mledbetter

Yeah. What the hell were they thinking? ← That's IT!!! It was a carvin.. Man that looks painful. like some kind of medieval torture device.. Right after i posted i remembered some heinous looking carvin designs and figured that's probably what I saw. Don't get me wrong, I love carvin.. but that thing was just inexcusable.

I like your design.. I'd be hardpressed to do a whole lot different. I agree the headstock could be tweaked a tad.. looks a bit weak, but to me headless instruments look really un balanced. Plus I think you lose a lot of tone without the headstock. Depends on what kind of bass sound you like though. I love the P and J sounds and the gigantic headstock has a lot to do with that.

As to the design of the table.. Pegboard, and you can buy a dust collection interface kit that will fit right underneath it.. Kind of looks like a hopper with the tube at the bottom. As to the collection device.. I saw a tut online once where someone made a vacuum out of a dryer blower. Was quiet. I would think you could build a pretty quiet dust collection system if you had the right blower and a quiet motor. The filtration is the key. Grizzly has dust collection systems starting at around 120-130 bucks, so it may be worth it just to buy one.. especially if you've saved building your own downdraft table.

Me too. I've wanted to build one for a while, just haven't through through it yet. For a good laugh, or just to make yourself feel as inadequate as possible.. go to the thread on shop tours and view James Olsen's Shop Tour and the photo spread on his homemade thickness sander.. Hey I just found this tutorial a guy posted. http://www.ukuleles.com/BuildingHowTo/sandthck.html

Most 12 string headstocks are 6x6. Fender 12 string headstocks tend to look like an extension of the neck.. a kind of a plank with a little rounded curve on the end. I have see a 12 inline headstock design.. i think it was on an 80s guitar and had to be one of the most rediculous things I had ever seen. It looked like some sort of weapon. I think it was a kramer or something. Some hair-band guitarist's doubleneck. I'm sure back then i thought it looked kinda cool Most of us hate to admit what we thought was cool in the 80s. lol. I'd check usa custom and warmoth and look at 12 string headstock designs. Each have one. USA's looks more like the fender 12 string pegheads I have seen. There just isn't THAT much you can do to change a 12 string peghead. Form truly does follow function on that one. oh.. and i might add. I think a 12 string tele would sound awesome. As for the neck stiffness, You could specify quartersawn hard rock maple for a little extra rigitity (people debate this).. or what's probably better is just to go with normal flatsawn and do a couple carbon fiber stiffiner rods down the neck.

You might check out grizzly. They have a drum sander 16" wide for 850 bucks. There is also someone on MIMF selling one secondhand that is probably nicer. For the price of that planer you could get grizzly's middle grade drum sander.. I think their variable speed conveyor model is 1175 or so.. 24" wide. Do some research on grizzly tools.. you'll find some of their high end models are highly praised and some of their low end models are ridiculed as worthless junk. I think their cheap stuff is all mass produced import garbage but their industrial grade stuff tends to be ok. *edit* my bad.. you were referring to AUD. I have no idea what the exchange rate is.. or if you can get grizzly stuff shipped to AU for a reasonable amount of $$

The 4 single coil sound would be interesting indeed.. Rio Grande sells the twangbucker for this purpose.. it's a humbucker, but spec wise it's actually 2 single coils for as you said.. a split hum is not a single coils sound.. too low an output. I would go with something light in color.. the cocobolo is striking in grain and in color variance, the ebony is obviously dark.. what about a top in the golden/yellow color area. Gallery Hardwoods had some neat lighter colorerd woods on their site. Not all were full body thickness though. Sometimes you can find the soft variety of maple in full body thickness.. The soft maple isn't as hard and is tonally more akin to alder.. not to be confused with the hard rock maple.. that would be a back breaker in a full body. Soft is also cheaper and you might find a guitar billet fully flamed for not too much $$$ Here is some 6/4 flamed myrtle.. Interesting vertical markings could compliment the cocobolo.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8177822285

well I purchased insulin needles for my wife whn she had gestational dabetes.. no questions asked. i didn't know if it was necessarily regulated or not. yeah hardware store syringes would be a better idea Sorry for giving advice that could have gotten you into trouble..

You can always go pick up some syringes at the local pharmacy.. witha wide enough needle you can really work the right kind of glue down into teeny tiny cracks.. Just don't mention crack when buying the syringes The innertube.. awesome idea. Was just trying to think of something that would be good as a wrap/clamp. i'll have to remember that.

I'm no expert at dating fender instruments.. but i know the strats introduced rosewood fingerboards in the early 60s.. So i would have to think that the tele in rw/sunburst would have made it's appearance in the late 50s to early 60s.

