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glimmertwin

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Everything posted by glimmertwin

  1. Is Mahogany particularly prone to this? I was paying mind to cut the appropriate direction...this is a complete bummer.
  2. ...so I thought I did a pretty good job using the band saw to cut pretty close to the line and decided to take on a little bit more with my router bit than I should have and surprise surprise I got a chunk of tear out in this mahogany LP Special body. I'm planning on doing a semi-transparent tv yellow finish on the special so I can go a little heavier in that repair area(lower bout on the back) but my question is how do I repair the tear out? Can I mix mahogany sawdust and glue(I'm using hide) and fill the patch that way? I would say it's about the size as a small marble. I have the chunks but they are blown out and can't be reconstructed. Would a veneer be the answer instead? Could I fill 80% of it with wood putty and use glue and sawdust to fill the last 20%. What are some recommended ways to patch up tear out chunks?
  3. i use volutes for strength there...but a ton of gibsons are one piece and have had no problems.i believe the scarf joint was started as a way to save wood rather than a major strength issue. Ive fixed three gibsons since xmas, and two the week before. Gibson headstock snaps are one of the bread and butter jobs i do... i almost always have one in the factory being fixed. Yeah Gibson headstocks snap off even if you look at it. The neck/headstock area is very thin, and they route out a lot of wood for the trussrod, so it is really a weak spot. Even with a volute the headstock isn't that strong because the grain still goes straight on. Maple would be much stronger, but mahogany is not strong enough to withstand a good bang on the back of the head. A scarf joint headstock will not break because the grain is parrallel to the headstock's face. Only the scarf joint itself could break easily if the surfaces aren't prepped (perfectly planed) properly. IMO a volute or a trussrod at the tenon is the easiest you can do as a beginner. If you're not good at planing wood, I would not recommend a scarf joint, as this joint should be perfect!! Looking at SwedishLtuhier's jig, it seems like something I could handle. Truth be told a good friend of mine happens to have been passed on her grandfather's 56 single cut Les Paul Special(dual P-90s) from his days playing with Bob Wills(I guess he was one of the "Texas Playboys"). She was talking about bringing it with her next time she was in town in a few months so I was looking to take measurements and try and clone it as best I can. I mind as well get some practice in making good scarf joints now because it looks like I will need it on the next couple of projects....
  4. ...looking to start my first project from scratch(59 LP JR style). Anyway, I want to try and keep it as traditional as possible but when choosing a truss rod, there are so many options it's confusing for a newbie. I know StewMac sells the basic truss rod used in traditional Gibson construction, but it looks a little involved(curved rod channel) and I'm trying to cut down on the margin of error on something that is so critical for my first guitar. It seems like a large margin of error unless you guys think I'm blowing out of proportion the difficulty of the curved portion, anchor carvings, and curved fillet. Anyway, I saw the lmii.com standard welded end single action truss rod and it sounds like a standard ended truss with a spline already attached AND it looks like it's a flat routed channel all for about the same route dimensions as a standard truss rod. I like slightly slimmer necks so I like the idea that I won't be tempting fate by having an easier to install truss rod put into a slimmer neck and possibly having some disaster with the truss coming through the neck. Of course I have never installed ANY truss rod before so maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill - you guys would know better than me. One thing I'm also cautious of is I don't want a super weak headstock design either so I want the truss insert to be minimally carved if at all possible to add even a little more strength. I hate volutes but I don't know of a better way to strengthen the headstock design transparently(I was planning on a one piece neck/headstock). Maybe I can route a small channel at the body end where the neck meets the body and have a set neck adjustable at the body end and the truss rod cover for show on the headstock end? Has anyone ever done this? On a JR the pickguard would cover it up I assume(wanted to use the tortoise shell guards - are those completely opaque?). Anyway, any advice is greatly appreciated. I couldn't find any archived info on these truss rods using the search feature... http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts....dard+welded+end
  5. Cool - thanks... I was sitting there with my wife last night telling her how I was looking to put one of those together but I was going to need to pull the specs from a lot of different spaces to make up a template and it was frustrating and made me uneasy. She said why don't you find a real one and take specs from it. I scoffed at first and said something to the effect of "they don't exactly grow on trees"...but then I remembered that one of her good friends comes from a family of musicians and her grandfather was in one of Bob Wills bands and passed on his old Les Paul flattop and tweed bassman to his musically inclined grandchildren....must be nice! I asked my wife if she had ever seen the amp/guitar and she said - oh ya, she lends it out to friends all the time AND she will be in town next week for the holidays. Now is that some sort of cosmic coincidence or what? Anyway, thanks for the help Melvyn - I actually have been re-re-reading your book all week while sitting in airports. Good stuff. Thanks!
  6. Thanks for the help guys...I guess I was having a hard time realizing the neck tennon is the full width of the neck. I also reread a few pages in Hiscock's book and it shed a little light on the subject too... Now to find a good template to work from...that's a search in itself. Does anyone know roughly how much width is given to the treble side pocket on those - where they added a little more wood to stabilize the pocket? The only template I have is from the P-90 carved top les pauls but the flat tops seem to be the same shape with that lip added...
