Pointy Stick

[WezV]

i used to use rustins a lot, pretty much following the instructions

brushed:

or sprayed:

i always found it pretty easy, but i know others had issues with it

[Our Souls inc.]

looking good Muzz. I love watching this thing come to life. .....

Wez - thats just wrong , showing how good that plastic stuff can look ....

You build some killer looking instruments. That looks like a Ravelle ? am I completely off ?????

[WezV]

the brushed one was my version of a ravelle built for my cousins 30th... afterthat i did my own variation on it with a bit of organic iceman mixed in and i call it vendetta

[HenryM]

Still one question. What did come with rustins plastic coating, Did it have thinner included

[WezV]

no, iirc it just comes with the plastic coating and the hardener, but there are also some packs that come with buffing compound. dont quote me on this (i.e. test it yourself) but i think it thins fine with normal lacquer thinner and it definately takes stains quite nicely too

check out simo's 6 string bass for a really good (high quality lacquer) brush on finish

[Muzz]

Those are fantastic guitars Wez, beautiful finish. On the brown one is that a road I can see reflected with a house at the horizon? OK Henry I think we have a benchmark to work to, I'm geed, you can check out all the different combinations of Rustins plastic stuff at http://www.rustins.com.au/rustins/rustinsp...iccoatingp2.htm

Hey Mike, I am guessing you have changed your mind and are thinking, hmm, I've got to get some of that plastic goop

I am trying it out now on my practice neck headstock, mixed the syrup and hardener in a caper jar, I'm always up for a caper

It's going on now, looks OK so far, I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I ran through the neck route on the MDF model, no wuckers except one little drill mark.

Then I thought I'd do this shot (no screws in the joint)

I would love to see a pic in that pose where the body falls off the neck, I would have laughed if mine did, it didn't then, but later I dropped it off the bench onto the concrete floor, nothing much happened to it. Better remember not to do that with the ash or I'll be all

So here is my full size model to test stuff out on

[Our Souls inc.]

Those are fantastic guitars Wez, beautiful finish. On the brown one is that a road I can see reflected with a house at the horizon? OK Henry I think we have a benchmark to work to, I'm geed, you can check out all the different combinations of Rustins plastic stuff at http://www.rustins.com.au/rustins/rustinsp...iccoatingp2.htm

Hey Mike, I am guessing you have changed your mind and are thinking, hmm, I've got to get some of that plastic goop

I am trying it out now on my practice neck headstock, mixed the syrup and hardener in a caper jar, I'm always up for a caper

It's going on now, looks OK so far, I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I ran through the neck route on the MDF model, no wuckers except one little drill mark.

Then I thought I'd do this shot (no screws in the joint)

I would love to see a pic in that pose where the body falls off the neck, I would have laughed if mine did, it didn't then, but later I dropped it off the bench onto the concrete floor, nothing much happened to it. Better remember not to do that with the ash or I'll be all

So here is my full size model to test stuff out on

No muzz - no plactic goop for me , thanks. and the "practice" geet ? when you're done with the real build , finish it up so we know what MDF sounds like!

[avengers63]

And the "practice" geet ? when you're done with the real build , finish it up so we know what MDF sounds like!

Something tells me the MDF wouldn't hold up under the string tension.

I remember a couple years ago someone here doing a test with bodies made from traditional wood, MDF, chipboard, and maybe something else. Sound clips and everything were posted. IIRC, there was no accuracy in guessing which was the solid wood and which was junk.

[Muzz]

and the "practice" geet ? when you're done with the real build , finish it up so we know what MDF sounds like!

Yep that will be interesting to hear what it sounds like, some people assume that MDF won't tone up but who knows until we try it out. MDF would be horrible stuff to try and make an actual guitar out of though, it weighs a ton and has a tendency to split when bits get too thin. If it holds together long enough I'll make some recordings and post them.

Something tells me the MDF wouldn't hold up under the string tension.

I remember a couple years ago someone here doing a test with bodies made from traditional wood, MDF, chipboard, and maybe something else. Sound clips and everything were posted. IIRC, there was no accuracy in guessing which was the solid wood and which was junk.

Yeah, I remember something about that, didn't he post the sound clips first on a different forum and then after people posted that it sounded fantastic he said ha ha it's MDF. I don't know if that proved anything , if he made an MDF shape with cavities and if it vibrated in sympathy with the strings it might sound good. And I know it's a contentious issue about how much extra tone the body gives, friends have fallen out arguing over it, me I'm a bit meh over that debate but most people agree that most of the tone is coming from the pickups so if he had sweet sounding pickups they could sound good screwed into anything. A lovely piece of timber may have added another 5-10 % goodness into the tone, I can't remember if he did a comparison and would an MP3 recording that cuts out highs and lows capture the extra tone that a nice body might give?

If I do get the MDF strung up I wouldn't be bothered pulling any stunts, I'll post the clips and say which is which.

I gave the practice neck a bit of a buff after getting Rustined

I am giving you all the peace sign in this shot

Planning out the trem route, got to go and get some more recycled paper board, all I had is in that 3D model.

