orgmorg

I've been using this stuff on nickel hardware: http://www.artchemicals.com/ArtChemicalsco...-P4415C205.aspx I've done some chrome with it as well, but with different results. It normally won't do anything to it, but if you scuff it up with 320 grit paper, and immerse it for a while it really dulls it down quite a bit. And since there is usually a layer of nickel and/or copper under the chrome plating, you can play around with how much and where you sand the hardware to get different effects. Works good on gold too, talk about gratifying!

I don't know where people are getting the idea that birch is "springy and bendy" It is a very strong wood, with a higher Modulus of elasticity than hard maple.

Don't use the stuff at the hardware store (allthread) it is fairly low grade metal, and has coarse threading.

Super cool! Love it!

Nah, a tele bridge will only cover a bit of the duke's left shoulder at worst.

Cool! I'm glad people are digging them, cause I'm having a heck of a lot of fun building them. I also love it that I am being encouraged to take it even further- OK Wez, next one will be extra crusty. But man, it's doing weird things to my already quirky aesthetic sensibilities- Even though it is obviously an incredible instrument, The Ormsby multiscale just didn't do much for me. I may be screwed up beyond repair at this point- the rust must have gotten into my bloodstream. I really liked Jukkasil's guitar, but even though I like funky f-holes, these seem a bit too much, and go too far into the bottom of the guitar. Either that, or the body is too small for them- something like a Gretsch 6120 body would suit them better. Otherwise, I love the look of the rest of it. I too would like to see you post more. I like the stone finish on Zyonsdream's axe and I like the bevels the way they are- It's the way I would expect the edges to be done on an actual piece of granite or marble. I ended up waffling between the Acoustic and the travel guitar. I love the inlay on the acoustic, and it is overall a very nice instrument, but I ended up going with the travel guitar. I admit I never paid much attention to it until I saw it finished, but I found myself really digging how well it all fits together in a nice compact package. It has a lot of features, but remains very simple looking, and very nicely done!

Here's another one of my rustic themed guitars, We'll call this one "crusty" Like the "privycaster" I did a while back, this one has a weathered cypress top on a sassafrass back. The neck on this one is Hard maple, with a persimmon fretboard. Position markers are slices of #6 copper wire The pickguard, control cover, and jack plate are hammered copper which I subjected to a mixture of ammonia and salt to create the cool blue/green patina. All the hardware is nickel, and I used a commercial antiquing solution on it to blacken it. Bridge is a Gotoh tuneamatic, tuners are from Guitarfetish. Tailpiece is a part of a iron strap hinge, like on others I have done. Pickups are generic p-90 soapbars. I coated the covers with shellac, using a sponge, gives a wierd antiquey look that doesn't show up so well in these pics. Knobs are bakelite, from some unknown ancient audio equipment. Big and clunky, but man, they feel good! Neck is glued in, with a full width tenon running under the pickup. Headstock Front and Back And Full Frontal shot Vote for it, and I promise I will get a better camera

If you can heat the wood to about 160 deg ( Fahrenheit ), that will set the pitch, and it will not soften again, unless it gets above that temperature ( not likely ) But heat it slowly and carefully so it doesn't crack, and keep in mind the pitch will ooze everywhere as it expands. Use shellac over the pitchy areas to seal them, otherwise it will likely mess up whatever finish you put on it.

But is that actually the throat depth, or the swing. Drill press sizes are typically listed in terms of their "swing" which is twice the throat depth. I ask partly because it looks like a benchtop model, and you don't often see those with that much throat depth. Also, I don't know how machinery prices are over there, but I just bought a brand new 15" floor standing drill press for $300, so that doesn't sound like such a great deal to me.

Still hard to say. As far a whether it's a decent wood or not- If you like the way it sounds and the way it looks, that's all that really matters.

My guess is Agathis, which is a pacific island wood often used in import guitars. Definitely not plywood, though.

Puh-duke duke duke, puh-duke of oil oil oil...

This pic seems pretty close to straight on. I played with it in my paint program, and when I cut/pasted the section of the fretboard between the nut and 12th fret, and dragged it to the right, it went from the 12th fret to about the middle of the rear coil of the bridge pickup. I realise this could still be a discrepancy in the angles and such, but it just doesn't seem right. Could you indulge my obsessive compulsiveness and measure between the nut and 12th fret maybe? Also, have you adjusted the intonation? The bridge saddles don't look quite right either. Sorry for being so nitpicky, I really do like the guitar a lot, it is a fabulous design, and well executed. I just have a feeling there are a couple technical mistakes. I have been wrong on occasion, though.

So is it a 27" scale neck? i.e: did he make it for a 27" scale guitar?

On a flat topped guitar, yes. A LP has an arched top, so even if you were to recess the bridge, you would still need some neck angle to keep the strings above the top.

