Cyclone

WAK thanks for the kind words. Here is an update pic.

Here is the low down on my newest project. It is a Strat based on a Warmoth strat shape, which is basically the same as a fender. The particulars are as follows: Body Shape - Strat Pickup Layout - Seymour Duncan JB in the Bridge and a 59 in the neck hardware - Tuners are black mini schallers Bridge is black vintage fender spacing Pick guard is matte black two volume on tone control, both volumes are push/push for splitting the pickups Neck was bought from Warmoth and is Birdseye maple with a rosewood fingerboard here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Here are a couple of update pics. I am in the process of fine tuning everything prior to the clearing process.

If any one is interested I have solved the problem that I am having with my "J" pickup. Its bad!!! I ohm-ed it out and it ohm-ed out good but you say how could that be. Well its like this, even though the pickup ohms out good that doesn't mean that the pre amp inside is doing its job. if it is not getting power you will not get the boost that you would expect from an active pickup. The resulting sound is like something you would get from a pickup with a very weak magnet. What I did to find this out was to go to a local guitar shop and ask the manager (who I am a friend with) if he had a "J" in stock and if he would let me plug it in and see if there was a difference. You guessed it, it was like night and day with the new pickup installed. So now I have to try and get my money back or a replacement from the guy that I bought it from off of e-bay. Wish me luck.

I have recently bought a set of emg PJ pickups (active). I have installed them in the bass but I am having problems. When the volume is backed off of the "P" set the out put from the "J" pickup is very subdued. when the volume is up on both pickups the output is ok but when I back the volume off on the "J" pickup the output on the "P" increases. I hope that I am clear on what is happening, does any one here have any idea what the problem may be?

I have recently bought a set of emg PJ pickups (active). I have installed them in the bass but I am having problems. When the volume is backed off of the "P" set the out put from the "J" pickup is very subdued. when the volume is up on both pickups the output is ok but when I back the volume off on the "J" pickup the output on the "P" increases. I hope that I am clear on what is happening, does any one here have any idea what the problem may be?

Hello all, I am relatively new to this area of the forum as I usually hang out in the in progress area. I have built one strat from parts that I bought from Warmoth back in 88', three other solid bodies from scratch and am presently in the process of building a 34" scale solid body bass. All of this being said I would like to try my hand at building an acoustic and dont have the slightest idea of where to start. I have ordered three books on the subject (Guitarmaking, The Luthier's Handbook and A Guitar Makers Manual) all of which should be arriving within the week. Can any one give me any advice on the process or words of wisdom. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Sorry to hear that you are in Europe. Had you been in the states I would have been more than happy to help you out with some hardwood.

DrummerDude, where are you from, and what kind of spruce can you get your hands on? I am from Louisiana and I cant get my hands on any decent spruce (ie red spruce or sitka) but I can get maple, walnut and mahogany at a moments notice.

its up date time again. I recently received the sealer that I ordered and had a chance to spray the first coat of sealer. I then lightly sanded the fret board and installed the frets. Pictured below the frets have been filed to the edge of the fret board and and leveled. Some of the frets are rising a little on the ends and I am in the process of fixing those. Once I am done with that I will finish dressing the frets, finish setting the nut, sand out any imperfections and ensure that everything fits as advertised before I grain fill and shoot the second coat of sealer. Then its time for the Nitro. Please feel free to comment.

Well I was getting bored so I decided to try making some volume and tone knobs with some of the scraps that I had left from the body. I also decided to put everything together for a photo op with my little boy. Below are some of the pics that we took.

Everyone thanks for the kind words, they are very appreciated. Now for an update. I have finished the head stock and sanded everything to 220, satined the entire bass a very light shade of brown, which made the grain rise. I then sanded the bass back so that the figure will pop a little more once its finished. I intended to spray sealer this weekend but the sealer that I ordered is on back order and it will not be shipped until the 16th. I am a little upset by this as I wanted to be finished with the project by the end of the month but I guess patience is a virtue. In the mean time I guess that I will make a truss rod cover and finish the electronics cavity cover. I will be sure to post more pics once the remaining items are finished.

Its update time. I have finished the carving and the rough sanding. I am in the process of sanding to 220 grit before stain the whol thing a very light shade of brown and sand back to bring out all of the figure. I will then be spraying the first sealer coat. However, I still have some final shaping and sanding to do on the head stock. When I am finished with it I will post more pics. Below is a pic of the shaped body. Please feel free to comment.

Its update time. I have radius the finger board, slotted it and glued it to the neck to include some twelfth fret inlay. Pics are below. Next I will fit the nut, drill the tuner locations and dry fit everything to make sure it all works and fits prior to fretting and finishing the carve on the top. Please feel free to comment.

Well its time for an update. I have located and drilled the controls (two volume and one tone). I routed out the control cavity and made a cavity cover and lastly started shaping the back. I still have a little more shaping to do to the back of the body and then I can finish working on the back of the neck. I have included some pics below please feel free to comment.

Goat--no there is no neck angle and this was purposly done because I am going to recess the bridges slightly.

Well its time for an update. I have located the pickups and routed out the cavities. For an added accent I am lining the pickup cavities in ebony. Attached below is a picture. I have only had time to do one of the radii where the screws go. I hope to have the rest done by the end of the week. Please feel free to comment.

Well its update time. I have just received the mono bridges that I ordered new on ebay and a brand new set of EMG PJ pickups also from ebay. I have layed out my fret board and I am going to start cutting slots tomorrow. I was thinking about binding the fret board in some purple heart but I haven't made up my mind on that yet. I think I may play around with that tomorrow as well. I will probably glue in the steel truss rod stiffeners tomorrow as well. Attached below is a pic of the roughed out fret board and the bridges in place. Please feel free to comment.

