jmrentis

Hmm, maybe I'll buy the Rockler swivel chair, then buy a recliner and install a swivel on the recliner and mount it to the legs of the Rockler swivel chair. Thats about what I want in a chair, lol. I was actually considering the rockler seat, but honestly I need more than your average padding, plus I actually need to have a back rest due to some health issues. I know I have seen such things, usually under ths title of barstool, if I find any I'll post and please anyone else who finds one post it. Please because I can't get by with my mini luthiers chair anymore

I have a box of nitrile I use almost everytime I go out to work. Mainly because I have found that I am highly allergic to bubinga, which I've been working with lately. Its strange as I haven't heard many issues with bubinga. I don't really ever have problems with breathing the dust, though I still wear a mask when cutting or sanding it, for some reason any skin that comes into direct contact with the stuff, nearly instantly breaks out into dozens of little blisters, its crazy how fast it occurs, I could probably document it and shock you guys. Anyhow, the nitrile gloves tend to fall apart pretty fast on me and thats without any chemical usage, however they are the cheap thin ones, so that is probably expected. While trolling the isles at the hardware store today I noticed some gloves they sell specifically for stripping paint and similar duties. I don't know what they are made of, might be worth a look if you haven't already tried them, I think they were orange, but I can't say for certain. Anyway, best of luck with that and let us know what ends up working for you. J

Oooo, whats the top gonna be??? That limba will make a killer back. It is tough to cover some of that wood, but the guitar will look amazing with a nice top as well. Now if you put a top and back on, I would hire a pilot and come steal that piece in the night! A nice figured walnut top would look killer with that piece! So would almost anything though, thats just a super piece. Nice grab and best of luck.J

Which way is truss rod setup? Through the headstock or through the bottom of the neck? From the bottom would be perfect for fixing that I would bet. I rough cut my neck prior to fretboard as well and had a decent little movement, which took fixing by sanding flat again. It was at that point I was sold on the early carve method. Yeah, its a pain in some respects trying to clamp fingerboards, but perfectly doable with the right neck support cauls and those cool little twisty ziptie looking clamps stewmac sells, they also worked great for indexing the set pins for fretboard alignment. I took pics and with just two of those little things my fretboard looked perfectly glued on and ready to go. Anyhow, best of luck and keep us posted on how it goes. BTW-how long have you waited for movement?? I don't think mine actually moved until maybe a week or more later, or at least thats when I noticed, who knows. J

Nice, congrats! I know what you mean, I say the same thing about every decent sized tool purchase I make, especially my bandsaw, it was like night and day, though I have probably used my router a lot more. I have been using the drill press non stop for like three days, making holes for everything necessary in my project from output jack to neck bolts inserts. Sadly, I only have a rinky dink cheapo and it doesn't have the reach for everything I need, plus it is nowhere near the quality a normal one would be. I couldn't even reach the bridge pickup route to clear it out with a forstner, though I got some of it out, I was forced to do it with a regular drill. There is always these funny coincidences around here for me. Tonight while I was out getting some strange sized bits at Lowes, I spent a decent amount of time staring at the drill presses. Mainly a still portable Delta, I'd rather have the floor model, but I will need to find room, I don't even have room for my bandsaw yet, I still have it on a portable little stand that lets me move it when need be, but also lets it vibrate more if I have it on for a while. Anyhow, the Delta seemed very, very nice for a little press 12" I believe it was. There was a nice Hitachi as well, but it was about a 10" I think and the Delta was only $30 more at $179 I think. It had lasers and all kinds of junk. I can't wait to have a decent press with different speeds and all that good stuff. Well, keep us posted on what you think of your new press. I'm curious on the quality of that line of Delta presses, so I can buy one. My crappy press makes me nervous, while it works just fine, the table is one that would break under too much pressure, I'm definitely buying an arbor press for fretting. Well, best of luck and enjoy your new press! J

I figured you knew and it was just a play on words, I just wanted to give you a hard time or help you out, which ever it was. Sometimes I am clueless on what certain peoples name mean or what some internet chat term is. It took me forever to find out what ROTFLOL and all those things meant, I just ain't hip like that. I agree the rail design is pretty cool and I really look forward to seeing some new designs involving this will look like. Best of luck and post whatever designs you come up with. J

