jmrentis

Also, if you haven't done so, you may need to make your photobucket account "public". Under the options somewhere, you can make your account public and this will allow links to open, otherwise it will just load the log in screen at photobucket and ask for your username and password. Just FYI, hope you manage to get the pics up, sounds like some good deals. J

Nice Rick, that is going to look killer, it actually already does! I had to take a second look at the route before I could see the idea, but I see it now! You can see the little outshoots to support the cover and add magnets/screws and the other little indentation which leaves room for the volume pot. And you managed all that and still got the shark fin shape, nice work! I can't wait to see how it finishes, its going to look great. Keep the progress pics coming, this is a cool project. J

Rockler Router Table I recently grabbed this one while it was on sale and got a good deal. The problem is I had no room for a permanent router table and no room to even store one. So with this one, I built some little legs that I can disassemble quickly when I am done and the table can then be stored anywhere on its side. So far I have had no issues with it, works well and is a fairly decent size compared to some I priced at the time, 24" x 32". Its MDF, but is perfectly flat and works well enough for me. You could buy one with legs if you want, but it'd be much cheaper to make your own. With that setup you get a nice aluminum router plate. I was able to go pick it up from my local Rockler, so I didn't pay shipping and I bought it on sale for around $110 I think, I had never seen it that cheap before. I've seen many tables I would prefer, but as I said I have no room for a permanent table unfortunately and I didn't want a small benchtop style because I knew I would be working with guitar bodies and necks often for which I would prefer to have a decent sized table. Here is a pic of it, I was just making a binding laminator to glue some plastic bindings together, worked fine.

I think in order to get an accurate quote, you must type in the dimensions of the board. After doing that I was able to get the proper prices for the different woods. Pretty cool little setup on the spreadsheet, very helpful for those who want specific boards. Best of luck Erik! J

While the idea is a good one, aka not dropping some expensive instrument, I really have no issues spending $12-$15 on something that not only makes my instrument more convenient, but also add some significant protection from dropping. I mean if you're protecting a $500-$5000 instrument spending an extra $12 ain't that big a deal, heck even on a hundred dollar instrument I would add them, just for the convenience. I play a lot sitting down and it drives me nuts to have a strap on when I do, however, I still play standing, so it would be a royal pain to add some washers that I would have to remove constantly. If you don't have any of the issues Mick mentioned and you are broke or don't want to spend the money, it definitely would work and be helpful. When I first started looking into guitar mods, I saw a couple of people who did the washer thing. As Mick said one problem is the pressure and wear and tear it puts on the screws that hold the strap button, I had to fix my strap button screws numerous times prior to switching over to the schaller system. Thanks for the idea and detailed instructions on this concept anyway, I'm sure a few people out there will certainly benefit from it. Personally, I'll stick to the Schallers, which now also come in different colors like black, nickel, etc, which is great when using a specific hardware theme or finish. They are cheap enough for me to buy and I feel I get my moneys worth out of them. This system will be especially useful in ten or 15 years when I've built way too many guitars for myself and I have only a couple straps that I truly like. There was a guy here who was making some killer leather straps which I would likely use for most of my play, instead of buying an expensive leather strap for each instrument I can just swap out the strap with the schaller system. Anyhow, welcome to Project Guitar and thanks for sharing! J PS: I honestly never even bothered to understand those Stewmac locks as they looked crazy when I first saw them, but upon reviewing them from your link, they are a pretty cool idea for the price. I would definitely go for those over some regular washers.

I started to write this last night as I figured someone who has done it would have posted, but since not I will post. I was just going to say, often times with one way rods and others people routed the truss channel a tad deeper and put a cap over the truss rod. Just put the rod in, fit the cap into the channel, glue it in and then plane it down even with the neck, then glue on your fretboard. I believe this was quite common as in there might even be a number of tutorials floating around on how to do it. As Kenny said, check the depth again and make certain you are not going to carve into the channel. If it is really deep, you'll need to leave some thickness to the neck, though the difference between 7/16 and 1/2 isn't that bad, though you said it was over a 1/2. Anyhow, hopefully some more ideas will get posted, I just wanted to add some thoughts to get the discussion going, but I think I would cap the truss rod with a strip of wood and be very careful during the carve, but wait for a few more experienced answers and see what the consensus is. Best of luck with everything, hope it all works out for you. J

