jmrentis

He said in response to a question that he has a certifcate from Max. It's funny because I do too! Here it is CERTIFICATE OF PROOF I MADE THIS MAX

I have the sperzel staggered post locking tuners in satin chrome. I love these tuners, but I can see how there is a chance of them slipping although I have not had any problems at all. Frank Falbo can you explain why the gotohs would not slip, I am not familiar with their system. I hear alot of good things about these, I'm thinking that I might try some for my next project, it's going to have a hardtail, so stable tuning isn't as big of a problem. Also do they have as many varities(colors) that sperzels have? Also I hear they are cheaper, does that have any factors on their quality? And lastly is there any pros/cons to having 6 inline vs. 3x3 tuners, because I haven't decided on my next headstocks design so any input on this issue would be of great help to me. I've always used 6 inline tuners so I don't know the differences of the two. Thanks for your help. Jason

Harbor Freights Ok I saw this one that just went on sale! It has 1 3/4hp which is almost double the other one for only $10.00 more. I went down today and didn't wanted to decide until I ran it by the guys at this forum. The problem that I though of was that I don't think it has variable speed, but the rpms only go up 20,000 instead 28,000, so I figured that the speed would be slower than the higher speeds on the cheaper one. But it has the 1/2" collet which I guess is the most compatible with bits. It doesn't seem to have all the features that the cheaper one has, but looks much better quality and strength. But let me know what you guys think about it, if would be better than buying the cheaper one as it is only $10 difference. Thanks for the help! Jason

Matt those are very nice and I'd love to have a few of them to match all my needs, but the price of those is seriously expensive! I know they would be of the best quality but thats just a little hard to swallow for me. Somewhere on this site, one of the members posted stating that he had a block plane he purchased at Home Depot for I think $10. Obviously this will be nowhere near the quality of the others. But I think for a few of us this cheaper alternative would be more considerate to our wallets. Maybe there is an in between price range. Also you might not get the accuracy of the nice ones but you could always do a little more sanding. But I appreciate the link and information, and maybe one day when I have the funds I will be able to buy a planer of that class. Thanks for the help! Jason

I think it said at the top of the page that all automatic bids are not shown. So like maiden69 said probably someone else did the automated bids up to $4000 and that one guy just kept bidding to try and out bid the other. Either way they are insane! People with too much money and too little brains! Jason

I think you are right, there is something funny going on there! Maybe he has a partner in crime that is raising the bids for him so he can get it up to reserve without all the bidders feeling that they are getting ripped off. I just don't get how anyone would put down that much loot for some carved wood and nothing more. If you were getting a custom guitar finished to your likings I can see that much money and even then $4000 is a lot of cash. I hope he gets called on his fraud by ebay or someone, but I doubt anyone will. Jason

Driskillguitars Thanks Maiden69, that website was very informative. I really liked all the products that they make, just some of the best looking stuff out there. I think now that brass seems the best way to go for me. If I wanted to, I could always put in some hardened steel saddles, even though this won't change the bulk of the metal, I think it would change the sound a little because that is where the strings rest on. Anyways thanks again for the link, helped out a lot. Jason

Hell Ya, that looks badas$, I really like the barbs that run down the side. The cutting edge is what it looks like as a name to me. I'm telling you with all these designs you need to put a company name to it, all you need to do is find a guitar manufacturer and sell them your ideas and they could start you with your own line of guitars, all you would have to do is give them a template of the different designs and the specs, and they could do the rest. Very creative stuff really! Thanks for posting some pics and the advice on the purpleheart, I'm still doing a little more planning and then I will be starting my project, as well as a thread for my progress. Also what will be the wood makeup of your new guitar, are you going to keep up with your passion for oak?I got my camera back too for pictures. Thanks again. Jason

Just thought I'd jump in here to ask a relative question. What about brass bridges, I've read a lot of different opinions on this site, some say they are a terrible tone metal, and some say they are the best. Are they as good as steel parts? Are they ever die casted or are they machined and hardened. I would like to buy myself a hardtail bridge, the ones I seem to like the best are brass, and seem to be more expensive compared to regular die cast bridges. Thanks for your input. Jason

