Issues With My Guitar Body

[DrummerDude]

I didn't ignore anything - I learned a lot from this thread thanks to you, guys.

Now I know what is best to do in future, but at present, I really don't have the time and patience to go through all this handwork again.

Six months of waiting really discouraged me and I am in a childish hurry to finish everything up and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

To be honest, I was 80% sure that i will be forced to use epoxy anyway because I knew from the very beginning that I don't have the time to learn how to do any precise squaring handwork.

But, as I stated above, I do like to ask for people's opinion, no matter what the situation is and take under consideration any possibility that may appear.

For example - in the other thread there were plenty of good advices on how to do the squaring by hand. But after all I brought the blank to a carpenter because I knew that this would be the best thing to do in my present situation from the very beginning. This didn't stop me from asking and learning new things that I will be using in future.

And thanks Satan (or whoever), I learned a lesson from this experience: Find a couple of weeks of free time and learn to use your hand tools and NEVER trust beer drinking lowlifes to do your job.

[Setch]

Yes, he's clearly a low life - that's why he did you a favour by jointing your wood. You (as the person about to screw him over by not paying him) clearly have the moral highground.

When you say "I don't have the time to learn how to do any precise squaring handwork" what exactly is the deadline? You've waited six months already, why not invest the time to learn how to do the thing right? Reading on a forum is all well and good, but you need to get out there and make some shavings before you're going to learn anything really valuable.

[DrummerDude]

The beer man was not doing me a favor.

We agreed about a small cash payment (I guess he calculated the payment as being equal to two bottles of beer).

Actually, I insisted really hard on paying him (not that he was about to refuse) because I knew that if it was all for free, he would screw it up, not taking his itme.

Unfortunately, he didn't do the job even under an agreement that I will be paying him.

Plus he gave me bull about the gap being perfectly OK and the glue filling it up and all that stuff...

Should I pay him for screwing up my wood? Or should I bring the wood back to him and make him do it all over again, so he would charge me twice?

And I have a gut feeling that his drunken hands won't do it right even after 100 tries.

Nothing to worry about - I didn't screw the guy by not paying him for his 1 minute of lousy work. Actually he screwed me up by ruining My Precious Wood.

[RGman]

I was under the impression that you lived in a place where European Beech was cheap and plentiful? At least it wasn't Master grade Koa.

[DrummerDude]

By "precious" I didn't mean its money value.

Beech, just like pine, is pretty plentiful here, yes. But not in its steam dried form of existence.

They sell raw beams for construction work (for supporting the concrete molds and stuff like that) and, of course, it is not dried.

I had to go to a small village 70 kilometers away where this lumber yard was to find this piece of kiln/steam dried beech.

Cool thing is that I caught a viper there, but that's another story.

[WezV]

and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

It doesnt quite work like that - 90% couldnt give a crap and will think you are strange when you could have just brought a nice shiny new one!!

That goes for men and women.

If the handmade guitar looks handmade, and badly handmade at that - then no-one will be impressed. Not even us weirdos that like handmade guitars!!

[DrummerDude]

and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

It doesnt quite work like that - 90% couldnt give a crap and will think you are strange when you could have just brought a nice shiny new one!!

That goes for men and women.

If the handmade guitar looks handmade, and badly handmade at that - then no-one will be impressed. Not even us weirdos that like handmade guitars!!

You bad and cynical man, you just killed my dream.

[djhollowman]

and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

It doesnt quite work like that - 90% couldnt give a crap and will think you are strange when you could have just brought a nice shiny new one!!

That goes for men and women.

If the handmade guitar looks handmade, and badly handmade at that - then no-one will be impressed. Not even us weirdos that like handmade guitars!!

+1, y'all must have seen THE LOOK yeah? Y'know, when the person you're enthusing to about your exact neck angle calculation etc etc just gives you THE LOOK??

And yeah, I get that a LOT - the old "Wouldn't it just be easier to go and buy a guitar?" pff....fools, what do they know??!!

Only today I had a conversation with a work colleague about this, and predictably it got to THAT moment, and he says "Well, it can't be that hard to make, in fact I would have thought it's pretty easy - bit of simple woodwork, bung in the bits, off you go!" So, of course I asked him to make me one then! Should have it by teatime at his rate!! lol!!

