balooka

I was promised a nice piece of wenge the other day (havent seen it yet ) and it's supposed to be quartersawn. I'm planning on using it for a neck with a maple laminate in the middle (wenge on the outside). The body also is in that combo (Maple sandwiched between wenge), but i've read that wenge gives a smudgy sound. I cant find the link anymore to that statement, but i wondered if this is correct and I should not use this combination. Any help is appreciated. TIA jP

Not exactly my style, but i really think you've done an amazing job so far! Headshape is cool man keep it up!

thanks for the great info! I'll look into each of the offered solutions. Why doesn't StewMac or any other supplier stock those things? It's not that rare to have a string thru right? TIA JP

I use 5mm stainless steel templates to rout about any cavity in my guitar. I use several same sized bits that only differ in cuttinglength (depth?). I had one bit that was trashed when titled to the steel and the solution was pretty simple. I bought some bearings that were 4 and 2mm wider than the bit, cleand out the cavsity as much as i could, leaving about 1-2 mm clearance from the template. Then I put a brearing on the shaft, the same size as the bit itself (usualy 2 to cover the length of the shaft so it wont slip up) and go straight to the edge. Removing alot of wood before trimming it flush is the way it works for me. I don't have a tablerouter so all this is done with a plungerouter, takes a bit more time to complete, but works good for me. HTH JP

Are you sure that wont tear up the wood in the end??

Thank you all for your comments, I kinda dig what Drak is saying tho so Im gonna think about it untill I get all my hardware in. That might indeed be another 2 weeks. If I'm not done being vreative by then I'll go with the other options mentioned. JP

so it should be fine with the tom? do i need the lockers for that?

I'm about to order a TOM, and go string thru body. So no trem system. And i see they have locking tuners aswell, some look nice, dunno what the quality is tho, do you? JP

I want to install a TOM and go string thru, but I cant find the ferrules (sp?) that go on top of the body. All i can find are those little 'cups' that hold the 'ball'. i want it to be like this any suggestions? TIA JP

While I waslooking at some tuners i came along those kluson tuners. Seen them around alot (on websites and stuff). They seem to be cheaper than the shallers and gotoh's, but are they any good? Or are you just getting what you paid for, cheap crappy tuners? TIA JP

Ok, the spokeshave was not an option since I couldnt lay my hands on one (during this weekend). I attacked it with my beltsander and some 60grit paper and it works great! Never thought it would go that fast either. I was done in like 15 minutes. Anyways, I took a pic while i was at it. It's a bit deeper now than when the pic was taken. Just a small question, not that I'm in the finishing stage or anything, but can I do the 'stain black and sand back' thing on oak too? Would it blur/bleed too much? thanks, JP

I was expecting the 'Draw it on, and spokeshave it!' answer, skibum, but problem is I cant really find one anywhere close to me. I know the US has plenty of sources but here (in .NL) they all tell me thats a 'tool from the past'. So far I'm out of luck and this is keeping me from completing my body anyway, what I did today was round the edges with a 10mm radius bit, I have a 14mm also and I tested that on a piece of scrap and it kinda made me think of my dinnertable so I took the 10. just a few pics, no real update. ... rounded edges the bitbearing rolled over the lower part of the body, leaving the extra deep cut unchanged. I kinda like it like that. I will smooth it later when i start sanding. same thing, better pic (kinda) the bellycut I cant complete. This is annoying so I will attack it tomorrow with a rasp and beltsander if I fail once more to get a spokeshave! thats it. JP

this looks sooooo much better than your first design! nice wood JP

Litchfield, I usualy really like your guitars, but this V looks weird and odd. Are you only gonna stain the quilt? Seems (might be the pic) like the quilt isnt centered. Hope you'll post more pics when you're done cause I do wanna see what it turned into Cheers, JP

