Ilikes2shred

+1. Except I would use the Fretfind 2D calculator and then save the DXF file and open it in autocad (free). It saves a lot of time vs. drawing it out yourself.

+1. Use the planing jig. How bowed is your wood? (when measure against a straight edge) I've had bad experiences with bowing neck wood, so even if you get it straight, let is sit a while to make sure it doesn't bow again....

I would be a little hesitant to use CA because if it gets on the surrounding wood, it will darken the wood, and it's difficult to sand away.... I would probably use the epoxy and wood dust unless it's getting dyed, it which case I'd probably use normal yellow (wood) glue and dust.

That sounds very unique and beautiful..... If the pieces don't mate perfectly it would probably be best to use some type of epoxy, as it will fill the gaps easily. I don't know what color you plan on having the spaces between the pieces, but you can add things to the epoxy to color it to suit you needs. Just curious, are you using solid shell blanks? Or some type of laminated shell or veneer? I'm very excited to how this turns out!

May I ask if the finish lets the natural texture and pores of the wood show through? Or does it fill the pores with such few coats?

Thanks, I was considering this as a finish but was unsure.... So you only put three coats on? Man, that must have been one of the cheapest and easiest finishes ever. I like the green ash btw.

Always happy to help! I wouldn't worry too much.... You DEFINITELY don't need every tool on that list. All you really need is a pre-slotted and radiused finger board, a saw of some type, a router, and all the tools you probably already have laying around..... That's how I made mine. Oh, and lots of clamps too.

Ah! That's beautiful! Much thanks Jon!

Forgot a few: Lots of creativity Hands (preferably two) Patience

List of Guitar Building Tools: EDIT: This forum takes out spaces used like tabs, so I replaced them with periods. This list contains many, but not all tools used in guitar building. Some tools are mentioned multiple times because they are commonly used for more than one job. Before using a tool, be sure that you know how to use it. Many tools are very dangerous and could easily hurt you or severely damage your guitar. § All around useful tools ...1. Clamps ...2. Good Straightedges ...3. Rulers (fine graduations) ...4. Good lighting ...5. Pliers ...6. Screwdriver ...7. Hex wrench ...8. Glues (Hide glue, yellow glue, epoxy, CA (superglue) ...9. Double sided tape ...10. Marking aul ...11. Pencils and Pens ...12. Square ...13. Power Sanders (Random Orbital, Vibrating, Drum, Belt) ...14. Coping Saw ...15. Scissors ...16. Respirators ...17. Gloves ...18. Ventilation/Dust Collection systems ...19. Vacuum ...20. Sturdy Workbench ...21. Planes ...22. Sandpaper ...23. Various saws (Bandsaws are great!) ...24. CNC machine § Neck Shaping and Body Contours ...1. Surform ...2. Spokeshave ...3. Angle grinder ...4. Various sanders... ...5. Rasps ...6. Files ...7. Sandpaper § Body Blank Cutting/ Shaping ...1. Jigsaw ...2. Bandsaw ...3. Router ...4. Same tools as for neck shaping § Pickup Cavities ...1. Various chisels ...2. Router ...3. Drill (preferably with large bits, like forstners) § Fretting ...1. 3 corner file ...2. Needle files ...3. Coarse/fine files (bastard and mill) ...4. Brass, plastic, or wood hammer ...5. Fretpress ...6. Jaws (I, II, or III) ...7. Fret leveling jig ...8. Jig for filing fret ends at an angle ...9. Fret bender ...10. Fret tang under-cutter ...11. Fret tang removal device ...12. Good staightedge ...13. Steel wool ...14. Dremel and polishing wheel (with compound) ...15. Micromesh § Fretboard ...1. Leveling device ...2. fret slotting jig ...3. Fret slotting saw ...4. Fret slotting radial arm saw ...5. Fret scale templates ...6. Radius sanding block. ...7. Radius sanding jig (like the ones made by grizzly) ...8. Polishing papers (such as micromesh) § Nut ...1. Nut slotting files ...2. Needle files ...3. Sandpaper ...4. Steel wool § Bridge and Tuners ...1. Drill with various bits ...2. Drill press ...3. Hand drill ...4. Screwdriver ...5. Hex wrench § Binding ...1. Scraper ...2. Small saw ...3. Knife (or razor blade) ...4. Binding laminator ...5. Brushes (for laminating with acetone) ...6. Steel Wool ...7. Router with Bearing bits (for binding channel) § Finishing ...1. Spray Gun ...2. Buffing Wheel ...3. Micromesh ...4. Sandpaper ...5. Buffing compounds ...6. Steel wood ...7. Brushes ...8. Old rags ...9. Rubber Gloves ...10. Lots of other stuff that depends on your finish There that should be a good start!

