Buter

Much obliged.

Hiya Pukko I'm not a fan of the old school V's but this looks like it will be one fine instrument. I can't be the only one wondering... what does the 'F Spaced' sticker on the pup case mean? Lookin forward to more on this one. Cheers Buter ps - forgot to say, diggin the inlay!

Oh, forgot to mention that the Vox has a known gremlin with the way that the valve seats in (or doesn't, as the case may be). I have to pick mine up a couple of inches and give it a thud into the ground to get the thing to work most times. It went back to the factory once and they said that it was fine. I brought it home, pluged in and same problem. That's when I found out that anger and brute force solved the problem. Many of the Valvetronics have been returned because of this (info comes from a friend who owns a music store). B

I've never met anyone outside of Australia who could get their hands on Paulowina. The boys who use it to build high end surfboards rave about it. No idea how it would work as a tonewood, probably a bit like cedar. What did you use to tint Danish oil, Scott? With no room in the spray shed, Danish oil has become my finish of choice (new compressor on the way, just trying to figure out what kind of spray gun would be best for waterbased finishes now). I like the carve on the horns, John. Good luck with this one. I've got my first bass next to me and I went quite thin with it to save on weight. I would have gotten away with it (if it weren't for those pesky kids) but I mocked it up with normal pots and when I went to install the active electrics, the circuit board was just that much taller. Never mind. Look forward to your build, as always. Cheers Buter

You're my new hero, Dave. Thanks (again) Cheers Buter

What are you guys using to lay out multiscale fretboards now that fretfind 2d has gone the way of the dodo? I had been meaning to print off loads of different scale combos and make them into hard templates, but never got around to it - like backing up the computer, I guess. B

I've got one of them Vox Valvetronic ones and it works great... as a dust collector. I think that if you find a sound you like within the seemingly endless tone possibilities you're alright. But what I've found is that once you find a sound you like, you'll stick with that sound. Which begs the question - why get an amp that has 1000's of tones just to stick with one? Maybe if you're recording it might be good to have a small one around to get a particular sound. It all comes down to whether or not you like the sound coming out of the black box. Cheers B

Gel coat is just a nice name for a pigmented finishing resin. I've only ever heard it referred to in boating/yachting circles. For surfboards it's referred to as a hot coat.

Right, guys, thanks for your input on this. Given the advice here and elsewhere, I've gone away from the HVLP idea. I've just ordered a decent compressor (from ebay, Kammo1) and it comes with, I'm assuming, a very cheap, basic spray gun that should be fine for running house paint through. To be honest, I could use a compressor in the workshop anyway, I've just never been able to justify it before. So now that I have a compressor, what should I be looking for in a good quality spray gun? I'm afraid simply putting the word 'professional' in the name of the equipment is not enough for me. I've heard a couple of brand names thrown around, what brands would those of you in the know recommend and why? What features are desireable for shooting water-based sanding sealer and gloss coats? I would be shooting at least two guitars at a time - or 4 or 5 skateboards or a surfboard. Do I want a gravity feed guy or a syphon feed? I know some of this stuff has been covered here before, so apologies to the forum police, but I was typing anyway, so I thought I'd get a couple of up to date thoughts on this. If anyone sees a good deal on the UK ebay, please feel free to point me in that direction via this thread or pm. Cheers Buter

Howz this going, Scott? I've got kilos of super clear epoxy and some nice, soft walnut that would benefit from your tests. Yeah, epoxies are not very tolerant to getting the ratios wrong. In most high end surfboard shops, the resins and hardeners are measured on very accurate digital scales. Just as an aside, epoxy finishes are notoriously difficult to polish to a finish that would be acceptable for a guitar finish. I'm not saying that it cannot be done, it just wouldn't be done when you're trying to do 3 or 4 surfboards in a day. Spraying a clear coat on top of levelled epoxy might be an idea, but it might defeat the point of your excercise. Keep us posted. Cheers Buter

You beat me to it. I was in a bit of a hurry this morning (good surf ) so I didn't try to look up them fancy little thumbwheel pots. The more I think about it, the easier it gets - just needs good planning. Thanks for posting that link to David's guitar, Chris. He does some damn fine work, not that you need telling. Cheers B

If I were to try it... Make the center section slightly thicker than normal, no worries with weight as you would be removing a good bit of mass with those body cut-outs. Do a swimming pool type route on the back so you have one big control cavity that you could mount the pups through - this has the added bonus of giving you a super clean look on the front. With the added thickness in the middle, you should have enough room to mount the pots after the pups are in. Carve down the top and back so that the edges aren't as chunky as your center section. How to drill the pot holes? At an angle? Drill before attaching wings? I'd do test runs until I had a layout that worked 'cuz you're gonna have a hard time getting everything to fit the way that you want it and there will be issues that you wouldn't have thought of. Get your design dialed in on junk wood before attacking any nice tonewood (common sense, I know). Just being different for the sake of being different? Good luck with it. Cheers Buter

