guitar2005

What I've done is set the route to be 1/8" shy of the pickup height with covers on. You can bring them up if need be with a piece of foam for adjustment. In the bridge position, if you have an angled neck and TOM bridge, you can make the route shallower by another 1/8". Since you're using a hardtail bridge, the same depth should work fine. Make sure that you account for the pole piece screws.

You need to understand basic electronics like ohm's law. Your volume pot is connected in parrallel to the input of whatever you're plugging into. I'm simplifying here because the actual circuit has R L C (Resistance, Inductance, Capacitance) components but in essence, if you have a 500k pot connected to and 500k input impedance circuit (like an Ibanez TS9), your nominal impedance as seen by the pickup is 250k. If you connect into a 1M input (like a Marshall tube amp), the resulting impedance is 333K. That will affect the frequency response of the system. The guitar's controls are part of the entire circuit.

Seems like everything that could go wrong on this project has gone wrong. I've redone so many things on this one, its not funny. I did try to glue the neck in but it must have shifted during glue up because the string alignment wasn't exactly how I wanted it. I unglued it and decided to bolt it on as was originally intended. As I bolted the neck on, one of the screws broke. No problem you say? Not with my luck. The screw holes in the body were just tight enough around the screw that I couldn't separate the neck from the body. I tried drilling around, pushing the screw out. I had the whack the neck out. Not much damage on the neck but the finish chipped in two spots around the neck pocket and on a gold top, there's no way to hide the chips. Then, on the face of the guitar, at a certain angle, I noticed a finish crack in the lacquer. Heating it up fixes it but it comes back. This is after the body fell to the ground while buffing it back in decemeber. I had to re-shoot the entire back of the guitar. The thought of cutting the guitar up has crossed my mind. The defects on this one bug me. My wife says to just complete it and use it as a reminder that sometimes, things go wrong.

A couple of opamps, resistors and caps is all you need.

I built mine - just a simple laminated top with 4 foldable legs. Its ugly but it works and I've had it for 10 years. I got the router base and template from Lee Valley.

Those Gianninis are great guitars and with a headstock like that, I'm sure that it used to be a higher end model. A new handmade Giannini classical is pretty expensive today. You have a nice guitar there.

Well, I went ahead and glued the neck in instead of screwing it in. I just hope it holds up. There isn't much wood to hold the sides of the neck so I'm mostly counting on the heel base to hold the neck in place. I cleaned up the wood surfaces with compressed air, applied glue and clamped for 12 hours.

He he he... I think that looks awesome and reminds me of the La Patrie Hybrid in black.

I wouldn't dye Maple because it will not penetrate enough to be durable on a fretboard. There are many options out there that could work well as an alternative.

Sometimes, I feel like taking good pics of guitars is just as hard as building them

Do keep us posted on the guitar's progress. I'm interested to see how such a repair turns out. I think you can do something real nice with this. Is that top solid wood or a laminate?

This is weird... because I never stated that 10 applications of Tru-oil is thinner than 4-5 of lacquer. When you, in an earlier post said this: OK, you stated thin, not thinner, but if that wasn't the quintessence of your statement, please expand Next you continue with this: I never said that lacquer doesn't soak into wood. I said So please have a look at your own style of posting before saying thing like this Stating things like that have a tendency to bounce right back at the originator. Lest agree on refraining from that... To the actual case: To my personal experience (from 25 years of using different types of lacquer and maybe 10 years of using try-oil) true-oil will soak into wood much deeper than lacquer. It also takes a few more applications before you have "saturated" the wood with true-oil compared to when using lacquer. When I shoot lacquer I always have a film build up after the second application, but often already after the first. With Tru-oil, to my experience, you need as stated 2-4 applications. Remember that I stated that I apply the oil in very thin layers, thus requiring more layers before the formation of a film. However your milage may vary And also as already stated: 10 applications (actually a few more when adding the sand level/reoil-process) of Tru-oil is for oil-over-stained-wood to ensure no sand throughs. For true oil over natural wood you can get away with as few as 3-4 applications but generally seldom more than 5-8 applications, once again depending on the type of wood you are working with Everything I state is based on how I make things and are not in any way "laws of physics". I just doesn't agree with you statement that using a few more coats of true-oil is is a waste of time compared to shooting a few less coats of lacquer. You have to look at the total process. When shooting lacquer you need to ad time for spray gun assembling before shooting and dissembling/cleaning after the application. Repeat that up to 5 times depending on your total process (OK kan be as little as once of twice) and you have quite a lot of time spent on spray gun maintenance alone. Then you need to add time for thinking the finish, adjusting the spray gun etc etc. You also need to spend time to buff and polish the finish after maybe 5 weeks of drying. Compare that to using oil; you grab the bottle Drying time for the oil, when applied thin enough is 45-60 minutes. That is a time saving process. Don't try to read something into what I wrote. I try to write what I think with no hidden messages Regarding the lacquer soaking into the wood, albeit differently than tru-oil, that was a simple statement that only adds to what you stated and in no way contradicts your post. The general idea behind my original post is that you can achieve a nice, thin finish with traditional lacquer with much less work and time. "Waste of time" is relative and is only from my point of view. I never said anything about "thinner" finishes. 4 coats of lacquer can be done in 5 min each, 1 hour apart. Total spraying time = 20mins. I leave the lacquer in the gun between coats. Cleanup is another 5 mins. Say 30mins total time investment if you count some amount of setup (setup the guitar for spraying, put everything back in place once done etc.). Having used tru-oil and still do for certain things, in my experience, doing a body with it would be more time consuming for me.

