jmrentis

I've heard of someone using the same ones but from harbor freights, which would probably be even less money for the same mallet. I saw them there the other day, when buying a bunch of 6 inch c clamps for like $2.99. It seemed like a really good sale to me so I grabbed like 5 of them. They feel really heavy duty. I was pleased with there quality. Maybe someone else knows more about the mallets, but I say go for it, they look to be the same exact thing and I'm sure they were designed for uses such as that , used for something that takes a dead blow shot to sink something, like a fret. Good Luck and I hope you get a better answer from someone that has tried the ones from HD or Lowes. Jason

What is the best grit to use before glueing up a laminate neck? I know I have seen it somewhere and I'm not sure it was this site. I tried searching and the PG tutorial on neck construction and didn't see. If someone has a suggestion on what to use or a thread that it was posted it let me know! I just did a dry clamp of my neck and it looks good so I will probably glue up tonight if I get my answer. I know it should be coarse but I don't think too coarse would be advisable. My laminate is hard maple/ jatoba/ hard maple. Next time I will do a 5 piece, but this is my first so if I encounter any problems it won't be a big lose in terms of money. I will be posting a thread soon in, progress and finished work. I have most of my wood and have taken pictures of the body wood, the neck wood, my practice template and other things, I will be starting the actual work soon. So any opinion will be great! Jason

The important aspect of guitars is how it feels and plays. If you just judge the guitar by it's looks you'll never be a musician. It's nice to have a guitar that you like looks wise, but your main concern should be how it plays, what the action is, what kind of tone does it have, how will it age and other important question that apply to buying a quality guitar. Jason

Thats great to hear! I am new to the scene, but it was one of the first topics I read about and I felt it was a good idea. I'm a fixed bridge kinda guy btw. So I'm glad everything worked out for you, on the post I read, some people were making it sound as if it wasn't going to happen, but I know if you have a vision whether it will sell or not you will see it through to the end. Seeing you make it after the time put in, inspires me to finish a prototype of another guitar product I randomly came up with one day. I don't think it would be as useful or functional as yours, but I might be able to sell a few and just be happy with that! Good luck with everything and I'll let you know my experience with your product once I've gave it a run, I'm not that hard on my guitars so if it will hold up gigging for a while for some then I should have no issue what so ever. Btw it's really cool to see someone from here do something as you are doing, besides custom guitar. Jason

Wew! I just read everyones list and didn't see Tool anywhere. I think you are right they are hard to catagorize. At stores I've seen them under rock, hard rock, metal, and others, kinda crazy. I really thought that more people here would like Tool, I find Adam Jones to be a great guitarist and the band as a whole pretty versatile. They are definately my vote. And my buddy introduced me to Mars Volta. I was very impressed with the music, but lyrically is wasn't my bag. I felt that it had a strong theme though, which always makes a good record better. I have yet to hear the new stuff, I'd be willing to give a good couple listens through and see what I think. Other than Tool there are many bands I like but I can't think of many off hand, I like Pearl Jam a lot, especially the older albums. Jason

The blank of air dried maple I have still has the ends sealed on it. Should I leave this sealer on throughout the shaping process? Will it help protect it from any future problems? For a soft maple neck blank size board is a little over a year not long enough for proper drying? I will probably get a moisture reading before doing any cutting, as this piece has really nice figure and will make for a great laminate with another very hard wood, like Jatoba or purpleheart. For being a red maple blank, not big leaf, it is very sturdy and stiff, much more than I was expecting. Maybe I got lucky with this piece being that most people have trouble with the softer maples. Thanks for the very informative information! Please if there is any more, be sure to let me know! Thanks again!! Jason

I think all your work is exceptional, but these are definately some of your best! Good luck with the both of them and if you have the time maybe you could do a short tutorial on your body building methods, they are most excellent! Keep it up! Jason

I just wanted to know if anyone likes air dried or kiln dried wood better? I don't know of any differences but I sure someone with a lot of experience would. The only piece of air dried wood I have ever got had a very slight bow in it, and all the kiln dried wood I've got has been straight as an arrow. It might just be coincidence I'm not to sure. Also I know there are many variables pertaining to this subject like if the wood was laid flat and type of wood, but I am just looking for a general idea. I'm sure there are a few of you out there that have some knowledge of this, maybe Rich, I know you see a whole lot of wood. I think most wood that I see and probably most people see is kiln dried though. javascript:emoticon('') smilie Thanks for the help! Jason

