killemall8 Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Thanks guys. Scott, I had planned on it being almost the same as the last SS, with the quilted sapele, but spraying it trans green or blue. My wood supplier didnt have any good mahogany this time, so i had to pick a rough sawn board. The board had a few cracks on one side of the board, but i could cut that entire side off. I still didnt escape it though. The body blank i cut already cracked. I knew i shouldnt have bought that board, but i didnt want to wait a few more weeks. I think this whole board (22bd ft) will probably end up being 99% loss. I should have just waited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 That sucks. That blank had some pretty dramatic ribbon figure in it. I would have bought it too. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Yeah. I havnt had this happen before. I have been buying at this wood yard for almost 10 years now, and never had anything from them do this. Since this piece already cracked, i have a feeling the entire 12ft board left is going to crack as well. I guess i can make another neck in the mean time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 So i ordered a wood moisture meter to see what kind of percentages this wood has. I know all of the wood my distributor carries is always very dry. But apparently Cheaper moisture meters dont work well on wood. Every piece of wood i put to it reads 0%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 Congrats K, killer work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 Congrats K, killer work. What is this madness?? The legend? The master has returned??? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 I wouldn't necessarily go that far, more like I was in the neighborhood and figured I'd pop my head in the front door to see how all the fella's are doin. Looks like you're killin' it to me, you've come a long way glasshoppah, you should be quite proud of what mad beauty you have released into the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Thank you sir. That means a lot coming from you. You were a big inspiration to me when i first came to this forum. Miss seeing your builds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 So i ordered a wood moisture meter to see what kind of percentages this wood has. I know all of the wood my distributor carries is always very dry. But apparently Cheaper moisture meters dont work well on wood. Every piece of wood i put to it reads 0%. Must be faulty. I have a cheaper one and it works fine. A friend of mine bought one the same on my recommendation and recieved a faulty one which was then replaced. I had a conversation about moisture readers with a guy who mills timber for a living. His tester is a prong type, cost over $2000 but still only measures +- 3%. My tester is just bought from eBay for about $30 and does the job fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 must be then. It is the prong type. I can stab it into the wood as deep as i want and it wont show any reading at all. Put it on a green piece of live tree, reads fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2014 So i still have this neck sitting here... I have went to my wood supplier twice already. Last time they didnt have any new mahogany. This time they did but it is at the very bottom of 5 pallets. so i cant even look through it until they get to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted April 24, 2014 Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 must be then. It is the prong type. I can stab it into the wood as deep as i want and it wont show any reading at all. Put it on a green piece of live tree, reads fine. If you stab it into a tree it'll probably read 40%, this is because a lot of the readers will only measure up to 40% so it just shows the maximum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 Right, i get that. That is my point. It reads either the maximum or 0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 I may go by the wood yard again monday. If they still dont have the mahogany to the top, i might look for some good walnut, and just use that for bodies. I have a sick piece of redwood burl that would look cool with a walnut body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2014 So i had gone to the lumberyard about 4 times since that last post. Nothing has changed. Not a single board has moved or even been bought. Which is insanely rare. usually they sell a pallet of that stuff a week. Finally found 1 single board that was useable. It looks like it was from the last batch of the good stuff. Also, It seems like my theory of forgetting how to build after only a month off is true. Been working on a walnut neck, and i have made a ton of mistakes i wouldnt normally have made. First i had a stupid random problem i never had before. I was routing the binding channel on the fretboard, and of course my bit slips and made the channel way to deep. IT was useable, but now it looks like the fretboard is insanely thick. no matter, can work with it. Go to cut the other side of the fretboard, and same thing, except even lower. Dont know why my router randomly decided to drop the bit on this. But now it looks extremely proportionate. Then i went to fret it, and realized half way through that i didnt bevel the fret slots. lovely. Gotta love it when my quality goes backwards in progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Cut out the body from the body blank and got the veneer glued on. Now that i waited all this time to get wood, i dont feel like working on this. This is getting closer and closer to not building anymore. Feels good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Cut out the body from the body blank and got the veneer glued on. Now that i waited all this time to get wood, i dont feel like working on this. This is getting closer and closer to not building anymore. Feels good. Life is too short to force yourself to do things that make you miserable. If there's somehting else you'd rather be persuing, then go for it You do make beautiful guitars though. Maybe if you weren't doing it to try to make a living, you'd be able to do it a bit for fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 The main thing that keeps bringing me back to this is that i have invested so much money and time into tools and other materials. Maybe if i about broke even or a little over, then i might be quicker to discard this career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 so the madness continues. Finally got some more work done on this. Of course, i make another mistake i havnt made for 5 years. When i glue the veneer on the body, i always staple it in place so it wont slide. Of course, i somehow mis measure where the pickup cavity will be on this one. I have literally done this same method on around 60 guitars, and only done this once. So now i have a staple mark in the middle of the 2 pickup cavities. I am also very unsatisfied with how this headstock looks on this guitar as a whole. Thought it would look better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 I can't see the staple holes in these pics. I see what you mean about the headstock. At some angles it looks good, but straight on it looks a bit narrow. Perhaps if you started with a bigger arc away on the bass side and adjusted you angles and holes to work with that? I can almost guaranty that there will be more than one out there that will find that headstock perfectly awesome. In fact I bet someone asks you to build another one. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 Thanks scott. The staple hole is between the pickup cavities. I already filled it with a slightly matching grainfiller. You can see it no problem if you know where it is. All the other reactions seem to be the same so far. The headstock looks good by itself, but not with the body. I hate to go back to my other headstock, since i keep having tuning issues with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 (edited) I can't see the staples marks either... I like the headstock too, but I think I like it better reversed though... Edited May 20, 2014 by Sancho Marino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 It was originally intended to be reverse. But when i went to join the surface for the ears of the headstock, my jointer had somehow been broken, and it took out a gigantic chunk. So i had to make it non reversed to avoid the chunk taken out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustychisel Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Instead of guitars, why don't you try building something else like an end table with mortise and tenon joinery. Give you some new problems to work through and chance to build different skills. May be surprised when you go back to guitars that you are better at it. This would also keep you from wasting your tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 I have gotten that same bit of advice from a lot of people. But the truth is, i have absolutely zero care to do anything like that. It doesnt interest me in the slightest. I am very picky about what i like to do or like in general. I dont want to waste more money and time on something i dont really care to do. I cant complain about the career i have had at such a young age. It has just run its course. I screwed up so much in the past. I could have been so much further along. But this is how it ends either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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