SawDust_Junkie

So that's a 1/2" diameter Woodcraft bit ? It just seems like a much tighter radius than that. Must just be a trick of the photograph.

Nice work so far hector. How did you get such tight corners on the neck pocket ? Did you use the Stewart-Mac pickup cavity router bit (used to get the tighter corners on their pickup cavity templates) ? Or, did you use chisels ? Or some other method ?

Hello WezV ! As far as I am aware, Titebond III is perfect acceptable for use in guitar making as far as strength goes. It will hold up as well Titebond original, if not better. I believe the reason most people here don't use it is that it is designed for marine use I think, and therefore is pretty much water proof. So, if you ever had to steam a joint loose to, for example, replace a broken set neck, or change out a fretboard, you would probably have a devil of a time doing it. Anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I used Titebond III on my first build and had no problems with it. I have since used Titebond original and no problems there either.

I'd have to chime in and agree with the dowell method also. I would add, though, that if you have a piece of the original Walnut, of sufficient size, and access to a lathe, you could make your own dowell, that would match the color closely if not the actual grain pattern.

Are you in Raleigh, NC kampgnar ? If you are, you just bought my drill press ! How rude ! I don't know if you are in Raleigh, but it is the only place I am aware of that has both a Woodcraft store and a Klingspor's. You said the one they had in the store was the only one they had in stock. Do you know if they plan to order more or was that a one-time deal ? I have looked at that drill press every time I went to the store, and thought it was a nice cost effective versatile tool, just never had the money to take the plunge and buy it.

I can't answer your question Doeringer, but I have been looking at that same drill press at my local Woodcraft store, so I will be interested in how you like it once you start using it. Like you, I thought that the $199.00 pricetag was quite reasonable, although if I recal, it only has a 1/3 hp motor. That could be a bit under powered. But I did like the fact it was a radial drill press (lots of swing for getting to those string through holes). I was not aware it had a tilting head. But, like I said $199.00 for a floor model drill press seems like a good deal if it holds up to regular use.

ben, the progress pics look good so far, but you had better read the forum rules about posting pics in threads. Just a friendly reminder before one of the mods gets here and reminds you. Only one pic per thread and the size is also stated in the forum rules. Post a link to the site where you are hosting the pics and we can browse through them there. Now that that is out of the way. I will go back to checking out the pics.

I just got an opportunity to buy a set of humbuckkers from a 2005 Epiphone Les Paul Classic. The guy selling them only wants $30.00 for the set and claims they are like new. He says he bought the guitar and replaced the pickups right away and has had the pickups laying around and wants to get rid of them now. Any of you guys have an opinion on the stock pickups Epiphone uses in the Les Paul Classic model. Are they even worth $30.00 ? They look like a open bobbin humbucker. Also, how much trouble is it to install chrome covers on these type pickups ? Is soldering the cover on enough, or do you think that they would need to be wax potted ?

I have used this method, MP63, on a couple of small pieces, and while it does work (somewhat) it is limited by the size of your table saw. I don't know about most people here, but I suspect most of us only have a 10" table saw, some may have a 12" saw. This means you can only raise the blade to a little over 3" in height. So, using this method, you can only "resaw" a little over 6", and there is definitely some planing that needs to be done after the initial cuts. The problem I ran into is that when you use a table saw like this the blade never "exits" the wood in the cut. This bogs down the saw and makes kickback more likely. It felt really dangerous to me when I did it. I also have had some instances where the bogging down of the saw caused some burning of the wood. But as stated before it will work.....

Another member, I think it was PerryL, posted a thread with this design, about a year or so ago. I always thought this guitar looked like a woman's body. It just needs to be rounded a bit and a little smoother like a woman !

I recently purchased a set of tuners from Grizzly for the project I am working on at the moment. I liked these because they are the same design as Schaller Mini M6s ( which I used on my last project and like very much) and I had considered using a set of the Grizzly tuners to replace the brokens ones on my Takamine, but as I said earlier I wanted to keep the guitar to original equipment if possible. The Grizzly tuners I have right now have the "ears" set in the correct position so that I would not have had to drill the holes again, but the keys on the ones I have are smaller than the Jin Ho tuners. That's another reason why I didn't go with those. I decided to try the Grizzly tuners this time just to see how they compared to the Schallers. The Schallers run about $56.00 to $60.00 and the Grizzly tuners I bought only cost me around $22.00. So I thought what the hell, nothing ventured nothing gained.

LOL soapbar , While I cannot confirm whether or not Jin Ho Music Instruments employs "Gin Hoes" in the manufacturing of their tuners , I do know that they have also collaborated with Trev Wilkinson to produce a Wilkinson EZ Lock tuner as well as the tuners that my Takamine is equipped with. I too was disappointed with what I found when I removed the tuners I thought were allright and they turned out to be broken or very nearly so, but I was very impressed that the company was willing to ship me a complete set free of charge. And I didn't even ask them to do that. I simply contacted them inquiring where I could purchase a set in the US.

Hey gripper ! I finally ended up sending an e-mail directly to Jin Ho in Korea. They actually sent me a whole set of the exact same tuners for my Takamine. But, I did find the same thing that you described when I went to replace the old ones. Several of the tuners were craked at the joint where the thimble meets the body like you said. So, I think in the future if these go bad on me, I will replace them with something else also. I just wanted to keep the guitar original if I could, and I didn't want to have to redrill the screw holes either if I didn't have to. But hey, I got free set of tuners from Jin Ho just for taking the time to write'em an e-mail. Can't beat that ! The originals lasted me about 6 years, so these should be OK for awhile. I am like you too, I don't know why they crack the way they do. Must just be inferior metal that can't hold up to the strain over time. I was going to replace mine with Schaller M6s if I could not find the originals. I am pretty sure the Schallers have the same position for the set screw as these Jin Ho tuners.

Thanks for the replies guys. I will look around for an 11 mm bit. I remember when I bought a bit to drill the holes for my tuners, these particular ones were Schaller Mini M6s, which require a 10 mm hole, the closest thing I could find was a 9.9 mm. It works fine, but I usually have to use a dowel and sandpaper to ream the holes a bit to get the tuners to fit. But, better slightly smaller than too large right ! I could not find a drawing anywhere for the Gotoh TOM I will go look at the Warmouth site.

Can anybody tell me the size of the drill bit needed to drill the holes for the post bushings on a Gotoh Nashville TOM bridge ? I have checked them on a drill gauge that I have and the closest size I could come up with is 7/16" or 11.11 mm. Although the "splines" on the bushings do catch a bit on the sides of the hole it seems a little loose to me. Should these holes be 11 mm ? Is there such a thing as an 11 mm bit ? Or is the 11.11 mm just the metric equivalent of 7/16" and the only size you can find ? The next size down on my drill gauge is 10.72 mm, or 27/64", and that seems too small.