This is weird... because I never stated that 10 applications of Tru-oil is thinner than 4-5 of lacquer. Funny how people read posts on this forum lately. You then go on to say that tru-oil will soak into the wood, but lacquer does that too, unless the wood is sealed 1st (but I didn't mention anything about sealing the wood).

I love thunderbirds and that black flame is a great idea but is the lighter "rectangle" around the pickups and bridge intentional?

10 coats of tru-oil seems like a huge waste of time. If you want a thin "organic" finish as you say (Whatever that means), you can apply 4-5 coats of lacquer.

I like it. My stage Acoustic has a black top with dark rosewood sides. It looks great and resonates nicely. Add a nice overlay rosette and you'll have something real nice IMO. In terms of "paint" over the soundboard.... I doubt that the OP is going to paint the guitar with latex, household paint or something like that. Lacquers can be tinted and the end result (tone wise) would be no different than some clear lacquer coats.

Glad to see that you're doing this one over again. but just to be clear, I never stated "why post on a public forum if you are not here to help, and just to criticize?" This is what I wrote (see post #10) "Why post on a public forum if you don't care about other people's opinion and at the 1st negative comment, insult people?" IMO, your insults were not warranted but its your life and you may live your life as you wish. Personally, when someone criticizes my work, my gut reaction is never to insult them but rather to try and understand. As I stated earlier, dyes can help in getting a much nicer burst with a much more gradual look. Personally, I would consider applying a new veneer on top of that or go with a solid black colour. If you redo the top, whether it be solid colour or new wood, Rosette overlays can be had pretty easily.

What is your understanding of a one piece neck? Most of the time, even when there's no separate piece of wood for the fretboard, there's at least a second piece of wood to cover the truss rod channel route on the back of the neck, commonly called the "skunk stripe". Could it be done for a 2 way rod? Yes, but the question is why: I can't see any advantage of making a neck that way.

Ummm... that's was weird. Why post on a public forum if you don't care about other people's opinion and at the 1st negative comment, insult people? I know you don't care what I think but... personally, I'd either redo the finish or just shoot it straight up black. You should try doing the burst with dyes.

OMG - That burst is awful. Sorry.

Prefer it over other hobby CA? Definitely. Whenever I have a hairline crack, that's what I use. Definitely more durable joint than CA and much, much easier to clean up. Awesome. Thanks for the good advice. How long should I let it settle? Multiple coats? No. One application is enough. Glue is not like paint or clear coats. You only apply glue once.

Prefer it over other hobby CA? Definitely. Whenever I have a hairline crack, that's what I use. Definitely more durable joint than CA and much, much easier to clean up.

I'd use chair doctor glue.

You don't have to fill the hole with epoxy. You only need a little. I usually spread epoxy in the hole's sides and on the ferrule (insert) itself. Tape around the hole to minimize cleanup.

Tung oil works well. That's what I use on my guitars and have no complaints. I re-oil every so often.