fryovanni

The general rule of thumb of course is to try to use clear, straight grain wood for a neck to minimise the risk of twisting. If the wood is fully stabalized, and moisture levels do not change(which is not likely over the duration of a guitars tour of duty) then the chances of significant issues(how much is significant depends on how and where is distorts) is slight. So, #1 start with very well aclimated wood, guys who dink around or guess as to whether wood is dry have the biggest issues. Here is the typical ratio of shrinkage for Sugar Maple by volume(VERY IMPORTANT- from Green to overdry)- Radial-4.8%, Tangential-9.9% and longtitudinal-.2%(negligable). Now after the wood has reached a fairly dry stable moisture content, and is put into service with a finish, it is not likely to see a wider swing in moisture content than 1-3% (depending of course on conditions, but it would take a bit of time under a radial increase or decrease in moisture content to do much more-** well or dropping it in a lake). Moral of the story you are looking at small volumetric changes after it is dry and stable, however when it does shrink or expand the ratios will still apply. It will shrink and expand very little if any in the longtitudinal direction. It will shrink and expand twice as much in the tangential orientaion than the radial. The shrinkage and expansion should be very slight (small dimensional changes). with laminated wood or plywood you have these uneven movements, but they push and pull on each other fighting movement. This is why you REALLY want to laminate VERY well aclimated wood (else you will build in huge tension, between the laminates). Hope that helps, Rich

Danielle, You would choke if you saw the load of wood I just unloaded(full size bed on my chevy packed) in my cutting area(AKA my garage ). I have a path to my bandsaw, full shelves and a stacks of wood on either side of that path. I have about a week and a half to get it out of the way for a load of Cocobolo (Large cants). We will see if I can kill that Trimaster. Mattia, Good to hear you have better control than me(for the moment ). Sorry if I made your luggage a bit heavier on the trip home. Now at least I can say I have never filled my suitcase with timbers, maybe you are not too in control of that WAS . Peace,Rich

Vinny, You can get your losses down to about 1/16" per. cut with a bandsaw. That is about the best you cand do. You have a few blades you can choose from, some produce a smoother cut(lower surfacing losses), some have a reduced tooth set (less offset v.s. the blades thickness, which increases how touchy the blade is), and reduced thickness of the actual blade (Woodmasters blade is .025" steel, most blades up to 1" are .035" steel, larger blades are .042"). Reduced thickness does relate to generally a lower beam strength, but that is usually managable. My conservative blades(leaning tward reliability, and tolerant to clearing) take between .050 and .055" total kerf. My higher risk, lower loss blades take between .035 and .042". As long as you can hold the accuracy of the cut low loss blades can give you extra pieces from valuable timbers, however if your blade forces you to make a thicker cut to ensure the blade will not cut too thin(generally due to blade traveling poorly) then the thinner kerf is not worth it. You have to strike that happy medium between risk, loss and of course speed of cutting (if that is an issue). Mattia, I am trying to clear some space on my cutting shelves (didn't do much cutting over the last few months), and make room. I have more Spruce, Cocobolo cants, Maple, Redwood, Walnut, Koa and such looking for a little space so they can get in line for slicing. Funny thing is no matter how close I get to clearing those shelves, more wood seems to keep showing up (must be that WAS thing you and I seem to have ). Peace,Rich

Vinny, Sounds like you where able to get this to almost work this time, but I would be carful. Obviously there is a chance the jointer could rip the wood off the blank (just a bit and your jointer blade will rip the side apart), you also run the risk of tear out. All that I am sure you already know. I would recommend cutting much closer to your needed dimension, during the initial re-saw. Then finish with a plane or sanding block (you should be able to re-saw within a few thousandths depending on how ruff your saw blade cuts/ scratches the blade produces). Sounds like your heading that direction with your cutting already, I would just avoid the joiner. Peace,Rich