Ouch, yeah I didn't see that! Too bad you don't have one locally! I spend more time at Rockler just walking around dreaming about everything I want. As you said it probably still a good deal since its such a good price plus no regular shipping charge. Let us know what you decide upon! Congrats on the sander, killer machine. J

Delta Dust Collector sale;Rockler I don't know how much juice you need, but this guy is on sale, for what seems like a fairly decent discount at least for Rockler it does. Plus its free shipping for the next week or so. May be worth a look, also all the connectors and hosing seems to be on sale, it shows some at the bottom of the page. Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but seems like something that could work. Best of luck Rick. J PS: Your inbox is full again, lol.

Yeah, that turned out great! As for the fish, sadly no I caught it on bait, though I love catching trout on lures, including flies. Anyhow, very neat inlay! It inspired me to start designing one and I did last night, but it still needs refining. Its like a mix between a yin and yang sign and the pisces symbol. It'll be a while before I attempt to cut the inlay though. Very cool stuff and keep the cool pictures coming. J

Yea! A fishing inlay, how cool is that! I actually just posted a fishing picture in the off topics section in the members pictures thread. I've only seen a few fishing inlays, one which was done by a member here who is extremely proficient at inlaying and I always get a kick out of seeing them. I'll probably end up doing some in the future, but not until I get better at inlaying and develop a tasteful fishing inlay like yours is. Very nice stuff. Can't wait to see some more pics. J

After seeing some of the repairs Frank Ford has managed on his site, I'd bet you could fix that fairly well. I'm sure there are a few here that have done fingerboard repairs like this that could offer some help /edit/ like soapbarstrat. I've seen a few of these threads, can't remember off hand one I have in mind, maybe it was southpa who fixed up a fretboard that was in poor shape and it turned out great and I think it was a much lighter colored rosewood board. Best of luck. J

Not me, I like the black ware idea for that guitar, I think it'll look real nice all finished. Going with straight clear should look great also. Doing it clear should really bring out the colors in those woods, I think its going to look amazing, though it already does. For some reason I can't get over how nice the inlays work on that guitar, very done. Best of luck, keep the pics coming in as you go. J

Very cool stuff! I gotta agree with what rick said, the way you made it similar in shape to certain designs, while using a flame design is very cool. I think the shape of the guitar is well done, especially the flames/horns. It all flows very well. The specs sound very cool as well and this should end up one killer rig. Whats in store for the finish on this bad boy? Are you gonna go flame style and do some red/orange/yellow type burst or something different? Either way I think its great, nice work. The electronics cavity shape is pretty neat also. J

I'm glad to see the camera worked without complication! And man that finish is sweet! It looks crazy, the color is so rich in that finish, really looks cool, much better than a normal mahogany finish to my eyes, its brighter and richer. It almost does look like paduak. Very nice work, project came out very nice. Keep up the killer work and keep those pics coming! J

As you mentioned its not really a problem for most applications, only few. I don't believe the package comes with the guide to center the cutter in the base, but I could be wrong, from what I found and read it had to be purchased from the company, unless this has changed. Either ways its an easy fix. I just wanted to bring it up as it seemed to come up a few times when I did my research and its an easy fix if it is indeed off center. I'm somewhat picky and strange about my tools, so even if its unlikely it will cause problems, I'll still want to fix it. I have a hitachi that came with the little guide. You loosen some hardware push the tool into the chuck and the base of the tool fits snuggly into the base of the router and a quick tightening of the hardware and you're set. Anyhow, I believe you have it right. It really is a great setup and that little chance occurence is nearly inconsequential. I think the main complaint is there was no tool included to make this adjustment, but it can be bought for cheap I'm sure. I don't know how many brands sell this tool with their router, but with these swapable bases they should always be included I think. I'm not sure off hand, but the fixed base on the bosch package might be round with no flat edge, using it like this with against a straight edge could cause for some slight variation in the cut if it was off center. Again, its no biggie really, but worth a check if you use it in certain ways. J

