jammy

Cheers for the quick reply Mattia!

I've had a look at the gun - looks nice, and if it's as good as you say, I'm sure it'll be worth the investment. When talking about tips, what is meant by "SR"? The gun is also described as HVLP, which I understand is "high volume low pressure" - great - but how low is low pressure?

Also, with regards to the compressor, are there any specific numbers I should be looking out for? Minimum required CFMs or PSIs?

Thank again

For the instruments I've finished so far I've used a professional spray booth at my old college. The time has now come to invest in my own compressor and gun, and sort out a little booth.

I'm looking for quality kit, as It'll have to last! I'll be spraying mainly acid-cat lacquer.

Recommendations please chaps! (I'm UK based, by the way...)

A little Tool Acquisition Syndrome has been happening recently. Here is the last 2 weeks stash...

My new laminate trimmer, which has been doing great work!

£80 worth of carbide downspiral cutters for various tasks.

Good ol' Ibex bending iron

A Veritas Round bottom spoke shave - this thing is ace, I LOVE veritas tools!

An lastly, a flat bottom Lie Nielsen model maker's plane - Another quality tool, which I'm convinced will be worth the money.

All these things make Jammy a happy man

I want pictures! *stamps feet*

One of the local guys here has an 8-string plan that uses a 2+6 headstock setup, with two bass tuners on the low side and a set of six lefty guitar tuners on the high side. It doesn't look too bad and it makes an awful lot of sense.

Is that one of the Charlie Hunter style 8's? If so, where did he get the plans?

I'm excited!

Those KandK pickup systems are indeed wonderful

Depending on the amount of adjustment on your bridge, the neck angle you described sounds fine to me.

As for re-fitting the dovetail, it's a bit of a black art, but keep in your mind at all times that the main mating (gluing) surfaces are the sides of the tennon, so concentrate on getting these to fit tightly. I tend to get the pocket clean and straight, then slowly work on the neck with a chisel to get it to drop down into the mortise.

It's a bit difficult to give advice without actually being able to fiddle with the joint myself, but if you're not happy with how tight it is, you can always beef up the tennon by gluing a veneer to each side of it and starting fresh...

When I was at college in my last year one of the lads did a 12 string classical. It was a super small body (taken from the plans of a 1800's five course guitar)

Sounded great actually, and I'm sure would sound even better if a little larger.

wow! Where did you get the bridge for that one?

Looks like I'm going to make it to the bass day by the way... I'll bring the baritone along, perhaps, as it's the closest thing I've done to a bass

It's been strung up for a while, I'm just waiting for the pickup to come in the mail before I put some decent strings on it and take pictures.

It sounds great so far and looks amazing. This guitar is so light it's great.

Good news. I really can't wait to see the pictures!

I'm going to invest in some spray equipment soon, and a garden shed for my spray booth. I was just wondering, ideally, how large would you like a single guitar spray booth to be if you had the choice?

This is one area of the craft where I have little/no knowledge!

Elegant, simple, beautiful. Good on you mate, you must be very proud!

A quick question for you - is there a specific reason you continued the body past the neck on the cutaway side? I always think that an instrument looks better if the cutaway flows straight out the side of the neck. Saying that though a lot of makers prefer to do it the way you did! Not a criticism, just a question

I'm going to invest in some good blades for my bandsaw soon, and was looking for some advice...

My bandsaw is a record power BS350, 2hp motor, 103" blade length, and can take 1/4" to 3/4" blades. I'm looking to get three high quality blades for it. One general purpose, for roughing out bodies and other every day tasks. A second, resaw blade, for long rips and cutting larger stock (I'm expecting to have to spend the most on this one?). And a third, small blade with a small set, for making kerfed linings.

So what do you guys think with regards to TPI/widths for each of the blades? And what manufacturers should I be looking out for?

Cheers

Wez - that is ace! Get it posted up on Intermusic too!

That's going to look ace with all the hardware on... another corker!

Seeing the fanned fretter above reminded me: I meant to ask what bridges you used on it, and where you sourced them.

11th of November, is the bass day in Manchester,

That is a pity Travis it would have been good to see you there.

Alan

Ace! I'm going to see Tommy Emmanuel in Liverpool that night, but I'll more than likely come over in the morning.

When's this bass day? I'll pop along if I've not missed it!

You'll start to learn how to voice a top at least. That's the real black art!

Good work so far!

A word of warning... If you do decide to enlarge the tuner holes, they must be reamed out, not drilled.

B-E-A-Utiful!

Thought I mayswell have a go, though the competition seems fierce!

This is my latest acoustic: DMG003. Specifications are as follows...

Overview: Steel-strung seven-string acoustic guitar

Body Shape: Martin 000, self-designed florentine cutaway

Construction: Dowelled tenon

Top bracing: Off-centre X, my own design

Back bracing: Double-X

Back & Sides: Highly flamed European walnut

Top: European Spruce

Neck: Seven-piece laminate of rosewood, maple, ebony and flamed sycamore with twisted headstock.

Fretboard: Ebony

Bridge: Ebony

End graft: Brazilian rosewood

Body binding: Brazilian rosewood

Rosette: Brazilian rosewood spiral

Fretboard markers: Brazilian rosewood side blocks with maple binding

Scale length 736.6mm (29″) - bass side. 647.7mm (25.5″) - treble side.

Nut width: 55mm

Neck width at 12th fret: 63mm

Fretboard radius: 16″

For more photos of this and my other guitars please visit www.darkmatterguitars.com

I'd take a well sharpened scraper to it, then some fine sanding once the majority of the finish is gone.

My first thought is to totally remove the old dovetail section from the neck. and clean everything up. Then make a new dovetail section (oversize), glued and doweled into place on the neck

Then re-fit to the pocket, which seems to be in good condition!

Wrong!

As a general rule they sound better due to a phenomenon known as sublimation...

As the spruce top is vibrated some of it's mass gets converted directly to gas (passing the liquid stage). This means the top becomes lighter the more the instrument is played, and as we all know stiffness to mass ratio of the soundboard is one of the most important elements of a guitar's sound

Well some bad photos, but a cool guitar It's got finish on it now, looks and feels great

Expect some better quality photos soon (when I nick a mate's digital SLR)

pic1

pic2

pic3