? I think maybe he meant a build off? As in competition of building. The name thing I don't know, just a play on words, though if he doesn't realize what you name says, its Kill 'em all. Though when I was younger I probably used the word "killermall" as in "man that was a killer mall, yo" , scary I know. I'm still brainstorming on body designs for your next, but I do like doublecuts, definitely keep that one on the board for now. J

Not a problem my good man. I enjoy watching your work. Body style is a tough choice, a double cut sounds like an awesome choice if you ask me, your LP turned out really nice, I have no doubt your double cut would as well. On mine I wanted to make my own design, which had probably been done, but I spent a long time tweaking the design and even now I see some parts I would do just slightly different, though all in all I really like the design. It took a while to figure out all the specs on the design and I had to make templates for everything, which took a while. Anyhow, its getting there. Here is a pic and try and remember I haven't cleaned this thing up in a month or more, it needs a good sanding and cleaning. I'll probably start doing a small carve tomorrow or tonight and once I finished the tops final shape, I'll drill the bridge mounting posts. Getting there, very, very slowly. As I said, I'll be doing some carving tonight/tomorrow around the top, on the heel, and possible some other areas. Should look a lot better by then. Still can't decide on a color to stain it. I wanted to do blue, but with that fretboard, it would probably be too much contrast. Oh well. J

BTW, I just was going through Stewmacs pages and they now sell mahogany body blanks, guess the price??? . . . . $109.84 each, lol. Neck mahogany blank runs $55.76 Indian Rosewood fingerboard blank-$11.78 plus wire$5.22 x 3= $15.66 plus some pearl inlay dots for about $6.20 and say $4.13 for a bone nut "unshaped" to save the 5 bucks over a shaped one, geez! Oh yeah, truss rod, duh say another $15. so $218.37 for just the supplies from Stewmac for an unfinished guitar with no parts, haha, wheew thats pricey huh. Thats why I try to buy as much as I can at normal stores or friends around here and only buy specialized stuff from them. Anyhow, I thought that was funny, how much it'd cost through SM. Whats crazy if think about if you got half off of everything, you'd still be looking at $109.19 which would give you next to no profit, especially considering time and tools use and thats if you found everything at half or better of stewmacs price. It is perfectly possible to find prices much less than half of Stewmacs prices, especially if you buy in bulk, but regardless considering time and tool wear and tear, I don't think you'll ever make his offer a profitable one. J BTW- Do you have any plans on upcoming builds you'll be starting, as always I'm looking forward to seeing your work and hopefully I'll be able to share mine with you soon, its coming together slowly. I actually put the neck on finally (bolt on) and it looked like a guitar almost for the first time, lol. Best of luck.J

Maybe if you had bought in large quantities you could make that budget, but to even bother trying to make those number he would have to be asking for a whole hell of a lot more than 5 guitars. I can't help, but wonder if he threw that price at you because you are 18. Like he was thinking that any dumb excited kid would make them even if they were losing money. It used to drive me nuts when I was younger when adults would either try to manipulate or discrimintae against me because I was young. In most anything I did I was as respectful, as responsible, and as knowledgable as an adult, some of the time even surpassing some and yet they would always treat me like some punk. Damn ageists, lol. I guess while I had the chance I should have been a punk and terrorized all the older people, blaring music, peeling out, while flipping them the bird. Sometimes you really must regret missing one of those shots you never took, like being a punk-ass kid. Your quote is right on the money my friend, I miss that one! Anyhow, just keep up your good work and at some point I'm sure you'll run across a real good opportunity. As for his money quote, depending on what he wanted in a neck, I would want close to that price for the neck alone. As I said it would depend on what woods and how complex he wanted it, but like you I found that price way low. Best of luck and keep up the killer rigs!

Actually when I first started thinking about building and started researching, I spent a decent amount of time thinking about different things and one was pickup placement and how cool it would be to be able to vary it. I eventually came up with an idea of how to do this and it was quite similar to that bass, but slightly different. It involved more of a giant swimming pool route and smaller bars inside that two hums would move on and could be tightened from the back. So it would look more like a regular guitar with a square hole cut out of the middle with smaller bars for the pups. I never finalized the idea as I lost interest in it, especially after seeing that bass as the concept had been done as nearly all cool ideas have. Anyhow, I would definitely be interested in seeing someone do the same concept in a different design. Best of luck. J

Great idea! Thanks. I love good ideas. You know they're good ideas because your ego always steps in and says why didn't I think of that? Then, oh well I would have really soon, I know it! J

