NotYou

Weird. It works on my end. Anyhow, the the spelling is Pfeister The site is pfeisterguitars.com

Check back tomorrow night. I should have some photos with all of the rust. It's looking pretty crazy right now.

awesome. It borders on post-futurism. I think we need more of that.

Things have been a little slow going. All of the artists in our building have to move by the end of the month (we're all going to the same new place) and it's having quite an effect on my productivity. Here's the first of the batch that's finished. Modesty aside, this is the best sounding guitar I've ever heard. I'm not a fan of Tele styled guitars, but it was spec'd by the customer. I'm really, really proud of it, though. I'm about drooling just thinking about the tone: All of the photos can be seen here. I'll move them to my website soon. I'm finishing one more this week then the rest will come after the big move. Here's one photo of it in progress. It has a long way to go, so don't judge it yet. I'm actually growing rust on the wood :

The weight of Honduran mahogany varies a lot. Some pieces are like bricks while others seem very light. As a general rule, it's pretty heavy, though.

+1 Mine has metal pins, but it works the same way. I usually just freehand mine. I think I get better results when I go by feel. It might not be perfectly %100 symmetrical, but it ends up more comfortable, IMO. (theoretically, symmetry is impossible to achieve... but that's a whole discussion by itself that I don't ever want to get into ).

lol, I thought of that too . It might be more trouble than it's worth, though. The glue I found is this (or something similar): http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/thea.html I never thought of using Gorilla Glue. I always heard it dried too soft to use for fretboards. It's worth a shot, I guess. I plan on buying a piece and trying it with different glues. I actually heard one guy say that rubbing fresh garlic on it works (it's a method of glueing metal). Edit: Turns out real lignum vitae is going to be my new Brazilian rosewood. It's been banned from import in the US because it was over-harvested when they used it for machines and such. The wood I'll be using is Argentine Lignum Vitae, which isn't actually related, but is apparently the same color and has close to the same properties (not quite as extreme, though). So, it might actually be a bit easier to glue.

Nevermind what I said. The board I bought was about half as thick. That's why it was half the price the price. I skipped over that in your post. It was still a little bit less, but it seems the one you're looking at is a good price. It sucks that you can't hear it before hand, but cocobolo almost always sounds great, at least in my experience.

I remembered today that I never posted the jig I made. I made a prototype first out of scrap wood. It worked, but was unstable, mainly because I rushed it. My solution for the stability was to make it out of PVC pipes. It also made the construction much faster. I sanded the ends of the horizontal pipe that holds the swing arm so it moves more smoothly. Then I hit it with some WD40... just because. It sticks where you put it, which helps make straight cuts, but moves very easily. It works best if you push or pull the jig across the router bit lengthwise, rather than swing it back and forth. I attached the plywood at the bottom of the arm with two screws and nuts. I stuck a PVC plug at the ends of the pipes so I could attach the screws(I tried to get pictures, but the didn't come out. Sorry if that explanation is confusing). The best part of the jig is that I can easily more radii to it by adding more pipes. Right now, it's at 12". I can set it up to do compound radii, but I'll need to make some changes to the swing arm first. It probably won't take more than 5 minutes, though. Most of the parts only cost a few cents.

I guess I'll give it a shot. I might make some type of plate to put back there that will hold all six strings instead of individual strings. I have another one going right now with a maple and walnut back and top and a redwood center. I had that idea after this one, though. The maple and walnut will help protect the redwood of it's dropped or whatever. I think that's the way I'll be doing most of the time from now on.

I have an ongoing build right now with a walnut top and a redwood back. I want to make it a string-thru, but I think redwood might be too soft to support the ferrules. I'm afraid they're going to sink into the body over time. You can easily dent redwood with a fingernail, so I think it makes sense that the pressure from a string could sink the ferrule. I know some of you have a lot more experience with general woodworking than me and you might have a better idea. My big concern is the long term effect.

I have too much scrap in my shop. I always think I'll use it, but I rarely do. I do use the ribbons and shavings from planes and spokeshaves for kindling. Dry mahogany shavings are practically better than lighter fluid.

