SJE-Guitars

The one tool in the whole of the shop that regardless of how often I use still scares the bejeebus out of the is the router - it really is a lethal weapon! Bandsaws, table jointers, sanders are nothing compared to some razor sharp bit spinning at 23,000 rpm - which at any point in time could catch a knot or similar and throw the whole thing flying out of control.

A really versatile and useful tool but you have to have nothing less than 100% concentration to use otherwise in the blink of an eye you could be in a very bloody and painful mess!

I don't use router tables - the idea of having a razor sharp bit spinning at 23,000rpm point upwards at me is something I can happily live without!

After much mulling over of what I would take on as my next project I came to the conclusion that an 8 string would be next.

However me being me - I couldn't just accept 'standard' parts or rules . . . sooooooo the summary of it is:

30.5" scale (complete with a custom truss rod)

Custom made Stainless Steel hardware including 8 string Tune-o-matic bridge with string through body - the only off the self parts all being well will be the output jack, controls and tuner pegs.

Custom made pickups (by SD Custom shop)

So far I've never picked up a 7 string and upwards guitar which in my opinion have have been comfortable to play - usual because of not only huge wide fretboards but thick unweildy necks. So the intention for this guitar is for it to have not only as narrow a fretboard possible but also a thin profiled neck to make it as comfortable as 8 string can be!

I'll be updating here as well as keep a blog on my website which is easy enough to find (just remove the dash from my name and add .com!)

The timber I am using for this guitar is rather special as Neck will be Siam Rosewood and the body will be a solid 2 piece bookmatch Laos Blackwood/rosewood - I put a slash because I only know the timber by it's local name which is mai mun it's grain is very similar to Siam Rosewood however the heartwood is dark blue/grey/black. Once I get it (Monday all being well!) I'll have more of a chance to get put a name to it!

Anyway I got the Siam Rosewood the other day and after a few runs over the jointer it now looks like this:

Top

Close up

Side Grain

Back

The white sap wood will be removed with the headstock angle cut - although I do rather like the contrast.

My first dilemma is what timber to use for the fretboard - I could make make the entire neck and fretboard from the piece of Siam Rosewood and have a fully matching neck. However I could add even more exotic timber and add a black and white ebony fretboard - which I reckon would be a nice contrast to the already dark timbers in the neck and body.

What do you reckon? All Rosewood or rosewood neck with Black & White Ebony?

This build might take some time in getting parts made - however the wood side of things should be pretty quick.

Looking forward to finally getting the timber for the body to beable get started!

What's the problem with getting hold of thick Padouk!??

There is tons of it here - so common in fact I actually avoid using it! I guess thats just me!

But it does make an attractive fretboard - I'll give it that!

Lets put it this way I was playing on my 12" radiused guitar the other day with my tuner next to the amp I played around with a few bends getting them stay in pitch/tune (i.e. exact 1/2 step, 1 step etc) and I end up bending 2 1/2 steps on the G, B and E strings - with no fretting out. Although my finger tips didn't thank me afterwards!

So as a far as I'm concerned anything 12" and over there ain't no issues.

Just a quick update - due to several other things I've not had a chance to visit the shop yet - I think it'll be Friday now.

I really am lost for words!

704.5mm and 702mm scales?!? Let alone on the same fretboard!

Something which you really should do is sit down and do this ------> - particularly concentrate on the scales sections!

Just a quick piece of advice - to make those Baritone scaled guitars play far better put on heavier guage strings (12-54 will suffice) and tune them down to C or ideally B. You might find they aren't so hard to play amongst other things!

Agree with every word you've written!

Although since I've been doing the same kind of setup on folks guitars for about 15 years I just setup actions on the fly without much thought.

I also agree on the lack of need for a precision straight edge - I actually use a piece of ironwood about 18" x 1" x 3" that I put over the jointer and squared up all 4 sides. I use my ±.0015" spirit level to ensure it's still straight - yes a plain old german produced 3ft spirit level that is just as accurate as the Stumac 'precision' straight edge but way cheaper!

Fender was by far the worst. Fret ends were loose, exposed, sharp, and even lifted in many cases.

I think this is just Fender and how many come from the factory - I think there quality control is lacking.

My friend in the UK a while back bought a Texan Special Strat - and basically it was a nail! Fretbuzz all over the place unless the action was rediculously high! Needed a whole fret job and total setup - very poor and one of the reasons as much as I like Strats I've never have and never will purchase one.

Compare to numerous years back when I bought my last guitar the Peavey EVH signature it came from the factory perfect the shop literally fitted strings and setup the intonation and it played (and still does) perfectly.

Lets face it no mass produced guitars will be perfect everytime regardless of what 'quality control' they preach - same in mass production shop floor situations.

The old bikers trick to stop visors fogging up is to rub a small amount of washing up liquid on to them until the liquid is clear.

You will never be fogging up again!

Well I've just knocked up a quick CAD of a 12" - I am specifying the cutting blade length as 50mm (i.e from tip to shank) - this should be sufficient for even 8 strings as it would radius a blank of 100mm wide. Or would people prefer it longer say 60mm?

Let me know on that score.

