ByronBlack

Sounds like a straight-forward process, i'll get some ordered. Anyone else have any advise on removing the burnishing cream ahead of re spraying?

Thanks wes, I did think about re-clearing, but I have a blackheart stack for xmas that I was hoping to use this one for testing it out (hmm, it's not far off, i can re-clear in the new year.) Ok, so re-clearing is the way forward, I still have 2 cans left so it should be enough to build a thicker coat. The only problem I have though is that there is thin fine gummy film of burnishing cream on the guitar - It's really not the right product, and I should have tested it out on something before using it on this guitar. What is the best way of getting rid of this to get it ready for re-clearing? Will something like white-spirit or meths do the job? With regards to the micro-mesh, at which grit stage should I move over to them? I previously sanded from 600 upto 1500 with regular wet 'n' dry, is it possible to cut in with the micromesh earlier than 1500? It would sure reduce the amount of time, it took me about 3 hours going the grits! TIA

Hi chaps, I recently finished spraying a nitro finish on my maple guitar, it came out a treat, except that during the wet-sanding (upto 1500 grit) I have sanded through a few area's. Basically, I realise that I've not sprayed enough nitro on and it was thinner than I realised. I also went from the 1500 grit to a burnishing cream, which has brought up a bit of shine, but otherwise it seems a little mucky, and you can still see some scratches from the 1500 grit. What's my next best approach? I need to fill/repair the sand-throughs (it's a solid black coat + clear), but can that be done now that I've added the burnishing cream? Is there a way to remove it from the damaged area's ahead of repairing so that I can add the black and then the clear? And secondly, whats the best way forward now to get rid of all the fine scratches and bring up to a shine? Should I go back with a coarser polishing compound and then up to a finer compound? (If so, which ones in the UK come recommended?) I don't have a powered means of polishing, other than a random-orbital sander with a foam pad (which now has the burnishing cream on it so I don't think I can use it for something else unless there is a way of cleaning it off?). Any help to rescue this finish would be gratefully received.

These look excellent, what router bits do you use in these?

In that last picture, it seems there has already been a hole drilled for the ground wire; in the top left of that cavity - if that's not the case (looks a different body?), just use a small long drill bit and drill to the hole where the bridge stud is located. As for the tail-piece, just measure the centres of the studs, mark these equally either side of your centre line however far behind the bridge you want it, and drill away.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get it, I'm assuming it's a joke, but not being knowledgeable of said book, I fail to see the relevance/punchline. guitar_player - thanks for the reply, does it go into a lot of detail on curing setup buzz issues? I was concerned that the book might be too general in that area as it caters for a lot of different types of issues as well as setups... Thanks,

I've recently finished my explorer build, but I'm not quite happy with a few issues (the three high strings seem to rattle/buzz more than I like) and my action is higher than it ought to be (to avoid buzzing/choke). I was looking at the Dan Erlwine books: The Repair Guide, and the 'how to make an electric guitar play great' - what would be best? They both seem to cover setups, but i'm not sure which one would be the most suitable.. TIA

Ok, so I'll go ahead and screw the posts directly into the body, thanks for all the help. I have another question though. Where do I run the ground-wire? The posts are pretty small, and I'm concerned that if I try and solder a wire to this post, the bump from the solder will prevent the post from screwing succesfully into the body. (I have no tailpiece to solder the ground-wire too, so I'm unsure on how to approach this). Cheers, BB

Thanks for all the information guys, mine is the Gotoh one from stew-macs, I bought this alongside a nashville for another project and was a little thrown that it had no bushings. For some reason I don't like the idea of screwing directly into the body, has any sourced bushing to accept these? I must admit I've not looked around that much as I wasn't sure what was needed, but I'm assuming any M4 threaded insert would do the job? (my project won't have a tailpiece as it will be as string-through, although this still shouldn't put too much pressure on the bridge should it?)

I have got a gotoh tune-o-matic bridge, and with it are a pair of thumbwheels on M4 theaded rod. One thing that I couldn't find the answer to was; what is the preferred way of installing these? I recently installed a nashville style tune-o-matic and that came with a stud that went into the body and the bolts/screws then went into these, but with the gotoh bridge there is no studs (or at least I've not seen any) to accept the threaded rods. So, do others just create a threaded hole in the body to put these in, or do you epoxy them into place? Am I missing some obvious method of installing these? TIA

Ignore this thread, I quickly got an answer to my query after posting. doh!

Is that a Philly plane? It is indeed a plane by our dear 'philly'. I got it made with a custom angle to tackle some nasty grain, works an absolute treat!

jmrentis - I have one of those vices that you mention. I believe they are just called bench vices, you can also have shoulder-vices which are also very useful. Here's a pic of mine in action: And the bench itself (made from solid beech - mass is an important factor in a bench) I really think a good workbench is one of the most important tools for any woodwork and especially guitar building. I use my vice and bench dogs on almost every aspect of the build, I would be completely lost without mine.

