kench

Hmm. I think I've heard that it must be glued on here and on MIMF. Theorically, it sounds correct too. I've never thought that Titebond II will do this work either. I will use an optimum amount of epoxy. Thanks for advices!!

I have Titebond II only. Is it good to bond aluminium and metal to the wood? It's a rod with aluminium shell with flat sides and top but rounded bottom. Here's a picture of the rod. Only the nut area though

And what kind of glue or epoxy to use to fix the outer shell of the rod in the neck? Imade a new topic on this yesterday... but since there is no answer there, I'm asking here too

No. This type of rods require glueing. It's a simple threaded rod in an U-shape aluminium cover. And that aluminium cover must be fixed in the neck to work properly. The inside rod must be un-glued though. It has a guard tape under aluminium channel to prevent glue or epoxy from reaching the inner rod. I don't think it would work at all without fixing it in the neck. Never tried it but I think it would move back and forth in the neck when you adjust it. Because its a straight rod and fits in a square straight channel in the neck. Or it may push the fingerboard out too much when you tighten the rod and may crack the fingerboard.

I have just routed the truss-rod channel for the U-Channel truss rod I've ordered from Stew-Mac. Now I'm going to fix the rod in the channel but I'm not sure what to use. I think the epoxies are the best but there are lots of different brands and types of epoxies. A simple double-tube epoxies work well? The local stores around here are mostly selling BISON brand (from Holland) epoxies, glues or super glues. Are they good? And another question: My truss-rod channel is like 1 mm (0,03937") deeper than height of the rod. Do I have to use a 1 mm thick fillet?.. or I can leave that space?

I was lazy one in the trigonometry class at highschool and I went to the fine arts academy instead of a technical university.. so I know nothing about trigonometry and maths Well here's the problem: If we know the values of x and z in this triangle, how do we find the angle at the corner A? Or do we need another value? Lets say x=4 and y=8, what is the Â? And yes, I need this for angling the neck pocket..

1) Don't use too much glue because it won't help for better bond. Just pour some glue on the surface on several areas and spread the glue with your finger. Maximum 1 mm of glue film on the whole surface is more than enough. But make sure you spread the glue on the whole surface. When you clamp the pieces, a large amount of glue will leak from between the top and the back and it will drop all over the floor. Put some newspapers under your work so you won't have to worry about cleaning the floor when its dry. But it is a good thing as mentioned above. If you clamped well, there won't be a glue line. Another thing is. Do NOT fine sand the surfaces that are going to be glued together. Make sure they are true flat but not too smooth. Leave the wood porous. 80 grit smoothness is very good. While the glue is drying, it will be sucked by the wood and that will make a strong bond. A very smooth surface cannot suck the glue well before its dry. And clamp well. Make sure you have lots of clamps. Clamping in the hard-to-reach middle areas can be a problem. Have 3 or 4 large clamps for the middle areas. You will need to get your blanks cut and shaped before glueing. You can roughy cut them with bandsaw (like 1-2 mm away from the edges of your body shape) and give the final smooth shape with your template and your router after they are glued together. 2) Even the cheapest double-stick tapes worked great for me. Sometimes they leave some adhesive on the acrylic templates but can be cleaned. Don't worry about your top. These tapes makes strong bond and are easy to remove from the wood. 3) Don't be too lazy like me, and shoot photos of all the process, and SHARE!! Goodluck!

Hey thanks for the photo.. They don't exactly look like mine. My scratches are very straight and look systematic... But you say it is KOA and mine is MAPLE.. So I we might be talking about the same thing. And Johnsilver might have a point too. I didn't use 3M sponges before I got those lines. But I had used some other cheap sanding papers that were black. Next time I will test the cream sanding papers on scrap maples and see if it happens again. Cream papers throw off more grit then other papers though... but at least it is CREAM like maple...

Thanks you Loosetoe. Your post explains a lot. But I didn't think they were scratches because I didn't sand across the grain. I did cross sanding on few areas to test it and saw that when I go ACROSS the grain, I don't get those lines.. but I get POINTS. When going through the grain.. those lines become visible... As if those points come together and create lines. But after all.. I think you are right.. Your explaination on skipping grits makes sense. I will try harder next time when I work on the guitar. And I have a cabinet scraper somewhere.. I will use that one too. Thanks a lot.