What the Fuh? It looks like a hippies violin. With flower power design all the way around the sides. And the finish is very crazy, it seems like it will chip some, being that it's not smooth at all at least in the front, I don't know if this has anything to do with the color changing. And you better hope you don't drop it on the headstock or your finished. The features on it don't sound that bad though. Marksound you seem to really find all the crazy stuff on ebay, keep it up it's fun to look at! Jason

I just went to work on it for a little, and got it evened up about 90%. I very happy about this, as I've had this board somewhere around 3-4 weeks and haven't touch it, I was gathering tools and planning my whole project through. Thanks Jehle I didn't think about letting aclimate, but I have had it for a while so this works out perfect, I will be cautious about this in the future though. I ended up using some coarse sandpaper and a surform. I know that most people dislike the surform but it worked great for me, it made easy work of the problem areas and didn't leave any nasty gashes, then took the sandpaper and smoothed it all up. I used a large straight edge and it help a lot to locate all the areas needing sanding. I wish I had a thickness sander already but I don't, hopefully I'll have one by the time the holidays roll around, for now it will have to be done by hand or taken up to my friends house, which is a long drive! I know this already this was not my question. If asked if it was cool to just glue up some crooked piece then maybe your response would be valid, but my question was the best way to correct this problem by sanding it down or using some weight to counter it. I'm sorry if you keep getting people asking if they can glue up warped wood , but this was not my question. Thank you for the response though, everyones opinion counts to me and the more I get the better. So sorry for the mix up and thanks again. Thanks again everyone just a liitle more on one side and it will be ready to be cut. If there is anything I should know before I cut this let me know the course of action. I know Rich you said the blade can dry out the cut edge , I didn't realize this, but it makes perfect sense though. Is there a way to minimize this drying, I'm fairly confident that the board is completely dry, I believe this bowing was most likely in the early stages of the drying process, as this piece was air dried. Thanks Rich for the tip. Thank you everyone for the help. Jason

Thanks guys, I will probably sand it flush, like I said it's not that bad at all. I just knew it would not be a good idea to just start cutting it for the laminate and worry about it later, I figured it would be much better to fix it prior to any cutting. I had to plane one edge because it was rough cut, and needed to be smoothed a little, I can see why you say don't plane figured woods. I didn't have any tear out but I could feel it catching in the curl of the maple, so I stopped and sanded it smooth. Thanks everyone for the help. The piece I have is well oversize for a neck blank, so sanding it down will be no issue! Thanks again and I'll let you know how it turns out! Jason

Hey Matt, I definately like your new design but I think it deserves a body all it's own. Some new crazy combo of woods that you put together, like you've been doing, but something you haven't done. You seem to be great at putting these great designs into the wood of the body itself. But as for the one you have I say leave it alone to be finished. With your talened woodworking abilities I'm sure you can come up with a solution to your problem and nobody would know anything about it. Anyways good luck in either way you go. I'm sure it will all work out as long as you don't let the W.O.D get to it! Jason

Hey Rich, I read your latest response a day or two ago and was thinking about what you would rather have the flatsawn or quarter sawn for a fretboard, and your right it's a very hard decision. The flatsawn really has some nice figure and would stand out much more than the quarter sawn, but it might take away from a really nice top, also the quarter sawn is what most people would look for in a fretboard, the grain would line up real well once the guitar is strung up, but it might lack some of the nice colors. I had a beautiful thought the other day as well. It came to me after I got through reading that you were going to start doing laminate necks(which is a great idea). If someone didn't mind a little weight in the neck, do a 3 or 5 piece cocobolo neck with the outer two pieces being flatsawn for the beautiful figure, then the middle piece quarter sawn for strength and contrast with the flatsawn and add a couple strips of hard maple between the cocobolo and man I think that would be a wicked looking neck. You're right about the maple too, it by far varies more than any other wood. Sometime I'll glance through the regular hard maple and find a figured section on a plank enough for a neck, and have the guy chop it up for me and he acts upset like he missed that piece and I'm ripping him off! It's actually funny when this happens and I walk out with a big smile on my face. Anyways thank for doing us all this service, it's always nice to buy from someone that already know what you are looking for and has it already cut to perfect size and shape, which if you don't have the tools can set you back $500-$1000 in necessay equipment. Thanks Rich! Jason