Some small progress this time. I've worked on the body a little by taking some material off the back and scalloping the cut-aways. Some more pics of the shaping process: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2054/222580..._10f32bbb70.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/222580..._40c9c4b95f.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2328/222580..._ee7501e203.jpg

+1, just about exactly what I am going with on my current project. Thats one of my most favorite setups for some reason. I'm trying some better caps I found for the hell of it, but thats the combo I want to use. I think after this one though, I may try some different pickups just to save some loot, I can always swap out pickups if need be. I bet your guitar is going to sound wicked upon completion Byron. Congrats, it really is looking good. Best of luck. J I was originally going to put in some bare knuckles, but with doing two projects at the same time I decided to save some cash and go with the SD matched pair, I'm pleased I did in the end. I have been playing it quite a bit, and despite a few setup issues with the guitar itself, the pickups sound great. I'm playing through a hot-rodded epi valve jnr and with a boss MT-2 I'm getting some great metal rhythm tones, although I need to add an eq pedal to get rid of the 'wah pedal half-cocked' sound.

doh! Of course

Hi Chris, thats looks fab! What finish are you going to use for the body? I think it looks great natural. Just a quick question on your neck finishing, is it no problem that the 'clear' gets on the frets, or did you mask these off first? I'm assuming it's quite an easy job to wire-wool the clear off the frets?

Hi tim, I'm using a SD JB in the bridge, and SD Jazz at the neck, wired up to 500 pots, with a master volume and master tone controlling both of the pickups - I like to keep it simple. Glad you like the way it's coming together, some more progress will be posted in the coming weeks.

thanks guitar 2005, I'll check out the book and hopefully sort out the buzzing. I've checked the relief with a straight-edge and all seems well, since adjusting the truss-rod and getting the neck straighter I have a smaller releif but it's visible and this has improved the rattling somewhat. From what you have said, I think I probably need to look at the crowning, after reading more on the subject, one of the things that came up was the flat frets can cause buzzing, and i'm getting a fair bit all over the fretboard and it's most noticeably when sliding over a couple of frets, so I might have a go at re-crowning. With regards not having a neck jig. What do you do to ensure that a fret level and crown is accurate if you can't simulate string tension? I've come to believe that you can't do this probably un-tensioned, is this wrong??

is there no one that can help further on this subject? If you don't want to help thats fine, but can someone refer me to somewhere or something that will help, I've done a ton of researching and getting nowhere fast, thanks.

Ok, I've adjusted the truss-rod to remove some of the relief and got the neck straighter, I've also adjusted the action so it matches similar to the figures posted, this is a lot better, the clashy sound has pretty much gone, however, I still seem to have quite a lot of buzzing over almost all of the fretboard, it's especially noticeable when sliding over a fret or a number of frets, would this indicate poor crowning? I tested the capo at 12 fret method, and the strings do touch the top of the last four frets, they touch more than the last four - is that a problem? Is there a really good book that will help me pin-point these kinds of problems and fix them as I'm getting more and more confused the more I research through this forum and other sources online, so many contradictary information and ideas it's difficult to ascertain what is the best approach, I'm especially puzzled on how to perform a proper level without a neck jig - assuming this is my problem (I leveled when not under string tension)

Keith - you've probably confirmed what I originally thought, the TOM is an inferior cheaply made one with non-conductive materials, it might just be worth my while buying a better outfit, thanks for your help.

guitar2005 - thats some excellent information, thank you. When I get in later i'll do the checks and see whats what. If the rear frets are too high which was my original uneducated assumption, what would be the corrective procedure? I don't have a neck jig to recreate the relief under string tension, so is there another method that I can use to lower the frets to the correct height without guessing? When I place a straight edge along the frets, other than the relief they are all level relative to each other, so I'm assuming that when I levelled them I must have sanded at small angle/incline hence why they seem level, but they are probably 'ramped' Thanks again for your help.

Hi Jon, thanks for the quick reply. Yes, this is the one I levelled with the radius block. You say its an issue with relief and the upper frets - what should I do to confirm this and then to fix it? In terms of levelling, I've checked doing the 'rocking' method and havn't noticed any major problems with individual frets so what would be the next step?

Hi I've been having an issue with my setup. So far I've followed most of the tutorials, doing all the checks in order etc.. but I can't seem to get my head around the problem. When I play there is some low level buzzing when I fret the strings in various locations, these in themselves aren't a massive problem although I would like to sort that, the main issue is that strings seem to slap or strike the frets creating a nasty rattly clashy sound, this is most evident when palm muting - obviously this is pushing the strings lower, but it shouldnt be this noisy when playing. I have just enough releif that I can fit a business card under the strings, the frets seem to be level, i.e there is no rocking when I check with a straight edge (i'm testing three frets at a time as advised). The action is 2mm at the 12th fret (again slightly higher than recommended actions i've seen in tutorials, and about the max I like to play at). My initial impressions are that the strings are striking a number of frets close to the body around 18/19 upwards or so but I can't really see this in action. I levelled the fret-board and the frets prior to installing on the guitar, now it's under string pressure, could this have altered the relationship of the frets and would the body-end frets be relatively higher due to not flattening when under string tension? Should I go ahead and lower these frets? Can someone help me pin point this problem and fix it?? It's a shame not to get this playing nicely after the many hours I've put into it!! TIA