As I started to mention in my original post, one of the reasons I purchased te Stewmac one was the idea of precision it had. The reason it has two versions is to allow for a much better cut. And trust me when I say there is a definite difference in having the correct size. The idea is the wire sits sideways, so if the notch is too deep or too shallow then you no longer get a 90 degree angle cut or the support to get that quality cut. As I also said I bought the bigger version for wire over .100 in width I believe, in testing I tried cutting both some .104 and some .097. The .104 cut great, but the .097 was more difficult to get quality clean cuts that would not require clean up, it was possible, but difficult and a pain. Thats precision in my eyes, .003 off the minimum thickness and I notcied the difference right away. Thats why I bought the Stewmac version because I doubt the other varieties are anywhere near that precise and I think in time will become a problem because once that blades dulls slightly those off angled cuts will become more difficult to do and you will be much more likely to bend the wire and it won't be as clean a cut. ANyhow, thats just my opinion and why I said I felt more comfortable with the STewmac version. I think Perry says something to this effect in one of the threads listed, about not being able to get a good precise notch like Stewmacs without a good milling machine and even then one notch won't cover all your sizes of wire, just no way around that really. Best of luck to you. J

I absolutely love inlays! However, I just don't see that they would work out well on those basses, well they would be fine I guess, but the basses just have this overall pleasing look that would be mucked up by adding anything that small and/or complicated to it. I dunno, its hard to explain what I mean, but I think that inlays would take away from the look of those basses. I've actually never even bothered to take notice of the lack of inlays, to my eyes the guitars just aren't lacking in anything that I can find. Its all personal preference though. Either way those things will always look killer. J

Honestly, I just went through the same problem and ended up buying one and I will say I am glad I did because for fun I tried doing it with other tools and there was no way I would have wanted to nip both sides of all 24 frets with side cutters, besides I could never get the tang completely off with any other tools. So, I say get one its well worth it, surprisingly, at least it is for me, its a specialized tool and does its purpose well. Just make sure if you buy one that you buy the proper size as there are two. I think one is for over .100 width and the other is under that. I had some .104 and some .097 wire and in cutting the .097 I had some issues getting it to work well because the wire just wasn't wide enough to get a good cut, the .104 worked flawlessly. I think that says something about it precision. Also, in using other tools you are much more likely to bend your wire to all hell trying to get it to cut properly at the tang and even if you do, you'll probably spend a great deal of time filing and sanding to get the tang nub off, otherwise your wire will never seat properly. I'm sure there are people here that have other methods, but I haven't really come across any method that seemed worth that $43 investment, but thats just me. Anyhow, just my personal view. I thought the exact same thing as both you and while ordering I said screw it, might as well save myself some trouble and after trying it and everything, I realized that I wouldn't have been able to do it without that tool. Its well worth it for me. I believe someone on ebay sells a similar device for slightly less, but for the price difference I just felt more comfortable with buying stewmacs tang nipper. Either way best of luck and I hope it all works out for you. J

Do you know what type of Grovers they are? Check out Stewmac.com as they list a number of different Grovers for sale. For the most part all of the newer ones require 10mm holes, which is the same as the Sperzels. I'm curious now to measure my acoustics tuners as it came with Grovers and they are from a number of years ago. If your grovers are 10mm you can drop in some nice satin chrome sperzels with just drilling the small locating pin, which is easy as pie. The sperzels packaging actually comes with a cardboard template so you get the spacing perfect no problem on the locating pin. You should be able to buy a 3X3 set with an extra for which ever side you need, whether left or right, I would definitely buy a 3X3 set and just add on an extra tuner for which ever side has 4, this way you shouldn't have any issues with backward tuners or problems. If you didn't see this page check it, Sperzel Specs, it even says that he can request the 7th tuner be drilled for an "extra large low b" if you need for no extra charge. Pretty cool and on the other page it bacially says just tell them exactly what you need and they'll get it to you. Anyhow, I think you'll be extremely pleased with the Sperzels, definitely my favorite, in fact I just got my second set of Satin chrome color, these ones in the 3X3 style for my project. I was severely stuck on whether to go satin chrome again or the newer polished chrome ones, both look amazing, but as with my ibanez I had to go with the satin chrome. I also really would like to see how the faux pearl buttons look at some point, maybe with some Satin black sperzels or even actually buy some real pearl buttons from Andy Depaule. Also, sperzel has a site upcoming soon or so they say, its at sperzel.com, I check it once in a while to see when it will work, it will be really nice to order direct and have a list of all products they sell and colors, though that site listed is very thorough. Anyhow, best of luck. J

