Stewmac

[Dan Salter]

Hello...I just thought i would tell thee...that after my initial post asking for info on copys of the erlewine dvd's...and getting the post closed for being a naughty boy ( i didnt think) i have just ordered over £200 worth of erlewine dvd's legit versions from stewmac so there !! ( they better bloomin be worth it you buggers? most expensive dvd's i have ever purchased !!)

so...i appologise for my earlier post basically i wanted to save on the £200 so i could spend it on more tools ( so they would have got my money either way! )

Dan ;-)

[Hughes]

now...tell me, what part of project guitar did you post this in? and for extra bonus marks WHERE SHOULD THIS BE?

[crafty]

That's nice. Now Dan will be able to buy some food and maybe make a few more videos to show us all how it's done.

On another note, it does mean that you are serious about your hobby and how you spend your time, so I think it's good that you ponied up the cash for the videos.

[Dan Salter]

Firstly...ooops..yeah...most likely in the wrong place to post...but i was kinda unsure....its no biggie surely? this thread ( in progress work ) is the main thread i read so it made sense to whop one in here.

Secondly....that was just a part of it ....stewmac got £850 of my hard earned yesterday ! £200 of it being the dvd's....so i guess yeah im pretty serious. ! and shortly Axminster or SIP will be getting another grand or so ! ...woop woop

[azz-230]

Dam dude what did u buy?

ive ben thinking about geting the Erlewine's Fretting Series

u must tell me if there any good

[Dan Salter]

Dvd wise its the "Fretting series" (all 3 dvd's)

the "Electric guitar maintenance and set up 1 + 2" ( 2 dvd)

the "Acoustic " " " " " 1 + 2 ( 2dvd)

and lastly the "Nut making" dvd x 1

Plus a whole bunch of specialist tools, guages, saws, nut making kit, fretting kit, etc etc ect ....

£800 and not one thing has a plug on it? ha ha

[guitarchump]

Plus a whole bunch of specialist tools, guages, saws, nut making kit, fretting kit, etc etc ect ....

£800 and not one thing has a plug on it? ha ha

Thats a good thing! When using hand tools when you first start can be very helpfull. It forces you to plan and learn them. With power tools beginners tend to just go "meh, oh well ill just give it a shot" and blindly make huge mistakes.

And have the proper tools like guages and stuff take ALOT of guess work out of things

Edited May 6, 2006 by guitarchump

[Dan Salter]

Yup...thats the plan although i will have mechanical bandsaw, planer, thicknesser, drum sander, bobbin sander , router etc but i get your point ! nothing like carving a top with nothing but a gaouge (spelling?) and sandpaper!

[Dan Salter]

Ok...my stewmac order arrived super quick..thankfully i got away with customs.

all looks good and im a third of the way through the afore mentioned dvd's and im highly impressed !! Dan erlewine rocks....im a bit miffed about his "straight neck no relief" policy? i need to investigate the pros and cons of straight V's relief necks? anyone have a view on this as it kind of goes against all that i have learned these last 17 years or more of being involved with guitars?

but overall....i have watched 3 of my 8 dvd's and worth every penny !

[Mattia]

If DHL delivered, don't be surprised if you get a bill for the customs duties by mail in a few days' time. It's happened to me on several occasions.

As for 'straight neck no relief', well, that's what you want to build towards. Get it dead flat, dead straight, perfectly even. And then, depending on desired action, player, and playing style, add the required amount. I can't get things to play right without some relief, but whatever.

Also, while there's nothing quite like carving a top with a gouge, violin-makers plane and scrapers (sandpaper? We don't need no steenkin' sandpaper! OK, I'm lying, but still...). But it's not something I'm keen to do again. Did that for three plates, and it's all angle grinders all the time for me from now on.

[Dan Salter]

Thanks Mattia.....thats a bitch i didnt know about getting billed "afterwards"? im in the UK? is it the same here as i have normally had to collect and pay the fee to get my item?

Yes i know all about neck relief .....ive always had it on my guitars but Dan erlewine is like ...all uber straight?...must be buzz central...but i guess he knows his stuff?...

Im a heavy deep blues bender so i like a high action anyway....but obviously not everyone does.

Ill have a better idea on dans theory once i have watched all 8 dvd's...

Dan

[Mattia]

I'm in the Netherlands, and pretty much everyone else makes me pay at the door, but I've been nailed after the fact, thinking I got away with not paying import duties. Maybe you got lucky.

As for relief, well, plenty of folks of Dan's caliber who like it. So...

