Myka Guitars

Are you referring to this: Wagner Safe-T Planer?

I bought one after reading about it in the Benedetto book. It is a great little tool that I use often for tapering necks and headstocks. The only thing about it that I don't like is that it will kickback but only when you try to take of 1/16" or less. It needs the backup of wood to keep it from kicking on you. If I keep the cuts at a minimum of 1/8" it works fine. I usually use a handplane for finer cuts but I was trying it out to see what it would do. All in all it is a worthy tool that does what it says and is built very well.

So, Could you have a look at this : Lie Nielson Planes At Axminster.co.uk and make a reccommendation or two please? 

Denny,

I have this plane: Lie-Nielson 164 Low Angle Smoothing Plane I use it for everything. It is plenty long enough for any guitar work. Also the blade is very thick so the cut is smooth. With a 2" blade it will do all of your body joins as well as thin acoustic tops, scarf joints on necks, as well as flattening fingerboards and necks before gluing. One of the most helpful ways to use it is upside down in a vise. This way you can true up small pieces like an ebony bridge part or use it for bookmatching headplate veneers, etc.

The way I plane body woods is to clamp the two board together and hold them in a vise. I flatten them both at the same time to be sure the angles are correct when you open the boards up (complementary angles match so if you are not at a perfect 90 degrees the boards will still be flat when you put them together). Then I go over each board separately with the plane set to an extremely fine cut to do the final fit. The result is a perfect, even joint that consistent with very hard or figured woods. If the wood is very figured or funky like mahogany palen at a slight angle to slice the wood.

If you are going to invest in a plane like this be sure to get a sharpening jig so you can have a perfect 90 degree edge. Also you will easily be able to get a mirror smooth surface on the blade (razor sharp). Here is one: Axminster Deluxe Honing Guide .

Hope this helps.

~David

one more thing. If somone more experenced in the way of planes can help me.

http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CA...3B+Smooth+Plane

is this a good plane to buy for a beginer? im on a tight budget, but i need a plane.

if you know of a better one, or could also recomend a spoke saft please let me know.

Dylan, do yourself a favor and bring a straight edge with you when you purchase a cheaper plane. Use it to check the flatness of the bottom of the plane. Don't buy one that is not flat or you can never plane anything flat with it.

Also try to go to a store that has a few brands so you can check out the quality. If at all possible test it on a scrap piece to see how they work. I know Woodcrafter's used to have a piece near the hand plane display for that purpose but you can bring one with you. Home Depot may have a problem with that but any decent woodworking store will not. At least then you can do a side by side comparison and choose for yourself after you test a few.

Wait- I think I know what you were talking about now - I would not expect to have to flatten the sole of a high end plane nor would I expect to have to do much more than what I described above. Maybe that will help clear up what I said earlier. Maybe not.

That's exactly what I am talking about. Honing the blade is one thing and will need to be repeated as manitenance of any plane. We should not have to flatten the sole of a any brand new plane, ever. That is negligence on the part of the manufacturer. After hoing the blade you should be able to get tissue paper thin cuts off from flamed maple right out of the box.

Like i said, ive never ever had an issue with any Stanley products, but from memory, there are UK and USA stanley tools. I also want to add that most of my stanley tools are all 40+ years old, which is something i didnt really think about when i first posted. Maybe the new ones are all crap, i dont know, never used one. The only new (10 years old) stanley tools i have are squares, chisels and spokeshaves, all of which are fine.

Yes that makes a huge difference. Stanley's reputation goes back decades and most of the planes out there (Lie-Nielsen, Record, Bridge City, etc) are based on those original designs. The difference is the quality today.

And to quote myself:

This thread is not meant to encourage anyone to stop using a jointer or planer. These tools are incredible time savers and well worth aquiring. I just want to support those who cannot afford a jointer or planer.

If you look at $500+ for a mediocre jointer compared to $240 for an excellent hand plane that will do a lot more you will see where I am coming from.

You are right though GuitarFrenzy, building good guitars is what it is all about.

