frank falbo

Uh, no. There are probably a dozen reasons to use glue, and just as many not to. The point here is that you need to get a book or something because your question confirms your lack of understanding of the whole concept. The question doesn't work as a stand alone question. I realize I said "no help for you!" but I'm going to actually give you a little help. Some use glue, some don't. Some mash the barbs some don't. Some over radius the ends, some don't. Some hammer, some press. Some route the slot, and just drop the fret in with epoxy. Master builders find reasons to use all of the above, and sometimes all on the same guitar! IMO you need to research the different methods first. We'll be happy to help when your questions show you've got a general understanding about the process. Your post was like walking into a mechanic's garage and asking "So how do you guys fix an engine? I want to know so I can fix engines too" "You come back one year!"

Uh yeah, Dude. You just bang them in with whatever hammer you got lying around. Whatever, man I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal out of it. The glue is for sniffing. What are you, like eight years old? Your spelling and grammar are nauseating. Do you know who the soup nazzi is? Well, "No help for you!"

If you can get your angle perfect, you can come in from the output jack. I've done that several times. But it is very hard to get that hole started at such a sharp angle inside the electronics cavity. So I take the Dremel and carve a little hole out so the drill bit has a place to bite. I've always had pretty good aim, so I've never missed my mark. If you have to you can put a piece of masking tape on top and draw your line. Then you can match it up visually, assuming the bit doesn't walk. It won't walk if it's big enough and you go slow enough. With long cuts be sure to go about an inch or less and then pull back to let the shavings out, before going any farther.

Ashley is a great guy. He's pretty good at finding the good deals, so that sucks when you're trying to win something cheap. He always seems to be there to ruin it. The thing that creeps me out about aug2590 is that they always seem to be selling parts they've already sold. I'm not suggesting there is manipulation going on, but unless that guy has a real deep inventory, it doesn't seem like he could keep selling some of the things he does. And it seems like almost all of his auctions, even one's that are priced way too high IMO, end with a winner. Then it seems the item resurfaces later. It's just my simple, non scientific observation.

You guys are killing me...What if the inlays are contracted out? What if the neck was bought from Carvin, Stew Mac, Perry, LGM Setch? Who cares!....Why if the inlays are contracted? will that make you not vote for it? Same as for the pup rings, don't we buy most from outside sources? ← The easiest way for me to clarify this is to say "No, it wouldn't make me NOT vote for it" and that is the truth. But what is ALSO true is that if I found out he DID carve up those mounting rings and cut the inlay himself, in addition to everything else on that guitar, that would make me WANT to vote for it. I know it's a subtle difference in language, but I want you to see that the questions about what is contracted out are meant in a positive light, not a negative one. I would LIKE to give credit where credit is due.

So since you're here answering questions, would you mind telling us what parts, if any, (mainly the inlays) were contracted out? I like the guitar, and I'm not a snob about having to build all your own stuff or anything, but it's pretty close in my eyes between you and the zipper. See, the things you contract out are totally fine by me, but then I have to judge them as a design element and not a labor element. And BOTH are important to me. I've seen plenty of "all custom" guitars here where the design and execution both sucked. Sure the guy put 100's of man hours into it, but I'd rather vote for a well designed and executed Tele in those cases. Project Guitar has a "DIY" connotation to it. So when you DON'T "DIY" we need to know, just like Zipper and Derek told us they used pre-fab necks. It would be misrepresentation to tell us they made the necks, and would give them an unfair advantage. Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer these questions, Doug.

It sounds like it could be. I would suspect that the internal connection between the coil wires and the pickup lead is shorting out. It could be that the sheath is loose and it touches the chassis (ground) or one of the other splices. Or it's just disconnecting. I'd have to open it up to see.

Like Perry, I'm not ready to vote yet. I need to know what (if anything) was contracted out on Doug's guitar. I think the "offset" mounting ring comment refers to the fact that the wall is thicker on the insides than the outsides. That doesn't bother me at all. It's a design element. There are lots of things I don't like about Doug's guitar, but also like Perry I personally don't let that influence me. Jehle's Oddboy is perfect until you get to the headstock. The shape is goofy enough and the natural wood with the stripe makes it even goofier. Perhaps a black or matching paint job on the headstock would make it less awkward. Derek's tele is just that. A quilt top tele with a Mighty Mite neck. It's a guitar that could get my vote, but unfortunately not when there are some excellent 3-dimensional carves in the same month. C'mon, Derek, you have to start carving up those thick tops you have! I realize this was for a friend so you just have to let that dictate the job. The Zipper is fantastic. If he had made the neck it would be a guatantee. The shape and carve are perfectly designed and executed. I can't fault the hardware and component choices here because none of us knows what someone else's budget or availability is for parts. So Jazzclub and Derek basically built bodies and gave pro setups to factory necks. In that case Jazzclub's carve and original design trumps a slab tele. Basically if Doug did all that work himself he gets my vote, even though I hate the natural coloring and the antique brass. It's still a great, "out of the ordinary" design with excellent execution. Depending on what was farmed out, my vote could flip to the Zipper.

I don't know how some companies can wrap the guitar in pearloid. I mean it's flexible, but it looks like it was molded around the guitar. Maybe just heat applied appropriately is enough. But if you want to have a flat pearloid veneer, or just follow some arm contours, you can get drum covering from these guys: http://www.precisiondrum.com/html/wrap.html

Doesn't look like there is one. Look at the photo before the finish. It looks like the endgrain appears darker in some places and it's just lighting. Beautiful guitar by the way. I always hated those single coil mounting rings, but I've seen a couple guitars show up here over time that really make good use of them. They enhance the look of this guitar greatly, rather than cheapening it. The whole guitar is a winner to me, including the cool recess behind the wraparound bridge.

