javacody

I'm not sure where I'd get a money order in Canadian dollars from here in the US?

I really miss Perry's bad advice picture. One picture is worth a thousand words. When I give advice, I always present the original source of the info. If I've only read about something (and I read a lot), I state that. I do see lots of people who just state something as being a hard and fast fact, and I often wonder where the hell they got it from. What would help here is a FAQ or something. Aron's Stompbox forum has one, and its awesome. Also, I look at what others have done when I decide whether or not to take their advice. This should be the first FAQ item. I see guys like Perry, Drak, and LGM, and I can tell they have a method that works for them. They are probably good people to listen to. Then again, there are first timers who put out some really awesome work. They don't have chips on their shoulders or feel like they are owed something for having built a bunch of guitars. Honestly, they are easier to talk to usually. No offense to you long time builders. Also, honestly, I've seen guys here who built lots of guitars that I wouldn't let a dog crap on. I hardly think that looking at post counts or the number of instruments count for crap. I look at the output of the builder. Also, how do you really know that a guitar someone submits a pic for was really built by them? This is the internet. Take EVERYTHING with a grain of salt until you KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE that it works for you. The internet has been around for quite a while now, its time for people to wise up. Anyway, LGM, you are allowing others to control you. Not a good thing. Have the cajones to do your thing and the rest of the world can kiss your guitar building arse. I don't believe that this forum is causing you this much heartache. I suspect you have other things going on in life and you are venting here. I hope things go better for you and I wish you peace.

Is Cocobolo the kind that people can have dangerous allergic reactions to very easily? Do you guys wear respirators and whatnot to work with it?

I've heard of people using heat and cold to crack poly finishes. I.E. Leave the body in the freezer overnight and then set it in the hot afternoon sun. Unfortunately, it cracked, but looked nothing like the checking of nitro. Also, once the guitar reached room temperature, the cracks were almost invisible. An exacto is probably your best bet.

Another very obvious option is to hunt around for a one piece blank. I found a local wood supplier who has occasional 15" wide 8/4 Honduran Mahagony and Poplar already planed. I also went to a local cabinet maker to get a flame maple board bookmatched. It cost me $15, including planing and jointing.

If you look at old Gibson hollowbodies, they had no control covers. Everything was slid in through the sound hole. Oh what a pain that would be. Hurts just thinking about it. LOL Personally, before I'd even think about doing something like this, I'd have to find pots that were guaranteed to never fail or get scratchy, with tons of real world evidence. Also, I'd want caps that never fail, and you'd have to figure out some way to bullet proof the wiring. Let's not forget switches. They will ALWAYS fail at some point (you could get around this with a blend pot on a two pickup design, but you'd need the magic pots I mention above).. Of course, if you want a guitar that you are going to throw away or cut holes in at some later date, then that is your business. Now, as mentioned, you could get creative with your cavity. Drak, do you have any pics of your cavity covers? (I know I keep harping on this, but man, I was really blown away the first time I saw this). Drak uses a scroll saw to cut cavities and their covers out of the body blank. From more than a foot or two (from what I could see in the photos), you can't hardly tell there is a cavity cover. The grain matches up perfectly. Also, you could create an access hole in your pickup cavity if going the humbucker or p90 route. There has to be a way to do this, but I would highly recommend against sealing the body up tight with no way to get at the innards.

That is a great thread Bill. I found something similar on using tung oil to finish walnut rifle stocks. That article advocated using sand-papper on top of the wet tung oil and use the oil/sawdust mixture as pore filler.

I thought the title of this thread was Bolt On LACTATING Screws! LOL Anyway, the nail idea is a good one, but I use a center punch for this job. It leaves a nice dent for your drill bit.

Does delta make anything similar to grizzly's 12" bench top band saw? I need a scroll saw anyway, as I'm going to be making a doll house and furniture for my daughter, but I didn't think that I'd be able to make do with it for bodies. I guess the moral here is that there is no one right way, is there? And those cavity covers Drak makes are pretty darn sweet. I can only imagine the steady hand needed for those though. How do you do that Drak, hold your breath?

Wow Drak, I never knew you used a scroll saw for cutting your blanks. That would simplify the shop I'm going to build vastly. Any tips on picking out a good one? Also, any chance you'd do a tutorial on your soundholes and cavity covers?

