Devon Headen

Frank: I used the correct sized allen wrench, but I suppose it is a possibility that it was a cheap import that was slightly undersized. rocksolid: I'll probably try forcing it once I get some way to be able to adjust it. I'm going to give it a week or so to settle a little more. With the string tension on yesterday and last night, it's come down pretty substantially. Still there glaring at me, though. It'd be a shame to go through all the work of putting relief in, and then getting backbow after everything settles. Doug: I'm sure I'll do some kind of preloading on my next neck, but I'd never had a problem before this neck. I had it dead flat before fretting. I changed the saw I was slotting with, so I'm thinking it's a couple thousandths smaller than the last, thus pushing the neck where I didn't want it.

A drawknife is a great tool for roughing things in, but you definitely want a lot of experience before taking it to anything critical. It's very easy to catch the grain and tear out much more wood than you planned on taking out. Work with the runout whenever possible, but when working against it take LIGHT cuts. I'd definitely recommend a spokeshave instead for most guitar work. If it's a good quality plane, it's definitely worth the time to fix up. You can get some pretty beat up stanleys that clean up real nice and work good with a little lovin'. I'm sure there are resources out there on the net that go through plane set-up and truing the sole. Just the other day my father was going through some stuff and found a #5 in a box full of cast iron cookware. It was pretty rough, and I already have a #5, so I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the time cleaning it up. After spraying all the dust off, I started disassembling the plane. Much to my delight, I discovered somebody had put a replacement (hock ?) blade in there. It was a little pitted with rust, and nicked, but it's cleaning up real good now. I can't wait to get it together. One thing about the new blade is how hard it is. It took FOREVER to regrind it back to where it needed to be.

Sighting down the side of the neck, does the neck look straight? Sound like you need a neck reset. Definitely not a job for beginners.

What do you mean by warped? Necks can warp many different ways. Got any pictures?

Yes, the rod was tough to turn, but not THAT tough. I'm still not sure how it happened, but I'm more than a little worried about using another Hot Rod. I was thinking about trying some of that machinable epoxy stuff, but It's going to be difficult to keep everything neat looking. It's a Fender style slabe head, so there's not going to be a cover to hide everything. It just ticks me off that I'm literally just a couple hours away from playing this thing, and I'm not going to be able to have a decent setup until I get this screwed up truss rod working. I've never heard of dry coat before, is that the name brand of a certain product? Usually I use wax to stop things from sticking, but that's not too good for tight tolerances. Thanks for the advice Doug.

Well, today I started doing set-up on my newest guitar to get it ready to play. I noticed I had some upbow (if that's the opposite of relief). Disappointing, but I have a double action rod, so no biggie. When I try to adjust the truss rod it just strips right out . That's not supposed to happen. I'm using a hot rod, so I'm guessing I did something wrong, but I did the same thing I do every other time. It didn't strip the threads, it stripped in the allen head part of the adjuster. Right now I've got it strung up pretty high hoping it will pull into a little relief, or at least straight. I was thinking I could get the allen head that's the right size, put a tiny dab of CA on it, stick it in until it sets, give it a turn, and flow some acetone down in the adjuster to get the wrench back out. I'm just worried about either 1) making a mess, or 2) getting the wrench stuck. I might even have to do the whole process twice, because there's probably at least .04" rise in the middle. Anybody have any suggestions that I'm too ticked off to see?

At least Wes isn't spewing a bunch of nonsense out there. Where on earth did you hear that there's no such thing as curly hard maple? Wanna talk about misinforming new builders...

That luthier was full of crap. He probably just wanted to scare away someone who could possibly be competition down the road. My first guitar turned out great. I can honestly say it's one of the best guitars I've ever owned. Just pay attention to the details and know what you're doing. You will wind up with a playable guitar whether it's better than a POC import or not, who knows.

Have you ever tried it Scott? I've never (that I know of) played a guitar with a soft maple neck, but I've had a full time luthier tell me it works fine. Over at the mimf I've asked, and got the same response there.

Hey, that could be kind of fun. I've been wanting a beater travel guitar, and I might have to steal that tuning idea. I'm assuming you've got some kind of inserts in the body for the bolts to thread into?

Nope, those are just exhaust fans. Explosion proof fans are usually ALOT more expensive than that.

I think everyone needs a moisture trap/filter on their air line anyway. There's nothing quite so annoying. Especially when you're at the very end of a coat, and you discover water in your lacquer.

I think someone used the buy it now option.

That guitar is awesome. Most death metal paintjobs with skulls and all look lame to me, but that just looks well done. I probably wouldn't have put the satan tail on it either. I think that price is extremely unfair to you. You spend a lot of time on refinishes with stripping and surface prep in addition to the actual paintjob. I'd say for a close friend I might possibly to a paintjob like you described for 200USD. That's still nowhere near worth my time. The quality of paints you use could effect the price, though. How exactly did you get that burned look if you don't mind sharing?

Nope, the Deft is just superfast drying. I've sprayed it and some automotive clear from cans just about at the same time. The deft was rock hard after 2 days, and the automotive clear has just (as of yesterday) gotten hard enough to buff out. That's about forty-some odd days. I didn't adjust my spraying style for the deft, I sprayed it the same if not slightly thicker.

Not if it's from a rattlecan. Rattlecan paints are solvent based. By 'paint', Wes meant coating. They are basically synonymous

If you're planning on not having a pickguard, you might want to add a little neck angle to get rid of the gap at the fretboard end. That's my only complaint with the tele I built with the usual tele specs. I personally prefer the feel of neck angle anyway.

If you believe everything people tell you you will have an ego that says you are at least 5 times better than you are. Trust me. I really don't think I'm very good of a player. My rhythm is pretty darn tight, but my lead skills leave much to be wanted. If I believed all the comments people gave me after shows, I would think I was the new SRV. It feels good to be complimented, and I stay feeling like a million dollars until I play with other (good) guitarists. Joey, I might be way off base, but it sounds to me like you don't get out alot. Not meant as a bag at all, just an observation. If you found a couple really good guitarists that live near you and jam every week or so, you will improve immeasurably. They don't even necessarily have to be 'better' than you, they just need to play different styles of music. I jam with guys that range from bluegrass to death metal. You can learn something from all of them. I do think everyone is being WAY too critical of this guy. He is good. Period. Not as good as his ego proclaims maybe, but better than most guitarists out there. I'm extremely impressed with his attitude also. No matter how much people bash him, he replies calmy in a very disarming way. A few (hundred) of us could take a lesson from him He was right. I by no means felt like I could teach someone to play guitar. After all, I've only taken lessons for two months EVER. It's an amazing feeling to watch a new guitarist learn to play their first song, and see their face when they get it perfect. Perhaps I'll have to point them in the direction of a better teacher sooner than some people would, but I think being stuck with one teacher too long can make you stagnant anyway.

That book and browsing old threads on this forum should give you everything you need.

Send it to Brian, and if it's good, he'll post it I'm sure.

If the guitar is already fretted, you're going to have to pay for a refret on top of the inlay labour costs. Just something to think about.

I knew I should've made my order last week when I was thinking about it http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonbo...ST;f=7;t=24267; Very, VERY uncool

320 is what I use. I think Doc has had good results with 220, though.

Looks like one of BigDs. That neck pocket edge should've been cleaned up before finishing for sure.

Direct sunlight. That's what moves cherry and purpleheart along anyway. I think it's UV that does it.