guitar_ed

Hi fehgalloway, I come back to the old question: What is it that you intend for the tools to do? In other words, how much work are you going to do, and how are you going to pay to have done? If Warmoth is going to do your bodies, you don't need a router. If you are going to do your own necks, you might want a spoke shave. So start at the end, and work backwards. That will give you a good idea on the tools you need, and whether a Dremel tool will be useful to you. And yes, a Dremel tool is VERY useful for general all around tasks. Kind of like hammers, screw drivers, and duct tape. Guitar Ed Given inflation, my $.02 ain't worth much.

Hay CamCool, I am way too old (43 yo) to apply for their program, but if I were you, I would go for it. Fill out the app and see what happens. BTW: LMII is a reputable company. I have done business with them off & on for a few years, and they are good people. Guitar Ed

Hi, You might want to track down Paul Beards web site. In it, he says that the less sound generated by the body, the stiffer the body is, the better (several days later I found this error). That is why the brass resonators are so effective. All of the sound should be coming from the cone. BTW: In America, it is laser. Take care, Guitar Ed

Hi Eric, To answer some of your questions more directly. 1) The question of whether or not wood is kiln dried is not the point. The point is, is it dried or green (wet)? Air dried or kiln dried does not matter for solid body electric guitars. Only for high end violins and things of that nature does it matter. 2) Gluing and clamping the pieces of wood together will not, by itself, flatten them out. 3) How many should you glue together? How thick a board do you want? That will answer the question. I would very strongly suggest looking through the Warmoth and Stewmac web sites. You will find a lot of good information on those two sites that will answer many questions. Also, the Melvyn Hiscock book on building electric guitars will be of great help to you. 4) There are generally 2 ways to do things when building a guitar. 1) Cheap 2) Right. Very rarely does Cheap = Right. Depending on what you want to accomplish, it may actually be less expensive to buy a guitar than to build one. 5) Read through This thread. It is our "Mistakes to avoid" thread. Take care, Guitar Ed

Hi, I have a question. And maybe I misunderstood the original post. If I did I apologize in advance. If I understood correctly, the idea is to cut into the finger board to different depths, so that the inlays are different depths below the level of the fingerboard. Is this correct? If so, then wouldn't the fingerboard be rough and uneven? I would think that this is a bad thing, not a good thing. Again, I apologize if I misunderstood. Guitar Ed Still looking for that essential clue in life.

Should you test on scrap? (expletive) YES!!!!! Always always always test on scrap first. Guitar Ed Opinions are like @ssholes. And I just showed you mine.

There is a ton of it, and various levels of quality, on eBay. I would start looking there. Guitar Ed

Hi Firestorm, A couple of things. 1) The wood from the tree will not be usable until it dries. If you leave it to air dry, that could take a couple of years. If you kiln dry it, it will take some $. You also have to cut it, etc. 2) As for the truss rod and laminating the fret board, read the Hiscock book Building Your Electric Guitar. It will answer these questions and many others you don't yet have. 3) You are in the proper forum. You might also try the search function and the tutorials in Project Guitar. Take care. Guitar Ed

There is a more important issue than access to the 15th fret, and that is the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. If it is not the same as from the nut to the 12th fret, the intonation will be off. Guitar Ed

Hi Lee, Welcome to insanity. And don't worry about blowing up a guitar. I blew one up yesterday, and it was not my first blow up. I would like to address a point or two in your post, not all of them. 1) Get your neck before doing the neck pocket. Between the template and your tools, the odds of a 100% fit are slim. So you will have to do some fitting. At least, that is my experience. 2) You mentioned that you want to use a 1 piece ash body, and then paint it white. If you are going to paint over it, save yourself some money and get a 2 or 3 piece body. Cosmetticaly you can't tell, and tone wise you can't tell either. 3) Get a camera and take pix of the whole thing. Welcome and enjoy. Guitar Ed

My Orange Thinline Tele with my red, almost orange, amp. I did not realize how similar they were when I did the amp. I guess I now have a conversation piece: "Hey. Did you see that guy with bright orange guitar and matching amp? Ee-gads!" Later days! Guitar Ed

Howdy All, I have learned one important thing on this project: What ever the gods intend for me to do, it does not include building amps. I had the thing so hosed up I had to send it back to David Allen to get it un-hosed. On the other hand, he did a great job with it. If you want to see the whole story, click Here. Scroll down and click on Amp. Also, I have updated the story on the Beat-Caster. Guitar Ed

