Exoticwood

I also have a Harbor Freight around the corner, was just there and there is a Japanese saw that has a .024 kerf. I think it was around 8.00 it was about a 10 inch long blade. Take a caliper with you to measure. Just because it says .024 doesn't mean it really is. You can reduce the kerf by lightly tapping on the side of the blade teeth.

If you have a Harbor Freight near by I'm pretty sure they have the Japanese saws as well, take a mic with you to measure it though.

I have a 10"x4/4 x 8' piece of bloodwood but it is much redder than yours. Is the computer graphics changing the color towards orange or is that a good representation of the color.

I bought the Harbor Freight 1 ton Arbor press, Drilled the hole for the Stew Mac Fret press caul holder in the ram, you really have to use a drill press for this because you need to make sure that the hole you drill into the end of the arbor is parallel to the sides so the set-up on the drill press takes some time. (clamp everything securely) I also drilled into the face of the ram and tapped it for a 1/4 - 20 set screw to hold the caul holder from falling out or twisting. I have a really stuffed shop wit no room to work efficiently and the whole job took about 2 hours. I'm sure a more organized person could do it in an hour or less. The whole set-up works great. Could you perhaps post a picture of what you did? I've been wanting to this for quite some time. A couple things I was worried about of course was drilling a completely centered hole and I wasn't sure how to not have it fall out. Also, the base where the neck would rest while pressing the frets is pretty blunt with sharp edges, did you modify it so that your neck can fit snugly so that it won't dent? Thanks! I'd love to see this I don't have Picts. But it looks exactly like the Stew Mac version. I just completely copied their version. I also was worried that the center hole in the ram be correct, that's why I used my drill press. I put the Platen of the press parallel to a chucked steel rod, I laid the platen right up against the rod and then tightened all the adjustment bolts well. Then I clamped the ram from the press to the platen while using an adjustable parallel block to center the chucked drill bit on the end of the ram. Then I drilled in about 2 inches and was done with that operation. Next measure where the indent on the shaft of the caul holder is and transfer that measurement to the ram, this is so you drill the set screw on the ram in the correct spot. I don't remember the hole size for the main ram end hole, I just measured the ram's diameter. I bought at Home Depot a packaged set of drill bit and 1/4-20 tap so I knew the ram set screw hole I was going to drill would be the right size. I drilled the hole in the face of the ram centered on the main hole I drilled in the end of the ram and at the point where it would intersect with the notch in the caul holder properly and drilled that. Then I tapped the hole and bought a set screw at Harbor Freight around the block. I then reassembled the arbor and it was a win win situation. To deal with the bottom of the arbor base being all metal you need to make a wooden U shaped block. You could mold something out of that friendly plastic Stew Mac sells, but I would choose the stuff that Dentists use to make a mold of your mouth when you need dentures. I have some I've never used so that's still experimental and unproven as of yet. So that's how I converted my Harbor Freight Arbor press, it even looks good!

I bought the Harbor Freight 1 ton Arbor press, Drilled the hole for the Stew Mac Fret press caul holder in the ram, you really have to use a drill press for this because you need to make sure that the hole you drill into the end of the arbor is parallel to the sides so the set-up on the drill press takes some time. (clamp everything securely) I also drilled into the face of the ram and tapped it for a 1/4 - 20 set screw to hold the caul holder from falling out or twisting. I have a really stuffed shop wit no room to work efficiently and the whole job took about 2 hours. I'm sure a more organized person could do it in an hour or less. The whole set-up works great. 9

I was just looking at this topic again and I see that the lowly jigsaw has been questioned as a hard tool to have to rely on for this hobby. I have actually cut out large 8/4 walnut to shape with an Orbital Bosch jigsaw. The orbital action made it cut like butter. If you have never used one of these saws you are missing out on one of life's quickest cutting tools. Bosch makes an aggressor blade that is 3" long, I think you could chop down a tree with it. And of course the band saw it my go to tool for shape cutting but that jigsaw is sure fast!

Gotta say Soap, I love that tool! Isn't it great when a plan comes together, better yet when a tool gets custom made for it's exact purpose. You are a tool maker, we tool makers can trace our roots to the earliest cave men. With out us how would the wheel have ever been made. Well now that I've gone on about it I guess it's time to go find out what my wife wants me to do, Mrs. cave man wants some work done around here, something about the lawn.

I am entering the discussion with a thought that may help you. I also have multiple high quality band saws however you can make what you have(are buying) work for you. Here is my advise, do your best to make the adjustable pieces of the blade guiding mechanisms as rigid as possible. If you have some lignum vitae wood make your guide blocks out of them. It is very hard and slippery. You can also use any hard and slippery wood. Apple works well too. Think out of the box here, all a bandsaw is is a blade rolling on two adjustable wheels with guides to keep the blade stable where it enters and exits the wood. Think how you would keep the blade stable and use what you have available. I once had a butchers meat saw that was very heavy duty and also very crude. the guides might have been from the stone age. I spent some time thinking how I could make the blade not wiggle when it entered and exited the wood and it cut really well when I did a little adapting and rigging up. Try to be aware of the blade tensioning adjustment and how it can throw off the blade tracking on the wheels, more tension than the saw can handle can twist the saw frame and keep the blade from tracking well. Also use the best blade you can afford. Another thing, the more teeth per inch is not necessarily going to give a smoother cut. The thickness of the wood you are cutting helps determine the TPI. Thicker wood ~ less TPI. When you cut thicker wood the tooth gullet has to store the saw dust till the blade exits the wood. When you cut thicker pieces of wood the gullet fills up fast, when it's full the wood dust needs to go somewhere so it spills out the side of the blade, when it spills out the side it will push the blade away from the line you are trying to saw to. It can also give you convex and concave spots within the cut itself. There are many tricks you can employ to make your saw work well. These are only some ideas, others can add to this and or disagree if they want to.