It might have something to do with the flame figure too. You know what those flames really are.. They are the pores of the maple that goes in the wood with different angles. So the hollogramic flame figure occurs. The figure changes due to the angle of the light and the angle of the position. Dark areas become light when you look from the opposite position. So.. when I sanded the maple I might have distorted the pore direction and added those brown lines. Thats my theory for now. But that doesn't explain how I can get rid of them.. They seem very deep just to sand it off with finer grits, and it just adds another lines when it removes some.

I used only 80->120->220 grit papers for now. Mostly 220 grit after finished carving. And some 3M sponge sanders. Actually they are not scratches or scars because the lines appear only on the smoothest areas. You can't feel it with your fingers. Wood is ok on the rough areas. I started thinking that they are pores filled with dust or something. But the lines are in order.. perpendicular to the grain direction and looks like its been scratched with a comb. And they start with a growth line and end on another. It's strange.. I've never seen anything like this before.

No.. They are not the growth lines or the grain. I know the growth lines. Like I said.. it's hard to describe.. They are perpendicular to the growth lines. Just 1/2" lines that looks like little scratches. Especially on the smoothest areas. I should post a picture of it as soon as I get my digital camera back from my friend. I thought I was burning the wood first.. because I used a sander attached to my drill.. But it also happens when I hand sand it very smooth and when I cut it with table saw. But only on the top of the wood, not on the sides. It's kind of a corruption of the pores.

Everytime I sand my flamed maple top I get tiny parallel brown lines perpendicular to the sanding direction.. When I sand it through the grain direction I mean.. and when I sand acrooss the grain.. I get tiny little brown points instead of those lines... It is hard to describe and I've never seen anything like that on any tutorial I've seen on net. I wish I had my digital camera here now so I can shoot a photo and post it. It happens most when I use coarse papers like 80 or 120 grits... At first I thought they are burnt lines because I was using a power tool to sand.. but it also happens when I hand sand it very smoothly. And they are very hard to remove... 220 grit paper doesn't really work either. I just realised that they are very deep just to sand and remove it with finer papers. Chisels work better but I just finished the carving the top today and I got lots of those lines.. and I don't want to use a chisel on it and ruin the smooth carved top. Because it will require coarse sanding again. I'm thinking that they are the pores of the wood that they came together as I sand the surface. Is there a solution to get rid of them on an already carved top? Sanding for days with 220 or finer grits? Btw.. I just saw those lines again on the surface that was cut by a table saw. So it's not happening only when I sand it.

The body cavities can be done with wide drill bits, or forstner bits as mentioned above.. Just drill lots of holes in whole cavity area and then use sanding or grinding attachments for your drill to shape the sides and the base of the cavities. But it will take time and the result will never look good like a router work. Just don't use router bits with a drill. Typical routers work very fast.. 20000-30000 rpm. This provides best cutting. When the bit's blade hits the wood, it immediately cuts it without burning the wood or hopping. With a slower motor like a drill with 700 to 5000 rpm motor, your tool would be always hopping as the bit hits the wood and cannot be controlled even with templates.. and it would cut the wood very badly... Actually it wouldn't even be able to cut it unless it has a very very powerful motor (most drills are only around 500 W and it is enough for drilling work) Otherwise the motor or the wood would burn. In any case.. it is the worst thing you can do to a drill. For the truss rod channel. It can be done with a table saw depending on what kind of truss rod you're using. But it would be like eating soup with a fork. You have to be very careful and need to make a very accurate jig. But if you have an access to a table saw.. you should have access to a router too. Just try to find a router. If you are planning to work on guitars you can spend some money for a simple router. A router works 25000 rpm with a 500 W motor would work fine. It will be your right hand, your best friend. I don't have a real router either. I found an old Bosch brand grinding power tool in my fathers workshop which is also used as a motor in some Bosch router models. (27000 rpm/320 W). Unfortunately it doesn't have a router base but with a little creativity I made a simple base for it. It only accepts the bits with maximum 6 mm (¼") shafts and adjusting the height can be difficult at times but it works just fine.

