ooten2

You mean you don't already. Pretty common technique for electric guitar players! ← Yeah, I know it's common. I was just using that as an example to give a mental picture of the palm wrap-around thing. Jeez. See the smiley face there? It means like "tongue in cheek" you know.

I think the radiused fretboards came about cuz there's too many of us "un-trained" guitar players sliding our thumbs too far on the upper side of the neck when we chord. We wrap our whole palm around the neck to the point that the thumb is sticking way up there and could probably fret bass notes with it Players who have taken classical guitar lessons are taught to keep the thumb of the fretboard hand anchored squarely in the middle of the back of the neck at all times, kinda like when you play a bar chord. If you keep your thumb in that position, open chords, or any other finger positions, aren't that hard on flat fretboards. Actually, it's more ergonomic to play a flat fretboard with your thumb anchored on the back of the neck, than to play a flat fretboard wrapping your palm around the neck. Of course, classical lessons teach the proper way to sit on a stool when playing a guitar, too. Ain't nobody gonna keep me from slouching comfortably while I'm jamming! If you've played a flat fretboard and like it, go for it.

I haven't worked with wenge, so I don't know much about it, other than it looks good. I like your mahogany idea, to me it looks good as a contrast even without dye or stain. Walnut would be awesome, in my opinion. You could specify that you want dark, even color when you buy the wood. Most places are helpful with getting what you want as far as grain and color. Have you checked out Peruvian walnut? It's supposed to be darker than American walnut.

It's probably just the camera angle and/or some kind of optical illusion from the grain pattern that makes it look a little funny. As long as the bridge posts are the same distance from the center line, it should be fine. Great work, Cud!

Is lumberlady still in business? Anybody ordered from there lately? The reason I ask: I called them 2 or 3 months ago to place an order. I got no answer, just a machine saying, "hang up, our message inbox is full" or something like that. So I tried emailing at least twice, and got no answer. Edit: Make sure to call and talk to someone there before placing an internet order, to be sure they are still in business. I don't mean to slam them or anything, maybe they were just having technical problems or something.

For everything you always wanted to know about glue, use the search function. I searched for "elmers wood glue" and got several hits. Here's one of the links: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...lmers+wood+glue From what I've read on this forum, Titebond is the favorite hands down. There shouldn't be that big of a difference between elmers and titebond, although I think elmers creeps a little more. They're both the same type of glue. I've used elmers on all kinds of wood and all kinds of furniture projects, and never had a problem with my glue lines after wet sanding or finishing. Are you sure your joints were nice and tight before glueing? Did you put enough glue in the joint? Did you leave it clamped up long enough for the glue to set? Sorry, I don't mean to question your glueing methods, I'm just brainstorming some ideas that might be the cause of your problem. I don't think your problem is caused by the glue itself, unless it's a bad batch of glue or something.

You've had "gew" problems? Was that supposed to be "goo" or "few"?

Matt, Clip the string ends off the head, take more pics, and re-post them on GOTM. Very nice job!

When I was in high school shop class, a buddy built a chess board from walnut and maple. The instructor had a good design for this. I'm sure the same thing could be done for a guitar top. He used walnut and maple stock about 1/4" thick. He first calculated the size of the squares, then cut strips of walnut and maple at a width equal to one side of the square. The length of the strips were cut longer than the entire length of one side of the chess board. He then glued the strips together to end up with a board that was striped, alternating walnut and maple. He then cut this board across the stripes, at the desired width of the squares, to end up with a strip, consisting of alternating squares of walnut and maple. He continued cutting strips as above, at the proper width, until he had enough "checkered" strips to account for the full size of the board. Then he glued the checkered strips back together, offsetting the walnut and maple, to create the checkerboard pattern. After that, he sanded it all down to thickness. He also lined up his grain patterns as he went along so it was all running the same direction in the end, for ease of sanding. This design made it easier to end up with exact size squares. Trying to cut out individual squares, and then glueing them together like a jigsaw puzzle, would be more difficult to keep everything even, although I'm sure it could be done. Sorry if my description of this process is confusing. Wish I had a picture!!

Craig, Forgot to ask in my other post; how is that Lowden guitar? The only one I ever played was at a MARS music store a few years back. It was one of the best acoustic guitars I've ever played or heard. I played it along with a Taylor and a Gibson in the acoustic room at the store. The Lowden blew away the Taylor, and IMHO was better than the Gibson. All were in the same price range, just under 2K, so I thought it was a fair comparison. That's the only one I've ever seen, and would like to try more of them. I can be somewhat steady-handed if I don't think about it. But if I try to be still, I shake like crazy. Good thing I didn't get a career doing brain surgery...

I just received a 1/4" BM top of flame maple from Burl.quilt. For the $16 plus shipping that I paid, I got a good quality piece of wood with decent flame. There are some darker blotchy spots in the figure in a couple of places, and that's probably what takes the price down some. The advertised dimensions are right on. The line for the BM will need some jointing, but the planing looks reasonably even. He was quick to respond to emails, and very quick in shipping. It's no eye-popping figure like you see with someone like durawoods, but it's not as expensive either. If you're watching your $$ and need some decent maple, give him a try. I had a very good buying experience, and wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again. Add another positive feedback to his ebay record.