You shouldn't have to do all that. When you buy a tool it should work as it's supposed to out of the box PERIOD! you don't buy a Brand New car only to find that it needs a complete engine overhaul and a complete brake job when you get it home from the dealer, do you?

Seriously, this is a perfect metaphor. No one would accept this in a new car and still keep it so why would you assume that fixing a brand new tool is necessary? Contrary to the Home Depot mentality you do not have to tune a high quality tool before you use it.

The arched surface will resist the string tension without warping better than a flat surface. The arched surface with the arched brace imposes a situation that forces the brace to stretch in length if the arch is falttened. Since this does not readily happen without the splitting of wood the arch is maintained.

If that level of quality is accetable with you then who am I to suggest otherwise? It's your money and time.

This is all personal opinion and preference but I do find it bizarre that so many people will accept this lack of quality and also be willing to spend a good deal of their own time making up for it all in the name of saving a buck. A sign of the times I guess. I spent nearly 8 hours tweaking the 22" Stanley I mentioned and it still wouldn't plane flat. This is unacceptable to me. At a shop rate of $20/hour (which is cheap if you pay your own taxes) that amounts to $160. Add to that the $60 intitial cost of the plane and you have $220. Throw in the $20 and you have a superior plane that works. You do get what you pay for and until you acquire a fine quality tool you will not know what I mean. If you like tweaking tools then go cheap. If you want to do the highest quality work then why skimp on the quality of your tools?

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the low pricing is forgotten." ~Leon Cautillo

Am I the only one who feels this way?

That's just it exactly. Every one I know that has a decent Stanley plane has to mention that it works well when it is tuned properly. Why does it need to be tuned and why the disclaimer? They are supposed to be good tools, right?

Case in point: I bought a 22" Stanley jointing plane so that I could join archtop guitar plates. After sharpening the blade (which still had grinder marks across it since they never even bothered to sharpen or hone the blade properly) I reassebled the plane. The cut was great since the blade was now sharp. After a few passes I put the pieces of wood together. There was a bow in the joint and a large gap in the middle (1/16"). I set the cut to take off the thinnest shaving. After at least a half an hour there was still a gap and my spruce was being wittled away. I finally put a straight edge across the sole of the plane and it was out 1/32" of an inch. The plane was sent out the door unable to plane a flat surface. I spent a while trying to flatten the plane until I finally realized that if I was going to build fine guitars I needed equally fine tools, period.

It's like comparing a high end custom guitar with an off the shelf guitar that still needs the pickup wires soldered before you can plug it in.

Hollowbodies do feedback more with a solid wood top that is for sure. The increased resonance makes for a vey senitive guitar. Further bracing may help but also proper amp settings and where you stand in relation to the amp makes the most difference. I usually set my guitar up so that at just about 3/4 volume (on my guitar) I start to get hints of feedback so that when I turn up the volume I can get it to go. Hand muting and holding the guitar away from the amp can control it too. I love playing with feedback so the extra sensativity is a good thing. Nothing like having a sustained chord break up into a blossom of musical feedback!

If the wood is properly dried they should not develop cracks at all. But in a climate that shifts humidity levels (like in the Northeast in the summer) it may be a problem. They are made thicker than most acoustic tops so they should be OK though. I play fairly heavy so the cracks that develop on my guitar will be concussion cracks.

I want to post something about hand planes. I have seen so many discussions lately about alternative methods including jointers, sanding blocks, elaborate router jigs, etc. This thread is not meant to encourage anyone to stop using a jointer or planer. These tools are incredible time savers and well worth aquiring. I just want to support those who cannot afford a jointer or planer. Also there is not a better tool for cleaning up the surface of wood than a hand plane. You can use sanding blocks but if you have a well tuned plane your surface will be smoother than 800 grit with one pass.