I got a number of bits from MLCS a while back and have nothing bad to say at all. In fact I received a stitchable wound just upon handling one(though I decided to let it scar up) lol. They have a host of interesting bits I have yet to try. Overall the prices seem decent and as you will or already have seen, they tend to put on good sales/packages from time to time. I'm going to try whiteside next to compare, but of the different brand bits I've tried, I will say they are as good as any and well priced. Hopefully same goes for you. I don't remember which bits I orginally bought, but I know I got some pattern bits, some straight bits, and a downcut spiral for certain and they all work nicely and are still plenty sharp and I haven't had a single incident of tear out due to the bits, smooth cuts all around. J

Hey, why not just paint it on there! I don't even want to link that thread.

I'm curious as to Gregs question and whether it drops some slack(exaggeration) in the string prior to tuning. I will watch the movie when I get a chance to see if it mentions this at all. Otherwise there might be some issues. According the info, it sounds fairly impressive, but for some strange reason there are some things like I short cuts for and some I don't and for this I don't know that I would. This would be like driving an automatic for me, I just prefer the control of stick. J

Yeah, I actually considered that it might, hopefully it didn't though, as it was only in jest and to show how much I thought of Erics rig, regardless I'm going to fix it to avoid any issues, good call Wez. No doubt Blackdogs guitar is on an equal playing field. Being that I frequent this place so much and know and follow so many of the great builders here, I try to always include one's experience in my vote, meaning how many instruments, what quality have they been, are they taking risks and so on, just because there is a big difference in someone making their 10th and someone making their first, at least in my opinion. I think we had a discussion on this a while back on how some people used this criteria and other didn't, some feel it isn't fair I believe. I know Eric is an experienced builder so I might have to doc him some points for that plus for the radius bits because that shows too much intelligence for somebody who works with their hands, lol, jk. I'm curious to see if we get another monster month, it seems as though we have been having more entrants per month than ever before, so hopefully we'll have another royal rumble GOTM because we need to give these guys a run for their money. J

Just couldn't wait to comment on next months GOTM and especially Erics 8 string. Serisouly, a killer rig with all the extras plus some. I guess I was gone during the time when this contest was made up, but I wish that everyone would have finished because considering what Eric put into his guitar, I can see he knew he was up against some stiff competition. I really enjoyed the documentation of that build, it made me appreciate really how much went into it and what was overcome. It seems there are always or almost always going to be things one must overcome when pushing their skills and I think how well one overcomes those obstacles, almost says more than any single product. Anyhow, no doubt this is going to be tough month, especially considering the two entrants so far. Best of luck all. J

Agreed, excellent and helpful info Drak!

Perfect Strap! Just saw though while rolling through ebay and thought of this project. The toxic waste lettering might be much, but I'd imagine you could get it off without too much trouble. I also saw another one that was slightly different, with a different symbol. Anyhow, I thought that would be a funny strap to throw on this rig. I also remember the new guy here who is making straps and thought how well a distressed leather(aged looking) strap would work for WezV guitar. Well, keep the pics coming, this is going to be another cool guitar. J

Nice explanation Gosh. To add I think he wanted to know if he should take his measurements with the bridge posts raised some to leave room for error. Personally, I would imagine you'd want the bridge as low as possible to the body, hence the whole idea of angling the neck, so you'd want to measure with the bridge as low as possible, but does anyone give clearance for error when they find the angle or do you measure based on the bridge posts at their lowest? I just did mine and gave myself just a little clearance, so I raised the bridge posts just ever so slightly and took that measurement. Don't think I needed to, but I wanted to be sure I didn't end up making any mistakes and not being able to lower it slightly. Anyhow, best of luck sak.

Very cool. I gotta say that the piece of zebra you have is beautiful, seriously very cool looking piece, much more clean lined and cool looking than much of what I have seen and what I've had. I'll tell you this, it will not work nearly as nice as that mahogany with tools, but it will make a killer looking neck. I think if you'd had a longer piece, that piece would have made for a wicked looking neck through guitar, though the neck is going to look super cool anyway. Well, best of luck. J