kench

Hi all, I'm going to replace my Gotoh TOM bridge with the Schaller roller bridge with adjustable string spacing. Because the Gotoh's spacing is slightly wide for the neck. Both bridges have the same post spacing (74 mm), but use different size bushings and studs. Gotoh bushings are 11 mm in diameter and have M8 threads, while the Schallers are only 7mm/M5. Since the post spacing is the same, I can easily fabricate new bushings on the lathe, which will go into the 11 mm holes on the guitar, and will accept Schaller's smaller studs. But then there will be too much metal meat between the studs and the wood. I am wondering if it will effect the tone. What would you guys do? Would you plug the old holes with wood and drill new holes for the new bridge? Or would you just make 11 mm studs with M5 thread that will go into the existing holes? (this is easier to do for me) Btw, the guitar is a LP style guitar with sapele body and neck, maple top and ebony fingerboard. I had built it back in 2005 with a lot of help from this forum.

I agree on stirring. Think like this: each resin molecule should mate with a catalyzer molecule (this may not be scientifically accurate, but the principle is true). And that takes a lot of stirring. And use something that is wider than a stick to stir (I use a dinner knife).

I believe there are many types of casting resin (polyurethane, polyester, acrylic, epoxy...). But I use polyester casting resin to make polishing wheels (to polish glass edges and bevels). I mix cerium oxide powder into the resin, add the hardener and then drop the mixture into the mold and wait overnight. Then I use my lathe to true the wheels. It hardens very good even with a lot of cerium oxide in it and machines very well on the lathe. It seems that it can be sanded easily so I am guessing it should be good for pore filling too. The viscosity of the mixture is like slightly thinned lacquer, so I guess it is enough to fill the pores.

I've had no problems with CA glue. But you definitely need to spread it as thin as you can before it cures (single coat works for me). Since it has very thin viscosity, it penetrates every single pore. I wait over night before the sanding, otherwise it builds up on the sand paper much more quickly and it may not cure as hard, depending on the CA brand. Result is very hard and very smooth surface. But it is very bad for your lungs and eyes. I will also try polyester resin next time (the resin they use to make fiberglass products). I believe Warmoth use polyester as a pore filler too.

I have heard somewhere on the web that alcohol soluble aniline dyes can be mixed with lacquer thinner in order to tint the finish. Is that true? If yes, should I dissolve the dye in alcohol first, then mix it with thinner/lacquer?, or should I mix the dye directly with the thinner/lacquer? I am re-finishing my home made LP guitar and I want to achieve something like a tabacco burst. I have some aniline dyes in variety of colors. I'd like to use them.

Warmoth asks $60.00 for just shipping anyway. So I decided to get the woods locally.

Hello everyone I am living in Istanbul, Turkey. I had built a LP guitar back in 2005 using woods from local timber shops (sapele body and neck). The guitar turned out great (even better than some Gibson I handed). Now I want to build a custom bolt-on guitar. Finding tone woods in Turkey is not a problem, but it is hard to find hard rock maple for the neck. Because there are lots of maple here but the sellers don't usually deal with luthiers, and they don't know much about woods they supply. I don't want to end-up with a soft maple, so I will probably buy a neck blank from US. You guys probably have your own favorite wood supplier over there, but I believe StewMac and Warmoth are the only ones who send worldwide. Probably there is no scientific or certain answer to this question, but which of the two are better quality? I'm sure there are people here who used them both on their guitars. StewMac blank: 27" x 4" x 0,8125" 20.50 USD Warmoth Blank: 27" x 4" x 0,75" 15.00 USD If there are better sellers who deals worldwide, I would like to know them too. Thank you.

Actually I'm a bit undecisive on refinishing my guitar. I had finished it with shellac (as stain and color coat) then nitro clean on top.. But I was not 100% satisfied. This time I want to try Poly and I'm trying to find out the posibilities with Poly. What weren't you satisfied with, exactly, that you want Poly for? If it's warm colours, don't bother. If it's water clear type stuff, you're more likely to come out happy. Actually it is the color transition to the edges which I was not satisfied with. I had added burst after I finished it with shellac. With an amber aerosol can to match the mahogany on sides and back.. Color matched perfect but it is not transculent so it didnt make a good burst. And the wood grain doesn't show on dark edges. Then I bought a spray gun and did the clear coats with it and also used it on many things. Now I'm thinking of refinishing my guitar to a similar color but with true transculent finishes and Poly seems to be the fastest and the most durable way. And besides I want to try Poly Here's a picture of it (It looks better in person though, camera flash ruins pictures)

Actually I'm a bit undecisive on refinishing my guitar. I had finished it with shellac (as stain and color coat) then nitro clean on top.. But I was not 100% satisfied. This time I want to try Poly and I'm trying to find out the posibilities with Poly.

