johnsilver

I got a few hand tools for Christmas that I will use to make firewood (er, guitars). - Bailey 14" hand plane (seems very nice, sole plate is dead flat). I will use with my 9 1/2" plane for flattening bodies and neck blanks. - Set of forstner bits 1/4" through 2 1/8" in a wooden box - 24" precision straight edge (used it to check the sole plate on the plane) - a Dozuki pull saw for fine joinery such as fitting set necks - a microplane rasp with handles on each end for shaping necks, etc - a "center finding" ruler - very handy for guitar work Also, received two "power" tools from my sons. - a ColdHeat soldering iron - very cool - a Craftsman roto tool with all the attachments (think I will use primarily for making templates, etc.) Guitar making opens up a whole new world of gift opportunities.

Pearl inlaid into pearl. Beautiful.

Some personal favorites: SRV - the man (RIP) Johnny Winter - blues, rock, slide, resonator wild man Billy Gibbons - Hot, Blue and Righteous - tasty Texas blues back in the day before the beard Freddie King - I'm going down, down, down, down, down Duane Allman - blue when he wanted to (and RIP) Some newer guys: Chris Thomas King (from New Orleans) Keb Mo (Delta heritage but a wide variety of sounds) Jonny Lang (plays a tele)

To each his own. To me, it is the cloak that adds the beauty and power to the design.

Pretty cool Craig. Rustic design - simple (the design not the work) but powerful.

The method you describe (cutting a flat sawn plank into strips, laminating them and rotating the blank to use the laminated side as the neck face) is what I have been doing for mahogany Gibson style necks. I have been using 3 strips about 3" wide as you mention and about 30" long. That width gives me enough wood for an angled headstock and combined with the length gives enough wood for two necks including the ears needed to widen the headstock depending on your design. Where I buy my wood, I get them to S3S the plank. That way, I have good surfaces for laminating with clean joints and have a straight edge when laminated as a reference to ensure I have a flat neck surface for the fretboard. I try to keep the 3 strips with the grain running in the same direction when laminating as it is just easier when planing and carving the neck not having to deal with grain changes. I think the $25 price is about right for this plank. At those dimensions, there is about 4 board feet in that plank. My supplier charges about $6 a board foot including the S3S machining. I think $70 is way too much for that plank. You should be able to get at least 4 neck blanks from that plank. Good luck.

I don't think there is any doubt which tool most people would choose if they could. The 9" bandsaws are only hobbiest machines. However, in my case, it was a next step to take after building my first guitar using a jig saw. So far, I have used the 9" bandsaw for 3 thick mahogany/maple guitars and mahogany necks. Even if it died now, which it hasn't, that saw would have cost me $33 per guitar. That's less than the cost of the MOP inlays for each one. I think the machine for me was quite suitable as a stepping stone. When I grow up, I hope to have a nice 14" saw.

Sometimes I get a little philosophical after a few drinks too. Seriously, thanks for posting that. I am at a tough spot on my current project and doubting my ability to finish it. Your post helped me regain my perspective.

Yes. Grain filler.

Gluing ears on a peghead is a way to allow for design flexibility without wasting a lot of wood. Typically, the ears are cut from the same piece of wood as the neck for good color and grain matching. Once glued properly, the glue joint is stronger than the surrounding wood so it shouldn't be a problem. You can always add a headplate for design and added stability.

Stewmac sells Colortone. Behlen is also a brand. You might try the websites for those companies and look for local retailers. You might also try some local cabinet shops or hardware suppliers in your area and maybe they can recommend a local retailer.

Since you are trying to work with existing equipment, I'll try to answer likewise. I would stay away from the scroll saw for this application - wrong tool for the job. It is possible to use a jigsaw for this job. It will take care to do it well and lots of patience to do the clean up sanding depending on your sanding equipment. The jig saw should have decent power with a depth of cut sufficient for your body thickness. I'd suggest a fairly aggressive blade (buy several) - it won't cut as smooth but you will have lots of sanding anyway. Cut well outside your line as a jig saw blade has a tendency to angle away from the perpendicular so your body sides won't be square to the top. That will need to be cleaned up with sanding so you want to leave a margin for error so your body doesn't turn out undersized. I cut out a Tele body from 1 3/4" alder with this method and cleaned up the edges with hand sanding. It came out well but I didn't enjoy it. I have a Delta 9" bandsaw that I got from Lowes for $99. Its not a great bandsaw but if you take care to set it up and keep it up and use the proper blade sizes it will work on guitar bodies and necks. I have used it for 3 bodies now including a LP mahogany/maple blank that was 2 1/2" thick. I have also used it to cut out neck blanks from 3" laminated mahogany. Again, care must be taken but it can work. Do I wish I had a better bandsaw - sure, but this will work. Good luck.