Well for all concerned the issue was resolve to day but before I get into the out come I would like to clear up a few things that have come up in this discussion. fookgub--I am not sure what relevance any of this has but I see the guy 5 days out of every other week as I work a 5/2 schedule and he works 7/7. I am a white collar professional with a bachelors degree in Industrial engineering and am 36 years of age. I am very career oriented and have been with the same company for 11 years. As far as the enemy thing goes I am part of a management team and he is a mechanic but he does not directly fall under my management umbrella. Suffice it to say making an enemy out of him is the least of my problems and, given the spirit of your comments, thanks for the advice. rhoads56--I am not sure if I should feel slighted by your comments or not. With regard to the playability of my instruments I can assure you that I would not release anything that has my name on it if it did not perform as advertised. If I would in fact have to redo work because of something that I messed up on while building I would eat the cost. It would be my error not his and why should he have to pay for my mistake. So the possibility of him being ripped off would not be a question. With regard to just being happy to do a job for free to learn how to build guitars that is not the case. I guess I should have defined what the scraps consisted of there was a 5'x13"x1.75" piece of Honduran mahogany and a 1"x6"x4' length of Birdseye maple that would have been left over in addition to all of the small scraps of quilted maple that were left. In my estimation there was close to about $100.00 in wood that I would have received. I believe that I am at a stage where I am learning how to build guitars better as I have already learned how to. I do believe that you are right that I should chalk this up to experience. With regard to the rest of your comments think about this there were many artists in the past that took on commissions just so they could buy materials to continue doing what they loved I would like to think that this is the same for all of us here because lets face it if this wasn't an art form we would just be building and playing different scale length pieces of wood with 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 strings and a pickup with no aesthetic appeal. With regard to the value of my work I don't think that he would have come to me and spent a few hundred dollars on materials and hardware if he didn't think that I could pull it off, it just didn't happen in a time frame that he was happy with. Fyi my instruments have been played professionally. Now for what happened to day. I called the guy up and told him that his stuff (the left over wood and hardware not the guitar) was in my office and that he could come and get it when ever he wanted. So he shows up about 5 minutes later and comments on how he had forgotten how good the wood looked. He then asked me what I was going to do with the guitar and I was floored because I was expecting a confrontation where I was going to ask to be compensated for my efforts but that didn't happen. I replied to him don't you want it and he said no. I asked why and he replied that he didn't feel like putting any more money into it which again perplexed me because all he had left to get was the pickups. I then told him that I would probably finish it and as a gesture on my part I offered to pay him for the wood that was used which will be about $50.00. All in all it ended well. Thanks everyone for being part of this thread and allowing me to share this experience.

Southpa--there was no real time limit set and I think that we both hoped that I would be finished by now, however I have a 23 month old little boy that love spending time with and I also have other projects going on that take me away from this build. pmarlin--he did supply the quilted maple that you see on the body but there two 1/4" strips of flame maple that run the length of the guitar and the fret board is also bound with flame maple that was mine. Mickguard--I think that I may just send him to the web site as everyone here is only getting my side of the story and if we are to be fair and impartial everyone would need to get both sides of the story. all in all I believe that the general conscientious is that I should cut out every bit of my maple and give him back a pile of scraps. The bad part about it is that I tend to put allot of myself into my projects and it would tear me up to do so, but I guess this is the way these things sometime work out. Although beating him with the scraps does sound appealing

fryovanni--I am not sure that you understand fully I made the guitar from pieces of wood that he provided. Are you saying that I should just give him the scraps and keep the guitar or give him everything and get nothing for my time and effort?

I am building this mockingbird for some one that I work with. He supplied all of the materials and hardware with the exception of the flame maple that runs throughout the guitar. We agreed that for doing this for him I would get the scraps of what ever is left over. I have been working on this in my spare time for the past 9 months and today he calls me and asks how much of the mahogany scrap was left and what I thought he should make out of it. I replied that there was about 2-3 feet left and then reminded him that we had an agreement that I would get all of the leftovers. He then said that it was taking too long so that agreement was null and void. At this point I told him that I would bring him all of his materials and we would discuss the time that I have into the guitar as I am not leaving this situation empty handed. I need your opinions on what I should do about this situation. Attached are pics and links to pics of the guitar in question. mockingbird2 mockingbird3 mockingbird4

PTU 7's--I think that I am going to keep the horns on the head offset, its kind of my shape. It is obviously PRS inspired but it is the shape that I have put on all of my projects so far. I do however think that I may bevel or round off the perimeter. Prostheta--I think that I am going to shape/carve it like the original, however I haven't started carving yet so I may still change my mind. I don't know if you remember me or not but you sent me the auto cad layout of the shape. Thanks again for that it is very appreciated. Thanks for all of the complements on the walnut. It started off as a 6'x11"x2" board that I bought at a local lumber supplier for $89.00 US. The good thing about the place that I bought it from is that they don't grade their lumber, the bad thing is that you have to sort through stacks of it to find what you are looking for. I think that it was worth it. I hope to post some more progress pics soon.

I havent had any problems yet, however this is the first time that I have used this shape for a bass. I still have some sanding to do on it so the points will shorten a little.

I have recently started a new build. Its a 34" Vampyre Bass. It has a 5 piece flame maple and purlpe heart neck and the sides are walnut with maple. I am installing a double expanding trussrod from warmoth and two steel stiffeners. It will have a graphite nut and 4 mono bridges. For the pickups I will be using an EMG "PJ" set up. Below is a pic of my progress to date.