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jmrentis

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Everything posted by jmrentis

  1. Did you make a corresponding route in the wing as well? I ask cause I have very little visual imagination and it seems as though you will end up sealing off the top pups wire route when you glue up the wings, unless your electronics cavity reaches all the way to the end of that upper route? Does that make sense? I just couldn't figure that part out, other than that, very well done, clean. Anyhow, it looks wicked so far! I'm really digging this one as I seem to of all your builds, not to mention I'm always somewhat biased when limba comes into play. +1 on the deco specific logo as well, very nicely done! Keep those progress pics coming as you can, keep up the great work! J
  2. I just want to mention that there should be a couple really good informative threads in this section. You should with some digging be able to find a few of them with the search feature. I'm sure you'll get some responses, but honestly there are just some extremely helpful threads that explain the needs of a bandsaw and what minimums one should look at. A few people have the 9" saws, though generally the 14" is suggested. I only could afford and fit a 14" saw from Grizzly, but I grabbed the extreme version over the others for a few benefits like the 1.5hp, has iron wheels instead of aluminum, ball bearing guides top and bottom, mini 6inch resaw fence, work light, cabinet stand, plus weighed more for added stability. It was also on sale at the time for a good $80-$100 cheaper than it is now and came with a free Timberwolf blade in addition to the generic one it came with, seemed a very good deal to me. I've been very happy and proud of my little grizzly saw, I wasn't expecting that much out of it, but I have been very pleased and its running stock right now, meaning I haven't even added any upgrades like better tires, springs or anything though I will especially if I put on a riser block. I think for many lower end saws like these, you must really take the time to set them up properly. If you can carefully follow directions, measure, and set it up right, they work well enough for the average hobbiest. Just my opinion though. I don't know the Rigid saws, one benefit I can think of for those is you could pick it up instead of paying for freight with Grizzly. Again, check out the search feature and limit the search to this section because I know of a couple threads that I used for my research when buying a saw, they were very helpful. Best of luck to you. J
  3. Wow, the body is looking real nice! That should make for an excellent player, plus that piece of wood is beautiful. Unfortunate about the neck route, stuff happens and you learn from it, no better way to improve really. I keep staring at the pic cause it looks close to salvageable, but the bottom of the route might just come to close to the edge of the final neck taper and would show out the side or end up getting carved into when shaping. Its hard to tell without having the template and neck in hard to see, but even if not at least it wasn't an extremely expensive piece really. Hopefully, TH&H have some more for you to grab for your neck. Anyhow, its looking good Dave, keep up the good work. J
  4. I usually try to use 3/4" MDF for my templates. Sometimes I might start with a thinner template and use that to transfer to the 3/4" MDF. If need be you could still space it with something as you were talking about, but usually you'd be alright. I would mention also that I have some template bits with a shallower cut as well, maybe 1/2" depth in cut. It can be useful to have them for certain jobs like angled neck pockets or when cutting the ledge for the electronics cavity cover. With that shallow depth in cut, I can use my 3/4" MDF templates and route for the cavity cover easily. So, really you have a couple options, grab a shallower cutting template bit or transfer your templates to some 3/4" MDF. Honestly I'd do both since those bits work well for certain jobs anyways. Hope that helps some. I'm sure there are other ways as well. Best of luck. J
  5. I actually hand cut the scarf and used the plane with the piece aligned just like that. Just stuck them in a vise nice and snug, got my plane blade amazingly sharp and was very careful. I don't even think I had to sand at all afterward, but I'd imagine sandpaper on a plane would work fine as well. I find always having a scraper handy is helpful, as they tend to offer a better gluing joint I believe over sandpaper. So, if I sanded instead of using the plane, I might lightly scrape before gluing. Rockler has a couple types and a burnisher if you want one. They actually shave a lot of time off sanding I find(pun intended). J
  6. As has already been stated, its a nice traditional/classical style that should suit your project very well. And even though it may be similar to many as the case with nearly every 3x3, its always a nice feeling to have drawn it up yourself. Rock it proud. J
