westhemann

Eh.I use a rasp.I shape a neck in about 1/2 an hour.My first took a lot longer though.You get faster as you do more. It's not about time,it's about results,and the results look good so far

Yeah,that big chunk of brass takes forever to heat and loses it really quickly.

One thing I also do is I turn the burner on my stove,set the iron on it,and remove the handle while it heats...then I screw the handle on once it is good and hot,brand,and then remove the handle again while it cools so it won't bind up in the threads. Easier to manage when the handle isn't hot.I don't know if your handle comes off,but it looks like we have the same sort of threaded brass block. You have probably noticed that denser woods take longer to burn.It's so worth the extra time though...saves me hours of tedious inlay work since I stopped inlaying the goat's head and started burning it.I like the look better,too.

It took me a lot of practice to get my branding even passable.I have started clamping guide blocks in the right position before getting the iron hot so that if I pull it off and it isn't deep enough I can put it right back in the exact spot and hit it again. I have also gone too deep...that is a lot of sanding to fix

Looking really good.

Man,this topic and Demonx's are really giving me the bug to cut some wood

Reality check,guys...PaulieMC is a business man in a customer oriented business Most likely the solution is to shelf the existing body and neck,make sure the new specs are carved in stone with the customer,and start a new guitar.Then finish the existing guitar and add it to the lineup of already built guitars waiting for adoption...Who knows,after it's finished this customer may want it as well. I still think it's a strange change though

Gibson rules.Deal with it

Says you

They are still just as consistent and have the same quality or better of any other mass produced guitar.I've had everything from USA Jacksons to ESP to Ibanez to Gibson(and everything in between) and they ALL have serious QC issues... Gibson is still my favorite of the mass produced guitars.A good Gibson is a truly great guitar.

No,but if you put a pair of shoes in the bag,do poo is attracted to them.

Cool.Like I say though,the best method I have found is vacuum cleaner followed by compressed air...don't use it at more than about 60 psi or you can damage your work...I can't see 60 psi blowing back all that much unless you have your face buried in it. When I used to hurt myself doing stuff as a kid,my Grandpa never said "Don't do that",he just showed me how to do it with minimal risk,like moving your head out of the line of debris..I think people have gone soft since his day.

You should at least be wearing some sort of protective glasses when working with steel wool at all.I frequently skip the safety measures,but I don't blame the tools for the problems when I do. Obviously when you use compressed air to clean a guitar(which everyone here does),you don't put your face near areas that can blow back.I either turn the entire body away from me when blowing out cavities or if I have the guitar laying on a surface I use my hand to shield against blowback.Most wood dust can be just as bad in your eyes as steel wool.Oak is terrible(No I don't use that trash in my guitars,but I build other stuff too) Regardless of the things that can happen if you are careless,compressed air is still one of the most effective ways to clean off wood dust on your guitar,clean your sandpaper to get more use out of it,or get those stubborn pieces of steel wool out of the crevices they embed themselves in. A good vacuum cleaner works best to get the bulk off,but after that it takes compressed air or tedious cleaning with static cloths or similar to get the rest...and if you don't blow out all of the bridge holes,screw holes,under fret edges,etc. it will come out at the worst possible time and ruin your finishing work. You are better off not even using steel wool.It is too invasive.But you will have the same problems with wood dust if you don't clean it out. The magnet/bag thing is not going to be effective...I just mentioned the bag inside out thing as an improvement over shaking out a static-y bag.

It would be epic if you could find t&g pine and have it be several pieces

I googled pine snakehead and all I got were pics of pine snakes,so I still don't get it.

I don't know why everyone assumes people hate pine because of tone voodoo.We all know pine sounds just fine because almost all of us built out first practice guitar from it. The other considerations Rad mentions are why it isn't used much.I personally feel a Pine Explorer would be awesome because the huge body needs a lighter wood than mahogany IMO.I would use white pine though,not construction grade yellow unless it was REALLY old.Old enough to turn grey There is no conspiracy against pine,but every time it is used it comes up as if there is. I think the tele looks awesome.

I bought one of those headpieces,but I have not used it yet.Figured I would pair it with a roller TOM and tuners at the body end

That is just weird...who changes their mind about humbuckers vs singles?Two totally different sounds...

You mean,except for static built up in the bag? If you were to do that,it might be worthwhile to turn the bag inside out first so instead of trying to shake off all of the tiny steel pieces you just wrap them with the bag itself...like people do with dog poo.Of course steel wool embeds itself so deeply on the wood that a magnet isn't going to get it all.Compressed air works better,but it is still a chore. Or you could try synthetic steel wool pads.No steel in those.I don't use any of that on frets though. http://www.amazon.com/3M-10119NA-Steel-Wool-Grade/dp/B00004Z4AE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384517147&sr=8-1&keywords=synthetic+steel+wool I use those sometimes on more "natural" finishes.I use a dremel with polishing compounds to polish frets.BTW if you "put a magnet in steel wool to hold it together"(another gem from "Bob"),the magnet will scratch everything it scrapes across.