Sorry you had some problems, that always sucks when things don't go according to plan. But thats awsome that you like the new design better, I can't wait to see your new improvements. I hope you post some pics soon. Do you use anything special for working on the purpleheart because it's so hard? Also what do you use to finish it? I really liked how the Impaler turned out the color was just incredible. Keep up the good work and progress pics! Jason

You want to know something funny, I had read your whole site entirely about a month ago or so! I even brought in my family to check out how great your work was and how cool and difficult the process of building a guitar was. At the time I didn't have my template built or even my wood bought, so I didn't even remember all the steps I had read through. I just bookmarked your site, it's very educational and helpful for anyone attempting to build a guitar. Thank you for your thoughts on my dilemma. I just found out today that one of my fathers coworkers builds guitars and he has no problems helping me. So I'm sure he'll have a thickness sander, but if not I'll be getting a router this week at some point, and I will build that table setup,seeing that it is very useful. Only problem is that the router I'm getting is only 1 hp it's the only one I can really afford, but it says it's variable speed and rpms go up to 28,000. So hopefully it will at least be enough for the neck pocket and pickup cavities if not more. Thanks very much for all your help and would like to see more of your projects and tutorials in the future! Jason

Hey guys, I have got my basic template done now, and my body is a purpleheart back and quilted maple top. My question is I want to thin the purpleheart because of it being so damn heavy, I will use a good sized top to even out the thickness to 1 1/2", I don't own a thickness sander, would a good sized block planer work to get it to the size I want and then a large sanding block to get a smooth straight face before having to glue it to the top? Should I plane both sides of the blank or just one? Keep in mind purpleheart is very hard wood! If I do thin it to size would it be easier before or after I cut the body out from the block? Thanks for all the help, I learned from all of you planning is the key to successful guitar building! It also helps you to figure out exactly what you want before ruining a whole lot of wood. Jason

I'm not experienced in this but you might have to put a shim if the heel is not flat, flat as in not parallel to the body. Or like you said you could rout the neck pocket deeper at the bottom, and shallower at the top to compensate for this. I am unsure of the problems associated with having a rounded heel, others will know more. You should be able to make it work, it just might not be as stable as a squared heel. But also think if it's worth doing this to a body and risking if it will work or not, because it would probably be permanent and any replacement would have to be exactly the same, it might just be better to start a new one, or try to glue some scraps onto it and reshape it. Again I not the best to ask but thats my opinion. Good luck and let us know if it works out or not. Jason

That sounds like a great idea, do you think a large staple lightly tapped in would work, or would this be too flimsy? It really helps hearing everyones opinions and personal problems and how they solved them, I feel now when I will do one, I will know more or less of what to expect, obviously it won't be perfect, but much better than it would have been had I never asked about it.! Thanks for everyones help! Jason

Huh? I think he erased someones bid, it was up to $4000 and now it's under that. The person that had it up to $4000 had no feedback he was a 0 and still within the first 30 days. It doesn't really matter as it is still under the reserve. The funny and ironic part is that he erased someones bid because he thought he was going to get screwed, little did the bidder know it was going to be the other way around! Later in that guys life he will find out that the guitar he bid on was crap and he'll be so happy his bid got erased. Isn't it ironic, don't you think? Jason

Seems like a cheese grater. Might be a good idea though, but like jer7440 said it's probably not so good on curvey area, like around the horns on an electric. But let us know, it might work really well when starting from a rough cut instead of trying to use regular sand paper or planer. Thanks for the info, I always am interested in new technology. Jason

