Myka Guitars

I have finished all my lacewood guitars with straight lacquer with fine results. I don't use sanding sealer generally and I go fairly light with the coats. For lacewood I may add a bit more as the surface is very uneven due to the harder fibers and softer matrix of the wood so it is easier to sand or buff through. It is beautiful wood but can be tough to work with. Sanding blocks are a must and they still won't make a perfectly flat surface. I haven't used poly but I imagine similar results would be possible. Test on scrap and go from there. Here's a picture: Here are more pictures of Dragonfly #018, #037, and #052. ~David

Put a few coats of lacquer on the veneer and it won't split when you route, cut, or chisel it (providing of course that your tools are sharp). Let is soak in and saturate the veneer and you should not have too many problems. You can cut binding channels with a razor blade if you can made a fixture to hold it. All you really need is some scrap wood and a couple screws. Model it after this one: Purfling cutter. Basically it holds the blade at a specific distance from the handle setting the depth of cut (or width/height of binding). ~David

J366, I wouldn't be discouraged to try something like a larger inlay. You can take small steps to achieve your goal but that certainly does not mean that you have to alter that goal. I am going to go against the grain and say that you do not buy premade inlays for practice, or hire this out, but to actually try and do it yourself and learn the skills necessary. Inlaying looks very complex when you see work like Cliff's and the PRS guitar (and it is complex and accurate work) but each individual piece was still made in the same way. I have found that it is not so much about experience as it is about patience. It does take time to do it right. You may wish to practice on block inlays but things like sharp tools and accurate fine lined drawings will help you out more than doing a block inlay first. You can try a simple geometric shape inlay to get the ideas down I suppose but that will only barely prepare you for a dragon inlay. Try inlaying a 4 or 5 piece dragon into a block of wood first. Or better yet, draw out your idea and start by making the inlay pieces one at a time. If you don't get one right simply toss it and try again until you do get it right. With the right attitude and perseverance you will be able to do this. A case in point is my friend Brian. Here is his first really elaborate inlay: Here is a larger picture (750kb). Not as elaborate as the PRS inlay but for a first larger piece this is pretty detailed. His past experience was the inlaying of a couple of his logos. He said that this inlay probably took him more than 80 hours with the single piece of walnut being the most difficult piece to fit (of course). The flames on the fingerboard were the last pieces inlaid and consequently the easiest part to do. I agree with everyone that attempting an over the top inlay is a daunting first project and could lead to frustration. But I would not abandon the idea completely. Scale it back a bit and do a simpler dragon design. Don't go from PRS dragon to block inlay, go from PRS dragon to your dragon. I say go for it. ~David EDIT: Cliff, I just checked out your site again. Man, your work just keeps getting better and better!

Another vote for the pickups change. Or perhaps try changing the settings on your amp. You have to determine if the guitar itself is lacking the low end and warmth you are looking for. Or if the electronics are not able to pickup what is inherent in that guitar's voice (unplugged). If the guitar is performing well enough unplugged then there is a good chance a pickup change will help. If not then there is not much you can do to the guitar to change that. Also remember that passive electronics do not add anything. If you want to add to the signal you need active circuitry. You can add an active EQ and boost the frequencies you want that way or perhaps add an onboard preamp. This is all assuming that you actually have an amplifier that will reproduce those warm tones. Now to get back to the plug idea. I think it is a very wild concept but I cannot imagine any desirable changes. Even if you were to add a significant amount of mahogany to the body by doing this the little plugs will not resonate in the same way as the longer continuous fibers in a body or neck will. And I doubt that they would do much for the low end. It seems to me (by trying to imagine the changes) that you would succeed in decreasing the low end resonance by chopping up the body and filling it with stiff plugs surrounded by glue. The addition of so much dissimilar material will most likely take away the resonance you already have. This is just a guess. ~David