No, it's just that it has internal tension such that one side of the board is holding the other in a certain position. Remove that side, and the other will move. You will often see this when you run a board through the tablesaw. The two halves may either bend inward or outward. Usually most of this stress is relieved by the time it is cut as small as a neck blank, but sometimes it isn't. You could argue that such a board shouldn't be used for a neck, but it's not because it isn't dry enough yet. I bandsaw the back profile about 3/32" oversize after truing up the top face, but before I do too much else. If it bows more than than 1/16", it goes in the scrap pile, and I haven't invested a lot of time in it. Usually it doesn't even bow that much, if at all, but that is the moment when you will see it bow, if it is going to. If it stays straight after that, any further carving is unlikely to affect it, so after truing up the top face again, I leave it like that until I get the fretboard on and the sides tapered. I usually carve the neck before fretting, but not for any particular reason, and I think I may start fretting beforecarving, because it does seem like it would be easier.

Cool! I like your version better than the Gretsch. The Duo jet was one guitar that was better off left a single cutaway, IMO. Thickening up the horns helps it quite a bit.

Don't worry about the curve in the trunk. If the straight sections between the bends are long enough to get a decent length log out of, just buck it in the middle of the bends. Those ends will end up getting trimmed off anyway later on. Let the wood do it's end checking in those parts as it dries. You still want to seal the ends to keep this to a minimum, though. But even curvey logs are fine to saw up. You won't want to make necks out of them, but they make good enough lumber for anything else. You wouldn't believe some of the wonky logs I've had to saw up in the past. But on the cherry: Ya, a 6" branch is firewood, unless you want to use it for small carving projects and such.

I wouldn't rely on the strings to flatten it. I know it's a drag, but you are right to take it back off and try again. Also, I think that guitar will look fantastic with a clear finish.

Depends on how much sunlight it gets. That seems to be what really does it. I've been thinking of trying UV lights on it to speed it up.

For domestic woods- Black locust does make a nice fretboard. Only drawback is it is somewhat porous. Osage orange is also great, but also has open pores- not a real big deal, since people also use wenge for fretboards. And the color can be a bit overwhelming until it darkens. Pear might work ok. It has a fine grain, but probably won't hold up much better than maple. Mesquite is awesome. No big pores, beautiful color, very hard. Won't find it growing in PA, though. It lives in Texas and thereabouts. Persimmon is becoming one of my favorites. It is super hard and dense. finishes out real slick. Color can vary from yellowish white to dark grey. Honeylocust is also very hard. Pink/orange in color, fairly porous. Hickory should work ok, as well as beech.

Thanks, Jason! Actually, I did have a good birthday. Didn't really do much of anything, but I also didn't have a major depressive episode, like I usually do. I'm attributing that to the fact that I am also celebrating half a year of being alcohol free. I never was a real big drinker, and don't have anything against drinking, but I finally realised it is not a good compliment to chronic depression. So, instead of several days of bleak despair, I had about an hour of moodiness and got right back on track after a good dose of chocolate. Anyhow, I've been having a lot of fun with this bass. It's a lot more different than a 4 string than I had figured it would be. All my old bass lines don't sound right on it. It really demands a different approach. Hard to explain, but it's mostly in the timing. My only regret is that I put the octave strings on the bottom. My thinking was that that would make fingerstyle playing easier, since I don't use a pick. But it makes it kinda tough to keep both strings fretted properly on the neck. The octave strings get muted if I don't really keep on them.

Here is where the blanks get dried the rest of the way, with the ends coated with endgrain sealer: This is also the outfeed table for my tablesaw, which also gets used as a worktable quite often. It's 4' wide, 8' long, and about 3' high. Both ends are blocked off with plywood, with a hole in one end that a dehumidifier exhausts into. The blanks are stacked and stickered along the sides, with an alleyway down the middle. This way, the air from the dehumidifier blows down the middle, and exits through the stacks. I will let it sit for a while before I turn on the DH, however. The moisture content will likely start dropping again just from being stickered in a drier location. Once it stops dropping noticably, or if it doesn't drop noticably, the DH will get turned on, but not real high.

Well, The way I would do it would be to get it all strung up on the finished guitar, and set the action on the high and low E strings to where I wanted it. Then, I woud use my nut slotting files to lower the slots in the bridge saddles of the middle four strings until I got the correct action on those strings. After that, I would take the strings off, and using a small flat file, file down the tops of those saddles a bit so the strings don't sit so deep in them. This last step is not entirely necessary, but a good measure. However, if the saddles are plated with chrome, etc. you may want to skip it. Looks like those are plain brass, though, and you can get tunomatics with unplated brass saddles, as well.

Well, time to get back at this again! This lumber reached 16-18% moisture content after about 5 months. That's really about as dry as it will get sitting outside here in middle Tennessee. Since I was not ready to process it further at the time, I stacked it in a shed with no stickers, so it would not be outside where the moisture content would likely go up and down too many times. I have spent the last few days cutting it all up into smaller pieces that will be stacked and stickered again, this time inside my shop, where, with the help of a dehumidifier, I will take it down to 6-8% moisture content. Here is one of the boards, pictured on both sides. I have drawn lines where I have selected a 30" length of straight, clear stock, hard to see in the pics, but in the right hand pic, the piece is between the two small knots: After I cut that piece out, I find the center, based on the peaks of the rings and draw a line there: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/orgmorg/maple8.jpg Then, I cut 2" either side of that line to make a 4"x30" neck blank with the grain centered: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/orgmorg/maple9.jpg The pieces on either side will be marked as a matching pair, and used in laminated neck stock.