johnn_h

Try axinc , they have the celluloid nitrate in all sorts of colors, sizes and applications. I think you will be good to go with them.

I didnt even know that guitar existed. thats something new to me.

BEAUTIFUL combination of woods for the laminated neck , havent seen one like it until now. Did you get the fretboard from stewmac ? Looking forward to see the process pictures !

Very good progress pictures so far... Sent you PM

Hey !! Very nice progress pictures so far. Do you had any problems concerning the fret slots using the miter box ? I have one and i think it is really difficult to find the center line after slotting. How was it for you ?

mine has a little bit of play and after clamping it the problem was solved . But how do you guys make the center line after slotting ? Even if the pin side of the fretboard is DEAD flat and clamped right against the miter box sidewall , i cant get the slot square ... it angles a bit... how could i find a center line in that case ? :|

Very nice work, but i cant see the pictures lately, would you mind sending it to my email adress ?

Not a RG fan , but i must say im really looking forward to see how this project is going to end, very clean work.

Hello Jon , i sent you a message from ebay asking about sending some swamp ash blanks to Brazil , do you have some ?

After reading almost all topics of relicing and gathering a lot of information , i decided to buy some muriatic acid and test it on my current project ( a 60´s stratocaster ) metal parts. Bath some screws and some parts i wouldnt use first , and left it on a plastic bucket to see the reaction. Some parts oxidized instantly , and others dont , also checked that nickel is easier to rust and looks nicer than crome , wich started to change the color and look kinda weird. Also gave longer baths to see how different it could be at the end , some parts were just too black , or just too rusty , considering also the variable bath time for any tipes metal. I had 2 kluson el-cheapo tuners ( fender vintage ones ) with nickel finish and dropped the first one 15 minutes and the second one like 30-40 minutes in the solution . I must say im pretty much convinced that it looks old , cause the nickel is just more "ageable " But after setting them to dry , i am concerned about the gears , because the 30-40 minutes tuner shows some extra friction on the gear ( just looking forward to see how theyre gonna be tomorrow ) . Should i oil or use machine´s wax on the gear ? I got a gotoh 6 in line set of nickel tuners and im intending to make this process on them, but in a way i could still use them ;D. Ill post pictures as soon as i get my batteries recharged. Thanks John

I´ve seen many books and pictures about fret leveling with and without a radiused block. In my mind i always thought it was pretty obvious to work with the radiused one , but faced to that , i was reading the benedetto´s book a couple of days ago , he was using a normal file to do his leveling. I must say that im not sure about whats the best thing to use. Anyone ?

Hello there . I´ve seen many topics talking about laser levels and how much time i can save with them. Yesterday i was working on some templates and stucked on the neck cavity part ( centering , aligning , setting the perfect position to make the neck pocket. ) Faced with boring and one-eyed-looking ways of find the center line correct , i decided to buy a cheap one for me. i´ve looked some pictures about bridge centering and neck preparing ( on myka´s neckjig too ) and couldnt realize if the laser line reaches lower levels, like the height differences from the neck and the body. Im also looking for advices of how to use it properly. Thanks.

Thats funny , cause i´ve seen many templates and cad drawings of less popular instruments . I just contacted a luthier supplier , and he told me about an acrylic copy of the bass , ill check up and post about it when i see.

oops , sorry , and thanks for the advice.

Hello , im intending to build a new bass for myself , and couldnt find anyone who sells templates of this instrument , i already bought ones from Ronny ( guitarbuildingtemplates ) but he doesnt have this one . Anyone got it ? Plan or something ? send me an email ( check my profile for hotmail adress)

Anyone who knows how to make it using transparency paper can contact me too, ( in that case , some process that works with nitro and urethane lacquer )

Heres the deal , i already have the design and the ready to use file from coreldraw , just need someone who can print 5 metallic silver and 5 metallic gold for me ( black outlines and metallic filled like fenders ) send me an email with the price ( im from Brazil ) , then ill send you the archive containing the logo , and a image reference. johnn_h@terra.com.br johnn_h5@hotmail.com Thanks. Henrique

Very nice work Philippe , i love bubinga tops ! Did you receive my personal message ? Henrique

Hey Philippe , the process pictures are nice! your doing very good and i loved the wood you are using. Have some questions if you dont mind. Did you get that plan from where ? transfered for template? If so , what material did you use do do it? Does the neck fits the body firmly and tight? I ordered some templates from guitarbuildingtemplates.com and im a bit desapointed when routed the neck pocket and checked out a huge difference between the neck and the neck pocket. Thanks.

