unclej

i use the same inserts only larger for my homemade bridge doctors and get them at my local hardware store. not hard to find at all and easy to install. 'course toothpics are cheaper.

ok, you're just going to have to trust me on this. take a wooden toothpick..the large square kind. dip the tip into some wood glue, insert it into the screw hole in the neck and snap it over so that it breaks and leaves the tip in. then do it again..however many times it takes to fill the hole. take some sandpaper or an xacto knife and sand, cut any that's left protruding from the hole..repeat on each hole and let the glue set up..then screw on the neck. i promise.. it works.

that's a good start..in addition you're going to need some type of small fretting hammer if you're not going to seat them with a press. i use an old trim carpenter's hammer but you can get the double sided (brass and plastic) from stewmac as well. you'll need some way to pre- radius the fret wire. i use stewmac's plyers made for that purpose. you'll also need some kind of cutter. i got a pair from stewmac but bought my backups much cheaper at my local hardware store. then you're going to need a small file for dressing the ends. if you want to make sure the frets are level you'll need a radiusing block and some 4-500 grit sandpaper and a crowning file. lots of new toys, eh? good luck

Well, now we know for sure that you're not Eric Johnson. hell, everyone that was in my band could have told you that. and if you guys were planning on taking up a collection to get me something for christmas..a titanium trem block wasn't on my list..at all.

well thanks again for the trouble. like i said i had come accross it accidentally while looking for something else and couldn't remember how i got there.

i had a customer come in today with a squire that had a piece broken off of the trem block..it was where the whammy bar screws in so he wanted to replace it. i got out my allparts catalog and damned near choked when i saw that they actually offer a titanium block for the bargain price of $330.00. first let me say that i'm a huge fan of allparts. i recommend them all the time so this is in no way aimed at them. but what the hell could a titanium block do to the sound of a guitar that could possibly make it worth that much money? anyone ever owned one or played a guitar that had one?

yes sir..that's the one. thanks for the help. just out of curiosity what did you use to find it?

lk, while looking for something else the other day i came accross an old post of yours that showed a bass bleed circuit. now i'd like to play around with it and can't find it..the circuit that is. i tried several different keywords but stopped short of searching all 7369 of your posts. any idea where it went in two days? thanks

well damn..you make that sound like something i definitely need to try. here's one picture of what i was working on: i use these to make jewelry which i sell at a couple of stores here in town and that will be featured on the website i've been building..and i'm hoping that it will be up and running next week. here's a link to a couple more pics of things that i make and needed that finish for. My Webpage

ok..which one of you outlaws stoled my damned post? i did actually write something..don't know where it went. what i said was this: i don't know often this would come into play while building a guitar. Most of mine are hand rubbed oil but i have been trying for years to get a true satin finish on a lot of my other wood art. i've tried every brand of rattle can available to me here and the problem is that because most of my work is with "found" wood..wood on the ground, driftwood, etc...and i'm spraying end grain, soft spots, knot holes and such that it takes quite a few coats to get a consistent finish. when you spray satin or semi-gloss that many times it becomes glossy. today i tried something new..i bought a can of krylon matt finish that's used for ceramics and sealing water color and charcoal paintings. i sprayed it on several pieces...all made from different woods...until i got a good seal. then i shot one coat krylon satin and it worked perfectly. a nice low sheen finish. like i said, i don't know if this will ever help anyone here but after ten years of trying i had to brag a little.

allparts is still a good source. i buy them on a card of thirty at a time and they last quite a while. when i first started repairing guitars for a living i bought a bulk box of plastic ones and still have most of them so i'd definitely say go with the metal. if you're doing this for a living allparts does offer wholesale accounts. good luck

i'm sure if you're asking for end pins or bridge pins but you can get bulk of either a www.allparts.com

when i receive a shipment of new guitars quite often the fretoards will be dry and dull looking..especially the cheaper ones made overseas that have been shipped to my distributors. i condition them with plain old everyday mineral oil. it can be found in almost any grocery store and is actually sold as a laxative..there's probably a good joke there somewhere but i can't think of one i'd post here. anyway, mineral oil is cheap..i've been using the same 16oz bottle for probably four years and it's still 3/4 full. and i've treated every fretboard on every guitar that i've bought or worked on. it's an fda approved salad bowl finish, doesn't gum up, has a great shelf life and really makes a fretboard look good. just rub a little on with your fingers or a rag, let it soak for just a minute and then wipe it off. 'course if you really like that fruity smell you can always stick a small wedge of lemmon up your nose after you've treated your fretboard with mineral oil.

