Ripthorn

I have the Bosch 1617EVSPK and it is great. Never had an issue with it, came with both fixed and plunge bases, soft start, yadda yadda. I think it comes in around 200.

If I recall correctly, the wiring for an on/on/on switch is a little weird. You might be able to get it to work, but you would have to see the pole diagram for the switch to know exactly how to wire it up.

That is awesome. For some reason, I never thought of rotating my fan pattern. I'll give that a go. I'm going to be putting shellac on the thing soon as a sealer, so I can practice somewhat harmlessly with that. Thanks again, I learned a good bit.

I've done a couple neck-through builds, but one had a wipe on finish and the other was done rattle-can style. I've got another one that I am going to use my new-ish spray rig on. I am just wondering if all you smart people out there had any cool techniques or jigs for spraying neck-throughs, particularly in the horns and other hard to reach places. Pictures would be great.

Ridgid tends to make very good tools. I think you will be quite pleased.

Basswood and poplar also have a pretty even, balanced tone that would work as a decent alder substitute. There are probably several other kinds out there as well.

Cherry (at least American Black Cherry) is best described as having tonal qualities similar to maple. Alder is very balanced without as many highs as cherry. Of course, depends on the piece and, due to the design of the strat, the material choice is somewhat less important than other designs (not trying to start a war, it's just that having your pickups mounted to a pickguard made of flimsy material which is then mounted to the body, it will negate *some* of the tonal factors of the wood). I would say go for it and tell us how it works out.

Only way to really find out is to give it a shot. If it ends up not sounding the way you want, building a new body is not the end of the world. I doubt too many people around here have made a body of aged mulberry, and any that have, probably have not made the same guitar out of another wood to compare tonal differences with. I say go for it.

Different attenuators have slightly different sounds. From what I have read, the THD hotplate is not very transparent, but the airbrake is supposed to be the most transparent. Pretty much all others fall somewhere in between. Again, not personal experience, just what I have read, so take it for what it's worth.

Edit: I doubt you will get that sound with a small tube amp. Try sticking something like a red llama or other fuzz box in front (possibly a modded fuzzface).

You could check out the Egnater Tweaker (gonna get me one of these), along with the VHT Special 6 Ultra. You could also look into building yourself and airbrake (type of attenuator). There is a detailed BoM and such at The Amp Garage.

Typically 24 awg wire is used. And stranded is really the way to go. I have used some solid core, but don't recommend it for general jobs. The reason is because too many bends and solid core wire will break, which requires tearing it out and putting in a new piece. Stranded doesn't really do that (it's very rare).

Laminated necks also look great

This is the main reason I do it.

Volume pots are typically, though not always, log, since the human ear's amplitude response is fairly logarithmic. If it sounds like it has very little range, try a log pot.

I love the Bill Lawrence Keystones I put in my recent tele build. They sound great. I can't say enough good things about them. Then you can take the extra cash and spend it on whatever else.

If you want super slick and shiny, you could always give epoxy a try. I personally wouldn't, but who knows...

No worries, I really appreciate it.

I'm totally interested (been toying with the idea for some time now of a multiscale), but I won't be able to finish anything in Jan 2012, so may the lucky guinea pig enjoy!

Hey guys, I'm working on my kids' guitars for Christmas and I am wanting to do one of them red and one of them blue. I was wondering if anyone around here had a little bit of these colors in aniline dye that would be willing to part with them for a nominal fee. I can pick up 1 or 2 oz. jars, but those would be orders of magnitude more dye than I need. If anyone (in the US) has like 1/2 tsp or so of these, I would be much appreciative. If not, looks like I will have a life time's supply of red and blue aniline dyes. Thanks.

Is the 2000 grit paper the same brand as the lower grits? What kind of compound are you using? Might there be a risk of silicon contamination? Was there anything different with the surface prep or body materials for the other two guitars?

Because this is not your typcial tone circuit, it won't necessarily use typical component values (that is the whole point of using it). I would wire it up as is and try that before making any judgments. You can always change it later.

I like it! Consider the idea stolen.

I would have posted updates earlier, but after taking some pictures, the camera batteries died and I was lazy getting more. After that, I was doing the tummy cuts on these and my index finger got up close and personal with my angle grinder, which put my typing in the category of "Do it only if I must". But, I must say that I was able to make some great progress thanks to a friend of mine called ROSS:

With this I was able to shape headstocks and sand edges, which allowed me to do the top roundover:

I also used purely hand tools (chisels, gouge, and scraper) to shape the volutes, of which I am proud:

I have since installed threaded inserts in the necks and sanded the necks to 100 grit. I need to install fretboard markers before I do too much else (still need to buy them). I also need to get the dye for the tops, so progress on these might be a little slow for the next week or two.

Additionally, I just finished guitar #2 in the Trio for Leo. This is the Jazzmaster. Fairly straightforward:

- Poplar body with silver pearl finish over white base coat

- Custom Tortoise pickguard

- Ebonized walnut neck with trapezoidal profile (all credit to Rick Toone for the profile) and profiled heel.

- Monkeypod fretboard, bone nut

- P90 pickups with series/parallel switch (I used the tops of dual concentric knobs for the smaller size, I really liked the look)

- String-through, recessed TOM bridge

I am still getting a feel for the EmTech EM6000 lacquer that I used on this guitar, meaning I sanded through the pearl finish to the white base coat in a couple spots. Couple that with one small blemish due to the soldering iron and it looks like it is "case-worn" as one of my coworkers put it. All in all I am quite pleased with it, despite a few small aesthetic errors. Now, the part you really want, the pics:

Well, time for some updates here. I promised some better pictures of the tele when it was all squared away. So here we go:

Whereabouts near Syracuse are you? I guess I'm just curious. I'm in Cicero, but work in North Syracuse.