Dugz Ink

Oh... come on guys! He's trying to learn! Quit acting so mean! CamCool: A grounding wire is a tensile ligature composed of cuperic extrusions. It's main purpose is to prevent harmonic polarization overload, which can be increased expodentially by immense feedback. Think for a second about all of the sonic energy that is being emitted by guitar strings. It so strong that pickups have to be wrapped in copper wire, just to shield them from the effects. Meanwhile, the pickups are desinged to be low-output devices; otherwise, a Marshal stack could amplify too much sonic energy and saturate the audience... much like radiation. There would be more energy, but international regulations restrict the length of guitar necks, to limit the potential output caused by the increased vibrational output of longer strings. This is also why piano strings are encased in wood; to contain the potentially dangerous energy levels. (Wood insulates against various forms of energy.) Of course, groups like FSE (which is supported by people like Eddy Van Halen) continue to lobby against these restrictions, because they feel that longer strings give them the "performance edge" that they need. (There have been some compromises, like 35" necks on bass guitars... which produce less energy due to the lower vibrations.) Meanwhile, FSE continues to push for a greater use of "grounding wires". These are connected to the guitar through a VALMD port, which is then connected to a cathartic decompressor. The claim is that these units will dissipate excess sonic energy slowly, so that it does not damage human organs. However, scientists at the Berkley School of Medicine have made numerous tests, and have found that improperly installed grounding wires can actually increase the danger to guitar players. One of their studies even showed that the antenna-like qualities of hi-hats could absorb large amounts of this energy and transmit it directly to the drummer through the foot-pedal. That's why it's important that the installation of grounding wires be handled by professional guitar builders. D~s

I think I am ready to move to the next stage, but I want some input before I do anything. My initial idea was to make my first project out of a 1" face and a 1" back, so I could do some of the routing and cutting before I glue the pieces together... like cutting the face board and fitting the neck to it. The back board should bolt right onto the neck... if my measurements and estimates are correct.... eliminating the need to cut/route that piece of wood. But I keep reading articles (including here) about people gluing everything together before they do any routing or fitting. After long consideration, that makes sense, too. I don't have a router template for cutting out the wood where the neck will mount; I've always done inletting work (usually on gunstocks) by hand, doing the final fitting with very sharp chisels and scrapers... and I can get a really nice fit. So, should I cut out the face board and fit the guitar neck by hand before gluing the body pieces? Or buy/make a router template, then fit the neck after everything is glued together? Or profess that I am not worthy of being a Luthier, then go to Guitar Sinner and buy whatever they have to offer? If you can help, my wife would appreciate it; she's tired of me pacing around the woodshop. Thanks! D~s

Don't take it so personal. I did read your post... but I didn't mean that "facets" were just curves. Then I mentioned ripples, which I envisioned as being more complex than simple curves. Maybe I need to quit offering advice and opinions in this forum.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I'm thinking. 1) Cars drive past you. Yes, that's an obvious statement, but think about it. If you are standing in one spot, playing your guitar, it won't have the same effect when somebody looks at your guitar. You would need to have some exagerated movements to show off the paint... unless you take into account Point #2. 2) Chromalusion looks okay on something like a Capice when it is sitting still, but it looks better on a PT Cruiser that's sitting still. Why? Because there are more angles and surfaces... rounded fenders, andgled hood, etc. that show off various hues and colors. So... When you design the guitar that is going to be painted with Chromalusion, work in numerous facets. It doesn't have to be radical... just enough to provide changing colors during minor movements. What if you carved shallow "ripples" into the face of the guitar? A minor change could cause those ripple to change colors while you were playing. It might even make the ripples look like they were moving. Of course, this is hypothetical, but I thought I would throw it out there. D~s

You could be right... he hasn't built any Fetzer Valves... just a home-grown Neve mic-pre and stuff like that. As a matter of fact, we put together a DIY area on another forum and made him the moderator. Because he's the moderator for that forum, and because he gets a a lot questions from people who don't know a capacitor from a diode, he always explains things as simply as possible. Sorry if you guys got your feathers in a ruffle. Maybe I shouldn't try to help anymore. D~s

It depends on how you apply the Tung Oil. Some people just sand down the wood until they get to 300 grit, then apply a couple coats of oil. If that's what you want, it's easy and it's painless... and you end with something that looks like it doesn't have any finish on it. I start applying Tung Oil after I've worked my way down to 120 grit, and it is also a grain filler. I will apply the oil 3-7 times, letting it soak in each time, before walking away and letting it dry. Then I sand, and apply Tung Oil, and sand, and apply Tung Oil, until I have a surface that is as smooth as glass. I apply one or two thin coats to add gloss to the project, then wax it.. You CAN build up Tung Oil to look like a clear-coat type finish, but I feel like it's pointless. If you want a deep clear finish on top of your wood that is hard, use lacquer or varnish or soemthing like that. If you want a "natural" look, use Tung Oil, and apply it one of the ways described above. Add the usual disclaimer about "this is just my opinion, and is subject to personal taste..." D~s

That's exactly what I needed to know. I read about a "blend pot" in the tutorials, but it looked like it was wired after the selector switch... and I was wondering if it could be used instead. That Stew-Mac link helped to answer several questions. Thanks!

