John Abbett

I've purchased two fretboards from Erik, both top quality. I got a purple heart fingerboard in a 19.10 inch scale that was perfect.

Highest recommendation.

-John

I can see where it might be good for a dedicated fret slot cutter. It wouldn't pull much with such a thin Kerf, and you are not asking it to do much. If you were doing fingerboards regularly, you could building in some safety features.

Pay attention or you could have a real "Fingerboard" fingers included.

I wouldn't advise it for general woodworking. See my post above.

I used one for a year or so, to cross cut rough lumber. If it binds it does scary things. Get a chop saw for that.

Best use for a radial arm saw is a door stop.

It pulls wood/fingers into the blade.

There is a reason they don't make them much anymore (You can still get them, but not very popular).

If your name is Stubby.. A Radial Arm Saw might be for you!

Of course people still use them, and safely... But you have to really know and understand this tool.

-John

you can dilute it with water. Take a damp rag and go over it until you get the color you want. You can fade it a bunch that way.

Does anyone recommend a roller bridge as better then another?

I was looking at this one and thinking about trying it out.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/gorobrfilesp.html

Thanks.

-John

All,

I was looking at the roller bridges, I'm thinking about a bigsby in the future, this would be to plan ahead for it. Do the roller bridges have less sustain then the standard bridges? I would imagine that the standard bridge has a sharp angle and the strings don't possibly hit when vibrating, the roller bridge has a curved surface, so it would hit when it's vibrating. I realize that this is very small.

So is there a difference?

-John

Check your angle of the side of the hole. If you have cut an angle into it, you might have to make it bigger to get it to fit right, then there will be gaps.

It also depends on if there are pitts and low spots. You have to level the thing out, if there are pitts and low spots it takes a LOT of sanding at 400 grit.

I've put several coats on, leveled with 320 dry sanding, then hit it with another coat, being very careful to do a even coat. ( This is with nitro, it melts the 320 scratches not fills them). I then was able to start at 600 and go from there. I put it on a bit thick, knowing that my coats are a little rough. I'm getting better, but the first couple of guitars are a learning process.

-John

Thank you very much!

-John

There are a few tips. I don't know everything, but these things help at least.

I just finished resawing a 9 inch wide curly maple board which was 1 inch thick into 4 boards for front and back bookmatched sets for a semi-hollow build. Here is the steps I did.

My saw is a 14inch cheap-o with an extra riser block for extra height. I have a 3/8 inch blade on it, skip hook tooth from woodcraft. Don't cheap out on blades.. The fewer teeth the better, it clears the shavings.

I tightened the blade pretty tight.

I set the table 90 to the blade. It must be exact. If it's a hair off, you will end up blowing out the side of your board.

Make sure your guide wheels are correct. Loosen all the guide blocks so the blade is unsupported, then without moving the blade, push the guide blocks and roller bearings so they just touch the blade. I actually push them against the blade, but it wears the guide blocks more and is rough on the blade. The roller bearing should not spin when the saw is on not cutting, but as soon as you put ANY pressure on the blade they should spin. If you put pressure on the blade, the blade will be at an angle, and when the blocks wear (Which happens fast) the blade will go straight, all your setup is now off.

I built a fence which is some scrap 9 inches tall that is just a couple of boards screwed together. There is a vertical portion that is 9 inches tall that is tapered to a point with a hand plane. This is set away from the blade at the width you want your boards cut off (That is to the side of the blade). It's set right at the point where the teeth are on the blade front to back.

Joint the edge of the board that will ride on the table. It's impossible to resaw if the bottom of the board is at an angle.

Make sure your table doesn't move and your fence is solid. Any movement you blow out the side of your cut. Clamp it all down. I had an aux. table once out of plywood that was a bit whimpy. I had to put a bar clamp from the table to the floor to keep it from moving. It only takes a fraction of an inch of table movement to give you a huge movement 9 inches above the table.

Make sure your guide wheels are correct. Loosen all the guide blocks so the blade is unsupported, then without moving the blade, push the guide blocks and roller bearings so they just touch the blade. I actually push them against the blade, but it wears the guide blocks more and is rough on the blade. The roller bearing should not spin when the saw is on not cutting, but as soon as you put ANY pressure on the blade they should spin.

Joint the edge of the board that will ride on the table. It's impossible to resaw if the bottom of the board is at an angle.

Run your marking guage around the edges of the board, then run a pencil along the indention left by the marking guage to get a nice line to follow.

Put the board to the blade, and make sure that the blade lines up to the pencil line on your board. You ran a pencil line around the end of the board, they should be aligned the same. You shouldn't even see the line, the blade should obscure it.

Oh, before you run the board through, you need to determine the cutting ofset. Take a scrap hunk of wood, and draw a stright line parallel to one edge. Run the board through the saw about 1/2 way. To keep to the line you will have to angle the board a little. Band saws pull a little. Stop the saw with the board 1/2 way through the saw, don't move it. Pencil a line on the parallel side of the board right on the saw table. This is the angle you want to run the board through. You can sight down the line and see if it's correct as you cut. This will change every time you change a blade.

Fire that baby up, stick your board to the blade, one hand on the back, one on the side keeping the board tight against the fence you built.

It takes a LONG time to cut 9" hard maple. It probably took me 15 minutes to cut the three cuts. If you push too hard the blade will bow. It will also dull almost instantly. A dull blade will follow the grain somewhat and go all over. It cuts, but it's slow. You shouldn't have to do much, keep the angle that you marked on the table, keep it tight to the fence and put low pressure on the back.

