Kawika's Eclectic  Link List

Links I Have Used in the ukulele and guitar Building Process

When things work for me or I have a reliable source for the materials I use when making and repairing instruments, I like to share with others. These links go to companies I do business with on a regular basis.

• Stewart MacDonald's Guitar Shop Supply
  I have great admiration for the business success of Stewart MacDonald's. The range of building materials, repair tools and supplies and useful information is remarkable and ever-expanding. Having said that, here's what I buy from them: Waverly guitar clamps (1692 mostly, but a few of the larger ones, too); I tried both the diamond (3313) and double-edge (1279) fret files and prefer the latter; my ukuleles use mandolin (764) fret wire for frets 1-18 & banjo/small guitar (147) fret wire for the zero fret.

• Allen Luthier Supplies Randy Allen is a luthier who also fills the niche of supplying reasonably priced materials to the small builder. A nice, hardworking guy. In his own words "We have Indian rosewood, ribbon mahogany, flamed maple, & flamed myrtle back & sides. Sitka, Englemann & German spruces, western red cedar. Cast mandolin tailpieces in two styles Monteleone & Allen. We are currently adding many of the shell products from the Duke of Pearl at reasonable prices and low minimums (currently $25.00). We are offering strips in two lengths, the standard 5 1/4" and 9" long in limited supply and can also quote custom strip sizes. Our curved strips are currently about 3/10" longer than the standard which gives a little more shell to work with. We supply ebony, Indian rosewood, Madagascar rosewood & pau ferro fingerboard blanks. We also offer a custom fret slotting service to the trade, our customers include individual luthiers and small to mid size factories. We also acquired the ClimateCase company last year and have the full line of thermal case covers."

• Moses Inc.
  I use 3/8"x3/8" square graphite carbon/epoxy composite rod epoxied into the necks of my tenors and baritones for greater stability and sustain. In the past year, quality control has decreased again but the prices are still acceptable. Exercise caution when cutting this stuff; the fibers are much more troublesome to flesh than fiberglass. I use a small diamond blade, wet-cutting saw to cut sections to length, but a hacksaw can be used in a pinch. Drilling into it is also irksome; prepare to throw away many tool bits... I also recommend not ordering between November and January unless items ordered are in stock, since they'll be getting ready for the January NAMM show and new stuff won't be made until after NAMM.

• Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website 
  A collection of resources on the subject of designing and building 
  plucked stringed musical instruments.  R. M. Mottola is a fun guy who frequently writes articles for American Lutherie and this website has all sorts of interesting information.  Please visit!
  

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• American Lutherie
  Without a doubt, the publications of the Guild of American Luthiers (GAL) has been a primary source of useful information for my building over the last 12 years. Articles are eclectic, quirky and sometimes simply incorrect (since editors primarily edit for grammar), but on the whole contain an astonishing amount of practical information. There has been a recent trend toward addressing more complex issues, which is in keeping with an increasingly more sophisticated audience.

Musicians and Instrument Makers Forum

• WE exist to provide an interactive discussion forum for makers of fine musical instruments and the musicians who employ the makers' creations. We invite you to participate in the MIMForum, whatever your instrument interest or skill level, and help us build this unique, online community.

• tpwhite@aol.com
  Tim White is the former editor of the "Journal of Guitar Acoustics". IMHO, this collection of articles is the single best source on the subject of guitar acoustics, even though done nearly 20 years ago. For $60 or so, you can't go wrong here.

• Quick Cad True 32-bit, Windows 95 Compliant Application The 4.0 versions are true 32-bit applications that support all Windows 95 features including OLE 2.0, long file names, a mail interface (for sending designs across a network), a project file folder system, tabbed dialogue boxes, and right mouse button commands. Drafix CAD Professional and Drafix QuickCAD are powerful, easy-to-use software programs that won Windows Magazine’s Win 100 award. Drafix CAD Professional adds a macro language, customization features, and 5,000+ symbols to QuickCAD’s repertoire. I use this program for many of my black and white illustrations in the shop tips section.

And more to come...