I'm a proponent of quiet, continuous run systems. In some cases, a venturi system may make more sense (if you have a dedicated workshop where the noise of the venturi won't bother anyone, and have a compressor always ready, willing and able) but the venturi rigs are expensive in their own right. Mike is right about the bags, they are expensive as they are made to be flexible and withstand a vacuum moulding process like I use when I'm forming skateboards around a mould. However, I took a gamble and decided to buy a few metres of vac-bagging film to see if it would stand up to our type of work and I'm pleased to say that I'm still on the first two metres that I have initially tested. I still have nearly an entire roll of film to make bags of whatever size I want for a fraction of the cost of a single bag. Check your local fibreglass shop and they will probably have rolls of film that you can buy to experiment with. I've posted pics of my setup before and I've got less than $30 in it and I've never had a problem. Good luck, a vacuum setup will open up some new avenues to the way you approach your work (which is already stunning). Cheers Buter

Hi guys Apologies in advance for asking this question here, but I sorta e-know most of you and know what sort of background/knowledge base you all have. I'll be getting an HVLP rig for my spray booth (currently housing 3 bathroom suites and a dishwasher) as soon as my house, which is undergoing a major renovation/extension, is finished. The only way wifey and I could afford to do all the work is by finishing the job ourselves. This will include painting interior and exterior walls and spraying all the cabinets and furniture that I will be making (out of the old rafters, 150-ish year old pine; you oughta see how many and how tight the growth rings are on some of these boards!). For those of you in the know, would this spray rig that I was looking at to do my guitars, surfboards and skateboards also work with house paint? If this seems like an easy or silly question, it's because I've avoided painting a house for all of my 35 years and I'm completely ignorant on the subject. Thanks in advance. Cheers Buter

And such is the joy of this forum! You will always get advice from people with different points of view. In this case, nobody is giving bad advice (not always the case and, sadly, I've tossed out a rotten fish or two by mistake myself). As for your question, if you have enough shaft on your bit to safely add a collar and bearing, go for it. If you put the bearing and collar on your bit and think, 'you know, there ain't a lot of shaft in that there collett', get a different bit to play with or buy a pattern bit. In fact, you can swap different sizes of bearings around and have a flush trim bit and various rebating bits for doing binding. As Scott suggested, when Melvyn wrote his book those many years ago, one of the methods he was using was to run the shaft of the bit along the template. Cheers B

I'm all for trying to save a buck, dude, but you'd probably be asking for trouble here. IF you had a straight bit with a long enough shaft, it would be no worries. I'm still in my jammies having my morning coffee (at home, for a change), but I'm willing to bet that if I went out to the workshop and measured the shaft of a straight bit and compared it to a pattern bit, the pattern bit would have a shaft that is longer by about the same thickness as the bearing and collar. If you would be tempted to slide a bearing and collar to your straight bit and then have that much less in your router's collett, er..., don't. The more a bit sticks out from the collett, the greater leverage it has and the less 'clamping power' the collet has - this could potentially lead to the bit temporarily becoming 'wobbly' (for lack of a better word) under a load. I'm not exactly sure what speed a router bit spins at, but the results wouldn't be good. Have I pulled a bit out of a collett a little bit to get that extra reach? Yup. Swore I'd never do it again - until the next time I did it. Good luck and don't do anything stupid. PS - Check out MLCS for good quality, inexpensive bits Cheers Buter

Don't worry yerself, fella - that dude's usually a d!ck. I just saw you post this: and threw up a search that should point you in the right direction. To be perfectly honest, I didn't have time to even look at a single one of those threads on that search as I was sitting in a cafe in Warsaw with the battery going down and lots to do, so no time for long posts this morning. My bad. I use Evo-Stick glue in the green bottle which you will be able to get in the UK and I've never had a problem. No attitude, just gratitude. Good luck with your build. Cheers Buter

Lots of glue threads.

If that one gets jealous when the new one is built I think I can find it a good home by the sea with lots of other guitars to play with. B

I got mine from Thomann. They certainly look and feel of good quality, won't be able to tell you how they perform in action for another couple of weeks. B

I work too damn slow as it is without trying fancy stuff like that! You show off B

Can't really get a tighter join than that. What looks like a small gap is jus the glue that I haven't cleaned up yet. Good luck B.

Dude Finish the build so that you can get a few more mistakes out of your system. You learn so much from your mistakes and everything gets easier (much easier in my experience) the second, third, fourth... time around. Build it, play it, learn from it. Come winter... Burn it!! Cheers Buter

IMHO, 2 contrasting woods work the best in lamintated necks/bodies. I feel that 3 different woods in the lam can make things look a bit contrived. If you feel that further detailt is needed, use veneers as thin pinlines. If you decide that you need/want 3 woods in your neck construction, try to tie the different woods into the body construction so that it looks planned, not indulgent. Just my .02 Cheers B

Here ya go