Hey Guys, I have a blank of nicely figured curly maple, it's not big leaf, I think it's eastern red maple. I know this is some what softer than the normal rock maple. This piece has a very slight bow in it, it would take feeler gauges to measure it but I don't own any yet. My question is should I just plane it back to flat, I don't own a thickness sander, or should I try to use some weight to counter the bow? It's about 5 1/2" wide and I will be cutting down the middle to use for a laminate with some jatoba I think. Jatoba is super hard and heavy. Would make a great neck on it's own in my opinion. I believe with the jatoba in the middle the neck will be very sturdy and I know that the wood is completely dry, so I'm not too worried about anymore bow. I will be using the curly pieces on the outside and turned onto the quarter sawn edge to help with strength, should I have one with the cut edge facing me and the other piece facing away from me? In cut edge I'm talking about when I cut the neck blank down the middle, the two resulting pieces will be the outer pieces of my laminate, and they will be turned 90 degrees to their quarter sawn edge. So should one be flipped 90 degrees and the other be flipped 270 degress? Sorry that came out so messy, it was hard to explain, I hope you can understand it all! Thanks for your help with this, and don't worry this is my experiment blank I have another I'm making out of rock maple! Jason

Hey Guys, I got the router a few days ago! Everything seems fine. I got the 1 3/4 hp plunge router with 1/2 inch collet. Everything seems decently sturdy, I wasn't expecting all that much, but was nicely surprised. Only thing about it was that this one didn't have a variable speed, which would have been a nice feature for a beginner router. It also has an electric brake which should help me salvage some wood in the possibility that I start ripping into an area that I don't want to. Also I'm not sure if all harbor freight have this option but there is a no questions asked warranty available to buy. I believe it is $5.99 for a year or $9.99 for 2 years. And after reading everybody advising me to get more hp for the fact that it will burn out faster, I decided to get the 2 year warranty. So if it seems like it will burn out just after two years, it might just run into an unfortunate accident with a hammer! So it was on sale when I went for $39.99. If I can get 4 years out of it I will be a very happy router. Also when you sign up for the warranty they ask you for the receipt info, then you no longer need a receipt ever. It's in their computers. This really seemed like a really good idea to me. Since I will be using this on some pretty hard wood, and if it burns out, no questions asked replacement with no receipt! Anyways I haven't used it yet still a little more to do before routing, but will probably be using to build my 1/4" plywood template. So I will let you guys know how it fares once I get started! Thanks for all the help guys! And all in all Harbor Freight is not that bad at all. Jason

Thanks Greg, I noticed this as well. It's similar to bringing a banana on a fishing boat, it's supposedly very bad luck. This is more so in Hawaii, as they have a lot of folk lore. Some of my best fishing days I had brought bananas with me, bananas are a great nutritonal source and would be stupid to worry about some voodoo over keeping your energy and health up. Thanks for all the info guys! I will probably end up making some eventually, but will also buy a few more c clamps. I know one of the cons some of you mentioned about the spool clamps was too much pressure in a certain area, but I was curious about using a board the stretched across the neck between the spool clamps, so the clamps would be sitting on a board that dispersed some of the pressure making it more even. Like I said just curious, I will be buying some more c clamps for this one, but it would be worth finding out for future reference. Also how about the spool clamps for fretboard attachment, this is a smaller area and is quite delicate. Then again you need the fretboard flat and straight as an arrow. Thanks for all help! The more info and opinions the better, whether you agree or disagree! Jason