Hello.. I was wondering if I can tint clear poly urethane with analine dyes. To achieve transculent or sunburst finish for instance. I have analine powders with several colors.. but poly's are not sold in cheap small packs so I wanted to ask on here before buying a poly. Or should I use spray analine dissolved in alcohol (or water) for color coats, and then spray poly only for clear coats?

Oh thank you. I'll try to find similar products over here. There are some CLOU brand concentrated liquid stains here with a huge variety of colors. I believe they are similar to Colortone stains. If Colortone works, Clou should work too. I'll try.

Thank you but unfortunately "House of Color" is not an option for me as I'm located in Istanbul. Flammable products can't be shipped by air. But they have an informative website. I'll check it out. Btw.. maybe aniline dyes work can be mixed with clear Polyurethane?

I'm considering to try Poly on my next paint job but I'm not experienced with it. What should I use to tint clear poly for a tranculent look.. or for a sunburst for instance. What is best to use?

The idea of using angle grinder is to CUT the wood with the discs... NOT TO SAND it away until the desired shape. So lower grit discs much better. Higher grit discs sands smootly and slowly, which may sound good because you can do the work gradually with more control.. but that BURNS the wood because of the friction, no matter how smoothly you are using the grinder. Coarser grits works like a saw... there is not much friction because it cuts and removes the wood right away when it touches. I've had great results with a 40 grit flap sanding disc installed on my 10000 rpm angle grinder.

That diagram is the same with the diagram came with pickups... I wired my guitar that way. Unless I made a mistake when wiring.. or used a damaged wire, it should be ok. But it looks all ok from what i see now. Here are the values I read on ohmeter: -6 Ohms when touched one tip on another (ohmeter was not calibrated so this may be the reference value of a good electrical contact) -6 to 7 Ohms between all ground points And between the middle terminal of the 3-way switch and the jack's ground: -11 ohms when the switch is in middle position -17 ohms when the switch is on bridge or neck pickup All values read when all volume and tone knobs are turned up to 10 It's a standard 3-way LP switch.. so I know which is the middle terminal and which is the ground terminal. I get 6 ohms with the ground terminal (btw... the pickup's back plate is also a ground point, right? because I read 6 ohms when i touched the tip on the pickup's height adjustment screw.) Thank you so much for helping me. But I think there's a mistake in my wiring that I couldn't see now. Soon I will have to remove the strings and hardware anyway for fret leveling and buffing the finish... I will re-wire the guitar and I hope it will be ok. Thanks again.

I just tested all ground points with an ohmeter. Kept one tip at the output jack's sleeve.. and touched all ground points, including shieldings and the bridge with the other tip. Everything good, value is close to what I got when I touched one tip on other. Except... ohmeter showed electrical contact between the toggle switch's middle terminal (which is supposed to be the hot output from the guitar) with the ground. I cannot tell you the value because the ohmeter was not calibrated (reset) but it was a bit weaker than ground to ground contacts but I don't think I should be getting any electrical contact there. But then again, if hot output and ground is in electrical contact, I shouldn't be getting a decent sound from the guitar, right? The guitar doesn't sound so bad. Just noisy. I'm a bit confused now. And for the polarities of the pickups. I thought of that. But if the pickups are in phase with each other, shouldn't it be noisy when both pickups are active? Or am I wrong? This is the first guitar I've built and the first humbucker guitar I've owned. I get hum when I use individual pickups, not when I use both pickups.

Btw.. I forgot to add. The hum is less when using both pickups and more when switched an individual pickup. (like with a single coil). And I wired them like in the diagram came with pickups. And the electronics I used are: -Two SD Alnico II pro humbuckers (neck and bridge) -Four CBS brand 500 K pots that came from Warmoth (they are a bit different from the others I've seen.. but they look very good quality) -Two .047mf film capacitors.

Hello.. I installed two Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbuckers to the LP I've built. I ground shielded the control cavity and the toggle switch cavity (not yet the pickup cavities) but it still gives me "hum" that is not common with humbucker pickups. It's not noisy as a single-coil but still annoying when playing with high gain. I checked my wiring many times.. but I couldn't find anything wrong. 1) Are all Alnico II Pro pickups noisy? (Their output is much less than most humbuckers btw) 2) Over-heated pots or capacitors may cause hum? (I might have done that before I found out the pots were lacquered so I couldn't solder) 3) Isn't a pot's shaft is connected to the pot's back? (I didn't connect the back of the pot's to the shielding as I thought it is already touching the shielding on the shaft area) 5) Shielding the pickup cavities may help? (Planning to do it when I remove the strings for fret leveling) 4) Any other possibilities may cause hum?

Yes I totally agree. It is Macromedia FreeHand for me. And I recommend it to everyone who is just starting with vector drawing softwares. Because of the reasons in my previous post. It makes a serious addiction. Using FreeHand is like playing a piano...lol I tried Corel at my previous work... but couldn't really use it after years of using FreeHand. But if one's used to something else, he/she must stick with it. The best software is what you are used to.