Look up fish paper. I believe that is what the material is called. I remember Chris V. was tracking some down and looking into coloring some. Hopefully he will come along and give you his findings. Peace, Rich

Drum sanders have infeed and outfeed bars, but they do not need the same amount of pressure a planer requires. The system works(speaking to the Performax at least as that is what I have and use) and is fully capable of accurate surfacing to about .003" per. pass (this is the rate that I thickness my soundboards down, checking stiffness after each pass). Advantages over a planer. Obviously very smooth surfacing, lower per. pass min., can thickness binding or veneer down to about .03" (good if you make purflings or want to make lay ups) and can certainly work well in the sub 1/8" range (a must for many details, backs, sides, soundboards, and such especially on acoustic instruments). There are other advantages, but it all comes back to finer control, surfaceing, and lower risk of tearing. Disadvantages, they are not designed to take heavy passes. Removing a half inch of stock is not a drum sanders forte. Removing about 1/16" per pass is about all you want to do, and it is a pain in the butt to take that many passes when removing a lot of stock. I personally will slice wood with my bandsaw if it needs more than 1/4" removed. It is cool for me because I get veneers and potentially usable stock and veneer. If I needed to work lumber for cabnets, and had no use for the extra stock. A planer would be much easier. I don't run stock like that for guitars, and most of the wood I do surface is expensive and I want those extra bits, so resawing is well worth it. That is about it. Both tools have strengths. Peace,Rich

The topic of which bandsaw blades work best, which saw performs well and so forth comes up a lot. I figured I would start a topic that I and hopefully others could use to do some real world performance testing. In order to make the results more meaningful I am going to start each test run with a fresh blade. Tune my bandsaw (18" Steel City). Then run it until it has a cutting issue and either needs adjustment, or the blade shows signs of dulling (causing cutting problems). First run is a Lennox Trimaster, 1" 2/3 TPI Carbide. So far I am a have run a hundred and some odd soundboards, around 40 back and side sets, and around 20 drop tops, plus a handful of misc veneers, fretboards, bridge blanks and such. Somewhere between 400-500 cuts. The blade has yet to show any sign of dulling (tips of the teeth are still extreamly sharp to the touch) I will update as I keep cutting. I hope some of you other re-sawers jump in and add some testing. I have a timberwolf, woodslicer, woodmasterCT, and an allpro lined up and waiting for their turn to test. Peace,Rich

Cool, you will love it. As for dust collection, that is a big fat yes! Get a good one, dust collectors don't just keep things tidy. They will improve the performance of your equipment. Peace,Rich

Larry knows his stuff for sure. I will have to pick up some acrylized bits from him next time he is in town for a wood show. Peace,Rich

Finding "gems" in a normal yard takes time and patience (they are not common), but when you do find them at a "lumber" price you will get a heck of a deal. That is all treasure hunting though. You definately want to avoid paying shipping for body wood if you can avoid it. Hand selecting neck wood is a huge plus, saves on shipping and cost of the material (a smart fella would stock up on neck wood and let several guitars worth of neck stock age in your shop). Gilmer, Gallery Hardwoods, 3-Dhardwoods.com (top notch Maples), Goby Walnut (new management now, we will have to see how well they do), are all very good. You will do well to ask Marc (Gilmer),Larry (Gallery), Chuck (3-D) to help you with your selection, they are all top notch, knowledgable professionals(well worth a couple extra bucks, to get well selected wood from these guys). You pretty much have to have the wood shipped from these guys, unless you Texans want to visit Oregon and Washington . Peace,Rich

substitute "spalted" with "rotten" (that is the same thing). Now, I want to build a guitar neck with rotten maple. (doesn't sound very good). Maybe, I want to build my neck with kinda rotten wood. (hmmm...) How bout, I want to build my neck with maple that is discolored a bit from rotting around the solid neck blank. (OK, that works) Peace,Rich Mattia, Is the wood you have from Larry treated with his acrylising system? I have heard good things about that.

