komodo

3 hours ago, JayT said:

I also really like Scarlet Johansson, sadly both are beyond my reach at this point.

So, good news, Black Widow will be out in just a few days and she will be in your reach. Bad news, you will have to fight me for her.

Good news, you will have my wife on your side, and she doesn’t take crap from anyone.

I can't imagine getting Titebond in that small of a crack. Thin CA will wick right in.

Hope we get a video of Eruption when it's done. 

I used muratic acid, but fumed and not directly on it. You need to be able to wash it off, but I guess if you dabbed a tiny bit it should stop after it's tired?

6 hours ago, Drak said:

Google it 'neck pickup bass cut cap'. 

Lol, you learn something new every day. Thanks!
I'm not sure how I avoided that this whole time, as it's exactly like using a tweeter protection cap in my car system. Electrics do not come easily to me.

Now you guys have me on another goose chase as I was looking for A3 mags to try. I knew that Alnicos were 'graded' regarding their strength of magnetic pull going from A2-A8 or 9, but I did not know that A3 is actually the weakest but only in bar form. In rods, they are stronger than A2. Curious.

I've also got a theory to test. I've never been happy with most neck pups because they still sound kind of boomy. Certainly not great for high gain prog metal solos or palm muted chunks. After I built the metal tele and threw in the Duncan Black Winter in the neck on a whim, I was struck with how much I liked it though it was not really output balanced with the bridge. Maybe the high pull of the ceramic, is keeping the boominess in check, where in the bridge, something like an A2 or maybe A4 would allow for the low end to come out more with more mids. Not sure how much the magnet pull alters the string, it may be there was just much more output bringing the highs out.

I see a bunch of pup swapping in my future.

Duncan Custom is ceramic.

Custom Custom is A2.

The Custom 5 is A5 (doubt that its UO).

Custom 8 uses an A8. (Alternative 8 uses A8 and is 17k)

All are 14k.

Magnets are so inexpensive that having a whole set on hand to try out is doable. I've always wanted to try an A3.

16 hours ago, mattharris75 said:

Drilling the tuner holes before thicknessing the headstock...

IKR -I was sitting here thinking 'why didn't I do that?! What do I even do?! I don't know!'

Yeah, I noticed that missing wood. I don't think it was ever used as a guitar, probably was a kit? No idea. The frets have zero wear. The more I look, I think it's poplar or something very similar.

I've got lots of potential top plates if I want to plane it and re route the cavities. I really don't, and may end up using parts on had to get it playable, maybe use it as a test bed, not sure yet.

So, this oddity followed me home from Goodwill. I mean, I wasn’t going to leave it there!

My first thought was one of near anger! Who would do that?! Why? I live in a college town, where I was also an art student and suspect this was someone’s art chair project. Nevermind that, the neck is straight, frets have no wear, nice flame, the fretboard looks great, and the paddle head hasn’t even been cut. The truss adjusts at the nut, probably import. Not sure on the body wood, it seem to have a thin finish, or sanding sealer, not sure. The holes are easily filled, depressions on the back can be steamed / sanded out. All routing is done already, neck fits well. 

I’m not a tele man, mostly rock and metal. What would you do to this?! I’ll do anything. Relic, refinish, burst, solid, paisley, gold, beveling, carves, route for HB, active, trem, no trem, P90s, rails….. I have no idea right now. I’d rather not spend a ton, but I will if I have to. I’ve got tons of parts available. You tell me?! What would you do? Show me examples!

Good question. I'd say "not big long strokes along the face or edge of a board."

15 hours ago, ScottR said:

What is your fretboard wood? In a couple of pics it looks like cocobolo, in others East Indian rosewood.

That's immediately what I was wondering, it's a great piece of wood. Looks like EIR to me.

So, I just went down a plane rabbit hole recently.  Mostly because I was buying old ones and refinishing them which I found enjoyable, and also to 'try out" a few to see if I like a 3, 4, 5 or 5 1/2. For guitars, I got a couple Stanley adjustable-mouth,  low-angle blocks that are SO handy and great with figured woods. All of them are 1890 - 1950 and are noticeably better than any newer stuff.

One thing to note, the low-angle block plane uses the iron with the the bevel UP and has a 37 degree cutting angle which is a mix of the iron angle and the bevel - if you grind the bevel at 25 degrees. If you grind it at 30 as other irons, then you are at a 42 degree cutting angle which is almost the same as a bevel DOWN which is typically 44 degree.

Bevel up (low angle) don't have a chip breaker and can be slightly better for end grain but especially figured woods. You can also change the iron bevel if you wish.

Bevel down, has a chip breaker which can be tuned by grinding/sharpening it flat so there is no gap at all with the iron. When placed right up next to the cutting edge (~1mm) you will likely get a smoother cut and have easier work. But I don't think they are as good with small work. Thus the low angle block.

Limba is an absolutely fantastic tone wood. More tonier(tm) than most any other wood I’ve used. It has this incredibly resonant mid that just sings. It doesn’t stick out, but sounds like warm mahogany with a focused lively voice. I’d use it for the body and center core. I’ve not used walnut, but thought it was warm in tone? Your topwood is probably the one to consider most. Using any tonewood ‘recipe’ used by David is certainly going to be good. He absolutely knows and has tried most of them.

As much as I like the clear only, the burst on the spalt is killer. If it were me, I’d consider  a light burst. Just a darker honey around those edges keeping most of it clear. 

I’d love to see it. What amp design is it?

I've used that same Gotoh 510, but man oh man the Ibanez tailpiece and harmonica bridge is the perfect choice here.

I'd like to do a tour of all of Europe and visit every single person in their hometown. Or just go to Belgium and drink beer.

We have new found family in Eastern France near Geneva, and will most likely be making a trip there when Covid is taken care of.

I’m not even a Tele guy (though the metal tele I built is probably my most played guitar) and I’d pick both of those. The black guard on the first lets the oak speak louder, and the maple neck ties it together. The second looks like something Steve Morse would rip your head off with.

4 hours ago, Drak said:

Everybody has their own way, and I'm sure they all work. But to say 'you can be accurate other ways' implies some kind of lesser accuracy or less-than-dom, and I would disagree with that.

ZERO implications here!

If you fix the neck first, then mount the outer tuners and use a couple strings with your bridge, you can adjust the exact position and scale length.

You can still be accurate other ways, but two things you can really fine tune are: 1) space between outer strings and edge of fret board, and 2) scale length / adjustment range of your bridge. Sometimes those can be tricky because of string gauges, bridge style, multi-scale, etc. This is also a place where you can really check and fine tune the overall relationships of the neck height/angle, string height/action, bridge saddle adjustment. Hopefully it's all good at this point, but it's a good "safety net" step.

Yes non piezo. The one thing I really don't like, is all the very bridge specific holes/routes. I'm not sure why it bugs me with this one vs a TOM setup or something, but it does.

I grew up in Minnesota, and saunas were pretty common. Very large Scandinavian population there.
Similar to your saunas on hot days, we would eat ice cream on cold days. Actually makes you feel warmer.

Nice! I can't believe it's been that long since we've seen this.