VanKirk

Unfortunately, all I can do is vote for a guitar based on how I think it looks. I've picked up some pawn shop guitars that I thought were great because they felt and sounded so good...but looked like a$$. If we could play each of these guitars for several hours each then I think these contests would mean alot more. Then we'd know how skilled a builder truly is. It sure makes for good guitar porn each month though!

I agree 100%

Out of all my test scraps that I did last year with Tung-oil, Tru-oil & Danish oil the toughest finish and the one that really popped the grain nicely (on Alder and flamed Maple) was the Danish oil cleared with Minwax poly-u. Being test pieces, I purposely scratched them by dragging some small weights across them. All three were pretty close for popping the grain but that poly-u is pretty hard to ding. I got a fever! and the only prescription is more cow bell!

It's like a demon rising from hell! It scares me

That's hot. I looked at that pic and my ice cream sandwich melted all over my keyboard!

Try the search function. I used "12 string" as a keyword and found these: Here's a thread this one's cool and last.

Happy Birthday!

USA Custom Guitars. Great products and great service.

*Steve Martin Voice* "What tha hail eeis thayat"

Maybe instead of the topic reading "Wiring Diagram For Varitone Guitar, does it check out?", it should say "Wiring Diagram for a Varitone Guitar" and get pinned?

I found the link that explains how to keep the dremel bearings from causing the bit to wobble here.

I picked up some of the adhesive backed foam from an automotive store. It's used on the lip of truck beds before a canopy is put on so it's padded and leak proof. There's another product that looks to be the same for sealing door frames and screen doors. You should be able to find that at a hardware store easily.

I Googled fretboard inlays and found this. Pretty nice inlays but I didn't look at the prices.

The SD Hot Rail pups have 4 wires on them while single coils have only 2 wires. Unless you know which wires to hook together on the pup, you won't be able to just cut the old wires and splice in the new. IMO, I like 4 wire pups since you have more sound options available. You can find the wiring diagrams for those pups at the SD site. You can also find alternative wiring options at www.guitarnuts.com. It's important that you read the warnings before diving in though. P.S. As thedoctor stated, try using the search function before posting questions to avoid hostility. It can get to be a bother to answer the same questions repeatedly and causes resentment.

Last I heard the inventor (Kevan, who's also a mod here) was making a special demo body that showed how it worked for a show. I think it's still alive. I found the link to the Tremel-no thread here. You could try to PM him if he doesn't see this but I bet he will in time.

I've found some cool bit kits at the local department store (Home Depot and Lowe's). It has several different kinds of bits in a decent case. Foredom is another company that makes a tool and bits similar to Dremel. I believe that the bearings on the Dremel are sealed so if they are seized then you'll need a new bearing that can be bought off the Dremel website. I've heard from some people that the front bearings on Dremels can cause the bit to wobble some but if you use heat shrink tubing around the bearing it will keep the bit from spinning out of balance.

$100 is very reasonable if you know the shop is reputable and guarantees their work. Occassionally, while installing a radio system, for say a police department, the equipment fails to work even though I've wired everything correctly. I have to figure out the faulty equipment, remove it (after I've already installed it) and arrange a replacement with the factory. Then, reinstall and test again. I still have to make it work cause that's what the customer pays for. By the time I've gone through all that it's like doing 3 installations, timewise, and if there's another problem during the warranty period I have to return and fix it again. Anyways, if the shop is legit, you pay $100 and get a fully functional guitar as asked regardless of what they had to do to accomplish that. If you think you can do it and save money then take the time (as in time=$) to do it yourself and hope it works right the first time.

Since it's a rear routed body there's no need for a pickguard. You can screw the pups directly into the wood. They'll hold fine unless you plan on switching them out dozens of times then I'd go with the threaded inserts.

Keeping them sharp has helped me and I played with different angles when sharpening to find the best results. Some areas required a more steep bur on the scraper than others. I've had to change the angle while scraping as well. Especially, on a figured top where the grain density changes many times.

I believe the best way to stop these cracks from spreading would be to not step on it while sanding. Do you have actual pics?

The link in lovecrafts post contains enough info to answer your question. LGM explains the pros and cons in a very easy to understand way. There are also past threads that discuss this. Read thread you must. Use search function and learn you will, young padawan.

haHA! SWEET!!!

Is that a Word??? ← I think it's somethin old people get when they don't have enough fiber in their diet. Welcome new mods!

Birchwood- Casey also sells tru-oil aerosol cans that are thinned to spray. I found the best results by using the tru-oil sealer then 6-7 wipe on coats of tru-oil then 2-3 coats of the thinned aerosol. Not much luck getting a vibrant, bright colored tint to mix with it. I tried some Walnut stain that came in the same pack as the tru-oil from the gun shop and it worked well. I posted some pics here awhile back showing the tru-oil, walnut stained tru-oil & Formby's tung-oil side by side on some test scrap. I actually liked Formby's tung-oil blend better on the neck. It didn't build very thick coats but was buttery smooth even compared to the tru-oil. The tru-oil hardened and built up heavier than the formby's tung oil though.

I found this thread after I used "threaded inserts" in the search function. Hope that helps.