fryovanni

Thinning the sides if your bending a tight radius is a good way to prevent cracking during bending. You gain a lot of strength in an area with a sharp bend(the side itself is stronger), so thinning is not really going to hurt anything. Peace,Rich

Best advise is to build that mold, and use blankets. Stepping back from a mold, you wind up with many variables that make the process tuffer, and harder to control/guage. Using pipe over blankets same deal. All the typical rules apply, temp, staining protection, support. Difference is everything will be harder to achive with even, clean results. Good chance you will spend a fair bit of time trying to true up your sides, you may break a set or two depending on your cutoways. Good Luck, Rich

You would do well to just order Ebony for say fretboards. Buying and resawing is not usally the safest bet, nor will it save much money. For body wood, look locally. Very good woods such as Khaya(african Mahogany), Genuine Mahogany, and so forth can be had at most lumber supply places. Kiln dried is fine, and what is usually available. You will save a ton on shipping by picking it up locally (at least body wood). Neck wood is good to buy locally also, just buy a bit extra(maybe a couple projects worth) so it can age before your next project. Woods like Mahogany and Hard Maple are really not expensive per. necks worth of wood (well worth stocking up).

Good for you Daniel You are certainly a gifted builder, and so young. You are going to have an amazing carreer building. I think you are just about as well balanced and skilled a builder as I have seen. Peace,Rich

Great attitude tward accuracy! You keep your standards up One thing I have found is that the higher your standards the smoother and faster your work becomes. Final product of course benifit all the way around. Use your measuring tools as you have been, visually you can see very small gaps using light, touch is good also (but you need to rely on measuring tools in some applications). When you do get around to leveling before fretting, get it spot on, this will make fretting go much better, and if you do it well you may need liitle or no leveling (this is where accuracy pays off big time). Peace,Rich

I would stop, and allow it a few weeks to settle. When you carve and shape a neck, it adjusts dimensionally after you are finished. When you apply a waterbased glue wood will expand, then contract as the moisture levels drop back down again. Surfacing a fretboard before attaching is good, but I always leave it a tad thick, because I do my final leveling attached(after the neck has settled). If for some reason the neck is way out of whack after it has had several weeks to settle. Then you have to evaluate your options. First can the fretboard be leveled without losing too much thickness in your fretboard, if not... Then as Setch mentioned a re-set may be an option. If the neck is moving so much a re-set is not viable, you have something going on that is not going to be good down the road. I would pull the fretboard and do over. Working in precautions can help to avoid issues with necks moving. Things like; Make sure your neck blank is well dried, during the carving process allow the neck to settle for a week or so in a semi close ruff carved state, use non waterbased glues (such as epoxy) to minimise introduced swelling during glue up, allow a bit(usually very small) of extra material for final adjustment and leveling, be sure your clamping is even(cauls and jigs are a good idea). Most importantly, give the neck time to stabalize before attempting to level it. Rich

Go to the main tutorial page - link You will find information in the how to set up section. Set up your neck first, you can't really tell what is going on until you have. Be methodical, and don't bounce around adjusting this or that (you may be going in the wrong direction or even making it more confusing to tell what is happening). Take very careful measuerments, and use reliable straight edges. If you just recieved a guitar from a dryer or wetter climate it may very well be adjusting to your humidity. Give it a bit of time before making any heavy adjustments(stay away from permenant adjustments, such as sanding/leveling, until it is settled). Peace,Rich

It is an instrument show they hold at Marylhurst University each year down here in Portland. Here ia a link to the shows site- link

Marty, I hopefully will be able to make the show any day that weekend (at least am planning on it). David is exhibiting, so he should be there each day (Good time to pass the word on to any people you may know that might be in the market for a custom Myka Guitar ). I want to sneek down to check out the new Goby Walnut shop. Goby was bought by a fella hear in town and is relocated to his shop up the street from Gilmer. Have any of you fellas had a chance to check it out yet? Hopefully you won't be in the hospital that weekend, but if so, I am sure Dan the man and I will hunt you down like a dog as soon as your feeling like putting up with us . Rich

That may reduce the vibration transmitted to the floor(if it is located above another part of your house maybe that is important to you?), but won't help much with the machine. Be sure the base is makeing contact with the floor at all four corners though and is level. If the base is not making even contact it will lead to more vibration (much as a washer or dryer would). For what it is worth, I did have to level my 14's base, and when it did not make good contact it vibrated a lot (after leveling it was much reduced). Peace,Rich

Interesting, I have never thought much about old growth vs new growth burl. Burl wood is going to have grain structure that is all over the place (even more so than the wavy gravy curly, burl is almost like having bits of endgrain mixed all over the place), so I suspect that made your work a bit more touchy. The curly Redwood and straight Grain Redwood I have worked with has varied a bit in terms of density, and to a degree hardness(although it is all relatively soft). The curly has no more or less of an issue with tearout than other curly woods. Both straight and curly are slightly more prone to splitting. Neither are tuff on the tools though.