These Les Paul recording guitars are pretty nice instruments. You are correct, crafty, Les Paul prefers a more evolved instrument and one of the reasons he left Gibson was because they weren't progressive enough. These recording instruments have large single coils with heavy gauge coil wire for a very low output but hi-fidelity signal. The controls are amazing. I especially like the treble and bass controls (both passive). They also have a strange 3 way tone switch that sets a combination of controls for each setting. The page that marksound links to has more info. Worth looking into. This is a highly effective instrument. I really wonder why Gibson did not continue to produce them at least in small numbers. I guess the bottom line won out again. A few years I had the pleasure of modifying one of these guitars. This was done for a local (western NY) recording musician who wanted a Stetsbar and a hexaphonic system installed. It is still his main guitar in the studio. This one actually made into Les Paul's hands but unfortunately there wasn't much time for Les to check it out. But he did play it for a bit and enjoyed the Stetsbar (and the hexaphonic concept). He must have liked it because he offered to purchase the instrument (the offer was refused). I think it's pretty cool to have had at least something from my workbench in his hands. Here is a pic of the guitar: The body was laminated mahogany (1 piece wide, 2 pieces thick) and fully carved. The neck was 2 pieces joined down the middle. Very nice player as well. The pickups were designed for ultra-clean cleans and had an amazing range. I still think about making a guitar like it someday. ~David

I haven't used this type of joint so I can't answer but Cumpiano literally wrote the book on it: Cumpiano Neck Joint ~David

I know, I posted in the wrong section. Here it is again in the right section.. My goal is to offer something like a custom class so a unique shape is not a problem. Part of building is template work and I plan to go over that in the classes. ~David

X1TX, are you close to Seattle? I was organizing my ideas for a couple of guitar courses just last week. Here is an ad I just put out: Seattle Craigslist ad ~David EDIT: This guitar was built by my good friend Eric so you can see the possibilities.

Constantine, yeah, I am in Seattle now. I have a new shop in the Georgetown area south of downtown. If you ever move to Seattle let me know! I have had some interest (thank you all) but nothing definite yet. I will certainly keep everyone posted on what happens with this. ~David

Wow, that's sweet! Nice job with all of the details. ~David

I have been thinking of ways to utilize my new shop and have come up with a few ideas. I wanted to post this here on the forum to get some ideas from like minded people. I am also looking for some possible collaborations with other members in the Seattle/Portland/NW area. So please feel free to get in touch with me about any of this. I am considering sharing the shop space I have with another builder. Currently I have 800sqft with a separate spray booth. There are plenty of tools with room for more if needed. What I have now: 8" jointer, 2 14" bandsaws, 2 drill presses, duplicarver, router table(s), spindle sander, scroll saw, chop saw, thickness sander, plenty of power tools, and an adaptable dust collection system. There is plenty of light and bench space available for most projects. I am not exactly certain that I want to do but if I can find the right person it may work out great. I just have more space than I need and the tools are not running all the time. It makes sense to share this open and creative space with someone who can really get creative in it. Ideally this would be with another guitar builder but I am not opposed to someone doing other creative woodworking projects. Absolutely no hobbyists please. If I were to do this it would be with another artisan who has work they are actively pursuing on their own. I am also looking for is a competent spray finisher. I have been quite busy lately and I find that I enjoy the woodworking aspect of what I do best so I am considering finding someone who can take over the lacquer finishing. My goal is to find someone as intense about finishing as I am about guitar making and who can take it to the same level as I do. I would prefer to find someone who can work in my shop so that I do not need to ship anything anywhere. I have a compressor and a turbine driven HVLP system and can purchase whatever else we need. I am not necessarily looking to train anyone but I would consider it with the right person. Working closely with the client during the finishing phase would be necessary in order to give them what they want. I run an active highly creative shop and want to work with someone who has their own motivations and who can put their own ideas into this. This could very easily expand into something more as well. I am open to exploring ideas with people on this. Let me know what you think. Thanks, ~David

Welcome to the world of invisible glue lines. ~David

+1 on the router. They are made for this type of work. I also agree that you can use a Dremel if you want to take forever, possibly break a few bits (and/or the tool), and have less than perfect results. If you really want to use a Dremel router (they actually are routers albeit small and underpowered for serious woodworking) then you will have to deal with their inadequacies when applied to larger scale work for which they were not designed. Dremels are perfect for smaller tasks in thinner materials like inlay and binding (but not the best binding results but it can be done). If you are trying to get out of buying a router then why not go cheap and get some Forstner bits, a hammer, and a chisel? Use the Forstner bits to remove most of the wood and then use the hammer and chisel to clean up the cavity. I used this method for everything (even neck pockets) when I was first experimenting with guitars (20 yrs ago). Actually I used a hand driven auger bit with removable cutters of different diameters. It was like a hand powered Forstner bit with a screw drive (if you have seen them you know what I mean). It works fine as long as you hone your chiseling skills and have a lot of time. I was still in school so I had all summer long. I like routers these days. ~David

