kiwigeo

Wrapping is mainly to reduce chances of the truss rod rattling or buzzing inside the slot. It's probably good insurance to wrap your truss rod but on my steel strings I dont bother.

Best use for balsa is sandwiched with carbon fibre as bracing under an acoustic soundboard.

Sounds like the guitar wasn't set up too well when you bought it. Were did you buy the instrument.... if you dont mind me asking?

Intonation being out shouldnt make an instrument buzz. Sounds like something funny going on the bass side of your neck. How low is your action? Note that if your action is very low then bass strings will be the first ones to start buzzing. If buzzing continues with a higher action then id be looking at the neck....first thing id check is neck relief and trueness. If youre not sure how to adjust a truss rod then take the instrument to someone who does. Cheers Martin

If they did the process is taking an awfully long time. I'm currently stuck out on an offshore oil rig where just about every measurement known to man gets used at one time or other. Drill pipe in metres, drilling mud in barrels, pump flowrates in gallons per minute and helifuel in pounds. Cheers Martin

Nitefly, I agree Stewmac are a tad more expensive than other suppliers but I also factor quality and speed of service into the equation. Down here in Australia I can get stuff shipped from Stewmac (and LMI) quicker than I can from the other side of Australia. Whenever there have been (rare) hiccups with shipments they get fixed pronto....so far Ive only had one Australian supplier match Stewmac for service. Cheers Martin

Darren, Not trying to be the noise cop in here but I think Javacody will find the noise will quickly become HIS problem once the neighbours complain and the council noise control officer comes knocking. Noise is one of the major cause of conflicts between neighbours and 9 times out of 10 the conflict is easily avoidable by a little communication and consideration. Being on good terms with your neighbour is also cheap insurance for your workshop....a neighbour youve p**ed off with nocturnal routing sessions is probably not going to do much when he sees house breakers making off with the offending tool. Just my ten cents worth. Cheers Martin

Dayvo, Ive got a dandy conversion list which came with one of my Stewmac catalogues. Has all the common sizes in metric and fraction and decimal imperial. PM me your email address and Ill send you a PDF of same. Cheers Martin

You are not supposed to hold the pipe while you bend the wood . You must be a pretty tuff fella . Peace,rich Well the instructions mention maintaining good posture while working on the pipe and bending your arms was one suggestion they make to achieve same.

Im in agreement. I mark up with an Xacto knife and a steel ruler with measurments engraved into the ruler. I run the knife down the appropriate marking on the ruler and put a nick across centreline of the fretboard. Once the whole thing is marked up I CHECK measurements and then run the Xacto against a square across the fretboard at each nick. I then CHECK measurements again before sawing slots. Cheers Martin

Shimmy, try some of the herpatology suppliers. Theres a few with websites here in Oz. I sourced ceramic bulb holders for my side bender from a place in Queensland. Out working on an oil rig off the NW Shelf right now so dont have the details on me. Will post website URL in about a week if youre interested. Nice to see someone else working on a hot pipe. The Fox benders are great but I love working up a sweat and burning the cr*p out of my arms and hands on a pipe. Cheers Martin

Pm Sent. Yeah i'd heard about using ceramic socket but haven't located a supplier yet. I have though about the LMII dishes but for the $80US plus shipping to australia, i figured it would be better to build my own. cheers Dave

For filling work on a dark wood I generally use 5 minute epoxy mixed with wood dust. You can also try burn in laquer sticks available from Stewmac and LMI. Cheers Martin

All comments appreciated Setch and taken on board. Its horses for courses I guess. Im happy using white glue and youre just as happy using epoxy. The great thing about luthiery is there are as many different ways of doing things as there are luthiers! Cheers Martin