Ripthorn

Not if he has destroyed more guitars than he's built.

Hi all, I am getting near the finishing stage on one of my guitars that I am refinishing (and putting a new fretboard on) and the weather here is not conducive to spraying nitro outdoors and I live in an apartment in a college town. I have been doing a lot of reading on things such as wipe-on poly, rockhard, ktm9, shellac and others. I have used tru-oil and like it really well, but for this guitar, I want something with a pretty high gloss, inexpensive and that is hopefully a little harder than tru-oil. From what I understand, wipe-on poly produces pretty good results as does the ktm9. My only issue with ktm9 is that it is more expensive and I don't have anything to order from LMI at the moment. Anyway, I just thought I would put the question to you and see what you think. I am leaning towards wipe-on poly because it is available pretty cheap locally, though if public opinion weighs in strongly in favor of something else, I may give that a try.

Hey guys, I just finished a sweet bass. It has a p/j set and piezo pickup in bridge. The wiring scheme is p/j blend into mag/piezo blend into master volume and master tone. The cavities are shielded, string ground, etc. The problem is that I have some annoying hum on the j pickup. The p and the piezo don't hum (wouldn't really expect them to), but the j does. The amount of hum varies as I change orientation (kind of expect that from electromagnetic theory). I was just wondering if anyone knows of a good way to get rid of the hum. It is not as low level as what I imagine a single coil should naturally produce, but I think my grounding all checks out. When I roll the tone off, the hum goes away, don't know if that helps. Anyway, I am just looking for a little help to make this thing a total knock-out. Thanks.

I guess it depends on your definition of one piece. If you mean there are no glue lines or joints in the entire thing, that does seem rather wasteful. I did make a neck-thru from one board of maple, but there are glue lines connecting the wings to the neck. It is very light and with an EMG 81/85 set, is has a metal tone that is out of this world. I made the thing several years ago before I knew anything, but it has turned out mighty nice.

I think they're looking great. As far as the strap button on the SG, I just built a bass where the upper horn is not conducive to having the strap button on the point, so I just put the button on the back of the body about an inch and a half in from the point of the horn. That could be a better placement than on a sculpted heel.

As far as the body, you could just take that straight-on picture and use something like autocad or inkscape to draw a curve around the body, then scale and print off in sections. Or you could go old school like i did several years ago when I tried to copy a PRS. I took a picture and printed it out. I drew a grid of 1/4" squares on it. Then I took a known dimension (scale length, lower bout diameter, whatever you know) and figured out how many 1/4" squares that was on my picture. Then I scaled it up by drawing a grid of (in my case) 2" squares and then just traced from square to square and got my shape to turn out almost perfect (I say almost because one horn was a little bit pointier than in the picture). I know nothing about this guitars electronics and thus won't comment on it. Total time to draw your own set of plans, maybe 30 minutes and it's free (except for a big piece of paper like poster board).

I don't think anything is louder than 11. I think the world would cave in and then explode if there was. As far as tuning the body, your hardware and cavities are going to alter the structural dynamics of the system so that more than likely, your software won't be able to handle it. It would have to take into account the non-rigid mounting conditions and spatial distribution of added mass. Trying to tune a complex-shaped solid structure is not my preferred way of spending time. My advice, make it pretty, put in some good pickups and crank it to 11.

You bought a neck, correct? The scale length is twice the length from the nut (side nearest the fretboard) to the center of the twelfth fret. You will want to set your bridge back just a little more than that distance (1/8 - 1/4 inch depending on how much saddle adjustment your bridge has). It is usually better to drill holes prior to finishing if using something like nitro so that you don't crack or chip the finish. Hope that helps.

I love options, the more the better. This gives me some great ideas, but unfortunately, I will have to build another guitar to try it out, darn. Thanks for the very useful info.

There are actually fretboard polishes available. I was reading about one that says it even gives a nice shine to the frets. No idea where I read it, however. As for the shellac, it is soft, but I think you can put a clear coat over it. It is somewhat common to use shellac as a sealer and then put on the protective coats with something like nitro (may not be nitro, but I know people use something to clear over shellac). Also, avenger, to reply to your comment about stains, they don't work under tru-oil, that is why dyes are primarily used with this. Anyway, hope it helps (and I hope I'm not way off base on the whole clearing over shellac).

If it wasn't for being able to fool ourselves, then movies wouldn't ever have become an attraction. One of the really cool illusions is to turn of the lights in a drum room and put a strobe on the drums. The modes of the cymbals and drum heads are clearly visible.

In my opinion, I would try to make sure that all the junk on the body is sanded off well (some of it might be down a little deeper). To get the finish you want, there are a few different options. Tru-oil will darken up the wood nicely, as will a nice amber tinted shellac. You can also get some amber aniline dye and dye the wood and then just clear coat over it. As far as a veneer, you could do it if you want, but if you don't have much experience putting on a veneer, it can get a little tricky with getting bubbles out, etc. For the sake of ease, I would probably just finish the wood and not worry about a veneer, but then again, I really like different grain patterns (ones that aren't just straight or bold like ash, I especially like stuff like unfigured maple with a few mineral streaks or spalting). I'm sure more experienced people will put in their more qualified opinions, but just thought I would put in my two cents' worth.

