ooten2

Wow that is just beautiful! Excellent!

Yes, how is the neck? Playability? Intonation? Nice guitar by the way, good job! I kinda like the look of the headstock, something different anyway.

Wow, that wood combination is stunning! Excellent!

Another option is to use some stuff called embossing powder. I found it at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbooking section. One of the colors is very close to turquoise. I made side dots using the turquoise powder, 60 minute epoxy, and an aluminum tube (Myka's cool trick). I colored the epoxy with the powder, packed the epoxy into the end of the aluminum tube, and stuck it into a pre-drilled hole for the side dot. Then cut off the tube. When it's dry sand it smooth and you have a turquoise side dot outlined by a thin ring of aluminum. Very nice.

Wow, Rich. That sapele looks really great. Edit: Cool links, too. I'm getting into this FP thing, might have to give it a go sometime soon. But I'm still going to do the tru oil thing on the walnut. I think I'll skip the pore fill. I didn't fill the limba project and was really happy with the results. Thanks for all the great info guys, this thread is giving me a ton of good info.

For my applications I've used old socks or an old T shirts. I've never tryed shellac either. When using tung or danish oil, I go heavy on the first coat. On the second coat I use steel wool or very fine wet/dry sandpaper with oil to fill the pores. After that, daily steel wool scuff and light coats of oil, just wipe on, wait a few minutes, wipe off. I do most of my guitar-related work on weekends, so usually I start the finishing on a Saturday, and end up the following weekend, so I would guess I put on around 7 coats total. For tru oil, I just do the wipe on and off thing without the pore filling. I do hit it with steel wool in between coats. The manufacturer says you can re-coat in like a couple of hours or something, but I like to wait a full day. Hey Rich, the guitar I made with the myrtle and limba I bought from you was finished with tru oil. To me, the myrtle looks great, and the limba is simply fantastic. But the myrtle gets the attention of everyone that I show the guitar to. That myrtle is just wonderful stuff! Anyway, I would suggest buying a bottle of tru oil (here it's available at Wal Mart in the gun section for less than $5), and trying it out on something. Don't need any fancy expensive application equipment, just an old sock. Erikbojerik, I'm currently working on a peruvian walnut project. Can't wait to see the results, as I've heard from several that walnut looks great with oil finishes. Would you recommend pore filling walnut when using tru oil? Thanks. Great thread!!

I totally agree about Tru Oil, it behaves differently than other "oils". But I still think it smells ok. If tung oil is made to go into the wood, and tru oil does go on top, that's probably why I prefer tung oil on the neck. It feels more "woody" to me and less "finished". However, I'm not knocking tru oil for necks, because it feels nice, too. I prefer both of them over a lacquered neck. I would also be interested if anyone has good results with coloring while using an oil finish.

When using Danish oil or Tung oil, this is the procedure that I have used. I try to stick to it as much as my patience and finger cramps will allow. http://home.insightbb.com/~jpaquay/oil_fin.txt I am very happy with Formby's tung oil on necks, because it leaves a very slick and very natural woody feel. It does seem a little watery when applying, and takes a full day before the sticky is gone and ready for the next application. I'm not so up on Danish oil because it seems to darken the wood too much and to my nose it stinks worse than some chemical plants I've worked at. (ok, not quite that bad!) That was Watco Danish oil, anyway, and the smell seems to linger for months and months on the guitar. On my last 3 projects, I've switched to Tru Oil. It seems to build faster then tung, dries quicker, and is easier to get a good shine, if that's what you're after. It certainly has a smell, too, but to my nose it's not so bad, actually smells kinda good. And the smell goes away ALOT sooner than the Watco Danish oil. As of right now, my preference is to put Tru Oil on the body, and Formby's Tung oil on the neck.

Looks like something from burl.quilt Medicine Bow Wood Store. I've bought from them before because of the nice price. I was very happy with the flame maple top I got from them, and I certainly got my money's worth. The only gripe I had was the poor photos. At least on the piece I bought, the figure was better than the photo showed. Whenever I get my current wood pile used up, I'll certainly consider buying from them again. I saw some poplar a few months back at Lowes that had alot of purple in it, but it wasn't as nice as this . I thought about buying it but didn't, now I wish I would have! Can't wait to see this bass. Great looking stuff so far!

Great job on all 3. My fav is the bass, with the burl a close second. I very much enjoyed watching the progress on this thread. Very informative, and excellent results!

Here's a site dedicated to fretless, with their take on pulling frets: http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=unfretting Hope this is helpful. Edit, just found this video on the above site. Good reference for fretless guitar:

Thirstygums all the way for me, until I saw Rashin's one piece. A+ for originality. All great entries this time!

I recently completed a bass with a cherry neck and maple body. It has a nice "woody" sound to my ears, and I'm very happy with the end results. Also, I very much enjoyed working with the cherry. It works easily and polishes up very nice. I used a tru oil finish and it looks great. I say go for it. Especially if you have alot of it.

I have a tele with Fender Texas Specials. I like it alot for bluesy stuff. But it's the only tele I have any experience with, so I have nothing else to compare it to. To me it sounds "warm", and has a nice edge when cranked up.

Godin, every new project from you gets better and better. Your talent is exceptional, especially for your age. Great job!

Wow, that is just amazing! Great work!

Lots of fretless info on this link if you haven't come across it yet: http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=main

Wow! I've been trying not to clutter up this thread with too many praise posts, but I can keep silent no longer. Rich, that looks so clean! Great, great stuff! Awesome thread.

Wow, Setch. That's really good stuff. Thanks for all the great info!

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. If I'm successful at flattening it out, I'll post back the results.

My order from StewMac arrived today. Fedex dropped off a box that was practically smashed into 2 pieces on my doorstep. The truss rod inside was bent pretty bad. It's a 24" hot rod, and when placed with one end flat in the slot, the other end gradually bows up and sticks up roughly 2 inches above the neck. The arc of the bend runs pretty much through the whole length. StewMac shipped another one out today right after I called them. No hassles, no questions, no problems. +1 on great customer service. Any chance of straightening the damaged rod, or is it DOA? Before throwing it out, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Thanks for any info. Lance

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-0975.html Hope this helps. Just this afternoon I routed a channel for a stewmac hot rod with this, and it worked great. http://www.stewmac.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?a...atalog/sku.html

Drak, I have a '96 Japanese Fender Strat. The centerline is at 6 3/8" from each side at the widest part, 12 inches down. Easy to see too, because it's a bookmatched flame top.

Thanks to all you guys for posting the info on this thread. I've been playing around with some scrap wood, building my first "test" neck, and I just can't justify the $$ for a set of nut files right now. The torch tip cleaner sounds like a good option to me, and I might give that a try when it comes time. Thanks!!

Beautiful!! The myrtle looks awesome.