NotYou

Routers used to freak me out. They don't anymore, but I still hate using them. I hate knowing that a giant tear in my body, or whatever I'm routing, is even possible. I also rent my shop in an building with a lot of artists, so I don't like running it in the daytime. It's by far the loudest tool I have.

I use a laminate trimmer for most jobs now and reserve the router for big jobs like chambering.

I have those same nippers too. They might cut fretwire if you grind them and then develop some elaborate system of pulleys and levers and maybe use of some type of mallet. I think buying a good pair is probably the better way to go.

I think an big wooden inlay is your best bet. Making or buying a router base won't be so bad since you can use it on other builds.

I love your sig, BTW. I disagree, though. I like black coffee.

Edit:

Why is the wood in those stripes darker above that line?

I'm thinking of getting my hands dirty and trying to build my own CNC. I've been doing some research and I think I'll be able to to do it.

I don't plan on using much, that's why I don't want to shell out the money for a commercial one. I mainly want it for making my own templates and mostly things along those lines.

Has anyone tried making their own? Was it worth it? I've heard from people who have made their own that it's not very expensive. I also know some very talented machinists who are willing to help make parts as I need them.

Yikes.

This is especially important for luthiers. I'd like to be able to play guitars, not just make them.

I had a nasty accident a few months ago while trying out a Dremel router bit. I've never been convinced they'd work, so I tested one out. I just held the piece in my hand (it's just a Dremel, Right?) and did a small cut just fine. I tried a second one and the bit caught the wood, rolled down the length of the piece and over my left index finger. Needless to say, it was pretty mangled. I drove myself home from my shop covered in blood and wouldn't let my wife look at me until I cleaned up (I have a lot of family members who work in medical fields, so I didn't bother with a hospital. One of them took care of it). It looked like I stuck my finger in a paper shredder.

I got lucky, though. It healed okay, with minimal permanent damage and scarring. Scared the crap out me, though. I thought I'd be one of those luthiers with a missing left finger who can't play guitar anymore.

I'd be interested in the 12" for sure and possibly a 14" and 16", depending on price. I think $40 is reasonable. Since they're pretty much custom, maybe $60. I wouldn't get more than one at $60.

Awesome idea, BTW. I would love to have bits like this.

Is that silica powder the guy is using for epoxy filler in the video ?

It's c-c-c-cocaine! :D

I never considered putting cocaine in my epoxy

Those were worth watching, thanks.

I've been working on one for about 7 or 8 months and it's not finished, but I just started another last week that'll probably be done before that one. I guessing it'll take three weeks. That will be my fastest if it works out.

I was going to sell that one that's taking a long time, but I don't think I can part with it and I'll never get enough for it to make up for the time I put into it. I can honestly say I'm looking forward to keeping it though! It'll be like Christmas when it's finished.

But if you're starting a build from scratch, then you decide the amount of overlap and fret access. So it may be that the neck extends slightly further away from the body ... rather than into it ... if you can picture that

If I'm picturing this correctly, wouldn't that mean then you'd have to move the bridge to accommodate the fact that the nut is moving further away from the body?

Yeah. If you don't move the bridge in that instance, then the scale length absolutely would change. If you're making everything yourself, there's really no reason for a compromise like that, unless you want a neck pickup and an unusually high amount of frets (and a fugly guitar).

So, if 25.5 means that's the measurement from bridge to nut. Then how does that play with 22 vs 24 fret? Does it just mean that a 24 fret neck would extend a little further into the body of the guitar?

Yes.

Sorry for the short answer, but I guess there isn't a whole lot to explain.

From there, it traveled unhindered from the switch area, down past the pickup cavities, to the slightly over- sized rectangular jack hole

does 4 times the size count as slightly over sized

I wouldn't recommend it at all actually. It'll look nice, but it'll make repairs to the electronics nearly impossible(or, at best, a huge pain in the ass). On a hollowbody it's okay most of time.

I guess it would all depend on the person. I'm okay with back plates. I'm actually working on one now with glued in pickup rings, so I opened up a section in the back, behind the pickups, so they can be removed that way. Otherwise, you would never be able to change or repair the pickups. It would look nicer without that big plate in the back, but I think it's a good trade off.

Surely the routed out section around the pickups would be deeper and wider than the picups themselves... so if you unscrew them, you can just push them down, to the side a bit and slide them out

No, I tried that. It doesn't work with this particular body. There isn't enough room for the pickups to drop all the way down.

The routing was definitely done before the maple top was glued on. I've seen this done a number of times and contemplated building a les paul like that. There is one major disadvantage, with most of the methods used to do this, you can not alter any of the wiring once it has been placed in because it was glued in that way. The best hope you have is to make any modifications through the output jack routing as erikbojerik said. If you are planning on building a guitar I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner build, because everything related to wiring, switches, pots ect. has to be done perfectly the first time.

I wouldn't recommend it at all actually. It'll look nice, but it'll make repairs to the electronics nearly impossible(or, at best, a huge pain in the ass). On a hollowbody it's okay most of time.