Now that is a HOT lookin guitar

I agree 100% with Mattia. There are some very good dealers out there that really know their stuff, and are very good at selecting great cuts. The three that he mentioned, Larry Davis, Marc at Gilmer, or Bob at RC Tonewoods are all top notch. Peace,Rich

It is less dense and softer. It machines well, but can be prone to split if you are not careful. The curl has a similar effect as with any other curly wood, makes the grain tricky to plane. It is softer though and is much easier to carve than say curly Maple(soft or especially hard maples). Speaking to it's tone from an acoustic plates tap(thin wood, used for comparison). Redwood has amazing sustain, this sustain allows it to develop a lot of complexity. It has a nice higher frequency ring and full sounding bass that does not become tubby or muddy. It has good volume (responcive). Actually, most people fall in love with the sound of Redwood when they test it (it is noticably different than most softwoods). Now, a wood such as Maples tap will be very different. It will have more present highs when initially tapped. It will not ring nearly as long. Because the initial tap produces that strong fundemental and the volume drops more rapidly it will not allow the complexity to develop. Mahogany has a tap that rings longer milder high fundemental(although certainly present) and generally rings longer (volume of the ring falls off more gently) allowing complexity to develop. So, taking the leap from hardwood to softwood, there is usually a bit difference in responciveness (softwood are generally much more reactive, but the wood is lighter and generally weaker by volume of wood so that would be expected). If there is something that a softwood may add to the timbre, my hunch would be a more responcive body that could lead to more complexity and balance. I suspect the difference would be subtle though as this is only a top, and is not going to radically change the structural properties of the body. Translated to more common "tone wood" speak for solid bodies, I think it would add warmth, and sustain. Build a body completely out of Redwood, and use a fairly responcive neck wood(say Douglas Fir), and you may change things up quite a bit, extreamly light and dynamic. No, it needs a finish. Seal the wood with a good surface sealer, not a wood I would think of oiling or using an oil type finish on (Wez is right as with most softwoods it will drink it up, and the tap tone of softwood turns into a dull thud when it drinks up these kind of finishes). Absolutely not a good choice as a fretboard.

Yes, Great stuff. Use it!

Now that is one sure fire way to cut mids Sorry

I agree with what you are saying 100%. Actually our methods are not too different at all, and moisture levels we achive are very similar (my "outside" levels are probably slightly lower generally, and when I move the wood to a heated space it settles at 6-8%). I have a small space that I can rigidly control moisture levels, but I would only use it if I was assembling and had a huge swing in moisture, minor changes can easily be buffered by adjusting the room temp a few degrees for short periods. I am sure both of us have come to our understandings on drying from some study, combined with plenty of first hand experience. I doubt we are going to contradict each other much, minor differences in how we deal with our typical climates, but that is good . Understanding that moisture levels vary reginally is important. Peace,Rich

It sounds like you are looking for a fair bit of wood. In that case it is worth the drive(IMO). Is it cheaper to drive? maybe or maybe not... Depends on how much you buy. Is it much more cost effective in terms of getting just what you want(picking the most useful boards), absolutely, and you will probably save a good deal of money this way given most woods are expensive. I personally have driven 3 hours to simply pick up a load of wood (900lbs worth ofwood is not cheap to ship even a relatively short distance). If you want basic woods, buy enough to make the trip worth it. If you want to pick up a bit here and there, use a supplier that can give you can have just what you need shipped(that is not a lumber yard). Some of the companies mentioned are good for this (Gilmer, Gallery Hardwoods and so forth). Peace,Rich