I would have to go with the stewmac blade definitely over the LMI. No extra stabilizers to have to purchase.. The only alternative I would consider is the ground down plywood blade as the standard size would be nice. Someone posted an image in MIMF of a home made fret slotting jig for the tablesaw that was pretty neat looking.. but for the tablesaw i guess all you need is the template piece and teh pin attached to your fence. It's definitely well worth the 80-140 bucks alltogether to do the tablesaw fretting system if you're going to build more than one guitar.

About the saw blades. Some folks on MIMF have all complained that the .023 kerf is too thin.. Is that because those guys primarily build acoustics? I thought .023 was the standard. Anyway.. Several over there like the stew blade.. One guy says his is still going strong after 15 years and over 100 boards. However, some others said you can buy a plywood blade and have a machine shop rim grind it to your desired kerf and it doesn't cost much at all. To me, there are more advantages other than saving money.. it would be a standard size and you wouldn't need stiffeners. Some others mentioned metal cutting blades from MSC. Inexpensive but you have to alter the bore for the table saw arbor. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

check announcements area.. he said he was losing internet. would be gone a while

One question.. why isn't this posted in the GOTM? This guitar is absolutely beautiful. Classic design, brilliant execution..

That body appears to have an undrilled bolt-on type neck pocket and looks to be standard strat heel shaped.. so yes. You just have to make sure the luth has the dimensions.

Gizzly has good deals on arbor presses too.. 1 ton press is 49.95. most expensive is the 3 ton at 119.

As far as wood breathing.. I too think that is a crock. Take any guitar and strip off the nitro, the poly, the tru-oil, whatever exotic sounding finish you want and what's underneath?? sealer and pore filler!! The only way to leave your wood that free of finish is to do a light oil finish. Be prepared for a lot of maintenance though To me, for a project guitar, Nitro is the best value and if you want your instrument to age naturally in a classy sort of way, nitro is perfect. If you're deadset on the hardest finish possible and the most age resistant.. the finishes LGM mentioned are the best, but are out of reach of most project builders. Might be able to talk your local auto painter to shoot you a clear coat for a fee. What's a guitar for them.. they are used to painting things a couple hundred times the surface area..

Yeah check the better woodworking sites. You can get dowels in various kinds of hardwood. www.woodcraft.com has dowels in various kinds of hardwood. Allthough, the endgrain on a dowel is not very pleasing. You might be better off getting a small sheet of veneer and cutting inlays out of it. Not sure exzctly how to do it.. i'm sure there is a circle punch of some sort out there you could use

BIlly Sheehan played with scalloped bass fretboards.. Not a total scallop, but like the last 8 or so.

most evh guitars are not recessed.. wolfgangs, etc. ibanezes are usually recessed.

This isn't meant to sound sarcastic.. i promise but the regular trem sits flat atop the guitar body and the recessed one is just that.. a hole routed out in the shape of the trem lets the trem's knife edge be lower into the body. Several advantages to recessed.. string height is not so bad, lets you remove wood so you can pull the trem back further, aesthetic look, etc.

no, misuse is the neck snapped down the middle.. or a chunk was taken out of the body.. This is a broken scarf joint and a separated fingerboard that happened spontaneously.. that's a malfunction, not damage. I would ask for a new one outright, and call gibson if he doesn't want to do it. Gibson doesn't want dealers that hassle gibson customers. UNLESS you just happened to love that particular guitar (some folks are attached to their particular guitar and would never want to risk a replacement) and in that case i would just let them glue it. Makes me wonder though, if they can't spot a malfunction when they see it, do they have the knowhow to fix it?

Warmoth is great stuff. USACG is great stuff. Just depends on price. WDs unfinished bodies, while I don't personally have any experience with them, are USA made from what I understand. AllParts bodies are also well liked, but they can be kind of pricy.

That is a sweet saw.. Woodcraft had them on a great sale in feb. Sounds like the blade could be an issue.. you never know there might be a thicker spot in it, or the weld might nto be just right.. Also caked up sawdust in the wheels can be an issue.. I love it.. I have the 1 inch blade because I can! If I had that saw it'd have a 1 inch blade on it too man.. it's a resawing machine.. We are actually looking to get that Rikon at some point. We have 2 other bandsaws for different purposes. The guys I work with are into turning and they want the big one to cut large turning blocks.. and I want it to cut my own tops.

For boltons there are a couple schools of thought.. Some believe that wood on wood is the best for tone and sustain, so make the pocket absolutely as tight as you can get it. Then when you're finishing, leave the wood that is touching unfinished. Just mask it off. The other thought is to make the pocket loose enough that after you finish it, it will be tight again because of the thickness the finish added to the neck and pocket. Personally, I dont' think you can get the neck pocket too tight. Yes it's arguable how much it enhances tone on a bolton, as if you have the neck torqued down tight to the heel bed it won't matter.. but if nothing else fit and finish points are gained and lost around the neck pocket. You certainly dont' want it sloppy.