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isaac

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  1. Shouldn't it be easier to tape the frets? I would have thought to tape over the frets, and use an exacto knife to ensure all the wood is showing and no metal is showing. Then spray. Once the lacquer has dried, you can score the edges where the tape meets the wood, to make sure that the lacquer doesn't peel where you dont want to. Finally you could remove the tape and have a finished fingerboard.
  2. Hey. For my headstock I want to put a simple block letter logo on it using marquetry. I have two types of contrasting veneers to use. Is the best way to put both veneers ontop of eachother, carve out the design with an exacto knife, and then swap some pieces between the two veneers to get the desired colours?
  3. I find it helps to use graph-paper to get a symmetrical headstock design. that way you can just draw half of the headstock, and transfer the points on to the other half of the paper. You should also lay your tuners on top of the finished design to see how it looks, and to see if there is enough space to be able to install them properly, and tune the finished guitar. Then transfer the design to the headstock blank and go the bandsaw.
  4. I have some cherry that Im using for a neck laminate. The rest of the neck is made of maple. Both wood seem to be similar weights and stiffness. I think the cherry is black cherry, but Im not certain.
  5. That helps alot. Thanks. I still don't know if I will need to use any glue or epoxy tho
  6. Hey. I am building my first guitar, and I am not sure of how to install the truss rod. It is a neck-thru guitar, and I have already made a neck blank, but have not cut it with a bandsaw yet. I have not routed a truss rod channel either. The truss rod I have is a martin style rod, it sits inside a metal housing which is square on one side, and is open on the other side, but sort of rounded. I thought that I should install it with the rounded side facing the fingerboard, as the square side would fit better in the channel. But I tried tightening the truss rod before I install it, and it bends, so that the ends move up, which would make the neck bend forward. This is the same way as the strings pull the neck, and would make the truss rod quite pointless. I thought that instead I should install it with the square side facing the truss rod, which should bend the neck backward. Does anyone know which way to install it? I would also like to know if I need to use glue or epoxy, and what type. It seems to me that tightening the truss rod should make it flex, and push on the bottom of the fingerboard, which would make the fingerboard pop off of the neck. Would gluing the sides of the truss rod housing to the channel prevent this from happening? Thanks, Isaac.
  7. I use a type of calipers, however it is not digital. It can measure up to X.XXX " and is quite accurate. A digital one would probably just speed up the process.
  8. Hey. I am building my first guitar. I am keeping the electronics very simple, as I have very little experience with creating circuits. I plan on having one humbucker connected to a volume knob and then an output. Can someone explain to me how I would do this? Thanks, Isaac.
  9. I use Wedgie Nylon .40mm picks. I also use the bread closer things, when im in a pinch, and sometimes pennies. Whammy bars and Cardstock work well for me too, although it is difficult to play fast with a whammy bar.
  10. I like to play classicals which have flat fretboards.... however they have less string tension, so bars are real easy. It would simplify making it though.
  11. I had a similar problem on my acoustic. The gears werent exact enough, so whenever i tuned, the head would chew the gear on the shaft a little. Eventually it just became impossible to tune 2 of the strings. I ended up just getting a new set, for only $17, and they work fine. It was a little nicer to figure out on the acoustic though, due to the lack of covers on the gears.
  12. How are you planning on adding negative frets? Wouldnt that mess up your open notes?
  13. I have a rough draft of what the guitar will look like. The bridge is very forward on the body so the cutaway wont look huge. I am planning on a single humbucker.... I assumed it would just fit in the space... I have made a fret calculator in excel, and I can change the scale length if I want. The distance from bridge to 36th fret is 3.187441", of which a small portion of it will be used up by the part of the bridge infront of the sadle. If I were to make a longer scale, say 27", that would still give me only 3.374938". The 2/10 of an inch difference doesnt seem like it will make a whole lot of difference. However if it would be possible to create a 27" or 28" scale... with B tuning.... without needing a custom-made truss.... I think I might do that. OK. I just did some measuring on my current guitar. The pickup and mounting ring is approximately 1.8". I think it is standard sized. The area on the bridge after the saddles is 0.5" for the low E string, with all the others being less. So the 1.8 + 0.5 = 2.3", which will fit on a 36 fret guitar with a standard sized scale. I have not yet gotten any parts yet, but I have ordered them. The bridge is the same as on my current guitar (where I replaced the old bridge), only in black. The pickup is a humbucker, which is from an ebay store, and doesnt seem to have any recognizable name brand on it. I am trying to keep costs very low on this guitar ( so far $55 for the machines, bridge, humbucker, strap buttons, volume knob and pot). I will be able to get cheap output, wire, string trees wood and nut from a local store. I still need more information for the fretwire and trussrod, before ordering. Isaac.
  14. Its neck-thru, so theres going to be no joint. The right horn will extend at the 36th fret, while the left horn will be at the 29th fret. I guess I will go with 5 coils of fretwire with two of them being less wide for use on the upper frets.
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