Black Locust is a cool wood. It should be more than durable enough for fretboards. It should also be extreamly strong and stiff as a neck wood or as very stiff neck laminates. Nice stable wood too. Nice stuff It would actually be cool to try as acoustic back and sides. I have an awful lot of wood already, so I will restrain myself from asking for bits. I hope a few other guys take you up on your generous offer though (very cool of you to think of helping out fellow board members ). Peace,Rich

Interesting, If this is a traditional rosette (routed, layed into the route, and surfaced flush), then Mattia is spot on the money. Sealing any exposed raw spruce would be a must, because CA or Epoxy would work its way into the exposed grain discoloring it. If it is glued on the top of a finished (completely sealed) soundboard, then you just want to be sure the glue will adhear to the finish and of course you clean any glue that may squeeze out. I would think CA would make this a fast project and holds very strong with very little glue(so you could be conservative and not risk squeeze out). Epoxy sometimes has trouble adhearing to smoothly finished surfaces, and would likely be more prone to squeeze out as it needs to be applied a bit thicker than CA to get a good hold. Peace,Rich

I am not sure what materials you have used in constructing your bending machine. It will be subjected to very high temps, and you need to build it to take the heat. Using foil is very helpful, especially if you allow a small air gap between the wood and foil. Using bulbs is tricky, and does have a learning curve, as well as requires patience. You would have a much easier time using heat blankets. They are faster, heat evenly, and are easy to control. Given acoustic sets are pretty expensive, heat blankets pay for themselves very quickly. Since you are having trouble with bulbs, I would recommend you strongly consider buying blankets. Peace,Rich

Maybe a thicker block could limit stress if a cord was pulled, maybe someone trips over a cord. It is a bit thick, but probably not really a big deal, and offers some structural protection. I would smooth out the edges on the tailblock as Mattia mentioned, it will be a smoother edge for attaching the top/back. Laminating seems to be a very popular method, and offers some nice features. Mahogany is a very stable wood though (rad to tan), and using Mahogany sides and blocks I would think you have a very stable combination. I just tried using CF flying buttress braces on my current project (Mattia mentioned this also). I was amazed at how much of an effect it had on the sides. Rick Turner has been offering up a lot of advise on how he is constructing in these areas over at the OLF, you should go look over some of the topics when you get a moment. The build is looking very clean. I bet you are going to really like your new heat blanket and side bending form. Keep up the good work! Peace,Rich

I am not sure if I would use it as a neck for a couple reasons (it is soft, and could ding up easy, not notably stiff). That said, it has a modulus of elasticity comparable to bigleaf maple, slightly lower than Mahogany(but close). FWIW, it has a higher MOE than Khaya(african Mahogany) which you will find occasionally used for necks. You are adding Carbon fiber to add a bit of stiffness and strength which is not a bad idea. The wood is reasonably stable when well dried. The dimensions of the wood you are using makes me hope that you have ensured the wood is fully dried, especially if you are using it as neck wood. Will it snap, I doubt it. Will it bow under the tension of strings, not likely. Will it be a very active neck, most likely yes, be that good or bad(not what I look for in a bass neck). Will it get dinged up over time, my gut says it is very likely. That is just my take FWIW. Peace, Rich

Happy birthday my friend Peace,Rich

How much power are you pushing through the cable, and how long is the cable? Actually is this a speaker cable or instrument cable? If you are running high power amps to mains or subs gauge will become important, especially if the length of cable is great.

Cool, I have a couple Omega blankets they have worked great so far.

