avengers63

There's no way it's wood. It's not thick enough for a truss rod. That being the case, this probably shouldn't be in the discussion because you're not comparing apples to apples.

The one I made from clear white pine sounds fantastic. It's very warm and open, but not overly mellow.

I just got off the phone with Woodcraft. They suggested the same thing ScottR did: a shellac seal-coat. So...... I'll be sanding off and re-dying tonight, then sealing it up tomorrow morning. Hopefully it'll be thin enough to not alter the color too much. Saturday morning I can try a coat of w/b poly over it and see what happens.

All of my dyes are TransFast. Yes, they're sold at Woodcraft & Rockler. And I have NO IDEA why I haven't called them yet. (facepalm) I haven't tried thinning the oil-based stuff down yet. It's worth a shot. The closest I've come to that is PADDING, not pouring on, the linseed oil. There was just barely enough put on to moisten the surface of the wood, but it still discolored the dye. I use Zinsser/bullseye clear, and yes it's a fairly fresh can. This afternoon I picked up a can of acrylic lacquer from Auto Zone. Acrylic paints water-soluable, so we'll see what that brings us.

I thought about that and I was looking into alcohol-based dyes this morning. I'm not opposed to it in any way whatsoever. That seems like the easiest possible solution from where I'm at right now. I'd like to exhaust the possibilities of what I have on hand before I spend another +/- $15 (with shipping) for a different version of a product I just paid +/- $15 for. Make sense? Unless someone wants to mail me a tablespoon of some alcohol-based turquoise dye powder.

For a neck, I agree that it's not stiff enough to be a good choice. There's a lot of voodoo and tradition flying around out there about what's suitable to use and what's not. A LOT of it revolves around what the companies use to make an electric, and have been using for decades. They're all about production efficiency and cost effectiveness. They don't use a rosewood for anything but fretboards not because it doesn't sound good, but because it'd be too dang expensive. With that in mind, consider the comparitive cost of poplar to maple. Maple is more expensive, yet they choose to use it anyway. THAT'S the sort of "voodoo" you should take serious note of. So ask yourself why they wouldn't use a particular wood for a function. That will probably tell you if it's suitable or not. What you look for in a neck wood is 1) strength to withstand the tension of the strings, 2) stability (no/little movement, twisting, warping), and 3) tone balancing against the tone of the body wood. So long as #s 1 & 2 are met, the rest is up to you. For a body, you want it to be able to be shaped well and to be able to hold the screws tightly. Low weight is a plus.

Considering that it's w/b dye, I'd think so too. The brush-on lacquer I've tested it with didn't bleed off the finish. NONE of the oil-based products do. It's that they turn the color from a nice turquoise to a greenish tint that just looks like crap. The w/b is the only thing I have that will leave the actual color in tact, but it wants to draw out the dye, presumably because the dye is w/b as well.

Misting the dyed pieces is having only limited success. While it's drawing the dye less, it's still creating an uneven coloration. I've been trying tinted w/b poly. That is working better, especially if it's misted on. But only up to the point that there's a good layer of finish on to seal the wood and the poly can start to build up some thickness. At that point, the finish is pooling up on it's own. The concentrated color in those places is really dark, thus dorking up THAT part of the operation. Seriously - if ANYONE has any ideas here' I'm all ears. All I want to do at this point is seal the water-based dye into the wood without bleeding it back out so that I can put a clear coat over it.

BODY - NECK - FRETBOARD mahogany/flamed cedar - flamed maple/chechen/putpleheart - birdseye maple walnut - canarywood - ebony poplar/bloodwood - (bought the neck) goncalo alves/poplar - maple/chechen - bocote white pine - (dough tthe neck) basswood/maple - walnut - bloodwood white limba - wenge - wenge mahogany - maple/makore / canarywood poplar - (bought the neck) maple - (bought the neck) sapele/maple/quilted maple - (bought the neck) ash - maple - oak limba/cherry/spalted maple - teak - slamed maple limba - spanish cedar - makore mahogany/cherry - maple/purpleheart - maple/purpleheart maple/flamed maple - mahogany - chechen

Firebird build thread BODY mahogany base 1/8" flamed cedar top natural clear with blackburst edges NECK 7-ply flamed maple, plain maple, chechen, purpleheart cedar faceplate & backstrap blackburst on headstock D-flat contour FRETBOARD birdseye maple abalone dots & purfling black binding HARDWARE & ELECTRONICS gold hardware Kahler trem 3 R.A.D. mini-humbuckers 6-position rotary switch - strat switching and a 6th "all-on" setting I've been playing this thing a LOT. You can see that the back already has some buckle rash and scratching/dings around the heel. R.A.D. made me some really kick-a$$ pickups for this thing. They have all of the crunch you'd expect from a HB, but with a lot of bite and snap.