I love the caps discussion. It comes up every so often and is very entertaining. I agree, I think we all have our favorites and have no logical explanation as to why. Myself, I purchase NOS paper in oil caps for my guitar tone circuits. I never pay more than a $1 a piece, mind you. I'm sure I'd be just as happy with orange drops or the gibson reissue bumble bees, or the cheap ones from Radio Shack. However, I will say that I've seen many ceramic caps in guitars from factories. And I agree, it probably doesn't matter, but it makes me happy to use what I use. I will also say that at nine volts, I can hear a definite difference in caps. In my tubescreamer I did swap out the 1uF NP electros and the 0.22uF tants for film, and I think it made a very large difference. The tone was definitely less muffled. That is four caps replaced, which perhaps actually adds up to a noticable tone change. Would I have noticed anything if I had changed only one? Well, someone send me a tubescreamer (prefereably the 808 reissue) and I'll let you know!

A couple of things: There is pure Tung Oil (I use Behlens), and it is fairly thick and takes anywhere from 12 hours (only in a very dry and warm environment, like Arizona in the summer) to 48 hours (in a humid, cool environment) to dry. There are Tung Oil based varnishes, my favorite being Waterlox. This dries in about 4 hours if memory serves. This is a pretty good, strong finish. It takes a pretty good beating, and you can apply additional coats years after the fact (unless you've covered the finish in wax or guitar polish). There is even a gloss version of waterlox that looks pretty good. There is polymerized Tung Oil, which is basically cooked Tung Oil that that will dry much faster and be a harder finish that pure Tung Oil. I've never used this, but have some on hand for my next project. I've had the best results with pure tung oil when I first apply a "ground" to the instrument of beaten egg white (called "glare"). These techniques are not modern by any means, but I wanted to experiment with what instrument makers might have used hundreds of years ago. Of course, I'm not about to start cooking pine sap with linseed oil, as I really don't like the prospect of inhaling large amounts of toxic gases nor do I like the idea of 3rd degree burns. Anyway, you can find stuff about this technique by searching on violin finishing techniques.

Hey, if you got any extra, make a couple of baseball bats. Ash is a great baseball bat wood. I've also heard that hard ash makes pretty good necks, as its very similar to hard maple (heard this from Tommy Rosamand at USA Custom Guitars). You've got a couple good uses right there, because most of that looks like it will not be usable for bodies.

Drak, I've been impressed with everything that you've ever shown photos of in this forum (and others forums, if you are the same Drak that posts on the FDP), and you give great advice. It takes a lot of courage to admit your mistakes. Good work! Also, I have to say, you should patent steer head sound holes. Those things rock. Last but not least, those cavity covers you do? Amazing! Anyway, I'm glad you're not leaving, and I'm hoping that the new, kindler, gentler Drak keeps helping the 95% of us here who have no clue what we're doing from screwing the pooch. LOL

I think Fender did that set neck for marketing reasons. They are trying to pull some of the Gibson and PRS crowd.

Looking good so far. What are the plans for this body? Pickups? Bridge? Neck?

When you have two strings that run together, as on a mandolin, dulcimer, or 12 string, the strings that run together are referred to as "courses". I don't know why, but there it is. I've seen a really cool looking scandinavian made violin with sympathetic strings that ran under the violin's fingerboard. I'll have to see if I can find a picture on the net. Also, Sitar's have a similar setup (well, with movable frets of course!) Edit: Found the Fiddle!!! (actually called a Hardingfele or Hardanger Fiddle) http://www.fiddlingaround.co.uk/scandinavi...ia%20frame.html I think I need a dragon or lion's headstock on my first guitar neck! Check out the inlays on this company's fiddles: http://www.hardingfele.com/ To hear what these instruments sound like (they have kind of a bagpipe's dissonant drone to them at times), go to http://homepages.wmich.edu/%7Ecode/hardingkvartett/ They've got some MP3's on this site. Anyway, sorry for hijacking this thread, I just thought it would be cool to show you all this really cool little instrument.

That is a cool looking guitar. What bridge set up are you using? A wrap-around I hope!

Hmm, good reason to seal the ends of your boards? That would suck. I know how great it is when you find that one special piece. Hopefully you'll get it straightened out.

guitarmonky55, who's the seller? That is a darn good deal, and I've been wanting enough wire to try a winding a couple of pickups.

Just in case after two threads, you still don't have enough advice, I'll chime in and agree with the other posters. Get yourself a 0.047uF cap. As you may have noticed, 0.5uF caps are in short supply. What do you think everyone else does? By the way, welcome to the forums.