i'm going to add my two cents worth but first i have to say that i'm far from an expert. this is my first and only chambered or semi-hollow bodied build. and i built this entire guitar around the 1980 gibson t-bucker in the neck position. i wanted a blues/jazz sound and felt like the chambered body would help accomplish that. the body is walnut..not a wood known for it's mellow sound. the top is zebra wood. this piece was somewhat poreous. i left a solid stip 3.5" wide down the middle for the bridge and neck pocket then routed half way through (depth wise) between the pickups and below the bridge. i had an idea that a little air movement from one side to the other would help achieve the sound that i was looking for. the bridge pickup is an overwound di marzio of questionable parentage and somehow this guitar came out sounding just exactly like i wanted it to..very low and mid range...bluesey/jazzy. my point in all of this is that the end product..tone/volume/sustain, etc...is a result of many factors. pickups and how they're wired, body style, body wood density, neck wood and how it's attatched i suppose, nut material, type of bridge and probably some things that i'm forgetting. i got lucky..well luck and a fair idea of what it should sound like. go ahead and make your guitar with the fun of making it in mind. drop some les paulish pups into it and i'll bet it will sound real close. and if not who knows? you may come up with a sound all your own. good luck on your project

you should be able to cut your body with a jig saw as long as you take your time and have plenty of new, sharp blades...don't try to cut real close to your outline and again, take your time. jig saw blades, especially dull ones will warp with the heat of cutting a hard wood like ash and your will not cut straight thru. with new blades..and i'd use a rough cut blade..not a finish blade..you should be fine. good luck

I'm a big fan of simplicity and I've said this before...unless you're doing production work or just want to make a fret bender for the fun of making one then get yourself a pair of fret bending plyers from stewmac. you don't need to bend to any certain radius..just enough so that the ends of the frets seat first when you install them. that can be done in about 4 seconds with the plyers.

when i first decided to learn how to repair tube amps i bought an old superior instruments co. model tc-55 on ebay. over the last couple of years i've discovered some shortcomings..such as i couldn't test the el84/6bq5's out of the peavey bravo i've been working on. the spec sheet for the tester shows 6bq6 and 7 but not the 5 and i'm not knowledgeable enough yet to know if one of those settings will work on these tubes. anyway, i'd love some suggestions on another tester that will work on more tubes and won't break the bank completely. thanks

thanks for the offer but the first thing i did this morning was dig around until i found one new el84, popped it in and that fixed it so i just ordered a matched pair and that should take care of it. i really appreciate the help. john

thanks all.. mammoth's correct..no standby switch. thanks spazzyone...could be corrosion or something causing a weak ground i suppose. thanks again mikhailgtrski..i didn't get back to it today but i'll swap out the power tubes in the morning and let you know how smart you are.

Sounds like a power tube starting to fail, except now you've gone and ruled that out. actually i guess i didn't. i replaced the 12ax7's one at a time thinking it might be the one that controls the reverb and not knowing specifically which one it was. i didn't replace the power tubes so i'll try that in the morning. thanks.

the symptom: after this little peavey, a bravo 112, warms up it begins to make a sound like feedback only it isn't. it's a low pitch sound..approximtely a low g on a guitar. it does it with all the volume knobs tuned down. it's volume can be controlled only with the reverb control knob and once it starts it increases in volume by itself until it's too loud to stand. it does not seem to start on it's own but after a few minutes of warming up it will start once i pluck a string on the guitar. i know it's not feedback because once it starts it continues even after i unplug the guitar. troubleshooting so far: i've checked the electrolytics and replaced all of the tubes one at a time with known good ones to no avail. i've tested and cleaned all of the control pots and they seem to be functioning properley. before i started checking resistors and such i thought i'd see if one of you might have experienced the same thing and whether or not you think it could be a symptom of a bad reverb can. personally i'm still betting on a poltergeist. thanks for any help. john

nope..that won't work..satin isn't flat. satin has less gloss than high gloss but with two or three coats it will build up a gloss finish. just look for paint that says flat and then follow the directions.. good luck

let's see if i've got this right..the curve that you put into it is better than the one that you took out but it's original before the hypotenuse of the carberator ballbearings were broke..

thank you sir..it must be the old age..the thought never entered my mind that it might use a steeo jack since the jack wasn't in the sack of parts. i'll give that a try. john

a local musician just brought me a '70's gibson marauder project that has been in his closet for 20+ years. he had a solid brass pick guard made for it and took all of the electronics off of the original one and then threw everything into a bag and lost interest. anyway..everything works..pups, pots, selection switch but it's got an active component that i'm curious about. it seems to be an add-on and is probably a volume boost or an effect of some sort. so i'd like to know if anyone recognizes it and can tell me what it is. (my customer is unavailable) the other thing that i'd like to ask is about the wiring..a simple one this time. if you look at the hand drawn schematic you'll see two wires with question marks at the end of them..i suppose that when he disassembled everything they may have been disconnected or came disconnected and he didn't know where they went. one runs off of the battery connector and the other from the ground side of the tone pot. do they just tie together? thanks john link to pics: My Webpage