Your getting side tracked as these guys are telling you. Keep your focus on that solid understanding of basics. If you solidify that understanding, instead of focusing on exotic wood combinations and asthetics. After you understand the basics you will be able to visualize how many details can be worked into a design. You may even understand more about the woods you are choosing so those lams are placed for functional as well as asthetic reasons. Peace,Rich

I use a sliding miter saw, but wouldn't say that it is better than a table saw. First you need a pretty good saw so it will not be cheap (my sliding miter cost around $550), it will be harder to find a good sliding miter than a good table saw. However if you already had a good radial arm or sliding miter it is an option. A very good table saw with good quality blades is extreamly versatile. You can really make some productive accurate jigs and sliding tables to perform many tasks. If you have a good table saw, put that baby to work. Peace,Rich

I second everything Setch is pointing out. In reading your first post, I am a little confused. Is your whole question about trying to get the strings closer to the body and in doing so closer to the bridge pickup? If your goal is to get the strings closer to the pickup, raise the pickup, don't mess with the neck angle. The neck angle is set to accomodate the height of the bridge and still be able to achieve reasonably low action with the bridge lowered all the way. Peace,Rich

Andy, A couple things I have found about bearing guides.. What you noticed when the bearings are in full contact has held true with my machines also. The thing that becomes problematic is that you will get pitch or other junk that builds on the blade. When the bearings touch they will clog so to speak, and get quite noisy with the slightest buildup. You need to really look close at bearings and make sure they are as perfectly parallel to the blade in its natural position as possible. If they are not, and you stand them off slightly(allow for a tiny bit of clearance, which is best), the bearings will turn the blade as pitch of junk builds on the blade. Guides are like a double edge sword, they can keep the blade in check when some odd happening tries to force the blade out of its natural travel, or they can force the blade to mis-track if they are not aligned correctly. I have found that small bearings, even my carters(the skateboard size ones), have play and will not fair well when they are forcing the blade into position (resisting pressure from one direction or the other). With proper beam strength, and if your blade is cutting and clearing well, you can run a bandsaw with no guides at all (I have done this with no issues on my 18" saw, my 14" is more suseptable to getting out of true, but it works fine also *just much more risky). So think of your guides as insurance against little deflections, if you are running on them all the time you have a set up, blade or clearing issue. Clean your blade and bearings frequently. A wipe down with pitch remover or mineral spirits is good, just use a rag, pinch it around the blade and spin the upper wheel in the reverse direction till things look clean(if you feel any bumps that do not clear scrape them off with a razor blade), just kinda spin the bearings and give them a good look over(junk building on bearings is really bad for tracking). Smaller bandsaws are just touchy by nature. They are built lighter, have smaller wheels moving faster, blades are smaller and dull quicker as well as run hotter, bearings and guides are smaller/ built lighter, tensioning spring is softer, lower HP generally. We ask a lot from them, and push their limits with hot rod parts. Because of that they require more attension and dilligence to keep them running well. I would never give up my 14" bandsaw though, it is still one of my favorite tools. Peace,Rich

We get a spring show, I think that show comes through in the fall, and then the wood turners show comes through town. Always fun to see what venders will show up. Peace,Rich

I tighten my blades by feel as Mattia does. It really depends on the blade, some achive good beam strength easily, some need more tension. As far as the noise, check your guides and make sure your blade or guides are free of build up. If your guides are touching the blade or worse deflecting it that will cause noise. Be sure your guides are square to the blade, and are just clear of the blade(run tight, but not touching). As far as vibration. Be sure to check all nuts and bolts (especially the upper frames main bolt). Check your pulleys, keys and such. A 14" saw is light and generally will be more prone to vibration, but it should not be excessive. If you havent checked yet, make sure your wheels are aligned. Don't forget to double check the motor and pulleys are all aligned and secure. On a bandsaw related side note; I just re-tuned my 18" yesterday, and dropped a fresh trimaster(I usually run a wood master for soundboards, but thought I would give the trimaster a go on the spruce) on it. Man there is nothing like a fresh blade and a fresh tune. I ran 50 acoustic sound board sets through it one cut after then next smooth as silk. I am going to see if I can give it a real run today(I have about another 100 soundboard sets to cut then we start the back and sides), and see how long it takes before something messes with the settings. Peace,Rich