johnsilver

I changed some settings and am testing them out.

When I posted the link, I expected this reaction. Pretty entertaining. I do think the construction approach is interesting. For example, a 28 5/8" scale baritone, neck through with TOM bridge, etc. I like his art and appreciate his approach to guitars, that is, he told me he made what he liked. More power to him. He does have a collection of vintage guitars at this link. Some interesting stuff. Guitar Collection

I've known this artist's paintings for a long time but didn't know until the other day that he made guitars. His designs and combinations of materials and hardware are a little different, not to mention the custom paintings. They have sort of a vintage vibe about them. Check them out. Francis Pavy Guitars

You might try hardwood suppliers or cabinet shops in your area. My local hardwood supplier has a machine especially for resawing that can handle a piece that big. They charged me a $10 setup fee and then ran the wood through. After resawing, the pieces did need to be run through a planer for final dimension which was another small charge. Of course, I bought the wood from them so they were willing to do the milling.

I think PerryL has the key question. If the body you ordered has a neck pocket already intended for a bolt on neck, then you will need to go with that style neck. It is possible to buy a pre-made bolt on neck with a rectangular head shape that is ready for you to cut to your own design. That way, you can have the ease of a store bought bolt on but with a custom head shape. One other thing to be cautious about. If the body is intended for a bolt on and a TOM bridge and stop piece, the fretboard will have to sit up a bit in order for the strings to sit right. You will need to take that into account with the neck you buy.

I used the exact bridge Genbloke references in a Tele that I made. The bridge is expensive but very high quality and very flexible in its adjustment capabilities for action, intonation as well as string width and spacing. I also used a 1 11/16" nut width. If you are worried about string spacing over the humbuckers, this bridge is an excellent choice. I have Seymour Duncans humbuckers in the guitar - a Screamin Demon in the bridge and a 59 in the neck.

With the template and router method, you should be careful to avoid tear out on the body, particularly at the end grain. If the router has to take too much wood, it has a tendency to tear the wood and not cut it smooth. I suggest trying to ensure your jig saw cutout is done carefully to try to keep the cut as square as possible and close to the body shape line. It will be difficult for the router to overcome a bad jig saw job.

Since you are making the body yourself, you can control the fit of the pickups. I suggest choosing the pickups you want first before routing body cavities. That way, you know the exact dimensions. You can then check the dimensions against the specs for your chosen bridge. My guess is that if you are using humbuckers and a fixed bridge that you won't have any problems.

Stewmac has a good binding tutorial of their own that will answer a lot of your questions. Stewmac binding I just used this info and a little binding experience (very little - one guitar) to put a 7 ply binding on the front of a LP style guitar. Came out ok. If your binding is celluloid nitrate, it softens easily with a little heat that helps bend it around tight spaces. I used a hair dryer (blow dryer) for a few seconds to soften the binding around tight curves. You don't really have to do that around more gentle curves. Good luck.

Thanks guys. This was my second binding job, the first being a single ply on a tele. I'm making all kinds of mistakes on this guitar but nothing fatal so far. For example, I carved the top before cutting the binding channel (and before I saw Setch's great tutorial), so I had to use one of those mini binding cutters attached to my Dremel. Pretty exciting. Goran, the maple is 5/8" thick. I found a piece of curly maple at my local hardwood supplier and had them resaw it and that was the max thickness they could get. I had some left over so I decided to put some on the back like a LP Supreme. Another mistake in planning - the maple on the back was thicker than the binding so I have maple showing on the side as you can see in the pic. Oh well. I put a 5 ply binding on the back. Any thoughts on finishing the sides given that the maple is showing. I was thinking I would dye the sides a medium brown and then maybe spray a toner tinted with the same brown. Thoughts?

Goran, very clean work on the body binding especially the cutaway. I see you decided to use a wider binding to handle the cutaway shape. Looks very nice. Did you cut the rest of the binding down to size first? I used binding of a constant thickness (didn't know there was an alternative) so the cutaway was a challenge. Nervewracking is a better word. Came out ok. I haven't bound the fretboard yet.

The hair dryer worked great overall but especially well around the horn. Despite the fact that I preformed the binding, when I was gluing there wasn't a perfect fit around the horn. The hair dryer softened the binding in only a few seconds sufficient to press it back to a really good fit. I know what you mean about "stretching" the outside layer around a bend. There was definite tension there. Again, the heat was great as it helped soften the binding just enough to fit to shape. You have to be careful with the heat as it only takes a few seconds and celluloid nitrate binding is flammable. What are you going to do on your guitar? By applying some heat to the binding you may be able to remove it and try again. Good luck.

