Guitarfrenzy

We'll never hear the difference if you don't do before and after audio clips for us..

That's one nice Telecaster Bill!!! Drak would be proud!!! Looking good bro.. I definitely want to hear samples of this Limba guitar though.

I totally agree Gorecki, you should learn HTML first, or at least have a great understanding of the language. What I was suggesting is that Dreamweaver looks to be better, especially since I'm learning Flash, and I want to incorporate it into the site. Dreamweaver is better suited for that, or at least it appears that way.

Yes, just like Gorecki was saying, it definitely looks like Dreamweaver was used.. I need to learn Dreamweaver better myself, as I learned to use Frontpage long ago, and haven't changed. There are a lot of things I could do with Dreamweaver that I'm not sure is possible with Frontpage.

I don't think Myka would have shown it if had an issue of someone using the idea, but I could be wrong.

That's one very nice guitar your building there.. keep up the good work!!!

That would be a problem, but if you do a burst just right and the top arm contour isn't too far you can hide it by fanning the burst slightly wider. I know that Fender, when bursting the back of the guitar, paints the back belly contour completely. Is that to hide something? lol Anyway, he's going to have to be creative about it to hide the different woods, but it can be done very easily. BTW,.. your guitars looking great!!

Very nice bro!!! It's great to get new tools that will help out the building process. Looks like you have made some very great additions to your workshop... That reminds me, I haven't bought any new tools in a long time ..

Nice link.. I think I'll buy some to try the next time when I run out of the Stew Mac. I'd like to at least try it out, but like I said, Stew Mac's has worked great for me though.

I always just brush it on like was suggested. Some people claim it doesn't work as good as the other methods for shielding. I have not did any test on different methods though, so I can't say either way. It seems to work for me good.

Just heat up the fret with the soldering gun and slowly pry one end lose first, then move the soldering gun down the fret as you follow with the pullers prying back and forth with the fret, until the whole fret comes out. On the bound neck, stay away from it with the soldering gun, if it's like a Gibson, as depending on what it's made of, might melt.

Are you sure that all the pros don't setup their guitars to play out of tune? From what we are hearing here, it seems to be a good thing for tone, and character. I think your making a lot of sense...

If the neck's stiff enough, yes. If it's one of those noodly type necks, breaking a string might be enough to slightly mess up the tuning for the entire instrument. True, but every Strat I've ever blocked up, never went out of tune when a string broke. I can see how if your neck isn't very stable it would affect it more though, but it's usually the little E string that breaks, so it would show less effect than if a bigger string broke. I guess it depends on a lot of factors, or I've just been lucky with blocking all those trems for people.

Seriously, could you please explain to me why having a bridge thats intonation is slightly off gives your guitar more character, and makes it sound fuller? Not to be critical, but if you'd have went to the Fret Calculator link I gave in my first post and entered the numbers you'd have found the answer to your bridge placement yourself. I did that with my strat...couldn't believe it! I'd never had a strat before, so I didn't know what breaking a string means --on my other guitars, I break a string, the other strings stay reasonably in tune. Well, after that one I blocked the trem and replaced the saddles with string savers. Although blocking the trem doesn't really help, breaking a string still knocks the whole guitar out of tune. Thanks, Leo! Mick, how did you block the trem? If it's done correctly you won't go out of tune when you break a string.

That's a good suggestion Setch. Also, if your low on money, you could buy three of the Stew Mac nut files, and use them to do all six. For example you can use the .010" nut file to do not only the little E string, but the B string as well, by slotting and turning it at an angle both ways to make the slot wide enough for the B string. Same thing for the G string, and D, you can buy one that will be slightly wider than the G string and slot the D with the same widening method. Of course the A, and big E string will make up the third nut file. This will get you by until you can buy some more. I hope this makes some kind of sense to someone.. lol

We discussed this site in the Zero Fret Thread quite a while back. But yeah, it's definitely a neat idea and the nut files your talking about would be worth trying if you didn't have any already.

