avengers63

You ment Firebird right? yea the dangers of cut & paste

So does the 4th Doctor. Yea.... I'm a little bored today.

I started the leveling/buffing process this week. I hope to be through it all sometime this afternoon. I'm working on the purple Rhoads at the same time. I'm also trying something different, which is taking absolutely forever, but I'm hoping the results will be worth the extra effort.

I started the leveling/buffing process this morning. I hope to be through it all sometime this afternoon. I'm working on the purple Rhoads at the same time. I'm also trying something different, which is taking absolutely forever, but I'm hoping the results will be worth the extra effort.

You'd have to show me a pic to know exactly what you're talking about. From your description, I just can't wrap my head around it.

That pic comparison is hilarious. I was just looking at the spool clamps you used. I started thinking "Those would be pretty dang easy to make, and would be really useful. Lag bolts, washers, cork, 2 solid blocks (scrap!!!), and a wing nut." Hmmmmmm....

I was looking hard into getting a small lathe last year. It ended up being too much of an investment at this point. I need a spray setup a lot more than I need another dust/chip generator.

I understand not wanting to waste the wood, but I'm with you on this one. If I want a one-piece tiltback, I could care less about how much goes to waste. We're mostly doing custom one-offs, not production models, so wasting a little isn't a really big deal.

I have no problems with a scarf either. They're not hard, conserve wood, and add an opportunity for some extra decoration (see RAD's builds).

Like this.... I'm sure you could easily find examples of it pointy as well.

As you well know, any time you make a glue joint you run the risk of that joint failing. I'd personally say that the risk here would be negligible so long as the joint was well made. Personally, I prefer to make a 1-piece neck, but as you mentioned, that takes more wood and is not as efficient. Have you considered s drop-down Fender style headstock? That'd be the ultimate in efficiency and labor reduction, as well as material strength with no glue joints.

Short answer - put a finish on it and buff it out.

You and your wenge veneer countertop. Had I gone in to Guitar Center a day earlier last year, I'd have been able to pick up one of those Yamahas for $100. I'd have ended up scavenging all the parts from it and re-seling the body. Oh well.

I agree Chris. Plus this should really be in the Auctions and Classifieds, not tech.... Please tell me y'all are joking....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Strat-GUITAR-BO...=item2c575055ac I think the item speaks for itself.

My neck shaping clamping jig is a hellofalot easier.....

By stark contrast, I like doing it. Then again, I don't like doing the wiring, where some folks here love it.

That's why you cut it and re-orient it. Nothing wring with that at all. And walnut is awesome to work with.

African mahogany is pretty light. That might be a good replacement for the limba or bubinga. Poplar isn't usually that attractive by itself, but it takes dye & stain VERY well, so that might be another body base option. Likewise with some swamp ash. You could also forgo a multi-wood neck and just use a known light wood.

I agree with Drak on this one regarding anything regarding the design process. But since you asked.... Along with other reasons, the Lace Alumitone were specifically designed to reduce weight. IIRC, they weigh about 1/2 of what a "regular" pup weighs, maybe less. With this in mind, I wouldn't worry much about the extra 3oz from the 2nd pickup. You'd never notice the difference. Honestly, I don't believe you'd see an appreciable difference with the weight of the added electronics either. Why? The weight of the wood removed for the 2nd pup route will counteract some of the weight of the pup. Likewise with the larger control cavity for the electronics. Something else to consider for the super-thin is the control cavity itself. You might want to consider top routing it and going with pickguard mounted electronics. If you back-route, you'll lose depth in the c/c with the back plate. It may only be 1/8"-3/16", but you don't have very much to play with back there and it could make the world of difference between using p/p pots (and the N-tune) or not.

Someone rattled my cage? My experience with the back bolt is that the body needs to be at least 1 3/4". Anywhere over that is better. This is because of the tenon length and the pickup routes. The tenon needs to extend beyond the neck pup route so it has somewhere to bolt into. If it doesn't, the mounting bolts pop through into where the pup itself needs to be. The tenon itself needs to be thick enough to both hold the ferrules AND have enough wood under the ferrules to withstand the pressure, so there's a minimum thickness you can't bypass. If you go too thin on the body, the tenon would get thinner as well because there's only so much you can take off in the back neck pocket before blowing through the pup routes. I suppose you could have the neck pup be a complete hole, extending through to the rear neck pocket, but I don't believe you'd want that. All that could feasibly go right out the window were you no not have a neck pup. Then your minimum thickness would be determined by the bolt length. And thinking this through just told me that the LPjr/dc that I've been mulling over can be a back bolt. Thanks! Another thing that could make it all possible is if you used some super thin surface-mount pickups like Tiesco had. This would completely eliminate the pup routes and leave tons of room for the bolts. Do we have a pickup maker who wants to experiment with some of these designs?

I think you've answered your own question.

http://stores.ebay.com/EXOTIC-WOODS-OF-THE-WORLD?_rdc=1 I get a lot of my exotics through this eBay seller. Bad Side: virtually no combined shipping, can't see the wood beforehand, REALLY rough-sawn so you have to mill it yourself, no figured stock Good Side: even with shipping prices are usually below market, really fast shipping time I've ordered probably 50 boards from him, and only one went bad. That one cupped & twisted after I started milling it, but it came in flat, so it wasn't his fault.

The SG is 1 3/8" thick. It's been working for what... 50 years?

I took some time out from scroll-sawing a couple dozen Christmas ornaments to work on this thing for a while. I managed to fillet off the poly with an X-Acto knife. For the most part, there is plenty of shellac left on the board. I shouldn't need to put very much on to have a good thickness. I talked with a dude at a local guitar shop. He's their in-house tech and also works in a car finishing place. As he does the setups of the guitars that come in from the various factories, I talked with him about how finished necks usually come in from the factory. Unless it's a REALLY high-end ax, they all have the finish applied right over the frets. He's hound that the finish will eventually come off of the fret on it's own without chipping away from the fretboard. With this knowledge in hand, I'm just going to brush on more shellac and let the frets take care of themselves. The finishing pads I use are pretty spongy, so I don't figure I'll have too hard of a time buffing it all out. Worst case scenario: it looks like crap and I have to pull the frets and start over.