Howdy MP, I would suggest three things to get you started. 1) Read This Thread on mistakes to avoid. 2) Get te Melvyn Hiscock book on building electric guitars. 3) Use the search function on this site to look up topics. Most of your questions will be answered. Take care, Guitar Ed

Hi Travis, Congrats on the wood find. I wish....... I too have built a Tele out of Mahogany, and I love it. It is heavy, but what the heck. You can see itHere. Scroll down and click on the Yellow Guitar. Somebody commented that it won't like a "real" Tele, and that is true, if you a purist. I say #&%$ them! Take care and take photo's. Guitar Ed

Hi Jesse, Sorry to do this to you, but no, a Dremel tool will not be adequate for all of your routing needs. 1) The Dremel does not have enough routing depth. 2) The bit heads tend to wander, because the Dremel is not that sturdy. 3) The Dremel is a slow routing tool. 4) Odds are you will burn out the motor long before you get finished. I have a Dremel and it is great for certain things, light duty routing for instance. Binding channels, stuff like that. More than that, I wouldn't try it. Guitar Ed

Look HERE, or try eBay. Guitar Ed

Howdy, Read through THIS list of mistakes to avoid making. It will be of tremendous help to you. 1) Use your grandfathers wisdom and experience to your benefit. 2) Make sure he knows that you appreciate his help. 3) Play the guitar for him every time you go to visit or comes to visit you. Heck, make him a video and send it to him someday. 4) Make sure and do non-guitar things too. 5) Not knowing your grandfather, be considerate of his age and physical condition. 6) If you haven't yet, ask him if he ever played the guitar. And if you have a digital camera, post lots of pictures and the story here. Take care, Guitar Ed

Howdy, On my guitars, I have messed up lots of little things, but nothing beyond repair. And I have called a few little things features, relicing actually, when in fact they were screw ups. My amp, on the other hand, is a different story. I had to send that little sucker back to David Allen because I screwed it up so badly. But I just keep at it, and someday I will get a guitar "perfect," what ever that means. Guitar Ed

Hi BMA, I have a 10" Delta band saw that I cut 2" ash on with no problems. While I don't zip through the wood like butter, I don't have to crawl through it either. The Delta unit is about US$100. Take care, Guitar Ed

Hi Phil, Due to rainforest destruction, Brazillian Rosewood is very difficult to get and very expensive. Another reason you do not see a lot of Rosewood, in general, on guitar bodies is that it is very dense and heavy. On the other hand, top of the line BR is incredibly beautiful, which is why people want it so badly. So for weight and $$ reasons, it used almost exclusively for fretboards. One company that does use BR for their acoustic guitars is Martin Guitars. If you go to their web page, you can get a feel for how much impact BR has on the price of a guitar. Take care, Guitar Ed

Howdy, Another set of advantages for a rack are: It is neater, with all of the wires hidden. With a back door or pushed up against a wall. It can be more difficult for the kids & pets to get into. Some of them have back doors. If you are moving your gear alot, put wheels under it and it rolls, and you do not have to take things apart and put them together so frequently. Since you can not throw it, there is less chance of breakage. Guitar Ed

Use some light ashesive painters tape. Make a 3 sided box around where the feet of the bridge go. The other alternative is to just change one string at a time. Guitar Ed

Hi Improvise, As Drak said, the bridge is loose on an archtop. One thing that you might want to check is the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge. It should be the same as the distance between the nut and the 12th fret. Take care, Guitar Ed

Hi Alarung, I have built 6 guitars, and I have to agree with your dad, for these reasons. 1) The neck has to be absolutely correct to be playable. It has to be straight, the frets have to be in the right place, and it has to fit into the guitar correctly. The holes for the tuners have to be right. 2) If the body is off a bit, you can call it a design feature. This is assuming that the PUPs are in line between the neck and the bridge. It may look a little strange, it may sound a bit unique, but you will be able to play it. As a result of the above, I buy my necks. I haven't the faith in myself to build a neck. I would suggest getting Melyn Hiscock's book on building guitars. He has a section or two on building necks if you do decide to go that route. Take care and take photo's. Guitar Ed

Check out This website. All they sell is templates. Guitar Ed