We've used Grizzly truss rods before, and they work good. The only downside is that it's not like most dual action truss rods, where you can route the same width slot for the truss rod. This one, you have to route out where the adjustment is, slightly bigger, so it takes a little longer to install. It's somewhere between a 7/16" Stew Mac truss rod, and LMI 3/8" depth, as far as slot depth goes. The adjustment part needs to be slotted deeper approx 7/16", but the rest of the truss rod could be installed in a smaller 3/8" slot. That's the specs they don't tell you in their catalog. On a side note, I talked to a Grizzly rep the other day, and was asking when the 2006 Luthiers Catalog was coming out, he said they discontinued it, and that they put everything in the one big catalog this year.

First off, congrats on the project, things are looking good!! If this is a scarf joint neck, what I usually find works best is, cut the headstock piece down to 1/2" before you glue it up to the neck piece. Otherwise it's more difficult to get it sized correctly and level, but it can be done multiple ways though. One way is to use a drill press with long drum sander 3", and use a fence to thickness sand the headstock to size. Another way is to use the bandsaw and cut close to 1/2" then block sand it to final thickness. Yet another way is to use a Safe-T-Planer in a drill press. Whatever works best for you. Here's a small diagram I made for you guys to better understand the scarf joint process for neck building, maybe that will suffice for a tutorial. If your going for a volute, when you bandsaw the headstock piece, depending on which method you glued the scarf joint, you might have to leave some wood thicker for the volute area. Which method did you use?

Usually we don't get questions about taking things apart, as most people can disassemble things. Now, it's another question as to if they are actually doing it right or not.. lol That why most the time it's the putting things back together that we get questions about. But it's good to know that you wanted to actually find out how to get the parts off correctly. Follow what Curtis P said as he pretty much summed it up and you should be fine for a bolt on type guitar. The main thing you need to do is remember or take notes of how things was before you took them off, and you shouldn't have any problems later on when you get ready to put them back on the guitar.

First off, that's not me in the video.. lol Just a short clip I had of the scarf joint jig being used. They used it to glue two boards together to lengthen it, so the only difference is that with building guitars, you use it to create a angled headstock. Example below of a neck I recently made, you should be able to see the scarf joint angle.

I don't think there is a certain pickup that is best for metal, it really just depends on what kind of tone you want. You can't go wrong with good quality pickups though, like EMG, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, etc. Just try different guitars out at a local music store to see which pickups suits you best. If you already like EMG though, don't mess with a good thing..

I agree if you can do it with handplanes and get accurate results, then that's what I'd do. I've also used a belt sander with a jig I built to hold it at the correct angle, and it works great also. So many ways to do this, but ultimately, I always start by bandsawing the angle first, then using either one of these mentioned methods to finish it up. You don't even have to use a bandsaw either, a handsaw will work also.

Basically, I use the jig that is displayed in this video you can download or view at my site. Here's the link .. Using the Scarf Joint Jig!! It will give you all the information you need on how to use it, and how to make multiple passes like Setch suggested. I just use a regular straight bit with this jig also. It works great if you have everything setup correctly, and take your time. Good luck..

Well, looks like your on the right track, as it's always best to have everything planned out. Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your project!!

Very true, not all tack cloths are the same, and some leave residue behind, like your mentioning. The first guitar I ever did a finish on, I made the mistake of using a tack cloth, when I painted it, there was some areas where it wouldn't dry. I later found out that the tack cloth I was using wasn't exactly good for wiping off wood before painting. There are tack cloths that don't leave behind anything, and if you still want to use a cloth, test different ones out until you find one that works for you. Practice on scrap first!!! I always have a air compressor hose with blower attachment handy, that I use to blow off the body, the key here is that you need something to remove the moisture from the air and you can buy an air filter/regulator that will do that. You don't want to get the wood wet, then the dust particles will stick, which isn't exactly helping the problem..