Basically you have the concept, and you are on track with your "baseline" idea. One thing you need to consider is that relative humidity is just that (relates to temp and moisture level in the air). Warmer air holds moisture better than cold, by increasing the temperature of the air(given moisture levels in the air are equal), the wood will not hold as much moisture. If your garage is not heated, the wood will most likely hold more moisture than wood that is inside (warmer). I bring wood in from the garage to aclimatize, I build inside, and that is where the guitars will be when they are in service(not in my garage). Hope that makes sense. If you have a handle on how much moisture, and how relative humidity will modify the moisture content. The next step would be to understand the relationship of how wood expands and contract in relation to the grain orientation. Wood shrinks and expands very little in relation to the longtitudinal grain (think of this as the length of a log- longtitudinal). If you think about the growth rings of a tree, changes in radial orientation(think quartersawn) will generally be about half as much as in the tangential orientaion(think flatsawn). To try to relate that to an instrument, think of an acoustic soundboard. The longtitudinal grain runs from the neck to the tail, This being the longest part of the soundboard this means you will have the least change in length of that board when moisture levels cause expansion or contraction. The next widest part of the board would be across the lower bout. Wood is traditionally oriented in the quartersawn orientation(radial) because the width of the lower bout will expand and contract about half as much as if you used flatsawn wood. The thickness of a soundboard is small(approx 1/8"), this being the smallest effective length it is the best choice for the orientation that will change the most Tangential(flat). To give a bit of perspective on movement, many commonly used woods will move approx. .00180" per. inch of material in the radial orientation when moisture is changed 1% (starting with wood that is somewhere between 6-14%). That would mean that a 10" piece of wood will expand .0180" per. 1% increase, or shrink .0180" if moisture content drops 1%. If you have a change of 3% the change would be more like .0540"(1/16"=.0625"). In many commonly used woods the change would be twice that in the tangential orientation(flatsawn). Changes in the longtitudinal would be a slight fraction of that. Not all woods expand and shrink the same amount volumetrically, and not all woods have the same ratio of change between radial and tangential. Woods like Mahogany or Khaya(african mahogany) have very close ratios(this makes them shrink and expand very evenly in both directions. Woods like Madrone have very high differences in the rations (more like 3 times, very high change in the Tangential). You can look up these ratios on the web, or find many in the woodworkers handbook. Hope I am not overloading you with bits of info here. If you understand these concepts, many traditional methods start to make perfect sense. It also helps you understand how best to evaluate less commonly used woods, and optimise their usage. Peace,Rich

It is really important to remember equalibrium moisture level is what is most important. If your shop will not balance wood at 6-8%, and you force it to an overdry condition, the moisture level WILL rise back to equalibrium(wherever that is) and the wood will swell. If you keep your shop at a steady 72 degrees with a constant relative humidity of 45%, that is great and you will be able to hold about 6% steady. However.... If that shop is in Florida that guitar is going to swell as soon as it leaves your shops climate control, by the same token, if your shop is in the Arizona desert it will shrink. It is best (as long as your areas humidity will permit glueing and finishing) to simply knock the edge off transitions. I don't believe in assembly in a bubble, unless you know it is leaving your area for a climate that you are trying to mimic(large shops shoot for the best middle ground they can, but it is just that). Common sense type stuff here, no more no less. Jon and Mattia, as well as many other very sharp builders use time to ensure well stabalized wood (perfect solution). Note; these guys don't buy wood the month they are going to use it, they have stocked ahead a bit. Look for topics and postings by people who are having issues with lumber distorting. You will find a common thread they have either just recieved the wood recently or moisture levels have changed radically. Peace,Rich

Not sure if I picked up on your first question, seems more like your giving us an idea of what types of guitars interest you. Question #2, Hmmm.. I suppose it is a matter of perspective. The OLF has many professional builders that frequent the site, you will find this site does not have the same ratio. On many subjects acoustic builders may seem to go overboard to a person that has not built an acoustic, but there are often solid reasons behind these things. I know that there are members both professionals and amatures over at the OLF that build solid body guitars as well as acoustics. Actually you will find several members here are also members of the OLF also(myself included). In general you will find the membership at the OLF is a good group of people and have proven how generous and supportive they can be to other members on many occasions. Q #3- I suppose the price of the those guitars is based on who is collecting them. I am not sure who all built Silvertones. Q #4- There are several places to purchase plans. Do a web search you will find several. MIMF also sells plans if I recall. Peace,Rich

