AlGeeEater

It's not much of a contest if we're in the same boat now is it? Chris

Drak, I think you took my post out of proportion. I wasn't attacking you or anything, just asking for some suggestions I guess. I was just asking for a set of possible rules/regulations or possibly even suggestions that you think MIGHT help this get off the ground, ya know. There's been a lot of posts, and you've contributed your fair share over the few pages. It might just make an easier reference. I was reffering to Mr. Litch. Yeah, it was your idea BUT he seemed to have taken the bull by the horn on the thing. After all, he did do some sort of carriburst yeah? I don't really remember it though, it was a while ago. My browser crashes after this, so I can't answer the rest of your questions in quotes though. Honestly, I just want to build some guitars for fun. I mean besides doing it because you enjoy it, why should you do it at all? I'm really crap at organizing things like this, so I don't have any suggestions to help get a backbone. I just want to build. Chris

+1 The angle grinder is a good investment to make, it's a really versatile tool. Once you get the hang of it, you can carve tops, AANJ's, forearm contours, belly countours, etc, etc. I'd highly recommend getting a GOOD one though, such as Dewalt (what I have) or a Milwaukee. Buy some 40 and 60 grit sanding flaps, and you're set. Chris

Drak, do you have any suggestions for rules or any ways to make this different from a GOTM? If you already posted them, then sorry i'll have to look around. This sounds a lot more solid than the Carriburst though, maybe it was the leader, who shall remain nameless, who let it fall through. With some suggestions this could possibly get off the ground. Wasn't there an idea thread for this thread? Chris

Just to clarify what I mean by archtop. Benedetto Guitars So, it looks like it's me vs. Rich eh? Chris

[quote name='Rick500' post='305260' date='Dec 18 2006, 10:19 AM'] Oops... don't click on that Taylor factory tour link from work. It goes to an adult site. [/quote] Well there's a pleasant suprise at 3 in the morning. Chris

I have a question, are archtop guitars out of the question? I'm hoping to build two in early 2007, then maybe a few more during summer time. I'd be glad to add some 'variety' to this. Plus, it would give me a good excuse to start it. I just don't know about funds, yet. Chris

I'm in too!! 1. Strat (I already have the neck blank, fretboard, & truss rod for a Strat i want to build. It's BEGGING for an excuse to be built ) 2. Telecaster 3. Les Paul I have a set of Grover 3x3 locking tuners i'd be glad to chip in. I've also got some misc. stuff, if anybody is interested i'll gather them and post 'em. As for judges, how about Setch, Wes, David Myka & Maiden? Chris

Well, this just got real interesting.

I like the waterbased Stew-Mac stuff because I can cure it REALLy fast in the heatbox, it sands real well but it takes forever to fill mahogany. I can usually fill mahogany in 2 hours doing coats every 30 minutes. Chris

You can only cure Nitrocellulose lacquer with a UV setup if the Nitrocellulose is UV curable. You can, however, cure nitro with Infrared Heat (using a heat lamp) like I do. Do a search for 'Infrared' here in the finishing section, there's a couple of really good threads with loads of info for you. Chris

Didn't really do as much as I wanted to today, but that's ok. I routed out for the truss rod, installed it and really quick start the tenon. Sorry about the pencil, I realized I left it on the neck after I took the pictures, oh well. By tomr, I should have the neck fitted (tenon done) and fretboard glued on. Then from there on it's a lot of measuring, theorizing and thinking. Chris

Those offer unsanded maple tops, which is why it looks like a flame sorta pattern on the top. I don't know, I think they're horribley ugly, but then again i'd probaly never buy a Gibson either way. Chris

Godin, I set up a fence on my workmate basically, it's been working great for me. Now, the reason I usually wait until AFTER I taper the neck because it allows me to find the exact center of the neck, and then I go from there. I'll take my digital calipers and measure where the two anchors will go, divide it by 2 and mark the exact centers. Then I take the truss rod, mark where the anchors will go (directly over the center of the neck), set the fence up and go from there. I could easily do it on the router table too, but I like to be extra certain the truss rod is dead center. Pet peeve I guess. I uploaded a picture just incase you didn't understand my explanation. Chris

Hey John, the Les Paul looks amazing, I can only hope the one i'm building right now will turn out half as good as yours. Chris

Just a few shots of the neck cleaned up for the most part. Except around the tenon part, but that doesnt really matter. This afternoon i'm going to be routing the truss rod channel, installing the truss rod and gluing on the fretboard hopefully. Chris

Yeah, I do the same thing as Jon. If you let the glue 'tack' for 5 or 10 minutes you can usually clamp it without it going crazy. I also put on all the clamps loose before I applied any pressure on it, then started clamping down everything slowly. If you flip the whole thing over, you don't have to worry about slipping. Also, if you can see the spool clamp that clamps the headstock to the table, the edge hangs over so it stops the neck from sliding. I'll see if I can get a picture to explain it better. Chris

OK, here we go again since the other neck I built for this seemed to have just broke one day. Gluing up the scarf joint here, 15 degree angle. Another view of how I glue them up, it works awesome! Side view. You can also flip the way I do it and have it work just as well. Here's a side view of the scarf joint after I bandsawed the initial neck shape out. Stressing the importance of having good surface prep before gluing (flat, well sanded & clean surfaces). Also, it's basically seemless aside from the intersecting grain. Just a shot of the whole neck after bandsawing. I left a little bit more material around the headstock area as I wasnt sure at the time if I drew the headstock inline with the rest of the neck. I also left a bunch of material at the tenon end of the neck for the heel I had to glue on. Gluing on the neck heel. Got enough clamps? That's all for tonight. I'm sorry about the poor lighting in most of the pictures, I was halfway through installing new lights when I just gave up on that and started working on this. Tomr. I plan on cleaning up the neck profile, routing & installing the truss rod and possibly gluing on the fretboard. Also, althought it seems like i'm going backwards (i've built 3 necks for this already) I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not there yet, but it's a good feeling to know that I will finish this (in under a year I hope ). Chris

You can rebuff it as long as you know the clear coat is thick enough to not be sanded through or anything. I've rebuffed a few guitars when I firsted started spraying finishes because the same thing happened. I know use a heatbox and that eliminates A LOT of shrinkback/cure problems. Chris

Don't worry, i've got it all figured out, I hope. Actually, I still have room to angle the mortise if I wanted to, and I may as well just end up doing that instead of recessing the bridge, I still don't know yet. I guess I should get working on this again eh? Chris

Mr. Drak, you're frigging ridiculous.

They're awesome! I'm a huge supporter of them, the templates Ronny supplies are great. Really worth the money. You can check out my LP build & Tele build, I used the templates from him. Chris

That's why I asked. Chris

Sweet! It's nice how a simple strat shape can look so different. Howd you do the roundover on the top, router bit? What size? Is the top glued on yet? Looks like there's a minor gap in the bookmatch. If it's glued on, you wouldnt mind explaining how you're going to fix? Chris

I personally like 15, 17 is what Gibson LP headstock angles are. Then again it depends on my mood, sometimes i like 10, sometimes 13, sometimes 9. Chris