  7. ...trying to wrap my head around something here. I was thinking of starting a Les Paul Special single cut guitar project but as I'm running through the details of the project I came up with a few questions. I was thinking of doing the 50s style Special with a wraparound tailpiece. So how did Gibson do those because they appear to be constructed differently than the modern TOM Specials? The pictures I have seen of the 50s style ones seem to have a bit of wood underneath the fretboard so that the fretboard doesn't sit flush to the body(I guess it never would be "flush" anyway if there is a neck angle). Why did they have the wood underneath and wouldn't that affect the neck angle? ....and just so satisy my curiousity, if you make the guitar with a TOM bridge, I have read that you need a 2 degree neck angle. So where does that leave the fretboard in relation to the body - wouldn't that mean there is a small gap between the fretboard end and the body and how do the newer Specials with TOM appear to have the fretboard flush to the body? I'm totally confused.
  8. Sounds like a plan but nuclear devices are actually out of my budget range. I guess I'll just have to stick with the rubbing technique.... By the way - thanks for all the responses. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't some obvious method I was missing outside of the rubbing technique. It seems like every now and again I read a post here on techniques and someone comes up with a really easy and obvious solution that works well - just thought I would try it for this subject. Thanks!
  9. I thought I saw a topic on this a while back but I can't seem to find a phrase to match me to it in the search engine... What is a good way to make a template from an existing guitar? The outline I could see as being fairly easy but what about the routes in the body? Is there a "no duh" method for easily/accurately doing that? I have a 61 Jazzmaster I was thinking of cloning for a backup(so I don't gig with the real thing) and I was also thinking of building a tele template using a friend's vintage correct tele body. Is there an easy way to capture the outline of the routes into the template? Thanks for your help!
  10. I would think the combination of scale length & pickups define the tele tone. I sure love me some teles....
  11. Well, I posted on a few other forums and it does look like the pbass body shape is the same as the more common post 57 pbass shape less the fancy contours. Have any of you guys ever measured the cavity route for one of the old flat pole pickups - is that the same sized pickup route as a normal strat single coil? Inquiring minds want to know Soapbarstrat: How do those humbucker looking pickups sound in the later pbasses? I would consider something like that as well...which brings up the cavity route question again and also the greater question of who makes new bass pickups like that. I'm not really a true bassist, but I like to have one around for sketching out arrangments of songs and the occasional "fill in" job for a song or two. I like the suggestions people make that the single coil pbasses have a more rounded upright tone to them than the regular pbass. I played a regular split coil pbass for a while and it always sounded "punky" to me....never really spent too much time on the jazz bass besides playing one at guitar center and wishing I was somewhere else far away from the after school program they seem to host for aspiring guitar wankers... Thanks for the help - this is a wonderful resource that I am absolutely ecstatic that I stumbled upon. Thank you! EDIT: Okay, I just went on Seymour Duncan's website and does look like the pickup dimensions of the 4 pole bass pickup are different from the strat's. Same depth, but the bass pickup is a tad longer and wider. I wonder if I can take a strat pickup template in electronic format and enlarge it slightly and if it would keep the same ratio...thinking out loud...
  12. So I am starting to put together all the things I need to build my first legit guitar from scratch. I have done several from parts, but for Xmas my wife got me a bunch of tools to start working on them myself. I am super excited to get my feet wet and have read Hiscock's book about 10 times over the last month. I was thinking of doing something simple and since I need a bass guitar anyway, I was thinking of doing a 51 style tele bass - the slab bodied ones. Does anyone know where I can find templates/plans for one of those? I know working up photo's has been suggested here but I would rather not reinvent the wheel if someone has taken on one of these projects. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you all might have!
  13. Good advice guys. The guide holes were drilled by the maker of the guitar body(Priest Guitars). I thought the hole was close but I will be for certain next time. I will also try the bar soap next time for sure too. I guess I need to make my way to Sears since I don't have a drill press(yet). Does the fact that the screws are relatively small make a difference in finding a suitable scew out set(do they come that small)? Thanks for all your help!!!
  14. Here is a bit of a predicament.... I just got the final pieces to finish my tele project. I purchased a Fender bridge from GRguitars.com and I was set to try everything out. I had holes pre drilled to where the bridge was to line up. When I went to install the first of 4 screws to mount the bridge, I got almost entirely "in" and the screw broke. It made me a little irritated but I am sure these things happen and after all, it was only one screw. I think to myself, no problem - I will find a way to fix the screw hole and in the meanwhile I can still mount the bridge with the remaining 3 screws and play it. Screw #2 goes in - no problem. Screw #3 - break. Am I just a glutton for punnishment today? Screw #4 - break. Now my question is two fold. One, how do you repair 3 broken screws in the bridge mount holes of where your tele bridge is suppose to be(there are no threads visible on any of the screw holes. Two, what would you do if you were me - is this something worth bitching about to Greg Roggers guitars? I mean, they sold me a product with defective parts. The problem is 3 new replacement screws does me no good as the swamp ash body appears to be ruined for the vintage style tele bridge - as well as my time and paint going down the drain. Am I right to ask for a new body? I really don't want a new body - I want to fix the old one but if that can't happen, then what? To make it worse, I don't really have many wood shop tools to do a clean route and repalcement of the area... Any ideas?
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