DJ

[pmarlin]

I dont understand what his beer drinking has to do with anything, you keep referencing it like its a bad thing. I drink beer and I am sure plenty of others do also. So just pay the guy, what he spends his money on is really his business and should not dictate whether he gets paid or not. He did the work, you inspected it and left. Done deal,pay up.

[DrummerDude]

I dont understand what his beer drinking has to do with anything, you keep referencing it like its a bad thing. I drink beer and I am sure plenty of others do also. So just pay the guy, what he spends his money on is really his business and should not dictate whether he gets paid or not. He did the work, you inspected it and left. Done deal,pay up.

See, i do drink beer too.

but I am not drunk 99% of my time.

Plus the guy is not running his own business.

He works for a woodworking company and occasionally charges random victims for small jobs.

Using the equipment, materials and electricity that the company owner is paying for, of course.

He is kind of running his own small private business inside of his daily job.

[marksound]

What's that old saying again? Oh, yeah. Let the buyer beware. What's that other one? You get what you pay for. One more, my favorite. When you have to have something fast and cheap it usually ends up being neither.

[Quarter]

Lets see, he comes here asking advice, gets great suggestions, does not want to take the time to do it right, then is all to happy to justify stiffing someone out of a few bucks.

So what happens when he comes back with more problems that he does not have the time or patience to fix?

[pmarlin]

See, i do drink beer too.

but I am not drunk 99% of my time.

Plus the guy is not running his own business.

He works for a woodworking company and occasionally charges random victims for small jobs.

Using the equipment, materials and electricity that the company owner is paying for, of course.

He is kind of running his own small private business inside of his daily job.

So if you knew all these things then why did you use his services? I mean if I had a feeling something wasnt right I wouldnt risk my "precious" wood.

[mattharris75]

Lets see, he comes here asking advice, gets great suggestions, does not want to take the time to do it right, then is all to happy to justify stiffing someone out of a few bucks.

So what happens when he comes back with more problems that he does not have the time or patience to fix?

I've seen him repeat this exact pattern for months now. People always happily give him advice, which he never follows. I'm amazed so many people still bother to offer advice after all this time. They are obviously much more charitable and optimistic than I am.

[DrummerDude]

Why did I use this scum's services?

Easy - because he's the only one in town.

I live in the middle of nowhere and, believe me, my guitarbuilding life is much harder that you can ever imagine.

All I have is will and passion.

The rest is troublesome stuff like driving for miles just to be able to buy a good rasp.

[fryovanni]

Lets see, he comes here asking advice, gets great suggestions, does not want to take the time to do it right, then is all to happy to justify stiffing someone out of a few bucks.

So what happens when he comes back with more problems that he does not have the time or patience to fix?

I've seen him repeat this exact pattern for months now. People always happily give him advice, which he never follows. I'm amazed so many people still bother to offer advice after all this time. They are obviously much more charitable and optimistic than I am.

I think it is almost a sick fascination (kinda like rubbernecking). No point really. You see all the right methods and advise offered. You think of what the worst method to move forward would be, and watch as somehow an even worse choice is made. Kinda like watching Jackass the movie. You know that is gonna hurt(and they do to), you know that is stupid(and they do to), and then they do it. Kinda something like that, an Enigma .

[Setch]

All I have is will and passion.

I'd dispute that. If you really had a passion to make something, you'd put in the hard work to learn how to do it properly, yourself, rather than trying to find shortcuts like getting somebody else to do it, then blaming them if it isn't perfect. You want the finished product, without the time, and effort required to do it right, and that is never, ever, going to happen.

[radrobgray]

I didn't ignore anything - I learned a lot from this thread thanks to you, guys.

Now I know what is best to do in future, but at present, I really don't have the time and patience to go through all this handwork again.

Six months of waiting really discouraged me and I am in a childish hurry to finish everything up and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

To be honest, I was 80% sure that i will be forced to use epoxy anyway because I knew from the very beginning that I don't have the time to learn how to do any precise squaring handwork.

But, as I stated above, I do like to ask for people's opinion, no matter what the situation is and take under consideration any possibility that may appear.

For example - in the other thread there were plenty of good advices on how to do the squaring by hand. But after all I brought the blank to a carpenter because I knew that this would be the best thing to do in my present situation from the very beginning. This didn't stop me from asking and learning new things that I will be using in future.

