GuitarGuy

Ive had problems danding with 800 in my early painting experience. Ive had paint lift from the primer because there wasnt enough bite. 400-600 grit should be enough. If its a metallic finish the 400 will appear scratchy because the particles will follow the scratches.

Tough call. In that timeframe I'd fill it with body filler. But I have a bias to that as you can prob tell. Whatever you use dont rush anything. Depending on the type of primer it can take a while to dry though. A 2 part filler will be dry and sandable in 30 min.

I miss the edit button. How big is the ding we're talking about? if its really tiny like less than 1/32" Then I'd say go for the primer idea.

Although that will work, it is going to take a looong time for the primer to dry. If you start sanding too soon it will just fill the sandpaper and leave a messy looking finish. The body filler would be my weapon of choice. Just my $0.02

If it is a clear finish. Fill it with epoxy. If its a soild finish. Fill with 2 part fiberglass body filler.

I don't know if anyone is with me on this or not but I carve until its comfortable in your hand.

idch- Take er easy! Do it again on some scrap. A couple times if you have to. You will get it eventually. People here always seem to use brad pints or forsteners but the one flaw with those is that if you have it wrong when you start drilling you cant really move the drill bit. The leading edges that cut the hole start cutting and you're committed. A little machining tirck: You can move a normal drill bit as long as you havent reached the full diameter of the drill bit yet. Use a normal SHARP drill bit. Run your 1/8 inch pilots half way through from both sides. For the ferrules draw the edges out so each ferrule is boxed in to the correct size. This gives you the perfect size for the bit. Then just lightly start the normal bit, see if it centered it the little box you made. (you dont want to dive right in you just want a little dimple at this point) If its off correct it. Drill a bit more and correct it if its off. By the time your cut from the bit has reached the lines you've marked out it will be perfectly centered.

Wicked link. Thanks!

Personally, I would pull the frets and bolt it to a flat piece of lumber and run it through a thickness planer. The hard part is going to be coming up to the truss rod.(might want to cut it out with a router first) I would fix both ends to the wood strip and make a jack for the center of the neck. Dial the length of the fretboard so it dials zero then plane. This way it will be flat and square relative to the neck.

Billy- What kind of clear do you plan to use? Because if its 2 part urethane it will craze and lift over oneshot. (not sure about laquers) Actually one shot does not need clear at all. Also if one shot is to thick you can thin it with kerosene.

Build Your Own Electric Guitar: Custom Guitar Assembly Made Easy By Bill Foley ISBN: 0961836105 Dont bother with that one. Any info in that is covered in Hiscock's and there are some terrible editing mistakes in it. (example: the tele wiring schematic is totally wrong) Another good read you missed was Guitar Electonics for Musicians by Donald Brosnac. It has a ton of schematics for whatever guitar you can think of. Also pickup winding info and efects as well.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...81entry188981

My uncle just bought this today. It was second hand but still a sweet deal. http://www.airos-guitars.com/images/mill/Tooling.jpg http://www.airos-guitars.com/images/mill/endmills.jpg

Honestly I use a cordless drill. Make dimple in the center otf the plugged dowel using a center punch. Then start drilling at as close to straight as you can eyeball in about 1/8 inch. Then sight it fom the side and top to see if it's straight. Make corrections and keep drilling. Keep stopping and double checking untill you get to the depth. The drill bit size should be just big enough so that when you hold the drill bit in font of the screw you can see the threads but none of the shank.

This is gonna sound dumb. And I've never tried this but, couldn't you just take the nut and flip it. Most cheap fender types are plastic so it may be hard to get out without breaking it. But hey, why not try if you're going to replace it anyway.

Listen to marksound, he knows what hes talking about. Always plug and redrill!

just FYI Ebay #44 wire

The reason I said 75% is that at full scale length the high e is almost perfectly intonated. And The only string that comes farther forward then the "high e" is the G. And its not much farther. A search may yield some more concrete answers for you.

Bandsaw it! anything up to 1/8 inch cuts pretty well in my 14" bandsaw. You will need a new blade if you expect to cut wood afterwards tho.

You can probably tell by my post I'm not a big TOM guy. I just don't like em. 75% is my rule for "e" on fender style trems and hardtails. For just like you said, "wiggle" room. But with a TOM were talking millimeters difference if we say 75% or 85%. I just think its splitting hairs a bit.

I think we're skirting around the question. For any bridge with adjustable saddles the high e should be adjusted 75% toward the neck and that should give enough play to properly intonate the rest. Then the scale length will be the distance from the neut to the High e saddle. As far as a TOM goes it is skewed on an angle back toward the Low E. Anyone have this angle? (Cant be bothered to look it up)

jmrentis....Ok if MDF or plywood is so bad with tone.....How come we have some very decent sounding danelectros floating round the US and Canada. Wood has a bit to do with it but its not the whole picture.

Then you're set. I made mine with MDF on a drill press with a cross slide. Basically a makeshift mill and drill. You can get straight lines without sanding or filing. Just FYI for anyone trying the drill press idea try not to cut sideways untill its just a little bit left. Drill presses dont generally have the bearings to take a side load. Its really hard on your press.

I dont want to take credit for this idea because it's someone elses. But, Have you tried chucking your router bit in a drill press and drilling it into some nylon or UHMW thats clamped in place. Lube the void left by the router bit with liquid wrench or some other dry lube. Then remove the bit and chuck a rod that is to be used for the stylus. Then , with the stylus rod locked at the right height, fill the cavity with epoxy around the tip of the stylus rod. When it dries you will have a perfect copy of the cut that the router bit makes. I tried it with the straight bit and it seems to work good. Havent really used it extensively tho

Ebay, Got 4, 2lb rolls for around $60