dalandser

I was wondering what the price would be to either refret or replace a fretboard with new frets on a 24 fret Schecter 006 elite.

Thank You,

Anthony

Hello,

I'm refinishing a basswood bodied project guitar. I would like to have a transparent white finish. I have been researching some and have found that since I don't have a sprayer, the most common approach will be using a sanding sealer and a transparent white rattle can to get the right level of color / transparency and then a clear protective coating. I do not mind if some character of the wood shows through so I would like to omit a grain filling step. I would like to start by use a brush on sanding sealer such as Zinnser Bulls Eye Wood Seal Coat. I have read to sand after a first coat and apply a second and then sand to about 320. The next step is a toss up between Reranch Mary Kaye lacquer rattle can and this:

http://www.amazon.com/Montana-Gold-Transparent-Spray-Paint/dp/B00251O2OC

Montana Gold Magic White Transparent spray paint which seems to be a high quality paint. I would rather go for the spray paint since it's a lot cheaper. One thing I have read about spraying a color coat of lacquer is not to sand it before applying clear. Why is this? I figured if the color is too opaque and I want to make it more transparent I can just lightly sand it down uniformly over the whole body. I'm pretty sure there will be no problem doing this with the spray paint if I go that route. Why is this said about lacquer? If it is because scratches from sanding will show through the clear, then this is not a problem for me since I am going for a matte / satin finish. The final step, the clear, may depend on whether I go for the spray paint or the lacquer for the color coat. I am not planning on buffing the clear coat, rather sanding it very smooth / rubbing with steel wool for a matte / satin finish. Would a lacquer or Krylon clear coat be more durable? I know each requires a long time, perhaps two weeks to fully cure or evaporate in the case of the lacquer. Also, would a lacquer clear work on a spray paint color coat and would a Krylon clear coat work on a lacquer color coat?

My focus for this project is achieving a durable and ascetically pleasing finish for a low price. I do not expect it to look like a factory finish since I would like a matte or more likely satin appearance that is also resistant to denting from careful use.

Any help will be appreciated. There's no rush since I'm still finishing smoothing out the contours and am getting better about planning ahead and being patient with my projects.

Thank you and have a great day,

Anthony

I'm not much of an expert, or even familiar with staining fretboards, however it seems like a safe idea to test out each idea on your test scraps and rub them with your fingers after they completely set.

I like those quick thinking ideas. Keep it moving

My .02 regarding the nut:

A $10 graphtech preslotted nut with the correct width and string spacing is going to do a lot more for tuning stability than a new set of tuning keys no matter how expensive those gears are. Taking the old nut off and installing the new one is a piece of cake. Just make sure you have the correct size before purchasing and installing it. Graph Tech's website makes that pretty easy to do. If you don't have the nut files, just make sure none of the open strings are buzzing before you glue in the nut so that you know it's not too low and bring it to a shop tech to cut the slots to depth. The shop down the street charged me $20 so for $30 total I went from retuning after every song to every half hour or more. I also had graphtech saddles on that guitar and while it mellowed out the sound of the guitar in a good way, that thing sustained for days. I know you're going for a vintage sound and often that means twang or nice and bright with a telecaster. Graph Tech makes new saddles that are supposed to keep that quality. I never tried them so I'm not sure about it. That guitar also had pickups from http://www.wildepickups.com/ and they sounded awesome. I gave that guitar to my brother otherwise I'd still be playing it.

Also, everyone feels differently about messing with the finish of their guitar so you may not want to do this, however I really like to sand down the back of the guitar neck on factory finished guitars. I'll either use some 320 grit or finer or some steel wool to make the glossy finish more satin and reduce the surface tension between the finish and my hand. I don't go through the original finish, it usually makes for a nice finish once it's sanded a little. With a few mods that you've talked about and a little work on the neck that I just mentioned, a $200 guitar can feel like a whole new instrument.

Contacting Ibanez directly or perhaps the guy at www.ibanezrules.com may be the best way to get the proper replacement truss rod. You can reuse the fretboard if you remove it carefully. There's a nice tutorial in the tutorial section on this site for how to do it here:

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/removal.htm

and

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/attach.htm

I saw a picture of a side adjust truss rod after I googled it. I like that idea. I guess it would be less intrusive than an Ernie Ball style truss rod in a vintage Strat style guitar. Other than that, I really like the Ernie Ball style truss rod simply for ease of adjustment making. Come to think of it, I don't mind the regular style truss rods either since I take the truss rod covers off guitars I work with.

I recently bought a new Washburn WM 24 made in Indonesia from Ebay for under $200. I like the price, size of the neck, the epoxy fretboard, and the general shape of the body. It has some pretty aggressive horns so I decided to refinish it and reshape the horns. After I used a heat gun to remove the paint I found that the body was not mahogany like it was advertised to be. The neck is definitely mahogany and the body is a lot lighter color with a grain that looks like ash. Since there was a black tinted sanding sealer I couldn't get a good look at it. I took a picture of the end grain which I can post later. The body is pretty heavy so I don't think it's basswood. Any ideas as to what it might be? I know the picture of the end grain will help, I just don't have my phone with me right now. I'm not concerned, just interested to know what it might be and why such a mistake may be made in the advertising. Also, I got a rash on my had after sanding some sanding sealer recently. Has anyone else had this problem in the past? I bought some gloves and some steroid cream and no problems since.

