Mr Natural

nice job. I am the exact opposite of you- I feel more comfy with a jointer than a router. i personally cant go near any maple with a router or it will blow out on me. its the black cloud I carry. btw- i perused your youtube channel- very nice job on the scofield tune. well recorded too.

and by the way- she is a beaut!!!!

so- how many layers of tru oil in the end? not counting sand offs. I am thinking about this for the mahogany jazz master type I am building but I am really thinking I would rather suffer thru sanding solarex and be done with it in no time flat. I think I am done with laquer for a while- my lungs cant take it.

at first glance without knowing any better- I would be hard struck to immediately identify that top as Zebra Wood- you have altered the appearance of the wood so much- and in a good way.

congrats on the GOTM win.

for a first build- this is really coming along nicely. neck carving to me is like the zen moment of the whole build. just breathe, relax, take your time, chill out. easy as it goes. bonus points awarded on the pic above if that is a beer frig, double points for having within arms reach of the workbench.

I must have missed this post- just saw your gotm entry-great job Andy. < 6lbs. with two humbuckers- you should have named it air guitar

that fingerboard will darken up once you oil it no? (I assume you will oil it (and once oiled it will "better" match the headcap?) Like Andy said- great job on the binding. super neat, super clean.

I am not a big purple fan- but that is well done Luis. and then there is that padauk. jeepers. that thing screams "player" to me. as in- its a player. as Stu said- you have made some sick ass guitars over the years- but that one to me is the one I would grab. bravo dude.

it amazes me how true oil can look like that. This looks great. I plan on doing a fretless bass one day in Solarez- but not looking forward to the sanding nightmare that comes with polyester finishes.

looks like you got jiggy with an octopus. hope you mend well sir!

if heating that screw doesnt work by itself (it should if you get good contact)-take a 1/16th inch drill bit or thinner if you have it- and drill along side the screw as close as possible- take a wet quarter sheet or so of folder paper towel, lay it over the screw/hole you just drilled and take the soldering iron and steam that bad boy -the steam will both heat the screw but also expand the wood fibers- it may help break that crap up. same principle as steaming a neck joint on an acoustic but without the needle appliance for the steam- the channel the drill bit leaves will help get the steam down the length of the screw (theoretically anyway)

The axes and your boy sound great Chris. The whole for that matter sounds great. I will admit I couldnt get thru the backstory page without tearing up. I cant even image going thru that man.

do you thin the oil any before airbrushing or can it be sprayed full strength?

I dig that offset base Carl- very nice. i gave up routing maple on points/edges like that a few years back- I cant get within 10 feet of maple without it blowing out on me, no matter how shallow the pass with a router/new bit/etc. And I say this will all seriousness- I feel like a crappy woodworker cause so many people on here CAN route maple with no issue- and the last 2 les pauls I did I blew out the cutaway tip- and on maple headstocks same issue. Brand new high quality whiteside bits too. Very shallow passes- POOF and maple chunk is across the workshop. proceed to hands and knees position to try to find said chunk. (I know I have said this many times before in previous posts-so- in fear of sounding like a broken record- but repeating here for benefit of newbies reading this) I use the method I picked up from o'brien guitars video and despite it taking 5x longer- no more blow out- and- can get into those crevices a lot easier.

Congratulation on the GOTM win! Well deserved.

5.5 lbs IS a true air guitar. ever strap on an alembic? they are back breakers. looking good mr andy, looking good.

+1. I cant remember if I read that in Hyscocks book or not- but that is always the way I have done it- cannot go wrong. can also use that sanded pencil to "true trace" your fav guitar or neck and make paper plans to cut templates from (put a piece of tape over the exposed lead)

thread bump- I was hoping some of you with experience with Odie's would reply- I am interested as I have not used it before.

emptying out all the old dyes are we Scotty? you forgot purple, pink and green. just kidding- your test scraps are looking pretty sweet nice and deep/rich wood tones. liking it.

a dedicated stationary pattern sander- I love it!

i have no input on zero frets- just wanted to call out the nice save on the pu cavity. Nice job.

well- I guess I didnt realize Gibson did over $1 billion a year in revenue https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/19/guitar-company-gibson-reportedly-facing-bankruptcy.html

interesting read: if that figure is true- that is an ASS_TON of debt. https://patch.com/tennessee/nashville/out-tune-iconic-guitar-maker-gibson-headed-bankruptcy

That is one of the nicest pieces of padauk i have seen. How did it sound (volume wise) strung up?is it a ringer? One of the best sounding basses I made when I was younger was made of pakauk and I have not been able to find decent quarter sawn lumber here in the southeast. I got that piece I used previously in Syracuse NY by chance at an estate sale. Every now and then I find quartersawn but its only 3 or maybe 4 inches wide. Ok for necks- but trying to find for one piece body or even 2 piece hasnt proved sucessful.