thegarehanman

Actually, I think leaving the gold knobs on the tuners will be overkill. So that's exactly why I want different knobs: to avoid overdoing anything. I know if I don't overdo anything, I'll be deathly close to it anyhow. I can't match the tuners to the inlays, I don't have any regular MOP on the guitar, only gold MOP. And schaller only makes ebony and perloid knobs. Those are only $25 though. I used the perloid ones on my last guitar. I'm thinking the ebony might work out; it would match the fretboard, peghead, and the black purfing.

I just called LMII and they said they could give me an unradiussed 24 fret slot fret board, but it'd have to be a 24.625 scale, not a 24.75.

That's 1/8" shorter. You see going, 1/4" longer w/ the PRS scale is acceptable, but going shorter could be a problem. I'll need to get out a ruler check it out. I'm really ok with a minor changer to the scale lenght. If the bridge can afford to move forward 1/8" that'd actually be better in the long run. The way I have it set up, the 24th fret on a 24.75 scale falls pretty close to the end of the fretboard; like close enough to make you wonder if you're going to break the board.

Part of this is sleep deprevation. I've been up pretty late lately working on this guitar. Between my summer job and helping my Dad get his new business off the ground, I haven't had much time in the day to myself. I will attempt the repair, but if it doesn't look amazing...I will at the very least need a new blank. What's the point in spending all of this time if it's not all it can be? No point at all. I'll keep you updated on this. And as far as changing the scale by 1/4". All that would have to change would be the bridge placement; I haven't even drilled for that yet so it wouldn't matter. The pickups would be fine.

I thought about that, but this guitar has cost me $1700. I'd much rather just have a perfect fret board even if it costs a little bit more. If I cannot find what I need. I think I may switch to a 25" scale and use 23 frets rather than 24(stewmac carries teh 25" without a radius). I really don't want to use this fretboard. I'm sure you understand considering the circumstances.

I just slotted the fretboard for the guitar I'm building and what do you know, one of the slots is just slightly angled. There's no way I can use this fretboard with a clean conscience now. I need to buy a new fretboard so I figure I might as well save myself the trouble of slotting another one by buying a preslotted one. Here's the problem: I can't find a preslotted fretboard with a 24 3/4" scale, no radius, and 24 slots anywhere. StewMac only sells one that's preradiused. I looked through all of the suppliers web sites on the PG home page, but no one has it. Can somebody suggest where I am to go for this fret board?

This is very urgent!

Here's the deal jmrentis:

Only the maple top and back will get the dye. The neck, sides, and headstock will remain their natural colors. I fully intend to show off those laminates on the back of the neck. The pickup rings I'm using aren't the ones I had posted. I bought a set of maple rings for $40(flamed maple, might I add). The rings will be natural as well; this will go nicely with the natural flamed maple binding adorning the front and back of the guitar as well as the neck and headstock. The whole theme of this guitar is inovation meets elegant tradition...i guess. I really want a set of maple tuner knobs, but TGH Knobs wants $125 for them(yeah, right). There's no way I can make them, not well. The inside needs to be too small and precise to be done without cnc equiptment. If anyone could find maple tuner knobs for schallers for cheaper than $125, I'd be eternally indebted. And as far as this being GOTM material, I certainly hope it wins when I post it. I've put so much labor into this thing.

Great work so far, man. Honestly though, I like the car more. haha

NOOOOOOOO. This question has been posted, nearly verbatim, like 3 times this week.

No, no, no. He thought he needed bigger resistors for 6AA's as opposed to a 9 volt. This just isn't true, since the forward voltage is the same and the draw of the LED's is the same, the resistors would be the same value.

Just like in the American Political system, your votes have had a great impact on the result. I have decided I'm going to use the brown. I have tweeked my mixture a bit with some more amber, and it is gorgeous. The elegance of it is that it's subtle. It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb like most black sand back methods, but if you get up close to it, it's just breathtaking.

Assuming you have a figured maple top(since that's what the technique is used on most), you mask the sides of th guitar, stain on or spray on your color, then scrape the edge on the face of the guitar to the desired thickness of the faux binding. "how to build your own electric guitar" has a more detailed walkthrough.

Yes, algee, a would have a cherry sunburst.

And green? Yuck! Not for this guitar man, that would ruin the whole feel of it. I'm gonna play with that brown today, it's really gotten under my skin.

I love thinlines, but hate solid tele's.

oh, and idch...

no "mismatched" knobs again...even though I liked the arrangement I had. i promise though, the knobs will be as gold as the switch, bridge, tailpiece, pickguard bracket, stereo output jack, straplocks, humbucker height screws, humbucker mounting screw, and tuner cases. because i know how much you like gold!

man, i am so freaking awesome with windows paint...actually, i'm much better with a rasp, but here's a thought:

the inlays are all cut out. they are cut from abalone, gold MOP(to compliment the gold hardware), flamed maple, and ebony. depending on how well the abalone contrasts with the ebony fretboard and whatever finish ends up on the back of the guitar, I may end up putting a thin layer of gold around each leaf and stem to make it visually stand out just a bit. I haven't really taken a close look at that yet.