The epoxy takes a while to cure..... it finally passed the fingernail test just last night. Also, the mirrorcoat was supposed to be self-leveling, and I hoped to take advantage of that. But the bottle says it should be at least 1/16" of an inch thick to work properly..... odd, as it said 1/32" online... I'm not sure I want a finish that is a whole 1/32" of an inch thick anyway, so I might end up just leveling with sandpaper and buffing it out. But this stuff is beautiful. I think the neck could be done all at once, especially if you don't put it on thick.... you'd just have to brush out the runs on the side of the neck as it's drying. you may not even have to level and buff it because in my tests, it seemed to level even with a thin coat on vertical surfaces.

I tested a little mirrorcoat yesterday in preparation for my upcoming finish. If you follow the directions on the bottle, I think you'd be fine. I plan to hang the entire guitar vertically for finishing. I also plan to use one very thin coat as a base, then sand off the bubbles and apply a second coat about 30mils thick (they say that is the minimum thickness required for self leveling). I doubt you could sand through 1/32" of epoxy.

I will be doing an epoxy finish very shortly (this weekend). The epoxy I am using is mirrorcoat by system 3. I just had a topic on this a week or two ago called "epoxy for a finish" or something like that. It should only be a page or two back.

Well, despite the flames I will probably get for this, I do not think its absolutely imperative to have a precision straight edge. I just use a plain old aluminum I beam level with sandpaper attached to it with double sided tape, and have not had any problems yet. That said, don't trust an ordinary meterstick from home depot or walfart to be straight. I have two, and they are both FAR from straight. They are probably off by more than 1/100th of an inch in some places (HUGE in leveling frets). I have an old stainless steel rule that is 6" long and marked in 1/100th and 1/64" graduations from a long time ago that I use for any small measurements. It also happens to be perfectly straight, or at least when I check it against anything that I think is straight (aluminum level, guitar string tuned to pitch, poured pane glass [despite what has been said...]), so I also this for checking the levelness of frets. What exactly is your fret leveling tool? Are you aware that the frets have to be PERFECT (talking 1/1000's of an inch here)? How do you know when you are done leveling? I have found some techniques inadequate here. Have you tried leaving the neck straight? How dry is your wood? Is the neck originally straight, or do you have to adjust the truss rod to get it straight? Are you properly crowning the frets after each leveling? How long has this guitar been finished for? (has the wood stabilized?) To be honest, I've had a VERY similar problem to yours. I finished the guitar (it had a laminated 5-piece Maple/walnut/m/w/m neck, all perfectly straight and well seasoned), leveled the frets, I strung it up, and I could not get the action low without buzzing. About a month or two later, I tried to lower the action, and the frets were buzzing in certain areas of the neck... like from 10-13 across the fretboard, 15-17 on the high e, and 20-22 on the low e and a. There was a little in the 5-7 area of the a and d strings too. So I unstrung it and leveled it again. It took a HUGE amount of leveling to get it perfect. I am not sure what the problem exactly was. But I have two theories: 1. When I first leveled it, I checked to see if it was level by placing black marker across the fret tops. When it was all worn off, I stopped. However, I know that they were not truly level--the sandpaper had just touched them lightly. On the next time leveling, I did the same thing, but stopped to check if they were truly level by using the straightedge and led method. They were NOT level, or even close. So from there on out I always leveled until I had nice flat spots on each fret. 2. The neck could have moved and settled into its final place. I don't think this can be prevented, and am starting to thing it may have something to do with the poor setups foound on even some high-end electrics. Either way, after leveling the frets again it was fine. Now the action is beautifully low with no buzz. So if nothing else, let her sit for a month or two and see what happens. Once again, Good Luck!

