mledbetter

I think you just have to look at it and see if it's worth it.. cheap metal won't hold an edge like the good stuff. Woodcraft sells spokeshaves for 15 bucks that look ok.. they are chinese made. But my buddy's spokeshave that i borrow from time to time is a 100 dollar instrument.. carved maple thing with a really nice blade in it with thumb screw adjustments.. My philosophy is to get the best thing you can afford, and go from there.

I wondered that too.. but a centimeter isn't as big as 1/2 inch.. so think .65 cm.. that's not even a quarter inch.. that just sounds like high action to me.. but not damaged guitar or neck action.. When i was about 4 i stood on my brothers acoustic guitar.. right on the sound hole.. the top warped and the action was about an inch high at the last fret! (i inherited that guitar as my first learner guitar.. probably deserved it..) I think 6.5 mm is not all that high.. esp if it's an inexpensive acoustic. * i did a conversion.. 6.5 mm would be right at 1/4 inch.. that's a truss rod or saddle adjustment probably..

check the top of the soundboard too.. if there is a "wave" to it, and your bridge sits on top of the wave that will screw up your action as well. Some soundboards can warp that way. But like devon said, sight the neck. if it looks like a banana then you have warpage.. if it's straight, then check the soundboard. If the soundboard is straight then you probably just need your neck reset. If your neck is curved, but only up and down (no twist) then you just need your action lowered some, in which case: 1) could be a simple truss rod adjustment, you could probably try this, just detune your strings enough to get your hand inside the sound hole and turn your truss rod adjuster 1/2 turn (clockwise).. tune up and see if that helped. If you need more, repeat, but this time, only 1/4 turn.. if you need more, repeat doing no more than 1/4 turn until it's right. or 2) you could see if the saddle needs to come down some. You can take your strings off and sand the bottom of the saddle to take some height off of it.

wow.. sounds like a neat instrument.. Only advice I would give is to maybe build a regular guitar first just to get the hang of all the skills involved.. Something like you describe will have to be very precise.. Not trying to discourage you.. you may feel perfectly comfortable taking it on, but a project of that magnitude would be intimidating for a lot of people.. let alone a first time builder.

What you want is a spokeshave.. same principle as a draw knife in that you pull it, but the drawknife is just a blade and you can cut very deep with it.. The spokeshave you set the opening between the blade and the handle to let just enough wood through and you have a ton more control. Works like a plane in that regard. I have never restored a plane.. there are a few guys here that made their own planes, and a good plane is a great tool. I had a neck blank made of 3 quartersawn strps of maple, 5 thick at the peghead end and in my clamping I got abou 1/8 " twist in it.. I bought a 10 dollar plane from home depot and about 15 minutes of elbow grease I had the neck completely trued up and smooth on one side so i could route the truss rod channel and prepare the fingerboard for attachment. I didn't even sharpen it.. Probably would have been only 5 minutes of elbow grease if I had taken the time to hone it. Another thing you will want if you like cutting tools is a set of cabinet scrapers.. I bought a pack of 3 (straight, french curve and convex/concave) for 16 something at woodcraft. They are invaluable. You can tweak your carving with them, or use them as a final smoothing step to stay away from the sand paper. scratchless, glass smooth surfaces.. But if you like the hand tools, i'd make sure to have the chisels, spokeshave, a couple of planes and some scrapers handy and you can do just about anything. oh.. and don't forget a couple of good rasps. You can rough in a tummy contour in about 5 minutes..

The fan doesn't explode.. it causes an explosion.. a normal motor has brushes in it that make electrical contact with the spinning components.. if you look inside you'll see sparks.. take a drill, press the trigger and watch the sparks in the backside of it.. in a paint booth you have a build up of explosive fumes, your fan sparks and kaboom.. it's not something that happens everyday but it is a real danger and people have certainly lost more than just limbs in such explosions..

well it would depend a lot on the size.. little table top CNCs often don't have the precision as there is too much flex and give in the cutting head.. guitar bodies put a cutter under some stress and it has to be a heavy enough duty mill with heavy duty guides, motors, rods, etc.. Any flex at all and you'll end up with unpredictable results. Looking at the larkin home page, they make everything from little table top jobs to big workhorse machines. I would imagine a high school would have a smaller one, more suited for engraving stuff, cutting small items out of plastic or light weight wood. not plowing through 1.75" hardwood..that's my guess tho..

I had to go back to iTunes and listen to "Open our Eyes" yeah that solo was pretty bad.. not that I could play it.. but i remember the first time i heard it thinking it sounded like several shredding exercises strung together with a quarter note's worth of vibrato in between.. He's still young though, time will tell.

That's cool.. man.. just watched one of the vids.. he's just too cool.. I guess his personality - kind of unassuming.. he's not out there telling everyone what a guitar-god he is.. he just kinda slips in and surprises you.. He makes it look effortless..

I think his playing in Alter Bridge was definitely a few notches up from the Creed days.. by his own admission.. he was more of a riff machine in the early days.. But some stuff I read about him post-Creed.. he worked his ass off with some new teachers and set out to really better himself. So my hat is off to him.. He was already a star and worshipped by many, he could have just rested on his laurels.. I hate it for him though.. he had a great sig model with PRS and it's canned because of that stupid lawsuit..

Well i think it all goes to prove that there are so many elements that color the tone of an instrument.. It's like the ingredients in cooking.. Each spice adds flavor.. too much of one can cancel out the effects of several others.. With the right mix of woods and electronics you can get very creative with your tone.. But if you go put duncan invaders on a gibson 335.. it probably isn't going to sound like a 335 anymore

well i'd be curious to know what you are comparing them to. Maybe these dyes work into maple faster than water soluble analines.. but there are several different types of readily available analine dies out there that produce stellar results.. I think technique has more to do with the final result.. Wouldn't want newcomers to think they can only get great looking dyed tops by using regulated commercial dye products.. There are plenty of options for dying that you can get at any fine woodworking store..