So I'm in the heat of testing the various finishes over the dyed cutoff for the Superthin and I'm running into a snag. The limba takes the turquoise dye well, and the color shows up wonderfully. The issues are with the finish. Note: the dye is water-based. I'm leaving the dyed wood alone for +/- 24 hours to dry before applying any finish. 1) Oil based finishes )shellac, lacquer, and poly) look like crap. Their warm, yellow-ish undertones give the turquoise a brownish tinge that changes the color completely. Only water-based poly looks good and keeps the color intact. 2) Water-based poly actually pulls some of the dye from the wood and into the finish itself. This "smears" the color and leaves it all uneven. This happens regardless of if it's brushed on or sprayed on. The only solution I know to combat this would be to tint the finish. The only concern is that the initial leeching of the dye might still leave some uneven coloration underneath it all. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

I'll never claim that they're as good as Gotoh, Schaller, or Grover, but they do the job they're on there to do. The higher end pieces will be made a bit more solidly, turn a bit smoother, and have a bit higher turning ratio, but here's something to consider: how buch do you really turn on them? Will a smoother turn when you're only cranking it maybe a quarter-turn to tune up make that huge of a difference? How much difference will it make if that 1/4 turn is at 18:1 instead of 14:1? Again, I'm not saying there isn't a difference between the tuners. I'm saying that the Wilkinsons do the job. Think of it like putting a Chevy up against a Cadillac, Lexux, or Mercedes Benz. They all get the job done well, but there are still differences.

I don't have any issues with Wilkinson tuners. They hold the strings in tune. That's the main requirement of the tuners, and they do it effectively, so no problems in my book.

Sorry, but I really don't feel that this body shape matches up well with figured/spalted/"pretty" wood. I get the "wood p0rn" thing as much as anyone, but some shapes just aren't suited for it in my opinion...... which, of course, amounts to a hill of beans.

FWIW: I just did a little numerical research on makore vs. maple. For shearing strength, load strength, and crushing strength, makore is better than maple. It'll be just fine as a fretboard.

I prefer my grail holy. Preferably with a hint of Monty Python. We already got one! It is quite nice... Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

The minimum bridge height is 7/16". I've already stated that I'll be using a pickguard. It's the 3-ply blank from Grizzly. I have no issues with cutting pup holes in the p/g to give a little extra room. With no routing, this should give you about 3/8" total to play with. That being said, yes I can rout a little, but the less routing the better. It's cool. I know full well that my builds aren't for everyone. I'm not exactly traditional in my tastes. Just the thought of a straight-forward Strat/PRS/LP/whatever clone really bores me to tears. In fact, the only traditional build I imagine myself doing is the SG clone I'm working on. There might be a Gretsch Jupiter/Thunderbird in there somewhere, but even that shape is so oddball that I can't consider it traditional.

tenon cut & routed it's not guaranteed to be at the final depth yet because I don't have the pickups in hand fretboard radiused, sanded to 320, then wetsanded at 400 with linseed oil I'm going to wetsand 2-3 more coats, but at 600 also, I got in the turquoise dye this morning I'm doing some test dyes right now, to be followed with some test finishes I'll post the pics when I have it all together

Wouldn't it have been easier to use a counter-sink bit in the drill press?

That's because I made the template from a picture of it's headstock.

Inlays are in. I went with the ovals. The body carve is all finished too. Tomorrow I'll get the tenon cut down to size and the pocket routed.

I got the neck & headstock routed to the template today. The end of the headstock will need to be "sharpened up" to match the horns, but that's no biggie. I figure to put the 24th fret right on the carve line. This gives you total access to the first 22, and at least availability to the last to. This also places the strap button at the 12th fret, so that ensures no balance issues with the lack of weight in the body. I'm also going to extend the bevel in the forearm area into the body a bit. It's too shallow as it sits right now. The pencil line is where it will end up.

Sure! I figure "What the he11. Might as well give it a shot." I wasn't planning on any more finish than a few coats of linseed oil. There's no reason I'm aware of that the fretboard HAS to have a thick finish on it, so I'd rather keep the feel of the wood.

Truss rod routed and the fretboard decided and slotted. I finally landed with a piece of lightly figured makore. I was contemplating wenge, jatoba, zebrawood, and cherry. In the end, I really liked the color of makore after it's been around for a while and thought it'd look really good against the turquoise body. I'll be using some abalone I picked up for next to nothing on eBay. I'm still undecided on which it will be: ovals or diamonds. I went to the ONE local store that can get in the Tints-all this morning. They can't get in the phthalto green that lightens into turquoise OR the white to lighten it with. So I'm gonna order the dye from Woodcraft and get it over with.

HEATING the linseed oil. There's a logical thought. I gotta try that one out. It seems reasonable that it should penetrate deeper if it's heated. Considering that I oil all of my fretboards and I've taken to oiling the necks whenever possible... Just remember it is oil. And it will catch on fire. The articles I have read say to heat it on a hotplate... sounds like a recipe for fire. I plan on setting a small bottle in boiling water for a little bit then applying it while wearing some protective gloves. Finished studying the "HEATED LINSEED OIL". Heating Boiled Linseed Oil is pointless and dangerous. I could not find any real proof that it helps anything so it should be categorized as "voodoo". Heating Raw Linseed Oil or Raw Tung Oil is a different story all together... (google Polymerized) I found an article stating that the penetration is the same as room temperature. I did read that it can effect the color of the linseed oil making it darker. Moving on... Duely rejected. Thanks.