SnowGTR

Bondo is good for cars but not for guitars. Steam out the minor dents and use epoxy to fill any dents you can't steam out. There is filler that is designed for wood, but I don’t know what it’s called.

Here are some pics that you might find useful. The Go bar deck I think works better than this Vacuum press that I made.

After the kerfs linings are glued on you will need to sand them to the proper shape to match the dome shape of your top and back. I use the mold to hold the sides while I perform this operation. I mount a pivot point inside the mould area and use the appropriate dish to shape the linings by rotating it on the pivot point. Your mold has a lot of excess on the out side that may interfere with the dish. If I ever get back in my shop, I’ll take some pics. By then I am sure someone will explain it better or have another way of doing this. I have seen in an earlier post for a link to get 24” sand paper to place in the dish. I’ve been gluing pieces of paper to cover the field and that has its problems. Thanks for the tip.

I have both the delta and the Performax drum sanders. Not really a whole lot of difference between the two. They are not planers but sanders and have a limited capacity to remove lots of wood. The higher end $500 range of 13" planers are generally better over all, adding another $300 will just get you a drum sander. Using a drum sander as a planer is a time consuming process and will require very heavy grades of sand paper 36-80 grit. So you have that added expense. Plus it will take many more passes to do what a planer will do in just a few. Even though they are open ended models but I didn't find the machines capability diminished. Yes using it 24/7 would be out of the question but I have run hundreds of passes on these sanders without any problems in a single days worth of use. A good addition to a planer but not a replacement. If you are worried about buying a planer that gives good results you may need to move up to a 15" stationary planer and spend another $100 plus and make sure you have 220 volt power. Plus several strong people to move the thing if it has to go up and down stairs. FYI: The planers which made the grade in FWW were the Dewalt 735 and the Craftsman 21759. I am not a Sears power tool lover and the Dewalt looks like a good solid machine. If you are building one or two guitars a year and you buy lumber that is close in dimension, then the time spent making multiple passes is not that big a deal. Spending a lot of money on a machine may not be worth it to some, but that a choice one must make. There is nothing better than an abrasive wide belt or drum sander for surfacing figured wood such as maple. The tear out from a planner can ruin your wood and just try to plane a .120” piece of wood down to .095”. I have run several thousand board feet of lumber through this machine to remove planner marks. Is it the best machine for the job??? NO, but it is beats using a random orbit sander or a cabinet scraper. I can’t justify buying a larger wide belt machine, my production runs a few and far between.

I just love the inlay work, nice job. I am wondering about the lack of a bridge plate also. Do you use bridge pins or some other method to hold your stings down to the soundboard?

I also have a Performax 16-32. It sits nicely on top of my Planner, so it doesn’t take up any room. The open ended design is both good and bad. It really isn’t stiff enough for production work, but with light passes it will perform well especially for Luthiey. It will definitely serve you better than a planner will. I do remember seeing a Delta machine that was much beefier and was somewhat less expensive, but that was several years ago.

It does work well, but make sure you use polycarbonate instead of Plexiglas.

I am not sure what you mean when you say scraping will generate enough heat to bend it? A sharp scraper doesn't generate that much heat. Also 1/16" seems a bit tall, I generally try to get my shelf closer than that (top within .010", sides .005"). You can easily set your router to hold these numbers. Maybe I am just not understanding what you are saying. Peace,Rich I should have said 1/32” which would be .031 over. When building up multiple laminations of building, if you get to aggressive with scraping you could end up losing a clean crisp line between the laminations. If using a single binding it won’t make much of a difference. I’ve seen bad binding on cheep guitars that I believe were caused by heat generated by scrapping to fast or the use of a router as I have done in my earlier years. Sorry for the confusion, rich

Scraping the binding will generate enough heat to soften it and distort it. try to keep the binding height about 1/16 “ or slightly more above the channel routes to cut down on the amount of scrapping you will need to do after it is on the body.

I like my shop quiet…the only noises come from my machines and I ware head muffs. I like the tranquility of working on a project and communing with my thoughts.

You should use a respirator when working with any type of paint.

I run my Vetta ll directly into my RME multiface...works great. Sometimes I will mic it up with a SM57...as long as no one is home.

I'll build acoustics in the late spring and early fall when the humidity is around 40 to 45%. Electrics I’ll build when time permits, but I avoid the extremes.

Use Super glue to fill...no polyurethane, it will not work.

Oak is hard to get real smooth and almost impossible to get a mirror finish. Stability is questionable. The coefficient of expansion and contraction is just too much for use as instrument wood and it’s ugly to boot. Ash would be a better choice, but I still wouldn’t use it for a neck. IMO It’s good for Kitchen cabinets and furniture.

Porter-Cable routers are great. I've been using a 690 for years and the brushes are easy to replace. As far as electric random orbit sanders are concerned I have a Dewalt that performs better than all the others that I have used. After several hours of use with an electric sander, the vibration makes my arm go numb, so I use a jitter bug air tool.

I am using a JMP-1 going through a Mesa Simul-class 2 Ninety into a 4X12 cab with an MPX 500 in the effects loop. Killer clean sound. I am also using a Vetta II combo which I love for recording. I have a Pod Pro and Bass Pod Pro which both stink. I’ve run them through my DBX 386 and have seen some improvement, but it still stinks. I don't us them anymore.

I stopped counting, but the calendar says 40...Last b-day was a pretty good bash…

I've got a transplant in the works, too. I'm using the guts from a lefty 500 that I got on the 'bay. Mine is going to be a front-routed strat-style guitar. What are you planning to do about the batteries? I really don't like the "compartment" on the Variaxes, so I'm thinking about leaving it off, or maybe installing a regular 9V battery box "for emergency use only." I’m am building a PRS and I am not going to install a battery in the guitar. I have a Vetta with the VDI input. The variax will get the power from that. The ¼” output jack will be used for the passive pickups only so I will be able to use both the ¼” and VDI cable together. I’ve been toying with idea of either an A/B switch or a Blend Pot on the guitar. I really want to keep the knobs down to a minium so I am going to use dual pots and a 4 pole 5 way selector switch. I haven't pulled the doner guitar apart yet. I am not sure what resistance the pots are. If they are not 500K I will have to get creative.

Scitscat Music has a variax 300 for sale $280. I just bought one from guitar centers for $300. I've got a transplant in the works.

I’ve dealt with this problem several times. When a board is resawn to make a book-match and it is not completely dry, it often will warp or cup. It caused by releasing stress on one side of the wood and not on the other. Boards should be book matched when completely dry (about 6%) or when green. When thinning a board it should be done by removing wood from each side of the wood at an even rate. Unfortunately if you have a 1”+ thick boards, as you plane down each side you will loose your book-match. So to retain the book-match I thin the wood on one side only (the B side) but this can cause the wood to cup or warp. To get a flat top to bond to the back I use plywood that is flat and a little larger than the maple. Then in each of the corners of the (B side) maple I put a dab of bondo. Then set the maple (b side) down on the plywood and while the bondo is soft adjust the height of each corner so it is the same. Then after a few minutes I run it through my drum sander or planner. Now my wood is flat on the money side and i can plane down the other side to my final thickness. If the wood is not dry it will start to cup and warp again. Hope this helps.