I am laying out the switches for my first project, and there is one thing that I would like to do: instead of havine a 3-position switch the selects between neck / neck+bridge / bridge pickups, I would like to have a rotary switch that goes from just the neck pickup to just the bridge pickup, with varying degrees of mix in between. Do guitar-parts companies sell switches for this purpose? If so, what nomenclature is used for this type of rotary switch? If not, is this a bad idea? Yes, I'm stupid. But I'm really good with wood. D~s

I'm a song writer, not a guitar slinger like you guys. I bought this cheap Epi just so I could occassionally work out some rifts. I eventually want to build a five-string fretless bass, but thought I would start with something simple... something cheap... and fitting a new body to this Epi just seemed to fit that description. But, yes, I prefer the deep rich sounds to the ear-rattling sounds. The design looks like this: Do those "seymour duncan blackbacks" mount near the surface or deep in the body? Do I really need to know what pickup I'm going to use before I bolt on the neck? I'm about as lost as an Easter egg. If you could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. D~s

Here's the background: I have a LOT of woodworking experience, but I have never built a guitar, let alone bought pickups. I am clueless. However, my first guitar body is looking better than I had expected, and I'm to the stage where I need to mark out and cut out the body for the appropriate hardware. (Or, at least, I think I am... but I could be wrong.) I was going to just move all of the hardware plus the neck over from my cheap-miester Epiphone, but now I'm thinking "If this turns out beautiful, I'm going to want a nice neck and some decent pickups. But I don't know anything about pickups. All I know is that somebody told me that the humbucker pickups on my Chinese "Les Paul Jr" are pretty cheap. (Since I've already spent some time trying to straighten out the neck and the frets, I know they're cheap... and believe people when they say that the same is true of the hardware.) So where can an idiot like me read up on pickups? I need to learn about the types of pickups AND how the various types/models may affect the way I mount the neck and hardware. If you could post some links, or point me to a thread that I've overlooked, I would appreciate it. D~s

I always explain it like this: Sound waves travel in a "wave" shape, starting with a positive value that is displayed as a peak in the wave shape, and ending with a negative value that is displayed as a trough in the wave shape. This is also known as being "in phase." As the distance to the source of the audio becomes greater, a microphone becomes "out of phase" from the instrument due to the time it takes the sound to reach the mic; in a manner of speaking, the mic could be picking up the sound wave half way through the peak while the sound that is eminating from the instrument is just reaching the trough. If your mic is at a specific distance in specific atmospheric conditions when you play a specific note (frequency) then the microphone is 180° "out of phase"... a state we also call "phase inverted"... because the mic is picking up the sound wave when it is at the highest point of the peak while the sound that is eminating from the instrument is at the lowest point of the trough. In the case of phase inversion, the positive value at the instrument is identical to the negative value at the mic. In mathematical terms, the instrument's value is +3 while the mic's value is -3. Add the two together (+3 + -3) and you get a value of ZERO. This is why mixing an "in phase" signal with an "inverted phase" signal will yield "no sound". When it comes to wiring your gear, connecting the "positive" to the "positive" will provide an "in phase" signal. But connecting the "positive to the "negative" creates an "inverted phase" because you are sending positive values down the negative connection. When this sound is played back over speakers, it sounds strange because the positive/negative values are now switched, so the speakers are "pulling" when they should "pushing" and vice versa. That's basically a layman's description, and glosses over some of the technical details, but I hope it helps. If not, then your next question is FREE. D~s

Okay... I just used the Titebond Original for the first time. I glued two pieces together, then started the process of gluing and clamping two other pieces. After the second set, I checked on the first set of pieces. Hmmm... I realised that the first two pieces weren't exactly like I wanted them. (They must have moved 1/4" while I was trying to set up the clamps.) So I tried to pull the first two pieces apart. -- BZZZZZZZ -- Wrong answer! This stuff REALLY holds fast and strong! Thanks for the advice. As for the wood, well, I had about 3/8 of an inch of excess at either end, so now I only have 1/8 of an inch of excess at one end (and a bunch at the other end)... but that will still work. And that's why I always leave some excess on the pieces that I cut; because I'm accident prone. D~s

Sorry, I didn't vote; I haven't built a guitar, yet. But I remember buying a long narrow piece of Bastone Walnut (years ago) that literally had a bit of a ring to it when you tapped on it. Since I started reading about building my own guitar, I've wondered of that type of characteristic would be good or bad. What I mean is... can you have too much resonance in a piece of wood? If not, then I would be tempted to vote for a tight-grained walnut. D~s

Wes... did you try thinning it down with Tung Oil, Boiled Linseed Oil, or Mineral Spirits? I'm just curious. What company would you recommend for good stains/colors that would work with oils? D~s