Mahogany has thousands of open pores, and grain filling refers to filling in those pores so that the finish coats will go on smoothly and not be pitted because it was drawn into the pores. There are products specially made to fill pores that are applied all over the wood. Different products have different application techniques. Stewmac sells the stuff of course, and my local Woodcraft shop sells it. That is the only place I know I can get it locally, that is, I haven't found a similar product at Ace, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Maybe someone else here knows a local source where you can get something quickly.

I am a KWS fan. Have his first two discs and heard the new one last week and will buy it. Having said that, KWS was raised by his father to be a SRV disciple. His father and SRV were personal friends and KWS used to hang around. His father pushed him hard as a young man to play that type of music. His father changed his name for stage purposes to KWS because it had the same structure as SRV. So, its understandable that there is an influence there. I give the young man credit for his talent, kicking his addiction and for taking his music into new directions. I think there is a lot more to come from him and best of luck to him. Drak, an anecdote. My oldest son's band in Sheveport LA (Kenny's home town) played for KWS's birthday party a few years ago. Kenny decided he wanted to play and called his guitar tech to bring over his stuff. The tech arrived but believe it or not forgot the Strat. KWS grabbed my son's mid-60's Tele and TORE IT UP.

I finished the inlay replacement and it came out fine. Thank goodness for good advice. I did go ahead and route the pocket deeper to handle the thicker pearl. I think my original inlay was too thin after routing out a pocket for the 0.050" pearl and then sanding to flatten and then to radius. Basically, I think I oversanded so I needed to deepen the pocket. In any case, a very useful learning experience and I enjoyed the work. My next project has a Chinese character to be inlaid centered on the12th fret, and it will be more challenging than block inlay. Here is a pic of the repaired fretboard.

It was a big chip. Basically the whole corner of the block. Following Craig's advice, I cleaned out the cavity and it came out good. I have cut a piece of pearl and am now working on it to smooth the edges and to get it to match the opening. The original inlay was 0.050" and the piece I'm cutting now is 0.060" because that is all I have. So when I've got the piece to fit I'll have to deepen the pocket. That will be harder now that the fretboard is radiused. Oh well, its a learning and the price for screwing up.

No one jumped in. I'll tell you what I did on my tele - don't know if its the best way or not. I carefully marked out the outline of the switch on the top including where the slot would go. I used a drill bit slightly undersized for the width of the slot and drilled a series of holes the length of the slot. I used a brad point bit so it wouldn't wander when drilling. I then took a small file and cleaned up the slot. After that, I set the switch upside down in the slot and marked the two screw holes and drilled them.

Never a baseball bat and a guitar meet, unless of course on purpose.......

Sweet deal on the ash. Was it Southern (swamp) ash or Northern ash? My hardwood supplier only sells the Northern and Fenders (and others) used swamp ash as far as I know.

Craig, many thanks. I was hoping you would reply. I did use CA to install the inlays, and I have some CA remover handy. I have a new 1/8" router bit for my Dremel that I bought for some reason yesterday, so I'll plan to use that with the Dremel router base to control the depth. I'm going to get started.

I made my tele neck out of a single piece of 3/4" maple on which I glued the fretboard. That combination gave sufficient thickness to cut out the headstock profile and to shape the neck profile.

Yesterday, I inlaid a Les Paul style set of MOP blocks into an ebony fretboard. It went pretty well. Today, I was sanding a 12" radius into the fretboard and one of the inlay blocks chipped off a corner. Should I: 1. attempt to route it out with my Dremel and install a replacement (lol)? 2. fill in the corner and pretend its a design feature? 3. throw it away and start over? 4. get a new hobby?

My suggestion on sequence would be: - joint and edge glue the mahogany - joint and edge glue the walnut (or the maple if that is what you decide) - clean up the joints on all the pieces and make sure the glued up pieces are flat - glue the walnut or maple to the mahogany