Thanks for the support. I am not sure how long the next projects will come along, seeing as how grad school, a wife, a one year old and another on the way can tend to distract you. But I have one in the works that should be done in another couple weeks I hope.

Alright, I have finally finished this one. The finish didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted, but it was my first time and you live and you learn. The pictures aren't the greatest. I wish I had one of those nice cameras, or at least some decent lighting around this place. It plays great, though the action is ever so slightly higher than I would prefer (the bridge is already at it's lowest setting, so I would need to shim the neck pocket). The sounds are amazing, blending the p pickup with the piezo gives an amazingly punchy sound that fits a lot of what I like to play. This was a fun project. Next up, converting the first guitar I built into a sustainer... Let me know what you think.

The cost all depends on what you want. I took an old guitar and stripped it of the hardware and built a new body for it and the total cost was basically the cost of the wood. For a solid alder body it was like $30-40. But then the next guitar I built I spent several times that. And I know of builds that make even that look cheap. The tools are something that requires thought as to how often you plan on building. If you just want to build one or two, then a whole slew of tools may not be the best option. However, if you plan on doing this a lot, then invest in good tools to do the job right. It all depends on what you want to get out of it and how many you want to make.

It has been a long time since I posted anything here, but that is because between graduate school, a one-year old and work, the builds get put on the back burner. Since I last posted, I have all my routing and sanding and carving done and the Tru-oil is curing. The roundover on the top is all hand carved with carving chisels. I like the look and feel of it much better than a router bit, but maybe that is because I just haven't found the right router bit. The logo on the headstock is a personal design. The only disappointing thing about it is that I didn't seal the wood underneath, so the gold paint got sucked into the walnut grain. I guess it just serves to give it a little more "vintage" look. The gouge you see near the bridge mounting holes is a little tearout from when i was drilling the hole to the control cavity for the string ground and for the piezo pickup leads. Anyway, here are the pictures. Let me know what you guys think. Hardware is gold, jack plate is walnut and control cavity plate is alder.

I have a build finished in tru-oil hanging in my closet curing right now. It looks absolutely beautiful on the walnut and flame maple. It is not as hard or durable as nitro, though a lot of production guitars put enough clear on to withstand a nuclear blast. It does look great, but it darkens the wood a fair amount if the wood is not sealed. It is easy to put on, though you still have to develop a routine that works for you to make sure your finishes come out perfect. There is a lot more prep work than with nitro, but there is a lot less work done on the finish itself. You can use aniline dyes to color the wood underneath, but I would stay away from tru-oil over paint. I have never done it, but unless the tru-oil sealer works well over paint, I am not so sure on what the adhesion of tru-oil to paint would be. Of course, you can try that for yourself, like I said, I've never done it (I prefer transparent finishes). Here is a picture after the last coat was applied. Hope this helps.

For solid colors, probably your best option would be to use tinted nitro. If you plan on doing guitars for a living, you will need a spray booth and good HVLP system. Then you could just mix the tint with your nitro and spray a couple coats. Then spray clear. If you want more info on how to spray nitro, LMI has a good tutorial on their website.

If you want to do the diodes, they need to be schotsky, from what I understand. more info on it can be found by searching for "strawberry ice" here in the forum. The one problem with the diode thing is that you have to have really hot pickups to drive the diodes, if I remember correctly. Also, the clipping characteristics of the diode will be different from the black ice, so the sound won't be exactly the same.

If I just wanted to have an on off switch for the amplifier, is there a reason why it couldn't be an spst? Wouldn't it simply function to allow the battery's voltage to flow into the circuit when in the on position and block it in the off? Of course, I don't claim to have the best functional knowledge of the inner workings of switches and the like. Thanks.

Well, I am getting closer to actually being able to start my sustainer. I am setting up an order for the parts, but before I do so, i wanted to ask a question. I am going to be using a single pickup setup and I want to be able to switch the amplifier off and have the option for normal and harmonic modes. I am thinking that an on-off-on dpdt should be able to do this, with one on being normal and the other on wired in reverse. I was just wondering if this is correct thinking. Also, to wire for harmonic mode, do I simply swap the positive and negative wires going to the amplifier (or is it the driver) or am I way off base? Thanks.

What kind of finish did you put on that? I am interested in the 5 min between coats and a full cure in 4 hours...

I really like the idea as the drawing depicts it. The shape reminds me a little of a cross between an Ibanez and a PRS. Of course, that is just what I see, I am sure others will see something else. What kind of wood are you using for your fretboard? It always sucks when a project (or a part of a project) goes down the tubes. I once had a beatiful piece of koa for a fretboard and I messed things up. Shame to lose something like that. But as long as you learn, the lesson can be more valuable than the wood, and usually is.

After the paint is all dry, you could get a metallic paint or leafing marker and it should write fine (you will want to try it out on scrap first). Before putting a clear coat, you might want to put sealer over it, just to avoid running (last thing you want is your logo to run when clear coating). Then just build your finish over it. If you don't want to do the laser printer thing, you can take the copy and decal paper to someplace like kinko's and put it in the copy machine (I hear it works, though I haven't done it personally).

I've got number 3 curing as we speak. Numbers 1 and 2 were done in high school and are getting refinished (I didn't know anything when I started). Number 4 will come along, but it will have to wait until after baby #2 and a graduate degree come (darn those priorities).