[pauliemc]

About the iffy wood choices thing (MDF)

The red guitar being held up by the guy with the decidly dodgy hair above is mostly Blockboard. Cheap, nasty, manky stuff that should never make it into any guitar. But still, this old geezer seems to get a decent sound goin.

[Our Souls inc.]

I was JK about the MDF thing and frets .. Don't waste your time and money because of me.

[Mender]

Some of the very cheap Chinese strat copies you see on Ebay have bodies made of MDF. I'm talking about the extremely cheap ones. A friend of mine bought one for £39.99 and brought it round to me for setting up. One of the pickups wasn't working, so I removed the scratchplate to check the wiring, and hey presto, the body was made of MDF with a polyester type coating. There was a wire off the pickup selector, which I resoldered, reassembled the guitar (did some fret levelling!), and it sounds quite reasonable, although not brilliant, due partly because of the crap pickups. They have a DC resistance of just 4k, and are as light as a feather. I wonder how it would sound with a set of Iron Gear pups...

[guitarkid4143]

No muzz - no plactic goop for me , thanks. and the "practice" geet ? when you're done with the real build , finish it up so we know what MDF sounds like!

I was poking around at Goodwill 2 yrs. ago, and there was a $10 guitar made of MDF. The body was MDF, but the neck was maple. Trust me, I threw that body out yesterday, and the horns broke off.

[Our Souls inc.]

No muzz - no plactic goop for me , thanks. and the "practice" geet ? when you're done with the real build , finish it up so we know what MDF sounds like!

I was poking around at Goodwill 2 yrs. ago, and there was a $10 guitar made of MDF. The body was MDF, but the neck was maple. Trust me, I threw that body out yesterday, and the horns broke off.

Where's the Strat?

[Muzz]

What's up Paulie, you certainly have a point, this is my favourite

and so true

Hey OSi, don't worry about being a bad influence on me, wild horses wouldn't stop me from hacking out a cavity for a pick up and stringing that craptastic MDF body model up, I can't wait to hear what an MDF guitar sounds like The amount of frets stays at 5, I even have a backing track (bass, drums, keys and vocals) sitting on my computer waiting to get the MDF rawk and raunch dubbed onto it, it's White Wedding, I can play all of that on 5 frets except for the last bit of the solo and the strat?

The model is great for trying different techniques on, playing White Wedding will be its penultimate service to this world, I think we all know what it's last will be

G'Day Mender How about that? I never realized that MDF guitars were actually sold I know Gibson once made a body out of masonite,

"I wonder how it would sound with a set of Iron Gear pups... "

Oh yeah, so do I .......

Howzit Guitarkid,

I would believe it, the side of the neck route is already splitting on mine

My routing mark out was all out to pot, wrong model, I could draw it out again or I could just cheat

The drill press reached the upper stud hole, just, but the bottom one, &%$# and you @#$%, what an unpheasant plucker, the drill bit is just a few ^%$#%$* bee's todgers off.

Hey, manyana

Edited March 22, 2010 by Muzz

[Our Souls inc.]

Muzz ------ the "strat" comment was aimed at Git kidd....... asking about his strat , not yours. lol

This is looking good still .... might have to hand drill your bridge posts ? Make a block of wood on the drill press to keep your drill bit plumb and true. Just put a hole thru the center and use it as a guide for the hand drill .

[Muzz]

Muzz ------ the "strat" comment was aimed at Git kidd....... asking about his strat , not yours. lol

This is looking good still .... might have to hand drill your bridge posts ? Make a block of wood on the drill press to keep your drill bit plumb and true. Just put a hole thru the center and use it as a guide for the hand drill .

Good call

that worked well

Don't try this technique of doing one quarter at a time, it gets old fast,

From now on I'm taking the time to make the templates, I agree with Custom Built Guitars at this post, make em don't buy em

Still, for the first time ever I have routed a hole all the way through a (sort of) guitar body

[Muzz]

Decal on

[WezV]

awesome logo

[supplebanana]

awesome logo

+1 - just a shame you didn't add the swoosh too...

[Our Souls inc.]

Decal on

Nice touch ...

pointy stick .....

[Muzz]

Yep going for a bit of a retro look, so no swoosh, when did the swoosh appear? Anyway, finished the finish

Working on the neck pocket.

[Muzz]

Making the neck pocket template, lining up the direction of the centre line with a piece of string

If the neck falls it has a nice soft bean bag to fall into.

[Muzz]

I put tape around the edges of the top of the template to fractionally reduce the size and make the cavity a tight fit routed out the underside of the template. The router I am using has a dust extraction fitting which is great but it does reduce the plunge depth.

So in this template I increased the thickness of the top parts and when I get to the limit of the plunge I can unscrew them and keep going. Advantage, the route starts off at 2 mm so there is no shuddering in the router and it will hopefully get a clean cut. To get an accurate centre line inside the pocket I held a block against an in side, placed a ruler against it and continued the line with a pencil. Dis the same on the other side, and marked the middle, flipped the template over and repeated the process on the bottom, joined the dots, that's the centre line.

Drawing the centre line on the body, I kept the paper template and folded it in half, lined it up on the body, easy.

Lining it up

Ready for routing later.

[avengers63]

Any particular reason you're wanting to show off your guitar mags? There's a different set in dang near every shot.