No problem WAK, that's why we are all here! ~David

WAK Guitars, this is bad advice. This method will not dewax shellac. Dewaxing shellac is not done by sanding and leveling the finish as this is only a surface preparation technique and does nothing to change the composition of the shellac. Dewaxing shellac is a process that removes the wax from the shellac/alcohol solution. Check out this article for more information: Dewaxing Shellac. EDIT: The above article is a quick method but not as exact as using a centrifuge (but of course not too many of us have one.) ~David

My guess is that the glue is fine but the wood was not properly seasoned. If wood is improperly dried it will move a lot. One thing to keep in mind is that even properly dried woods need to acclimate before using them. I like to let my woods sit for at least a year after I purchase it unless I know that the supplier is seasoning it well. If so then I still let it sit for at least 3 months. Most of my wood has been in my possession for 3-4 years before I use it and most was sold well seasoned to begin with. This is the best way to ensure that the wood is stable enough to use. ~David

It would be more stable because you would not have unprecdictable stresses acting upon the guitar. Whenever you stress a piece of wood there is a long term effect no matter how slight. The curved braces in a acoustic do help to hold the shape and spread out the overall stress. But a slight dome to a top takes much less force to form than a forced recurve shape. Acousticraft, I agree that a 1" gluing area around the perimeter pretty much reduces the chance of it pulling apart at the joint to 0%. You do illustrate my point however by stating that the middle join wanted to break when you forced the bend and you had to glue it first to prevent that. Regardless of that there is still a lot of unresolved tension in the wood top. It will either relax over time or you may find some cracks developing (perhaps near the f-holes). I suppose bracing it could force it further but I would not recommend forcing wood to do something it doesn't want to do. The results are always unpredictable. Good luck with it. ~David

I was just thinking about this again this morning. I have some highly figured Bolivian rosewood veneer that is screaming to become a 335-ish guitar. I have some experience with mold making and plaster casting. I used to be a model and mold maker for a terra cotta restoration company (BVTC and we used several types of plaster. Regular plaster of Paris that you might get from the hardware store will not work unless you reinforce it with glass fiber or some other binding fibers (burlap or chicken wire works great too). This type of plaster along with Pottery No.1 and other similar white plasters (you can find them here: ClayMaker.com) are not designed for the pressures of die making and they will most likely fail unless the are either 3-4" thick or are backed up with at least a 1/2" steel plate. The reason is that most people do not have hydraulic presses at their disposal which evenly distribute pressure on the die. So the most common method of clamping the two halves together will more than likely be a series of clamps along the perimeter of the die. Without fail this will eventually crack the die even with reinforcement. If you are dead set on the die idea then a better solution is to find a harder casting plaster like Ceramical, UltraCal, or Hydrostone. These are designed for industrial dies and tooling (you can find some here: GypsumSolutions distributors). The stuff is not cheap and you must use fresh plaster (>90 days old) and you must let it dry completely. Failure to let it dry completely will result in a partially cured block of plaster. If you don't have a drying oven then you must wait a week or so depending on how thick the mold is and the humidity. When properly dried Ceramical is like, ...ceramic. Hard and strong but still very brittle. If you make it right you can make a plaster die that will hold up to the pressure of forming plywood tops but they dies will still be very heavy and large unless they are backed up sufficiently with a flat backer or poured into a steel frame. My whole point is that making a two part die is a pretty involved process and if a lasting mold or die is desired it is beyond what you can find at the hardware store. If you wanted something to last it will require a good steel frame for the dies that are internally supported by rebar or something like that. If you wanted to use a one piece mold to form the veneer over and use a vacuum bag system then this can work. I have successfully formed veneer over the top of a carved spruce archtop with a vacuum system. The process could easily be modified to use a carved form (made from MDF, plywood, wood, etc) or a plaster mold. The plaster will still need to be thick but since it will be inside the vacuum bag it will not be under as much stress as a two piece mold. Then it is a matter of lining up your veneers and pulling a vacuum. This is how I plan to make my tops. Contrary to popular belief a plywood top is not a cheap way of building an archtop. It all depends on how well the top is made and the quality of the materials. I prefer the sound of a solid wood 335-style guitar but the laminated top has its place. For a great resource on vacuum presses check out joewoodworker.com. I bought a reconditioned vacuum pump (these are a steal), a 24" square bag, a water trap, a couple of valves (so I didn't have to use a regulator), and a hose. The two valves work to shut off airflow to the bag (to seal after a vacuum is pulled) and the other is to release the line pressure at the pump so it can start (most pumps cannot start under a vacuum). If you wanted a continuous running system then you need the reservoirs, regulators, etc. I use Titebond which sets up fast so I made a dirt simple system instead. Places like certainlywood.com often have maple veneer that is 15"-20" wide, perfect for just about any archtop. They are a great company because they have a minimum purchase of one piece. BEWARE! I also have some experience with this too. This method is a recipe for disaster. I tried this on a guitar years ago (15+) and the pressure from the flat plate being forced into an arch at the sides was enough to pull the guitar apart after only 3 years. The problem is that the angle from the side to the top is kept at 90 degrees which really torques the wood. I would not try this method unless you have a few years to see the results (and wood to burn). In contrast to this method is the domed acoustic top. This method carries the angle of the arch onto the sides to form a perfectly matched gluing surface. There is very little stress on the side/top joint and there are no rotational stresses to worry about. ~David