Ya, I'm talking poured pane glass. The guy that talked like george bush at woodcraft kept trying to assure me that it was basically the flattest thing you can get.... I guess I should be a little more sure of myself before I post. And wes, I mean like how if you bend a string a little to much, you can't pull it straight no matter how high you tune (can be very problematic when trying to locate buzzes). Does anyone have any idea how the people (machines) that make precision straight edges get them so straight? I though it must have something to do with a material set flat by gravity. (like pane glass) Sry, I don't mean to highjack the thread... I should probably shut up...

Oh yeah I've heard that about the glass before..... I should argue with my science teacher about that. But pane glass is supposed to be REALLY flat.... (because gravity levels it)... or at least according to the guy at woodcraft who didn't know how to talk in sentences.... I highly doubt that anyone could grind a straight edge straighter than the surface of glass. I'm just talking out my ass though, so who knows? A string would be straight, but there could be bends in it.... so not perfect. The only perfectly straight thing I can think of is a laser.... If only I could use one to level frets.... Oh, wait, I forgot. Gravity bends light too..... So that brings up the question, what is straight? EDIT: I forgot the point of all this.... It's that you need your tools to be accurate, but lets keep it sensible.

You should be able to check it using a piece of glass.

Hmmm.... how odd. I've never had any trouble with this method (which may not mean too much as I've only setup 3 guitars....). I drew it all out factoring everything I could and logically, my method seems like it should lead to the best result. But this is assuming that the arc in the neck is perfectly uniform (I used sections of perfect circles in my drawings). I have read through your thread about your dilemma with your guitar, and I wish I could help more. My best guess to the problem on your guitar is that the neck does not bow uniformly; although the frets are level when the frets are just leveled and on the same plane, your when the truss rod is adjusted, bowing your neck, the bow is different in different areas of the neck, causing buzz. This would especially explain how it just buzzes from 5-7 (or whatever you said), as if it was truly a fret leveling problem, these frets would probably all be different (in amount of buzz). I have no idea how to fix a neck in this condition. I don't know if you even CAN fix a neck like this. But I still might be able to help. I know some members on here don't believe in relief (westhemann, I'm pretty sure). If you can get your frets level when the neck as perfectly straight, it may give you better action than WITH relief, as the neck will not even have a chance to bow in any funny way.... My best guess to what caused this problem is that maybe your wood is NOT good. Just because your guitar doesn't play good doesn't mean that you made it badly, but you were just unlucky in your wood choice. If you can get some accurate string height and relief measurements, and maybe any other useful info, I'd be more than happy to do everything I can to help. And about scrapping your guitar, I am not sure this is the best idea. I personally would feel very defeated just giving up. If nothing else, I am sure whatever conclusion is reached could help out future builders with a similar problem. However, I will respect your decision regardless of what you decide on. Please allow me to do my best to help though, as this tutorial is supposed to give you perfect action, and seeing how it has not accomplished that, I feel no less than obligated to do everything in my power to help. Good Luck, and don't give up!!! EDIT: I read through your thread one more time, and I noticed that you said how the fifth fret buzzed more than others at one point. This is a sign of unlevel frets, but seeing as you have leveled them twice more, it is probably not an issue any more. However, if you want to check the levelness of frets, I have a good method (well, at least it works for me....) How to check if Frets are Level What you need: 1 small led light (I actually use a small led light-spoon with the spoon part taken off that came out of a cereal box...) Good straight edge at least 3 frets long. (mine is 6") Now all you have to do is turn off the lights and place the straight-edge across the fret you want to check and the surrounding frets. Then shine the light from the opposite side of the straight edge, just behind the fret you are checking. If the fret is level, you should see a small black dot at the peak of the crown. If there is not, you're fret is not level.

