Workingman

I woud caution you on Taylor. I know two people who recently had problems with tops cracking and Taylor was awefull about doing repair work under waranty. I know that is a small sampling but I mentioned it to my brother who teaches guitar and he knew a few people who had problems also. Please note this is not personal experiance and if you love your Taylor great. I have found Takamine to be a good value in that price range. Martin can be expensive but they stand behind their product like just about nobody else.

Many thanks, this one got sold out from under me. Now I know and can act faster.

Having checked my budget I am not going to be able to get a new band saw. My local Craig's List has a 16" Delta with a floor stand that looks from the phots to be in fair shape. The owner says he will take $150 for it. Can the more experianced tool mavens here give me some ideas about how I should check it out to be sure that it works properly. Also what I should bring (e.g. small carpenterrs square etc.). Many thanks

Those aren't strips. They are templates. He is making a semi-hollow banjo guitar hybrid.

If you went with a material finish you could have people supply the material or give them canvas squares they could paint or draw on.

This was one of the most dificult to choose yet. I went with pointy stick 'cus if they were all lined up it would be the first one I would pick up to play. I don't know how long I would be able to resist switching for one of the others though.

I will preface this as I usualy do by saying that most people here know more than I do so if somone tells you differnt you may want to listen to them. This sounds like a bad idea. While you may be able to carefully route a cavity for the switch you still have to get the wires to the cavity. Most LP style guitars have a back which is rounted fot the wiring and then a top glued on afterwards. Depending on how much room there is you may be able to pull some wires back from the original control cavity through to the neck pickup route. If you had a long drill bit you may be able to make a connecting hole between the new rout and the pup cavity. You would have to tripple check that you were not going to come out the top or miss the route. If you managed all of that you still would have the problem of any damage made to the finish around the route. If back is a solid color you may be able to match it but if it has a transparent color your chances are about nill. You also would have to fill the hole left by the old switch and attempt a finish match there as well. I think your best bet is to either live with it or sell it and get a guitar with the control configuration you want.

OK you want diversity... Tom Verlain, Django Reinhrdt, Phil Manzanara and Dave Davies 'cus he invented the power chord. Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Hendrix (what no one said Hendrix).. The list, lucky for us, is endless.

I am a bass player so I don't know if this is aplicable. On those rare occasions when I get to take a solo, I try to have an idea in my head a melody or just a riff. I start with the idea; try it and some variations, do something different but related (change into a relative minor or major) and finsh off by returning to something close to the original idea.

Vinyl chloride is nast stuff. When I have worked on site cleanups with it present, OSHA rules require using air tanks as filters don't provide enough protection.

Great idea. I have a guitar that despite a properly slotted bridge still causes pinging when tuning. This may be a solution. Thanks.

I am interested in how the oak works on the neck. I have a big slab of quarter sawn oak at our place in Vermont that was left by the previous owner. It is pretty but heavy otherwise it would make several body blanks.

If it has a speaker out jack, you could always plug a set of headphones in. Just to test, not to play for any time.

I am trying to remember where I read about this. It may have been frets.com. Anyway this much I know. When plastic is new it releases some gasses. In vnyl type plastics, such as pvc, the gasses include vnyl chloride which is reactive with brass and chrome. It may be reactive with nickel too. I can check. If a new guitar is kept continualy in a case and the plastic on it is very new, there is the potential for problems.

I have had a Schecter bass for about three years without any problem. I recall reading that there were some problems with the plastic in some cases off-gassing and causing corosion. That may be what you have. I agree go with a toothbrush or other gentle cleaning first. If that doesn't work then try more agressive things like chemical cleaners. If you ae using them on the frets be sure to mask the fretboard first. Good luck.

Cool interview in the link thanks. Not to be too nit picking but the intro is just wrong. there were lots of factory mass produced guitars out there before rock n rol hit. Many of them were real dogs. Ever play a Stella? Parker in the interview sites the poor quality of many pre rock archtops, including a 1930 Gibson.

Like it was said do a search it will pay off with more than I can add. That said a couple of quick things. Most piezo setups are going to require a pre-amp for the piezo. If you install the pre-amp in the guitar you will have to power it with the attendent wiring. If you are going to use an external pre-amp you will have to use a stereo jack so the normal pup goes direct and the piezo goes to the pre-amp. It is a fair bit more work than just stuffing a piezo in.

I have been saying that for years and gotten some pretty outraged responces. I am glad I am not the only one anymore.

There is little danger in lossening a truss rod. The potential harm comes in the other direction. You can go or heavyer strings too. Just do things gradualy. If none of that works you are probably looking at a neck re-set.

The place is called ReNew Salvage on Route 5 in Brattleboro, Vt. It can be a bit hard to see from the road. It is just north of the town center across from the Shell Station. If you are comming from MA you would use 91 north to exit 3. At the circle make the first right and go about a mile it will be on the left. The pieces I got looked like they had been ripped from a bar. Unfortunatly someone had snagged the wider pieces already.

There is place near our get-away house in Vermont that salvages things during building demolitions. They also have some inexpensive used tools. I still kick myself for not picking up a 14" band saw for $150 but money was/is tight. I was walking back to the tool area when I noticed a bin labeled hardwood $4 a board foot. I picked out three pieces of mahogany. They did not measure them but just asked how $4 was with me. I walked out with enough wood for three, possibly four neck blanks. Now I have to go back for that spoke shave and learn how to use it.

+1 on the Korg. I had a chance to check mine against a piano tuners tuning forks and it was dead on.

Acetone evaporates very quickly. You would have to soak the wood in acetone to have it interfere with future finishing. You would have to be pretty quick on the draw with your spray gun too. Acetone is less toxic to breathe than naptha and so I would use it when it is appropriate (unfinished parts) over naptha.

I think the three letter rule is pretty standard. I know that's how it is on other forums I use.

If your respirator (half face I presume) is fogging your glasses it doesn't fit right. You should only have air comming out of the center valve.