Supernova9

every wood I work with is toxic. and its actually plywood, my other templates are MDF or MDQ.

im more woried about ebony dust then the dust from mdf.

I have another set thats foam on the inside with thin lams of wood for faces.

MDF dust is far more harmful than ebony dust. Mainly because MDF is filled with a carcinogenic glue to hold all the fibers together.

Your apparent laziness to go down to the garage to work bothers me. I'm glad I don't live in your house, it's not really fair for you to make your housemates inhale harmful dust because you want to sit in front of the TV while you work (which takes your concentration away from what you're doing - no wonder you caught the dremel on that plastic bag).

i can only image scotty getting sucked into his router..

today I was dremeling a insert to size a neck pocket, and I was doing it in my living room over a plastic bag I had used to hold the scraps from destroying a ebony fretboard..

anyway, the dremel cought the edge of the bag.

it was like a grenade went off.

Ebony flying everywhere and the dremel snaking, trying to free itself from hand.

my roommate happened to be walking by and took cover behind our couch...

awesome...

I could totaly see a router grabbing a long sleve shirt or somthing and yanking you to it..

Do you not realise how stupid that is?! I really hope for you and your housemate's sakes you learn to treat tools with respect and common sense. Use a workbench, don't put anything that could snag on the router anywhere near it, clamp it down properly. Jeez.

If you carry on doing things like that I'll put £20 on you not having all your fingers before long.

thanks for the link NJD...just bought a load of tools from there but didn't spot them...soon be payday though

as for non-stick stuff & stopping the clamps from getting glued up....

If you're using those 4-way clamps, why not cut a groove in the centre of the blocks? The groove will always be in the centre will it not?.. & I'm sure a small 1/2" gap won't cause much of a problem with all that pressure everywhere else. Just a thought.

*edit* I guess that would only work with two boards though.

Because if you're gluing wood-to-wood with titebond or similar, and the clamp rails are made of wood, unless you put something like packing tape or plastic on them, the wood clamps will be glued to the wood workpiece. Dimensions/grooves wouldn't make a difference.

Another point I think is important is that you need to simply build, build, build, then build some more, building is far more beneficial than wondering what wood sounds better than another and asking someone else about it, just go in there and try it out, then try something else out, and see what you think about the whole thing, that's called EXPERIENCE, and is hard earned, but very prized.

This from the guy who's building essentially the same telecaster for 20 years now

But I'll wager he knows really well how to make a great sounding telecaster.

Hi all,

I am about to start building my first guitar and was just wondering what is the best way to cut a scarf joint? Should I attempt it with a band saw or a hand saw?

Thanks

First step would be to use the SEARCH feature. There are countless threads on this board about the best way to cut a scarf joint.

I used Jon Catto's '58 or '59 plans from mimf.com and used this method of making a neck angle: route binding cavity all around body (on table). Route edge to final thickness using half round router bit all the way around except for cutaway and neck joint area. Use block plane accross grain to join the top of the binding at the neck joint to where the far edge of the neck pickup. Then connect point where fretboard ends to far edge of bridge pickup. It worked out ok except the angle is ridiculously steep due to my excessively thick top. The carve ends up being like 9/16ish deep and the neck angle is 6 degrees. It matches the bridge heigh well enough, but I placed my pre-slotted fretboard on the top and realized that the nut is going to be level with the back of the body. This is what I'm expecting:

http://img21.imagefiasco.com/viewimage.php...es/vJJ54782.jpg

Maybe it's just me but I think it's too steep. If so I might introduce an angle on the neck tennon and then plane the top of the body flush where they connect. If the bridge needs to be lower I can allways lower the carve there too.

I started carving with a rasp and banged up the edges a bit before going into town and getting a set of spokeshaves (here: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...,50230&ap=1 ) They're tiny but heaven compared to what I was using before. I'm leaving the top of the guitar flat until I put the pickup cavities in. I am carving it by eye with several photos of les pauls in front of me. If you have any suggestions as to how I can make the carve more les paul-like please suggest them!

