bigdguitars

I think that before everyone posts message about how to build a guitar, they should have to look at your piece and say, can I make something close to that... Nice Work, its amazing to see what the big guitar houses pass on. Character counts. look at what some of the larger houses passed on... oh yea I paid 20 bucks for this billet... got 3 sets from it

I have done a guitar in a can, go easy and remember light coats work best and sand between finishes... I always order two cans though, just in case you run out...

ace and home depot no luck... will try glass place good idea thanks!

was driving home a couple of months ago, dude was throwing out a old craftsman table saw, cast iron... the top is perfect for a glueing surface perfectly level and can clamp to the bottom of it. I should have kept the motor for my surface sander that I am making.... its funny with tools, some people buy them use them once and think its brand new... its like a car once you drive off the lot its worth less

Anyone know who is a good supplier of plexiglass? I want to make a bunch of templates... Thanks, Derek

a little pricey... but its a cool piece. figured maple around 47 a board foot...

One thing I forgot to mention, Tube amp repair and design is very hot... The guys that are doing this are getting old, when was the last time any of us saw a younger tube amp guru? I am trying to learn about repair, but its a little slow for me, so if you are good at math and science, find a repair shop and work there part time... My last amp repair bill was 65 an hour, that pretty good huh?

I was pounded in the head to go to college.... thats what everyone told me... Did that graduated close to honors, got a job with a big consulting company, made a ton of money, got laid off, almost went broke, at 26 with a college degree worked for 7.5 an hour just to pay bills. Started building guitars, and repairing stuff for buddies, realized that I should do this for the rest of my life. so now I am here at my 9to5 job paying the bills and getting a shop setup where I can almost launch my own stuff. I realize my building skills are getting better, and once my buddy says its good enough (trained luthier at a school in Grand Rapids MI) I will start custom building with some cabinet making on the side. When I got out of high school I wanted to be a house builder... Dad said no, well now I realize that I should have done that. Instead I am strapped to my desk working for "the man" and realize that you should do what you want to do... There is a trade off. You can live your life at a ski resort and just pay the bills, or work for the man. Go take a class in woodworking... go to a furniture building class see if you like it enough to pay for full tution at a good school. You will still need to get a job that pays the bills because starting off as a luthier takes time to build a client base.

yea 559 at CG, I hear Leo spinning...

Anyone play this new guitar from Fender, I was a guitar center today, and picked up three of them, they all had major problems with them, althought the finish was nice... The neck joint was patched up with something on two of the guitars, and on the third guitar the fretboard had all this white powder all over it. I plugged one in and it had no feeling at all, a dry dry sound guitar... What is fender trying to do with these guitars? Go after the cheap les paul copies? I have had a couple of those and at least those are somewhat ok... any thought?

whatever joke is there I missed it... we talking about plastic wrap here? or what?

I will resaw for next to nothing. 20 bucks an hour. takes about 10 mins to resaw a board, so about 5 bucks. I have a planer that I can even boards out with, but no sander so if I get flammed wood there is tear out. If you are in the chicago burbs, let me know, Pics are in the auction now.

here is what I was talking about, I am going to add a flexible plastic insert next week.

Am I am gluing electrics. Here is what I built: but I want somthing more stable. I do a lot of resawing too, so I want something with large capacity.

What homemade clamp systems has everyone made? I have a special metal wood brace that I lay across from the neck pocket to the end of the guitar, but its not a strong as I would like. I saw in Fine Woodworking last month the guy who made those oyster type inlays had a huge clamp system setup where the steel rod had threads that where about an 1' big. Real old clamp system, anyone know where to get somthing like that?

router 200 bones at least a 1hp model... porter cable is the way to go, owned two craftsman didn't even compare. Get a mix bit set, tool shop brand at menards is a good starter kit. Porter cables model 100 is only 169 online Palm sander, makita makes some good ones. Drill press, after reading everyones post on it I am convinced that this is a must. can get a good used one various places, check pawn shops and ebay. 250$ This can be used as a buffer, edge sander, and can help carve a top with the right bit. Band saw if you can wing it. too many options, even a small bench top one is very useful, 200 bucks, used. Files, the four pack thay you can get at acehardware. Clamps, at least two pipe clamps to make body blanks. sand paper and blocks. soder gun, Planes if you plan on making a carved top. A set of chisels to clean up joints. ace hardware has a good set for cheap.

yea I saw the table saw trick in one of the recent wood magazines... table saws still scare me somewhat. my buddies dad just sliced his thumb open, really bad, so I avoid using it... In rockler there is a better resaw fence for 199 bucks or something like that.

thats what I am trying to do with a PRS copy... neck pocket was tight The dowel rod is what I had in mind.

I have rigged up some square wood book ends that I can clamp down to my table... not perfect but I use them as guides more or less... some of the larger billets I have resawed, really don't need such a good fence, I push so slow that I can usually keep it in line.

oh gosh sometimes when I read these threads I am like whats sweep pickin??? I know what it is but my fingers don;t work like that at all... I did like the lessons though will try sweep pickin on my lucille tonight! BB would love that!

Ebay ebay ebay, figure this you only get what you pay for sometimes its great other times its a piece... Ebay has started to liberate guitarist from BS prices... Next time you want that Les Paul from Sam ash or guitar center print out some prices and then go there... much better deals...

thats a bunch of crap... they make your guitar and steal your cool a design... scam scam, Remember when limp bizkit did this? make a song for us, we can use all your lyrics... just a marketing ploy...

some people claim that wood is affected by glue others say no way. if you build the guitar right you can;t tell, if you have to use too much glue and your wood is not flat you can tell. they do make mahogany neck through guitars. You can buy a mahogany neck through from rampart guitars. fender custom shop and G&L build some telecasters that are made from all mahogany. If you do an all mahogany guitar, hollow it out a little bit the wood jumps a little better.

poplar sucks. Its a fast growing wood that does not sound to great... I would go with Alder much better wood. or even basswood which is a personal favorite. Gibson and Fender have used poplar, but those guitar sound like crap. Poplar is a little bassy with no punch to it. Basswood has that missing punch. Alder has more of a trebbly feel than the other two. Poplar is easier to work with than alder and basswood. if you have the right tools it really doesn't matter....

practice with an inlay, although that might not be perfect. since it is carved.... hell put a sticked over it... Here you go.... Add a racing stripe down the center of the guitar.... in black, tape it off with masking tape and paper and it will work fine... I had a small problem with this guitar: The joined top did not fit perfectly, so I add that small racing stripe. Its from a piece of sticker from a hobby shop that sells stuff for model airplanes. After I added the sticker a couple coats of lacquer, and wet sanding, it looks like an inlay...