wolfcoast

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/Iba.../SwirlRG022.jpg This one looks like it has a lot at the rear of the hole.

At first glance, looking in the routed sections, it looks like they didn't get a good coat of paint on them. I can see what appears to be wood color which means it's not completely painted. IIRC for a swirl body, there can be NO wood that is unpainted/unsealed or you can get cracking.

I'm over in Groton near the submarine base. Still waiting for my household goods shipment to get here so I can't do any of my guitar work yet. hehe

Well the Navy hasn't changed any of it's signs yet hehe.

I definitely like the idea of using the diamond plate but I don't have the first clue on how to paint it.. What I would end up doing at this point is making a huge graphic and having it printed at a sign store for gluing onto the body. hehe

This is very simple but wanted to put it up for those that may not have thought of it. I didn't want to pay a large price for the StewMac Straightedge that has fret notches so here's what I did. I already had the template for fret slot cuttings from stew mac so I laid it on an extra 18" straightedge I had sitting about and marked the notches on the straightedge with a Permanent marker. After that, I simply took a file and filed notches on each mark that were deep enough to go over frets. Voila, straight edge that can be used on a fretted board. I only did the 25.5 scale as that's what I mostly use, but you can use any of the fretboard templates to notche both sides of a straight edge for use on other scale lengths. Hope that helps somebody. Randy

Well despite not having finished my first guitar, I've already started work on a 2nd (and a 3rd to a small degree, just a fretboard on that one hehe) This one is a change for me as I'm using a tuneomatic bridge. I've never played a guitar with one before so wanted to make myself one. I've always used either floyds or standard tremolos before this. Anyways, here's the info on the new build: It's a PRS style body. Mahogany with a 1/2' poplar cap on it (had the wood sitting around so decided to use it hehe) Will be a 24 fret, rosewood fretboard and mahogany neck (was going to use maple but the board I had wasn't long enough. Mainly because the neck has to have a short section that goes under the neck humbucker.. I believe that's called a set neck.. Correct me if I'm wrong please hehe) Tuneomatic bridge Golden Age humbucker from Stew mac (only have one atm, need to get a second one) Besides the bridge setup, the other thing I'm trying new here is kind of a carved top like the PRS are. So far I've done the carve all the way around the outside with the exception of the area between the horns as I haven't routed the neck/pickup cavity there yet. Wanted to keep a flat surface for the routing and then carve that part. The carve is kind of hard to explain without pics (will get some once my stuff arrives here in CT) but it's a simple one. Basically just a concave carve around the outer edge. I used this to learn how to use a scraper. I've done the entire carve with the scraper so far, not a router in sight for that. I'm amazed at how smooth a scraper can get the surface. (Not to mention how long it takes to do the carve with a scraper hehe) I haven't decided on a finish design yet or fretboard design but that will come to me once I get to that point. Again, sorry no pics just yet but will get them up as soon as possible. Randy

Well it's a year later and I've actually managed to make some progress on this guitar despite my schedule. Just moved to Groton, CT so my stuff is in the middle of being shipped. Will get some pics up once my stuff gets here. Progress made so far: Body is completed up to finishing. Primer coats and base coats are one.. Have some orange peel to take care of but only in one small section. It came out better than I expected for my first one. Color right now is a deep burgandy. Since it's the first one I'm painting I decided to go with a simple solid color for now. Now that I'm not in guam, I have a can of Nitrocellulose lacquer coming for the final finishing. Wanted to wait until I could get some of the real stuff and not rely on the junk they try to sell in guam. For the neck, not much else has been done. From the pics you can see that the locking nut would sit too low to allow for proper string height so I put in a shim to raise it up. I use a sliver of mahagony from the same board and now I just need to do some final sanding on it to match the contours. And like the nitro, I finally have a bottle of ebony stain on it's way to me to even out the boards color. Anyways, that's where I'm at right now. Like I said, I'll put some pics up as soon as I can. (Bet you all thought this died since it's been over a year LOL) Randy

Quick update on this one. While I haven't completed decided on the paint scheme for this one, I have started work on the fretboard. The fretboard is a basic rosewood, 24fret blah blah... The cool part is, instead of the usual dots, I bought a pack of gold MOP dots and cut them into radiation trifoils. Those have been inlaid into the fretboard already. I'll post some pics in the next day or so in the Work in Progress section. Just wanted to let y'all know this one hasn't died hehe. Randy

Some of the oldtimers may remember me from my short stint here a while back. It's been a long time since I've been able to do much with guitar work due to being in the Navy on a submarine. I've had to spend a lot of time at sea and most of my time inport getting ready to go to sea. Not to mention problems getting certain stuff in guam since places like stewmac won't ship hazardous material hehe. (Note, I've been here for 4 days in CT and already have a shipment of that stuff coming, like Ebony fretboard stain, actual nitrocellulose lacquer, etc ) But the good news is.. I'm finally back in the states!! I've moved the family to Connecticutt for my final shore duty before retirement. Unfortunately my base housing unit doesn't have much in the way of an area for a shop but I'm going to make do. I want to finally finish one of my projects. I've made posts in the in progress area for updates. In any case.. I'm glad to be back in the states and finally have some free time to work on my guitars again. My wife is definitely happy I'm starting again since I spent so much money on tools, etc for it hehe. On a side note. I never realized that Melvin Hiscock actually posts here. Melvin, your book was the best money I've ever spent. I may have to order another copy soon since mine has been read/re-read so much hehe. I value your information so much I actually managed to find the exact model of HVLP sprayer you mentioned in the book LOL. Ok I'm rambling now. It's great to be back and back in the swing of guitar making. Randy

Well from experience, I would recommend going the 2 bit route or using one bit in progressive steps. I bought the 1/2" collet, 2" flush trimmer bit and I have to say it's the scariest bit I use. In fact, I have stopped using it. Since you are cutting so much length at once, it is VERY easy to have the piece get caught and the router try to send it flying. As it's hard to put an adequate guard around the bit, it becomes very dangerous. I'm sure a lot of people use them just fine, but I found it to not be worth the risk to my fingers hehe. I use a smaller pattern bit now and lower it on progressive passes. Makes a very clean cut and a lot less chipping than the 2" bit. Almost forgot.. I agree with Doug on the Robosander. I didn't like the edge it left either. Have had much better results with using the hand router & pattern bit.

No kidding.. The eng said as long as I don't hang it on the wall in the lab hehe. feel free to play with the design as I'm not the best when it comes to creativity. I can send you a copy of the photoshop file if you want to make it easier.

hehe That sign is magenta.. it's a graphic I found online. Beats getting one from work copied LOL I'm thinking of changing it to a "Radioactive Material" sign.. Basically just changing the words on the bottom. Also, based on your statement, I'm assuming your either a nuke or previous nuke. With that in mind, I showed this graphic to my engineer..... He started banging his head against the wall.. Especially because I'm the LELT

In my case the frets are as accurate as the stew mac template makes them as far as distance between frets. The only issue is the frets being cut non-perpendicular to the board by a tiny amount. I may try to use your idea about taking into account when I cut the taper of the board. Should work in this case.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I can't notice the slots being off unless I put a straight edge up to it. Going to fix the jig today so I don't have to worry about it on the next ones. On the bright side I managed to make my notched straightedge for checking fretted fingerboards. Used the dual fret scale template to mark the straight edge. Then used a round file to notch the edge. Pretty handy tool.