I'm thinking of trying to make some flamed maple tuner knobs. i have flamed maple humbucker rings that will be going on and all of the binding is flamed maple. i think the contrast of natural maple accents with the brown dye could be quite elegant. the picture really doesn't convey the warmth that the brown dye has. i will play around with the color ratios to see if i can do anything with the brown. i have to tell you, i didn't think the brown was appropriate for this guitar at first, but hell, if it doesn't grow on me more everytime i see it.

to be honest, sunbursts have never really been my thing, but i have a problem with a guitar that's entirely 3d amber, can't explain it. it's just a gut instinct, ya know?

Russell Garehan...the man who started a revolution...the man who brought thumbnails to ProjectGuitar.com

I can see it now, this one's front page material.

Well I'll take that as quite a compliment considering your dying jobs. That brown is actually my own concoction. It's stewmac die. 7parts cherry red, 5 parts vintage amber, 2 parts black...thinned with laquer thinner. I might try that, not a bad idea. Unless that turns out phenominally, I think it's between the natural middle and cherry bursted edges and the all brown finish right now. And no one has voted for the brown yet. Craziness.

Sounds like a reasonable proposition to me. For a fast fix, I'd use krylon's line of spraypaint designed for plastic. Be sure to scuff up the covers before painting. If you want an outstanding finish. First use an epoxy primer, then a colored basecoat, then a 2-pack clear coat. Those three items can be found at any automotive paint supply store. The krylon will be the cheaper route.

honeycombing a body only reduces the weight. it really doesn't offer a resonant quality like a chambered body, semi-hollow, or hollow body does.

I just want to see what everyone's take on it is. I probably won't even listen. Right now I'm thinking natural w/ a cherry burst or that chocolate brown color. I know how much everyone likes the "popping flamed finish," but I think the brown is as far as I'd want to go with that. The amber and black just seems too extreme. The amber and red is ok. It might look way better with the cherry burst. I wouldn't really consider any colors other than what I posted.

You didn't even look at the poll did you?! I actually did that as one of my tests, take a gander. Actually, I was thinking the same thing in the begining. However...now I'm thinking natural in the middle with a cherry burst, or a redish brown sand back type finish. They're both in the poll.

Ok, here's a thumbnail(click to enlarge) of 4 finishes I'm considering. Please vote on one and give me your thoughts on why.

A:Stained cherry red sanded back with amber as the final color(if this is put on the guitar, it will also have a cherry sunburst).

B:Flamed maple au natural(This too will receive a cherry sunburst if used).

C:Just plain brown die. Looks like a sandback though, doesn't it?(this would not have a sunburst)

D:Stained black sanded back with amber as the final color.(This would also receive a cherry sunburst if selected).

All of the finishes are coated with laquer in the photos. I personally like the brown the best, but I don't think it's right for this guitar. For this guitar, I think I like A and B the best; either one would have a cherry sunburst in the end. I think B with a burst would be the classiest look, but I don't know if I want full on "classy" for this guitar. If you haven't seen the guitar yet, it's posted in the"in progress and finished work" section; the title of the thread is "Neck Through Semi Hollow in Progress." The guitar will be recieving all gold hardware with Gold knurled knobs, a clear pickguard, and flamed maple humbucker rings that will receive the same finish as the guitar body.

I appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Ok, I've got a few more picks. I've done more work since these were taken, but for now, you'll have to live with these. Take a gander in the polls section. I've been experimenting with a few finishes and I'm having a poll to see what you guys like the best. I'm having trouble deciding on which one I like the best.

Without further adeu(more thumbnails):

The inside of the guitar w/o the back on. I decided to paint it all black, flat black that is. You'll notice the area near the controls is a different shade of black; that's shielding paint.

This is a picture of the two channels that I routed to accomodate the 2 ply wooden purfing and the maple binding with 3 layers of purfing on the bottom. You can see the binding and purfing on stewmac's site. Notice how the binding channel is sloped up as it goes towards the neck. This will allow the purfing on the underside of the binding to line up with the purfing under the binding on the neck.

This is some stewmac's maple/b/w/b/w binding that I bent before gluing to the guitar. No bending Iron was needed. Just water, tape, and time.

Ok, so I will be doing some inlays on the body, but only on the back. I made the last minute decision to add these leaves to the back. I was just looking at it, and it seemed like a blank canvas. So I grabbed a pencil and went to town. Then came the problem of transfering it to paper. I had no tracing paper so I just wiped down some computer paper with paint thinner to temporarily make it transparent and presto! I had the design transferred. I actually have those inlays cut out already. No pics though

Ok, so now go vote on which finish you like best. GO!

This is true...I've just never used it on bare wood before so I'm hesitant to do that....buuut I suppose I could do some test runs. Actually, I've used it on bare ebony before

Just do an inlay. Inlays are better anyhow, more "high-end."