  7. It never hurts to shop around. Honestly when I went to buy some tone pros locking bridge posts, I went straight to stewmac. Then when I saw the $8.50 or so shipping on a near weightless item I thought to look around. Not only was I able to find them elsewhere for $4 or $5 less, but I found free shipping as well. So I saved quite a few bucks just by checking around. I always keep stewmac as one of the places to look, but I try to shop around before buying from them. For example, Lee Valley(leevalley.com) sells some hand cut rasps, under the shaping section in woodworking. They sell the #49 & #50 Nicholsons pattern makers rasps and their own hand cut rasps, as with the price I'd bet you'd notice a difference between the two brands. You can buy the hand cut ones starting at just over $20 for the smallest one. The nice Nicholsons are a bit more $48.5 for the #49 and around $57.5 for the #50. Thats just one place I could think of off the top of my head, I'm sure you could find another few places that deal in woodworking items. Those Dragon Rasps look pretty nice, although getting that nice set Myka pointed out sounds like a good deal on some nice rasps. I'm also curious of woodenspokes question, if anyone can compare the Dragons rasps with the Nicholsons #49-#50. J
  8. I think my new press has a decent depth stop mechanism, which will be useful. As you suggested about setting the table to use as a depth stop, this would actually work and is what I always did with my old press. If you have a benchtop style press, I would place some support beneth the table, so you'll have little variance in cutting depths. With the flex of those tables, you could end up with some uneven holes. I usually have some scrap wood lying around and this is how I judge the depths, some scrap and calipers. FWIW I try to leave the forstner bits shy of the final depth by a bit so I can come through with the router and have nice clean pockets and cavities. Obviously, this is completely neurotic and pointless, but I prefer it this way, though some wicked "Tone Divots" sound cool, unless Mattia decides to patent that one J
  9. I will be trying a similar method, but using a jigsaw instead of a bandsaw. I have an older, but big and solid hand-held jigsaw that has survived much punishment builting speaker cabinets. I will see how it goes. That's how I built my first 10 or so guitars. Works just fine until you discover the joys of bandsaws and never want to go back +1 times a million on that. I only managed to afford a 14" grizzly saw(extreme), but I love it. It can do a lot and does it well. With some serious reading, tweaking and aligning, they work great. Can't wait to trick it out a bit as well. My nice jigsaw hasn't seen much action because of the bandsaw, though I still dig that hitachi jigsaw, I like their router combo set as well, they suit my needs nicely. J
  10. A quality jigsaw would likely work alright. When my old jigsaw died out on a template, I picked up a new one. It was the Hitachi saw(5.8amps), easily recognizable by the strange alien looking green saw. It was on sale for a few bucks off and had all that I wanted. I believe that thing could handle sawing a body blank. It says in wood it can cut 4 5/16", but I wouldn't want to do much more than a body blank in hardwoods. I love that little saw, its pretty wicked all around, kills that old saw I had that burnt out. There were more expensive saws on the shelves that I looked at as well, but that one had all the features I wanted and was well priced. For cutting the body blank I would cut carefully making sure to keep the blade as vertical as possible, I would also likely drill a couple holes in the sharp corners or tricky areas to prevent problems and make cutting the corners easy. I would then use a router with a template to finish up the final shape. Just another possibility. J
  11. Very cool stuff! I always get a kick out of your "scene" inlays, they are just amazing. I truly wish my best friend played guitar cause I'd definitely contact you for a similar take on the Quail/Dog inlay. Wow, that was such a cool inlay and would suit my friend. I'm still trying to find a way to fit it into something else, maybe a gun stock? I'll figure it out one day. Anyhow great work, very cool. That board would have perfectly fit one of Draks southwestern teles, when he was on that kick. Best wishes Craig. J
  12. Very neat stuff and great work! As for the epoxy, do you ever run into a couple bubbles surrounding the inlays? If so, do you bother attempting to fix them? Or do you have methods to preventing them? I ended up with a couple when doing my inlays mixed with some fine wood dust for color and I don't think adding epoxy would help, though maybe some thin CA would work, not sure though haven't tried that one. Again, excellent thread, really interesting stuff. Great pictorial. J
  13. Yes, I believe that was Wez latest build with the recessed strap lock. It was what came to mind as I read this, it really was a really cool idea that turned out much better than I would have imagined it. Definitely something I found cool and fuctional. Might be worth a shot in this situation, though some minor touchups may be a requirement to make it look nice, still may be well worth it for function and looks. J