Hmm.. I'm living in Istanbul.. and the weather is always damp here. Especially this time of the year. So I think I should go for lacquer instead of Tung Oil or Lemon Oil. And my neck wood is a porous mahogany... Just oiling won't do it I guess. I think I'll try the satin finish on the back of the neck and high gloss on the body.. I hope two seperate finishes won't look too ugly. Thanks a lot for the answers. Btw.. my surname is Kench... not Byers..

Btw.. I might consider finishing the entire guitar with Satin finish. I like the natural look. Is there any disadvantages of doing this? Because everyone I've seen on the forums are going for high-gloss finishes. I'd like to hear your comments if you have experiences with satin finishes on the body.

I'm building an LP style guitar and I'm planning to finish my guitar with nitrocellulose aerosol lacquers. But I don't like the "sticky" feel of the hard finishes. I already own a Fender and it has a great finish on the neck. It is different than its body finish. Not glossy, much more slippery to play and much thinner. I don't know what it is. I was wondering if it is a satin finish? or just finished with some other material instead of lacquer? It is a "1996 American Standard" series Strat. (I think there are american and standard series seperately now) Anyway.. If I spray satin lacquer on the neck of my new guitar, will it be slippery like my Fender's neck? Or is it just the visual? How do you guys achieve non sticky necks with nitro lacquers?... A satin finish is all I can think of... but I couldn't find any information about the "difference of feeling" between high gloss, satin, or matte finishes. Btw.. my neck wood is mahogany and will be finished with Nitro lacquer (CLOU brand aerosols) after grain filling and sealing.

I'd say mahogany. It has a warm, long sustaining tone and I believe a nice quartersawn mahogany looks great with a transculent red finish. Just look at the back of a Les Paul.

Thank you very much Phil!! It was just what I wanted to hear.. The guy at the store told me that it was "satin" for the "Nitro-Lack" can. and there was another CLOU Spraymat can there but I can't remember what was written on it. Was probably that "Grau-Entferner" thing, maybe some kind of a sanding sealer? I will go there and check again today and probably buy some stuff.

I was trying to find an aerosol nitrocellulose lacquer in Turkey but I think the only aeresol lacquer in Turkey is CLOU Spraymat Nitro-Lack (German brand). I have no idea about it as there is no English or Turkish text on the can or somewhere in the internet.. all German . But it says "NITRO-LACK" so I think it is a nitrocellulose based aerosol lacquer just like StewMac's cans. This is what it is: And there are also some other products they sell with this can. These are in German: 1) Nitro-Schnellschliffgrund, farblos 2) Nitro-Lack, farblos, seidenmatt und matt 3) Zaponlack, wasserhell, bewahrt glänzende Metall-Oberflächen vor Korrosion. 4) Grau-Entferner entfernt Wasser- und Alkohol-Flecken sowie Grauschleier aus nitrolackierten Flächen. Now what are these? can anyone translate? Is there anyone in this forum who used this products before? probably from Germany? Here's its link from it's german website: CLOU spraymat please check it out and give me an idea

Well. I am actually a graphic designer so I always like to see a good, unique design. But to be honest, those guitars look like they were built just NOT to look like any of those famous shapes... but still they do. Unfortunately, if you're planning to build an "optimum" electric guitar, that will look like something between a Les Paul and a Strat. This is not only because the hegemony of those brands on the guitar market but also because of the beauty, simplicity and the efficiency of those designs.

I was wondering... if oiling the cutter edges of the router bits could prevent black burnt cavities. It happens especially on maple where you move the router slower, for example the corner areas of a pickup cavity. Any of you guys tried to oil them before using?... or do you all use oils on bits already but I just don't know it because I'm too novice? I'm planning to try it on my next routing job. But I think the oil must be heat resistant... or I might burn the oil itself. What kind of oils I may use? I could think of engine oils that are used on cars.

It is 12" on Gotoh's TOMs, right?

Oh.. that's a problem. You should have clamped some blocks on top of the rod and the neck while the glue was drying. I'm planning to use epoxy or similar long life adhesives for the rod to keep it in the cavity and titebond glue to attach the fingerboard. But I'm not sure if a fillet is necessary between the rod and the fingerboad.

Thanks a lot for the responses... One more thing to ask: Should I start from the sides? or from the center of the top?