Have a great day,

Anthony

I really like how that came out. I never saw a guitar just like that. I'm working on a guitar with a reverse headstock and I like it as well. Nice work.

I just did a beach test on some quilt maple veneer and found that bleach will make white dots left all through the wood if it is left on for too long. Another forum member had good results by soaking rags in clorox bleach and letting them sit on the wood for 20 minutes then neutralizing the bleach with hydrogen peroxide. I wanted the wood really white so I left the rags on for over an hour... oops. I sanded down the other side of the veneer and I'll try the 20 minute application hopefully with the same results as the other forum member.

Here's a testimonial from Tom Morello regarding pedals and such:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTnrkamfJSc

As others have mentioned, the list of pedals that can be purchased is potentially endless. The way I've gone about it is finding major sound areas that I find I use when playing music. I try to use as few pedals as possible to achieve these areas. Here's what I use:

Dunlop Crybaby Classic Wah

Ibanez DE7 Delay

Ibanez SM7 Distortion (Modified by Pedalhacker @www.pedalhackermods.com)

Holy Grail Reverb (for my practice amp that doesn't have reverb)

I can play all of the original and cover songs I like to play (and they tend to be in your prescribed musical genres) with these being used at appropriate times.

If I want to add a little more flavor to songs I may use:

A phaser for short lead passages ala Van Halen or a chorus for rhythm passages ala RHCP. Another cool pedal is something like a Boss PSM-5 that can put all of your pedals in a loop so that you don't have to step on multiple pedals if you go into or come out of a heavy spot in the music and need to multiple pedals on or off at the same time. Those pedals are usually a lot cheaper than the new line selector pedals.

One thing to watch out for with pedals (speaking from experience): There is such thing as too many. Trying to find new and funky pedals eat up time that can be used to learn new and funky styles and take a lot, a lot of practice to get to sound good together when used live and when going from amp to amp. This led me to just buy a new multi-channel amp that eliminated some of my pedal needs and music was way more fun to play again.

Finally, I've found that a single pedal can sound very different by simply switching between pickups or adding one other pedal. For example: my distortion pedal can go from basic blues when used with my guitar's neck single coil pickup, to Hendrix with the wah pedal, to Dream Theater with my bridge humbucker pickup and the delay pedal without switching any settings on the distortion pedal itself. These subtle differences allow for a lot of range with a small amount of pedals and I that's the way I like it.

The Texas Tele was built by a member here: guitarnut. He's very good about giving advice and answering questions about his builds.

SR

Thank you for the info. Anyone regarding the Krylon Clear?

Thank You,

Anthony

I found someone getting about the same results as I would like here:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot...ured-maple.html

and here:

http://www.crenshawweb.com/texastele/ttp14.htm

I'm still not sure about spraying Krylon Clear on bare wood though.

Thank You,

Anthony

I just traded for a couple pieces of figured maple veneer with another member (Thanks to Chris) to put on the headstock of my Schecter 006 elite. The body is a carved top with a trans black flamed veneer top that came stock. The headstock was painted with a cheesy painted logo that I sanded off. I would like to get the veneer for the headstock as light (silvery white would be perfect) as possible to contrast the transblack body. I got the idea from the white Bill Lawrence pickups that I installed in it. I researched and found a couple products such as Daly's AB Wood Bleach and Hood 190 two part wood bleach that are supposed to work well (even better than oxylic acid) for lightening. They're about $25 shipped and I don't plan on using them again so I was wondering if anyone knows a cheaper alternative that could work well.

Also, I'd like to clear coat the veneer after it's glued and sanded down quickly and simply. Can I sand the veneer smooth and use Krylon clear to build up (sanding between coats) to match the body's thick clear coat? It doesn't have to be perfect, just thick and durable. Any advice is appreciated.

Thank You,

Anthony

.... I was putting the inserts in backwards...

Traded.

Thank You,

Anthony

I inherited a broken guitar from a neighbor that was moving out. I'd like to trade the tuning keys for a piece of flame maple veneer big enough to cover the headstock on my Schecter 006 Elite. I forgot to measure the headstock, but I figure a piece that's about 8" x 10" should be a fair trade. I also have the bridge for this guitar and I'll throw it in the trade if you would like it. I'll mail out the neck which is intact and just cut off the part of the body that is still attached if someone wants it for the cost of shipping. The tuning keys are 18:1 and have some of the gold rubbed off on the edges, but are in good condition otherwise.

Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WDW4O...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/y2udi...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-cY8n...feat=directlink

Please email dalandser187@yahoo.com since I don't check the forum frequently. Just put tuner trade, etc.