Rockler-West Systems silica If you scroll down the page you'll see the silica for sale, they carry in their stores as well. I see it when I'm there, its a decent sized container than weighs next to nothing, you'd swear its empty. I believe there is some general info somewhere on Frets.com on mixing silica and how to obtain different consistencies with epoxy and silica. Price wise it seems plenty cheap, especially for how much use you should get out of the container. I can't comment on use as I have yet to get to testing a fill with it. J

Hehe, even that is a great price for that setup, I still would have snatched it up in a heart beat. It's nice when you get a setup where the plunge and fixed bases are interchangable, especially in such a good brand. You should tell him to look out for a thickness sander next, lol. J

Wow, what a deal!!! I recently went looking around for a router and read up on really all the ones that would work well for what we do and honestly I couldn't decide they all were great products. What initially sparked my interest was the new PC line, but honestly that router had the most negative feedback of all the ones I looked at. The Bosch seemed to be one of the better ones, I think the only major complaint was the alignment being off, meaning the cutter is not center. I believe you can buy the centering piece from the company or place that sells their stuff, some routers come with this tool like the Hitachi I believe. It allows you to align it. Like I said I think that was the only major concern with those and the nice thing is that it is a perfectly fixable problem for next to nothing. I just wanted to mention that so you don't end having some imperfect cuts at some point and wonder what the heck is wrong, luthier work requires so much precision that this would be something that needs fixing if yours has the problem. It sounded like a fairly common problem, so I would definitely look into it, but you never know. Also, I can't remember off hand which brand didn't use a sealed switch, if the bosch doesn't you could always change that or just replace it when it gets mucked up. Anyhow, I really liked that router, it was pretty much at the top of my list after reading up on all of them and for that price you got, heck I might have bought a 2 or 3 of them if possible. Sell one or two or have a backup or one permanently mounted to a table. Well, nice come up, I'm entirely jealous, lol. J

You and me both. I've a box now of small and midsize scraps that I can barely slide around. Its actually quite useful when you want to test finishes or test mounting holes sizes, like for bridge posts or tuners, make clamping cauls or sanding blocks or a million other reasons, plus like you said you can make truss covers, pickup rings, small cavity covers, and even inlays. I find its worth saving the stuff, even the little bits. The only thing that scares me is the thought of ten years from now, when that box I have turns into a small mountain of wood. I guess I could always unload some to guys at Rockler as pen blanks and such, they'd probably grab some of it up, I always thought that was a great suggestion from another thread, I think maybe mike suggested the idea. J

Wow, very nice guitar there. The work looks very well done, especially for a first build, congrats!! As for the shape, I say leave it, if thats the design you chose based on your taste, rock it and rock it hard, its your guitar ya know. I think the way the grain is oriented makes that upper horn look killer anyway. Anyhow, very nice stuff and thanks for sharing. Keep the pics coming as you finish this one up, its going to look great finished. Nice work. J

Nice work on that neck and that walnut looks beautiful. The color and figure on that thing are going to look amazing when finished. Best of luck. J

Yeah that acetone trick works wonders, you'd be amazed at how invisible you can get joints this way. Thats actually how I glue my binding on as well, just using melted binding as my glue. Anyhow, for the color match, read around over at Frets.com, there isn't any article specifically about yellowing the binding, but in one of the articles about loose binding, it talks about how to age and yellow the binding to match existing color. Its basically just done by tinting with some amber lacquer I believe I believe. I can't recall the exact method offhand, but it seems to work out really well. The same article goes over how to use some acetone for jointing the binding as well. Lots of good info there, check it out. J

If you can find a harbor freight nearby you can get the arbor press for cheap like $30-$40 on sale sometimes, which compared to over $100 at Stewmacs, is a good deal. Right now the site shows it on sale for $31.99. For the price I would go with the arbor over using my drill press as I wouldn't want to risk the damage, cheaper to just grab the arbor ya know. The fretting looks good though, nice work, project look great. J

Wheew, thats looking sweet! Can't wait to see what it looks like with some clear on it. Killer work Jon, keep the pics rollin in. That carve at the neck/body joint is awesome, easier to see the shape and design of the carve now with some sealer on it. Nice stuff man. J

Thanks again guys. Really a cool community here and I'm glad to be apart of it. I've learned so much from all of you guys about building and more, and I appreciate all of it. Again, thanks everyone for the bday wishes, orgmorg included as I forgot to respond in his thread, thanks! You guys rock! Wish you all the best. J