I'm another graphic designer... I use FreeHand and Adobe Illustrator for any kind of drawing. Then I export it to Photoshop as an EPS(encapsulated postscript) file if I have to rasterize (pixelize) its final output. Here are pro's and con's: Macromedia FreeHand: Pro's: It is the fastest drawing program ever made. Although its final version, MX is a bit slower with lots of new features then previous versions, it is still faster than Illustrator and CorelDraw. But version 9 is my favorite. It has a great simple transforming panel that helps you a lot. Especially when drawing logos or symbols. It can handle lots of pages in one document and not getting slow. Thats why I use it for brochures or magazines too. It's keyboard shortcuts and special commands are far beyond its rivals. You can draw the same graphic at least twice faster than you can do with it rivals. Although the rumors.. its color management is quite good if its set properly. It's user interface is different than Adobe programs so it can be a problem to get use to.. but it is much more simple. MX version is quite different than the others.. and has great features. Like drawing 3D objects. But its slower. Con's: Version 10 has lots of bugs. Don't use it. Go for 9 or MX. It's color management settings are a bit difficult to understand and set. But its not a big issue if you aren't into desktop publishing or professional multimedia work. It's screen display is poor, unless you preview with anti-aliasing mode. This is just the display though. It prints nicely. Adobe Illustrator Pro's: It has a quite similar interface to Photoshop. And they work very nicely together. It can display alpha channels in photoshop documents. It is good when working both vectors and bitmap images in one document. It's screen display is GREAT! Color management is so simple. Con's: It is too slow because it has no fast commands like FreeHand, or shortcuts. It is expensive than FreeHand. I hate CorelDraw and I never use it. So I can't make an objective comment on it. I just know it was made for PC's only..when there wasn't any vector programs made for PC's. All these vector programs are meant to use on MAC primarily (except CorelDraw). So their PC versions may have minor bugs. But FreeHand is my all-time favorite because it is the fastest vector program ever made (esp. version 9) and it has great shortcuts with keyboard and commands that will help your work be done fast and easy. I can draw a graphic on FreeHand at least twice as faster than I do with Illustrator.

I have the NASA font. You can download its truetype version from www.1001fonts.com The font name is "Nasalization"

Gibson font is not a commercial font.. neither is Fender font. Those logotypes designed only for the brand. But if you need a specific logo (like Gibson or Fender), try this URL. It's a logotype database for all known brands in the world. http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/ They are all in EPS or AI format. But you will need a vector based drawing program like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand(only for MAC) to open these EPS files. You can also open them in a pixel based program like Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks.. but pixel based programs are not really effective when working with logos, signs or type. You cannot easily customize it for your special purpose and printing is not fast and easy. But if you don't have a vector based program, make sure opening it with a huge resolution like 300dpi, so it will print nicely.

Remember that "HEAT IS YOUR BIT'S WORST ENEMY". You can easily blunt your bits if you use it with higher speed than needed. Just because of the heat, not the hardness of your wood. Use the slowest-possible setting on your router, due to your bit's size. 20000 - 25000 rmp is only for the bits with around 6 mm cutting diameter. For wider bits, you must use slower settings. I ruined a 12 mm bit with only routing neck pocket on mahogany because I was using a 27000 rmp router!!!

I used Turtle Wax car polish to polish my guitar. And it gave me a great gloss. I didn't even used a buffing pad. I just followed the instructions on the bottle. I used it with a damp cloth and rub it on the guitar for a while... it leaves a white powder on the surface when it gets dry.. then you take a soft, dry, clean cloth the clean it up.. And you have a great gloss. 1) I used it on nitro-cellulose finish 2) I waited 1½ months after I sprayed the final coat of lacquer 3) I level sanded the finish from 600 grit to 1500 grit (wet sanded with only water, no soap or any lubricant) After the 1500 grit.. the finish looked all matte and I could see some sanding scratches. But they were gone after polishing. I didn't need any higher grit sanding. The product I used was: Turtle Wax, Safe Cut.. in a yellow plastic bottle. (its silicone-free too). I just checked Turtle Wax website to give you the link.. but I couldn't find that product. But it is available in hardware stores here in Turkey. Maybe it was for European market only. these sites have it: http://www.practicalmotorhome.com/product/jul05.html http://www.autoparts-online.co.uk/archives/prodapr00.htm (its red here but mine was in yellow bottle) http://www.trendparts.de/default.htm?d_595...Safe_Cut630.htm

Whoa, don't knock it until you've tried it. We got a thread rolling around featuring a number of guitars that have been covered with rattlecan laquers, poly, etc. Nothing wrong with using rattlecans. ← No. I tried many brands... and %80 of them suck.. The CLOU's are very good. but they are much more expensive ($15 for each can and you need at least 6 cans) than buying a spray gun.. If you already own or have access to an air compressor I mean. But of course.. its not wise to buy the whole spraying outfit if you aren't painting stuff often. I had access to an air compressor so I decided to buy a spray gun instead of paying money to the rattle cans.