Hey, I recently went to my local hardwood store to pickup some purpleheart that I am using for a solid body with a quilted maple top, and the store manager and I got to talking about woods gravity, weight, density and the like and he showed me a wood that I think has been used but is definitely not in common use named Jatoba. It seems to be a heavy wood that is very dense and is a beautiful brownish red. I'm unsure of the finishing aspects of this wood, like if the grain is open or closed and such. The store had it very cheap about the same as the hard maple(non figured)! I will be buying some soon to do a laminated neck with maple around it. Really great looking stuff! I will also be doing one with curly maple and purpleheart. Metal Matt a member of this forum has really turned me on to this purpleheart, it's incredible looking wood, also very heavy and dense and as he said it has very strong thick brightness to it, as well as a great bottom end. It sound perfect for a body for me and I can't wait to finish my project. And in my location it's also pretty cheap, but unfortunatly there was no beautifully figured pieces like some of what Matt had gotten, nice none the less. Maybe in the future I will do a purpleheart and jatoba neck, it would make a crazy looking neck, it would be a little heavy though. Just thought I would share some of the woods and ideas that I've had, that I haven't seen much of. So if you have had any experience with any of these woods or combinations let me know your opinions of them. Thanks for your time and have a good one! Jason

Thats great to hear!! I was hoping someone had some hands on experience with this router. I will definitely be getting this router now. Anything that I should know about it or about general use with routers? Also should I use the low end of the variable speed since I'm just starting out with routing? Thanks for the quick response, I'm actually really excited now, there are only a couple more tools that I need before I can fully finish an entire solid body at home without borrowing any!! Thanks again. Jason Sorry about posting in the wrong section.

Do you think it's safe to use a table saw just for the rough cut of the sides of the neck, just straight cuts. I don't own a bandsaw but I have access to one, but I'd love to do this mostly in my garage, but I know this not a great idea, but is it possble, until I can get my hands on my own bandsaw? One more question, are the homemade clamps I've seen on this site strong enough to glue up a neck, obviously with a dozen or so, they seem like a good inexpensive alternative? Thanks for all your help everyone. Jason

OK my budget is short right now, so my question is will this router work at least for a while? It seems to meet up to most of the needs for routing a guitar. It has variable speeds, 1 hp, up to 2 inch plunge, dust chute, balanced motor to help with clean edges and tearout. My only question is with the collet size they are 1/4" and 5/16" I am unsure if these are common sizes and compatible with most of the bits that are needed for routing a guitar. Also would it last long enough even with very hardwoods? Thanks for your help, a quick response is vital as I will be going tomorrow to buy it and might not have the opportunity after that. Jason Harbor Freights Sorry I just added the link!

LOL!!! Seriously!!!

Thats probably a good idea, I've seen a few of the 5 piece but I had figured that it would be easier to do a three piece, but now thinking about a 5 piece would be no different than a three piece in difficulty. And there would be no issue for headstock thickness, so I wouldn't need to glue on ears. I think 3 1/4" in width is all I need for the headstock I want. The maple that I get is 6/4 but equals out to 1 5/16" So with three of those and some thin purpleheart or jatoba it would work out just about perfect. Thanks again for all the help. Jason

Thank you very much for your detailed response! I think I will do two neck at about the same time. One laminate with hard maple/jatoba/hard maple with a 8 or 9 degree headstock angle. The other a laminate also with soft curly maple/purpleheart/soft curly maple. Purpleheart is some hard wood. For the body I am going to use a good sized top due to the weight of purpleheart, if it's still too heavy I'll attempt to chamber it. For the second neck I might try to do a scarf joint just so I can learn how. Thanks again for all your help, the more information I read and learn the better and more confident I feel about my wood working abilities. Jason

So all jointing should be done prior to any shaping, possibly even before initial rough cut of the neck? I'm really grateful for all the help. I think I will do the laminate in one piece being that Wes and Devon some others are way more experienced than I and it would be smart to take their advice. When I do the laminate I plan on using all the pieces on their sides in order to have the quater sawn edge. It will be easier also to make the blank 3 1/2" wide in order to be able to have a wide enough piece to cut out the headstock without having to create ears. Is there any problems with making it that wide, besides wasting some wood? Thanks again! Jason

Cool thanks Perry, thats what I wanted to hear. I didn't really want to do one for this neck but if it was going to make it better I would have. I for sure will do it on my next one and probably just do a single piece with a scarf just for practice, then do a laminate one. Then again if I run into any problems with the headstock angle or width at the nut on this one I can always whip up another headstock and do the joint anyways. Also one more question, does the grain orientation make a difference on the joint example if the headstock was flatsawn and the neck was quartersawn? Probably not, just curious. Thanks for all your help! I'll post pics when I get there! Jason