Ripthorn

I am in the middle of building one for 10. I found a youtube video of a guy who builds multi guitar stands and have taken some inspiration from there and some of my own ideas. Still a ways left to go (since I'm working on three guitars right now), but perhaps I'll post when it's finished.

Was there ever any presence of silicone in your shop near these guitars? Otherwise, it is a conundrum indeed.

Chris, I too am from Syracuse. Welcome to the forum.

That's a nice piece there. I know on highly figured woods, a lot of people will plane at 52-60 degrees.

Just look for a standard 2 humbucker wiring diagram with 1 vol 1 tone. It will be identical.

One thing I have learned the hard way is never count on primer/sealer/clear coat to fill anything. It might, it might not, just don't bank on it. Also, white can be really tough to keep flecks of stuff off of when shooting clear (I just told my wife last night to remind me to not do another white guitar as the one I am doing right now is white with pearl and has been a royal pain to finish). However, what I did for mine was use Mixol tints (which are german so you should be able to get your hands on them no problem). Just mix it up in some sealer and brush or spray on. You don't want to go more than 5-10% tint by volume, but it will work.

My two off-the-cuff recommendations would be walnut (works wonderfully with maple both visually and tonally) or (chambered) bubinga. Both will add more high end than mahogany, and bubinga would be quite bright. Walnut has a very smooth tone to it if you ask me, but not quite as warm as mahogany (also means less tendency to get muddy). Of course, the differences in wood choices can be rather subtle, so I'm sure some people would say don't bother. I would, however, stay away from basswood. I just don't particularly like the stuff. I built one guitar with it and will likely never do it again, poplar is much better in just about everything except weight in my opinion.

In my opinion, that is going to be almost impossible. I don't really know what else to say. If you feel you absolutely must, I foresee pulling out the frets, routing a new inlay cavity that totally encompasses the inlay in question, and installing a new inlay. If you don't have a lot of experience doing such a thing, then I highly recommend you stay away from it.

Were you smoothing as you went along (every couple of coats)? You could also be experiencing issues with grain filler shrinking. I have learned the hard way that sometimes, it just takes more patience and sanding. However, remember that if whatever is under your clear coat isn't as perfect as you can get it, then the end product will usually not be a wonder to behold.

Starting a few months ago, I started getting wrist pain while using the computer. I have been to a physical therapist and done other things to try to clear it up. It has been determined by the doctor that it is a muscular problem in my forearm. The occurence of the pain coincides with the only period in the last 8 years when I haven't regularly played guitar. After playing for a while today, I had some of the pain again. Looks like playing guitar will have to be a daily exercise to help recondition those muscles, poor me . I visit the therapist again tomorrow and let him know of my revelation.

I use an iron with wet rags. The steam softens the glue and doesn't damage most finishes. Just use a pair of good metal putty knives to work the board off from one end.

I agree with the comment about the stewmac template, as it can be a little confusing if using it for the first time. As for the input jack, I had this problem on the tele I recently finished. The problem was that I had shielded the whole cavity and when I plugged in, the tip of the cable just barely touched the grounded side of the cavity. If not that, then you might have a solder joint where when a certain kind of stress is applied, it doesn't have the right conductivity.

Well, I haven't been updating this as well as I initially hoped, but progress has been coming along. Veneer has been applied and trimmed, necks have been carved and fretboards radiused and sanded to 150. I still need to do the last tuning on the necks, carve volutes, shape headstocks and drill for tuner holes along with fretboard markers. I also need to do the top roundover on the bodies and sand. Getting closer. And yes, I realize the figuring on the veneer runs at an angle to the centerline. I don't think the kids will mind.

It looks similar to the PRS Santana headstock design, though a little different.

I'm going to be building a bass neck for a guy here at work and I will be using a preslotted board from stewmac as I don't have bass scale fret slotting templates. However, the radius on their boards is 16" and I need 12". So I am thinking of re-radiusing the board. Has anyone tried? Is there enough material to do so? I'm not worried about the slots, as I can cut them deeper if need be. I'm just curious to know if there is enough wood to put a smaller radius on one of these.

You can get an outline and make your own template. I would never route a P-bass pickup cavity without one, as they are somewhat complicated.

I would steer clear of the planer at the least. The one retailer that I know carried it has since stopped due to the large number of returned units. There is some problem that I can't recall off the top of my head that seems chronic with the unit. I can't comment on the jointer, but might consider someting else simply due to guilt by association.

At first I was expecting the guitar to be 60 feet tall... Anyway, it's looking good, I love the asymmetric heel.

If you aren't opposed to buying Chinese, you can check out eyguitar as I saw they have gold, chrome, and black there while I was cruising it last night. Also, I think you might be able to find something from Angela Instruments perhaps. Good luck.

I've never done it, but I know that some people use a special type of masking tape found at auto parts stores. I'm sure someone else will chime in soon enough with more specifics.

Might I ask why you need a rod that runs the entire length? I'm not trying to be critical, I just think that you might be able to achieve the desired effect with a standard rod. Also, single action truss rods can be made at home easily and for any length (need a curved channel, though).

Making some more progress. Necks are coming along well. You will notice that the headstocks are not done to final shape. I plan to do that with the OSS that I will be buying shortly. Here's a quick front and back mockup at this stage. Then I started carving the maple neck. I have found that my favorite part of building guitars is carving the neck. It's the most physical work, but also the most personal and most rewarding. In the final two photos, you can see a comparison of the carve made with my usual rasp (on the top) and my new Iwasaki rasp (on the bottom). The Iwasaki leaves an incredibly smooth surface for a file/rasp, cuts fast, and requires much less pressure. Anyway, it's good to see them finally coming along.

It's monkey pod, also called monkey wood. That is what I have used on fretboards for about 4 guitars now (was working with it just last night). The contrast between heartwood and sapwood along with the cinnamon like odor are dead giveaways. It's great stuff to work with, hard, heavy, and only mildly prone to tearout when routing. It will chip some if you have to pull frets out of it (don't ask me how I know), but overall works quite well. Enjoy it, as it is good stuff.

I use Dean Markley blue steels, mostly.

I completed my telecaster build the other night and started to do the intonation part of the setup. The thing that really gets me about doing this is that I have to use a screwdriver to adjust the screws while trying to keep the handle up off the body so as to not scuff it. However, this makes getting a good grip on the screw difficult and can strip the screw heads. Well, I went to my friendly neighborhood Harbor Freight last night and picked up a set of these screw drivers. They are 22" long, more than long enough to put the handle off the edge of the body. This allowed me to come straight-on at the screws. It worked perfectly, and for 5 bucks, I don't think it can be beat. I know what a lot of people say about HF, and yes, some of their stuff is lousy, and yes, some is great. I think these fall under great, seeing as how they will only be used for guitar intonating. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the flathead one...