Before I had access to power tools I was building guitars with hand planes and japanese saws. I still use a block plane to true fingerboards, neck surfaces, headstocks, etc. A block plane will work for these tasks but the blade must be like a razor and perfectly square. A smoothing plane works way better though because of its length and width. As soon as I could afford one I did. While I now have access to a jointer I still do the critical joinery on my guitars with the smoothing plane (acoustic guitar top and back plate joint, arcthop guitar carved top plate joint, electric guitar body and wing joint, etc). The surface is simply smoother wih a plane and the glue joint is light-tight (hold or clamp the unglued pieces together with a light source behind it and not be able to see any light pass through).

If you want good results with a hand plane heed this word of warning: DON'T waste your time with Stanley or Record planes. They may be cheap to purchase but you will get cheap results. Get a Veritas or a Lie-Nielsen (or something equivalent). If you do go with Stanley prepare to spend the next couple days f**king with it and have it still not be as good as you need it to be. If you get a Lie-Nielsen prepare to plane end grain and curly maple to a glass-like smoothness right out of the box.

What I recommend to anyone who wants to use a hand plane is to get something like a low angle block plane and a low angle smoothing plane. The Lie-Nielsen low angle adjustable mouth block plane is an essential tool in any toolbox. But don't take my word for it: block plane comparison Since I first purchased one I now own 3 Lie-Nielsens (the low angle bock plane, adjustable mouth low angle block plane, and the low angle smoothing plane). Check out http://www.lie-nielsen.com and http://www.leevalley.com/.

I only use my Stanley now for cleaning up glue. A task for which it is perfectly suited.

A guitar like that out of solid wood is going to have more of a tonal range than the laminated tops variety. It does have to do with the resonant character of a solid piece versus one that is muted and restrained by laminations. Compare the tap tone of a piece of plywood with a piece of solid wood and you get the idea.

If you use spruce for the top and maple for that back you would basically have a thinline archtop guitar. You can use maple for the tops as well. Another approach is to use a solid block for the back and sides and route out the hollow in it. This is more of an electric than an acoustic guitar but the results are pretty nice. Also you can leave out the solid block down the middle like a 335 and use braces to support the top and an archtop style bridge for that funky nasally arcthop tone.

Here are a couple links for inspiration:

Heatley hollowbody

Sakashta semi-hollow

Thanks Jay! I will try to post more pics of that neck jig in the next couple weeks. I am getting pretty busy in the shop so I will be using it again very soon. I'll photograph some more of it then and post it for you.

As far as tips go definitely use brass inserts and machine screws for the hold down screws. Use 3/4 ply for the base. And make sure you use something like cork or rubber underneath the aluminum hold downs so that it doesn't mar the wood. I have a new idea for this jig that will allow for adjustments in the neck angle and overall height of the body too. That will be another prototype coming in the next couple months.

GuitarMaestro, try Certainly Wood. They have every kind of veneer you could ever want including real ebony and dyed wood. I just purchased some of both and the pieces were 6"+ wide by at least 7 foot long. They also have a 1 piece minimum so you don't have to order that much at all.

Yeah, jointers are tricky to set up right. Well, let me say that again... the monkeys that normally work at cabinet shops, usually have no idea how to set them up correctly. If they are sharp, and you take small cuts with each pass, you wont get tearout. ****, ive machined up some killer quilt without tearout, and if any grain is gunna tear, its flame or quilt.

I agree. I used to work as a cabinetmaker as well and had similar experiences. On a decently setup machine I have had good success with a jointer when I had one available.

What I use now and have for years is a nice handplane. I use it to plane all my gluing surfaces as well as using it to join acoustic tops and backs. Get the blade razor sharp and you can plane quilt, flame, end grain, or whatever and it will alwys come out smooth and polished looking and ready to glue. Besides they are so nice to use when set up properly.

If you want to go the hand plane route then get a Lie Nielsen or something of similar quality. Also low angle planes are the best for figured woods. And learn how to get a plane blade razor sharp. A sander or jointer can work well without being perfectly tuned. A handplane cannot.

Brian May made his guitar of oak,didn't he??

