MrMuckle

Just came across this: http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtop...it=+robo+sander

Check out the first pic. Offset your template by the distance of the outside of the ring to the sleeve.

You know, on a future build I think I will add a few more bells and whistles. I shouldn't be judging strictly by the split coil sound I heard with the PRS. I like your ideas of keeping it discrete with the push/pull knobs. Blow switch here I come!

I'm thinking about getting one of these for use on figured wood. My concern is that it's not like an oscillating sander. Does this thing heat up rather quickly? Is it slow going having to wait for it to cool down? Do you burn through (literally and figuratively) sanding sleeves? Who here shows them some lovin'?

Series/Parallel, Phase Reversal Switching, Blow Switches, Coil Taps, etc. Do you find that given all these options you really end up using only one or two different sounds.? On a Strat I use the 2 and the 5. Never used the coil tap on my PRS McCarty. I'd like to hear from someone who makes use of the full palette.

madhattr88 - Beautiful pickguard, and it's finished with Tru-Oil?

ihocky2 - I do hit the pickguard enough to scratch it. I think Tru-Oil is not as durable as nitro.

Anyone use Tru-Oil on a wooden pickguard? Does the pick scratch the stuff off in a short amount of time or is it pretty durable given quite a few coats?

Thanks for the replies, everyone. A lot of good information in there. Mmmm, Twinkies

Here's a question for you, and I'm not admitting defeat, yet!, but are there 3D files somewhere online for traditional size pickup covers? Let's say I want some P-90 covers made out of ebony. Can I take a 3d file and the ebony wood to a CNC place and have them make some covers for me?

Came across Jersey Girl Guitars today.

http://www.geocities.jp/jerseygirlhg/a34.htm

http://www.geocities.jp/jerseygirlhg/tc40.htm

Click on the picture of the guitar for a close up. I really like the look of these pickups, but to each his own.

Wow! Awesome jig! I'd certainly feel more comfortable with that. The close calls I had early on were because I wasn't given proper instruction. I now use the proper technique, but I make the mistake of going onto woodworking forums and always come across some horror story about losing fingers on a router (and they usually include pics!) Always makes me feel my time will come, but as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Definitely "one man's meat is another man's poison". Like when I see a gorgeous PRS 10 Top with a teal stain, but then they put three, cream colored, PLASTIC(!) soapbars on it. OUCH! MY EYES! http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/style_im...icons/icon6.gif

Not sure why that emoticon doesn't show up.

Endless ways to dress them up, yes, but I wish more people would. Love the look, PSW!

Sorry, Spoke. I guess I didn't describe it properly. It's a guard to prevent your hand/s from being pulled into the cutter if there's the off-chance that the cutter grabs the wood and throws it. It's not a guard to block any flying chips. The photo I mentioned is under copyright, so I can't reproduce here. Thought there might be some people on this board who own the book and had maybe built this safety device. Thank you for your reply, though

Check out page 113 of Martin Koch's "Building Electric Guitars" and look at that guard he uses on his router table. Does anyone else use something like this? If you don't have the book, picture a piece of plexi-glass attached to a threaded rod on the side of the table. The plexi extends out over the table and sits just above the cutter. After a couple of close calls, this thing makes sense, but I'm not sure how solid it is.

SwedishLuthier, that is more along the lines of what I'm looking for. I've always found it odd that luthiers invest so much time in making the curves and contours of their guitars so aesthetically pleasing, but then they use a boring, shiny metal rectangle for their pickup covers. I guess we follow tradition, but you'd think we'd put more thought into the look of the pickups and how they enhances the overall look of the guitar being that we are the designers. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one bothered by this.

Thanks for the reply, Chris. But I'm looking for designs that won't necessarily fit your standard pickup pocket. I didn't really see any out there designs on his website, but maybe I was looking in the wrong place. If you've seen the pickup plate on Malinoski's guitars that's also something I have in mind. I've also been inspired lately by all those crazy metal pickup covers/rings of the '60's on those Italian and Japanese guitars. I'm hoping there's a pickup maker out there with whom I could collaborate on a unique design. I'm kinda outside of the traditional guitar camp, so this may make my options limited. If you saw my other post about Zwaan's book, you'll know then that I looked into making my own, but I realize now how rough of a road that is to go down. Thanks again.

After realizing I don't want to make my own pickups, but would still like something unique, I did a preliminary Google search for someone who is capable of making custom designs. All I really found was Hauessel pickups. Anyone else out there who will put into production not only your own custom pickups, but also wooden pickup covers?

I bought this book because of the non-traditional approach, but the more I research this I realize it's not a path I want to go down. Building them myself, that is. However, I don't want to buy pickups that are just replicas of the tried and true. Can you guys recommend some builders who have more experimental designs that don't even have to fit standard dimensions?

I just got the book, too. The instructions are a little confusing to someone new to guitar making like myself. And no, Chris, the book hasn't been updated since 1988. It's interesting how there's not really a good step-by-step book out there on pickup making. I may have to make another post on finding someone to make non traditional custom pickups.

Have any of you guys actually followed the instructions in his book and have successfully made a pickup? I'd love to hear how it went.

Regarding Rick Toone's method, all you need after soaking the pieces in water and clamping them is one to two weeks of air drying? I thought it would take longer than that to be ready for gluing.

Yeah, I got that from PRS, too. I think it was a was from some video interview. I just assumed the longer tenon would make up for any meat lost at the heel, but I have no proof of that. Your heel looks very comfortable. Glad to hear it feels solid.

Thanks for that link, Scott. That guitar is a beauty! I like that you don't have to have much of a heel with this design. I take it the long tenon makes up for the wood lost at the heel?

Ah, an alternating magnetic field! I get it now. Thanks, Swede!

Six Stringer and Scott, did you guys follow the instructions in that link I gave or did you have your own way of building it. If you followed his steps, is there anything you'd do differently?

Instead of doing a carved top and you did a roundover that exceeds a 1/4" top, let's say 1/2", would it be unsafe to route the roundover on the top while it was attached to the rest of the body with only the dowels for support? Since the neck is sandwiched in between, I'm not sure this is the safest method, but I'm not sure how you could do them separately if the router bit needs to cut into both and I'm almost certain you wouldn't want to route this with the neck glued in. Am I making any sense?

I may have to give this one a shot. I like the idea of using the dowels to align all the templates.