Batfink

Errrrr......why are you thinking of using a scroll saw blade in a jewellers saw frame ? just buy piercing (sp?) blades for the frame (Google 'jewellers tool supplies' or 'piercing saw blades' or something simular or even check your local Ebay). If it's your first attempt i'd probably suggest, not that i'm an expert or anything, using something reasonably robust like 2/0 or perhaps even 1/0 if your a bit of an animal and leave the 3/0 or 4/0 until you've had a bit of practice as they'll tend to snap more easily. This sort of thing ! Jem

I wouldn't have sussed that out in a million years

You need to do a little more research! if you do black and sand back the grain will be black! I did say 'at a guess' because the resolution's so poor........it's defo doesn't look white filled - your clear filling sounds a reasonable analogy and quite a neat trick. Errr....just in case i missing something, the end grain, i found when i did a guitar out of ash, was harder to sand flat than the non end grain (if that makes any sense) so your statement would be back to front. Jem

I would say at a guess it's just black and sand back - the 'white' is just the natural colour of the wood underneath where your catching the grain when sanding back. Jem

Shim the nut. You can either buy the proper shims (i think they come .2/.3/.5mm) or mainly i use an offcut of scratchplate material or wood thinned to spec. Jem.

GregP, you took the words right out of my typing jem

'Paint It' has done some wicked stuff - check out some of his posts. Jem

My singer's Epiphone Explorer must be at least 7pc !

Hmmm.....Rockler, i've got something from them in the past - i'll take a look, thanks.

I surface mount quite often and use these E-Z LoK in their #4-40 thread. I slightly enlarge the pickups mounting holes and use Strat intonation screws which are the same thread. This way of mounting was quite common over the 80's with people like Hamer and Charvel. Jem Oh, and if someone's got some of these lying around i've only got 4pcs left and i can't find them in the UK and no US company is willing to sell and ship me just 20-30pcs.

For what it's worth i mainly build 'superstrats' (see GOTM last September) and i always use an angled headstock as oppossed to the standard Fender way - it just made more sense to me. Jem

I've always referred to them as 'centre notch', should be readily available as they're commonley used on active basses. Jem.

Not that i've brought from Warmoth i buy my wire coiled and just trim and press straight in. FYI i use 12, 14 and 16" radius depending on the bridge so i don't know about the tight Fender'esque 7.25 and 9.5 radius's. Jem.

I must admit the last SM order i made i got half a dozen (allen key hotrods not the spoke type else i'd let you have one at cost) because of the postage etc charges. I've already used three so it makes me wish i'd got even more ! Jem

Have you actually phoned David Dyke's ? I know that he has about 8/10 boards of Alder all cut from the same log and i'm pretty sure he hasn't cut them into body sizes yet. Jem.

Setch or Simo asked the same question a few months back and i'm pretty sure he drew a blank as well, i can't ever remember seeing any from the usual and unusual suspects. Dunno, dare say whichever one it was will chime in but i think he ended up getting in a SMac delivery. Jem

I have reasonably little experience with flake but have just completed my second 'flaked' guitar so i offer this only from my experience and readings. Firstly i'm assuming that you are looking for a full (or virtually full) coverage of flake or are you looking for a 'dusting' (some flake) finish ?... just clarify as your post says "purple with metalflakes". If you are looking to have full coverage then the base colour will only effect the reflectiveness of the flake - it will not change it's reflective colour as such....if you wanted a mixture of purple and blue you could mix some purple and blue flake together or perhaps shoot alternate layers of purple and blue again depending on the coverage you're looking for. I suppose you could try a light blue candy over purple flake to see if that gave you the look you're after....just an idea, i've not tried it myself. Obviously if you're looking to have just 'some' flake then the base coat would be highly visable. I must admit that i've not found a website that really gives too much information - i suppose the combinations are so endless that it's too subjective. Oh, and yes - base coat, mid clear with flake and then lots of clear to 'bury' the flake and give an even surface. Jem PS: Next time post this in the 'Tech' area as oppossed to the 'Tutorial' area - you'll get a much better response.

Doug, Just want to say i wasn't dissing you for your use of materials as i'm 100% aware you use CNC of which shell isn't the happiest material to use....me, i'd inlay my own eyeball if it fell out of my head Jem Nocturne-Guitars

Thats M.O.T not M.O.P.................

Hi Melvyn, I'm sorry to hear about this. For me personally the 'bible' helped me make sense of the myriad of diuretic shyte that the internet brings forth and i'm sure i'm 100% not alone in saying that the book has probably done more to inspire the amatuer self builder than any other publication bar none. Rest assured if i see anything i'll make you instantly aware of it. Jem Nocturne-Guitars PS: On a personal note i thank you for your recent visit to Dave Dyke - thanks to the efforts of yourself and Mr Goodfellow the joke cupboard is now fully restored and not a moment too soon..... (there's a limit to how many Welsh jokes Wayne can make) .....even though most of them are totally non repeatable on a 'public' forum !

UK things You don't actually state what you're looking for but clicky the above for most of the usual suspects ! Jem

Firstly i pressume you're going to spray this through a gun and aren't looking for aerosol's ?......if it's the latter then mince down to your local Halfords. Any automotive paint factors worth their socks will be able to do it for you or if you can't find (or can't be arsed to find) one local there's loads of factors on Ebay and people like Gavin at Nu-agane would be able to help you, just ask them and don't take what they show as all that they do. Jem

Hmmmm....a few things could be going on here. Firstly, if you've just re-strung it you must stretch the strings to take out any slack otherwise it'll never hold pitch. Tune 'em up and stretch, tune 'em up and stretch, tune 'em up and stretch....i think you get the idea - in my experience (nothing but floyd guitars for over 20 years) it'll take three or four stretch's to get them bedded in. Now on to the strings pulling out of the block(s). It could be that you're not doing the retainer blocks up tight enough or it may be that the previous owner has done them too tight and cracked them which is fairly common. It's a bit of a balancing act between getting them tight enough without going over the top (they need to be tight but not F.T !) so i'd check out if they're moving ok within their slots and they're not cracked - if they look ok then you probably just need to do them up a bit tighter but i re-iterate that they shouldn't be done up F...... Tight otherwise you'll crack the blocks or strip the threads. Hope this helps - floyd's can be slightly un-amusing if you're not used to them but they're not rocket science either. Jem

Terry will post worldwide. Jem

If this is the sort of thing you're after ? Clicky here Jem