LGM Guitars

We have a ton of pinned threads, we have tutorials, and we have a search function on this site that actually works, nobody uses them, I don't think more pinned links would do any more good at all, just more clutter.

Godin, Ok, I'll assume you actually did want them like that. My comment was, from a design standpoint it looks like a mistake. from a commercial aspect it seriously detracts from an otherwise nice guitar. If you ever want to build guitars to sell, you can't do things like that. Even if you feel it is better, others won't. I have never in 18 years of playing found what you say about the tuning and the low E tuner, but whatever, lets say you actually do. In the commercial world, it's irrelevant. People buy and judge on looks first, just like in this forum. You have to remember, that in a forum such as this, the ONLY thing we can judge is looks. It could be a gorgeous guitar that plays like garbage (not saying it does, just pointing it out) so we really don't know. Something cosmetically wrong like these tuners is going to stick out. Anyway, just my opinion. Jeremy

I gotta go with Wes, from a design standpoint it looks wrong, the curve is the same on the treble side as the bass side, on the treble side they're lined up nicely, it looks correct, on the bass side it just looks like a mistake. And if you did place it there purposely, then I personally think it's a mistake from a cosmetic point of view. But it's not my guitar, just my opinion

The only reason I would say build your first by hand, is simply so you get a FULL understanding of building a guitar and what goes into it. Understand why there is a neck angle, understand why there is a radius, or body cutaway's etc. By trade I am a machinist. I learned machining initially on manual machines. If I hadn't done that first, when I started working on CNC machines I would have been doing nothing more than pushing buttons. Understanding the materials, how the cutting tools work, and why a design is the way it is allows you to trouble shoot when there is a problem. After you've built by hand, building by CNC just becomes easier. If I had a CNC machine now I'd use it, but I don't. That's ok though, I like working by hand still. I would suggest building one by hand, but that's just my opinion

I've had a Performax 16/32 for quite a while now, and taking light passes -- which is what it's designed to do -- it's within .001" from one side to the other. To each his own but I can't imagine using a thickness sander to take off more than 1/8" total. I use the planer for that. ← Which is all fine and good, but if you use a planer on most figured woods you'll tear the crap out of the grain. Like I say, I've never used the performax, just the delta, same design. I wasn't happy with it. And, as I said, they work fine taking LIGHT passes just like you said. For me, that doesn't cut it, time is money. The longer it takes the less I can get done period.

I wonder what kind of drugs this guy is on?

I don't know what model badger compressor you have, but I'd almost guess 100% that it won't have the CFM you need for the bigger guns. The little airbrush compressors barely have enough CFM for airbrushes IMO. Those stew mac guns aren't very good guns either, you really do get what you pay for.

That's interesting. How did you dial in the height of the second drum? ← both drums are adjustable for level, the rear drum is adjustable in height with 2 bolts on the drum. Mine happened to be set up dead on when I bought it (Pro Tool City had already assembled it) and I've just left it as is since it's been working perfectly for me.

The general is great. Previous to that I used one of the Delta 16/32 units, same idea as the performax. It just wasn't heavy duty enough, for me, time is money. The general is 4 times the HP, and the dual drum is great. I run my second drum down all the time, yes, it seems redundant, but the 80 will actually cut nicer if it's on a smoother than 80 grit surface, I don't know why, but it does. I run 80 - 220 actually. The 220 drum sits .010" lower than the 80 drum, and that's plenty to take out the 80 grit scratches. Plus, the rear drum doesn't wear out anywhere near as quick, so it's just easier to run it there all the time rather than adjust it constantly. You have to remember, that rear drum is taking a very small pass compared to the front drum, so it doesn't really wear that fast. My biggest complaint with the open end sanders, is even with small passes, in hard woods, it sands unevenly from the closed side to the open side, it does move a little, not enough to really be a pain in the ass, but I don't like machines that aren't rigid. I can take 1/2" off on the general in the same amount of time it used to take me to get 1/8" off on the delta.

1 to 2 hours to reset the bridge?? This guy is on crack. Even restringing, if a bridge takes me more than 15 minutes to set (floyd style) Something is wrong. Even changing string gauges. Slinky's suck IMO, they lose their tone way to fast. I'm a D'addario guy myself, I also find Slinky's break faster than any other string. Just my experience though.

Phew, ok, I can take 1/16" in a pass on mine, but it's a big heavy duty machine with a 7hp motor and dual drums. I wouldn't even try 1/8" on there LOL. I figured you meant 1/8 of a turn, but alot of people who don't have a sander could read that and think it would take 1/8" on a pass, hence my reason for making the post.

Uh, 1/8 or a turn, or 1/8". There is no thickness sander out there that I know of where I'd recommend taking a 1/8" pass with. That's way to much for sanding.

I would like to make mention that I have no problem with people here who have done a job and are willing to help, the previous post however does not even give an introduction to whom Brian Monty is. Basically only an ad. For somebody who has "done countless retops and renecks on old Les Pauls" Considering this is a guitar building forum, would it not have been more polite and better etiquette to give some insight as to how the job WOULD be done, not just stating to send it in and have him do it? Just my opinion.