Thank You,

Anthony

I would measure the neck with calipers from the center to each side (maybe with a line from the middle of the end of the heel to somewhere measurable by the headstock - or the screw holes could be used as a frame of reference if they're drilled already) to see if one side tapers too much than the other. The neck pocked could be measured as well to check to see if it's not squarely cut. If it's the neck, then it's up to you what you want to do. I like reshaping my necks to fit my hand anyway. Usually some 220 grit and tung oil gets the job done for me. I heard someone sanded through to the truss rod cavity one time, but they must have done some pretty serious sanding. If it's the body that's not square, you can shape a piece of wood and glue it into place.

A lot of cheaper guitars will have multiple joined pieces for bodies. Its not uncommon for someone here to strip a body of its paint and find a 5 piece body.

I stripped a guitar and found that it was an 8 piece body between two 1/4 inch caps.

I think that this question is time vs. money. Spending a lot of time looking at, testing, and modifying a cheap guitar can yield the same results as spending more money on an expensive guitar that has already been looked at and tested (more quality control) and comes stocked with better components.

Right now I have more time than money and I like modifying guitars so there's an extra fun factor in it for me so I go with modifying less expensive models.

I'm wiring up a Music Man JP6 with the special 3 way switch and I'm getting too much hum when I plug it in with everything connected the way I have it and the pots and switch screwed up against the copper plate. I have some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7bIlR...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VuMEY...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xN1Yk...feat=directlink

I noticed that there's a possible short between the white and black terminals on the neck side of the 3 way switch connections. I don't know enough about circuit boards to be sure. The other thing I'm not sure about is the bare wire that is connected to the screw in ground terminal. I left it unconnected and got hum, then I connected it to the volume pot lug with that shares the cap lead. Same hum. The hum goes away when I touch any part of the bridge or pots, so I'm pretty sure it's a grounding issue. The ground wire to the trem is securely wired and the output jack wiring should be ok because it's stock (the connections to the jack anyway). Anyone see my mistake?

Thank You,

Anthony

I like Hipshot Contour and 2 Point Flat tremolos. They don't have a knife edge to mess with and have a hardened roller surface instead. With some Hipshot Grip Lock tuners and a Graph Tech black Tusq XL nut, you'll be good to go. The final ingredient:

This guy knows what's up with tremolo setup.

Thank You,

Anthony

I wrote about my mistake on the "Oh ****" thread, but it's about six pages long so far so not too many people may get to the end of that one. Yesterday I put some threaded inserts into a Wizard II neck and they did not go in straight so I attempted to drill them out. I forgot to step down in drill size to begin with and ended up jamming the threaded insert into the neck even further and it's threads started to crack open the neck in a couple directions and lifted the fretboard off of the neck in a few places above the screw holes.

I then drilled out all the inserts the right way and dowelled the mistake hole after filling it up with titebond II so that glue would squeeze into the cracks as I tapped the dowel in. The cracks didn't close up on their own after drilling out the insert because there may have already be debris holding them open slightly. I clamped the glued up neck over night and took some pictures. I ordered some Satellite City Hot Stuff - the thinnest formula they make - and I'll squirt it into the cracks when it gets here.

Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/An_IJ...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XN3vl...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LiZQ2...feat=directlink

Two Issues:

1. After I dowel the rest of the holes and smooth everything out even again, I want to try putting the inserts in again. I put some into another neck, but it was a one piece and I think that going against the grain in the Wizard neck made it more difficult for me to get the inserts in plumb. I'm thinking that as I drill out to 9/32" dia x 1/2" deep I'll drill about an extra 1/8" at the point where a machine screw can sit in the cup made by that hole and then go back to drilling 1/2" for the rest of the diameters. Then I'll take a 1 1/8" machine screw and thread the insert up to the head. I'll slowly use a screw driver to turn the screw that should be locked into the cup in the middle of the hole at the bottom and drive the insert in plumb. I'll add lock nuts as needed drive the insert to the final depth of 1/2".

2. Since the cracks have some height to them, this might affect the levelness of the frets especially on the treble side high frets. Should I just put the neck on after I'm done as is and get a professional fret level (I know a guy that does it for $40 because I offer to set up the guitar myself after) or should i get everything locked into place in the pocket and measure to see if both sides of the neck butt up to the top of the neck pocket with the same height exposed and then sand down with a hand block sander held at an angle to adjust accordingly?

Any advice for these two items or other advice in general is welcome.

Thank You,

Anthony

I've been thinking about it and I ordered some thin super glue last night to squirt into the cracks and I think I'll just keep the fret board on and use the superglue there as well, being careful not to get it all over anything. As for putting in the inserts I don't think I can use the drill press since I can't make it crawl like a hand drill. With stronger lock nuts maybe I'll get better results. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank You,

Anthony

I noticed that there were a few people from Australia on this forum so I didn't know if it could get that hot there - but now that I think about it, it's winter right now down there. My girlfriend is from Victorville, CA - it gets that hot there - no thanks. Here's some 'mild' weather coming up:

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA1197

Anyway, I used to work with HPLV sprayers doing custom cabinets and other stuff and I think that just as good results can be had by taking your time with the stuff people mention on here.

Thank You,

Anthony