OK, I was away for awhile and there have been a lot of good posts. Well, Nocaster may seem harsh at times, but he does generally accept a challenge and will give people a lot of leeway to argue their points. I shouldn't really comment on these things, but Nocaster is very fair. For some reason, forums can bring out the rotten in people very quickly. There are some real nuts who just seem to be looking for trouble. I don't have any problem with them getting dealt with swiftly. The problem is that they tend to ruin it for everyone else. I do have unrestricted access there and have seen some of the deleted posts, and there are some nuts out there posting who should probably be institutionalized. I appreciate the moderators work, and after reading this discussion, I've changed my mind somewhat. They've been very fair and I appreciate the discussion. I think that the moderators tend to get portrayed a little harshly at times. The bee in my bonnet is my posts getting deleted and some of the harsh responses (not from the mods mind you) to new folks. I just think there has to be a better way. Maybe we could pin some answers to the really annoying questions, and when these people post their question, don't reply with anything other than "Welcome to the forum" and "read this thread" and give them a link to the post. Also, my posts that have gotten deleted have never been bad enough to warrant deletion in my opinion, not nearly as bad as some folks' (I'm not naming names) who seem to post in very negative cycles and just get real mean and nasty. If I were one of these guys, I would be given more leeway to be abusive, and that just ain't right, in my opinion. There is definite favoritism and I simply disagree with it. Umm, you might want to look around and see how the country you live in was founded. It was founded by openly questioning things that people disagreed with. If George Washington and Ben Franklin had your attitude, who knows where we'd be? And if people don't start taking an interest in how this country is run and start questioning their leaders and trying to make a difference, then this country is going to continue to go downhill. There is nothing wrong with voicing your opinion, as long as you do it respectfully, and that is all I have done here. Why should I be put down for this? How can any of you condemn me, or anyone else for wanting to discuss something that I see as a problem? Is that logical at all? One moderator even went so far as to call people such as myself "whiners" (I do take offense to the label "whiner", however, I wear the term "forum junkie" as a badge of honor, this is one of at least 6 forums I visit on a fairly regular basis, and the only one I've donated any money to). Really, is that an attitude that is healthy and conducive to open discussion? If open discussion is not allowed, then please, clearly state so in the rules of this forum. Also, for the record, I've never gotten a PM from a moderator. My posts have just disappeared. I'm pretty sure I know which moderator did it, but I'm not sure why they were deleted?

People weighing in and telling other people that something sounds like a bad idea is a good thing. Trying something new and sharing your results (and posting updates a year or two down the road) I find some value in as well. I found that whole food coloring thread very educational. It was cool to read people discuss why it was a bad idea. Also, as far as moderation, how about an email to the author when a post is deleted or edited? Just so people aren't left wondering what is going on?

I agree with the positive stuff. I've learned a whole lot from the folks here. Most are kind, and the really talented guys are usually kind, but sometimes, man, they lay into someone really bad. I don't want to cite specifics, I don't want to dig up the past too much, I'd just like to see people take a couple of deep breaths and reread what they typed in anger at least three times before they click submit. I forgot to mention how awesome this forum is and how awesome projectguitar.com is. I wouldn't have donated if I didn't think this place was worth it. ($10 is nothing, but I won't give someone money without good cause!) Also, I think the mods do a good job mostly. HPLoverCraft (a little joke on your name and my favorite author), I don't think the electronics forum has too many problems, which is where I normally see you.

In general this is a great forum, but there are some folks who just get very nasty. (they will be the folks who probably reply most to this thread if it stays). While I respect their ability to build, I don't respect their attitude. I've pointed this out a couple of times, and my posts have disappeared without so much as a word. Can we have an even enforcement of the forums rules? PLEASE??? Yes, you are a master guitar builder and yes we should all kiss your feet, but do you think you could have the decency to not rip our heads off when we ask a stupid question? Fer cryin' out loud? Sure, we can go somewhere else, but why can't you take a walk for a minute when a new poster pisses you off with the same stupid question that has been posted 400 times? Maybe count to 10 before you post? Everyone has bad days, but so many of the "gurus" can be such a**holes at times (no offense). You gotta wonder if guitar building is the only thing going right in their lives? Moderators, please don't delete this thread as you've done so often in the past, as I would really like an open discussion on this. I'm prepared for flames and I won't respond in kind.