Gregory

Hi,

I just started building an acoustic a few weeks ago and I got everything through lmii.com's kit wizard. It was nice because it had a list of everything that you need there, plus you get a good discount if you buy everything together (turned out to be be like 40 hours of my summer job but the wood looks great... and it seems better than stewmac)

Oh yeah and just off the top of my head you forgot tuning machines, finishing stuff, neck bolts (if you plan to go that road), binding/purfling, rosette (or you could use binding for that)

good luck!

when was it made?

lots of times the labels inside are wrong, back in the day, violin makers would make up a date so the violin would seem older then it really is. I've played violin for 8 years and I just got a fullsize violin about 4 months ago. it was pretty old but the makers had made it seem even older by making fake cracks and leaving the finish out in the sun so it would get messed up looking and rubbing rosin into the finish in the bridge area. I don't particulary like the effect but it was the one I had available and its really bad for a violin to refinish it.

Yes,

Lets keep in mind that you asked

Could a beginner like me build a set or bolt on neck?

No, they are Marples,

I remember because we have a set of a few of them

Before you all think costco is so bad you should check out their stuff, its all real brands, they have dremel, delta, dewalt etc...

You think the deal there is good? Check Costco, there is a set of like 10? and a mallet for a ridiculously low price (can't remember at the moment)

Here's a head on picture

The lightings not so good though

What did you seal it with? It looks pretty glossy.

I didn't seal it so it has faint grain lines, but hey its a peice of wood not a piece of plastic so I don't really mind. It buffed out pretty well.

I've been really busy so this guitar has taken a really long time but...

Its almost finished! Overall I love how it turned out!

Tell me what you think

One thing though, how precise do the nut slot widths have to be? I cut teeth into a feeler gauge then checked the kerf in a piece of scrap and the slot was bigger than the feeler gauge size.

I just test fitted my pickups and the wires for the pickup don't reach but a little intor the control cavity.

They come down through the channel between the routs for the pickups (i'm not using a pickguard and get to the control cavity and only extend 1/4" into the cavity, how can I make the wire longer so it can reach the rest of the control cavity.

They are 6-in line and they all have the same height so I'm kindof lost. There are 2 of each number of lines (2 ones with 2 lines. 2 with 3 and 2 with 4)

They came off a Highway 1 strat if that helps

There are lines on my fender tuning machines (on the side facing the wood.)

On two of them their are 2 lines

On two others there are 3 lines

and on two others there are 4 lines

What do these mean? (I'm guessing they have something to do with positioning)

They are circled in red

I thought that grainfiller stopped the dye from soaking in

I'll probably go for the "wood" feel,

And there are tons of topics about NOT staining ash! I only saw one, the green V that turn out kinda OK, but I have always being recomended to spray the stain or to use a translucent color.

For a my first ever, I don't think it looks that bad?

So now I need to grainfill it right?

then spray clear?

How bad is an unfilled surface?

"Looks like a burst. Did you wipe on your burst?"

yeah I did

It was fun thing and I didn't have to mess around with spray equipment

But it makes it look a little more "Home Made"

I just dyed my guitar

sure the ash made it a little blotchy but hey Its not that bad.

Lets here what yall have to say.

I'm a perfectionist so I sanded all the epoxy off,

Then I sanded everything to 600 grit

I would dye it today but roads were really slick and we ran out of denatured alcohal

I guess I just put in enough dye till the color looks right?

How much dye do I need for a whole guitar?

What does taper mean?? I always hear, taper the fretboard, neck, etc. Sorry for the dumb Q

I mean that the neck pocket is tapered to fit the neck, not truely square.

from the guitar reranch site On Dyes I got the impression that I could use my alcohal based dyes over the sealed wood.

Water based dyes can only be applied to unfinished and unsealed wood whereas alcohol based dyes can be either wiped onto unfinished wood or sprayed over filled and sealed wood. Water based dyes cannot be successfully sprayed over sealed wood.

I just grainfilled it with epoxy, so when I sand the epoxy, how do I know when to stop.

Also, how many clearcoats should I do before doing the dye

Should I : tint deft brushon laquer with alchohal based anilyne dye? or use the dye directly thinned with alcohal?

wow that laminate looks awesome,

what are you going to use for a finish.

Good idea for a body shape too

I desoldered all of the components from a prewired pickguard I got from ebay

But I realized, wait I don't know what to do with the first two tabs on the "bottom side" of the switch if you are looking at it from the side where all the tabs are, because as you'll see if you scroll up to my first schematic, I'm not using the tone controls. My guess is that they go to the ground, but I'd hate to have to go back in there with my questionable soldering skills

Thanks in advance

Dave, I've always been a fan of your Stain work, like the one that Perry did that got GOTM too. Is there a possibility, and I know that this is asking for a lot of work, to make a video clip of the process, even if it's on a small piece of scrap, or on your next guitar? I got the concept, but I really don't have the hang of it.

BTW, I just saw the link to your neck profiler (back) and I think that I'm sold on it for my 1st neck, great tut.

I could do something like that. I have a little recording feature on my camera that might work out. I am going to do the next guitar in a couple of weeks but if I get inspired I'll grab some scrap and do it sooner.

That would be awesome. Can't wait to see it

do you usually have tone on or off? if you want the tone on full (like i will do when i do my new schematic) then you need to add a fixed resistor where the tone pots would be, otherwise you wil have NO tonal capbilities biggrin.gif although i guess the tone pots bOOST tone though so maybe itll be ok like that

I thought that a tone pot reduced treble with a capacitator so without a pot no tone would be lost

I realized I named this topic wrong, (no tone control)

would this work

This is my first wiring job and I decided not to have a tone because I never have used them and I've heard they take away from tone and less chances to screw up and I want the guitar to look simple

BTW, I should ground it to the bridge right?

I got a Black and decker dremel copy (from costco) for christmas and now whenever I use it the bit stays in until I turn it off but somehow it loosens up and falls out as soon as soon as I turn the thing off. Does anyone know how to fix this because I don't know if costco will take it back.

I'm done sanding so now I want to finish it. I'm going to dye it red. So what should the finishing order be?

Is this right?

1.epoxy grainfiller

2. clear coat a few times with deft spray

3. tint deft brushon laquer with alchohal based anilyne dye? or use the dye directly

4. clear coat many more coats

I'll get photobucket but all the pics are at my website