javacody

thegarehanman, what do you think of the tonal differences between a single action truss rod and a dual action truss rod?

You may want to try bending the fretwire by hand first.

My favorite part is that black limba back. Simply stunning. Where did you get the limba?

Rich, I've got the same router. I haven't actually used it, yet. I still need to get off my butt and make a thicknessing jig.

Drak, condolences and congrats. I love buying tools.

One question, why did you route for the pickups all the way through the body?

Man, you and Drak got me wanting an Angle grinder.

School is in again!

Looking good and I'm taking notes, thanks Drak!

What is BOFH?

Man, that paint looks thick. Did you use poly?

I think the guitar looks cool. But if you are going for a vintage 60's strat look, you are missing one thing. Lacquer checking and you aren't going to get that with poly.

If you are going for a beat up strat from the 80's on, then I think you've suceeded!

Wow, so even after charging over $2000 for a les paul, they can't afford respirators for their workers? Must be using all of the profits to keep the execs on the golf course with the finest cognac and cigars money can buy...

Tung Oil can mean a lot of things. What brand are you using?

I've been looking for this too.

Wow! Thanks! Looks like this will be my next jigsaw.

I've actually corresponded with Nagyvary on this very topic. He was not a "chatty" guy, but he responded to several emails.

I've read a lot of what he's published. I suspect that the strad instruments (and also the other cremonese luthiers who were Stradivari's peers, as these are noted for being extremely toneful instruments as well) benefited from a unique fluke of a series of events that have never before and will never again occur. His artistry as a luthier should be considered first and foremost, but to say that no other luthier that has come after him could have duplicated or surpassed his skill is ludicrous. What about the crop of Cremonese luthiers taught by Stradivari, Amatti, etc. etc? Shouldn't their violins have similar or better properties?

No, there was something else at work. Several theories abound:

* Wood stewed in various substances (urine is one mentioned substance along with some kind of fruit, can't remember)

* wood that was shipped via river (floated down the river) from the alps and soaked in lakes/canals for years before it was used may have leached out sap and impurities and left the pores larger and hollower

* The ground that the cremonese luthiers used may have had "salt of gems" (powdered semi-precious and precious gems) put in it, it may also have been partially made of glair, potassium silicate (sp?), and may have included boric acid (actually, a few modern luthiers swear by several of these theories) - the ground is important, because it is the only part of the original finish that is still present in any large amount. (think of it as a modern day pore filler, etc)

Actually, Nagyvary has supposedly recreated Stradivari's ground and also uses wood recovered from the great lakes that has been underwater for at least 75 years. It is very old growth wood.

I'm sure its a combination of several factors at play. This stuff is fun to experiment with. I've read just about everything there is to read about it on the internet. I've actually made my own glair (whipped egg whites, gum arabic, and honey or sugar) but added bentonite clay and tea (for coloring) and used this as a ground on a maple strat neck. The final finish was 8 coats of pure, raw Tung oil (Behlen's). It looks very nice and is highly resonant. It cured in the sun for over a week.

Obviously not a time tested finish for electric guitars. I'm not advocating it, just sharing the result of an experiment. I know that I will be ridiculed by the majority for being "wierd" but it floats my boat and helps me find my lost remote, so everything's going to be all right.

Yeah, yeah, this is up there with food coloring as a dye, lets not go there, ok?

To add to the "Cliff Clavin-ness" of this quote, did you know that Stradivari made more than just violins? He also made Violas, Cellos, Basses, Guitars, etc. etc.

That seems pricy for the Microplane. I got the one inch rotary thing and the follower piece for $15.

Another option is making your own robo sander type affair. Here's a link:

pattern sander

I've used sandpaper, I've used files, and I've used a microplane tool. The microplane tool removed material very, very quickly and left a fairly clean edge. I personally like them, but haven't had a chance to use the rotary version I bought yet.

d ward, I've often wondered about What Cheer whenever we drive by on the interstate. What an interesting name for a town!

My keyboard seems to be ok.

Do you ever get to Des Moines? You should check out the WoodSmith shop. They have some great Mahagony, Walnut, Birdseye maple, Indian Rosewood, etc. etc.

OK, curiousity got the better of me:

What Cheer Wikipedia page

OK, d ward, you sick bastard, you owe me $6.00 for a new keyboard. This one is covered in drool and will probably stop working soon.

Those maple burl inlays are amazing! What did you use for the borders around them? How thick are they? Did you soak them in epoxy/ca first?

In my experience bridge material type, string type, and pickups have THE largest impact on a guitar's tone.

sorry this took so long..i guess the forum was down for a day..at least i couldn't get on. anyway, here's my modified tele..it's actually more like a thin line being a semi-hollow body.

That is a very interesting shape. Not sold on the soundhole, but the guitar shape is pretty cool.

Somewhat related, I dyed an alder body yellow (water based aniline) and applied 8 to 10 coats of Raw Tung Oil over the top. It went on fine, however if I play without a shirt, my belly gets yellow. If I play with short sleeves, then my forearms also get yellow. I would think that alcohol based stain would have been much better and worked well. Have you thought about going with dye?

egdeltar, what type of dust collection system do you have?

Seems like a matter of personal preference. Having bought the two-handed rasp from microplane (and also owning several of the one handed versions), it seems like using two hands would give you the best control, especially on contours/carves. I wonder if I could find one of these two-handeds in the half-round version?

I don't think there's any question that any varation from one guitar to the next is going to sound different. Better or worse is subjective and how much any one thing impacts the sound is highly debatable. I suspect that its not good for tone (very, very generally speaking) to have a guitar body made out of 7 pieces of wood (including veneers) like you have with the Fender MIM Standard series. However, I see no harm with a two or three piece body. If you look at a Les Paul, it has several glue joints (headstock, fingerboard, neck, maple cap) and there is no negative impact on tone.

LP Standards still use one piece mahagony in for the bodies, but I believe that the LP Classics are two piece. You could test drive several of each model and see if you come to the conclusion that that single line of glue between the two pieces of wood has that much impact.

A dremel would work good for that. You'd have to free hand it, but you could clean it up with a file. You could glue acoustic guitar bracing or something like that to the back of the parts that you want to keep.

Some kind of support glued to the back could help with that.