I guess it would all depend on the person. I'm okay with back plates. I'm actually working on one now with glued in pickup rings, so I opened up a section in the back, behind the pickups, so they can be removed that way. Otherwise, you would never be able to change or repair the pickups. It would look nicer without that big plate in the back, but I think it's a good trade off.

Go to a motorcycle chop and buy some fog anti fog spray. It's usually pretty cheap.

I form the metal band on my mask as close to my nose as I can. I'm able to keep most of my breath away from the goggles that way.

I'm doing my first build. I'm wondering what kind of tone I might get out of it. I've got a walnut body, Maple top, Cocobolo neck with a Pau ferro fret board. I'm going to deep set the neck just because.

Let me know.

It's depends on the actual pieces you're using, but it sounds like it might be a good combination for blues. It's tough to say though.

If you're never worked with cocobolo before, be careful. The dust is a skin and lung irritant. It's especially bad for your lungs. Ebony will do some nasty stuff to your windpipe, lungs, and nostrils, but cocobolo is much worse for most people. I've heard of people being sent to hospital before because they sanded and sawed it without a mask and their lungs suddenly stopped wanting to work.

I'm really thinking that I want to make an mdf template, rough cut inside and out with the coping saw, and route to shape with the dremel.

I'm actually thinking of using an existing plastic pickup ring as a template, then routing with a flush-trim bit. As long as my corners are pre-cut, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Creepy. I was struggling with this exact thing today and was about to start a thread asking the same thing.

I did one by hand, no templates, but the hole came out a little too large. I've been able to make straight lines like that before by hand, but it usually isn't worth the headache. I'm trying it with a router template tomorrow, I think. I was thinking of drilling the corners, kind of like j. pierce mentioned, then removing the inside somehow. After I get it close I might take to the router. That way, the router should be a little less likely to tear the thin sides out.

If there is a tutorial, or if someone has some tips, it'd be greatly appreciated.

I definitely agree. when i see luthiers claiming their instruments are made from AAAA grade maple, I have to sigh a little. It really means nothing. It lets them charge more for the instrument to people who think they're getting something top-of-the-line, when it's really subjective.

Even if there is a solid grading system, it means nothing in terms of tone.

Putting something like that behind the existing nut will likely mess up the string angle from the tuners to the nut. I don't know much about locking nuts, personally, though.

Edit: I did a quick internet search and found these pictures. I guess it works, but if you look at the angle of the strings going from the locking mechanism to the nut, they're way too shallow in the first picture. The A string is barely touching it.

This one seems done right, but it's pretty fugly:

I still think you're much better off removing the old one.

There are lots of guys here who know much more than I do about the specifics of locking nuts. I'm sure they'll chime in soon.

I like the design, but keep in mind what it's going to be like trying to inlay that on every guitar. Making a simple design will also help it be more immediately recognizable.

The glycerin worked pretty well. You can't tie knots in the wood or anything, but it definitely made it easier to manage. I tried a few kinds of wood at different thicknesses. The type of wood didn't seem to make too much difference. Only the very thin (about .04" or less) pieces seemed more flexible before heating. These pictures pieces were done on a bending iron after soaking for about half an hour:

I bent this piece of ebony in less than a minute (it's Stew Mac binding which is .08" thick). With just water, it would have taken much longer.

This thinner piece took only seconds to form.

If you try it, be sure to wear a respirator mask or put a fan in a window. There's no smell to it all, but, after using the bending iron, it gave me a nasty headache and left me a little foggy for awhile. I'm really sensitive to the toxins in black and white ebony, which I also bent, so it might have been the steam from that and not the glycerin, though.

I did some research and found out that super soft is basically water and glycerin. The glycerin gets into the wood and holds onto water. I just picked up some glycerin from Rockler this morning and I'm soaking some ebony strips right now. Ebony is barely absorbant at all, but I'm giving it a shot. I'll be back with pictures.

There was an article about steam bending way back in Fine Woodworking #30 (I think that was 83?) about steam bending. They had another little bit tacked onto the end about bending with ammonia. They were using anhydrous ammonia (so, pure NH3, not the stuff from the drugstore) to plasticize wood, all with some fancy pressure cooker system they had made. basically, it sounded dangerous and sketchy, but the end result was they were able to take 1/4" thick strips, (looked about an inch tall the other direction) and tie them into knots without breaking, and then they'd set that way. The wood darkened somewhat (similar to ammonia fuming finishes on oak) but the picture they showed in the magazine was pretty cool.

That got me really interested. I did a search and found this section of some book that talks about it more. It basically says it's done by pressure treating it at 145 psi, or by simply soaking it. It apparently doesn't take long either. Obviously, soaking would be the route must of us would have to take.

I'm tempted to try it for myself. If I do, I'll definitely post pictures.

http://books.google.com/books?id=zjJTsHvHo...6&ct=result

Wood prices do vary a lot. Rockler is a good place to look if you can't find a good deal somewhere else. It seems like they have sales like twice a week. You can check out their website and join their mailing list.