Hi if I can pass on some constructive critisiscm and that would be to offer us members an introductory price for a cutter or cutters and for us to try the bits and pass on whether they are good,bad or whatever you know customer feedback. The reason I say this is I would certainly wouldn't pay any more than $40 for a bit that might be very good or very bad but in the event I found these to be of a very poor quality and were innaccurate then $40 is not a waste of money to me but $70-80 would certainly be. This is by no means a dig at you its also some feedback to help you sell these. I for one would certainly love to try at least one at a introductory rate and then if it was of a very reasonable quality would consider ordering a full set of the most common radiuses. Also how safe and secure would it be to send payments to you and recieve our cutters ? again this is something that needs to be addressed before I even think about sending a single dollar! I'm sure others on this board will agree to the comments I have made and they are all comments that you as a seller must take note of hope this helps I'm in if its all good

Completely agree - I intend to personally get at least one made (probably 12") as a tester and I'd even be happy to drop it in the post to a trusted poster on here for them to test as I know I am obviously can't just expect people to trust me on just my posts on here. The only thing I need to do it make a CAD template with the exact sizings for them to work off as I am not 100% sure if they'll understand the radius idea (my Lao isn't quite fluent so as would be said a picture paints a 1000 word!) - I've seen their 1", 1/2" round over bits and various mouldings and they look very good.

Any payments would be made through paypal so there is the buyers protection on that.

Like I said in my first post this is just to test the water to see if there is a potential market for them before I go negotiating prices (just the way of this side of the world!) - at the end of it I am as concerned about the quality as you are - black and white ebony ain't the cheapest timber in the world to turn into firewood!

Comment happily received.

Ok inspired by this thread I recently stumbled on Radiusing bits. . . this thread is to see who many people would be interested in purchasing similar bits.

Right the reason I ask this is you or may not know but I am based in Laos in SE Asia - so what you might think - well my local sharpening shop also makes router bits to any design and this being SE Asia things are a good bit cheaper than the rest of the world.

This thread is to gauge whether firstly if there is suffcient people interested in them and also to check out what kind of money you would want to pay for a bit. Now let me just clarify the money question isn't just to discover how much I can ream out of people! The question is because as yet I haven't asked them for prices so they might turn around and say x amount to which from the replies on this thread I can then say yes or no.

Ok so the questions -

Which radius bits would you be interested in - 7 1/2, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 - or something I've not listed?

How much would you be willing to pay? $20-$40, $40-$50, $50-$75, $75-$100 - I do not think for one minute they would cost any more than $100 regardless, my estimate would be around the $40 mark (but like I say thats my estimate not their quote!!)

In terms of the metal used for the bits this is something I need to check but I think it's HSS - but I'd need to check.

They would be shipped via DHL to anywhere in the world and would obviously be marked as Samples - which they are!

So let me know and if there is sufficient interest I'll go and visit the shop and get the prices (well I'll probably do this anyway!).

Todd,

Exactly what I was getting at with my test. Yes it wasn't a true outdoor rain but that wasn't really my main concern when I am sanding to a finish on the body I will often submerge it in water to clean out the dust and also to raise the grain for further sanding. So obviously my thoughts were when I first started using Elmers as it was a new glue to me is will it be falling apart in my hands if I do this too often and obviously the answer was a resounding no.

As far as a commercially-produced body shape, I've always been drawn to the Yamaha SG. Call me weird.

Ok . . you're weird!

I also agree with the previous poster on the Marty Friedman Jackson model.

I guess as I work with numerous Ironwoods should comment on this!

Ironwood necks can work no problems as long as you firstly use a decent truss rod - something like the StewMac Hot Rod - and secondly you profile the neck slim - this is something in my opinion which makes Ironwoods very suitable for a neck given their strength you can take a neck profile very slim and retain the strength which other woods can't. I've made test necks from Xylia Xylocarpa which is an Ironwood usually know by the trade name of Pyinkado and once profiled and a truss rod pocket routed it could be flexed by hand (minus fretboard that is). Pyinkado's density is around the 900kg/m3 mark whereas IPE is around the 1000kg/m3 so IPE is slightly denser.

The other local Ironwoods which I have yet to test are Malabar Ironwood and Heavy Hopea (nearly 1000kg/m3 also) - however the Malabar Ironwood I'd steer a wide berth of due to it having massive shrinkage! Heavy Hopea however is on the list of to do for both necks and bodies.

I cannot comment on the tonal quality of the Pyinkado necks as in the end I didn't use them however it makes and excellent sounding body and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be good for necks - I would imagine the same for IPE and Lignum Vitae for that matter.

One thing I can agree with you highly on is ironwood splinters hurt like a b*stard - they nearly always penetrate deep!

Totally straight up! I thought it should/would fail - but I was very surprised also that it didn't! Not that I am in any recommending it for place when waterproof joints are required!

Elmers Interior is very good - I use it since it's the main import glue available over here. As for it supposedly not being waterproof - I once tested this with a couple of pieces of old timber glued together with a good joint - these two piece were left submerged (yes submerged not just sprayed with water). Two days later I removed them thinking they will just fall apart, nope, still completely solid. Never had any problems with it.

I think the only time you will have problems with glue is if either the joint is poor, the timber isn't dried fully or the timber has an high oil content - but really these aren't to do with the glue!

I have to say one guitar for me that I think is the quite possibly the coolest shape is the Gibson Explorer - I am planning an explorer inspired model at the moment.

Of course I like my own shapes as much as anything else or I wouldn't of made them!

Oh my god!

That is what spring to mind watching those videos!

With his retarded facial expressions as he plays he's obviously thinks he is Steve Vai MkII.

In terms of sustain - well I didn't hear anything extraordinary just very high level of distortion with a large amount of slap back reverb. His supposed sustain was more like feedback - any humbucker loaded guitar will do that with that amount of distortion especially as he was just hitting a pinch harmonic and pulling it out with the whammy.

As for fitting them . . . it certainly looks like a CNC only install.

My SJE-3 model prototype -27" Baritone scale, 3 piece solid Burmese Rosewood body, Afzelia Xylocarpa Neck and Fretboard - EMG60 Neck Pick up & EMG81 in the Bridge, Schaller compact tuners, Gotoh Tune-o-matic bridge (modified and lowered) with a hard oil finish. The 27" scale holds A,B or C tuning easily with no hassles.

Others . . .

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