Wow, that looks great! So much detail in such a small space. How do you keep a steady hand to do that??!! I drink way too much coffee to ever be that steady. I visited your website the other day, and your inlay work is jaw-dropping. Excellent stuff!

Cool guitar, great job! Cheap Trick: http://www.pbgadget.com/images/europe/ghent-rn~c.jpg

It looks alot darker now. Did you darken it more with color before adding the clear? Looks great. That color and figure is awesome!

Wow, that red color on the mahogany is incredible! And the binding really contrasts nicely. Excellent guitar!

Mledbetter, I can relate to your post. I have pretty much the same background. No formal lessons, only my older brother showing me his "blues" scale, which I later figured out was a pentatonic minor scale. He also showed me a major scale, and between those 2, I was able to wing through 99% of every improvised lead situation I encountered. And I believe it's true, the older you get, you have to work harder to learn new things. It's like the neurological pathways in the brain have been routed a certain way, and it's hard to re-rout them. I'm 41, and it's REAL EASY to fall into the old habits, and get into a rut as far as playing. A good source for learning is in the "Lessons" section of Guitar Player magazine. Since I'm basically a blues/rock guy, I like to check out the jazz or metal or fusion or country or whatever lessons to expand my horizons. I've learned alot of new stuff that way, and I apply what I learned from those styles into my own. They have an "easy street" lesson every month, which might be helpful to someone just starting to learn leads.

I just got a Carvin neck through in the mail a few days ago. The taper does continue, so it gets wider as you go from the end of the fingerboard to the tail of the guitar. I was getting anxious and wanted to draw my plans before I had the neck, but I managed to patient and wait until the neck was in my hands. Now I'm glad I waited. I would have made too many assumptions on my drawing, and I would have had to redo it after the neck came anyway. Good luck!!

Myka's Dragonfly has a spruce top. I just LOVE this guitar!! http://www.mykaguitars.com/instruments/017/default.htm

Try this: http://www.harmony-central.com/Software/Wi.../easyscale.html When playing lead, be very expressive, and you don't have to know alot of notes or be really fast. Learn things like good string bending techniques; that is, use your fingers to bend, use your wrist to bend, use your elbow to bend, they all sound different. Bend strings slowly, or quickly, or combinations of both. Use vibrato by bending both vertically and horizontally on the fretboard. When you pick, move your picking hand closer to the neck, or even on the neck, or maybe closer to the bridge, to get different harmonics. Choke up real close with your thumb on the pick, and bounce your thumb off the string after picking to get harmonics. (Billy Gibbons squawk thang). Be very expressive with each note when you play, and make it your own. It helps give you your own identity. EDIT: Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Don't think that lead guitar means you have to play one note at a time. Use your rythmn guitar knowledge to play leads that consist of chords. Vibrato those chords too.

Try this: http://www.fwsw.com/search.php?category=Lu...&figure=Quilted

I was thinking the same thing, sort of. The neck extension could be shortened and trimmed a bit and glued into a body. Here's my plan at this moment (could change any time!) I wanted to build a neck-thru but I don't like seeing the neck wood running through the body top. So I plan to trim the neck extension down by the thickness of the top, attach some wings, and then glue the top on to get back to the proper body thickness. Still working on the design... The hardest part for me will be when I'm ready to trim that neck... scary stuff there. Taking that nice Carvin neck-thru to a saw!! I might chicken out... This will be the most advanced guitar building project I've attempted, but so far it's alot of fun.

I just checked out the Neal Moser site. So he and his shop guys were responsible for the GOOD B.C. Rich stuff back in the 70's. I didn't know that. Looking at his designs, I can believe it. They are very cool, unique, and badass, just like BCR used to be back in the day... I have used Carvin bolt-on replacement necks, and I absolutely love them. I just got my first neck-thru from them in the mail yesterday, and the quality is there on it, too. It's very similar to the bolt replacement neck, except the scale is 25.0" instead of 25.5", and the ebony fingerboard edges haven't been rounded up above the 24th fret. It's still square. There's alot of wood left on the heel too, as the neck shape starts turning to heel at about the 15th fret, and becomes the full body thickness of 1.7" at about the 18th fret. I've heard alot of good things about USA custom guitars and warmoth, but have no personal experience with either. Good luck!

Try these guys: http://www.smallparts.com/products/i/

Hey you Okie's, I've been through your neighborhood alot. I'm originally from western KS, and now live in TX. I drive right through OKC every time I go home to see my family. Anyway, I'll be playing in my spare bedroom pretty much every night this week.

I'm no expert on surf, but how about Dick Dale? I think he used Fender guitars and amps. I also read somewhere that he used alot of MiddleEastern melodies as influences. And he certainly used alot of machine gun right hand speed picking. The Ventures, maybe? EDIT: You beat me to the Dick Dale thing, coolcat...