sam_two

what are these guitars sans top nut like? do they work ok? here is the auction http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=011

cheers dude. but most of that is already done. after all themistakes i hgave made with the bridge and pick guard i dont feel confident enough to start a re fret. i will do at some point though. i'm beginning to think i'm not precision enough to be able to do things like this. i have no experience in any type of shop work so its all rather hard for me. but i'm enjoying it. i wanted to get this guitar up and running, if anything to prove not only to myself but to whoever doubted it in the first place. they will more than likely be right that it will be no good, but then again i'm hardly the best guitarist in the world once it is up and running and i've played it abit and got bored of it i will then take it apart again and do like you said, - re frets, etc etc. i'm going to spend some more time with the electronics and earth it properly and then maybe put a few more strings on it and have a blast around

Grounding the wood isn't going to do any good. hey that rhymed. yeah i realise the error of my ways. i know what to do now

i've been working on my project and learning lots. not exactly done a great job but whatever,i'm learning. its been rather frustrating as i make measurements and what not, check them and then follow through with my plans only to find out i was wrong. which was basically the whole point of the project. no point in me buying a great piece of wood or something only to make all of these mistakes. the bridge was hard to get in the right spot. i had the measurments on how far down it should go but due to the angle i found getting it in the exact spot was trickey and after, drilling, filling drilling and filling i got it in, and even then it is a mm or so out. i really havnt got any ideas on how i can get it better other than chance. i think it was a mixture of bad measurements and finding it hard to get the drill very precise, even with my father helping. but ah well. at a later date i may take it to a local guy who does that and get him to drill it. we'll see how much it costs. then i got the pick guard material cut out which (suprise suprise) was wrong. this really got me down over it but i salvaged it for the sake of putting it together. i will more likely than not get another piece and get it cut out again, shape it a little differently etc but in the meantime it will do. i shaped the top nut out of bone which i bought off ebay. its quite nice and wasnt too hard. i think i got it about spot on. and today i soldered everything up to see if it worked and it did, with a little bit of hum, but i havent earthed it properly. since i dont have a trem unit or acess to the bridge anymore i was going to just solder the earth cable to a screw and screw that in the cavity where the earth wire origionally went to the trem system, i presume that will be alright? anyways here is a picture of it so far. just strung it up with one string to see if it worked and i found out what it was origionally! here is one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-1960s-Guyatone...VQQcmdZViewItem

i have a question about grounding. most instructions tell you to ground to the bridge or the trem system but with my project (first time) i installed a new bridge and filled the trem system cavity in having no trem system to install. so with the new bridge already in place and without excess drilling which would be a hassle to do. would it not be fine to just solder the earth cable to a screw or something screwed into the body of the wood?

i've come to re-wiring my project and i ahve the wire in need from the pickups and my pots are soldered together with wire which is dandy, but i need a length of wire for the input jack to the pot. now to be fair i h#am a novice ehre. i've looked around on ebay and on online guitars stores but the wire i've seen seems to be like single stranded copper wire and then insulated in plastic? BUT cant i get (from what i've seen on other parts of my guitar, the wire with 2 strands, one insulated and one not? advice? sorry for the notviceness of this post but i'm going alone on this one.

yes i believe that is what i ment. sorry i've never really had to deal with explaining stuff like this. the 1.5 degree sounds about right, i had my father help me with the measurements, we were trying to work it out but his trigonometry hadnt been used for some years and didnt have a decent calculator but said it would be only a matter of 1 degree or something.

right i have all those measurments. sorry i ended up working in metric, it just seemed easyer. and some of the rules i had didnt have inches. from the fret board to the body of the guitar is - 12mm from the top of the fret to the body of the guitar is - 12.5mm from the freboard side of the nutslot to the 12th fret is - 299mm from the fretboard side of the nutslot to the bridge side (far end route) is 574 mm when i was at school i remember being taught tigonometry and thinking i have no use for this in the outside world. i take that back! i measured 200mm from the base of the neck into the body and then from a straight edge rule from the top of the frets measured a distance of 18mm so from 200mm and taking into consideration the measurments i took from the top of the fret that makes a difference of 5.5mm i dont have a protractor and my trigonometry is pretty dire. sorry to burden that with you. i'll try and work it out in the meantime.

right i'll try and get those measurements done tomorrow.

thanks, i'll do my best to get the most accurate readings. sorry to be asking all these questions, its a hobby i'm genuinly interested in but have little experience and no friends on mentors available to guide me. bear with me on the measurments. i'm not really geared up for this. so i'm sourcing everything as i need it. i realise this isnt the way to go but its a first time. i'm learning as i go. measurments in metric or imperial? and as for the measurement from the nut slot, i need to put a new nut in. will any from ebay do? i'll try and find a online guide or something to do this. i think its pretty crucial i get that done. thanks for the help (and the patience)

yes that is a good point. i'm a complete beginner at this. i have no desire to make a "pristine" guitar or something of great craftsmanship etc. i just want to make a guitar and see this project through to the end. and then use everything i have learned as experience on my next project and so forth. i was given a box, mainly comprising of strat parts inc pickups, switches etc, i think i could piece together almost everything electronically. i have tuners. but i am at a loss of what would be the easyest bridge to install? any sugestions on parts? i think this one is going to be pretty void of electronic style and i'm fine with that! sorry to be constantly asking for advice. i dont know anyone who does anything like this, so this is basically my only resource.