  14. Carbon Fiber rods never hurt and definitelty add something to the neck. However, one piece mahogany necks have been used for a long time now, they don't seem to be especially prone to issues really and if you are laminating 3 pieces you are even less likely to run into problems. So the use of carbon fiber is totally up to as far as I see. There is thread about cheap places to buy CF rods and what its benefits are, you may want to check it out. I ended up buying my carbon fiber from Los Alamos Composites, the 1/8" X 3/8" X 18" rods. Since then I have seen cheaper places, but I liked the fact that I didn't have to do anything other than epoxy the rods in, most of the places you find it cheaper you will end up cutting the stuff to fit, not a big deal, but this was easy, plus I didn't know of the other places when I bought these. This is Setch's page and he has some info on doing scarf joints and even gluing up a laminate mahogany neck, worth a look, plus a bunch of other neat stuff. I really found his scarf idea to be super helpful. As for the thickness of the neck, it depends on the type of headstock you want and how thick the heel needs to be, with a scarfed headstock and a regular bolt on heel you can get away with a much thinner neck blank, 1.5 should be plenty enough in that case. Best of luck with everything and hope it all works out for you. Let me know on if you do need that router, I got it for like $40 practically new and while I put it to use a little bit, its still in fine shape and you're more than welcome to it. J
  15. I think you may lose much of your height adjustment and/or not have a perfectly flat table, which it needs to be. For router tables, some use metal inserts to hold the router that way you can have a very thin piece which leaves you most of your height adjustment, it sounds like you may be short on height adjustment as it is. Personally I might be nervous making some type of router table out of those stands, even with a proper router table I get nervous with an extremely sharp bit spinning from 25,000 to 30,000 rpm right in front of me. Its your choice, but I think I'd prefer just holding it.I prefer router tables, but prefer a nice and heavy table with metal insert to offer some safety. I saw quite a few router tables for sale on craigslist a while back, I'm sure you could find one, or as I did buy one from Rockler, it was just the table top part with the metal insert. Its decent, you just setup some leg system and you're good to go. Its nice because you can take apart the legs and pack it away anywhere as its just a table top essentially. Plunge routers are often suggested for doing cavities, but there are ways around them by using a drill press with a forstner bit to get the holes started and such. If you ever find the need for a plunge router I have one that I got off craigslist that I don't use much since I bought my Hitachi fixed/plunge combo set. Its a Ryobi 2hp plunge router, both 1/2" and 1/4" capable, works well and even has speed adjustment which is very nice when you find the wood burning or not cutting properly. Just a thought. It what I used to do all my work, I only just got my new hitachi, only used it once or twice and I already love it. Also, the maple/jatoba/maple neck blank I cut my neck from, there should be plenty enough for another neck. What type of headstock are you looking for? A straight one or angled? If angled are you planning on a scarf joint? That way I can figure the thickness you would need in a blank and see what I got left of it. Here is a pic before I cut my neck from it, its not high dollar or special, but should make for an alright first neck, in the pic I think I had it wiped with some naptha to show what it looks like, Neck Blank. Just throwing it out there as you wouldn't have to worry about screwing it up or losing money on it. But if doesn't suit your project or you just wanna do it all yourself, no biggie. I think its length would make it only useable for a bolt-on, though it may work for a set neck depending, I just used it for a bolt on. Best of luck in starting your project too. There are some great books out there you may want to check out as well, many of these answers are all explained in details better than some of us could explain. They are really helpful and well worth the purchase and anything you don't find in them, the guys here will have answers for. J
  16. One thing I might mention is that most people here will tell you to stick with original titebond over any of the other versions. I have not tried them, so I cannot say personally, but I know enough people have said this to make me stick with original titebond. I would try and exchange what you have for the original, maybe some of the others can explain exactly what those problems are with the other versions. I just don't remember, though I have read about this numerous times. As for the router bit, you don't necessarily need a 2" inch cutting length and personally, I don't like having that much of a cutting length, though if you cut in small enough amounts it'd be fine. With templates the nice thing even if you used a 1/2" or 3/4" bit, that first 1/2" of the body you routed can now become your template as