Ive done some more routing on the neckpocket, setting the angle and doing some testfits. Made some pics while i was at it... Here How should I shape the 'belly cutout' or whatever the correct word is? Rasp, beltsander? Seems stewmac didnt get my order that I faxed them :/ (or misplaced it somehow ) so now I dont have a trussrod. I have to re-order the parts and I might change the allen trussrod into a spokenut ( This One ) so I can adjust it rigt at the heel. I wont be using covers on the pups so that should give some clearance without moving the pup too far away from the neck... uhm... right? TIA JP

for what its worth - back in school I painted a drumkit with snakeskin using a rubber mat. The stuff you put underneeth a cussion of a couch so it wont slip away, hmmm my english sucks at this point but it looks like a rubber fence kinda thing. I painted the kit yellow with different tones in it, all the way up to orange, something like a yellow-ish camo. After that some clears and the mat thing which i kept away from the surface for about 5-7 mm (using little needlepins). I then sprayed the green at a straight angle. Some more tones of green to camo it a little. The end effect was a green shaded snakeprint, divided by fine, feathered yellow/orange lines. You could get the lines more tight since the surface is flat on a guitar). Sorry bout the lack of english, hope you get what i mean. JP

Hi, Yeah I'm gonna chamber it some more. I already made the cavities bigger than needed on the inside and I'll chamber the lower horn. Not sure wheter or not I should chamber the 'armrest' part since it might be tricky to do (gonna do the cutaway on the back lateron). Whats the average weigt of a body? Im still not sure if I should try and bind it or just round the edges. Rounding -IMO- would be nice since it aint a thick top so you probably gonna see some of the light wood in the curve. On the other hand, I planned on doing a binding just to see how that works. Im not afraid to screw this one up as long as Ive learned something along the way @MKGBASS, I just drew the templates in Adobe Illustrator (using the 'info' palette to make sure its accurate!) and exported them in DXF format. The lasercutthingie only had to convert the data once, took like half a second lol. Those parts fit like a dream. I also have the templates for a bold-on and i should be getting the pickup and cavity templates soon. I used MDF templated on this one. As for the 'where' part, a friend of mine did those for me (here in the Netherlands), and I only paid for the steel, not the machine or labour. Speaking of templates, has anyone the correct measurements of a floydrose template-set. I don't mind ordering it from stewmac but I'm currently ordering my stuff in england and germany, and they dont have the clear templates. TIA JP

@John, you have any finished oak guitars? and thanks for the comment @ASM ... erm, whats so strange about it?

finally shot some pics of my guitar in progress. this is the first one so I allowed myself some mistakes (as if i culd do it flawless at my first attemp). anyway - this is it for now. Will post updates when i have found some time to work on it (and my parts arrive). JP Click Here For The Pics.

One reason I can think of to why he ddnt route the neckpocket on the vid is because he rounded the edges before routing the pocket to avoid the chance of chipout when he does it the other way around. JP

thanks derek, After cooling down a little and measuring it isn't 1.5-2 mm at all - i think its even under 1 mm but its noticable. What if I taper the fingerboard, glue it on and and fil the dents with sumtin (glue w/sandingdust?) and start to shape the back when its dry? The option with gluing a piece in I have to rule out since they are a) shallow dents and they are over a 5 cm stretch (along the fretboard, horizontaly). It took me much time and effort to get his far and I think im just gonna finish it off to see if there are more problems. So I can start the #2 with more experience. Still a pity tho JP

great thanks! I was about to order them too but I just screwed up my neck I have a lasercut 5mm stainless steel routerjig thats great. I had one bearing on my shaft and a drillstop. The darn drillstop snapped (great quality iron) and it dug in for about 1.5 - 2 mm. If I sand this out will it still be playable? The nutwidth would be 2 mm smaller (42 now so about 40 when sanded down.) Oh well - next time I'll just use 2 bearings... JP

Does any know the exact radius on the corners of a DiMarzio HB? I want to route the cavity and bind it but I need to know what I have to end up with to make it fit. Also, can anyone post the dimensions of the HB from aside (height, ears etc). I could only find the dimensions from 'above'. I need this to figure out a way to mount them differently without the covers. TIA JP

Thanks Roads, That's all i needed to know JP ps. Yer new project (on the website) rocks.

Uhm sorry if Im being dumb here but when i look at my other guitars the seam is much closer to the headstock. If this is standard theres no problem eh? Thanks JP