johnsilver

Dang. And my router is only 1 3/4 horses. I can't get the picture out of my mind of a 3/4" roundover bit "softening the edge" of my new binding job. What I did was use a single edge razor blade as a light scraper and with a LIGHT touch went around the binding roughly at a 45 angle. Then I followed up with a piece of 1000 grit I had laying around once again using a LIGHT touch. It worked well. Next time, I'll look for a piece of 320. Thanks guys.

OK, my binding is all installed and scraped flush with top and sides. I'll want to roundover the edge before applying finish. Anyone have a favorite technique or tool for doing so?

At least not Collingwood. When I lived in Melbourne, I followed Richmond. Good luck on your search.

P*** my pants. I wouldn't know what to do with those. Glad they are in your hands. Can't wait to see the result.

At least its steady income... What kind of rig does your rythym guitar have? Table saws rock Just kidding. Acquiring tools usually is a long term proposition. As you can tell from earlier posts, there is no such thing as enough tools. Good luck, and buy a router (or see if your dad has one).

SWEET!!!! I can only dream.

Melbourne has a thriving live and recorded music scene. Maybe you could seek out some musicians, recording studios or music shops and find out where people get their guitars setup or repaired and contact those shops for leads. I don't know if any local TAFEs have this type of training available, but may have. Good luck By the way, who do you barrack for in the footie?

I'm sorry I can't answer your specific question on sourcing pre-radiused frets. However, if you can't find a source, there is a tutorial on the main page of Project Guitar showing how to make a simple fret radius jig from a piece of mdf. Very simple and very inexpensive. Its what I use to bend fret wire.

Couldn't find the orange cover disk. Since it was an emergency purchase, I bought what I could find - the Alligator deluxe edition. Pretty good. Ah, the Allman Bros. On that disk, they do a nice version of an old Freddie King song - Woman Across the River. Slide does rule. I'm thinking that when I finish what I have underway (about 6-8 years from now at this pace), I'll think up something specifically for a slide setup.

Drak, cool. It really is all about the guitars. BTW, been listening to my new Roy CD that I bought yesterday.

Oops. My project only gets about 1 1/2 points out of the 4 above. I am making it with 2 HBs and a 72 Tele Thinline pickguard that pretty much eliminates points 1 & 2 above. I definitely have a flat top and the headstock is similar but not identical to a Tele. I'll refer to it as a Tele-style guitar.

Looks like this belly contour thread was a good way to flush out all those Tele's under construction. Looking good boys. What's are your finishing concepts for these Tele's? I am going for a black opaque finish with a maple neck and fretboard. Black hardware, black dot inlays, etc. I am thinking of a Tele thinline style pickguard white/black/white. Since we are talking about belly carves, here's mine with black opaque nitro.

I also like the idea of a belly carve on a Tele. Here is one I did a while back. The body is alder. It's only a mild carve but matches my belly so far.

Saw it advertised. Missed it.

..."You don't understand, I could've had class, I coulda been a contender, I coulda ~been~ somebody... instead of a bum..." Drak, seen "On the Waterfront" lately?

It happened to Harley Davidson before they woke up. I remember the time (God, doesn't THAT sound old ) when dealers would put cardboard underneath new Harleys in the showroom to catch the oil drips. It would appear that Gibson needs the discipline of a very large and ravenous WOD of their own. Perhaps that would allow them to rediscover their identity.

I used some of the veneer from Woodcraft in my previous post as laminates in a neck. However, my neck wasn't a neck through. I just checked outside - the veneer was 32" long and 8" wide which won't work for you. My hardwood supplier (Houston Hardwoods) sells wood veneer in rolls, and you can have it cut to length. It's pretty wide so a 40" length would give you quite a few strips. They definitely have maple but not ebony. You could stain the maple black using a NGR stain or alcohol based stain. It should soak completely through the veneer to give a uniform black color. After that, no more ideas. Good luck.

I was at Guitar Center yesterday. There was a Gibson LP Standard Limited Edition for sale. Orig price listed was $3099 and it had been marked down to $1999, then to $1799. Looked nice from a distance. I picked it up and had a look. It was heavy as a hog - body was not chambered. The guitar was new and was not worn or damaged. However, I was very disappointed in the detail and finish. There were rough finish "nibs" you could easily feel around the neck heel. The binding didn't completely cover the maple top on the sides in a few places and the maple was clearly visible as a thin line above the mahogany. It wasn't uniform, just in a few places. The flame inlay on the headstock had finish gaps all around it - looked like the black had been scraped away before the clear was applied but not only was it visible but you could easily feel it. The block inlays on the rosewood fretboard were pretty good. I was surprised. If I was going to pay $1799 for an LP or anything else (I'm not), I expect it to be finished perfectly. What's the deal?

Wes, Woodcraft stores sell veneer packs, and I've seen ebony veneer there before. However, what I've seen isn't wide enough to cover a normal solid body guitar with one piece so it may require a seam. If that doesn't matter to you, this may work. It isn't very expensive.

Hyunsu, for the guitars with the lignum vitae necks, how is the balance of the guitars? Lignum vitae is really dense and heavy wood. Does the neck overbalance the body? If not, isn't the guitar really heavy. I really like the strat you play. Very clean. By the way, I was in Ulsan and Busan two weeks ago on business. I brought my wife back a box with intricate shell inlay. Makes my block inlay work look like laying concrete.

I'm sure the burst will be great. Hope so, or the WOD will see it before I get a chance to.

Sounds like the doc has you covered on the acetone. A couple of other tips. Speed is important when laminating but there isn'a need to rush when laminating short sections. You have several seconds after you apply the acetone to then pull the binding through. That gives you time to ensure you are keeping the binding pieces aligned well which minimizes later scraping. Also, I lightly scrape the face of the binding to be laminated to take some of the sheen off. It helps adherance. I don't know if this will work or not, but if I couldn't find any acetone, I would try using some of the binding cement that Stewmac sells. It is intended to adhere the binding to the guitar but may be worth a try if you are desperate. If it doesn't work, you are no worse off. It will be messy so I'd suggest using a small amount and spread it thinly with a brush. It takes longer to dry so you may have to work the binding differently, that is, do a short section at a time and let it dry completely before proceeding. Good luck.

I have a set of plans for a late 50's LP. It is 2 7/16" in the middle and 2" at the edges taking into account the carving. There was no chambering that I can see, so this was a heavy bugger. Fenders were a standard 1 3'4" thick because Leo decided to use standard material for his guitars. No reason you can't make a LP style from 2" thick material. For example, PRS guitars are about 2" thick in the middle and then carved.