the bearing can now run along this portion as it will be exactly the same as the template. Just be careful that you use some decent double sided tape and maybe some clamps to ensure that your template stays in place. Some people and some woods can get dents around the body from the bearing or if the bearing goes bad, you can get burns, though I end up sanding after the routing anyways, so its of no concern. A 1/2" or 3/4" bit should work for your cavities as well, maybe get one of each because sometimes depending on the depth of the route, like say the neck pocket, a 3/4" might be too tall if depending on how you route it. Will you be using a router table or just a fixed or plunge router? I'm just trying to throw some thoughts out there, I'm sure some others here will have some better info and specifics, I'm just going off of some things I ran into. As for the neck you can generally get away cheap wood wise. For mine I just found some regular hard maple, and a thin piece of jatoba which is cheap and made a 3 piece neck. The price does go up though as you buy truss rods, possibly carbon fiber rods if you want, fretwire, and so on. I'd probably buy a slotted fretboard, but that is up to you. If you check under the public classifieds section here at PG on the second page Eric sells fretboards, I think the thread is Fretboard Extravaganza. Just type in the length, width, and thickness and choose what wood and scale you want slotted and you'll get a price, you can even have him radius it for you, which if you don't you'll need to buy a radius block to do it yourself. As I think someone might have already said earlier, try to buy tools as you require them because there are so many ways to do things that your project may not require certain tools or may require very specific tools. J
  17. That's just not correct. More exposure to UV turns purpleheart brown, not more purple. I don't know that wohzahs statement is 100% wrong as a few people will tell you directly after sanding or cutting when it looks all pale, that if you put it in the sun for a bit it will bring that heavy purple back fairly quickly and I've done this with a piece I have and it happened. I did a lot of asking and looking around about this when I first got a piece and honestly I still don't know for certain. I've seen pieces of indoor furniture turn that same brown after a time, without really any significant source of UV. I think UV probably plays apart, though I have a suspicion that oxidation plays a role as well. There are a lot of different ideas out there I've read from people who use it all the time to people who have been harvesting the trees themselves for a long time, nothing really I've found to be an exact answer. Not to mention that some of those people have found different pieces or trees that act different from each other. The UV thing seems the most suggested, though I don't really think its the whole reason. I think that probably a nice UV clear coat will offer the longest solution as you are sealing it to some degree and offering UV protection. Who knows though, I've heard and read so many different opinions when I looked for an answer and many conflicted so, ?? is what I came to. J
  18. Whhooww wwooww, yes that is the piece! I think it stood out the most of all your sets on the first day, yet I didn't see it go toward the end, the entire time my jaw was sitting on ground that no one grabbed that up as fast as they could. Its just an amazingly beautiful set, how would you even go about binding that set, ebony or maybe just some more curly walnut or maybe koa. I just don't know that I'd want to do any contrasting binding to take away from that b/s set. Anyhow, yes that was the exact piece I had in mind Rich, truly some phenomenal walnut you Mattia came up on. J
  19. Yes, thanks Chris that was the stuff I was referring to, wheew man that is nice stuff, there was another piece with more light wood along the center and stronger curl, I'd probably end up putting the wood in a picture frame instead of using it. Had the swap taken place a couple weeks from now, I'd probably had myself a set of that walnut or that full set of Koa(front,B/S, set#1) as I've been in love with that particular light colored cut from the last swap. That super curly mahogany was amazing also, don't know if I've ever seen mahogany that figured, it was quite a sight it was interesting seeing the up close shots of the grain on that one, different than I would have expected. I'm gonna start stashing money now for the next swap, the last two came at the worst times for me, I won't let it happen again!! Maybe by then I can finish up my electric and get started on making a bending machine and such. Thanks for posting that pic. Jason