Fryovanni, Wow since the last time I saw your woods for sale there have been some EPIC pieces put up. The tops are just beautiful! I really like a few of them but I have a good wood store and they have a lot of all the species of maple, and actually mostly everything. But some species are extremely expensive and some are super cheap. It seems to me depending where you live the demand really varies for certain woods, causing drastic price variances. I have most of the wood I need for this project, but I might grab one of those cocobolo fretboards. I've seen a lot of it in person and the stuff seems absolutely perfect for fretboards and anything else. The colors are amazing, it is very hard, and looks like it will be very smooth and age well. At this time I'm not quite ready to purchase one, but with a little time and some progress on my project I will more than likely nab one of them. Hopefully my favorite ones won't be bought up, but no worries you really don't have any ordinary pieces of anything, so when I'm ready I know you will have me covered. Thanks for all your help, the .25 thickness sounds about right I don't think I will need anything different. I will be contacting you soon via PM as soon as I need the fretboard. Thanks. Jason

Thanks for the replies. I do have a few c clamps and definately could buy a few more. But technically couldn't you put a board the same width as the laminate under the spool clamps same as you would with c clamps, I know the spool clamps are on the edges but if you used a board wouldn't it solve this issue. BTW I will be using Titebond the original, this seems to be the prefferred adhesive of this site and most woodworkers I've talked with. Also I would most likely build my own spool clamps if I do, for better size. Thanks again for everyones help, more opinions and suggestions are welcome! Jason

I found this link on woods, and this page has the info on Jatoba. Some of the pics the wood seems a little light, all the boards of it I saw at the store were a darker and deeper red, very rich looking, and finished I would think it would be beautiful for a body top and headstock vaneer or even for a neck being that it is super hard and stiff and heavy. Jatoba Give it a look and let me know what you guys think. It said in the US it's called Brazilian Cherry, but it's not a relative of cherry. It is actually harder than maple with a bigger gravity and weight per volume. Also might make a great looking fretboard! If anyone is heading to their local shop anytime soon, check it out it will be worth your while! Thank for your time! Jason

Hey guys, Just wondering your thoughts on two things. First, How many clamps are sufficient to glue up a three piece laminate neck 30 inches in length 4 inches in width? Second, Are spool clamp wise for a job such as laminate necks, I know people use them for fingerboards? Thanks for everyones help, it's really much appreciated! Jason

Thank you for your input as I was not sure if these planes would be in good enough condition, I have no problem with buying these older ones I just wasn't sure if they would hold true. But I will definately take your word for it, being that you are an experienced luthier I find no information more valuable for a somewhat beginner builder. Thanks and I will consider some of the planers I discounted before. Jason

Great response, thanks for the info I will do a search for the long version but I understand what you explained and makes a lot of sense, although it seems like you said, what ever looks best to you. I like the way a 6 inline looks but I'm completely tired of the headstock designs for these, so I think I will go with the 3x3, unfortunatly I am doing a laminate neck so I will have to add some wood scraps for the ears, no big deal really but just takes a little more prep and planning. Again thank you for taking the time to write that all out, it's nice to hear as many opinions as possible, it gives you a better perspective. Jason

Is the edge guide on both of the cheaper ones the $39.99 and $49.99? I see some metal guide type things hanging off the one for $49.99 but not the other, but I think you know if the other one does. Will this guide get in the way for routing the pickup cavities and neck pocket as this will be my main router. I think I'm picking up the 1 3/4hp just for a little longer life span. Thank you very much for all the help. Jason

Thanks southpa, I have found many used things that were perfectly usable throught my life. I just recently thought about this route for the tools I need for building guitars. I am buying a brand new router though, a nice one I found for $39.99 that is perfect it has only 1 hp though, I also found another one for $49.99 and is 1 3/4 hp and it looks a little better. I will probably get the more expensive one because it on sale from $60.00 I think, it doesn't seem to have as many features though but oh well. I have a link in another thread in this tool section to the place I'm buying the router from, it might worth a look for anyone that needs a router!! But for hand tools you don't need to worry about electronics wearing out or belts breaking. I actually totally forgot about swap meets and pawn shops until you mentioned them. These would be a great idea in my area, being that I live near two areas that have a crap load of trailer trash crystal freaks and ghetto druggies, so I know that the swap meets and pawn shops would be loaded with cheap quality stuff. Thanks for the reminder. BTW I don't live in these areas! I have already checked ebay and the stuff wasn't that great, more along the lines of collectibles. Thanks again! Jason

I think you might be onto something!! Full on scam!!