Call it a tone chamber If it's not too large it won't affect anything structurally.. As long as it doesn't interfere with your joint.

I would put myself in the same category greg just mentioned.. i'm by no means an expert... ..but I have played for many years and efinitely have my opinions on this matter.. Hollowbodies have a different tone than solid bodies. period. And chambered solid bodies have a little different tone than pure solid bodies.. Yes, theoretically the body is just a big support for the bridge, pickups and neck.. and the tone exists only in the 'vacuum' of those components but in reality the body's makeup does affect the tone. Otherwise you'd see guitars out there made of all kinds of crap. My theory, and anyone can smack me down if I'm wrong.. Is that all pickups are a teensy bit microphonic. Some of the boutique guys even refuse to pot their pickups because if you completely take away the pickups ability to capture the acoustic tone of the instrument, you're sterilizing your overall tone a lot.. But the majority of pups have a little microphonic nature to them even if potted.. Potting just stops the ultra-microphonic squeal. Given this, your raw tone existing on the string between the bridge and the termination point, can be colored by the resonance and acoustic properties of the body and neck.. Sometimes a minimal factor but it's the little details.. Some people want a really bright snappy sound and some want a warm middy sound.. your woods can tune your sound in either direction.. and chambering affects it just like your choice of wood can. Now i don't know that i buy into the "tuned" chambers and all that jazz.. on an acoustic instrument there is something to resonating frequencies and the like but on an electric.. i don't know that it makes that much difference.. The bodies makeup does let you tweak the timbre fo the instrument though, and allows you to develop it's character. Anyway, that's my most humble opinion..

not to hijack this joust.. i mean thread.. i would clarify from the previous comment that pretty much any wood can exhibit figure.. even hard maple.. Curls, quilts, things like that area a compression phenomenon that occur naturally, based on how the tree grows.. Curls happen a lot at the base of branches, crotch wood, etc.. where the grain is compressed over time as the tree grows.. So don't rule out figure for northern hard maple.. Might be harder to come by but it does exist. Typically however, the best figure is in softer maples.. western big leaf or eastern soft, and the best birdseye is in northern hard..

Just out of curiosity.. what does the mohawk give you that analine dyes don't? I mean if it's toxic, why not use something that isn't? The best dye jobs I have ever seen were done with the black/sand back/color method.. unless you're going for another effect..

The hardness factor may be greater than mahogany but the grain and pore structure is totally different and that may lend to mahogany being a little stiffer and stable.. You could but a couple of CF bars in there if you were really dead set on using it.. But while it's a very hard wood still, everyone I have talked to about it has said it has a lot more flex than the hard rock maple..

yeah i would highly doubt that one is explosion proof.. like maiden said, they usually are belt driven by a remote motor that is out of the fume path. There are explosion proof motors that are brushless but they cost some seriuos bucks.

Really nice looking stuff! I was giong to say the same thing about the locking tuners.. You would want to go with a roller nut or a graphite nut if you ditch the lock nut.. The roller one would be the most bulletproof. But the bone nut with the lock behind it is probably the best solution to ensure the strings don't move.. although.. there is an advantage to the floyd nut.. the tone of the open string should be closer to the tone of the fretted string. The tone of the bone ( ) is gone once you fret.. so i dont' know.. if it were me, i'd probably just stick wtih the lock nut. There are floyd equipped teles out there.. i can't remember the last one i saw.. probably my buddies late 80s pacifica.. total shred machine (back when pacificas were expensive) but it's a tele body. I don't think you could go wrong with the design in your picture.. You'll get a little more even bridge sound too not having the HB touching the bridge.. Welcome!

i was hoping he was talking about a 'similar' hamer.. like an import.. not that beauty.. i hope..

What kind of wood are you staining? Maple doesn't always take stain real evenly if that's what you are working with.. You might try buying a spray shader like Behlen.. you can get those in all kinds of colors and that will sit on evenly instead of you having to try to rub it in smoothly. If your wood isn't porous enough, it won't soak up the stain and all you're doing si swirling it around on the surface. With a spray it sits on top so you don't have to worry about it. I'd just get it clean, seal it, then spray a shader coat then clear it. OK.. I just looked at the tuner. I see what you mean. You might check with Fender replacement parts.. they sell the diagonal ones as '70s style' tuners.. AllParts doesn't carry them in gold though.. You could just go with regular klusons.. Any leftover holes should be hidden.. if not that's pretty easy to fill. Klusens interlock somewhat and show very little wood between.

Is that original? or someone else? I get the "winds" vibe.. very swirly, unearthly kind of feel to it.. Don't know that I get the 'Wicked' part as much though. I'm not a huge metal fan but i like to listen to just about anything and I love hearing skillful guitar playing. Well done track. I am with Dan though on the ambiance.. So much reverb, choir voices, etc.. It's the difference between raw and edgy, and sounding like a soundtrack to a film.. I'm a big fan of dry stuff.. really tight sound, everything locked in just perfectly.. But again, very well done, professional sounding track.

I was about to say.. I don't care what the wood is the kick hurts! I'm sure form is everything and I don't have that much, but i spend a day shooting my dads double barrell 12 gauge once and my shoulder was just hamburger meat by the time I was done.. BRW ought to make a beautiful stock.. but is 3" wide enough? Aren't guns usually more like 4" or so at the widest part of the butt?

Yellow Pine can be absolutely beautiful.. problem around here is the lumber store variety is generally full of knots and sap. It's got a really ash like grain though. Hyunsu, you pulled that off very nicely. Beautiful stuff. I can't wait to see the PRS project come back off hold.