Ken Bennett

Walnut's probably a great choice. Walnut guitars are fine, but I totally love a Walnut bass. Your low B should be happy.

Buter,

I changed my mind. What you describe is common. I've owned 2 LP's and 2 335's, but the last one was about 15 years ago, so my memory was mistaken.

As a matter of fact, I never liked having separate volume controls. On my last LP I modified it to have a master volume, 2 pickup volumes that didn't go all the way to zero (grounds lifted), and a single tone. There is a circuit like that on Tim's link.

On the guitars we build now, there is usually just a single volume control, with or without a tone pot, sometimes a blend control.

If you want to change your guitar, use one of the circuits on Tim's link that says "With Independent Volume Controls". The main difference is the pickup goes in to the center lug, and out from the end lug.

No, that does not normally happen.

You didn't say where the volume pots are.

You say the pickups go to the pickup selector switch. Normally, with four pots, the pickups go to the volume pots, then to the switch.

Can you show a diagram of how you wired it?

My only question is why did you hide it on the back of the guitar.

pukko,

This is going to be a beautiful guitar.

I vote for the headstock inlay in the top (if it's not too late).

And I've always wanted a floor like your kitchen in my shop.

That's an interesting question. I've never seen an opaque oil-varnish finish. And I doubt that 100% opacity could be achieved. You can't build up a thick enough film.

With a pure oil finish it would certainly be impossible. But with an oil-varnish finish like Danish oil, you could achieve some degree of opacity, probably more with darker colors than light.

It's common to stain wood before applying an oil finish. That would give you the color, but not the opacity.

Some finishers apply oil-varnish with sandpaper instead of cloth. That gives you a flatter finish with a more even color. The pores of the wood are filled with the sludge, a mixture of the finish material and the sanding dust. And the resulting color is sort of the average color of the wood itself, or the color tends toward the darker colors in the wood.

Oil finishes are typically used when the wood is beautiful and you want to see it and feel it.

If you want solid Candy Apple Red or Sea Foam Blue, do what Fender does. Go down to Sherwin-Williams and pick up a can.

Wow! That's a great collection. The only place I've seen Pink Ivory was in the Warrior factory. Their master woodworker, Basic Nick, drooled over it, called it the rarest wood in the world. I've never seen the curly variety.

That's a great price for a high-quality tool. Anybody who doesn't have one will find it a huge time saver and quality enhancer.

Bending frets by hand takes practice. And even after you get good at it, it still takes a long time compared to what you can do with the machine.

Both are great planes. That said, for larger hogging work I prefer the ibex cello maker's 90mm convex soled plane.

Chris

I was thinking that this Lie-Nielsen is about the same size as the Ibex 90mm.

90mm = 3.54"

My Ibex must be a 36mm.

36mm = 1.4"

Thats kind of big the Lie-Nielsen. But you didnt say what size the Ibex was so its hard to reference the two together?

The sole of the Lie-Nielsen is about 3 1/2", the Ibex about 1 3/8". One more in between those two would be nice.

Have any of you tried making wood bodied planes?

Ready to start carving the inside of the top of our new archtop. The larger Lie-Nielsen Palm Plane came in today. Here it is next to little Ibex Finger Plane that I bought for the violin.

We'll see how the somewhat less expensive yet fully stress-relieved Ductile Iron bodied Lie-Nielsen compares with the all brass Ibex.

Warrior does it just like jpmarsh. The headstock has an 11 degree break, and the truss rod spoke wheel is accessed through a cutout in the end of the fretboard at the heel. (Sweet guitar jp!)

Does anyone know what is the smallest string spacing you can get for an electric guitar bridge and who makes it. I've been looking at all types of bridges and the smallest spacing I can find is 2 inch. Has anybody seen one smaller than that.

no

Bridges come in a variety of string spacings. It's not just an import vs American thing. The spacing at the bridge, nut, and pickup pole pieces all work together with the profile of the fingerboard.

I've only made one guitar from prefab parts. One guy gave me a neck that he was never going to complete, and another guy gave me a body. Rather than try to figure out what bridge spacing I needed, I bought the Schaller model with roller saddles so I could adjust it to fit.

I hope you get to post some in process shots for those of us that have never seen a pin router in action.

SR

ScottR,

I shot some video right after we made the thing. Over the weekend I'll try to edit and post it.

A full-fledged pin router is really an amazing device. It can do things that our little special purpose rig can't do. You can raise and lower (plunge) the router into the work with multiple preset stops, use different diameter pins and bits. You can also set the pin at different heights which allows for multilayer templates. For example, cutting a control cavity, you could have a template in two layers. The first layer could be used to cutout for the recess for the cover plate; then, with the pin raised up into the second layer, cutout the main cavity.

verhoevenc,

Safe-t-planer and pencil lines for stock removal (rough carving) sounds like a good way to go. I've always wanted one of those. We've been using a big chisel and mallet. My customer is also an apprentice, so I wanted to do the first plate mostly by hand, then switch to a more efficient power method. We're making 2 of these guitars, so there will be 3 more plates to carve after this one.

