thegarehanman

I've been using round tubes, but they're a pain to install because you have to make a filler strip to go on top of them to avoid any gaps or chance for rattling. I'll probably be switching to the hollow square ones.

For what it's worth, high grade carbon fiber and graphite rods have at least 10x the tensile and compressive strengths of 3140. I doubt jb weld is as strong as steel in all respects, and the graphite rods will do doubt be just as light or lighter than a channel filled with jb weld. Also, I'd venture to guess that the graphite rods would be cheaper if you looked around. I buy mine from hobby-lobby.com. Not the same store as Hobby Lobby, mind you.

gah! what about dunlop jazz II's?!

No, reread my earlier post a little more carefully. And it wasn't stained. Another method involves grainfilling first(typically with black grainfiller) and then spray a transparent color coat over the whole guitar.

Word, I've never seen mahogany with that color or that visible of a grain pattern. I think you've got something else, or something called "mahogany" that doesn't share many qualities with the genuine article.

Some bits with a guide bearing on the shank side, probably one 3/8" diameter bit and one 1/2" or 3/4" diameter bit would suffice. You'll want the larger one to have a fairly long cutter, so you can route out the full profile of your body using a template without maxing out the depth adjustment of your router. You may also want some roundover bits and/or binding bits(available from stewmac.com and lmii.com) depending on certain features of your build. Finally, you'll probably need a 3/16" or 1/4" bullnose bit to route the channel for you truss rod, depending on what type of rod you plan to use.

Thanks, matt. Building a mini guitar is a blast when you're trying new things because the small scale of everything makes each process go much faster. Getting the neck profile roughed out took only a few minutes. My only major concern was getting the neck stiff enough to stay straight despite 5/8" overal thickness and about 1" nut width, but with some graphite rods and a thin, single action truss rod, that ended up being no problem at all. peace, russ

Gibson style binding really has no benefits, asside from cosmetic ones, if that looks is really that important to you. It's really hard to refret a gibson style board, also.

the clumsiness marks get mixed in with the play marks. give it a few years. i guess i'm just a sucker for a beaten up axe

A guitar is not really a guitar until it has a history in the form of nicks, dents, and scratches. It's character, not a defect.

Eric, are those carbide tipped bits or just hardened tool steel? Or solid carbide perhaps? I ask because I have access to a cnc lathe and if those are just hardened tool steel, I may be able to make myself a set.

Another tid bit to get you thinking: I don't know exactly what you're planning, but fiberoptics might be a wise choice depending on the application. There are even kits for sale that include the light source and a bunch of fiberoptic wire

If the guitar does not have a 9v battery in it for current electronics, then you will need to install one to power the leds. The only power traveling through the actual guitar cable is generated in the pickups by the vibrating strings which is far, far too small to power leds. As for having the leds turn on when it's dark, you'll need an LDR, and a relay along with some resistors and leds, of course. What does all this mean, you ask? It means you've got some googling to do.

matt, I didn't stain that guitar. I sprayed it with transparent purple. I wanted the nuances of the swamp ash to stand out, but I could have just as easily sprayed it with solid purple. Make sure that the color coat is very thin, so the grain doesn't get clogged up. Then I mix some pigment, in this case white, with epoxy, and thin the epoxy with lacquer thinner. I spread the filler across the grain and scrape the excess off while it's still wet. Use a rubber squeegee for this so you don't scratch the sprayed finish. Wait for the epoxy to tack up then wipe it down with a rag that's been moistened with lacquer thinner. Reapply the filler and remove excess with a moistened rag as needed. It took me about 3 passes to get it completely filled and colored. I found that because the finish must be left thin enough to leave the grain mostly unfilled, that sanding the epoxy invariably leads to sanding through the finish, which means you need to sand everything off and start from scratch. EDIT: Something just crossed my mind. Be careful with the step where you wipe off the excess grainfiller. I used lacquer thinner which is fine for me since I spray an automotive grade finish which, when dry, can not be melted by lacquer thinner. However, I've not tried this method with other finishes. I'm sure many finishes could be destroyed during this step.

I like the a-symmetrical look more. The pointy butt one is nice too though, that profile reminds me a lot of myka's sungazer design

If I'm fretting a fretboard with material that won't shatter upon cutting(shell, although I just assume it will chip....i maybe wrong) or dull the saw prematurely(metal), I'll inlay first and slot after, so the slots go perfectly though the inlays. If I can't do that, I'll slot first and stop the inlay 1 or 2 mm before the fret slot, then continue it again on the other side 1 or 2 mm away from the fret slot. Once the fret is pressed into the board, you won't see the space anymore.

solid edge and solidworks are worlds apart. I can't stand solid edge

I will counter your difference of opinion with another difference of opinion! Bondo should not be sanded before fully curing, it will just gum up sandpaper. However, if you have a tough time with putting the bondo down so that it's almost perfectly in its final form when applied, then use a surform(you know, the over priced cheese graters at the hardware store) to remove the excess. I've put enough bondo down to know better than to use sandpaper on it too early.

You bunch of graphic art junkies....of course solidworks is the best way to do it! Then you can design in 3d and print out 2d blueprints based on the 3d design.

That looks fine, just do a few test runs with bondo first to get a feel for the right ratio. If i doesn't fully cure, this will happen again to a lesser extent. Can't recommend any books though as I learned about finishing by reading up whatever I could find on line and through trial and error. Oh, and while bondo says it's dry in half an hour, give it about a day to fully cure before sanding. Good luck peace, russ

Make a test piece of wood with some cured bondo on it and see what happens when you spray. The bondo should be ok on the guitar; it'll be less likely to crack than typical wood filler. I knew something like this was the issue. Why didn't you mention it from the beginning when I asked if you put anything on under the paint? The thing with bondo is that if you don't get the mix ratio right(normally that means not enough hardener), it will never fully harden and you'll get the same effects you're seeing here. If the bondo cures completely and is as hard as it can be, then you shouldn't have a problem. By the way, if all you do is paint your own guitars, you're never going to use all of that bondo.

The way I turn a sketch into a scale drawing is to draw a grid over body. This will make transferring the curves and general body dimensions a lot easier. Although, for a scale drawing, some sort of CAD program would make things go quicker as well.

I don't normally say this about rough sketches of guitars, but I like the design. However, I'd highly recommend you draw the whole thing out to 1:1 scale, hardware and all. You'll find that it may not look exactly the same when you sketch it to scale, as neck lengths, and various distances will have to change. peace, russ

This maybe too thick, but if you're looking for nomex(which is just another name for aramid in honeycomb form), you can get a 2'x4' sheet at .125" thickness for $35 at avtcomposites. The difference is about $4.50/sq ft at AVT vs. $8.50/sq ft at lmii. I've dealt with a few types of honey comb, not nomex, but you could likely sand it to thickness after adhering it to the substrate(soundboard). I've seen nomex soundboards before and a lot of builders cut out an area a few inches smaller in each direction than the soundboard, then taper it to nothing at the edges.

A damn shame too, I really love that swirl, one of my favorites by far.