I just finished binding a LP style body with a 7 layer ivoroid/black and a 5 layer on the back. I used the Stewmac celluloid nitrate binding and their binding glue. Sounds like same stuff you used. I used acetone to laminate the narrow 0.040 strips together, three for the top and two for the back. My final piece was a plain ivoroid strip for both top and back. After laminating, I pre-shaped the binding by taping it to the body using a little heat (from a hair dryer) to help it conform to the bends. After it sat for a few days, I removed all the tape, then I glued the binding on the body by gluing the laminated strips to the body and the final ivoroid strip to the laminated strips. So I only had two glue areas to build up and add any thickness. The acetone adds no thickness when laminating. I had cut the top binding channel fairly close, and it turned out a little thick as you experienced, but not so much that some work with a scraper couldn't fix. Based on that, I cut the back channel a little deeper and it came out almost flush. I used my own bits, but I notice that Stewmac sells binding cutting bits that they advertise as being a little oversize to account for the glue, etc. Hope this is clear. Here is a pic of the top.

Will do. Thanks guys.

bump Anyone?

How much does humidity matter if you are spraying water base lacquer?

I have some left over mahogany and curly maple that is sized right to make a laminated neck blank (mahogany on the outsides with a center strip of curly maple). Thinking ahead to finishing, the mahogany will need to have the pores filled but the maple doesn't. Will the filler just ignore the maple or do I need to mask it off to keep it off the maple? Also, I'll want the mahogany stained (dyed) a little darker brown. I'll have to tape off the maple then but does anyone see any other problems? Thanks folks.

Oh yeah. The Luthiers Catalog is full color, contains pics of some of the jigs used by the Pres of Grizzly for his work, and they are about to release a stationary sander designed specifically for radiusing necks.

...feedback on their amps.... I've had the regular Grizzly catalogs for some time. They now have a separate Luthiers catalog - about 100 pages. It just showed up in the mail one day a couple of weeks ago. I've thumbed through it many times already. Just placed an order over the weekend - some small specialty hand tools, some inlay material, lots of sanding disks, etc. Should be here later this week.

Lucky1, glad to hear about the bits. BTW, I received a Grizzly Luthiers Catalog in the mail the other day. It had lots of their tools that would be useful for guitar builders, as well a wood, guitar hardware and inlay materials. Check it out. Now that you have ordered, maybe they will send you one.

Craig, hope Frances wasn't unkind to you. Thanks for the tips. You are right that the inlay is rough. It was just cut and hadn't been smoothed yet. Hopefully, I won't break my son's work when I do. It is going into an ebony fretboard so I plan to use the techniques I've read and studied and will practice. Just one specific. For a piece that extends across a fret, do you suggest using two pieces or one then cut it at the fret slot?

Craig, beautiful work. Makes my wooden humidor sort of humble. I was especially interested in the kanji. I'm making a guitar for my son, and he requested a single character to be inlaid centered on the 12th fret of an ebony fretboard. He cut the character from pearl. Neither he nor I have ever worked with pearl before, or any inlay for that matter beyond fretboard dots. The character is big enough so it will extend across a fret. Here is a pic. Any special tips for this type work for a beginner. I've done the basic reading and have begun to practice the routing on scrap, etc. Thanks Craig. Truly an artist. Hunker down during Frances. Luckily, my other son moved from West Palm last week so no worries.

You can use either. Some makers use threaded inserts placed into the neck heel and then attach using matching bolts. Others use screws that extend through the body into the neck heel. IMO, either is capable of providing a solid neck/body join if carefully done. Either method must ensure proper alignment of the join.

Setch, that is a beautiful finish. What impresses me is how you adjusted the finish during the process based on the rusults you observed during the process and came out with a truly fine result. I am also pleased to hear you used waterbase products and a cheap gun - because that is what I plan to use to finish my LP in progress. Congratulations.

Gibson made some SGs in the early 70's with a TOM and no neck angle by raising the fretboard above the body. Melvyn Hiscock documents this in his book "Making Your Own Electric Guitar", and has a pretty complete discussion of various methods of neck/body join.