charlleyw

I bought my son a Les Paul double cutaway for his birthday (two weeks ago) for $600 from ebay. The Fender Pro Tone series is also a great (used guitar) value. They're Korean Squires that were made to Professional standards, and only produced for a few years. you can pick them up for a song ($200-$400) and they're GREAT. Extremely well made, choice woods, great pickups. The Fender Highway 1 series retails for about $600 as does the Gibson Faded series. I bought an Epiphone Dot (es-335 copy) for $335 just before Christmas, and it was a great guitar too! (Sold it to help pay for the Les Paul.) the only problem with the Epiphones is the resale value. By the way, the new Lite Ash Telecasters are fantastic! I found one (new) for $485. There are lots of great guitars in your price range! Have fun! (BTW, there are two Blueshawks on ebay now. I'm looking for one myself. They'll probagbly go for about $500. . .)

I have several Fender pickups that I've taken off guitars over the past few years. Rather than sell them cheap on Ebay I'd like to take a shot at re-winding them. Where can I get the wire? And has anyone out there tried hand re-winding?

Thanks for the clarification! Can you get the parts at a radio shack? (The last time I bought a Torres kit I ended up with the distinct feeling that it was more the knowlege than the materials I paid for. . . $15 for about three bucks worth of parts and a smack on the head and a "duh. I should have figured that out. . .) Their currently offered kit costs $15.95, which means the parts are wort. . . three or four dollars. . . ? Torres varitone kit Anyway I've wanted to build one for a while. I found this site while I was looking for one (Big D's) Anybody have any experience with putting one on a Strat? (Mutters of sacrilege. . . thumbscrews at the ready. . .) And by the way. . . THIS SITE IS THE GREATEST!!!!!!!

Unless you've figured out a way to have sex with a guitar. . . get the ring.

Excuse me. . . . JIMI HENDRIX!!!!!!!!!??????

You can always scope out antique shops and yard sales for hand tools. A lot of times you'll find great old planes that just need a little TLC. A lot of times they're better made than modern tools and cheaper too!

A varitone is actually a rotary switch where each setting sends the signal through a different value capacitor. (Therefore "bleeding" a different amount of treeble.) I've been planning to have a go at making one. Anybody ever completed one?

There's an article on how higher value pots work atTorres Engineering I hope that URL copied correctly. . .

I put a couple of gold lace in the neck and middle positions in my Highway 1 and they sound great, if a bit clean. Does anyone have anything to say about the fender noisless pickups? I honestly don't know anyone who uses them.

What we were taught to do, (as I recall) was fill divots, fret slots and the like with rosewood dust, then drop in Crazy Glue. (I think it's referred to in this forum as CA?) Make sure to clean the board or slot with fine sandpaper first. Then set the glue with CA accellerator or baking soda. If you use soda the surface will look dull and rough, but it will finish nicely. Scrape the eccess off with a single ege razor blade. You can actually fill quite a large divot or slot like this. (Be careful to center the fret in the slot.) As far as hammering frets in, I think the slot should be wide enough that the fret presses (or hammers) in easily. If the slot is too narrow the tang will wedge the board and eventually start backbending the neck. Some people actually grind the barbs off the tang so that the fret just drops in. At any rate, make sure to bend the fret close to the radius of the board. press or hammer, or drop it in, then hold it in place with a clamping caul and use a drop of CA to seat it. Be sure to use masking tape to protect the side of the neck. The baking soda or accellerator will hold it in place as soon as you use it. The advantage of doing it this way is that you can adjust the fret until it's exactly in place before seating it. If you pound it in with a hammer or press, you risk having to tear it out if you make a mistake. This is how I was taught to do it way back when at The Apprentice Shop in Spring Hill Tn where I took a guitar repair course. (They're the Gibson "factory repair" shop.) I haven't worked as a repairman, just on my own guitars, but this method has worked well for me. Good luck!

Years ago there was a product available called padding lacquer. It was a rub on lacquer used for spot finish repairs. I haven't seen it in years, and think it went off the market because of environmental concerns. Anyone know how to get or make it? (. . . before I go digging in my woodworking books for a recipe. . ) And has anyone used it to finish a whole guitar? Also, does anyone know the details of the cheap finishes Gibson and Fender are using now on the "Faded" and "Highway 1" guitars? A Fender rep told me that they were dipped (thus getting around the regulations involving spraying lacquer in the US) and making the instruments much cheaper to produce. The resulting finish is paper thin and extremely delicate. (They claim they intend them to "relic" quickly) but they sound GREAT. I've heard that they can be buffed to a high gloss. . .? Anyone got any thoughts on this?

The oil finish used by woodworkers for hundreds of years is linseed oil cut with turpentine or mineral spirits. I've used it on furniture before but never on guitars, but I can't see why it wouldn't work. It's cheap and easily obtained (you can get it at any paint or hardware store.) It is, however kind of sticky, and doesn't smell as good as lemon or teak oil. The thing to remember with any hand rubbed oil finish is that each coat of oil should be left to oxidize for 24 hours before you add another. (At least that's how it's done on furniture.) And it HAS to be in a reasonably warm temperature or it will NOT cure. The reason the replacement neck companies like Warmouth won't warranty anything with an oil finish is that most people don't apply enough coats. (Who wants to work on finishing a neck for thirty days?) But in the old days before spray guns and poly finishes hand rubbed oil finishes were used to waterproof bar tops and the like, and they can develop a high gloss almost like lacquer. God, I am just a font of useless information. . .

Many many many MANY thanks! What I meant to say was that when I originally got the guitar it had a vintage fender radius (9.5 I think.) I re-radiused it to 12, but being inexperienced I took off too much wood. As someone suggested, I'm going to pull the frets and look at the condition of the board before I proceed. I may just live with the divots, or fill them with rosewood dust and glue. (Damn, why didn't I think of that before. . . ? In fact. . . hell that's what I will do! forget lifting the fingerboard!) Man, this forum is great! It's making me think of things I forgot years ago! (I took a guitar repair course and promptly forgot it all. . .) Thanks all! Charlley

OK, so it's time for me to refret my 62 custom shop strat reissue. I don't want to put on a replacement neck (permanantly.) The first time I re-fretted was right after I got the guitar 17 years ago. (I needed to flatten out the 9.5 inch radius to accomodate my string bending.) I managed to get it done, but I took off so much of the rosewood that now the board is too thin to take another re-planing. How do I remove the old fretboard without destroying the neck? I'd rather just lift it off and not plane it down (although I suppose I could do that.) I know that I need to heat the board to loosen the glue and get a knife under it. What's the best way to do that without scortching the neck? Heat gun? Heat lamps? and what do I use to protect the headstock and sides? Way back when I went to guitar repair school they used chunks of asbestos, but you can't get them anymore. would removing the frets first be advisable? Any advice would be appreciated. Charlley