KeithHowell

Thanks MOJO. Do you have a URL to the CNC building part of the business? I could only find a link to the custom guitar area. Keith

It sounds like you have a possible insulation breakdown somewhere. Did you hear the sounds through the speakers or from the amp itself? Keith

Your method works as well as any other I think. What I've done is clamp the two pieces vertically to a workboard, with some wax paper underneath to stop the glue ooze sticking to the board and then clamp the joint horizontally. Keith

Thanks for the advice all. I don't have a budget yet but am trying to put one together hence the post. The designer/chief engineer is very keen on getting a CNC machine to up production. However like all engineers, and I include myself in this, he will find the fanciest machine with the most features so he can play and then only use 10 percent. The websites are under going a rebuild, hence the reason some are not working. We should have them up shortly. So watch this space or the announcements area. A friend of mine bought the company hence the changes. I am taking over as production manager. Keith

We are looking at getting a CNC Machine to assist with our production. The machine would be used for drilling bodies ( not carving) and for making other small metal parts, as well as fret slotting. Does any one have any suggestions? Keith Afri-Can Guitars

To shield from RF interference you just need to make sure the "holes" in the material you are using are smaller than the wavelength of the interference. To give you an idea: the wave length of microwaves around 4 Giga Herz is about 60mm, 50Hz mains hum is many kilometres so any foil or even fine mesh will work. If fact I have worked in rooms where they are shielded with mesh of about 20mm gaps (shielding test equipment from navy radar). Keith

Yes the problem seems to be with laser printers. I think it's because they heat the paper causing stretching/distortion. I know drawing plotters, which are really just big ink jet printers ,don't have the problem. Keith

Be careful of printing out templates! I used Wfret to do the same but on checking the printout I found distortion at the printer (a laser printer) gave inaccurate results. It was less than a millimetre per fret but the cumulative across the length of the board was substantial! I got better results using a good steel rule and working all measurements (as printed by Wfret) from the nut to fret position, that way the error is not cumulative. Keith

Richard assures me that they will most definitely be available in the USA, as well as everywhere else. He is going on a marketing drive so e-mail me if you are interested and I will see when the next set are available. I know 30 are coming out of the factory this week and are all booked already. Keith

A friend of mine told me on Saturday that he had bought Afri-Can guitars. For those of you that don't know,Afri-Can guitars are made out of oilcans to look like a home made guitar. He says a new web site will be up soon. It is under construction to reflect the knew developements at the company. Keith

Pickups I get from Paul Bothner, SoundWorks and have ordered through StewMac as well. Electronics from Communica, Yebo or Mantech they all do mail order but I think should have branches in Durban (Yebo don't but are Cape Town based and specialise in mail-order) Wood from Rare Woods (The Cape has a off-cuts section where you can get guitar sized pieces) They also supply Indian Rosewood backs, sides and fretboards. Hardware Centre is the best place for tools. Mica et al are expensive and only cater for the hobbiest. Hardware Centre have the real thing. I think they have a Durban branch. Contrary to what ErikBojerik says, just about everything is available around here. The only thing I have trouble with is very specific luthery orientated tools, but then I drop into see Kevin at Southern Music and he is always helpful on sourcing tools. Electronic components seem easier to find in Cape Town than in some parts of the USA reading the comments some members have made. Good Luck! If you're ever in Cape Town (like most of the rest of South Africa at this time of year) give me a shout and I'll show you some of my guitars and tools I've built. Keith

I made one like this: Cut two discs with a hole saw, it will have a hole perfectly centred in the disc. Then fit the discs into the ends of a piece of PVC pipe and glue or screw in place from the edge with two or three counter sunk screws, put a piece of threaded rod through the holes and there you have a perfectly serviceable sanding drum for use in a drill press. What town are you from S.A? I'm in Cape Town. I've have never had any problems getting any tools but I made one because I wanted it in a hurry and my nearest hardware store (Mica) have never got anything and anyway it was a Sunday evening. Keith

The glue used for building plastic model aircraft,cars etc is the same thing. You should be able to get it at any model shop.

If the pickups all have the same wire guage and roughly the same coil length it is a pretty good rule of thumb. The better way is to rate the output in millivolts. There is a direct relationship between turns and voltage generated. Keith

It could be either. Disconnect the transformer from the circuit and then do a check on the secondary. If you still see the ground problem you have a bad transformer if not probably a bad rectifier tube. (I presume it does have a tube and not solid state rectifier. You can probably just pull the rectifier tube to disconnect the transformer from the circuit, however I would need to see the circuit diagram to make sure of that.) Keith

The more turns you have on a coil the higher the output you will get as more of the magnetic flux cutting the coil. Two coils with the same wire gauge but one having more windings will have higher output and higher impedance (and resistance) changing the wire gauge will also have an effect. Thinner will up the resistance and impedance but you will have more space for turns and vice versa. Keith

The drawing is my progress so far on this project. I've been to busy finishing off a bass and setting up my acoustic which I rebuilt recently. I've just started laminating the sustain block. I will take some pictures and post as I go. Keith

Your 25 ohm rheostat is wired directly across your battery 25 ohms across 9v will draw around 300mA current which will suck your battery flat pretty quick. Remove the negative from the rheostat so that the variable resistance is in series with the motor that way all the current is pulled through the motor. You will have to make sure of course that the current and voltage drop across the rheostat are within specs of it's power rating or you could overheat and burn it out. I don't think your switch is wired correctly either. if it should be in series with your one of your lines (+ or -) the way you have it in your drawing looks like it puts a dead short across your battery in the "on" position this will stop the motor running but suck the battery flat very quickly! Keith

Download my drawing for the ES335 from the download area you will be able to get all the measurements from it. Keith

Have a look here: Open vs Closed back

The general rule (due to physics not some dreamed up guitar building rule) is: The higher the value of the pot the less highs are attenuated therefore the more bright the sound. Keith

Use the neck plate as the template to drill your holes. Keith

Have a look here: Bridge Saddle Placment It's the best explanation I have found on positioning a bridge. Keith

Just set yourself a pair of minature long nosed pliers and use them to hold whatever you are soldering. It stops you burning your fingers and also makes a very good heat sink! Keith

Yes you have to solder! Twisting and taping is OK to test but will almost certainly give you trouble down the line. Keith