[Setch]

I've been hit with DHL's after-the-fact billing. It's a PITA but still better than paying UK prices!

[Guitarfrenzy]

all looks good and im a third of the way through the afore mentioned dvd's and im highly impressed !! Dan erlewine rocks....im a bit miffed about his "straight neck no relief" policy? i need to investigate the pros and cons of straight V's relief necks? anyone have a view on this as it kind of goes against all that i have learned these last 17 years or more of being involved with guitars?

but overall....i have watched 3 of my 8 dvd's and worth every penny !

I have all those videos and can't tell you how many times I've watched them over and over again.. lol If you can't tell by now, I'm an information junky myself. lol.. They are definitely worth the money, and it's much better than just reading about it, because you can actually see step by step how Dan does things. Bryan Galloup amazes me too, as does many on the Advanced Fretting 2 video. You see that each person, like Frank Ford has their own way of doing things, and having great results at the same time. The other videos are great too though. When you get into inlay working, check out Larry Robinson's videos, they are also great. I also bought Frank Finocchio's DVD set in hopes of someday making an acoustic and although they are expensive, they are very detailed and worth the money too.

As for 'straight neck no relief', well, that's what you want to build towards. Get it dead flat, dead straight, perfectly even. And then, depending on desired action, player, and playing style, add the required amount. I can't get things to play right without some relief, but whatever.

Also, while there's nothing quite like carving a top with a gouge, violin-makers plane and scrapers (sandpaper? We don't need no steenkin' sandpaper! OK, I'm lying, but still...). But it's not something I'm keen to do again. Did that for three plates, and it's all angle grinders all the time for me from now on.

That's true, a straight neck with no relief is the ideal setup, although I'm convinced that with a smaller radius neck, more curved, (12" and under) it's harder to achieve. We discussed this a long time ago here in this thread. Basically, from my experience, all things being equal, a guitar with a flatter radius (example: Ibanez, Jackson) can have lower action before buzzing. Also, you can get that perfectly flat neck with no relief on those type of guitars. That's just from my own observations of setting up various guitars though.

[soapbarstrat]

I often complain, wishing the videos had even more info, but that doesn't mean I don't think they are great videos because they are.

I'm the kind of guy who needs stuff pounded into my head repeatedly if I'm going to remember it well. That's why I watch those videos over every now and then. Beats the hell out of going to a school and getting one shot at seeing an instructor show how it's done. You can't sit there in Luthier school with no shoes on, laying in bed munching on a whole large bag of Lay's potato chips (ok, that was when I was 220 pounds- 208 now)

[WezV]

You will definately be receiving a hefty customs bill from DHL, so just make sure you are prepared at the end of the month. I have never known them to miss one yet, they have already payed the customs on your behalf to get the parcel to you faster so they make sure they get the money back. I thought i had gotten away with it last time but it turned out the bill had just got lost in the mail and they sent a friendly reminder the month after. When i first used them they stuck a £10 admin charge on top (business rate) it should only be £1.25 if you are not a business so look out for that

On the other hand royal mail seem to regularly forget about my customs charge on about half of the things i order that are less than £100.

[Guitarfrenzy]

I often complain, wishing the videos had even more info, but that doesn't mean I don't think they are great videos because they are.

I'm the kind of guy who needs stuff pounded into my head repeatedly if I'm going to remember it well. That's why I watch those videos over every now and then. Beats the hell out of going to a school and getting one shot at seeing an instructor show how it's done. You can't sit there in Luthier school with no shoes on, laying in bed munching on a whole large bag of Lay's potato chips (ok, that was when I was 220 pounds- 208 now)

That's one thing you and I have in common. We buy every book, video, etc... we can find on guitar building. lol.. We are information junkies..

I think it's imperative that you continue to learn more about, and get better at what your doing. That's with anything you strive to do though. That's why I spend hours everyday researching, trying to find any new information that might be of interest to me. Factory video tours, tutorials, and anything I can find, I'll read them, even if I only learn one new thing, just one new thing, it's worth the trouble. Now go read a book.. haha

[Dan Salter]

Wow thanks for all the replys guys !!

Ok...so im pretty certain then i better not go blow the money i have put by for customs....thats a poo way of doing things you nasty DHL people !!.....oh well

As for the vids....yep they rock and i also plan to be watching them over and over whenever there is a spare couple of hours of crap tv or whatever.

I havent even started on the fretting series yet.!!

As for the "other" videos....im so against VIDEO nowadays after creating the perfect dvd/surround system....there is a bunch of those stewmac videos that i want and i have been praying they will come available on dvd but not yet :-( I guess ill have to buy them and get them put onto dvd which sucks.