And thanks Satan (or whoever), I learned a lesson from this experience: Find a couple of weeks of free time and learn to use your hand tools and NEVER trust beer drinking lowlifes to do your job.

you say in your present situation you dont have time to learn to use a hand plane. if you dont have time for that how do you have time to build a guitar? if you going to build a guitar do it right. do it right the first time and it'll be alot quicker and more satifying then building nothing more than a few bits of random wood glued together. if you dont have the patence to learn to use the tools why have the patence to build something that may or may not play decent. as far as im concerned you have no place around guitars or asking for advice that you dont listen to.

Why did I use this scum's services?

Easy - because he's the only one in town.

I live in the middle of nowhere and, believe me, my guitarbuilding life is much harder that you can ever imagine.

All I have is will and passion.

The rest is troublesome stuff like driving for miles just to be able to buy a good rasp.

if you have so much "passion", why cant you learn to use the tools properly and take the time to really build something properly? i have no sympathy for someone that turns a cold shoulder to good advice with excuses like "at present, I really don't have the time and patience to go through all this handwork again." it's not like all these people are blowing smoke out their @$$3$. if its that hard for you and you arent going to be proactive about your situation (i.e. learning to use the tools properly, finding a way to get proper materials, being patient) then DONT build simple as that.

on the other hand if you'd listen to peoples advice there would be a much friendlier attitude twards you and your posts. i honestly would love to see you build a successful guitar, but if you refuse to do it right why bother?

in response to Fryovanni, its mind boggling to me as to how someone could blatantly turn a cold shoulder to great advice like that.

[ihocky2]

The one main tool that you need to learn is patience. Go to the "What mistakes to avoid thread". I think every post in that thread says to be patient. And you sit here and say that you have no patience to do this. All you are setting yourself up to do is fail. Problems occur, mistakes are made, things take longer than planned. Unless you are comissioned to build the guitar by a specifed date, there is no reason to just rush through just to get it done.

[Geo]

and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

It doesnt quite work like that - 90% couldnt give a crap and will think you are strange when you could have just brought a nice shiny new one!!

Funny... I've always generated interest with my projects. People always think it's cool, even though my work isn't professional quality.

Aside from anything else, let me say this... you should learn to use a hand plane just FOR ITS OWN SAKE. It is one of the most exhilerating things you'll ever do. Just learn how to set it up and use it. Start with the blade set super-fine. It isn't hard.

Personally, if I my project had been going for 6 months, I'd let it drag on for another year if it would mean a fantastic finished product. No one's paying you to build it; it's a hobby, for your own enjoyment; you want a top-notch guitar so that your improving playing skills aren't bogged down.

You shouldn't be discouraged from all this. You should take it in stride and learn from it. I had a professor who said something like "education is painful because it involves tearing down your old mindset and replacing it with a better one." This applies to things way beyond guitar building.

[RGman]

I say, let him make the mistakes...

He will learn from them as we all do.

[WezV]

and to start scoring on chicks by showing off my new hand-built guitar.

It doesnt quite work like that - 90% couldnt give a crap and will think you are strange when you could have just brought a nice shiny new one!!

Funny... I've always generated interest with my projects. People always think it's cool, even though my work isn't professional quality.

oh, i get interest but its mainly from musicians - everyone else just goes 'oh, thats cool' and thats pretty much the end of that! Now impressing musicians with my guitars is definately important to me - but be aware that most are far more critical than they would be of a factory made guitar.

I have never managed to impress anyone with a badly made guitar!!! (and yes i have made guitars badly before!!!)

[Geo]

oh, i get interest but its mainly from musicians - everyone else just goes 'oh, thats cool' and thats pretty much the end of that! Now impressing musicians with my guitars is definately important to me - but be aware that most are far more critical than they would be of a factory made guitar.

I have never managed to impress anyone with a badly made guitar!!! (and yes i have made guitars badly before!!!)

Yeah... don't count on it for "scoring chicks".

[DrummerDude]

I just cut my finger to the bone because I was in a hurry again and used a drill bit for tightening the drill's shaft.

It snapped in my hand and cut me pretty bad. Cool - the guitar is baptized in blood. How metal is that?

Anyway, the guitar is going great so far and no matter what you say about people not getting too impressed by hand made guitars, I will do my best to score on a very special chick using this guitar.

[RGman]

-1, for working in hurry.

I hope this "very special chick" likes disabled due to stupidity kinda guys.