Musical Instrument Builder

appalachia

New User
Greg
I’m a soon to be 30 year old Greensboro native. My main focus is on building musical instruments of all types, but of course shop builds and side projects abound too. Currently in Utah, but moving back to Greensboro mid August and will be getting a shop set up then.
 

Raymond

Raymond
Staff member
Corporate Member
Welcome aboard, Greg. There are plenty of sawdust makers in that neck of the woods.
 

Eric M

New User
Eric
Welcome , I am new here myself , interested in building instruments too . My working space is small but I have been ramping up fine during this time ! Going to build a Ukulele as my first project . I am not too far from you in Durham .
 

appalachia

New User
Greg
@gamiller3rd Trained and a few years professional experience in guitar building, but also studied other types of instruments quite a bit. In terms of materials most of my experience is in wood and fabric composites (like carbon fiber).
 

appalachia

New User
Greg
@Eric M Make sure you get some proper kiln dried wood for the uke. A company I worked for had a batch of instruments that were essentially ruined because some wood for the necks had not been dried to spec, and the necks went into crazy negative relief after the instruments were completed as the wood continued to dry on the instrument.
 

Eric M

New User
Eric
Greg, thanks for the tip on proper Kiln dried wood to start with. I have been getting my small shop together and working out how to maintain a proper shop environment for doing finer work. Probably a window AC and fans lol !
 

appalachia

New User
Greg
You can get a decent enough hygrometer to measure humidity for like $10 to $15. While not at all a necessity, getting your work environment to be as stable of a humidity level as possible will make instrument building easier. Just mentioning it because you mentioned a window ac unit which can swing humidity when cycling.

But once again, it’s not at all a necessity to keep the humidity stable if it would be difficult to achieve in your space. You can still get really great results with humidity swings, and a whole lot of builders do, you’ll just need to pay more attention to your wood, and especially for wood species that move a lot, plan with movement in mind, especially in terms of when you’re glueing things up.
 

Eric M

New User
Eric
I have a small area behind my open carport that houses my laundry machine (attached to house but no heat or ac), roughly 4x12, probably try to set this space up to glue up and spray finish ! My other space is a 8x10 shed out back (no power )which I have been setting up over this break. I am a beginner instrument builder but went to furniture making school 20 years ago at Rockingham Community College. Probably going to use Mahogany{African or Honduras) for the back and sides,not sure on top.
Greg at least its a dry heat out there for building stuff ! Stop by my land on the Mesa in Taos ,NM!
 
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