Mender

Certainly looks like the best way.

It works extremely well. I devised the idea many years ago so I could retro fit a zero fret on non-zero fret guitars, but still allow the guitar to be put back to original simply by fitting a new nut

flatsawn more stable? Id like to see that article... Is it available to read on the net?

Fender have been making necks from flatsawn maple ever since they started making guitars, and you rarely hear of anyone complaining they aren't stable

It can be done, although you have to be very accurate. Cut the nut as shown in the picture, glue it into the fretboard, then cut the fret slot exactly where the nut and fretboard touch. I would recommend using a caul and press to fit the fret into the slot, unless you want to cut the slot slightly wider so the fret tang pushes in easily by hand, then glue the fret in place.

orry mate, you can't have that one, that's only the display model. I'll have to order one for you

I walk out.If I want to order one i can do that online

I only ever bought one guitar in a shop, a cheap Japanese Strat copy, and that was well over 30 years ago. It was the best of the bunch, and with a bit of time setting it up, it played pretty good.

I have, however, accompanied many friends to shops to try and buy a guitar, but most times the answer has been as above, and I've recommended the friends don't settle for having one ordered for them. It's better to travel to buy one directly, and mostly they have taken my advice. I made guitars for some of them for around the same price it would have cost them to buy a name brand, but they did get exactly what they wanted in the way of specification and setup, and of course, they had body shapes that couldn't be bought in shops

I think gibson makes some fantastic instruments - but the problem is that you could walk through the store and pick up a $10k Paul that played like crap and then pick up a $1k Studio paul that played like a dream..

Agreed,you should always play before you buy...but IMO a good Gibson has a feel that just speaks to me like not much else.

Here in the UK, it is very difficult to buy the guitar you try in the smaller shops. Take one off the wall, it feels perfect, looks perfect, plays and sounds exactly how you like it, but when you try and buy it, the answer is, "Sorry mate, you can't have that one, that's only the display model. I'll have to order one for you." The one he orders turns out to be crap, but they still expect you to pay for it

Before you even think about painting that body, make sure you fill and seal it properly. Being plywood, it will suck paint in around the sides and ends for a pastime, so spending plenty of time on filling and sealing is well worth the trouble.

The body is coated in resin, but I sanded through some areas, do I only have to worry about the areas that are bare wood? Or would you recommend me doing something about the resin coated areas as well?

You certainly need to do the areas you have sanded through, then maybe a coat of resin or similar over the whole body followed by sanding flat to give you a decent level finish ready for painting.

Before you even think about painting that body, make sure you fill and seal it properly. Being plywood, it will suck paint in around the sides and ends for a pastime, so spending plenty of time on filling and sealing is well worth the trouble.

Apart from the shape (the Tele isn't my favourite guitar shape), that looks great, very novel. I'm looking forward to watching the progress on this one

...

But still I wonder - why did such a little thing took such horrible effect?

It's because the pin that was touching the screening paint was almost short circuited to ground. The screening paint is conductive, and is connected to ground via the the pot casings.

Instead of using washers under the truss rod nut, another method of allowing more adjustment would be to get someone to make you a new nut, a little longer than the original one. Then drill the inner end to remove about 2 or 3 millimeters of thread. Now the drilled part at the end of the nut will glide over the threads on the rod, giving you more adjustment without the use of washers.

The mermaid guitar is fine. It depicts a grown up woman-fish, but the first one worries me. It gives the impression of being a pre-pubescent child. Hugging that for an evening on a stage seems rather perverse to me

*Returns hug* Haha, seriously though, England isn't THAT bad...

England is fine, it's just that we need a decent government...

Welcome to PG Pritchy, from another UK resident, originally a Cheshire Cat, but 53 years in places like Cornwall, Devon, South Wales, the home counties, and the last 13 years in Cheltenham has put paid to any northern accent I had

Here you will find plenty of information, humour, and incredible talent, but that's enough about me

I'd like to teach my recently rediscovered son how to build guitars. I think he's just about old enough at 44 years

Oh yea Mender your not that guy in Fringe are ya . LOL !!!sorry bud couldn't resist

Sorry, did I miss something? If you mean Fringe the TV series, I've never seen it, so it's gone right over my head

Welcome Fred. I love the New Forest area. I've been down there on several occasions with my caravan. I love the peace and quiet, and would go and live there like a shot if property rental prices were a little more realistic

If you want to start building guitars, this is a good place to start

nice

SR

Yes, very tasty indeed!

We like pi....oh wait, I was beaten to it.

Welcome on board!

Lacquer acts as a waterproof barrier that stops anything touching the wood, so oil will just sit on top of the lacquer in a wet state.

EDIT: Dammit, I was beaten to it

Welcome aboard Fredwire 30 builds? You've been pretty busy. You must post some pics of some of your work. We like pics

Try over on AX84.com.

They've got plans for a 1x12... just double it and stick the two together...

...then stack four together and you have a nice 8x12.

...then hire a heavy duty crane to lift it off the ground...

Once again, some beautiful craftsmanship. The quality of all the GOTM entries is so good, it gets more and more difficult to choose one as a favourite.

So, purely because I love the shape, and it's the first one I've seen entered on PG, I had to go with the Jupiter by Avengers63. I can almost see Billy Gibbons standing there playing it

I always use zero frets on my builds. That way, the nut slots can be a teeny bit wider so the strings don't bind, and open strings have the same tone as fretted strings. Same as RAD, I don't dress the zero fret, I just polish it, which leaves it just a teeny fraction higher than the rest

Brian May of Queen used oak for his Red Special fretboard. He dyed it black and coated it with Rustins Plastic Coating. It has certainly stood the test of time, hasn't it? I used oak for the fretboard on my first build 35 or so years ago, and on four others since. I brushed on five coats of Ronseal dark oak coloured varnish and let it set for about six weeks before using it. I will use oak again in the future when I am able to continue building guitars, as I have loads of it here.

Not at all. I'm asking about how the acoustic sound would be affected. I want an alround instrument for acoustic as well as electric playing, but if the output jack would kill the sound and make it suitable only for amplified playing, I rather leave it untouched and use an other instrument for electric playing.

You could use a strap button jack socket, replacing the body end strap button. That way, you don't need to make a hole in the body

Like the one shown on this page, 4th item down the list, http://www.axesrus.com/axeElectronicsJacks.htm

or you can get a tapered one that doesn't need any screws.