adrock1740

i nice piece of redwood burl. not sure what i'm doing with it yet. and some myrtlewood with a bit of burl and figuring.

my first "big power tool" purchase ever. i've owned so many power tools throughout my life, but never anything this big. it's definitely nothing too quality, but it's very solid, and runs/cuts very smooth. i'm sure some people around here will make fun of the brand. but it'll do for now, that's for sure.

as i said on ss.org, best js i've ever seen. love it, especially the black limba.

Yes they are my emergency last minute I need a top supplier. I try to find crazy billets from other places but when I need a winner or Myrtle (Oregon WW is the best place to get Myrtle) that is where I go. seriously, their myrtle selection is fantastic.

thank you all for the kind words!! this is true. i might try different sized screws in the future. it's really not that bad looking in person though, but i do get your point. the ability, and ease, of adjusting the pickups far outweighs the aesthetics in my opinion. this is a concern with any "strap lock" system. if you forget your strap, you're kind of SOL unless someone around has the exact same system... and as wes and wez said, the strap lives in the case with the guitar. permanently. it is never forgotten. and this will be my guitar forever, so i'm not too worried about it. if someone wanted a guitar and HAD to have normal strap buttons, i would definitely do it. though i believe aesthetics far outweighs the strap issue in this situation. thanks man!! i don't really do much bending, so it's fine for me. and what little i do, i haven't noticed any problems with it fretting out.

sorry about the lack of updates guys. got busy finishing this guitar, and side tracked by life. i forgot to check back here when i was done but i'm gonna try to be more active here, as i have more builds coming up in the near future. and here is the finished guitar - http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=44752

continued, due to picture limits per post.... i got the guitar done just in time for a special lesson last week. animals as leaders were in town... tosin liked it a lot, and hopefully i'll be building him one just like it in the near future. with a few more strings of course. had to get this shot with his custom ibanez LACS 8 string. what a beautiful instrument, played amazingly well. superstrat style body with black limba wings, and ebony binding thin body, at 33mm white limba, cocobolo, and wenge neck. with volute satin tru-oil finish madagascar ebony fretboard, side inlays only 25" scale length, in drop b (.062 - .012 d'addario xl) tom style roller bridge, string through body hipshot locking tuners ebony knob recessed dunlop strap locks bare knuckle nailbomb in the bridge dimarzio air norton in the neck one volume, three way pickup selector, mini switch for each pickup (just coil splitting, for now) this guitar is all wood and metal were possible. no plastic. including the side markers... i grew up learning to play guitar on rg's, and i always wanted a rgt style guitar. but i could never afford one, so i started building this a few years ago. i was building drums at the time, and had access to some good equipment. i've been working with wood my whole life, and grew up watching my grandfather build and design acoustics. i used to look forward to the newest stewmac catalogs all the time in school, even hiding them from my grandfather until i was done with them, haha. but yeah, i got away from the drum building and moved around a bit, holding onto this beauty until the time was right. and that time is now. enjoy!!!

i was gonna tell you guys a bit about my history, but i know how people are. i can't lie, i'm the same way. we just want pictures... so pics first, specs later: 1. the nut is temporary. i'm waiting for my tax return to buy new nut files. 2. the mini switches will be replaced with black ones, don't worry. 3. the cavity cover isn't finished yet. waiting on said tax return to buy a new belt sander, so that the matching cavity cover is perfecto. 2. yes, the pickup routes are a bit large. lesson definitely learned.... the next will be air tight.

that looks beautiful quarter!! so i bought some scrap cocobolo, a quart of zinnser seal coat, and a bottle of tru oil yesterday. i'm running four tests right now. 1 - all tru oil, wiped with alcohol. 2 - all tru oil, not wiped with alcohol (just to see what happens). 3 - two seal coats with tru oil on top, wiped with alcohol. 4 - two seal coats with tru oil on top, not wiped with alcohol (just to see). i started tests one and two last night before bed, both of which are still slightly tacky. i started tests three and four about 15 minutes ago, both of which are already dry to the touch. i think i know where this is going to go...

i definitely do. i'm just not familiar with the coverage, or thickness, of shellac. 4 coats might be plenty. but i've been thinking about doing a 1 pound cut so it's thinner, and dries a bit faster. so the coats might be a little thinner than "average". i'm having a pretty tough time deciding between three finish options. 1. all shellac finish 2. sealed with shellac and tru oil for the top coat 3. all tru oil, with a quick drying thinned down "seal coat". still have to test this to see how it'll work with the coco... i don't know why i'm stuck on tru oil so much. i've never used it. it's just that i've heard such great things about it. and it seams a lot like wipe on poly, or tung oil, which both are super easy to use. and seamed to dry pretty quick. i don't really feel like mixing shellac and "learning" how to use it, but if it's what needs to be done then thats that. maybe shellac dries faster than what i'm used to... i might have to bite the bullet and buy both and do some test with to see which i like better. didn't want to spend the money, or time, but i think that's what's going to have to be done we have a woodcraft here in Austin. i'm heading there today to buy some stuff and thanks for the link, definitely gonna check it out

i have no problem mixing my own, i just need to find some locally, without having to buy a whole pound. why couldn't i apply more coats, and just buff it with the steel wool or pad to get the same matte effect? i don't want more than 6-8 coats though, just depends on how it goes on, 4 might be enough. i'm going to give it ample time in between coats in any case, at least overnight, just to make sure everything is cured before applying the next coat. i'm gonna get some shellac and some coco tomorrow to do some samples.

it's cool, i'm going for a very thing finish so... it's going to be very thin, maybe 6-8 coats total. thank you very much for this post, lots of useful info. i'm definitely just gonna seal the whole thing if i'm sealing the coco. so i'm thinking my plan will stay the same. one or two "thin" coats of shellac, than 4 or so of tru oil and leave it at that. i guess i should get some flakes to make my shellac? i've heard that zinnser sealer coat is pretty good stuff for over the counter, and i'm just using it for a sealer...

which is gonna dry faster, just out of curiosity. the tru oil, or the zinnser sealer? this is pretty much where i'm heading honestly. i was thinking a coat of zinnser bullseye sealer (which is basically shellac from what i've read), than a few coats of tru oil and be done with it. i've also read some about thinning the tru oil a bit so it dries faster, and using that as the sealer, just making sure to let the finish dry overnight before the next coat. i honestly haven't thought about using shellac as my main finish. i've honestly never used shellac before. i have used numerous wipe on oils though (tung, wipe on poly, etc) with great success. and for the type of finish i want (satin, thin, easily repairable), i was thinking oil would be the easiest way to go. i've always thought of shellac as a spray finish, but i guess it could be wiped on...

so from what i have gathered from research and here, is that i need a good barrier/sealer between the coco and my top coat. i'd like to use tru oil, what are some good barriers/sealers to go under the tru oil? should i use the shellac method i mentioned earlier, or go for a dedicated sealer? and thanks again for the help guys, really appreciate it

well from my understandings, putting a finish over cocobolo is never very certain. and also from what i understand, cocobolo and wenge are very stable woods even when uncoated. so my thought was just to get some protection and seal off the limba with 4-6 coats, leaving the cocobolo and wenge "raw'. i'd still probably go over them on the last coat or two, just so everything blends nicely. but there wouldn't be 6 coats trying to dry over the super oily coco...