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mistermikev

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Everything posted by mistermikev

  1. thank you, very much appreciate it. I like to think I'm currently "studying the masters" and gravitating towards something more "my own" with each build. thanks again for the kind words.
  2. that is a very generous compliment and means the world to me from you sir!
  3. doh, thought I was looking at a top... but for the record the 'lovely' part was still accurate.
  4. the way I see it... this gap has to be there and a compression rod style truss rod... as the idea is it has to have wood to compress against... but I put that there on a two way rod because I feel it is better to have as little air space around the truss as possible. I also like the idea that even that small of a piece of wood will reinforce the neck there to some degree so... for those reasons I either drill out to leave that wood or sometimes rout out and then glue a small piece of wood in there. I want it secured in that channel as much as possible. I believe some leave it out because of two main reasons: 1 it's easier and 2 in theory you could potentially remove the rod if there is ever an issue. I don't think there is anything wrong with either. ymmv
  5. thank you Biz. really means a lot to me. Honestly... this was a cnc fail in a lot of ways. almost every edge detail on this thing had to be re-worked so it was a LOT of manual carve. The backside carve I manually re-did with a belt sander and card scraper. The top carve... on this oak one... well it was never meant to cut this deep so I had to 'massage' that bottom edge and hence the little piece left on the lower horn. the top is so thin in places I was burning through it right at the edge. So in a lot of ways, this one was saved from the edge of disaster and almost didn't make it. All that said - invaluable lessons learned and it's a really great playing instrument at the end of that so... just lucky I guess - esp for first cnc project. Thank you again for the support!!
  6. well... it's been a very long road... but at least one of these is done: truss rod cover is a fav feature of mine... hard to see in the pic but it has scales... I believe this was at the suggestion of a forum member early on in build feedback... so thanks for that whomever that was!! all magnetic control cavity covers... there is a "secret spot" that if you push they pop open my first ever scarf joint here... pretty happy w how it turned out
  7. no offence but I wouldn't recommend taking out your copper tape or anything until you know that's the problem. don't chase your tail. plug into a cheap amp and take a screwdriver and tap it at the live contact on the jack... if you don't get sound then the problem is there at the jack. sometimes a jack will make contact with wood and short to ground... so take the jack out and let it hang loose while the cord is plugged in... if it all the sudden works that will zero you in on that area. if you do get sound tapping... then tap further up the chain (usually the vol live depending on the layout) anywhere you have live... if you tap it with metal... it would ground it through you and you should hear that through the amp. don't use an expensive amp as the tapping might stress your speaker. i use a battery amp for such testing. another common mistake is simply mistaking the live for ground and visa versa on the jack. double check that the shield is neg and the prong is where your positive from the volume (or switch depending on order of your layout). rule out these simple things first and respond and we'll def help. also... again... take pictures of the jack outside the guitar, take detailed pics of the switch, the wires from the pickups... etc.
  8. noice, good friend to know! I worked as a cab maker as a young man so am familiar w giant weber sanders... wish I had one and also a giant compressor so I could run a dynabrade orbital. that'd be heaven indeed! tornado... well that must have been a sad day for you both!
  9. I think I have some 20+ guitars... about a third are factory guitars, another third are partscasters, and the rest are my builds. At any given point there are 1 or 2 that I'm in love with... but that changes pretty freq. Haven't played my classical nor my acoustics for quite a while... but every now and then I'll get an idea in my head that requires an acoustic or classical and I'll focus on those for a while. Right now I'm in bass mode... mostly because I'm working on a bass. Haven't played my 295 in a looong time but someday I'll get inspired by some brian setzer track and focus on that for a while. Building guitars makes me want to play guitar more... buying gear makes me want to play more... buying wood makes me want to build more... it's a vicious cycle!
  10. all good info mike. I have wondered about that (one side open) - I see that grizzly makes one that is supported on both sides but uber expensive. the cnc is def a great tool for it... I just find the planer to be pretty handy esp for anything bigger than my bed. very much appreciate the insight!!