I tried dousing the wood with Chlorox and the surface looked a little better but I think that trying a dedicated wood bleach (which i understand is not chlorine based) might work better. I can say that as far as approaching bleach white Chlorox did not work. Not to hijack this thread, the Pear I have is far whiter than I have seen in Maple or the Holly I have. This is air dried Pear not the European steamed Pear that we usually see on the market here. Steamed Pear is steamed specifically to bring out the pink in the wood. I have a good amount of 5/4 Pear in the rough but only 1 piece of it in 8/4. That piece has a good twist in it ~ do you think in your experience that after flattening it will want to twist again? I was really hoping to use it as neck wood.

I had some Holly sawn for me and stickered in a pile of multiple other species. This was protected from the weather but still open to the atmosphere and it did blue stain. The problem with blue stain is it goes through the thickness of the wood and it isn't really blue, it's an ugly gray color. That being said, you can stain it black and it makes a great ebony substitute. I've read a few articles in FWW that suggest Holly as a great substitute for ebony because it takes black dye so well and it has almost no pores that you can see. I guess that's what makes it a great ebony substitute. On another note some of that other species was Pear and if I can ever get motivated I want to build a PRS McCarty copy with it. I had a bad case of TAS and WAS and now I can't walk into my shop to work!

MK, Thanks for the link. I can see this is the way to go on this subject. I am jigging up to start finally building some guitars. With wife and daughter, time is short and re-thinking ways to accomplish all the different operations is just not possible. I can see the amount of work you put into the design and execution of this jig. Many thanks for the time you saved me. ~~~ Jim

I am not an expert on frankenstruts, but~ there is a really great U-tube video of Paul Unkert at NAMM describing in detail the Kramer versions which he hand made for Eddie. The bodies were poplar because they resonated the way Eddie liked. Also the necks were carved thin to Ed's liking. I am lucky to be friends with a group of people who get together and play and Paul is part of that group. He's a great guy and sells his own brand of guitars that are not strat types but he puts into use the lessons learned from 30 some odd years of professional building and repair. He has worked on some of mine and they come back playing like silk. His company is UNK guitars. There is a web site ~ Google it and it will show up. I do not have any affiliation with UNK and he really only knows me as one of the guys who shows up to play occasionally. I have always wondered if he is a member of PG. Hey Paul are you in here? Jim

I know this is an older thread ~~~ but ,, I just went to Myka's site again and I really fell in love with this guitar all over again. I thought my lusting after other peoples creations was over ~~~ but I,m still a sucker for his stuff !!!

Looks Good , just wondering if you are from Neptune NJ?

Pear, as mentioned before can be had as steamed European variety ~ or American, which is not usually steamed. Steamed has pinkish tone to it while not steamed is white. Both have very tight grain and hand plane like a dream. Both are hard like maple and take stain exceptionally. American is very hard to find but European is much easier. Once you work with pear you will be spoiled and jaded !

That's a very pleasing shape, very well thought out composition. Also like the constellation idea.

Ok, now ~ that was fantastic, I don't usually read all of the intricate details of these types of debates but I got sucked into the snappy repartee' ( have no idea if i spelled that right ). As a personality study it was really interesting and stimulates my quest to understand human behavior. Can't draw any conclusions because I don't know either of you, however it does give me pause to ponder and for that I thank you both.

You know if I was entering a password on a computer I would have gotten that ~~ But I lose all sense of time when I get on this forum HA HA Thanks for the clarification

hyunsu are you here till 2-11-08 ? Because You have in your post 2-11-07 and that has already passed

Though I don't do much work on guitars, I had the same problem with mine. I also wanted to thickness some very thin stock so I made a sled to send the wood through on. Made all the difference. Sled was a piece of 3/4" MDF, or can be high grade plywood, covered with sand paper,on the up side, to stabilize the board, and had a stop on the end just a little lower than the intended thickness of the finished stock to be planed. In some species of wood I could plane down to 1/10th of an inch in quartersawn. Hope this helps ~ it really did wonders for me. Also sled needs to be about 8 inches longer than board to be planed ~ distributed evenly on both ends.

Best cordless drill I've ever owned is the panasonic 15.6 vt one. I use it every day at my day job and after 4 yrs it and the batteries are still good (nickle metal hydride batteries used in thier drills are the best for multiple recharge.) Also little known fact is that Matsushita (panasonic)makes the bateries for most of the other companies. The drill has a ratchet 1 hand chuck of metal and doesn't show any signs of wear yet and it's real easy to use, only negative is price ~ about 219.00 , but you get 2 batteries and a 15 min charger. Best drill around IMO.

Thanks for the info, Ii was thinking that neck angle would be complicating things a bit. So recessed bridge makes sense here.

Southpa, make sure you get the scoop on preventing blue stain(fungus) on freshly sliced holly. Best time to cut it is in the dead of winter when it's too cold to grow. There is something you can put on the sliced wood to prevent it but I don't remember what it was. someting like baking soda. Check out th lumber milling sites for info. By theway it blue stains very easily, I know cause I have some! :o(

I understand being low on bucks but sharpening your chisels is an absolute must! Working with dull tools is very dangerous because you have to use excessive force which leads to explosive mistakes and chopped flesh! Get yourself the cheapest sharpening stone you can find, flatten it if it's not and get those tools sharpened, you'll feel like a craftsman if you do this. It's the process that is the fun of working wood, the product is a bonus.