idrum4food

The orange peel may have come from waiting to long after the first coat. I learned a lot about this while trying to win a pine wood derby contest for my son. I was using Testors rattle cans and the directions said to spray with in 30 minutes or wait 24 hours before the next coat. Didn't wait 24 and got major orange peel. I found that if I heated the can in hot water and sprayed in an environment 75 degrees or warmer, it turned out great. I also found that if I waited about 15 minutes between coats I could spray as many as four coats before stopping. My (son's) final car won the best paint job catagory. It looked wet and flawless after comlete. Can you use this method on guitars?

I asked this same question about 2 weeks ago and was told that you should install the inlay in an already radiused fret board and leave a little of the shell sticking up and then sand the shell down. But it seems to me that installing inlay on a flat fret board and sand it all down together would be simpler. Brian (Webmaster) agreed with the radiused fret board approach and sand the shell down. He should know.

So will a tune-o-matic or a floyd work with the neck angle I seem to have? I think I'd really like to try my hand at the floyd.

Forgive my simple mind but what options do I have? Would a Floyd Rose work or would a fixed bridge be better?

Just received my neck through body blank yesterday. This will be my second guitar. My first of which I made while in college, (About 30 years ago) Anyway, what should the neck angle (if any) should there be? I layed a straight edge on the neck and measured the distance between the straight edge and where the bridge will be installed and its about a 1/4". Is this enough? My first guitar had a bolt on neck and when I routered the neck pocket, the angle was to much and I had to put a tappered shim in the neck pocket to bring the strings closer to the body. I have NO experience with neck through guitars. All was accomplished without great web sites and tutorials. It turned out OK. It plays good but there are certain blemishes in workmanship. My sites were high as it started out to be a semi hollow (es335)but then quickly realized it was WAY above my skill level. So the chunk of wood ended up solid in the shape of the 335. gadawful heavy. Since I didn't know where to purchase inlay dots back then i drilled holes in the fret board (after the frets were installed) and melted solder and filed it flush. LOL BTW, westhemann's tutorial was a great help. Would like to see the finished product.

OK, I've finally received this body and neck blank today. Using a straight edge on the neck, I measured the distance between the straight edge and the body where the bridge would be installed and it appears to be about a 1/4". I was expecting it to be a little more. Is this going to be enough?

Would like to see your progress on this project. I've always wanted to start a semi project.

Reminds me of what my Dad always use to say, "Boy, iffin ya wont ta do da job rite, git yerself tha rite tooool".

Thanks guys. That helps.

I have a simple maybe dumb question. The only inlays I've ever done are the dot kind but would like to try something a little more complicated this time. When you buy a set of precut inlay such as squares (les paul) are they already curved to follow the contuer of the fret board ar do you have to do this your self? Do you install the inlay before you shape the fret board? Does the inlay sand as quick as the wood? HELP

Ed, The best way I've found for shaping the top of a solid body is to buy a Work Mate bench at Home Depot. This bench comes with holes predrilled in the work surface of the bench where you can place the plastic clamps at different locations to hold the body in place and clamp it using the Work Mate clamping mechanism. The plastic thingys only come up on the body about 3/4" giving you enough room for the next step. After the body is clamped in place use a LARGE wood rasp to shape the top of the body. The wood rasp I use is about 1.5' long and has a rough and not so rough side to it. Looks like a big flat bastard file only for wood. Found it at a very old hardware store. Takes about two to three hours to rough shape the body and another couple of hours to sand. I've tried the chisel and hammer method but didn't have the control that I do with the wood rasp. This may have already been discussed as I'm also new to the site. Just my way of doing it but in the end I'd say whatever you feel most confident with, without messin up yer chunk a wood. Good Luck.

Most of what E.R. sells as "body blanks" are finished guitars and all you have to do is add hardware and electronics.

I removed about a 1/16" from a FR nut by using a flat diamond knife sharpening stone. Took about an hour while watching TV. My jig and routing skills weren't good at the time.

No. It wasn't Ed Roman. Found it on ebay. Maple neck with purple heart stripes and walnut wings. 1 1/2" thick. This guy must sell more than a few of these on ebay cause there were a lot of good feed back from previous buyers.

Awsome. Nice attention to detail. Good craftsmanship. I might have wanted to see it a little more gloss. Hats off. super job!!!!

Just purchased a mockingbird neck through body blank. I haven't received it yet but was wondering what to expect as far as the neck to body angle. Do the Mockingbirds have a straight neck to body like the Fender or are they at an angle like the Gibson?

ebay has a good looking sg temp. made from 1/4" plexiglass. Type in "sg project" for the search.