As for binding, I have stew mac's cream abs .090" deep, 7/16" thick. Closest I could get for binding channel was .060" and I'll sand it flush. But, when I place the binding in the channel, I can tell that there will be visible gaps when viewing from the top. I read somehwere that If you dissolve some scrap binding in acetone, you can use the sludge to fill the gaps, but I tried and it didn't work on my abs so I'm gonna look into getting some nitro cellulose stuff. Does anyone know where I can find it at these dimentions?

Be VERY careful when working: I banged up the mahogany back in a million places before finally starting to work and carry it around in a towel. Every time I picked it up there was a new dent in it. My plan is to steam them out with an iron and sand, although I find it stains pink/purple when the mahogany gets wet.

For finish, I want to do poly or nitro over either solid black, solid or transparent blue, or a tabacco sunburst. I really like a transparent back on les pauls though. If I can't get the dents out and cover up the gaps in the binding I'll go with a solid colour.

I haven't started the neck yet but will as soon as im done most of the body. I am open to advice, criticism and questions! Thanks!

I think your neck angle is too steep - the way you've drawn it (with the flat body top) isn't right - it should be a straight line from where the bridge is going to sit to the nut. That determines your neck angle. If you look at your diagram, that line would mean your neck is currently too low, and will need to come up in order to make that straight line.

I do love the top carve though, very nice. You should check out Setch's Les Paul tutorial - http://home.asparagine.net/ant/blog/ for a good walkthrough.

no I don't have a router right now. I was doing the cutting with a rotary tool. I takes longer but it seems to be working pretty good. It also allows me to use a little more precision, which is very important to me, because I am a novice and then some at this.

A router and template will give you far more precision than whatever the hell kind of rotary tool that made those craters will.

Now what that has to do with bookmatching.... if you can do that... you can surely join wedges like Rich is saying with each other non-issue.

Yes, but if you're cutting wedges - you're cutting at an angle, so the thick parts of the wedge are taken from opposite sides of the board to each other - the grain wouldn't match. That's the problem.

I'd suggest that the 10 guitars all from the same brand having issues would be more a problem with the brand and construction than merely the effect of transport, whatever style of transport that would be.

You guys do realise that the link in his first post was to the Moser Custom Shop site, and to that exact guitar, right?

Reading the original post is cool.

I went from no previous tool experience to using a router (it was the first tool I bought, after sandpaper). The single most useful thing you can get for it is a good sized portion of common sense.

Yes a router is dangerous, but so is any tool. There are a load of posters I see on here who appear terrified of routers, just because they're high speed. That's just stupid, and a quicker path to getting hurt than by paying attention to what you're doing. Respect for tools is good, fear for them is bad.

Saying they shouldn't be bought on a Sunday from a hardware store is just crass, and more likely to put people off building. It kinda reeks of an 'elitist' attitude which this board is completely against imo.

I just want to highlight a really important part of what you were told up there - wait for the dye to THOROUGHLY dry before applying the plastic coating (i.e. more than 24 hours) otherwise you will end up with a patchy mess (I speak from experience, using the same products from axminster).

Will this be a bad idea? If so, any other recommendations?

This won't work. You'll wear through the varnish and rub off the sprayed on colour. There's a reason people inlay things - do you really think people would bother going to all that hassle of cutting stuff to fit and routing perfect pockets if you could just spray and seal it?

If you want a custom inlay job on a guitar you're building, take the time to learn to do it properly, or get a pro to do it for you.

hmm when wet your lams look familar

No they don't at all. Don't be silly. Different woods and laminate thickness.

Now I have been shopping for my guitar parts for ever. I have been trying to get really nice stuff. I am using snakewood,quilted maple, and black limba. Anywayz I am about to buy the top for the guitar and um well I am kinda tossed between 2 tops. one is 500 and the other is 350. the one that is 350 has the 1 written above and the one with the 2 is 500. what do u guys think ill go with whatever u guys say. I just cant make the choice. I just cant tell if the other one is worth the extra 150 bucks.

tell me which one

quilted maple pics

hey can u guys see the pics? i am a lil new at this

Well first of all if they're supposed to be one-piece tops they're too narrow. And if they're going to be resawn, then you don't need more than 7" width, so you're paying for far more than you'll actually use (you'll end up with 2" sticks off either side).

