avengers63

This is the first time I've really liked the beveled reveal of the sandwiched woods.

You can apply as many coats as you want. It'll just take longer to cure. But I thought you wanted to still feel the wood?

I've always used the canned stuff from the store without issue, but mixing your own would be a LOT better. Shellac has an expiration date. The older it gets, the darker it gets. On a finishing note, I've put a few coats of shellac on stuff and then buffed it with steel wool. So long as you keep the coats to a minimum - say 2-4 - you'll get a matte finish and still be able to feel the wood texture. It won't be in any ways durable, but it should offer a reasonable amount of protection from moisture.

I had some problems with cocobolo once before. I emailed Marc Spagnolo for some info on the subject, as well as a couple dozen other websites. The response was unanimous: cocobolo is a real PIA to work with, and it HAS to be sealed or 1) a barrier finish will not cure, and 2) the color will eventually darken as the natural oils semi-dry on the surface. The best sealer to use is shellac. It will keep those oils INSIDE, where they belong. Shellac also has the unique property of being able to stick to any other barrier finish out there. This makes it VERY useful as a selaer. It's also a fine finish in it's own right,but it isn't used as one very often anymore. I agree that if you're sealing the coco, you should really just seal the whole thing. This would completely eliminate any possibility of some unknown weirdness later. I feel it's best to have a uniform base to work from. Shellac isn't the fastest curing finish in the world when the layers are built up, but it's pretty fast when only one coat is applied. You can handle the item in just a few hours. How should you clean off the oils before using the shellac? I used alcohol after I sanded off the top gunk, then applied the shellac immediately. Alcohol is shellac's solvent, so there was no need to make sure it was dry first. I came back the next day and used an aerosol polyurethane over the top. The color has remained exactly like it was for 2 years now.

I got the inlays all epoxied in and the fretboard radiused and sanded to 220. Right now I'm painting a few coats of w/b poly onto the inlays to help protect them. Using the w//b finish is an intentional choice because I don't want the maple to get that warm oiled look. Once I have a couple coats, I can buff the whole thing out and oil the ebony properly. As for blackening the base, it's turning into more of a chore than I had anticipated. It'll be worth it in the end, so it's no biggie.

I believe you are thinking of persimmon. On the other hand this is a really nice looking wood. pistachio SR that's right!!!!

All I use is a scroll saw, ruler, sharp pencil, and a small file.

I stopped using Bezdez for anything but binding and the occasional oddball inlay set. All of their stuff is just way too low end junk. Now, for all I know their rods could be the exact same that Bitteroot sells. But based on everything else they sell, I'm not going to find out.

That's really a crap-shoot. Even after the boards dry, you could split them and then they move. Don't forget that you'll lose a certain amount of area to shrinkage.

He wasn't asking how to do it, but how much wood is taken away in the cut while retaining a good match. Really, it depends on the piece of wood and how the grain is running. If it's nearly perfectly quartersawn, you can get away with a lot. The closer to flatsawn you get, the less leeway you have. In any event, the trick is all in the setup of the bandsaw and the kerf of the blade. I have mine tweaked pretty close to dead vertical with a 1/2" blade. It takes out around 1/16" of material, then the planer takes off another 1/32"-1/16" from each side.

nope the pointy hook can-opener thing wrecks the flow and I don't like the G&L version either

Isn't pistachio a strain of ebony? I remember reading that somewhere.

yep But don't be surprised if it isn't. There's always a chance that having tension on it from the strings and the truss rod for so long could have bent it permanently.

I thought I'd do a walk-through of the inlaying process for these home-made dealies. First, we take the templates that were made to fit the inlays and tape it to the fretboard. Then we rough it out with a 1/8" bit in the small laminate trim router. Then we clean it up with a teeny little dental bit in the Dremel. The shaft of the bit acts as a bearing along the inside of the template. The shaft is just hair narrower than the tip, so I end up with barely enough room to slide the inlay into place, but not so little I have to force it in.

The top with the first sealer coat on it. I wanted to get the colors locked in before I turned it onto it's face and started monkeying around with the back. It's always interesting to me how different angles will highlight or hide a flame. Granted, this top isn't the densest flame we've ever seen, but that just makes the light effects that much more pronounced.

With the last bits of hardware soon-to-be on order, and the pups now in the works, I figured it was about time to stary playing around with some p/g shapes. The bottom * front will be closely following the edge of the bevel.

Not like I'm an expert on the topic or anything, but that's what I'd do. And i use the same truss rods. IIRC, the seller is Bitterroot.