If you have a baseplate, I'd recommend using a tongue and groove fulcrum, similar to the old Ibanez Powerocker trems. Except Ibanez used a bull nose rounded front and a rounded receiving block. A long knife edge would be better. You don't need precision return to pitch like with a Floyd equipped guitar. The scale is so long and the strings are so thick, that micro movements won't put the bass out of tune like they do on a guitar's G string for example. Instead, you need strength and stability. The Kahler was probably the best one made because it used ball bearings to pivot. But I would think you could make a pretty usable trem out of standard bass saddles, a standard floyd or strat trem block, and all you'd have to mill would be the long knife edge pivot and it's receptacle.

It's probably unrealistic that you can sand one half of the humbucker and leave the other intact. If it were me, I'd completely disassemble the pickup. But I've done that a lot anyway, and I've made pickups. They're very delicate when disassembled, so I don't know if it's the best idea for a first-timer. Anyway, I would remove the coil you want to modify, desolder it's two leads from the cable, and then sand it. If you sand it too thin, there is a risk that the coil (because it's wound under tension) would deform the bobbin top before you had the chance to laminate the wood to it. And spruce is so soft it won't help anyway. So you could have one coil where the ends curl up a little. Otherwise it's a novel idea, and worth a try.

A six string bass has roughly 250 pounds of tension on it, compared to a guitar's 100 pounds. In addition, the neck is longer. There is more mass on the neck to accomodate the strings, but the proportions do not match the increase in length or tension. And a fretless does benefit from slight adjustments, because it changes the way it feels and the way the note sustains. I also have guitars not carrying truss rod tension. It's irrelevant. Whether someone could build an effective non-adjustable neck is also irrelevant. I think it's bad advice to encourage someone who hasn't ever built before to try to be able to choose the appropriate wood and glue it up properly, all without a truss rod. Especially when it's going to be a neck through. There is no remedying it without removing the fretboard. The "could I make a neck without a truss rod?/does a neck need a truss rod?" debate should be had elsewhere. It's a hard enough challenge for the experienced builder to grasp. You have to shape a fall-off, and be able to choose and laminate your wood to be straight (ideally bowed) under tension.

A truss rod is explicitly necessary in a contemporary 6 string bass neck. CF rods would not substitute for the adjustability. The lack of fret slots doesn't add enough stability if any at all. Fretted necks have slots, yes, but then the slots are filled under pressure, sometimes strengthening a neck or even causing it to backbow when not under string tension. I do agree that a 6-string fretless bass neck is certainly buildable by a newbie. But the best method would be a nice, easy straight truss rod channel, either made with a router or table saw.

It seems impossible that the neck wouldn't fit in the press, unless it's not a Stew Mac arbor press, or something's wrong. And since this is your first neck, you can trust the rest of us who've used the actual Stew Mac press system in the past.

I think Carvin will sell you a 6 string fretless neck. It won't be laminated or anything, just Maple with an Ebony board. They have other woods too, but I don't think you can get a multilam to match your body work.

Speaking of staying on topic, Do you guys know of any brand of white socks that won't stretch to the point where the naturally created heel ends up on the back of your ankle over time? Feel free to edit. I agree with you guys. It's annoying to waste time jumping back to a thread to see what's going on (no DSL in my area yet) only to find some useless conversation about an individual or their practices. I have to vent about useless posts in the same context as off-topic ones. If the pre-existing posts already say what you want to say, there's no need to say it, right?

I get some irritation when I play a hard cornered guitar, like a Les Paul or an acoustic. All my guitars are smooth and/or sleek except for the acoustic and LP. So strumming against that corner makes it itchy and red. The other possibility is your own sweat or body oils, and/or the guitar polish. Otherwise try playing with a long sleeve shirt on and see if you still itch.

You do what now?!!

Only if the coil isn't directly wound around the magnets. If there's a bobbin that encases the magnets (pole pieces) then you can just rotate each one carefully and you'll have a reverse polarity. If it was already hooked up in phase then you'll need to reverse the + and - wires too. If it has a bar magnet across the bottom of it, and the poles aren't magnetized, you could break that free and rotate that too. If the coil is wound around the magnets directly you will never succeed. The only way then would be to re-magnetize the poles, if you can find someone who can do that.

Wes, the bridge will probably tilt forward at that height, with all the play in the threads. One guaranteed fix is to install thin nuts between the stud and the anchor. Then when you get the bridge where you want it, tighten the nuts against the anchor. Then you'd have a thread lock.

That's gorgeous. I do like your stain color, but if it were me, I'd shoot it natural. That is such a great piece of wood. Either way it will be excellent. I'm just glad you didn't choose green or blue or something. That's such a great example in it's natural form that I think only an earthtone is appropriate.

That's actually why I recommend the Digitech 21xx's because the PSA 1 is so awesome, and the Digitech preamp is so lame. I use my 2101 while switching (and blending) between about 5 different preamps total. And I NEVER used the Digitech overdrive since day one. If he had asked for an all-in-one where he could use the preamp section, I wouldn't have recommended the Digitech.

They will become more prevalent. I don't hate composite, I just hate it when I'm trying to get the sound of wood. Then graphite neck rods, or carbon backed/wrapped bodies are the enemy. They either remove or control the sound of the wood and replace it with a more neutral sound. But if that's what you want, then its your friend. So it is both friend and/or foe depending on your expectations of the final product.

Hey check out this hysterical typo I found on his website: "This creates unnecessary fiction" His statement (he meant friction) is accurate in context, but the typo was too funny to let go! He's a sharp guy, and most of what he says is right, but then he throws the occasional romanism in there, and I lose respect.