Yeah, I hope the Feds won't be after me for hunting mythical creatures.... It does dye well, but make SURE you use bleach first. I was actually thinking a black/red and black/orange burst for the next one (fanned fret 8), so you'll see what that actually looks like in just a few months.

Double post..... I sanded it back, then dyed bright green. Then I mixed up some green and black dye, did the entire guitar, and mixed up some even darker dye. I highlighted all the elongated dots on the carved potions with some bright green, then finished the burst with the really dark green/black combo on the edges. On the back, I did a kind of reverse burst--dark in the middle and bright on the edges. Then I added a normal burst to the front and back of the headstock, darkening up the back a lot more. I also highlighted the dots on the heel and nut with bright green, adding extra dark green on the rest of the neck for a serious snake skin effect. And the final result? Amazing: I have to make sure it gets good and dry, but I should be finishing with mirrorcoat pretty soon.

I dyed it black a few hours ago. Pics: pic another pic last pic (back) I know it looks pretty awesome just black, but those pictures are in intense light. Out of good light, the spots don't show up as much, especially once the clearcoat is on. It's nice and dry now, so I think I'll go sand-back the black *lightly* and see if I can add some green before the Steelers kickoff. I'll keep you updated.

Well, I am finally done with the woodwork, and its time for finishing. Thread resurrection in progress.... After some searching, I found some 2-part bleach at Rockler (they didn't have it on their website). I did a few test pieces, and was able to get the wood pretty light. I then dyed them with black analine dye. Once they were dry they looked great. The background of the wood was charcoal black, and the spots of the lacewood were a silver that was almost psychedelic... I then finished a piece, and the results were not so good. The spots were just grey, and the background was brown... not what I was looking for. Then I went back to the store to get Mirrorcoat for the final finish, and picked up some green dye. I lightly sanded back a portion of a test piece to remove some of the black, like is commonly done with figured maple. I then dyed it a bright green. The results were good, but still not what I was looking for. Then I added some black to the green dye, and dyed back over the area already dyed green. This produced an amazing snake-skin effect that really made the grain pop, especially once it was finished over. Pics: Lacewood before clearcoat Lacewood after clearcoat This piece shows a number of different ways I died it. From the bigger end to the smaller end, the different colors are: Bleached and dyed black; bleached, dyed black, and dyed green with black mixed in; bleached, dyed black, and dyed bright green; bleached, died black, sanded back, dyed bright green, and died green with black mixed in. I plan to use the last color combination mentioned. Also, I went ahead and bleached the guitar: I plan to dye it soon, hopefully today.

Ooops... Sorry for possibly messing up your guitar. I know you are talking about a material finish, but if there is no pattern you particularly like, then maybe you should consider something else. I once saw a thread about using Formica for a guitar. They have some cooling looking granite and marble designs, and some metal looking ones, like Copper leaf, which would make a very original style.

Are you saying that you plan on having the 3 way switch just sit there and do nothing? If you are using a four conductor humbucker (like a seymour duncan), then you may be able to use the 3 way switch to activate a coil-tap or in/out of phase wiring. I'm not sure how you would do this, but I'm sure there are people on here who could help you. Also, I know you didn't mention it, but I'm interested in see how you are planning on covering up the second cavity (now empty?). EDIT: Hey wait, this is in two sections....

Well, I've never used a radius block because I buy my fingerboards already radiused. But if I did, I would attach a 40 grit belt sanding belt so it would go really fast and glue it to the bottom of an el-cheapo (harbor freight) finish sander. Should go pretty fast then...