M_A_T_T

To those who question Drak smashing his guitars: Drak is a talented builder, and has been building guitar bodies for over tens years as I understand. His guitars, when finally finished, are probably quite good, and better than most members of this forum can produce. Because of this, Drak has extremely high standards when it comes to the quality of his work, as he has tried to explain already. For those that say he should keep them as wall hangers or give them away, you haven't been building guitars for very long. First of all, most builders won't want something that in their eye is a POS hanging around in the shop or living room as their 'inspiration', or have to explain to people that come over, "Oh, it's not my best work, bla bla bla..." and they CERTAINLY wouldn't want to just give it away or sell it because their POS would be out their with their name on it. I used to think my earliest instruments were great, even sold a few, but now regret doing so as I see them as kinda crappy compared to what I'm doing now, especially the very first one a I sold....if I still had it today I'd likely take it to the 'ol bandsaw and turn 'er into scrap! Another example: remember that flamed koa ukulele I had in GOTM a few months back? I built another one similar to it about a year earlier, AAAA-AAAAA flamed koa body, bound top to bottom in ebony.... It was quite good, but over time something about it bugged me, and I eventually smashed it up and threw it out. I could have easily sold it for even a few hundred $$$ but didn't want something I saw as a POS out there with my name on it. If you stick with a craft such as instrument building, or furniture building or painting or any art form for that matter, and persistanly pratice producing the very best quality work you can, you'll eventually get to a certain level where you'll be extremely strick concerning the quality of your work and the tiniest flaw will not be acceptable, only perfection. Those who question Drak's methods are simply not at that level yet. This is why there are builders like Perry & Drak, and then builders like Je...well, we don't need to bring him into this. PS, Drak, if this makes no sense let me know.

If you go the the very last post of the 5-string bass pictorial, you will see a link I posted to my new website listing most of the original pictures: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...ndpost&p=195177 The first time I read that tutorial I had the feeling Jeff never actually performed the operation....

Mahogany and Walnut officially sold. Karimaruthu acoustic set no longer available. Thanks.

"Flickr" is a bad word for a gay person in Dutch........and although I have nothing against gay people.....I just don't see myself using this service. And I like photobucket anyway. Although uploading in bunches would be nice feature to have. ← You can do that in photobucket. "Submit Multiple Pictures". It's the first drop down box in the add pictures thing. You can submit up to 19 pics at once. I just feel bad for your internet ← He may mean LOTS of pics. With photojerk you can upload 50MB zips, very handy when you have 100's of pics you need to upload.

There are definately some first class instruments being produced by people on this site. I'm amazed....had to vote for the bass thought, great job Phil!

I just got a Nicholson 8" half-round double cut bastard file yesterday. Very nice.

Yup. They are all on my computer and on a jumpdrive as well.

To actually make the neck you'd need a saw, like a bandsaw, to cut it out, a router for the truss rod, clamps, as stated, though I use about as many as I can fit, a drillpress for accurate tuning machine holes, some combination of a spoke shave/rasps/files/sanding drum for shaping the neck. You'd need a jointer and maybe a planer, or even handplanes, if you want to surface the wood yourself. Then theres all your fretting tools. You should check the pinned thread about guitar building tools at the top of this section.

Yeah, it's probably just birch or something then.

It better not, I have over 500 pics uploaded!

What's your neck made out of? I read through some of your posts and didn't get an exact answer, but I get the indication it's maple...? If it's maple you didn't need to grain fill in the first place. I don't think grain filler would be a problem with tung oil, but regular tung oil kinda blows as a finish anyways, it soaks in too much, and can take a while to dry. I'd personally use a product called Tru-Oil instead, you can get it at Walmart. You can actually apply oil finishes with sandpaper directly, sanding the oil into the wood creating a slurry that get's into the pores as you finish it, but this is only necessary on an open pored wood, if you want the pores filled. Also, how much did you sand the neck? I would always go to around 1500grit as I recall, feels nicer the smoother you can get it.

The blotchyness tells me it's stained. The wavyness in the last picture reminds me of a desk I had that I figured to be figured red wood once I took off the finish...at least the top of it was. I would carve out a hunk to get under the finish, or maybe sand off some of the finish to get a better look.

I think Mahogany is around $13 BF at Windsor. If your blank is 2" x 14" x 22" it would be $56.

There's a place on the island called West Wind Hardwoods. You could check them out, I think they're in Sydney. I've only ever had bad experiences with them, though.

I would think there are lots. I live in BC, with three windsor plywoods withing driving distance.

Looks like the Walnut is sold, and the Mahogany is still pending.

If you went with wood wheels I would use a very high-grade plywood myself, not solid wood, as there's less chance for warpage. The tires wouldn't be too hard to find if you made the wheels a standard size...maybe model your design off an existing machine? Do have any idea what to do for the wheel tracking/adjustment?

Smaller wheels may ot be very wide, though. If you were able to find wheels that could take a wide blade, say at least 1"(because this is for resawing), they would probably be large. I've seem an issue of popular mechanics from years ago where they show you how to make a plywood frame bandsaw. The wheels were made from 2" thick plywood, or something like that.

Why do you want to make one? The larger sized bandsaws aren't tooexpensive. You can just get a riser to go to 12" with most 14" bandsaws. Delta actually makes three versions of is 14" - the standard 3/4HP, plus a 1HP and a 1.5HP, if you were worried about HP. I think in the end it could get expensive making a saw - motor, wheels, tracking system, frame, table, etc.

A bank. I gotten several money orders from my bank is US dollars. Also, the Mahogany is on hold right now someone.

Thanks david. He sells violin/cello tops on ebay. Been looking for a nearby source for that stuff.

Yes. See if you can, or even want to do it. I had those dreams, and spent a few years and thousands of $$$ equiping my shop with big power tools to build guitars faster and easier, but by the time I had the final power tool I figured I needed, I had completely lost interest in making guitars. Now I find myself using about 85% hand tools making my first violin, and have even pondered selling some of my big machines...

The Mahogany is from my old highschool. It had been sitting on the lumber rack for a quite a few years. The walnut is off ebay. The acoustic set is from a luthier friend. I buy most of my 'regular' woods from Windsor Plywood, a Canadian retailer.

I didn't know Sears carries Delta. I have that saw, works great.

You will spend ALOT more money buying the tools to surface the wood yourself. Just buy a joined/surfaced body blank from StewMac, or whoever.