orgmorg

Thanks!!

The guitar solo in "Theme for an Imaginery Western" is one of the all time greatest solos ever!

Yep, and the live version on Twin Peaks is even better, along with the 45 minute Nantucket Sleighride. Those were the days- when you had to get up and flip the album in the middle of a song.

So did you bolt the old neck to the new body or did you modify to a set neck?

No, I just bolted it on. I considered glueing it in, but was not confident that it would hold with all those strings. If I were to build one from scratch, I would probably make a neck thru.

now its time to tackle a 15 string bass like the one ibanez made for fieldy of korn

I've even seen pics of an 18 stringer! Would be interesting to build, but I don't know what the heck I'd do with it. I'm bad enough on four strings. I had fun playing this one last night, though. What a huge sound. It really sounds like it has a chorus pedal on it.

Here's another pic showing the binding a little better. My first binding job.

Finally got around to finishing this one. Just got it strung and set up. I'll try to get some better pics soon, but this will have to do fer now.

You could do that, but I think you would end up hating it. Probably the easiest fix is to run a string through the hole at the end of the strap and tie it around the neck, just above the nut, like on an acoustic guitar.

Possibly lighter tuners might help?

Stainless steel aircraft cable should get you as low as you please.

Dehumidifier and an airconditioner.

If you think it's hot in the shed now, wait 'til you're cranking the DH full bore!

Between the two, you should do ok, but yeah, it can be expensive if you have no insulation.

If you can get the foil-faced foam board, that makes for good insulation in a shed. Put the foil to the outside to reflect radiant heat.

As to the wood, picture it like this: Wood shrinks as moisture leaves it. You get it at 6-8% moisture content. You can keep it this level at 45% humidity. At 60% humidity, it will be about 12% moisture content, and a tad larger. At 80% it will be pushing 18%MC and even larger. If you assemble the instrument at this state, all the parts will shrink when it is kept in a house at real low humidity. Wood also shrinks at different rates along its 3 axes. Tangential (across a flatsawn face) shrinkage is often twice Radial (across a quartersawn face) and it hardly shrinks along it's length at all. An acoustic instrument contains wood going every which way, so you can see what happens here.

You could also consider just using the shed for the messy portions of the job and try to keep the wood in the house as much as possible.

I have one insulated room in my shop I keep at 45-50%. I keep the A/c set at 85 and it feels good in there! That should give you an idea what summers are like here.

Persimmon heartwood is a lot like ebony, but usually only occurs in small, irregular streaks and random blotches. The rest of the wood is creamy white with a heavy grain. It is also one of the most unstable woods you will run into.

For laminating a top, I prefer to soak it and myself with Steel Reserve high gravity beer. If you have not seen this product and you are of the appropriate age, I recommend it. The extra gravity makes the wood so heavy it needs no clamps or any other culinary supplies. Well, maybe a bag of pretzels.

Ya, you might get blisters on your fingers!

Do you have a pic of it? I'd be interested to see what it looks like.

You can get away with it in this case, but you should use some dowels or biscuits to reinforce it. Remember, the strap button is on the butt, there, so there will be some stress.

Worst case is the glue joint may show under the paint, either now, or a year from now.

If it turns out bad, you can always make another one, right?

Nah, just post a smell clip of the wood burning on a dull tablesaw blade. That'll cinch it!

Oh, I've seen it get darker than that, even.

Freshly cut, Dark then lightens to grey.

Not sure what you mean by this. I think Mick said it gets darker and greyer with time.

Cherry will take on a bit of grey, particularly in bands between growth rings.

Looks a lot like the walnut, only what I have is distinctly reddish --more like mahogany I suppose. It's from a plank that's been here for 50 years, so no one knows what it is or where it came from.

Don't know if this helps, but when it's freshly planed/sanded it's a reddish/orangish color. After a few days though, it darkens and turns gray.

Yes, that does help. Sounds like cherry to me. Especially 50 year old cherry. The age explains the color. Cherry gets darker with age, even under the surface. That's why everyone stains it an awful shade of brown on furniture, etc. Impatience.

Are we talking about the Gibson Grabber in your avatar pic?

Walnut varies in weight. I'm not sure why, but it does. Probably has something to do with how fast it grows.

I've seen some that was almost as light as pine.

Setch, have you ever tried the waterborne finishes on celluloid binding?

The fret calc is the way to go for practical purposes, but if you want the math for academic reasons, here is the basics of it:

http://physics.mtsu.edu/~wmr/scales.htm

A drakonian measure, to be sure.

Ah well.. I kinda figured.

Still a good price, but the $5 thing had me excited.

A little more cheepnis pleez!

Cool, I like cheap! So where you get them five dolla tele bridges?

If you position the workpeice and yourself right, you can pretty much keep the spray of dust pointed away from you, and even into a dust collection hood.

What gets you is the particles of grit, which will bounce back at you. At 10,000rpm, they are travelling about 120mph, and don't slow down like wood dust will.

Looking great so far!!

Also, definitely wear eye protection when using the grinder!

Barns are built all the time with green wood, and if it is hemlock ( it does look like it ) and it is heavy, then it is probably not dry. Hemlock is a pretty light wood, and fairly soft, too.

I can't tell from the pics, but the seller is a member here. You could look him up and ask him I bet.

I really like Setch's entry a lot. Exceptional detail without overstatement.

But my vote ended up going to Dan's LP

At first, I was a bit put off by the profile of the top carve, the way it rises rather abruptly from the edge.

But it kinda grew on me, and actually it reminds me of this

acoustic archtop by Orville Gibson around 1900 which I also thought was kinda odd-looking at first.

I especially like the neck joint. That came out very well. The stepped effect that the curve of the neck heel following the curve of the body makes is very nice.

Do you mean like Titebond, Elmer's woodworking glue, or similar, aliphatic resin glues?

If so, that is what folks mostly use for almost all wood to wood joints.

the Titebond original formula ( not II or III ) comes especially recomended.

I use the Elmer's, just cause I always have. It works very well, too.