ScottR

Excellent documentation of neck and body carves. Were those sweat drops on your guitar? What is the thought process behind waiting till after neck join to dress the frets? SR

You got a skeeter problem? I like the markings on your ebony boards. This is the most detailed build thread I can remember you doing. Keep it up, this is good stuff. SR

That headstock looks sweet with the light curly veneer over the chocolaty HS. I no longer remember, is that neck rosewood? SR

Nice. The fretboard is especially sweet. It will be interesting to see how well the puzzle pieces hold up to forearm rub. SR

Cheers Muzz. Those shots were not quite the finished product yet....and she is as of yet still unchristened. I did put the cover on plugged it in. It sounds great feels great and looks pretty damn good if I don't say so myself. I'm still tweaking the set up a bit. Soon it will go over to Skullsession's studio and get it christened proper. SR

The titebond will not take the oil and the sawdust will....at least the part that is raw at the surface. Don't worry about the gaps and voids you've filled with epoxy or CA not accepting oil. The fill will seal the wood and you already expect it to look different. You just don't want it to seal the wood surrounding the filled gap. Fill your gaps early in the sanding stage and while you sand them back down level you'll be cleaning up the surrounding areas at the same time. All that surrounding wood will accept the oil just fine and the filled gap will not need to. Once your oil finish is cured, you can wax the whole thing without any problems. SR

Is it different at the center of both ends or just the edges? SR

This is going to be soooooo sweet when you polish up that coco. It's got to be a heavy son of a gun with those timbers......have you weighed it yet? SR

Neither one will stain or accept an oil finish.....they will form the surface of the areas you are filling. Fill them early in the sanding process so you can sand down past the glue you got on the areas surrounding your gap. That way your wood will absorb the oil finish right up to the filled area. SR

Epoxy or Medium CA. Just tape up on each side of the crack so the glue is only going where it needs to. Veneer the bad maple board and practice sawing frets in it and some scrap so you don't waste anymore wood. +1 Practice setting frets in it too. You'll want to get a feel for that whole process before you try it on a live piece. SR

Aren't twins every guy's fantasy? I fount Spanish cedar to be very light as well. It worked very well....the only problem I had with it was how easily it dented. I don't have enough practise being that careful. SR

That's a thought. It might be worth putting a couple of drops of dye into the thinner and giving it a shot. SR Probably not. Once you cut through the tint coat the clear will show through again. It will not help. The only fix now would be some dye and clear in an airbrush and blend it by hand. Short of re-doing then entire clear coat--which I don't see happening any time soon, this was my number one plan of attack should I feel the need to work on that spot. This is my current plan of attack. Aside from the shine it looks rather like the burst has been rubbed through....which I suppose it has. I want to see what whisky, sweat and hand grime do to it over time before I get too excited. Someone else will have to apply the cigarette smoke... SR

That's a thought. It might be worth putting a couple of drops of dye into the thinner and giving it a shot. SR

Bizzar, Levi, Maggotbrain, Piercefield, thanks for your kind words. SR

This is what you're seeing. My burst was first airbrushed onto the bare wood. Then several coats of clear were applied. Then I tinted some lacquer black and airbrushed the burst again. More clear coats and one more tinted burst, and the final coats of clear on top. Where the lacquer was sprayed onto the neck it overlapped the burst on the bare wood, naturally. Then each layer overlapped the preceeding one. Since the neck is oiled, I sanded a fade back into the lacquer to blend the two finishes where they meet. I don't want to feel the transition. In sanding the edge of the lacquer I cut through the tint coats at the edge of the transition and got to a place where the first coats of clear overlapped my original airbrushed burst on the bare wood of the neck. In some places on the side of the neck I had some hard lines. So I went back and sprayed another dye/alcohol burst on the wood and lacquer to blend that. That worked great on the hard line, and it covered the clear area that you see. But while it sticks to the lacquer fine it is visible as a different surface. It needs to be cleared over. Polishing it reexposed the clear area. I should have sprayed the dye way up the neck before clearing it and sanding it back during the blend phase. For now I'm going to leave it and play the guitar. If this thing was going to be sold, I'd sand it out and respray it, taking care of this and the pops that I know are there. For now since it's mine I'm going to play it for a while and see if it makes me fix things things or if it makes me forget them. It looks pretty good as is after all. SR

Hook--I had to work at work today and didn't get a chance to get to all my responses.... The big recesses are a byproduct of the thick tops I use so I can get a deep carve and short posted pots. I think I'll start buying long posted pots and go with shallower recesses. I could route the control cavity further into the top, but the edge of the carve is much thinner than the center and the recesses near the edge on one side. I also want the knobs all on the same plane. Thanks SD. I like the reflections a lot, but there is a even more pratical reason for keeping these knobs. they don't come very far out of the recesses. I kind of need the space around them to get my fingers on them. And the chrome helps balance the chrome elsewhere. As far as mistakes there are plenty, most are not so noticeable. I have a few cases of solvent pops too. Unlike yours, mine showed up immediately, whenever I sprayed a little too heavily. I've never seen anything like it before. They did not remelt with subsequent coats, like they should have. They melted back somewhat with brushed on very thined lacquer and the polished out somewhat....but not all the way. I may go back and respray the thing later, but it looks good now and I want to play it. So they are going to ride for a while. I also am going to order some more tuners, since a couple of the barrels on these broke, when they hit bottom. The tuners are intight holes and are screwed into the back so they are useable....but I'm going to replace them anyway. SR

Thanks Paulie, savage is a good word. ...and bless you Wes. Everytime I come up with a creative way to screw something up, it turns out you've already srewed one up the same way. It is always good to know that others have gone before me and learned the same lessons from the same goofs. Of course this was not a goof! This is tonal voodoo! an intentional thoroughly thought out design feature! SR

Thanks. SR

These woods go together awefully nicely...even if we're not supposed to get attached to them. That limba might look cool with a black grain fill and then a satin finish. SR what a time to post on top of each other. SR

I love the starburst pattern thrown off by the checks-nurls in the knobs. This ABS bridge is good looking, but I think it's going to take longer to dial in than the Schallers I've been useing up to this point. SR

This thing is a long way from being set up, but the wiring works correctly and the pickups sound very good so far....full of tone and vintage blues. I expect them to get even better once the set up is done and the amp is dialed in. SR

It's amazing how all the fancy expensive wood, and all the creative carving, and all the deep deep finishes polished so brightly don't quite look finished till you add the hardware. SR

I made a rookie mistake. I let my headstock get too thin while I was shaping it. I saw it of course, but wasn't worried about it because jatobe with an ebony cap is about as stiff as it gets. But Gotoh tuners have a barrel that only goes so deep, and the bottom line was it wouldn't tighten on my headstock. I decided to make some foundations...feet....shims...whatever out of ebony. It would be like a back strap...only with all the non essential wood removed for weight reduction. I'm the only one that's ever had to deal with this, right? SR

I'd hit it without masking and then reclear the whole thing. SR

Yeah it's nitro. It's sold as a wood finish in big home repair stores like Lowe's and Home Depot over here. It's doesn't have the musical instrument tag that makes brands like Behlens more glamorous. SR