Also the prices are high. Check out Gilmer Woods or get in touch with Larry Davis at Gallery Hardwoods for instrument grade maples. I wouldn't have though a premium figure maple board for an LP style carve top should cost more than $250 at most.

Other people will chime in with places to buy from, and they may well be worth a shot (take a look on eBay),. The two I gave you above are reputable dealers, who specialise in musical instrument wood, and know what the job needs. If you take a peek at the Gilmer website you'll be able to see loads of their maples so that you can choose which one you want.

What on earth is deathwood?

I googled it and didn't get anything. All the pictures I found were pictures of trees with angry faces on them

He's not paying too much for the fretboard - he wants 16" radius, not the standard 12" that StewMac has.

The list looks ok - have you done much woodworking before? If not, I'd question the benefit of buying a $150 hand plane - get experience with a cheaper one first.

Also, I'd strongly recommend getting some cheap wood in first, like a 3A maple top and a standard body, maybe a cheap maple neck blank, before you get straight on building on your best wood - especially that Koa, I'm betting that was pricey!

Your list shows you've done research though, just buy as and when you need instead of getting it all in straight away, and then you'll avoid buying more tools etc than what you need.

When will people on this board learn that either you have to fund something properly or it won't look good.

That's not just you, it's been coming up a lot lately. Yes, you can build on a budget, if you have the skills. But if you don't have the skills or the cash, you're going to end up disappointed, and ruining a guitar.

Plain and simple.

So you want the guitar to a point where you can finish it, assemble it, do a set up and then play it?

Do you want all the fretwork done? Do you want it sanded to the point where you could shoot a finish on it?

Really, the only work you say you'll actually do is sanding the back of the neck a bit.

Let's be honest, what you're actually asking for is a complete custom guitar, just 'maybe without a finish' (and even that you kind of ask for anyway), and shipped to you without the bridge/pickups etc (which any decent builder would want in front of them anyway to make sure it all worked).

But your price isn't what I think will stop you getting offers from anyone good enough. It's the time demands doing something like this puts on a hobbyest builder. Would you be happy if building this guitar took a year? Would you be happy if the answer you got to 'when are you going to do some more work on it' is 'I'm not sure, work's a bit hectic this month'? Pro builders are good, they do cost more, but that guarantees you their time, and a schedule for them to work to. Hobby builders aren't at that stage imo.

I'd strongly urge you to reconsider both what you're demanding and who you're demanding it from, but hey, I can't force you to.

i would guess the best thing would be a small vinyl sticker, then refinish it or something

Unless you refinish in something really hard/thick, you won't stop it bein worn away. There's a reason people actually go to the effort of routing pockets you know, if it was that simple, or going to look that good using stickers, do you think they'd bother?

Oh, I know that ebony and the likes don't like going that thin, I'm fine with dyed ones, hence the "ebonIZED".

Chris

Just search ebay - 123" long pieces by 6" wide by 1/28" thick - enough for 4-6 accent lines. pnly $13.

Then airbrush an anti-christian symbol on the front and you got yourself a very fitting guitar for that particular band.

Seriously, anti-christian symbols? Do people still do that to seem "alternative"?

That was so ten years ago it's not even funny.

It is indeed a very good cover. Nice job cutting that precisely.

Question: How do real Supreme's do it? How are the electronics installed, and more importantly, if something like the switch or a pot fails, how are they repaired?

This, in my opinion, is a much better solution.

On the real Supreme, the body is chambered, and the standard wiring channel from lower bout to switch position is nice and wide. Then it's a case of installing the electronics like an ES335, and using long wires so you can solder connections outside of the body.

See here for more info

That truss-rod kit is an excellent idea,

Except at $229 you'd most likely be cheaper starting again.