right i just finished sanding at 120. i have some finishing paper which should be a higher grit. i will finish that today. there are a fair few dings and whatnot which i am not going to get out, what is done so far is smooth and i am happy with. the guitar is fairly old and IMO the fret board is in pretty bad shape. do i need to varnish it or get something on it? in which case do i take the frets out to do that? would it be best to do the body first rather than the neck? i was thinking of just leaving the neck with a wood finish. another question is in the end i dont really care how bad the guitar is, i have a heap of junk parts and really want to assemble it together to form some piece of crap. now since i have no idea what brand guitar it is, so i'm at a loss as to what kind of bridge set up to use. any ideas? should i fill in the holes already there and then drill to put say one of these in? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Baddass-Style-Chrome...1QQcmdZViewItem

i started a thread befor on this but now its turned into a actual project and i could do with some more advice on where to go. this is the first time i've ever done anything like this so i'm completely on my own. anyways so from my practise body that i bought from the car boot. i have got it sanded down and stripped of all the remaining paint. see picture. so anyways i'm kindof unsure on where to go next? do i work with the neck and fret board or go for the body? i am still thinking of mainly concentrating on the body, the neck is horrible. i was thinking of trying to remove the neck to then just concentrate on the body and getting a good spray job done? ideas? thanks

ok, i didnt want to salvage the neck, its horrible thats why i wanted to take it off and just put a different neck on which doesnt need any work doing to it. thought that might make it a little easyer

i've been sanding my project and i want to remove the neck. i feel re-furbishing a body is more than enough for me and i may try adding a different neck or something. how do i remove the pre set neck? and is it beyond the rhelms of possibility to drill holes so i can screw it back on rather than re-gluing it?

ok, yeah you have pretty much convinced me the method i was starting out with is bad, i will use the sander and sandpaper from now on. one question about the sander. if one is completely stripping a guitar say one with a laquered finish. what would one do to ensure said lacquer/ varnish or what have you doesnt stick to the paper and then cause a circular in difference in the wood? just keep checking the paper and change reguarly? does anyone have a problem with this?

i hope the guy playing the surfboard is playing PIPELINE!!!

thanks. i was more worried about what the ammount of water that was going on the guitar was going to do to the wood rather than the glue, but that makes logical sence. i'll dig out a orbital sander, i believe there is one about and continue from there and with sheets of sandpaper rather than the chemicals. did a good job though of getting the remainding paint off. but does leave the wood seeming really dry (once the water, has dried) would that damage the any aspect of the guitar?

right, i went into town today and bought some materials for the strip. i started off using nitromorse over the front and in the cavities where the electronics go etc (basically all over the front side of the guitar and alot of the sides. then washed it off with a washingpad and lots of water. so my question. (this method was basically assumed through my mothers interest in re-furbishing doors etc) is this how everyone else would strip a guitar? was i wrong to use nitromorse? is getting that much water on the bare wood of the guitar bad for it? all valuable lessons for me. this has actually become a project now. should i start a new thread in the projects section?

here are 3 more pictures then. i'm reasonably sure it was a working guitar at some point. maybe just a very cheaply produced old one. there are still some bits of paint which need to be striped. along with drilled holes where the tuners went, the scrateplate when etc etc

thanks for all your help and advice! i will be stripping it. i'll go and find a orbital sander today and get to work! i will ask more advise when i need it. IE how to paint the body without painting the neck? do i take the neck off? even though there are no screws in the neck? (see i dont even know what this is called :s) thanks for being so welcoming! and guitar crazy. the neck and other certain aspects may be a monstrocity but you have to admit is is a reaaaly cool shaped body!!!!

i had thought of a teisco and looked around on ebay for maybe parts or similar guitars. but on those jaguar shaped guitars the headstock had more of a circular ball end to it. and i figured those style guitars would be pretty consistantly shaped and this is a bit of a miss match really. :s no id whatsoever on the body or neck,i think this is due to the work that has already been done on it

ok i'll look into one of those, i'm sure a orbital one would be best right? if i got one of those is it worth me nitromorsing the remaining paint off?

I was recomended this forum by someone on metal sludge. For some time i have wanted to start a project, make a cool looking jaguar shaped guitar of some sorts. and TBH i never really had a clue where to start. I was at my local car boot this morning and i saw the body and neck of a guitar which is quite a rare thing to find at a car boot! (even rarer to find a cool shaped one! anyways i bought it for a £1 so it doesnt really matter if it is no good, wood is too bad etc etc. but at least it would be something for me to start on, paint and laquer etc befor maybe buying a decent body and messing it up right? So the guitar is in pretty rough shape. even in my novice state i kindof get the inpression it is a fairly cheap design (maybe even home made?) the headstock doesnt look that profesionally done. So i have pretty much come to the conclusion myself, unless someone would tell me toherwise that it would not be a great idea to invest all the money into hardware etc to get it running and i will only do like i said befor and finish stripping and then paint it for experience. But anyways i am curious as to what brand of guitar it is and to see a fully set up one (if only on ebay) so here are 3 pictures i took this morning. any help would be apreciated wether that be information on the guitar or what steps to take next. i have a feeling its down to the local hardware store to buy some nitromorse and some sandpaper though!