KeithHowell

I agree. A friend of my son's bought a cheap Strat copy with a ply body (They're labled "Behringer" with I think 10W amp also Behringer the whole lot for about $150 new) but the guitar sounds dead ,the strings cut your fingers off in the first position not to mention the terrible intonation up the neck, and can't wait to get his hands on my son's guitar every chance he gets. (A tele built by myself) The tele has a Pirana top with a Laminated mahogany and pirana back. Keith

I couldn't agree more. My measurements were just a guide after I saw BLS's rather mixed values (inches and centimetres??? only dress makers use centimetres engineers ALWAYS use millimetres) and didn't want anyone to make a decision on something so confusing! No offence BLS I was just somewhat shocked at the mixed units. Keith

You can calculate it as follows: angle = arctan(bridge height/distance from bridge to end of fret board) Keith

I built my first guitar when I was thirteen and got hooked. (I'm fourty seven now) It will effect your whole life. It certainly did mine. Guitars lead me to electronics which in turn lead to software which is my career, and I'm still messing with guitars. So go for it. Don't expect your first guitar to be perfect, but then there's always the next one. (try explaining that to your wife someday) Good luck Keith

Are you sure thats correct? The DEPTH of the pocket should be about 20mm, the LENGTH about 75mm and the WIDTH about 60mm. Keith

I realised that I don't think you will need to cut the ply to the exact shape of the top. A rectangular piece with the top's edge and the inside edge of your lining accurately marked on it as a guide for your screws should be sufficient. Keith

I wouldn't do that, the magnetron magnet would probably realign your pickup magnets and destroy the humbucking in the case of humbuckers and who knows what else in the case of single coils! Keith

Could it be Ash? I have just built a P-bass body from White Ash and a number of people have mistaken it for pine until they pick it up and feel the weight difference. Keith

Glue your sandpaper to a flat board and lay the board down flat and firmly clamped. Scribble some lines with a pencil on the surface you want to get flat then proceed to sand on your sanding board. Sand until all the lines disappear. Re scribble and make sure all the pencil marks dissapear simultaneously with a few strokes over your sanding board. Your surface is now flat and you can proceed on the other side of the joint. Keith

The only magnetic metals are Iron, Nickel and Cobalt hence the nic and co in Alnico. Keith

I've been thinking about making a mould to laminate the top and back, how about this: Shape a piece of cheap wood to the top profile of the centre block, the bottom flat. Make sure the thickness is equal to standard board thickness (16 mm for chipboard around here) plus the top profile (ie the bit that sticks out above the sides) Fix the block down onto a piece of board and on either side of the block fix another piece of board such that it's top surface is the same height as the 335's sides with respect to your shaped block. Take a piece of thin ply and cut it to the exact (plan) shape of the 335's top. Place it over your block and screw the edges down to the board. Following the line of the inside of your curfed lining which is on the sides. I reckon by careful placement of screws you could tweek the profile pretty much to what you want. You can now laminate up your veneer on top of the ply using vacuum bag methods etc You could also use the surface of the mould as a template for a copy router to shape the centre block for the guitar. What comments? Keith

I've thought about both methods. I think if you're going to laminate up each layer individually it would probably be better to make a mould out of some cheap wood like pine and glue up the layers on that. It will certainly relieve any interlayer stress which the Koch method would induce. The vacuum bag method of laminating lends itself to this. Keith

It's also known as a pantograph. You can use it for scaling up and down as well. Keith

We have gang wars over illegal abalone poaching around here. There have been several busts with millions of dollars worth of abalone being smuggled out of the country. Keith

Gibson use a laminated top and back on the es-335 style guitars, Maple/polar/maple according to their specs. As far as I know they make up the back and top on a form so that it is pre-formed, before gluing it to the sides. The sides are assembled as you described, like an acoustic with kerfed linings on the top and bottom edge. In Martin Koch's book he describes using the assembled sides and centre block as the mould to clamp the top and back to thereby giving it the arch. Donald Brosnac also describes a similar method. I intend to use the Koch/Brosnac method when I get to building my 335, after I get my son's requirements out of the way, Ive drawn the plans and got most of the hardware and wood so hopefully I can start building soon. Keith

Why don't you use the five way but don't wire the two outer positions. Then when you install the switch mechanically limit it to only the three centre positions. Keith

I asked our structural engineering department what steel would be best. The reply was: Tool steel is way to hard, the best would be spring steel if you need very high tension. It's designed to bend. Tool steel is designed to resist wear but will chip easily. (A bit like diamond, won't wear easily but a sharp blow with a hammer and you've got diamond dust) Keith

I presume you mean the nuts! Just use a flat spanner (take the knob off first). Hold the body of the pot so it doesn't turn while undoing the nut. Keith

Mild steel should be fine. The rod is either under compresion or tension depending on the design and needs to be able to bend slightly. So using anything too hard like tool steel is counterproductive. You may want to use a piece of stainless if you're worried about corrosion. Keith

I still know nothing about banjo's but a quick google showed this site: Banjo Setup I had a quick look. Seems very comprehensive particularly the head tensioning bit. Keith

It seems the thing with ceramics is that they make up a batch of goo, squeeze it into moulds to get the required shapes and then stick them in very hot ovens which hardens them (sinters I think is the term used). The production is essentially much cheaper than Alnico which needs to be machined into whatever shape you want and is also therefore limited and expensive. Keith

I have always made my own single action Gibson/Fender style rods. Curved channel routed in neck etc using a 5mm (3/16") threaded rod. Keith

There was a discussion about a year ago about this subject with some pictures where piezo's were added to I think a Strat bridge. Perhaps somebody can find it if it's still on the server Brian? I think it was started by Bear from Australia. Keith

Did some research on magnets in general. Ceramic magnets apparently can be magnetised more strongly and hold their magnetisation far better than Alnico and be manufactured in all manner of shapes. A stronger field gives a higher output with the same coil in a pickup. The magnet type does not effect the tone but the strength of the field produced does. ie ceramic or alnico with the same field strength will give the same tone all else being equal. Keith

As far as I understand I think you need to tention it properly. I know nothing about banjo's but have a look here: Frets.com Keith