As for books....yep....i buy any that i can find or afford. Its not directly related to guitar building but my last luxury that is snails pace surface mailing its way to me from the states in the BLACK GUARD which is the ultimate vintage telecaster book ! do a search on it if you havent seen it....they come serial numbered like a vintage tele too ! how cool is that ?

[soapbarstrat]

How long do DVD's last ? I mean I've had plenty of CD's that "went bad" after they were a few years old. I'm worried sometime in the not too distant future, that my Erlewine DVD's will also go bad.

[Dan Salter]

eh?...go bad?....what are you doing to them?

Ok.....heres the deal....way way back at the early days of compact discs one record label of which i cant remember made a bad batch for a couple of years unbeknown till like 15 or so years later.....these bad discs ( of which were only from one label) suffer what is now known as disc rot....the symtons being that the silver foil inside a disc will turn yellow/gold then start pitting and flaking....pretty much like it says...rot.

The label in question happily provide free modern replacements of any disc that has rotted and is still in their back catalogue?.

But that was the early days and was due to a chemical reaction....all these things have been ironed out and now cd's and dvd's should last 50 - 100 years ....

saying all that though.....contrary to the hype and blurb at the dawn of the cd age they are NOT indestructable....they DO SCRATCH and fingerprints etc will affect play temporarily....now, ......dirt and fingerprints can be cleaned....and now infact....scratches on the underside ( playing side) the side with no label/writing can also be fixed on a specialist polishing machine....provided the scratch is only on the clear plastic layer on the underside and has NOT gone through and damaged the silver "data" layer?...

now....my question is how do so many of your discs go bad? do they just need some hot breath and a soft cloth clean? or....are you one of those people who NEVER puts them back in the case...does NOT pick them up from the edges or centre hole and not touching the playing surface? are they skidding and kicking around your workshop covered in sawdust? grease? paint spray?.....obviously it may be none of these but simply put.....a cd made in the last 8 years or more looked after correctly and kept scratch or dirt free should last a lifetime? and the same of course goes for dvd's?

Now if you are THAT worried about your cd's ? do what i have done....i have painstakingly backed up and run off cdr copies of my entire 1000 plus cd collection....these back up copies are the ones for the car, to take to the workshop or to lend to friends....leaving my almost mint copies on the shelf in top condition....maybe im **** but hey? i dont have the same technology to copy my dvd's but many do....why not run of copies of all your erlewine dvd's ...put the originals away for safe keeping and use the copies at home or in the workshop? i know after over £200 on these dvd's from stewmac its what i will be doing when i find someone who can do me back up copies.

before i get bashed like before i would like to point out none of this is illegal if you are copying a cd or dvd which you have previously purchased! ;-)

Dan

[soapbarstrat]

I don't have a whole lot of CD's, but over the years I've had a few that just wouldn't read anymore (not music CD's, but computer burned CD's with programs on them). Kept them in the case and only touched the edge, carefully wiped if there was a speck of dust, etc.

And then I also heard on "some radio show about computers", that CD's often stop working after a few years. Well, from what you're saying, what they said is a load of crap, and I hope that's so.

I mean ever since I heard that, I thought I was just lucky that some of my 7 year old CD's were still working, and I would just have to accept that most of them will stop working eventually.

[Mattia]

Self-burned stuff always seems to age far less well than professional stuff. You can also get archival quality DVD/CD writable media, IIRC. It's not all the same. I've had quite a few data CDs go bad (audio CDs have this nice redundancy/data error correction built into the spec).

If I wanted data security, I'd back everything up to harddisks, namely two geographically seperate sets of RAID 0 (or 5..striping, or striping AND mirroring, whatever the numbers are) in addition to backed up optical media. But that gets a bit pricey...

[Dan Salter]

yes i agree with mattia...

my point was that i keep the original cd or dvd on the shelf...this then becomes my "master" if you like? and i can rattle off cdrs the car or in the workshop, to lend to friends etc...

I also agree that the burned stuff does NOT last anywhere near as long...so my copies are almost disposable as long as i keep the master in great new condition.

and that 7 year lifetime stuff is bullshit soapbar mate ...i started my collection at the birth of cd's back in the mid eighties and i still have and play heaps of them from back then?....my first two cd's ever...Dire Straights" brothers in arms", and Queen ..."a kind of magic" still play great? dont believe all that you read unless maybe they WERE talking about burnt/copy/cdr's then yes i will agree!