lotass

Hey guys my buddy is appling lacquer to the body of his guitar (It's Jatoba wood he said) and the lacquer is bubbling. He said the instructions said to get this special type of brush to avoid bubbling, and he got it, but it still bubbles...I searched but didnt find what I was looking for, any tips?

I use stewmacs bit which is like 25$ but comes with two ball bearings AND it comes with plastic tubing for additional support, then i use stewmacs templates (like 5bucks?) which are done by laser i believe, so they are very accurate and its a strong acrylic base, although if you do run the router to the edge of the template it will tear into the template, but the small nudge can be fixed by some dried superglue and such.

What kind of locking tuners are on the PRS's? I played one and I love how you can whammy as much as you want with no alternation in the tuning (but I dont want a FR for my first guitar project) can you just buy lets say a cheap tremolo bridge and then buy locking tuners and taht will work? or do you have to get lets say a Gotoh bridge and then Gotoh locking tuners?

and then can anyone reccomend some brands etc or websites? thanks.

thanks guys, i drew a line on the back of the fretboard and just have a little more sanding to do until its flush with the neck. Gonna glue it on first and then make it flush with the neck though.

For shaping the back of the neck is a spokeshave really the only effective tool? or are there others?

And anyone reccomend some good wood glue at Home Depot or Lowes please? for glueing rosewood -----> maple.

Well i've got a couple questions. I'm working on my neck and I need some help cutting the fretboard because they come like 2 3/8inch wide and thats way too wide so I have the line traced of the neck im copying on the fretboard but i cant find an effective tool to use. Ive tried a coping saw blade (which isnt strong/sharp enough to cut through the wood) ive tried regular handsaws and i've even used an electric hand saw but the fretboard was so fragile the saw would jolt the fretboard up and down so I decided to stop.

I've tried filing, sanding, etc. What effectively cuts a fretboard (rosewood) well? Keep in mind i need about an inch off at the high frets and half inch on the lower ones.

Another question on my maple neck

Right now one side is completely smooth and flat, and the other one looks like a range of mountains. Theres divots in it and its all uneven. What is the best way to even all that out? I've tried using a small hand plane which seemed to get stuck quite often. I've tried electric sanders which seemed to take all day. And Chisels I hate because of their inaccuracy and splitting of the wood.

Is there any tools that im missing or do i just need to realize this is gonna take a lot of time and stick to sanding/filing? Any help is very much appreciated thanks.

-brendan

thats nice...i feel you, i countoured my body with chisels :-/

yeah swamp ash is mainly "grown" ? or from mississippi...hence southern ash

they offer 8's all the way to 13's.... aswell as the light tops heavey bottoms....

some distributors *cough cough* even include 2 free sets of strings with the bridge.

but my radius is 12 ((((((((((

hey so can you use this bridge with those headless guitars? (like in the end of bill and teds excellent adventure)

how would that work with balance as far as weight distribution goes? would you have to route some extra wood out of the body ?

are you supposed to fret AFTER the fretboard is glued onto the neck or can you do it before?

In the Benedetto book, he uses a bandsaw to remove most of the wood and then finishes off (rounding) by sanding on a belt sander. No planing or scraping needed, but then again, he's a pro.

ima just go for the bandsaw then, instead of buying a used plane or anything like that....the surface is very bumpy right now...so I plan on just bandsawing it off rather then smoothing it out (the neck is going to be very thin anyways...it's an ibanez/jackson like neck)

try a bandsaw. then plane it. then if necessary glue now wood on the side.

is glue just as strong and safe as an original 1 piece of wood?

like would a 3piece laminate be sturdier for a neck joint then just the end of the neck?

Well I had nothing to cut it so I tried numerous things, it was too hard to handsaw, so I tried an electric saw but I got some burn marks and the wood got pretty uneven so I stopped...then I chiseled the majority but as you know with chisels the wood will crack and keep cracking....

-        -   *

-        -   *

-        -   *

-        -   *

-        -   *

    ^     |---| <Excess Wood

Actual

Neck Width

What's the best way to get rid of that extra wood? it's a little under a centimeter...keep in mind I dont have many tools available to me (power tools)...I am exposed to bandsaw access this weekend if that's the right way to go.

great work, looks awesome.

erm was just looking through Melvyn Hiscock's book and BAM his picture is shown using a ball peen hammer......if Melvyn is using one, im pretty sure it'll be fine (he's using not the ball end, the other end).

good luck and take your time

i dont know if mines too rounded....its round and then the end looks a bit flatter..make any difference?

hmmz I just got a ball-peen hammer (8oz) ..it's got a polished rounded end.....will this work?

could you use a rubber mallet?

Sure, if you want to make a difficult task even more difficult.

Even the hard plastic ones are too "bouncy" to suit me.

Plenty of pros use a steel hammer :

Mike Stevens

Hideo Kamimoto

T.J Thompson

Martin Co

Brian Galloup uses a brass faced on a video

Anthony Lintner uses a brass hammer

so can you use a normal hammer(metal)?...I thought someone said it makes marks on the frets....whats better...plastic / brass?

could you use a rubber mallet?

try warmoth?

or do I need to give stewmac more of my business? man ive bought from there 3 times now, paid 20$ in shipping, ridiculous. Anything else I might need w/my fret hammer so i can save on shipping? got my wire, my fretboard and my binding...

man Craig congrats, you're great at what you do.

way to go man, looks nice.

no they were with stewmacs templates, but some of the acrylic got pushed by before the ballbearing could ride against the template...if you know what i mean

What do you mean? What router bit are you using? Are you using one that is short enough to allow the bearing to ride against the template or are you using something like a 3/4" bit?

no it's the 3/8" but the ball bearing cant ride along the template until the bit is down in the wood a bit (im not using a plunge router, if that matters) and it was my first time routing (i practiced with a different bit unfortunately and unintelligently) but it's no big deal, can just be sanded.

what i mean was there was little notches in the template from the bit pushign against it, bleh hard to explain

any other comments?