Workingman

How about making a control plate from the same wood as the leaves?

I have recently gotten a couple of older planes from antique/junk stores. They were all solidly built with quality blades. They needed cleanup, to be sharpened, and set up but the prices were sweet. Keeping an eye out in the classified can yield some great deal on hand tools too.

There are people here who know a lot more than I do but as no one has responded so far I will do my best. First there are books available on the subject. In most guitars (but not all) the bridge pickup is wound to have more resistance than the neck or middle. In the classic strat set up the middle pup is wound in reverse of the other two (out of phase). Most HB pups have both coils wound the same but some highly regarded ones have different windings. The difference usually fairly small. The one I have has 7.5 ohm on one coil and 6.5 on the other. These are called unbalanced or UB and you loose a bit of the humbucking ability. The kind of magnet makes a difference. Exactly what that difference is has been endlessly debated. Not wanting to start a new debate I will say that many people say the alinco based pups have a mellower sound while ceramics get more definition.

It is possible that you have a typical winter crack from dryness. If so, I would leave it alone until you have more humid weather. it may close on its own. Than you can wick some hide glue or CA into the area.

You could try and make your own. http://liutaiomottola.com/PrevPubs/Piezo/CoaxTransducer.htm I have been working on ones for upright bass (the prices on the ready made ones are absurd). I have tried piezo film which was decent. Next I am going to make a precise route in the bridge foot for the cable style, like the one I linked too. For very little money you can play around until you have something you like.

And heavy.

What about a glue in fret?

But remember that you have to have the right kind of priest for the music you are playing. If you use the wrong priest all you solos will come off like the do re mi song from the sounds of music.

The happy possibility is that you have a bad string. Also different string gauges take different amounts of adjusting to intonate. So a string change could still help. That said, Your pitch should be off in the same way (sharp or flat) anywhere on the fretboard. If it isn't a bad string you have one or more bad frets.

Famous last words. Good luck.

Doesn't sound like you missed anything. We are moving and my wife says since I am doing almost all the packing she will buy me a new guitar. Hmmmm.

I have only played once recent Gibson, a goldtop lp. I didn't care for it but it was setup with 8's a supper low action which is not my thing. The craftsmanship looked fine, nothing that grabbed me either way. One thing I will say against them is when I go into the local Sam Ash none of them have had even a basic setup. One glance and you know the intonation is bad. This says as much about Sam Ash as Gibson but for the $$'s they are asking they should leave the factory in playable shape. I do worry with a laminate fingerboard about the ability to dress the board in the future. If the top laminate is too thin you could run into some problems when it comes to seating new frets.

keep an eye out on e-bong and the like for used parts. Its a ply body so be a bit flexible about what you put on it. You can cut the costs by a fair bit with that approach.

Most of the parts can be taken off and applied to a different project if he want. One of my favorite guitars is a cheap Yamaha fat strat I upgraded. It did have a nice neck to start and a solid wood body. It doesn't look all that great but it plays and sounds very nice. I learned a lot on it too.

Very nice work. Would your fretboard material be suitable for glue in frets or are gluing problems do great?

Scott, how about a carving of you dog? Sorry about the possible hijack.

It looks great but I don't know about finish sanding the low areas. For the bridge, how about routing a recess and putting a nice 80's style sustain block in?

That's not a blemish; its mojo.

Sweet!

Nice, I like that you can mount it on a table.

Wow! Can't wait for the ES as I like them better.

You beet me to it That is one of the nicest teles I have ever seen.

Nice!

Try replacing the nut on the rod.

Un-branded that I noticed. I don't know when they stopped making the body of wood. I left in our Vermont house (not much room in the NYC apartment). I will take pics when I am back next. They had 10" Stanly Bailey that I am kicking myself for not grabbing too. If it is still there I will get it.