Cant wait to see the progress pictures!! :

Thanks for the comments ! I really apreciate your concern In fact that is a dangerous saw , but unlike USA And some countries where woodworking habilities is something more common , and practiced by a very large number of people , here in brazil , those woodworking skills are only achieved by the ones who lives working with it. So we dont have a large number of machinery retailers ( and good quality for good prices ) like grizzly , and other ones. For example , a invicta ( DELTA ) used bandsaw like one in the picture ( 80/90´s decade ) Cost to us something like 1500 / 2000 american dollars. Im feeling a little shame for sharing those facts with all countries around the world (wich are reading this topic) But is more to show our different reality , when it comes to machinery and woodworking. We also have a very limited tonewood , and tool suppliers. With the growing demand of luthier instruments , Brazil maybe change its reality in some years , wich would be great , lowering the prices and making the life of all luthiers a lot easier.

Updated

"Those are ROUTING templates hehehe Weren't you afraid of cutting into the template? Very nice pics thanks!! Great work!!! " I guess i didnt explain myself right, because the picture doesnt show a small piece of maple that i forgot to take off when i was sawing. Lemme ask you , am i talking to the creator of the templates? I mean , the drawnings ? thanks for the comments Joao

Oh no !! my mistake ,those machines sure make a lot of noise , gotta keep my eyes open when the display lights yellow , since i dont hear any ringing. Im learning luthery from a classical guitar maker ( you can see some rosewood and mahogany planks in the back ) , he used to be on electrical guitar and bass making , but realized he could be happier doing acoustic ones, like 6 ,7 string classical guitars , bandolins , and violas ( 10 string ones ). I use the machines of his workshop , like his homemade sander , wich can support 3" tall pieces of wood ( altought theyr not precise as the performax ones ) Joao

Hello , my name is Joao, i live in Sao Paulo , Brazil. Im really proud to post my first progress pictures , after reading and learning alot from you members , i really intend to share this with beginner woodworkers and luthiers to help them as you guys helped me. SPECS - Strat 60´s template bought from Ronny Trigo ( wich i recomend to all beginner builders like me ) - 2 pieces Hard Ash body - quartersawn american maple neck - brazilian rosewood fingerboard - gotoh vintage nickel tuners ( 6 in line ) - seymour duncan vintage for strat single coil set - gotoh hardtail bridge crome - ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE piece of brazilian cow bone , for nut making - fiesta red finish ( nitro ) - white pickguard - gotoh pots ( 250k ) PROGRESS - The rough cut Hard Ash board , and the already planed maple blank -Strat templates and wood http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/20.jpg - The maple blank ( rough cut ) and brazilian rosewood fingerboard http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/2.jpg -Thickness sanding the maple blank , making easier to cut on the bandsaw ( squared corners ) http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/3.jpg -Bandsawing maple blank http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/4.jpg -Traced countours and tuner holes http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/5.jpg -Bandsawing the headstock profile http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/6.jpg -Headstock after bandsawing and drilling the tuner holes http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/7.jpg - trimming the excess before routing the headstock http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/8.jpg -Router guides made of maple leftovers , and truss rod http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/9.jpg -Routing the channel ( those chinese bits makes the work harder , expect to buy some infinity router bits soon. ) http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/11.jpg -That´s me , still routing the truss rod channel http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/12.jpg - Headstock flush trimmed and trussrod channel routing completed http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/15.jpg -Trussrod test fit http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/17.jpg -Trussrod test fit2 http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/16.jpg -Gluing the Ash pieces together http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/18.jpg - My high tech gluing jig http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/19.jpg UPDATED - The Body Rough cut and rought sanded http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/22.jpg -What shes gonna wear http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h -The neck already cut , without fingerboard http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/24.jpg -The fingerboard already cut , with stewmac fret scale template and miter box* http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/25.jpg (*As you guys can see , i centered the fretboard and aligned to the template , and it ended like this " / " , with some angle , is that a problem with the miter box or something ? or maybe the positioning of the fretboard ? If anyone could help me , i would be very pleased , since i spent a good quantity of money on something that frustrated me alot .) -Spreading the glue around the fingerboard http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/26.jpg -Gluing the fingerboard using steelrod clamps (worked really well , it didnt move sideways) http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/27.jpg -The already glued fingerboard ( Had a lot of work to align the neck and the fingerboard) http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/28.jpg -Doing the curve towards the nut ( the table sander worked really well because of the radius , very similar to fender style , saved me some work on sawing the peghead part too) http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/29.jpg -the already thinner and curved peghead http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/30.jpg -The couple of bits arrived from infinity , making it possible to move on template routing http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/31.jpg -Table router made of MDF boards and steelrod bars and the neck ready for routing http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/32.jpg -Flush trimming the neck http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/33.jpg -The body template and the bits , ready for routing http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/34.jpg -Trimming the body sides with a template pattern bit http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/35.jpg -Trimming the body sides . http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/johnn_h/36.jpg -Body and neck after routing Expect to be updating again soon ! Thanks