Yes he did. Well almost. The fingerboard is oak as well as the center core of the body (which is chambered, sort of). Here is a link to an article about his original guitar: The Red Special

Get the Making an Archtop Guitar by Bob Benedetto. He goes through so many procedures that apply to guitar construction in general. It is the first book I receommend to anyone even remotely interested in building any type of guitar.

The way I understand it is that you adjust the stiffness of the top by sanding to the desired thickness. Some people test it with a tap or by flexing (or both). Is this what you are referring to?

Derek, how would you tap tune the top?? Thats done prior to bracing....

I do not understand this at all. How do you tap tune an acoustic soundboard without bracing on it?

Every time I read about tap tuning or have a conversation about it there is always reference to tuning the soundboard after the braces are glued on while you are carving and shaping them. It is this that allows you to tune the top at all.

I use 25' for the soundboard and 12' for the back. I sand the braces to the same radius as the top or back I am gluing them to.

The idea od stressing the braces and fitting them to the top by having to force them is a violin family technique (violins, cellos, double basses, etc.). These instruments are designed to be taken apart to have the braces refitted every 5 years or so because the braces will relax over time. A guitar is not made to be taken apart like that so it is not a good idea to try this idea unless you are prepared for a weakening of the instruments voice. This would not be good if you plan to sell them.

The idea of using a dome or arch is to provide the structure for a stronger soundboard that is less prone to warping. It has nothing to do with increasing response (over the life of the instrument anyway). As soon as you add the string tension you will achieve the stresses necessary to drive the top and make the guitar responsive. Why not focus on tuning the sounboard through brace placement and carving so that your guitar will start out responsive and stay that way?

Just my $0.02.

Geez, there is as much speculation and theory surrounding this issue as any other. I have made my acoustic guitars with regular and reversed kerfing, the latter being way more stiff. The stiffer sides seemed to produce a more focused instrument which I like. The regular kerfing allowed the sides to move more and the tone was more mellow. Laminating the sides would probably make a really focused guitar.

The way I see is that each change and construction method produces tone. If you like it is good. If you don't it doesn't mean that any tone was lost or sucked away. It is just different. Hell, there are a lot of people that just love dreadnaughts and for the life of me I can't see why. I simply do not like the muddy and boomy guitar tone that dreadnaughts offer. It is the exact opposite of what I am trying to achieve with my own guitar designs and consequently I am passed up by a majority of the acoustic guitar buying public. That is how tone is.

Brazilian rosewood is a true rosewood. Bolivian is a not a true rosewood but it has some of the similar characteristics as rosewood. I have used Bolivian rosewood for acoustic guitar bodies and electric guitar necks. It also makes great fingerboards. As an acoutic wood it is more like maple than rosewood.

To be technical here is some information:

Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is from Brazil aka: Rio or Bahia Rosewood

Bolivian (Santos, Pau Ferro, etc) Rosewood (Machaerium scleroxylon) is from Bolivia and Brazil aka: Morado

I heard that wiring a certain value resistor and capacitor in parallel with the ground can eliminate getting shocked by poorly grounded arenas or whereever you gig.  I don't know for sure.

This is partly true. What this does is limit the voltage to about 40 volts. You will still get shocked if the outlet is not grounded properly but it will not kill you. The resistor value is 220k and the capacitor value is .001 yf (micrfarad). Make sure everything is rated for at least 500 volts. It is better than nothing but the outlet tester is the best way to go. Just test it and don't plug in if it isn't grounded.

I read it wasnt very safe to ground the bridge, do to electrical shock when playing. Is that somthing we should worrie about?

It is something to worry about. READ THIS: Shock Hazards

I second (or is that third?) Scott and GregP's suggestions.

The Hipshot bridges are nice. I just received one of their contoured tremolos and it is a fine piece of work. Absolute top quality.

I also use the TonePros tune-o-matics all the time. Another great bridge.

Have you tried Wood Finder? Just do a search with your zip code to start. You can even specify species, instrument woods, etc. It's a very cool online search tool and there are more and more companies getting listed.