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BODY

mahogany base

1/8" flamed cedar top

natural clear with blackburst edges

NECK

7-ply flamed maple, plain maple, chechen, putpleheart

cedar faceplate & backstrap

blackburst on headstock

FRETBOARD

birdseye maple

abalone dots & purfling

black binding

HARDWARE & ELECTRONICS

gold hardware

Kahler trem

3 R.A.D. mini-humbuckers (you're awesome, buddy!)

6-position rotary switch

undetermined other switching

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YESTERDAY

back of headstock ready to receive the backstrap

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but it needs to be bent first

been doing some reading on how to bend wood without a bending iron, so let's try the easiest way first:

soak it in water for a half-hour or so, then clamp it into place

maybe it'll work, maybe not

nothing lost but the time & cedar, and I have plenty of both

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TODAY

no pics

it bent, but not as well as I'd like

trying something different - boiling the wood for 10 minutes, then clamping it overnight

I only boiled the area to be bent

it cupped a bit, but that's no surprise

the end bent a LOT easier than yesterday's attempt

it's all clamped in, along with a bunch of other clamps to (hopefully) flatten the rest out while it dries

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Do you sell your guitars or are they for your use only? I'm asking because I have some guitars that I've built that I would like to sell and wonder which avenue you use--Ebay or some other.

I'd love to sell some. The market around here is kinda dry. All I've ever been able to sell are bodies, and then only on eBay. I don't get what they're worth, but I DO get enough profit to warrant doing it. It funds my builds.

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Do you sell your guitars or are they for your use only? I'm asking because I have some guitars that I've built that I would like to sell and wonder which avenue you use--Ebay or some other.

I'd love to sell some. The market around here is kinda dry. All I've ever been able to sell are bodies, and then only on eBay. I don't get what they're worth, but I DO get enough profit to warrant doing it. It funds my builds.

Yeah, I kinda figured I would take a major loss if I sell any. Hate to sell a guitar for what the pickups are worth, no matter how badly I need to move it or how seldom it gets played. Maybe that's why people on Ebay take their guitars apart to sell them.

Nice going on the build btw. Always look forward to your updates.

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Do you sell your guitars or are they for your use only? I'm asking because I have some guitars that I've built that I would like to sell and wonder which avenue you use--Ebay or some other.

I'd love to sell some. The market around here is kinda dry. All I've ever been able to sell are bodies, and then only on eBay. I don't get what they're worth, but I DO get enough profit to warrant doing it. It funds my builds.

Yeah, I kinda figured I would take a major loss if I sell any. Hate to sell a guitar for what the pickups are worth, no matter how badly I need to move it or how seldom it gets played. Maybe that's why people on Ebay take their guitars apart to sell them.

Nice going on the build btw. Always look forward to your updates.

Doesn't hurt to try and sell one on Ebay or craigslist but put it so that you at least get what you paid to build it. I have sold a couple guitars for around $300-$400 USD but they were custom ordered. I just tell people who I know play guitar I build them and then word gets spread around. I have sold guitars in Hawaii but I live in Minnesota and since you are from America I am sure you are aware of the distance so it's just getting the word out that you build.

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There are a few that I've dismantled and then sold the body & neck, but never the entire package. Honestly, by the time I'm ready to get rid of it, the parts are worth more to me than making a marginal profit for the whole package.

A number of folks have said that they can sell one on-line for +/- $400. That'd be about $100-$200 profit. Selling just the body & neck is in the $75-$100 range, and I don't have to re-buy the hardware. That leaves me all of the hardware in-hand AND enough $$$ to replace the wood & get something else. That's enough to fund my builds, and that's good enough for me.

All that being said, I DO have on sitting in a local shop on consignment. I've also had a dude who's interested in the Retrotron prototype. Both of these are only in the $350 range, but I have VERY little money in them. Any of the others I'd probably be OK selling locally too, but it'd be for a LOT more than $400.

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It worked out well enough. I could press the bend into the curve with moderate finger pressure, so I'm guessing that it's OK to glue. It's in the clamps right now.

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While that's drying...

wiring channel and 1/8" roundovers. I had to do the center panel before it was glued on. There wasn't much room for error with the bearing height, but it's all good. I marked the edges of the center panel on the top and made sure NOT to roundover between the lines. I'll clean up the transition after it's glued on.

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Some gratuitous glamor shots before putting the center panel in the clamps. I tell ya, I've never spent so much time keeping something centered while I was putting the clamps on. This thin little thing just wanted to slide all over the place.

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And I feel a little decadent here. I'm always using slabs of mahogany, walnut, and limba for clamping cauls. I even have a coaster on my computer desk of scrap bocote.

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Just curious - do you feel you get better pressure from the screw-type clamps over the "speed" clamps?

Yep.

The plastic can only take so much pressure, and the triggers can only exert a certain amount. I feel that the metal and screws can take/exert more.

Yes, no, maybe, overkill... who knows. Maybe it's all in my head :D, but if it makes me feel better, then that's what I'm going with.

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Just curious - do you feel you get better pressure from the screw-type clamps over the "speed" clamps?

Yep.

The plastic can only take so much pressure, and the triggers can only exert a certain amount. I feel that the metal and screws can take/exert more.

My thoughts and experiences exactley. I will grab the speed clamps when needing just to hold something in place but if I am gluing up I try to use the srew-types.

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I can assure you that the screw types exert a s**tload more pressure than those irwin quickgrips. I use both types everyday on the worksite and only go for the quickgrips when i need to hold a workpiece for cutting,drilling or whatever. You can get heavier duty quickgrips which are alot better but no where near as good as a screw type. An example, i held one end up of a 200kg plus structural ridge beam to a single prop with the screw type so i can adjust the height, then i shoot a cleat to the prop to help the clamp.

My advice for any type of gluing is to use screw types first and then if you want heaps and heaps of clamps add the quickgrips to help. You are better off using screw clamps and cauls to distribute the clamping pressure evenly. Actually there was a really good link to some woodworking articles on here not that long ago, im sure the poster will read this and direct you to it.

Chad.

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Just curious - do you feel you get better pressure from the screw-type clamps over the "speed" clamps?

Recommended Clamping Pressure

(pounds per square inch)

glue face

Wood Type Quatersawn Flatsawn

Sugar Maple 600 1,200

Red Oak 450 900

Black Walnut 300 600

Black Cherry 250 500

Ponderosa Pine 300 150

Force applied by clamp type

(depends on strength of individual)

Clamp Pressure

Parallel Jaw Clamp 370 lb.

Quick-Grip Clamp 470 lb.

Aluminum Bar Clamp 680 lb.

3/4-in. Pipe Clamp 1,050 lb.

"I"-Beam Bar Clamp 1,350 lb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

looks good man!

obviously your backstrapping worked out?

cause i was gonna suggest what i use,

spare (or even currently used i guess it will bounce back) spindle sander rubber rolls;

after prebending and drying, these rubber rolls squish the wood into any unseen crevas, and displace to a tight fit.

i jam a flat face block with a matching radius against the roll and clamp it in place then put a clamp on each end of the role as close to the center i can ;

i know you like info gathering, so i threw that out there!

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