Leaderboard

So I trimmed the edges... And I was in love! The guitar became quite rigid after the glue-up! It kept the contour quite nicely!! Seems to have no voids! I like it a lot! This is my first real hollowbody build and I am super excited!! Thanks! I enjoy the process very much!!

So... Today I sanded the control edge of the lower bout again to get rid of the diagonal strokes and then I redyed it. And tried to dye the edges a tad darker. The other woodworkers in that relatively small room must have gotten drunk from the alcohol fumes! I also sanded the center a bit as the alcohol soaked rag spread some dye there when I tried to smoothen the burst. And finally, finally I screwed a hook at the bottom and climbed to the "painting room" - a small space hung up on the wall of a small industrial hall, meant to serve as a locker room, a pause space to eat your lunch box and a

Thanks Georg, I've made some minor progress on it, not as much as I'd like. I've carved out the back, cut f-hole and done all the holes for electronics. The bottom of that blade switch is a bit close for comfort, I certainly won't be using a random orbital in that department I'm planning to go for custom24 wiring: 1. Neck hum 2. Neck and bridge outer coils 3. Neck hum + bridge hum 4. Neck single + bridge hum 5. Bridge hum With the addition of a mini toggle so positions 1 and 5 can be switched to single coil too. If I can pull that off without it looking like a dogs dinner,

So I finished up the Moonshadow, all done now with the pickguard/pickup change. The Speedbump is actually probably the closest rendition of a Tele neck pickup I could have found (mid-5k pickup). One thing I didn't think about was that it is covered, just like a Tele neck. That realization hit me when I first plugged it in. I could 'hear' the effect of a covered pickup, and there is a difference. Like someone put a light 'blanket' over the top end, compared to the open-pickup strat that was in there. So actually it sounds more like a Tele neck than ever now.

Well... I wasn't quite happy with it after all. During the week I kept wiping it with a damp cloth, getting the center a bit lighter and the edges a bit more translucent. Today I figured out that I don't like the marker fix at the top edge of the lower bout so I sanded it until the glue was gone. On the opposite edge there was a long dent or scratch which I also sanded away. And I sanded the center to be more natural. And I mixed and applied some more of the stain concentrate, both with alcohol and water, trying to get the edges right. In between I sanded the very edges clean all over to get r

After finally finishing my mandola build I decided I needed to build something simple, as a means of stress release, to take my mind of of some big projects I'm working on. Compared to a carved acoustic instrument most things are simple, really... I decided since I liked the design of the mandola and I hadn't actually built a full sized electric guitar in a long time, this would be the direction I would head. Other parameters were to use as much wood and as many components as I already had on hand. I had a couple of pretty excellent flamed maple tops that had been sitting in my shop for a

Slowly slowly getting more done. I've got my bindings all bent up to suit, including around the horn. There is still quite a bit of charring as I said before, but in going to soldier on for now. Started working on the carve of the top. Used an angle grinder with a flap disc to rough it in, then a mix of sanding, files and the plane in a few spota to get it levelled out. I feel like there's better ways to do it, but they're the tools I have at the moment. Also had a play around with colour, so I think I know where I'm going with it now. Can't wait to see the colour on the bo

Yesterday I tried to continue with the aluminoum bridge construction. Needs more work but I think I am slowly getting there!

Surprisingly got good shoot weather today.

I disagree Scott, but thanks. I guess the pictures look better than real life! Friday night and Saturday progress... The wenge plates came in at 3.4 mm, and there's no way I was going to be able to bend wenge at that thickness, so I took them down to 1.7 mm. I used a bending iron to bend the volute area and then got it glued up. I used one of my sanding drums from my oscillating spindle sander as a clamping caul, which worked quite well. I then did all the time consuming measuring to get the headplate square and went ahead and cut out the truss rod access, which is

We are currently repairing a pool deck overlooking lake Austin. Apparently even on multi million dollar properties some contractors do shoddy work. Unsealed pool decks lead to chlorine rusting of anything and everything made of steel. Nice view from the deck though.

Who doesn't like flogging the dead horse? Something that this discussion triggered in the back of my dim mind was a study performed a couple of years ago. I thought I'd lost the link to the original paper, but I've just managed to locate it again. You can read it here if you're really looking for some time to kill. The crux of the experiment was to take six identically-made acoustic guitars, but use different materials for the back and sides and test to see if players could make any judgements on the instruments based on the sounds emitted as a result of the different materials used.

My LMI order will finally be here tomorrow, and I'll be working on the neck for the next little while. In the meantime I cleaned up the general profile around the scroll/cutaway and have been thinking about how I want that to look. I glued up an offcut and did a quick carving test. My thought was to kind of do a gentle carve on most of the top, stopping at the walnut, using it as almost a faux binding. But at the scroll/cutaway area, to be more aggressive. To basically carve the whole thing down to a point as I work my way around the scroll. How's that going to look with the 'ice cream sa

So here's a pic of it from yesterday, it's a bit more cleaned up now, almost ready. I think the quilt will be great for what I have in mind, its not a super-bling piece, but kind of nice and calm quilting.