I can't tell from the pic exactly what you can or cannot sand out, so I won't even attempt to give you any advice on that. You can add a slight amount of stain to the Tru-Oil, but that usually increases the curing time. I typically put on a coat of oil, let it soak in, then rub in some stain before the oil dries. Because the pores are damp, the stain coats more evenly. When the oil dries, the stain tends to bond with it. Tru-Oil and Tung Oil tend to enhance any differences in the wood grain, so they may actually make the knot look better. I had one piece of wood that had a knot in it, and I really worried about the looks... until I was half-way through with the finishing. The Tung Oil made the knot the most beautiful part of the wood. Of course, it could just make it more noticeable... so you'll just have to give it a shot. D~s

The Epiphone body is 1½" and the Poplar has been planed down to about ¾"... so I was going to cut it into two pieces, and use one for a "face" and one for a "back"... and I'm hoping that will work. I'm going to start cutting this weekend, so we'll find out soon. By the way... I've also wondered about sandwiching a piece of aluminum between the two pieces of wood... in case this poplar needed more strength. I did something similar on a boat-repair project, and it was very strong. In that case, I used a small sheet of perforated aluminum between two thin pieces of wood. The perforations where essential, because they allowed the epoxy to bond to the aluminum AND through the aluminum. But I don't know how aluminum will affect the resonating qualities of the body. Here I go... overthinking projects, again. D~s

Yeah, it's almost as easy to dent Poplar as it is to dent the fender of a Kia. But, I'm a bass player, not a head-banging guitar-slinger... so it might be safe. If this is as addictive as it looks, I'll probably make a better body in a couple of years, anyway. "Gee, honey, I think it's time to re-model the Epiphone. What do you think? HONEY???" D~s

God is the greatest artist... and He didn't cover up his beautiful trees with paint.

The placement in the pic is close, but not perfectly exact. When I tear apart the guiatr, I'll use the old body to take my measurements. I'm using the factory parts that are on my Epiphone "Les Paul Jr" for now. (This isn't the bass; I'll build that after I learn a little.) I don't want to start swapping parts until I can figure out how to use the ones that I already have. Thanks for your input on both threads! D~s

Let me start by saying "thank you"... not just for your advice, but also for a great forum. I appreciate what you guys have said, and I can see the merits of Drak's comments, but I also appreciate what Nick said. If I treat it like a real project, I will take the time to work out all of the details, so I will learn more. But if it is not THE body that I want to build, then I won't get angry and give up after I screw up $100+ worth of beautiful wood. Those are very good insights and advice. The piece that I bought was 1" x 12" x 36"... which is just a little too narrow for the guitar body. However, I'm going to cut off some wood (about 1½") up by the horns, and I can use that wood to add on to the lower section that is too narrow. (I have the clamps that I need for making "butcher-block" tops... among my many wood working tools.) And who knows... it's a cheap guitar... maybe I'll like the Poplar body enough to keep it. But the ultimate goal is to learn enough so that I can start building my own bass guitar from scratch. I figure this will get me started, because I'll have to make sure that the "template" is good enough to provide the right angle and height for good action. I've never done that before, so I'm very concerned. But I have a factory body that I can use as a reference... so here I go! I just didn't know if I could screw the pieces together and make this work temporarily. (BTW: This body will go on my Epiphone "Les Paul Jr"... if I do it right.) Thanks, again, for the input. And I'm always open to more advice! D~s

Okay... so I'm really concerned about spending $100+ on some nice wood for my first project, so I decided to buy a large piece of Poplar just so I could practice. I found a piece that would be large enough at the local Home Deopt for $14, so I bought it. Here's my idea for this wood. Create a face and a back, and practice routing/drilling/filing the holes, slots, channels, etc... but don't glue the two halves together. Instead, I was thinking about using clamps or wood screws to hold the pieces together, so I could take them apart and use them for templates. That is, if I do these two pieces right. Do you think this will work? D~s

Tung Oil and Boiled Linseed Oil are the best for bringing out the figure in your wood, and give a "natural" finish. But it isn't very hard. However, I have heard of people using Tung Oil as a grain filler, then topping it with a Urethane. Never tried it, but it could create the look that you need. One furniture company has some articles on-line about how they apply an oil/urethane mixture to their furniture. This technique might work, too. D~s

My problem with most band saws blades is that they don't make turns as sharp as some of the heavy jig saw blades.... so I would vote for BOTH. Use the hand held jig saw to cut off the corners and create the right general shape. Then place the slightly smaller (easier to handle) piece of wood on the band saw so you can get closer to your tracing lines and smooth out the cuts. But that's just my opinon. Void were prohibited. Not suitable for children with small parts. D~s

I sent the link for that web page to a friend of mine; he's a circuit geek, and I have a lot of respect for his knowledge. (He built his own version of a Neve mic-pre... plus copies of various other high-end gear.) Here's what he had to say about this Fetzer valve schematic. I hope that helps. D~s

Ditto for epoxy... especially if it has dye in it. I have one pair of jeans that always wear when I'm working with epoxy, because they're already ruined. And I always end up with a spot of epoxy someplace like the back of my elbow. "How the ---- did that get there?" D~s