I don't think there's anything to worry about. We're spoiled here in Colorado. I grew up in Northeast Ohio (near lake Erie) where the humidity will frequently hit the upper 90's, and often %99, in the summer. I'm feeling ill thinking about it. If it ever got like that in Colorado, that'd be something to worry about.

I've never worked with it, but it ranks on the janka scale near ebony and jatoba, which you can route with normal bits. They tend to dull blades a little fast, but it's not too serious. Just take small slow passes and it should be fine.

Thats why I moved from Jersy(UGH) to Colorado. Dry all year.

I use one of those for making templates and I love it. The handheld versions are great too. They're similar to rasps or files, but they cut very quickly. They're very useful on necks. Great stuff.

It might just be me actually. People react differently different things, like poison ivy. If I breath in even a little B&W ebony dust, I'll have a sore chest by the time I leave the shop and I'll be hacking up stuff for the next couple days. It even makes my nostrils and windpipe burn. It has a nasty effect on me, but some other woods, like cocobolo, don't seem to do anything to me, but really mess up other people. The worst is B&W ebony splinters. They feel and look like bee stings on me.

Some black and white ebony smells STRONGLY like a combination of flowers and armpit. It's confusing (it's also toxic and will fry your nostrils ).

I don't mean to sound anàl(damn censored words), but you guys are looking for antinodes, not nodes. Nodes don't actually move. If you could pick up the sound from only the node, it would be completely mute because there is literally no movement. Antinodes are the point of highest amplitude in the wave directly between two nodes.

I've never used liquid hide glue, but I've heard it causes problems like that. It will also start to creep in time. Even if you lacquer it, the glue will probably cause problems in time. Probably not for a long, but it's likely to happen. You're probably going to be better off removing it and using something else. You can get it out with heat, but it's likely to loosen to fretboard. I don't have a lot of experience filling wood, or with removing hide glue, so I'll let someone else give you advice with those things.

Have you thought about wraparounds? I'm a big fan of this one: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailp..._Tailpiece.html

So far, I've just been charging for hardware and wood for the down payment. I'll tell them a percentage, but that's how I get that number. When I'm a little more established, I'll probably have a set percentage. I've done some before with no down payment, but they were instrument that I liked and I was okay with trying to sell later if they backed out. The first ones that I required a down payment for were ugly painted guitars that I didn't want to get stuck with. I made them pay for the cost of all the parts. I collect the rest of the money when it's finished and give them a period of time to return it if they choose (that's really just to ensure them of the quality. They'd have to be a real tool to return a custom instrument). My clients provide me the lifestyle i lead, and give me the opportunity to have a career i'd gladly paid someone to let me do. That's a great point.

I agree that there isn't a "sweet spot." I had this conversation with another guy in another forum before. He worked for a guitar company who had a formula for finding the nodes and he was all about it. It really doesn't make sense, though. The nodes change position over the top of the guitar when you use different fret. If you measure to find the correct node position, you're going to be off as soon as you start playing. Also, antinodes don't have much movement in terms of amplitude, so they aren't going change the sound much if they're located directly above the slugs of the pickup or if they're a little bit off. It will make a slight difference if the antinode is directly about the slug, but, like I said before, the nodes and antinodes change position every time you change frets so it's literally impossible to get it perfect. I hope makes sense to somebody.

I put this in the off topic section because I'm not sure where else to put it. The mods can move it wherever if they want. Rockler is having a good sale on Curly maple. It's $5.99 per board foot. That's not mind blowing or anything, but, if you buy a lot of it, it's pretty cheap. The reason it's so good is because they have stores, which means you can go in and see the boards in person and tap them and all that instead of buying it online and hoping for the best. I just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm headed over today to pick some up. http://www.qg.com/smartools/ebook/hosted.r...fbee8f7b860ef12

I do it all by hand with a slotting saw and a straight edge, so I slot before I radius. After I radius, I cut the edges of the slots so they go bit deeper, since they lose some depth when you radius. So, even though I'm technically slotting twice, it makes it easier to get proper measurements by doing the first cut when it's flat.