  20. I'm curious to see what other people have to say about their work with Jatoba. I bought a piece for a neck lamination and cavity cover lam, and part of the piece worked fine with little trouble, though still harder and more brittle than most other woods I've touched, but the other part of the piece was tough to work with, the only time I could scrap or plane the stuff, was just after sharpening my blades to the best of my ability and even that would only last a short time before it started tearing and chipping some. It definitely seemed tough on the tools and on me and I think apart of my problem was the grain direction of the part I had trouble with. With it being such a hard wood and kinda brittle from what I saw, I can't imagine it would be very friendly in doing any type of profiling like round overs or beading with a router. In my neck lam it worked fine because the most of the real blade work I did was from the spokeshave and handplane, which actually cut it alright when I made 100% sure that blade was as sharp as I could manage. I don't think the mahogany would be as much of a problem as Jatoba, though I think any profiling like this can be prone to tear out for guitars. J
  21. Do you have a pic of the one with the lighter wood in the center, it was one of the last sets to go at the swap, that one was wheeewooowwee. That stuff is just incredible. I remember hearing about those twin billets a while back and recall seeing a couple pics of Mattia's billet in his workshop pics. J
  22. There is another piece of the amazing stuff going right now, its a cleaner piece, but maybe not as deep as that other one, extremely close though and as I said the back looked cleaner. It was around $610 when I looked and will probably get right back up where that other one was. A question that came to mind when you posted Rich, it seems as though much of this sellers pieces are sold at 3/4 way dry or at least of what I have seen. I have had these guys along with another 4 or 5 places on EBay marked for a few years now. I'm curious of what benefits and cons would they run by selling at 3/4 dry? It would seem if they based any of the price off weight, they could make more money, but I doubt thats how they go about it. So, why? Would there be any benefit for the customer in terms of aclimation of the wood, do you run any less risk, by getting the piece shipped before its completely dry? Obviously, as you said, a piece that is not dry runs the risk of twisting or cracking as it finishes drying, especially all the figured and burled stuff they sell. The buyer will also pay more in shipping with a 3/4 dry piece, so it just sounds like fully dry would be the preferred to sell these pieces at this point for both the business and consumer? The only thing in my mind that would outweigh those reasons, is if you run less of a chance in having problems aclimating the wood during and after shipping. By that I mean if you shipped from an extreme to extreme weather condition, do you run less of a risk if the wood wasn't fully dried yet or does it not matter? Just curious. Either way that place sells some amazing looking stuff that always has me tempted, if I didn't have any local places to look, I'd probably gone broke by now. J
  23. Ouch Avenger you just missed your best opportunity to get some wood, lol. Over at OLF there is a swapmeet or sorts every so often and one just ended or is about to end. I'm looking forward to trying one of these blades out soon. From everything that I've heard from a number people, sounds like they are well worth the money, well at least some of them. Its always nice to get some experiment results from people to get an inside look at how the comparison in products turned out. Very helpful when one is trying to figure out what to purchase and whether the product is suitable for the intended work. I'm curious to see how the timberwolf turns out, first starting out I had heard good things about them, then bad things, but I ended up with one that was a bonus for buying my saw, a general one wood cutting blade. And it seems nice for now, we'll see down the line, though I can say it was much better than whatever blade that came on the saw itself. J
  24. I think its pretty close, of course this is yours so what you like is the final opinion that matters. I like the shape, the one difference I might try is lowering the waist a tad on both sides. It seems a tad high up on the guitar, like there is too much bottom on it, its a tough change to make though without altering the whole look too much. I went through this whole process on my current project, I probably drew up over a 100 different tweaks on a design, the finished result was quite different than the original though still had that influence. After getting a drawing I liked, I would cut out the to-scale sized drawing on constuction paper and look at it, compare it, and feel it. Then move to the template once I knew it was what I want. I even ended up making changes after the initial template also. Again, its yours so what looks best to you is what you want, but don't settle make sure its what you want, sometimes original designs take a long time to get right. I think it's going to make for a great project when completed. J
  25. Yeah, another bookmark to add to my guitar list!! I always think I have enough of them, then I'll find another bunch of good ones. I'm now having to scroll the list on my 17" screen, lol, just way too many options for an indecisive person to have. It'll probably now take me a week to decide on where to order my next lot of bits from
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