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Curing and Grading Lutherie Lumber Curing and Grading Lutherie Lumber by Bruce Creps previously published in American Lutherie #92, 2007 See also, “Resawing Lutherie Wood” by Bruce Creps “Sharpening the Stellite Teeth on the 3" Hitachi Blade” by Bruce Creps At a GAL Convention several years back a well-known luthier and lecturer stated that the best way to be assured a supply of properly processed tonewood was to harvest and air dry it yourself. He posited that due to turnaround and financial considerations most tonewood suppliers rush their kiln schedule and compromise the quality of the wood. For me, the wisdom of his statements was in stressing the importance of proper drying. I don’t know if the percentage of kiln-dried instrument-grade wood damaged or compromised due to improper drying is higher than the corresponding air-dried percentage. I do know that it is very easy to damage wood when air drying it. You don’t have to do anything. Neglect it and you can expect degrade: end checks, surface checks, warping, case-hardening, rot pockets, fungal stain and decay, and/or insect infestation. Improperly kiln-dried wood can exhibit checking, warping, and case-hardening. However, with kiln drying the fungi and pests in the wood will be killed, and colors can be clearer. The obvious disadvantages of kiln drying are that you need space and funds for a kiln, and you use lots of energy (unless you have a solar kiln). Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 1, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud, Part Two Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with Peter Kyvelos, Part Two by R.M. Mottola previously published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 See Also, “Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with Peter Kyvelos, Part One” by R.M. Mottola The Top The top of the oud is “flat” and features ladder bracing and one to three sound holes with fretwork rosettes in them. However, the top is constructed to either passively encourage or actively shape the kind of bellied-in-front-of-the-bridge, humped-up-behind-the-bridge distortion common to all instruments with string anchors at the glued on bridge. More on this in a bit. Peter uses German spruce for his tops and he generally joins and then thickness sands tops well in advance of building, inventorying the joined tops for years before actually using them (Photo 1). Finished top thickness will average around 2MM, depending on the stiffness of the wood, so tops are thickness sanded accordingly at this point. The first steps in preparing the top are to cut it to shape and then mark and cut channels for the sound hole purfling (Photo 2). He uses a custom made fly cutter to cut the channels. His purfling scheme is pretty simple, and he generally uses black and white fiber violin purfling strips for this. The ends of the purfling strips are mitered and dry fitted before being glued. There is no fingerboard extension to hide the butt joint, so this work is a bit finicky (Photo 3). The purfling is glued into the channels and then scraped down once the glue dries. Then the sound holes are cut out. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
