Mender

You didn't finish the last sentence in your first post, so we don't have a clue what you're asking

I remember several years ago, a bass guitarist I knew changed the tops on his bass guitar tuners to some key tops similar to this

Great stuff. I have loads of oak scrap under my bench, and now I have a use for it. Thanks for sharing

I bought some of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT and some of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M5-x-40-Socket-Butto...Nails_Fixing_MJ and finally, some of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT They work extremely well, just as good as the expensive kits around. I recess the washers deep enough so the bolt heads don't protrude above the surface of the body. When a neck is fitted using that lot, it isn't going to move no matter how hard you treat the guitar

If anyone in the UK has been thinking of making a fret bender like this, and hasn't found suitable pulley wheels for the job, try these http://www.meccanospares.com/shop/article_...%26aid%3D22a%26 1 inch diameter solid brass. The pulley groove is a "V" shape so suitable for any fret size. I've just made a fret bender using two of these, and it works very well indeed

Simple way to find out. Put the two pickups side by side, oriented the same way they would be on the guitar, so the leads are both towards you. Pick one of them up and turn it over from side to side so one is face down, but the lead is still towards you. Now place this pickup on top of the other one carefully so the poles line up. If they attract, the outside coils are magnetically opposite. Then there is no problem. If, however, they push away from each other, then the outside coils have the same polarity. If this is the case, rotate one of the pickups 180 degrees so the wire comes out of the "wrong side" and fit them into the guitar that way. You will then have the outside coils with opposite magnetic polarity.

Excellent job Muzz, and plenty of detail in the thread. I must use Rustins on my next build. I've had some here for a while now, but keep putting off using it because I havn't decide whether to spray it or brush it.

That guitar has plenty of vibe. I quite like the idea of using an old rusty hinge as the tailpiece

You could upload them to Imageshack or similar Here are the direct links for those who can't see them on here http://s3.directupload.net/images/100731/obmuqqt3.jpg http://s10.directupload.net/images/100731/ibnuqljv.jpg http://s7.directupload.net/images/100731/j4phdmmw.jpg http://s1.directupload.net/images/100731/dztcgx6w.jpg http://s10.directupload.net/images/100731/g6hyyf8o.jpg http://s7.directupload.net/images/100731/kp2cfnhp.jpg http://s5.directupload.net/images/100731/fjx6i6p5.jpg http://s10.directupload.net/images/100730/5u9hq8oe.jpg As I said, I can see them fine.

Oops! I missed that. Not fully awake yet

They are working fine here. Beautiful finish

I find that it is quicker and easier to finish maple fretboards without masking off the frets, then clean the frets when the finish has cured.

I have used oak on a couple of my guitar builds. I bought an oak table top some time ago, 1 3/4 inches thick, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. I only paid £3 for it. It is actually made with oak planks 6 inches wide glued together, and the grain is nice and straight. I've used pieces of this as laminating strips in necks and bodies. I've also made fretboards out of it. I've never built a complete neck or body out of it, although, as I have so much of it, I may build a complete oak guitar one day just to check out the weight and tone It is great stuff for making sanding blocks, radius blocks, wedges, and other useful things like that

Actually, Nash does admit that he assembles the guitars from ready made parts. I think he has to put it on his website to avoid any possible legal complications. He refuses to name the companies he buys from, but doesn't deny he only assembles them. http://www.nashguitars.com/IMHO.htm

Thanks for the compliments, folks I can hardly wait for Christmas to see Sian's face when she sees it. I told her I'd make her one, but she has no idea what it looks like. I think (hope!) she'll be thrilled

Unfortunately, for various reasons, including losing my digital camera, I didn't chart the progress of this build, but I will for the next one. As you can see, it is heart shaped. 22 inch scale length, and built mainly from bits and pieces I had laying around what I laughingly call my workshop The body is made from four pieces of poplar glued together. The top is a 1/4 thick slice of African mahogany, not wide enough, so I put it on in two pieces - spot the join The neck is a poplar and mahogany laminate which was slightly too short, so I scarfed a bit of mahogany on the headstock end and made it into a feature. The square fretboard dots are abalone, the AB (my initials) on the fretboard and my granddaughter's name SIAN on the body are MOP. The fretboard is padauk and has a 12 inch radius. Standard gauge fretwire was used. A single action box type truss rod is fitted. This came off an old broken Strat copy I picked up for £1 at a car boot sale. I had to shorten it a little to fit, but it does the job. The pickup also came off the same guitar. I dyed the top, sprayed the back with a metallic black rattle can I had in my cupboard, and sprayed the whole thing with about 10 coats of acrylic clear car lacquer from another two rattle cans. Although the pickup is a cheapie Chinese thing, it sound surprisingly good, not tinny at all, but I think perhaps the position I fitted it may have helped the tone. I haven't bothered fitting a tone control as my granddaughter is only just seven years old, and I don't think she would use one. All in all, I'm very pleased with this scrap wood musical heart

From the prices I've seen on the internet, UK prices are around £140 - £150 whereas US prices seem to be around $140 - $150, so about 30% cheaper than the UK. Bear in mind that our 17.5% VAT is included in the UK price (soon to be 20% ). If you buy one from the US, you would be liable for import duty, VAT, and a handling fee, so it would be at least the same cost, perhaps even slightly more expensive, than buying on in the UK.

Welcome to the coolest guitar building site on the internet

The way you have the strings across that body will make it awfully difficult to play

In the UK, we can buy it in two metre rolls of 12 inch wide from Poundland for just £1, around $1.55 US.

Thanks for the answer Well, there is a point right there. Because the hot and the ground cables from the pickups are the same color!! the only difference is the gauge... First, I used the thinest cables to the volume pot ground, but no sound came out. Then I inverted the cables and used the thickest ones, and then, started the sound, but with this problem... Maybe the cables should be at the first position and the sound problem is another ... I should post a photo of them ... Wich of the cables should be the hot? the thinest or the thickest? The first thing to check is the thick wire. Are you sure this isn't two wires in a single sleeve, maybe a "hot" wire and a screen? I believe the Wilkinson pickups in you picture may have two wires from the pickup coils and a ground wire from the cover. If this is the case, you need to strip the sleeve of the thick wire back a bit so you can separate the two wires.

I've always heard them called simply non slip or anti slip mats. All the shops around this area that sell them have them shown as just that.

Nice build. I'm surprised 9 string guitars didn't take off when they were manufactured in the early 1970s. I owned two 9 string guitar back in the 70s. One was an acoustic made by either Hohner or Hofner, can't remember which. It was strung with normal EAD, and GBE were doubled, but not octaved like a 12 string. The second was a solid body made by Framus, and was strung in a rather novel manner. E = single string A = single string D = normal D plus one octave higher G = normal G plus one octave higher B = normal B plus one octave higher E = single string I just found this photo on the 'net, looks just the same as mine was.

There is an adhesive called "EZ Peel", which is designed to temporarily hold stuff together that you want to unstick later. Use some of that, because no matter how hard you try, the darnned stuff just won't let go

I wish I had just half of that artistic talent