SawDust_Junkie

The Grizzly catalog I just received shows the tang width at .022" and the barb width at .041", so I with .023" slots I don't think there would any issue with that. Soapbar, I know what you mean about getting the best deal buying by the pound, its just kind of hard to justify it when you're just a hobby builder and not building to sell. I'm luck if I'm able to put together one guitar in a years time

Anybody here ever use the Grizzly fretwire ? I am getting ready to place an order, and I was going to go with the Allparts LT-0890-000 wire, but it's $4.00 for one 2' piece. the Grizzly wire is $7.95 for a pack of 10 18" pieces. The two wires are comparable in dimensions, except for the height of the frets. The Allparts wire has a height of .045" and the Grizzly wire has a height of .035". the crown width, tang depth, and tooth width are all within .001" - .003" of each other. I prefer the extra heigth on wire for an initial fretting so I have plenty of room for leveling, but I don't think .010" less heigth will give me any major problems. The main thing is cost. I can get enough wire to fret three guitars with the Grizzly wire. The same amount of wire from allparts would be more than $28.00. I just don't know about the quality of the Grizzly wire. Actually, I have never used the Allparts wire either. I have only used Stewart-Mac wire on one previous guitar. Any comments guys ? ( and gals) (on edit) Actually after looking at the Stewart Mac fret wire again, I think I really do need to stick with the higher profile wire, especially since this is going to be a new fret installation. That and the fact that I am not an exceptionally skilled fret leveler yet. The extra height gives me more room for screw-ups. I just wish there was somewere that I could get the same size wire as the Stewart Mac wire at a comparable price to the Grizzly wire.

mattia, I tried to copy th elink to the actual page where the planer attachment is shown, but the link won't copy. You have to go to the link I provided and then click on the link for attachments. If I recall correctly, I stated in my original post, that I could not vouch for the quality or performance of this tool. It was simply something I was throwing out there and offering as an option. For a one time use which the orignal poster of this thead stated he was interested in, I thought it might work for him. While I agree that a Dremel would not have nearly enough muscle to "plane' a body blank, Looking at the description of this tool, I see that they state 35,000 rpm, which is comparable to most routers. I would think that it might work for simply jointing the edges of a body blank for gluing.

I have not used nor seen this tool used, but Dremel does have a new attachment for the Dremel 400 series XPR tool that does planing/jointing. As I said, I do not know the quality or performance of this tool, but if you already have the 400 series XPR dremel tool, the attachment is only about $20.00 at Lowe's I think. If you don't have this series of Dremel tool, the 400 series XPR tool with attachment runs about $100.00 I think. That might be a cheaper alternative for you, and would have the added benefit of a tool with multiple uses after your initial need is satisfied. Here's a link to some information: http://www.dremel.com/HTML/home_fr.html http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...4/55&lpage=none

Quite a few months back, soapbarstrat posted a tutorial about making a luthier's "multi-tool" I think he called it. What is was was basically a small cabinet hinge mounted to a long threaded rod with a handle, used to hold a thickness gauge. (or a feeler gauge you know, those thing you use to set the gap on a spark plug).The gauge was held in the hinge with a screw and wingnut. He would wrap like 320 grit sandpaper aroung the gauge and then secure it in the hinge and use that tool to slot the nut. What you have to remember is the thickness of the sandpaper has to be taken into consideration along with the thickness of the feeler gauge. I believe we came to the conclusion that 320 grit sandpaper averaged about .010". So. if you wanted a slot that .045" you would use a .025" feeler gauge and with the thickness of the sandpaper at .010" on each side of the gauge, you have a total thickness of .045". Here is a link to the original thread, but for some reason, soapbarstrat deleted all of his entries. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...topic=12544&hl= (on edit, Damn, I should really start reading the entire post before I reply. This is exactly what you stated you were already thinking about doing )

From what I can see in the pictures, there must be holes in the bottom plate below the saddles for the string-through. I assume the saddles are just adjusted forward to where you can't see them in the pictures. What I don't see are any mounting holes in the bottom plate of the bridge for mounting the old sustain block from the original tremolo bridge. I would think this would have some effect on the sustain and therefore tone qualities of this bridge versus the original tremolo bridge, no ? (on edit, I see what what gorecki was talking about. This is a rear fed bridge and not a string through)

That's an interesting idea that I had not thoght of GBT. But I'm not sure what color I would paint the sides and back if I did that. I mean, what color would go along with the scheme of the butcher block top ?