+1 to what Mattia said. Time is your ally if you want to ensure your material has effectively stabalized. First thing to consider is that a fixed percentage of moisture is not going to work for all situations. You want to shoot for "equalibrium" moisture levels. Meaning the wood has effectively balanced its moisture level to the relative humidity(moisture and temp) in your work space. At that point the wood should neither accept or reject moisture unless there is a change in the relarive humidity. Holding the relative humidity extreamly close year round can become expensive to maintain, so often small changes are acceptable as long as you keep the shifting gentle (note the wood will adjust, but it will limit how severe the changes are). Currently wood in my shop holds about 8% moisture, if I store wood out side it would equalize closer to 10-12%. Kiln dried lumber typically is dried and brought to the 10-14% level(effectively most of your checking, cracking, splitting, major warping and twisting, and significant shrinkage has occured by that point. The term "air dried lumber" can mean a couple things. One many times green(freshly cut) lumber is air dried to about the 25-30% level before kiln drying, and this term describes this lumber. Lumber can also be air dried to lower moisture levels(all the way to equalibrium), but this requires much more time, and space. When you recieve "air dried" wood you really need to ask how long and where the wood has been drying(get some history), and then monitor its moisture levels to ensure it has stabalized. Keep in mind where wood dries(relative humidity, air circulation rate), the type of wood that is drying(hgher density or oily resinous woods can take much longer to dry than less dense woods), and thickness of the wood effects the drying rate. A 2" thick billet of western maple may dry at a rate of about 1.5-2 years to reach equalibrium kept outside under cover with reasonable air flow in a mild climate. A piece of rosewood of the same size and dried under the same conditions could take twice as long. During drying stages. Wood will release moisture much faster at the exposed end grain(actually accept or reject), so we treat wood with one of many types of endgrain sealer to slow that transfer down. The idea is that you want the wood to dry evenly, and this helps a bit. Wood does not dry evenly no matter how you go about drying it. The outer shell will dry faster than the core. This sets up an odd balance in the tension as wood dries. First the wood want to shrink around the shell more than the core wood shrinks(checking and cracking begin). As the shell dries more, moisture is able to start moving out from the core faster this creates a situation where the shell has stopped shrinking much, and the core begins to shrink faster than it had before (tensions shift) and you start to get heart checking and splitting becomes deeper. The bulk of this starts to calm down around 14-16%. Anyhow, this is a broad topic and it could go on for a while(actually you can look up previous posts on this subject, or look up much of this on the web, woodworkers handbook is really handy for these topics). Key things to keep in mind. Endgrain seal is a good idea. Keep air flow to all sides of the wood even(space wood with sticks when you recieve it), allow the wood enough time to stabalize. Moisture meters are nifty tools. They give you a fair picture of where the wood basicall is in the drying process. Unless you have absolute rule over the ambient conditions in your workspace year round, you don't know exactly where the wood should be. This means you can't use a moisture meter like a ruler(wood should be at exactly 7%), but you can test several pieces of wood that have been in your shop for a long enough period to have stabalized. Using what you see those bits are at you can test and tell a piece you want to use is at about the same level (this should be a solid indicator that the wood has stabalized to your shop). Hope that helps, Rich

No comment on his site, too much has been said two or three times already. String tension however, is not something that is beyond our control. Most manufacturers offer a wide variety of gauges. You can select the appropriate guages to develop a very well balanced set of strings in terms of tension. Not any real mystery there, nor is it something that is "new" or developed by this fella. If you want to use the same gauge strings(which was something that was required when string manufacturing was not where it is today), then you would have to look at varying the length, However your variance in length would be huge and not very sensable. Rich

I hear you, I actually set up a seperate space for cutting, and an area for drying. The thought was all the billets that are on shelves in my shop would go to the cutting area, and all the boards leaning against the wall would be cut to blank form. Of course all the dry wood should in theory wind up on the storage shelves. The theory was flawed though. New shelves in the cutting area were filled before I could move anything out of the shop. Then the cutting area overflowed to stacking on the floor and about the room. It is about all I can do to cut enough wood to at least get everything on the cutting room shelves. The pics I posted were when the areas were pretty clear. My drying area is stacked 3 rows deep and 5' high with two fans driving air through the stacks. My cutting shelves are full of billets waiting for resaw (can't do that till I move the drying stock to make room). I have a 3' high pile of bracewood on the outfeed side of my drum sander, and violin/mandolin bolts and 5" thick Cocobolo stock on the infeed side. I can't get to my jointer because I have Black Limba, spalted Maple, Zircote, and Walnut Boards stacked against it waiting to make their way to the billet shelves. My storage shelves are pretty much maxed out on the soundboard, back and side, and solid body areas. I am goint to have to pull the neck blanks, compress the fretboards and bridges, and probably relocate the solid body blanks and most of the neck stock to be able to squeeze most of the drying stock into the shelves. I am thinking I need to aquire some new shelves for long term parking. I have this massive load of offcuts(mostly tossed in boxes if it looks usable for something, but the boxes are due to go somewhere else.). Peace,Rich

Shelves are handy. Your method is not bad for long boards. After you cut wood, it should be stickered till dry(find a space where you can manage that). Dry wood can be stacked on shelves. Cut billets are easier to deal with, and fit on shelves better. I had a few pics uploaded so I will post some areas where I store wood. link link link link link You can get 36" deep plastic shelves at Home Depot. They are very effective. Peace,Rich