  11. hmm.... have oft thought of a thickness sander... but not really interested in spending the kind of money they cost given the amount of application so have been holding out for a while on one. so... when I hear you say it was torture I want to know more. was it issues with tracking? I'm told all of them have issues there. further... if I take small bites on my planer on moderately figured wood I get a good finish which makes me wonder if I'd be happy at all with a drum sander. I understand that with the dewalt (735?) you get a speed control and supposedly leaves a finish ready surface so... maybe that's a better buy? my planer is just a $100 craftsman with good brand new blades.
  12. got my stainless steel frets leveled and dressed... and man are my arms tired! between the very tight radius of the neck (compound 6" to 8" - unstoppable force) and the rigidity of ss (imovable object) I had to do more crowning than I would have liked esp given it was a pita w stainless. but we're through that now. so what are these? some pitch black photos? well... er... I guess so. I did a little live experiment ("I don't usually test my code but when I do... I prefer the live environment") with diy glow in the dark dots. getting photos was probably harder than doing the dots. they certainly don't glow on the level with luminlay... but I really wanted something with color as opposed to that off-white look that most of the luminlay has (not that there is anything wrong w that... just thought it might look better with color for this proj). They remind me a lot of what you might see on a pistol sight. the oak one: and the purpleheart... and here is the materials and jist of what I did... 3mm od vinyl tube and glow dust and ca glue. `first used the pointed nail set to sort of get the clipped tube ends back to circular to make it easier to get the dust in... then the std nail set to pack the dust in a bit. also finished up my preamps for the piezo... anywho... just another baby step!
  13. i used to think they were essential for me (face markers)... but I've noticed more and more that all I ever look at is the side dots. a few of the recent builds I did were w/o side dots and I was surprised how it was so noticeable. that said... I play classical from time to time and my classical has no dots nor fret markers... usually takes a little practice for big leaps but somehow I manage... I use the force hehe. both are sure convenient!
  14. I think you could probably use just about anything... but is it a good idea? I don't know but I would lean towards 'not'. the whole idea of bondo, spackle, joint compound is that it drys fast and is easy to sand. easy to sand often translates to brittle/light. I imagine that could lead to a 'soft spot' in your finish down the road. I try to avoid any filler at all costs... would rather do a bit more work in terms of spray and wet-sanding iterations to end up with a finish that is consistent throughout. that said... on ash you almost have to do some kind of filler or you'll be spraying forever... so in those cases I've used some filler that was recommended on a mandolin site. it drys back and shrinks quite a bit which suggests to me it may be harder... but alas more work as I find myself re-applying several times. I'm leaning towards some quality epoxy next time I have to do a gloss on ash. ymmv.
  15. oh and my fav... aerodyne: just realized no shots of crtl cav... here is cav on back of aerodyne
  16. they did a run of squire neck through - can't recall the name... but the hm strat... back of hm strat: and carved top strat back side of carved top:
  17. congrats on goty. couldn't happen to a nicer guy nor a nicer build.
  18. so... the more I work on this project the more I seem to have to do yet... oh boy. anywho... shined this up to 2500... the flame is there... but i swear still not as obvious as in the wood b4 I cut it... guess we'll see when the finish gets on... so so this is a $12 nibbler off amazon. I cut a small groove with my dremel cutoff wheel. think I might buy another and take another shot cause i can tell with a slightly tighter groove I might get a cleaner cut but given stainless steel frets... and the fact that it made it to fret 27... and cut pretty clean... can't complain. and this here is a starette nippers. a new set will set you back $400. this rusted old one cost me $25. it's not perfect... there is an uneven gap on the cutting edge. not sure what could possibly reshape these ends because they are about as hard as it gets. these will cut through stainless like nothing. they don't make 'em like they used to. here you can see how well the $12 nibblers did:
  19. is it really of any use w/o being split? I'd just split it and let the chips fall where they may. if you have a lot of worm hole... it could be cool to pack it with mop chips and fill w epoxy. you could just do some random inlay or makaray to hide it. won't really know till you see it.
  20. yes... nice knobs. they compliment the bass well.
  21. "radical" comes to mind. that is seriously lovely w the glow in the dark and all. that must be some really "glowy" glow in the dark stuff too... just lit up there.
  22. gave a listen, very nice. some really choice guitar playing and wide variety of tones.
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