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Peter Morande DiscussionShop Organisation

Returning to Instrument Building Soon.

Hi All, I wanted to check in with folks in the industry and ask for some advice. I have been on a building Hiatus for a number of years now (Hand Injury, Medical Issues). Things have gotten much better, and I am fully able and capable of building once again. The 2nd biggest hurdle I have had was a lack of opportunity for shop spaces to build. I now have a viable workspace and full use of my hands once again to build. The problem is that, o…

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Private member
Hi Peter and buona fortuna on your re-start. I would look into a thickness sander, drill press and small bandsaw. And dust collection! A good router that you can also mount on a router table. A laminat…
Massimiliano Monterosso Maxmonte Guitars VideoNew Builds

Acoustic Guitar Builders Club: The Perfect Edge, with Wolfgang Hess of Tormek

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Private member DiscussionDesign and Testing

Mandolin acoustics academy - Hub Of Acoustics

Hi everyone, I'm Martino from Hub of Acoustics, a collaborative project created by luthiers for luthiers. Our goal is to explore and teach acoustic principles that are directly relevant to instrument making. In 2026, we’ll be running four courses in different parts of the world, all focused on giving luthiers practical tools to better understand and control the acoustics of their instruments. We’re excited to introduce our very…

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Private member DiscussionFinish Repair

Osmo oil finish

Hello. I am interested in the luthiers opinions about using Osmo oil as a finish on acoustic guitars? Advantages vs disadvantages. I am a new builder with small home workshop, mostly using hand tools to build my first acoustic guitar, an OM pre war style. Thank you all.

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Private member
Hi Matthew- I have been using Osmo on Guitars and other woodworking for about 15 years. I love the stuff, and it is still a bit confusing at times to understand their products. They have oils with less…
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Widening fretslots

Hello everyone, I use a Stewmac japanese fretsaw (which produces .023" wide fretslots, matching the width of the tang of stewmac wire) to recut my slots on refrets. The saw does a good job making the slots deeper, but struggles to make them wider and binds like crazy throughout the process. I think that is due to it not having enough (or any) set, so in theory it only cut downwards and does a poor job removing material from the slot wall…

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Ian Davlin
I would imagine the tooth geometry is the same. It's just more options for thickness. Yep, it's not how I would do it. Not to say it can't be done, but I switched to rotary really early on, so my expe…
Private member DiscussionShop Organisation

Traditional woodworker's bench

I've been building up my "2 car garage shop" for about 10 years preparing for retirement from health care. This spring I finally quit punching the time clock. Over the same time I've build 13 mandolins and 4 guitars. Now I pretty much have all my tools in place and enough wood stored to build for quite some time. My work benches are built with a heavy door for a top and base cabinets I scavenged from work. Lately I have toyed with the i…

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9 replies
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Private member
That's impressive! I found a Sjoberg's Elite in very good condition on FBMP and offered the seller a ridiculous price. They bit, so that's what I ended up with. I hurt for 2 days after tearing apart t…