Ba dum bum ! Thanks folks he'll be here all week I appreciate your input skibum. I know what you mean about the carve being abrupt, as I said in and earlier reply it still looks a little "fat" to me too. I do plan on doing a little more shaping before I am through. Also, as I said earlier, there are some blemishes in the wood, as it was created from firewood. I will decide how it looks after I do the grain filling and then make up my mind whether to spray it with a clear coat of laquer or go ahead and spray a solid color. I am thinking about a maroon or wine color like vankirk had mentioned. I have always been partial to that color, and it would match my wife's set of Ludwig drums ! On another note, the Mahogany I used for the neck is a very light color. I would prefer it be a little darker when finished. Can anyone tell me, will the wood "darken" noticably with the application of grain filler and clear laquer ? Or should I use some Mahogany stain to get a deeper Mahogany tint ?

Thanks mull ! And especially you Matt ! Coming from someone of your skill, I take your words as a compliment. I know what you mean mull, about taking more wood. I feel like the shape is still a bit "fat" if you will. It doesn't quite have the gentle slope of a real Gibson yet. One concern I have about that though is the relationship between the face of the carve where it curves downward and the depth of the control cavity. I didn't want to take a chance of carving too severe and intersecting that cavity. As it is right now, the holes for the pots and the three-way switch have about 5/16" of wood left. I am thinking about leaving it as is and using a forstner bit to drill on the inside of the control cavity, to get the wood thickness to the depth required for the pots and switch. The pots won't be a problem, but the switch I currently have is an offset three-way like Gibson uses on their SGs. Its made for a shallow cavity, so the threaded part of the shaft of the switch is only about 3/16" deep. the pots have 3/8" on the threaded part f the shaft. I have also seen a three-way switch that Grizzly sells that has about the same 3/8" threaded shaft like the pots. I think I will get one of those and use the forstner bit method I spoke of.

Thanks for your coments Nitefly. I know what you mean about the "cutting board" look. That is why I have not decided yet whether to finish it natural or paint it. Sometimes when I look at it, I think the mix off woods looks really nice, but there are some blemishes that turn me off too. With a solid color finish, that would be taken care of.

Wow, I can't believe it. 114 views, and no one has any comments ? No, "Man, that thing sucks !" Or, "Boy, we can sure tell its only your second build !" Maybe even a "Nice job, but I have a few critiques." I guess its still the holidays, and not many people are posting, but I thought I would have gotten one reply by now. I don't mean to be sensitve, but I was just hoping for some feedback on how my project is going, since it has been on hold for so long. And don't worry about being critical. I don't think anyone here could find any flaws or problems that I haven't already noticed myself. I tend to be my most severe critic usually.

I finally got those progress pics postd ZoSo. You can check out my thread here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=21011

Finally, I've made some progress on my practice project ! I know I've been promising progress pics for months now, but I've been waiting to get a new router. The cheap Harbor Freight one died on me soon after I began this project. Well, I finally got a new Bosch 2 1/4 HP fixed/plunge combo set for Christmas, and I have now been able to advance on my project. Nobody probably remembers, so I will refresh your memories. I wanted to try my hand at my first carve top, set neck guitar ( only my second build overall also). I chose a Gibson LP double cut away for this project. I did not want to spend tons of money on Mahogany and Flamed Maple, only to ruin it due to inexperience. So, I tried to think how I could come up with wood cheaply. I have a large pile of very seasoned White Oak firewood in my back yard. By seasoned, I mean this wood has been sitting out there for about 5 years. I started cutting the wood up on my table saw, but soon determined that I could not get anything more useful out of it besides some pieces about 20" x 1" x 1 1/2". I have a friend at work who had a Mahogany plank that he had bought with hopes of making a banjo ring, but he gave up. So, he sold me the plank real cheap. I set about making a laminated body blank much like a cutting board for your kitchen. I used this as the top for my body blank and bought some 4/4 White Oak at a local Woodcraft store. The 4/4 White Oak was also laminated in three pieces to create the back for my body blank. I also chambered the Oak and Mahogany top of the body blank to reduce the weight before gluing the top and bottoms together. As seen here: http://home.mindspring.com/~ed5/Project/IMAG0186.JPG http://home.mindspring.com/~ed5/Project/IMAG0183.JPG The neck blank was also a laminate made of Mahogay and White Oak to keep up with the theme of the guitar. I have a shot of the neck with the truss rod channel routed and the scarf joint and head stock cut and glued, and the tenon cut, here: http://home.earthlink.net/~ed5ds/Project/IMAG0257.JPG the rest of my project pics can be viewed here: http://home.earthlink.net/~ed5ds/Project/ Let me know what you guys think. Remember, this is my first carve top and set-neck, and scarf joint. Like I said before, this is a practice project to hone my skills some before attempting these techniques with good woods. Keep in mind that this body is far from being "final" sanded. This is just a rough sanding at 50 grit paper. I also wet the body to show the grain of the wood better. As this wood is basically "scrap", I haven't decided yet whether I will finish this natural or paint it to cover some the blemishes in the wood. There are also a couple of pics of he fretboard. This is my first attempt at slotting a fretboard by hand too. I got the Rosewood at my local Woodcraft shop. The blank was 24" x 3" x 1/2". I had them resaw it for me to give two blanks at 24" x 3" x 3/16" each. I made up a jig on a cheap router table that I have to square the saw, and slotted the fretboard with a Japanese pull saw. I plan to inlay it with the Abalone block inlays from Grizzly.