Then for God's sakes, don't you EVER vote for me!

I'm going to get one of these for the Superthin. The body is 15/16" thick, and this thing is listed as needing a 3/4" cavity. With everything being mounted on a p/g, this will leave 3/16" room to spare. It ain't much, but it's enough. I was looking at the wiring possibilities with it. If I can manage to squeeze in a phase switch, it'll leave me with a very versatile ax. RAD's pups always sound good, limba sounds good, as does Spanish cedar, so the whole thing should turn out great.

With my brand new set of card scrapers (), the edge of the faux binding is now crisp and clean. While I was giving the back & sides a wipe down before lunch, I had a thought. I'm gonna try a hand-rubbed black burst over the back. The sides will be all black still. If for some reason I can't pull it off I'll just dye the back black like I originally planned.

It's been a while since I've touched this thing. i gave the fretboard a few coats of shellac, then left it to sit and cure for a good long time before I even thought about messing with it again. And it looks like crap. And the finish sunk into the gaps in the inlays that for some reason didn't get filled in with epoxy. And the finish is really lumpy, so leveling it with the frets on would be a monumental PIA. And my in-laws got me a fret tang nipper for my birthday 2 weeks ago, so fretting bound necks just became a hellofalot easier. So I'll be pulling the frets, stripping the fretboard, and starting that bit over. Since the pure shellac finish on the f/b yellowed pretty badly and totally obscured the beauty of the woods used, I believe I'll be trying just a single sealer coat next time, and then w/b poly over the top. After I re-fill the gaps with epoxy, that it.

I don't know if naked pics of your wood (before or after sanding) is appropriate for this type of forum. I suggest 4chan.

Take it easy, Huf. It's nothing personal. Yes, your guitar this month is a variation on a theme, as are a lot of others. As I stated in my last reply, I'm really tired of the Strat-like body. It has it's place, and I even have a variation of my own, but that doesn't mean I'm not tired of it. I'm tired of the LP also, but not as tired as the Strat. It's just been overdone and I'm (for the most part) through with it. Of COURSE you should make the instrument to the customer's specs. That's not up for debate here. Bringing that up suggests that you're reaching for reasons to argue my feelings. If that's what's happening, then I believe you're taking it personal, which it isn't. If this isn't the case, then it's better if you just let the whole thing go. I've been succinct in the initial comments, elaborated in a second, and now defended them here. I'll not respond again. I request you do the same.

For the first time since becoming a member, I'm casting a null vote. I don't like any of them. This is NOT a comment on craftsmanship, but on design. Because of this, comments are needed....... SweedishLuthier: Maybe I'm getting jaded, but in a world (not just here on PG) of impressively figured tops, this just isn't particularly special. The length og the bass horn looks better suited on a bass than guitar. Boggs: I've said it before, so I know you won't take it personally... I just don't like the body shape. electricwood: Unbalanced body shape. The horns, or what passes for a trebel horn, have no flow to them. And I need fret markers. HenryM: Walnut is a great guitar wood. It's a great woodworking wood PERIOD. There's nothing you can do to make it look bad with a natural finish. But that doesn't mean the guitar will look good. It's a great thing in my mind to have the neck & body be one piece. But you have a glue line running the length of the body... off center... without any grain matching. The body needed to be painted with the glue line there. avdekan: I love headless, and I usually dig odd body shapes. But this pear thing is just weird. The keyhole for the tuners is an interesting approach. And if you're going to have covered pups, they need rings. To me, they're upscale, not minimalist. hufchmid: I have no use for 7 & 8-stringers. Beyond that... it's just another strat-body with natural wood. ScatterLee: It's really cute. I actually don't have anything negative to say. It might have got a vote from me if it had a neck pup. Then again, maybe not. Mini-guitars are a novelty, so it'd have to be something REALLY neat to draw me in. NotYou: Not you either. I've been on your site and have seen a number of your designs. I get what you're doing and I can appreciate the thought and effort you put into it. But like Boggs, the shapes just aren't for me. J_48_Johnson: I really dig this one a lot. The control placement is off, but other than that, almost everything is spot-on. The bottom of the body being smushed over to one side is what kills it for me. Ali Kat: Pick a theme and go with it. An aluminum body is pretty cool. Archtops are cool. Rockabilly is cool. Combining them all should be cool too, right? Then you covered it with coppery paint, tribal pinstriping crap, and a cheesy pin-up pickguard and absolutely murdered what should have been a great piece. Scale it back and concentrate on one coherent design ideal.

Then get a load of this..... one with flash, one without...