Have to correct an erroneous assertion made by Bob...Trying to correct all of these false assertions can be almost impossible,which is why we always suggest research so that you can make your own informed decisions. Plain straight grained Mahoganies of the "suitable for necks" variety average about $8-$9 BF...all over the United States..if someone tries to charge $30-$50 BF then you need to shop elsewhere unless it is a very unusual and ornamental piece. Sometimes to get good prices on wood you need to buy it at 12% moisture content or even higher and store it properly for a couple of years.Your average woodworker will have a revolving stash of lumber. If you try to find cherry at 8% moisture already cut and prepped for guitar blanks you will pay more than the same mahogany most likely.Comparing the price of 12% cherry lumber to 8% mahogany prepped blanks is not a proper comparison. Obviously,they have charts on most hardwoods that list neat little things like hardness,stability,workability,and how well it takes glue.These charts will tell you everything you need to know about woods you are unfamiliar with if you compare the stability and hardness to woods you know are proper for certain uses Sites like these can be quite handy,especially the last link http://www.highlandhardwoods.com/chart.html http://cfchardwoodfloors.com/wood-floor-stability-by-species/ http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/articles/view/pro/24/267

I really hate how tuning keys are so large...I am forever trying to get them as close together as I can without them hitting each other.Large headstocks just look strange to me.

Just out of the shower and it is still cold,so let's talk about some of the real mistakes that I didn't go into originally I'll start with the ones that made me scrap it originally 1) black glue lines.In my head I imagined a nice framework of black accents similar to black veneer...in reality not so much. 2) the biggie...bridge post on treble side.Bit drifted in the drill press and I had to refill and redrill.Very visible. 3)forgot to drill hole from neck pup to bridge pup before gluing neck...now that I think about it that is why I decided on a pick guard,because I had to make a control rout like a gibson V.Turns out I like the checkerplate though because it feels nice when picking. 4)Spanish Cedar neck lams...I really have serious doubts about that wood in necks after watching full boards of it twist every time the weather changes.All of the maple and the truss rod seems to be holding their own though. 5)Headstock too thin.Bandsaw blade wander.Nuff said I decided to finish it because it looked like a player and I wanted to experiment with the flatter neck profile Rad always talks about,plus having a new guitar prevents GAS. "Mistakes" that happened as a result of finishing as a player instead of a looker 1)that fretboard transition.originally I intended to rout that down to the headstock right at the start of the nut slot and make my own nut,but I had a Fender nylon nut sitting in the package and figured "why not,just a player?",so I left the preslotted nut shelf as it was. 2)Tung oil...finished it in tung oil.Hated how dirty it looked,so I sanded off most of the stuff,but it really soaked in at the end grain,so I said "screw it" and left the end grain color uneven.Then I finished over the top with wipe on poly.I prefilled the spanish cedar with CA so at least the tung oil didn't stain that.I am sure eventually the poly will start to peel because of the oil 3)Watched Grown Ups 2....well,that has nothing to do with the guitar,but it's bad enough I felt I should mention it 4)Left off truss rod cover.Don't need it on a workhorse,so why bother. 5) a side dot is out of line 6)I didn't polish the frets like I usually do...just sort of phoned that part in. I think that's it?Still happy I finished it because it sounds great and plays superbly...so no regrets.Normally I wouldn't have even posted a guitar like this,but I like it,so I wanted to show it off flaws and all....a good guitar is like a good girlfriend...you're proud of it in spite of(and sometimes because of) imperfections.

I should just say one thing about glue lines in case someone who doesn't know is reading this and gets the wrong idea about glue joints from "bob". Epoxy,which is the glue used on every glue joint in this guitar,often leaves a visible glue line in lighter colored woods.Wood glues are much less visible and are preferable for those lighter colored woods.They are also thinner in viscosity than the epoxy I used on this guitar(T 88) and so squeeze out is better,and full strength is reached with a thinner line of glue,making "wood glue" glue lines almost impossible to detect. Epoxy reaches full strength while leaving a small visible line.If you squeeze out with extreme clamp pressure until it is invisible then with epoxy you have successfully weakened the joint by starving it."More clamps and more pressure" are not the answer. Now,on this particular guitar I was striving for "decorative glue lines" (a daft idea as it turns out)and so I added black tint to the epoxy.It did not look as I intended so this guitar was actually headed for the scrap pile until I decided to finish it as a player for myself,but there is no "poor joint".The joint is even all the way around and would have to be measured in thousands of an inch...maybe 1/60 of a mm might be close?It is thicker than a hair on my head but not as thick as my beard hair. Now,in the case of this particular piece,the glue line will always be obvious in any case because the body is not bookmatched,it is "ripped and flipped",so the grain is almost exactly opposite from one side to the other.The original board was ripped diagonally,both pieces flipped,and joint at what were originally the outside edges to make a body of the correct dimensions from a piece that was originally 11" wide.This body is almost 16" point to point....so to reiterate,the 11" piece was cut diagonally,both pieces flipped,and joined at the former outside edges to create a V shaped chunk wide enough for this V body.This is why the flames are not bookmatched.If I had bookmatched this it would have only been thick enough for a top instead of the entire body. So when someone posts a guitar and says "I was not happy with this guitar,so I finished it even though there were a ton of mistakes and errors in planning",it is sort of bad form to say "Well,here are the mistakes you mention,I would have done it better",especially if your own work is terrible and you are pretending it is not...yes,Bob,I mean you.Those are the sorts of comments that make new builders hesitant to post on here with their imperfect,but still valid,projects BTW...the strat jack is intended to be mounted "proud of the body"(That IS the way it was designed)and it does not sit proud of the bevels.If it looks that way in the pics then it's just the angle of the camera...the "chamfers" are not uneven,that is just the chatoyance of the wood grain playing with the camera,And the nut fits the slot perfectly.The transition to the headstock is not aesthetically pleasing(as was already mentioned several times) because of trying to make this neck fit on the blank of wood without a scarf joint. Most of this goes without saying,but I am bored and waiting for the outside to warm up,so... Anyway.

Every time I think I have finishing whipped the next one kicks my ass.It's why I have been rubbing in my last few finishes,but I need to go back to hard finishes because they make a better finished product IMO....I am dreading it.

It's okay,I am sure he thought he was being clever.