So the fretboard and headplate/backstrap still haven't shipped from LMI, which is putting a damper on working on the neck. I got the truss rod installed, flattened the back of the headstock, and started to very roughly work on the thickness of the neck. But without the fretboard and whatnot in hand, I'm not going any further. The paper headstock cutout in the picture is something like the 6th or 7th iteration. It probably doesn't look any different without any context, but it has been repeatedly tweaked! And maybe, possibly, hopefully that's the final shape... Since I go

Norovodka?

My first attempt at pellet smoking. No heat, only smoke for now.

Ok so the second plate is finished and I am fiddling with the f hole shape... After I figure out how to do the bracing I will glue it on!

Marking the location of the screw for the belly reducing doodad is a bit tricky - the middle of the bridge is not the middle of the rear rows of pins due to the paired arrangement on a 12-string, so care needs to be taken in siting this correctly. I also need it far enough away from the bridge pins so as not to interfere with the ball ends of the strings when they're secured, but not so far back that the roundover on the back edge of the bridge means there won't be enough material left to play with when I plug the screw head later on: Then it's time to bite the bullet and commence d

The hedless guitar had Ceddar body with flamed Maple top, Pau Marfim neck and fingerboard (26,5'' to 25''), Nova Guitar Parts bridge, EMG P81 an SAV pickups, Jescar vintage stainless frets. Nothing to much different form other two

Thanks Muzz! Scott, I'm not sure it's really a highly developed ability, I just always viewed it as, 'Well, that's life'. Sometimes the priorities are optional, and sometimes you just do them because that's your responsibility. And my oldest is 11, and the tallest kid in her class (wish I'd had that problem growing up), and already having early TAS (teen angst syndrome)... She's too much like me. Anyway, more progress. The top is trimmed about 95% to the sides, I'll wait to complete that until the back is on and I can smooth and 'massage' it all together. The holes for the pots and

After a long hiatus I'm finally back at it -- I'm finding that my biggest speed bump is lack of stockpiled wood/materials. If I had it on hand I think I'd be more motivated Anyway, picked up some ash, enough for 3 body blanks & some some maple enough for 2 more necks -- so I have less excuses now. planned it down to thickness and am ready to square up seam edges and glue. I'm liking this grain way better than the poplar I used on the last builds, that I painted) going to make 2 basses and stain/tint these. One blonde, one red, tweaked the design (ag

Tried out the pro vacuum bag today! The pressure it applies is really effective!

Thanks for the advice re the door - esp @MiKro I did look at options for replacing it but it's looking cost prohibitive so I've just gone with it for now with a temp stud wall although it was a real PITA to work round though, I think I've meddled with this track and motor enough to be able to start up a garage door firm. I've made some good progress while I've been off work over the last few weeks. I've got an insulated floating floor. stud walls and my dad gave me a few days last week with his plasterboard lift so between us we got the ceiling in, insulated and lighting sorted. 3 rows of 6 LE

You were thinking just right, the overwhelming scent that flows around older women so widely that you can't hold your breath long enough to bypass them.

Well, had my second covid vaccine shot this week, and it wiped me out for a few days. But some progress has been going on regardless. I made a maple/walnut laminated truss rod cover with a 'Z' carved into it and decided that it didn't work at all, so that idea is scrapped. Moving on... I completed the carving of the neck. I will probably sand everything up through a fairly high grit before I actually set the neck, but the shape is more or less complete. Other than the heel area, obviously, which will have to wait until it is glued in. And I polished up the wenge fretboar

The name Beryl is from Galaxy Quest and the Beryllium Spheres, which the figure reminds me of. Beryl is a bookmatched Myrtle Burl, front and back, with a Walnut core. I started Beryl in 2011 and 'finished' it sometime last year. These things do sit around sometimes... I got it up to 2400 MicroMesh and just stopped, I just wasn't 'feeling' it. An hour short of being completely finished and I said NO. So I re-calibrated and told myself I could do better. Something I would like much more than the caramel look. It only needed to have the finish stripped, quick sandy-sand c

Browse a number of builds in here and you'll see a variety of volute styles. This covers it nicely. SR

my fav - allied lutherie. they have a new single action low profile that is really small and light - haven't tried it yet but have plans to use it in a wizard style neck at some point. afa neck/heel adjust... pretty much any rod (as mentioned) will do either but the direction to tighten flips to opposite depending. yes - the widened bit at the headstock. you may consider how it's going to fit in there and poke thru to let you adjust. I like to try to preserve that little bit above the rod at the end there... and instead of routing from the top I would drill into the hol

They lost that years ago after Katrina. It WAS kitschy but friendly. Now it's inundated with tent cities and full of crime. Between Houston, New Orleans, and California it's an entirely new population.