There you go.

Oh, I go through bandsaw blades after about an hour or two of resawing. That's a couple of 6 ft boards cut into 4 sections plus I do necks and non resawing after that. If I'm not resawing, I can use a blade for weeks. 9" of thickness kills a blade.

-John

I've done a log of steam bending. One of the tricks is to have straight grain. It's much less likely to break. Have 3x as many strips as you need. You can always use them on another project. You need heat and moisure. Most of the time when I break something I'm trying to bend, I realize it broke before or after the section I'm heating up. I always try to go too fast.

-John

DGW.

A pic or two would be great. Thanks for the offer. I have a 1/2 hp motor and a three step pully for adjusting the speed. I just ordered two 3/4 inch pillow blocks. I can pick up 3/4 rod locally. I was just going to put a couple of blocks under the pillow blocks to raise the height a bit and provide clearance for the pully. The motor already has a small pully, all I need is a larger one for the shaft.

I am looking at ordering 6 - 8" buffs, and fine and extra fine compound.

I will level with wet sandpaper to 800, then buff with the fine and extra fine. Should do it up nicely.

I've been using rubbing compound by hand. It's much to labor intensive. I think I spent about 3 hours rubbing out the finish last time, after 1000 grit and I'm still not happy with it. I'm not a perfectionist, but it's just too much work that way.

-J

Thank you. What size pully do you have on the axel and the motor?

-John

I have the StewMac buffing arbor ...

It's been awhile since I set it all up, but I believe I used the largest of the three pulleys on the axle and a 2" pulley at the motor.

That would mean it runs fairly fast - about 2x the speed of the motor if I'm thinking about this right.

Anyone deal with http://www.caswellplating.com ?

I'm thinking about getting the buffs there, reasonable price and they seem to know what they are talking about.

Thanks again.

-John

Thank you. What size pully do you have on the axel and the motor?

-John

This has been covered.

If you take a single hunk of wood and cut the neck and angled headstock, you are most likely going to get short grain. If the grain runs up the neck, then the angle and headstock will have short or diagonal grain, which is weaker. If you use straight grain for both the headstock and the neck, and glue them together (The glue joint it stronger then the wood in most cases) then the neck as a whole is stronger.

That being said, I just finished a one board neck for a gibson 335 type out of maple that was quarter sawn, and seems plenty strong. I'm not into thrash metal though, it's not going to see a lot of abuse.

Oh, I also put a veneer on the top of the headstock. That adds strength to at least the headstock.

-John

Oh, one more thing, my bandsaw leaves a good finish. I use a 1/2 inch blade, and it doesn't wander much. It doesn't take much cleanup, one pass with the jointer and a few seconds on the belt sander.

-J

I draw lines on the side, then cut with my bandsaw. I leave extra, then use my jointer to hit the line on the side you can joint, and my stationary sander with the board hanging off the end to do the underside.

-J

I'm putting together a buffer. What height works best? I can put them low, and work the guitars over the top, or chest height and work them vertically. Any preference on what is most comfortable? I will have plenty of clearance from the motor, that's not a concern. I'm planning on double 10 or 12 inch buffs on each side. 2 1/2 ft axel with pillow blocks on a 1 ft wide base.

Oh, and what speed? I can reduce or increase the speed, any suggestions?

I picked up a nice motor with pully and a 3 step pully and some pillow blocks. All I need to do is fine a reasonable source for the buffs. I have a grinder stand to mount it all onto, but it seems very low. I was thinking chest height, but I've not used one before so thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

-John

I had the same thing happen to me. I sprayed a heavy coat in hot humid conditions, and when I came back to check on it, the whole back of the guitar was white. I tried spraying some lacquer thinner on it, it helped a little, not enough.

This was after serveral coats. It didn't take long to carefully sand back to previous layers. I make sure I spray in the evening or morning when the temp is moderate in the summer.

Sorry to you had this problem, it's a bummer. I'm guessing you will have to sand back.

-John

I was going to suggest hooking the pickups directly to the jack one at a time.. That's first. Once you have the pickups working, you can add the pot and switch.

You have it figured out. Don't need me.

If that doesn't work, don't throw it across the room. Check your pot with your meter. Check your switch.

When you are just testing you don't have to solder.. You can twist.

If you have trouble after that give us a shout.

-John

You can.

1. Use MDF disks glued together, be sure to put a pin through the center rod so they don't slip if something binds.

2. Use PVC with wood plugs in the ends.

3. Buy a replacement part for a drum sander.

If you go with #2, it's hard to get it perfectly centered. You can't sand a lot off to get it centered if you need to. If you go with #1 you put sand paper on the table, rase the table and it automatically centers, and rounds your drum perfectly aligned to the table.

If you go with #3, it's expensive. You would have to shim to make it parallel with the table.

I did #1, and it worked well.

-J

I think we need a picture or a diagram.

Drum sanders are a project. Not just buy an arbor and pop some felt buffing wheels on it. (Like a buffer)

It is a manageable project. The straight forward ones have a lower table that is hinged on one end, and has a bolt that raises and lowers the table on the other. Above that is a solid support for a 4 inch drum made of many circles of plywood glued together, wrapped in sandpaper and hooked to your motor with a couple of pullys. There is some woodworking involved, but anyone who can do the woodworking for a guitar can handle it.

Do some google searches for "homemade drum sander" and "shop built drum sander".

-j

It's perfect for a drum sander. Send it my way, I'll put it to use!

-J