The neck looks thicker at the 4th fret than at the 7th fret. Measure the thickness of the neck on each fret, in other words, with a pair of calipers, measure from the center of the fretboard to the center of the back of the neck, that will give you the thickness. A thick neck will be 20mm at the nut, a thin neck is 17mm typically.

I doubt that would even keep up with an airbrush very well.

If credit cards are considered a loan (and I believe they are) then yes, I've done it many times. Just like materials for the shop etc. I've got roughly $10,000 into my guitar rig right now, wasn't spent all at once, I purchased parts one at a time or two at a time until I was happy with it. A lot of those parts were put on a credit card, usually only because the deals come up when I DON'T have cash to buy with The credit card I have is low interest (6.9%) and I get the airmiles, in fact, many times, even if I have the cash, I'll use my credit card and then pay it off before 30 days is up, then there is zero interest, and I get the air miles

The problem with buying a pre-fretted neck, outside of the slots not staying as tightly compressed on the tangs until it's glued are many. 1. You are now stuck with the size of the fretboard, this is fine IF your neck is the same. Yes, you can sand it down, but it's awfully hard to make it look nice when you have to take fret ends down with the wood. 2. I don't care how well your frets are pressed and how level they are, they will need levelling after you glue the board, because when the board backbows the slots open up a bit, if your frets aren't radiused to the board PERFECTLY, this can cause either ends, or centers to raise. 3. Quite often when you glue on a piece of wood such as a fretboard, the glue will cause the wood to swell, then shrink back, usually it will shrink back a little further than when the fret ends were dressed, so now you have to redress them anyway. 4. If the frets are not radius'd exactly it can literally cup the fretboard, there is a lot of force in a radius'd fret. You get 24 in there, and yup, the board can cup. then it's harder to glue it onto the neck. There are companies who fret first, Seagull is one, they also have a vacuum press to glue their boards on, and every single neck and board is CNC cut so the width's etc are identical, they also have fret edges that stick over on their guitars in the store. The hardest part to get correct in fretting is dressing the ends and levelling the frets. If you fret before you glue up, you're going to have to do this step anyway, so I wouldn't let pressing the frets deter you. The ONLY time I might consider fretting first, is on a board like Gibson or some Fenders where the fret ends have to be cut to 90 degrees because the binding follows the edge of the board up around the frets. But then, I think that binding system is stupid anyway.

Or conversely, check ebay and find a new neck with dot inlays and sell the one you've got on there.

The Poly I use is RM Diamont DC95. It's about $375 per gallon (US) with the hardener and reducer. You have to have a booth and forced air respiration to spray it, it's deadly stuff. I don't know if you can get it in the UK, but other brands that work just as well are Dupont, PPG, House Of Kolor, etc. 2 Part automotive Poly Urethane. Sadly to get it to look perfect you'll have to at the very least reclear the whole headstock. You'll have to fill the chip with black to level it out, then reclear it, if you want it to be perfect, you can spot fill it, drip in some clear, and sand and buff and you might get it near perfect, but if you have logo's over the clear (like Ibanez does often) you'll ruin the logo's when you sand and buff.

Devon, Yes, every single scratch is out. I sand with 2000, but you have to be very careful about what paper you use, 3M 2000 sucks, I like Meguiars. Then I use a power buffer to bring back the shine, with black I start with a medium cut, then fine, then ultra fine, then swirl remover. The paint finish is 2 part Poly Urethane as are all the finishes I spray.

100% paint, masked by hand

Sorry I can't post pictures, didn't resize them, had to send them to a client and wanted them big, but thought you'd like these, particularly the last 3, no, I didn't take pictures of my wall or lamp, that's the reflection in the back http://pics.lgmguitars.com/pics/JPM/IMGP2010.JPG http://pics.lgmguitars.com/pics/JPM/IMGP2015.JPG http://pics.lgmguitars.com/pics/JPM/IMGP2017.JPG http://pics.lgmguitars.com/pics/JPM/IMGP2019.JPG http://pics.lgmguitars.com/pics/JPM/IMGP2020.JPG http://pics.lgmguitars.com/pics/JPM/IMGP2025.JPG

2 part urethane needs to be baked at alot more than 73C, most body shops bake at 90 to 120C. But they don't bake long, an hour tops, a guitar probably less, but you don't have to bake 2 part urethane, 24 hour cure and it's ready for sanding and buffing, after about 48 hours it's fully cured. Biggest issue with baking the body is the wood expands and contracts so grain lines will show through, no big deal if you're going to sand and buff anyway, except that once baked sanding and buffing becomes a much more difficult task.

Setch, As I said, I wouldn't recommend a planer, I said it would probably beat the hell out of everything. I've seen a top steamed off, done properly it's not the impossible task it may seem, it's not my first choice but it is the only non-destructive method you can use if you want to salvage both the top and body. (why you would I don't really know outside of if you needed to use the top as the template for a copy carver) Even with your router setup (nice by the way) it would take 20 times longer than using a bandsaw would, however, it all comes down to what tools you have ACCESS too. Since this wasn't a thread with a guy asking, "how would I do this, these are the tools I have" I just gave my opinion on the best methods to acheive top removal