Anyone of you guys ever used the Grizzly tuners ? The ones I am talking about are the Grizzly guitar heads, model H5632, (which come in 3 x 3 sets) not the Grizzly electric guitar heads. These sell for $19.95 per set. I just found out that my son or one of his friends has broken two of the tuners on my Takamine. The ones on the Takamine look to be the same design as the Grizzly tuners or Schalers or Gotohs etc.. I have just never heard anything about the quality of the Grizzly tuners, but for $20.00 a set, I thought they might be worth trying out to see how they do.

Used my new Bosch router this week. Man, I love it ! It's amazing the difference good tools can make. I am really pleased with this router. I was finally able to make some progress on the project I have been working on for months. I got the neck tenon and truss rod channel routed on two neck blanks, and the mortise in the body routed over the past week. Like I said, it's amazing the difference good tools can make ! Oh, by the way, my project is a LP double cut-away. The body is Oak and Mohogany, with a neck of Oak and Mahogany also. My son is home from college and I have access to his didgital camera for a couple of weeks, so I will try to post some progress pics this week, to let everyone see what I have been working on.

Thorn, I just bought that exact router this morning at the local Lowes store. The Bosch 1617EVSPK. The router came with an accessory pack that incudes an edge guide, a couple of template guides, and a dust collection hood, and a molded case. The whole package was $235.00 tax and all. This was an early Christmas present. I haven't gotten it all out yet, but it looks like a great deal, and I am glad to see a recommendation here from another member. I can't wait to try it out ! I looked at the Porter-Cable 2 1/4 horse, fixed/plunge model and also the DeWalt 2 1/4 horse fixed/plunge model that someone on this thread mentioned. I liked both of them too, but the DeWalt was $239.00 before tax, and the Porter-Cable was $249.00 befre tax. Neither the PC or the DeWalt had the accessory kit, so I figured the Bosch was the better buy.

I don't think you need to worry about "hiding" the neck angle at all. The neck angle is used to compensate for the height of TOM type bridges. The neck angle really doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the top of the guitar is carved. Even on a carved top LP, the area where the bridge sets is not carved and is in line with the angle of the neck. Anybody feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Hey Jay, did you hook up with Gadow guitars over in Durham ? Or are you working at Zion guitars in Raleigh ? Or is there another company around here building guitars that I don't know about ? I actually went over and met the guys at Gadow guitars in Durham. They ran an ad for a full time assistant a couple of months ago. But I wasn't able to commit to it full time, so they weren't very interested in talking to me. I think they are starting to move some merchandise and they were looking to ramp up their production to meet the demand.

Actually, when I mixed the Titebond with the Rosewood dust, the paste was lighter than the Rosewood, but it dried to the same color as the Rosewood.

On my first build, I had a small gap in about a 1"portion of the joint between the Rosewood fretboard and the Maple neck. I mixed some of the Rosewood dust and just regular Titebond glue to make a "filler paste", and I was very pleased with the results of that. After applying the glue, letting it cure for several days, and sanding, you can't tell that small little gap was ever there. You might want to try some experimenting on scrap wood and see if that would work for you. The only inlaying I have done so far is simple 1/4" Abalone dots and I used a Forstner bit to drill those holes and there was no gap at all, so I am not one to give reliable advice of inlay methods.

Andrew... you still don't have the humbucker cad drawings posted....

I've seen those switches in the Grizzly catalog too. I was thinking about buying one for a project I am working on. The main reason was the Allparts switch I already have only has about 3/16" on the shaft between the nut and the base plate, and that is only threading the nut on the shaft a couple of turns. This means the wood in the control cavity of the body will have be routed down to that thickness for me to use that switch. The Grizzly switches appear to have a longer shaft (at least in the catlog they do),which would allow me to leave the wood at the bottom of the control cavity thicker, but Grizzly does not list the shaft length on their switches in the catalog, so I am only guessing. I was wondering bbcg, if you can confirm what the shaft length on those Grizzly three-way switches is for me ?

Very nicely done JFC ! I like the color. It's unusual but not outlandish. Nice job with the inlayed logo on the peghead too. Very clean and elegant.

The humbucker route. Also did I read the site correctly ? Is the price $58.00 (US) each for the humbucker pickups with shipping to the US ?

I wanted to look at the .jpg drawing on your site for routing the pick-up cavities, but the link doesn't work. Can you look into that ?