killemall8

I have been using this same batch of zebrawood since 2011. Still my favorite zebrawood. Fretboard glued on:

So i heard back from stew mac today. apparently i have been doing my crowning wrong this entire time. Still doesnt work quite like i woudl like it, but i guess it is slightly more useable.

I am really excited to use this stuff. I had made some strats out of a very similar piece a while back, but the figure was a little more subtle. I get a really great price on this stuff since they dont grade their mahogany. It was 5:37 a bd ft. They have an entire pallet of identical stuff. Hopefully they still have some next time i get wood.

It is actually african mahogany (khaya)

One good update: I call this koahogany. Looks exactly like what i woudl picture a cross between mahogany and koa would be. I have 8ft of this left in a board that is 10" wide.

Yes sir, I agree. I have already contacted a guy about doing this. Will cost me around 400 with shipping both ways. I am going to make some quilted bubinga explorers and see how they come out. If they come out well, i will send them to him to clear.

It depends on how thick your body is. I always rout my neck pocket first, to where the base of hte neck pocket is around 1/4" thick. Then add or subtract from the tennon according to that depth.

I am absolutely not sure i can do it, because i have been doing finishing on guitars before i ever even started building. That puts it at a little over 9 years of the same finishing experience. Alrighty, no need to cry little a little girl anymore. See ya guys around.

Man, i just really dont know what to do anymore. I feel like i have almost mastered all of the woodwork and general guitar construction. All of that comes out pretty much perfect. Every line, joint and rout is always near perfect. But dang, every. single.Time. I ruin the finish or do somethign to where the finish just completely takes away from the actual build. This is borderline not worth it anymore. I ruined the black explorer again, for the 3rd time. I should follow my own rule of never trying anthing new. It has NEVER worked, and has done nothing but cost me money and a good build. I am going downhill fast business wise. I dont think i can last another 6 months at the rate i am going. Looks like my career will be cut shorter that i had intended.

To me it sounds way different with no toggle compared to having it go through a switch. Even when 1 is turned all the way down it still sounds like it is slightly in the middle position on a switch.

Dont worry, they last forever if you take care of them and you dont push them to cut more than they should. I have had mine 2007 and have put probably 2000 board feet of wood through it. Probably more. I have pushed it hard and it is still going just fine. Had to replace the blades i think 4 times (double sided) but other than that it is great for the price.

Is that your finished thickness with fretboard, or just neck blank? You shouldnt plane your neck blank down to finished thickness before carving.

looks dang good. Clear coat my guitars for 9$?

Man, i dont think i could swallow that huge price for them though.

It sure seems like it would take a lot more than a few strokes to get them round. Even with the crowning files i had to press as hard as i could and do 10-20 swipes. I'll see if it works.

I have redone a single guitar around 5 times over a year. I am not afraid of doing it or learning. But when it is less productive and efficient, i see no purpose for it. I am not going to go out of my way to attempt to learn something that will take years to learn and probably destroy a guitar in the process.

Looks like alder to me.

Use a small triangular file. Grind off the sharp edges. Mask the fret board and do it old school. (Like before we had all these fancy tools dreamed up by Stew-Mac to empty your bank account ) Well, i dont need another thing to learn and spend hours doing and possibly mess up. If that is the case, i am going to stop building right now. IT isnt worth it.

Well that is why i assumed that all their products would be equal in measurements. The medium and wide burrs from their "3 in 1" file set were perfectly sized, just dull and hard to use. The small one was so small it wouldnt have come close.

Interesting. That may be most of the problem. I cant find a good crowning file actually fits the fretwire.

For years, i have used the individual crowning file burrs from stew mac. I never bought the actual handle, i always just glued htem to a toothbrush. I have absolutely dreaded crowning because those files do almost nothing. I have to press as hard as i possibly can to get them to take material off. I finally broke down and bought their double sided crowning file for 40 bucks. It is the medium/ wide one. I assumed it would be the same size as the medium and wide crowning file burrs i have that i bought from them, but it is completely different. I am literally using the largest fretwire available and even the medium side of the crowning file is too big. It touches the top of the frets before it takes anything off the sides. Anybody know how or why this is? It doesnt make any sense. Even the frets that got a ton taken off while leveling still dont allow it to work. Just scrapes the tops of the frets and that is it. what a waste of money.

Thanks. It has been sitting on my couch since i took the parts off. I just looked at it a few minutes ago outside, and the dye faded like crazy. Now it just looks pale and weird. I will have to re dye it and see if i can get it to look as good as it did i the pics.

Probably would have looked good with a veneer, but i dont have anything left. Also, i think my favorite part of the whole thing was making the back retainer bar!

Thanks man. Here is the one i had planned on pairing it side by side with. It is a 27" scale. Should sound pretty intense tuned to C or B.

Nope, it isnt twisted at all. It seems that about around 2 out of 5 guitars end up like this. I dont know what else it could be.