One word: Wedges! For addressing hard to reach areas like that one option is to pinch the piece between two boards held in place with clamps and then add wedges between the board and body to apply diagonal pressure. Let me draw it! Another trick is to use the bars of the clamps as levers. Use whatever you can - bungee cord, rope, another clamp - to pull the bars towards each other.

Neat??? That's surgical grade accuracy!

This is often the hardest step... SR

OK. I CA glued the back and sides last night (this is really light and soft wood) as a strengthener/toughener and pore-filler. Sanded all that smooth this morning and on to the next steps. I liked the 'shield' idea so much I made an 'opposite' of it to guide my sandback. I laid it down and sanded up to its edges all the way around, -just- enough to see the outline, then I removed it and kept going w/o it. It's just used to help me outline my perimeter, once I can see the perimeter, I don't need it anymore. So, there are a few stages and objectives of the sandback to hit, and they don't all hap

Charlie, you're right. This calls for a better mock up... So I glued up and rough carved it out tonight. For the most part I like it. It needs a little more massaging, but conceptually I think it works. The bottom side is uncarved in the mockup, so the whole thing would feel a little more rounded and organic when it's all said and done.

Flipping the MDF template around I can clamp it on the body using the traced edges of the heel pattern to line it up. By using the same template and drilling through the opposite side, any alignment errors I may have inadvertently made while drilling the holes in the original template, or when using the template on the neck get mirrored and (hopefully) cancelled out on the body: The original heel block dowel that was cut gives the impression the two holes are off centre, but when comparing them against the edges of the heel profile where the finish stops it looks pretty much b

Thanks guys! Overall I'm pretty proud of this build as it was definitely the most out of the box and complex instrument I've built. And really it ended up looking and sounding darn near exactly how I had imagined. How often does that happen?

Dammit boy, that was a hell of a big bite you just took. Impressive. SR

I like how the kerfed bracing works!! Bendy!! I will try to sand it to perfection!

A little glass goes a long way. Between changing batteries mid build and general troubleshooting I've probably 3D printed 5 or so revisions of battery holder at this point. In the scope of all I'm trying to fit in this build I thought this was going to be an easy after thought. Turns out it was a huge pain. I feel like there one of those tasks in every project. Anywhere here's how it turned out. I split it into 3 pieces so I could print everything in an orientation without supports. The mounts I made as 1 piece with supports turned out okay but were a little rougher and requi

I'm with that "someone", the top wood simply requires the horns. And since she was born a longhorn, cutting them now... Well, living in the Longhorn State you should know!

Hey everyone!! I have had an eye on Prisma guitars for a quite some time. Been skating for a long time and music is another passion of mine - even though I am no virtuoso doing either. Thus, I didn't think I was good enough to own one of Nick Pourfard's amazing shred handles. In any case, I went through some difficult times last year - not just due to the pandemic. A good friend of mine then convinced me to start a guitar building project. In early Winter 2020, I finished my first guitar build ever, the Umme - Skate or Don't model, a Custom Jag Shaped Skate Guitar. Since then, I hav

Agreed. There's actually a significant amount of scientific and formula-based work that has gone in to acoustic guitar design and construction in recent years (see Trevor Gore's and Gerard Gilet's work and publications on the subject). In that field it's no longer necessary to just rely on marrying a bunch of commonly-accepted wood combinations and paint-by-numbers construction techniques to get a good result. I often wonder if modern acoustic guitar builders look at how much solid-body guitar builders twist themselves up into knots trying to convince everyone that mahogany sounds like 'X' and

I often think that it is good to take a pause at stages in a build and decide what are things that should be fixed and what are natural tiny imperfections that are what makes a hand made instrument so special.

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2021/03/01/bass-of-the-week-ajrguitar-mods-swift-triple/ what an innovative and gorgeous instrument, your customer will be the envy of everyone who sees it.

Adding water to alcohol makes the "open time" a bit longer. So it will dry faster than water but slower than alcohol. The "situation" mentioned can mean something like normally using plain alcohol but on a hot day some water added would give you the time needed to spread the dye evenly. Note that if you want to apply colours in layers rather than blending them, the underlaying layer has to be completely dry. And, since the concentrated dyes can be mixed both with water or alcohol, even the alcohol based layer will eventually blend with the water based layer if you really soak the wood.

Well, I struck down the double down last night. You're Fired! I laid everything out in good light, took some pics and pondered the situation. The Leopard guards are out, I will find something better suited for them some day, and it was only $20.00, a very small loss. The blackguard on the Tele is just killing it in comparison. And as I had explained earlier, both bodies now look nearly identical, total brothers in arms now. Which, I find a little odd, since they were dyed two separate ways, I did not use the same colors, but damn if it doesn't l

I've always thought oak was underrated in the looks department. Done right, it can be quite attractive. It is definitely a candidate for darkening the pores like is often done with ash. SR

When HDMI-CEC works, it's great. When it doesn't, it's like a The Three Stooges routine.