Aha! I see where you're going with this one! Excellent idea. Would using multiple templates and cutter depths be impractical for roughing in a full top carve?

Yes, that would be a good application for this kind of tool, but with this setup you could only go so far. The clearance between the bit and the riser is only 2". That gives us just enough to do the edge. We just wanted to get a consistent edge thickness and define the boundaries of the arch. A duplicating carver or CNC is better for a full top carve.

spacecowboy is designing a guitar and expressed interest in getting parts made by a cnc shop.

See thread:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...c=44136&hl=

Good luck with your business.

Thanks a lot Ken, that's great for me because thats the main thing. I don't have the necessary tools to do all the cutting. If i CNC the body and neck I can do the rest!

Keep in mind that what I'm talking about is just templates that you would use to make the guitar yourself--flat patterns made from 2d drawings. I have some templates made by a local CNC shop that knows NOTHING about guitar making. If you want actual guitar parts made, that's a more complex and expensive issue.

Here's a company that specializes in CNC work for guitar manufacturers. I can vouch for their quality; it's awesome. But there will be serious setup charges. They say they will consider small runs. But even if they would do it, I doubt if it would be a cost effective way of making your prototype.

N.C. SOLUTIONS (Steve Carlson)

116 High K St., Belgrade, Mt., 59714

Phone: (406)388-5141; Fax: (406)587-0487

Email: maxc@nc-solutions.com

A former V.P. of Gibson Montana Division, and the founder of Flatiron Mandolins, does CNC inlay cutting and profiling of wood guitar parts and will consider small runs. Sells CNC systems for doing your own work, and produces parts for Taylor, Breedlove, and Lowden.

I actually just called Rustoleum. The Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer B611-1406 has too much MEK and will eat thr rustoleum finish away. As will any other MEK based finish. HOWEVER the Behlen water based will work with the Rustoleum Hard Hat/ Industrial line of enamels. Thanks for the help and i'll post pics when it's done. This site is the best resource i've encountered.

I saw your post this morning before any replies had been posted. I was going to come back and say that YOU will probably be the one telling US about this before it's all over. Experience is a good teacher.

10 guitar templates cut for 100$ or 100$ an hour?

10 templates for $100. I don't know how long it took. Probably not 1 whole hour.

I've thought of these questions and I do have a plan on how to build them. I wont be answering the questions because basically there's no point right now. I built this off plans of a les paul blueprint.

I'm building it currently in 3dmax but I will be building it in Autocad which then you can print the blueprints. I can import what i'm building into autocad also (some models).

I actually have a 3 full size humbucker guitar (Eastwood Airline 3dpx).

I've put together a guitar from a kit and sold it so I do have an understanding. Not an expert but definitely I have the knowledge.

Go for it, then. Your design has some good points. I like the violin-like 'C' curves on the sides. Good luck with the construction.

Ken, just checked out your stuff. Good to have more professionals joining the site every day!

Chris

Thanks. I love seeing this many guitar builders in one place.

If I provide the CNC shop with material and designs (Yes I know autocad actually) how much approximately of course is the hourly wage for the run time?

Depends on the shop.

Last time I got about 10 templates for $100. The CNC shop used 1/2" phenolic because that's what they were running that day.

Something in those threads gave me an idea. That guy had CAD designs of the guitar made. I'm sure you're capable of doing technical drawings since you're already working in 3D. Do a little research and find out how best to do these for guitars (I'm learning right now, ain't that hard) and you can probably cut down a lot of cost by going to a CNC shop, having them cut out parts for you, and then assembling yourself. That way you still get the hands on, don't have to pay a luthier for everything, and still get to prototype the guitars? Unless I'm incorrect in assuming that a LOT of the CNC costs are getting the drawings done?? This way all they have to do is quickly go through the CAM, and cut it.

Chris

Your assumption is correct, verhoevenc. I pay a CNC shop to make some templates, saving $50 per hour by supplying the drawings. If you supply the material too, then you cut the cost down to just run time.

I would say this about selling and designing custom guitars. Remember that "custom" forms the main part of word "customer". In practice, the unique aspects of a guitar usually originate in the mind of the customer. I have sold many more guitars designed with a buyers input.

A good way to go for a non-building designer would be to hook up with a guitar maker and get a demo guitar. Even if the luthier doesn't have a lot of experience, the guitar will speak for itself. The designer could take his portfolio and the demo guitar and go find a customer who has his own vision. Then you have 3 parties in a contract where, as Bionic Dave said, you really only need 2, a customer and a builder (who is already a designer). So the most important thing that a designer who doesn't build could bring to the table is not a design; it's a customer.

Most importantly, if you don't like it, then you have to change it.

Generally speaking, speaking for myself that is, satin and low gloss lacquers, as long as they are not too thick, as well as oil and oil-varnish finishes look fine on open pored woods.

If you decide to fill, I don't think it matters whether all of sealer is sanded off or not. The grain filler will bind to it (it is common to spray a washcoat before filling anyway). Anything you do at the filling and sealing stages will be masked by the opaque black.