I concur. I also use a brace along the center seam for added support for the done. I am actually thinking about including some smaller braces in between the main braces in the next guitar. I think this will significantly stiffen the back in the center and then carve the braces thinner around the perimeter. I am going for the speaker come effect. Again, I will be very interested to hear how this sounds. I support any experimentation with bracing. My main 'theory' behind the double-x back bracing that I use was primarily aesthetic based on how cool the upper x looked through the soundhole. It was after I designed this that I realized the acoustic aspect of the double x system (and liked it even more). You just never know... ~David

Limba is an excellent neck wood. I have used both white and black limba and have had nothing but great sounding necks. Limba can be a bit soft so you may or may not like it. I love it and have found the neck's contribution to be warm and resonant. I would not hesitate to use it. Rosewood vs. Limba? Now that's a good question. Rosewoods will tend to focus the tone a bit towards the upper and lower registers. Balance that with a warm, mid-rangy body wood (like limba or mahogany) and you have a killer combination. I love the feel of rosewood necks. Just get a resonant piece that rings like glass. EDIT: I have found African mahogany (Khaya) to be slightly darker than limba with Honduran mahogany being a bit darker than both. ~David

Jammy, I love the way you did the fret markers. What a cool bit of detail (in an incredibly detailed guitar). Nice work. I will be following this one to see how it turns out. I am especially interested in the tone with your back bracing methods. ~David

I have seen these before in black limba. This and the Padauk trees are both very large and I thought they were compression fractures from the weight of the tree as it grows and so they they might just be a radical figuring. Please don't take this as fact as it is just a guess. I really do not know as I have only seen it once. Have you tried flexing the neck to see if the wood moves strangely in those spots? A crack would be noticeable if you drag your nail across it but flexing it should make it more apparent. Maybe if you have any scrap you could test that out without risking a break. Hopefully this is just a mineral streak of some sort. Let us know what you find out. ~David

I have used these cutters from LMI for years and they are still sharp. I only use them for cutting fret ends and they cut them flush with minimal filing. Price is similar to StewMac. ~David

Erik, this is really a bummer. This same thing happened to me on my first guitar but I managed to fix it. The first sight of the cracks was pretty shocking (although the tone of the guitar when it hit the concrete was pretty good). After looking back at the construction pics I want to mention something that might prevent this kind of damage int he future. I noticed the lack of side braces. These not only hold the sides together and make them stiffer, but they also prevent cracks from propagating past them. This would have kept the side piece from coming off completely and may also have kept the crack localized to the area that was hit (when my guitar hit the crack was only as wide as the braces were spaced). The way I do them is to glue them in all the way across the side grain before the kerfing so that the entire width of the side is supported. I really hope you can salvage this and learn some repair techniques in the process. A lot of work went into this so far. It is possible to repair it and have it remain invisible. You might want to check out frets.com for some tips on how to go about it. ~David

Not to derail the thread but I wanted to suggest keeping your headstock angle between 10º-11º when using a trem. I have found that anything steeper and you may have tuning stability issues. The increase in downward pressure on the nut will also cause the strings to bind in the nut slots resulting in some strings catching on the way back up to tune and going slightly sharp. Of course this assumes that the nut is properly cut so that there is only one angle over the nut and the slot does not bind on the leading edge or the back edge (no sharp edges for the strings to catch on). Ok, back on topic: I like the Shaller and Sperzel locking tuners. I have not needed to try anything else so far. My only complaint with the Sperzels is that the aluminum threads strip out a bit too easily. If you get them from StewMac they will replace them if this happens. ~David