shad peters

yeah you are right, nitric is some very dangerous stuff if you are handling highly concentrated amounts. and it should be dealt with with care. i keep it locked up with all my other finishing supplies, properly labled. you should take the same care when using it as you would with any other finishing chemicals. when it is highly deluted there is not as much serious risk, but you should still where gloves and the like when applying it.

yupp

that is kinda what i was thinking about doing but it just seemed a like it might not be the cleanest way to do it. i would be afreaid to use jigsaw though. i think if go that route then i will probably use a small thin bladed handsaw. and thank you sir

howdy folks, i have a question about mounting fender style 3 and 5 way switches. i have wired up a couple t-body guitars before using 3 way switches, but in that case i had the convenience of a control plate that was ready for mounting. on all my other guitar I have always used 3 way toggle switches which are as simple as drilling a hole. my most recent build will feature a more complex wiring scheme and needs a 5 way switch. i got one in the mail today from stewmac, and im not sure what the best way to mount this bugger is. i assume i am going to need to make a bed for it in the control cavity and take the thickness of the top down to around 1/8th in that area. what has got me stumped is how to make the little slot for it. it cant be more of than a 16th of an inch wide. i have a couple ideas for how i could do it, but there must be some simplistic common method for this out there. here is the guitar it will be going on CIMG1520 by Peters Instruments, on Flickr

ricky, there is no stain or or dye or anything like that in the solution, the color is actually the result of the reation. it actually physically changes the wood so there is no need for a stain. if you were to mix any stain or dye with the solution i think that you would have some weird stuff happen. you can use nitro or whatever you want over this finish, i prefer to oil all of my guitars before i spray nitro just becuase i like the slight amber hue that it gives in the finished product. lastly you could try a hair dryer, i havent so i dont know if it works or not. but honestly i really doubt that it would generate enough heat. you could also use a propane torch holding it vertically above the surface of the wood if you were very careful. you can get a heat gun from harbor freight for like 5 bucks that will do the job.

if i were you i would just dress them down, you could try and perpetually keep it in an environment that will keep the frets from protruding but that seems pretty annoying to me. if you dont take care of them sooner or later they will protrude again.

this is a really cool staining method that i learned from a blacksmith in west Virginia a couple of years ago. the first time i saw it i was amazed, not only are the results beautiful, but the process is just cool to watch. you start with a solution of 10% nitric acid and water (doesnt need to be exact just diluted considerably). i got nitric from the guy who taught, he used to work in a big chemical plant so he has a ton of it, otherwise im not realy sure where to get it but im sure you can find it somewhere. the acid has to be neutralized, the stuff i have was neutralized using steel wool. the solution will be totally clear and just look like water. once you make the solution here is the actual staining process. you start out by wiping the surface down with the solution, it doesnt need to be drenched but should have an even damp coat across the whole surface. after that you let it set until the surface is totally dry. the guy who taught me said to lay it in the sun to dry, i dont think this actually does anything but help it dry a little quicker though. when the guitar is dry it wont look any different than when you started but that is where the heat comes in. the guy who showed me was staining knife scales so for heat he just used a red hot piece of steel, for a luthier a heat gun is much more practical. start in one small area of the guitar and work it with the heat gun. i dont know the exact chemistry behind it, but my understanding is that the heat triggers a reaction between the nitric acid and the sugars in the wood. as the wood begins to heat up all the sudden before your eyes it will start to take on a beautiful amber to honey color gradually getting darker and spreading with the heat. keep the heat in one area until the color stabilizes and stops getting darker. When one area reaches a stable color move onto the next area until you get the whole of the guitar complete. after words i will coat it with danish or linseed oil. though i have only just begun experimenting with this staining method i love using it becuase it gives great depth and transparency to the wood and gives you that sense of being able to almost look into the finish. this of course can be accomplished in other ways but where the nitric wins out is in the ease of application. with very little work you can get a beautiful finish with lots of depth. where it falls short is in its limitations, you can only get one hue,so if you want some type of burst or for you guitar to be green then its out. the other pitfall is that no two pieces of wood are the same and even among the same species each piece will yield a slightly color from the next, and different species can yield very different results.

the hardest part with any fan is a bridge that can support the multi scale. if the nut is the perpendicular fret then the bridge will have the most extreme angle possible. i think it could be done but you are right it would have to be very small fan to keep the upper frets and bridge from having a really extreme angle.

thanks a lot everyone. i'll be pretty regular around here i think. Chris i did not even know this place or others like it existed, i sure wish i had a long time ago.

howdy folks, I am brand new around here, so i thought i would share a little bit of my work with the community. i started building about 6 years ago when i was 15 and these are just a couple of the guitars that i have done in the last year or so. looking forward to connecting more on this forum. let me know what you think!