ByronBlack

An aliphatic resin glue to which I were referring generally works by penetrating the pores of the wood and hooks into it very much like the lignen (sp?) in the woods cell structure, therefore the smoother the two mating surfaces the better the join, as if you have a rough surface you introduce less surface area as the 'bumps' prevent the pieces from touching perfectly, aliphatics aren't gap filling so a rough surface is not ideal for this situation, an epoxy would be better, but arguably not as strong as a good 'yellow glue' smooth joint. If you google on this subject you'll find more supporting info. P.s I didn't mean to start an argument, just wanted to give correct information.

it sounds great! The Bare Knuckles seem to be popular too, I was considering a set of warpigs on this current project. Would you say spraying rustins is easier/better than brushing. I have a smallish compressor and cheap gun but never used it.

Cheers. I'll shall get ordering and experimenting and see how it goes! Btw, your veteran guitar sounds great on that youtube video - thats a cracking little amp!

Doug - I arrived at this conclusion through training and experience.

Your a star Wez, thanks for all the info! I think i'll do a dummy run on a demo body to see how it goes as i'm a little nervous about dealing with the runs, so I think a tester would be a good start! Btw, I just thought - do you apply this to the neck also, or would it be to 'sticky'?

Just a wee small addition. If using something like titebond or other carpentry based aliphatic resin, it's best to have a perfectly smooth surface, you don't need a rough surface for the glue to adhere to in this instance, the smoother the surface the better the joint. Although I'm sure this is not nessacarily the case with epoxy or something like gorilla glue.

Hi Wez, It was some of yours (and setch's) guitars that I saw the rustins finish on during my research and mightily impressed I was! They look great! Thanks for the advice in regards to applying it. A couple more questions for you if you don't mind. The first being, how much rustins is required for each guitar and do you mix the whole batch up and store it between coats, or do you just mix it up as and when you require it? Finally, just a repeat of my earlier question really - how do you actually apply the coating to the guitar - do you use a hanger/hook or do one side at a time? Thanks for your help!

Hi All, I've been reading the forum for quite a number of hours and i'm a bit stuck as to what is the easiest/best finish for me. My skills are limited, so I've chosen a wipe on finish such as tung-oil or a brush on finish such as Rustins plastic finish as my two choices. The wood is walnut and so far is sanded up to 220 grit. I won't be gigging this guitar so a very hard finish is probably not such an important factor, and I don't mind the satin finish of oil, but equally I'm not adversed to a tougher/glossier finish with using the rustins, so I guess for me it just comes to do which one is easier to apply and is less fool-proof. If I go the rustins route, can/should I still use oil to wet-sand/grain fill the walnut, or is Rustins good enough to go straight onto a sanded surface? Also, this is probably really a stupid question, but what is the best way to hold the guitar during finishing? I've seen the various hangers/hook setups for spraying, but would it be a good idea to still use one of these for applying the oil/rustins, or should I lay the guitar down on a flat surface - if so, how do you both surfaces without ruining the surface just done - can you do one side, wait for it to dry and then do the other, or will that cause a visible join where the to finishes meet? Any advice will be gratefully received. TIA

I last posted here about 2 years ago when I had a driving accident and damaged my arm, anyway since then, I finished my explorer build and sold it for a small profit, in the intermediate years I went on a number of furniture courses and have moved house and built a new workshop. I had a recent project (Arts and Crafts Table) Featured in a british woodworking mag, and now I come full circle again and re-kindle my interest in guitar making. Table Project: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/3039 The last project that I was doing was a 'wafercaster' from English Yew and Curly Maple, well I've dusted off the body that I worked on and have purchased a pre-made neck (Ibanez JEM style with Vine inlay) and will be getting this sucker finished in the new year. Hopefully, I can regularly post some more of my projects here in the new year. I also have a Walnut Explorer project which has a complete body, and I'll be making the neck for this one. I'll be adding some pics as soon as I get my photo hosting sorted.

Hi This project is officially on hold at the moment as i'm recuperating from a car accident, currently i'm having physio on my arm to fix some severed tendons, hopefully i'll be back in action within the next 6 months or so.

Hi Matt There is a guy on ebay who sells mahogany boards for about £10, i've bought a couple from him (he's in the UK) and its turned out to be really nice wood. You can get atleast 2-3 necks out of one plank, and probably a body also, this could be a cheaper way for you to get some wood that is perhaps a little less heavy than the oak. You can find the wood he sells in the 'crafts: woodworking' category.

That is a very cool jig, thanks for posting. It helps me immensly i've been looking for ways to create radius block for the last couple of weeks and did not want to buy them from Stew-Macs.

From what I have read, oak might be too heavy for the neck. If you want a hetfield explorer, you should be lookin at a mahogany body and neck with emg's.

My two peneth: As a complete newbie to guitar building, I was a little concerned with the neck, but after I read a million and 1 tutorials, and I knew the exact process and what tools to use and when, it didn't seem to be too bad. I've now made 3 necks and have to say I have really enjoyed doing the necks (more so than the body) I also feel that its actually quite easy. I did make a mistake on my first neck by not cutting the scarf-joint properly, but after that so far it's been plain sailing. I can't understand why someone would not want to make their own neck as you don't need that many specialist tools and building on your own neck is so much cheaper than buying one. For instance, the last neck that i've built (still a little in progress) has so far only cost me about £18 - I built the blank out of some scap mahogany I had left over, the fingerboard was part of a pack of 5 I bought from ebay, the fretwire isn't that expensive if you hunt around and it only took a day to build (I forgot to add the cost of a truss-rod which is about £8) Compare this to a stew-mac or carvin neck and you can see that its much more economical and IMO a lot more fun to build your own.

I see what your both saying, however the tuners are going to be in a 4-2 layout and I checked before I drew the outline, however on your advice, I will double check to make sure. Thanks for the input - much appreciated. I'm just waiting on some hardware and wood for the fingerboard now so progress will be a little patchy while I wait for everything to arrive.

Ok I've now completed my Myka inspired 'neck-pocket' Jig: However, i've made a slight modification, you can see the router is sitting on a pair of parellel 'ski's this also allows me to use the router as a thicknesser/planner. You can also see i've created a moveable clamping system that allow any shape to be used: Wafercaster Template In Jig This link shows you more pics of the jig: Jig Link I have named this Jig, the 'Plouter' Jig as it will be used to turn the router into a planner as well as for routing out neck-pockets etc.

When you say 'thin' do you mean 'narrow' as it's 16mm thick, which is about right - well from what i've read anyway ;-)

I voted for the Doug The cap is absolutely amazing, I love the design, the pickup rings, the coin-knobs, lots of nice little custom details - really stands out for me. Good Job. However, I do also love the oddboy, to build a guitar of that quality on that money definitly deserves some Kudos.

Time for a quick update. I've not had much time to really get stuck in, also i'm still waiting on some wood for the fingerboard and the hardware - also i've been reading up on electrics. I think I will add a volume pot after-all. So, here's the body during the template profilling stage: I've also cut-out, tapered, routed and sanded the guitar neck ready for receiving the new fingerboard. I changed the design of the headstock slightly to match more closely the one I did for my explorer build. Neck Detail: Bandsawn + Sanded Neck I've also updated the photo-set of various 'in-progress' shots, i'll be adding some more photo's over the weekend as I create the routes in the body for the neck and pickup. I'm currently building a Myka inspired neck-pocket jig, but with attachments for 'ski's' that will allow a router to slide across and up and down to turn the jig into a platform to use the router as a planer. This will be used to bring the wafer-caster down to thickness now that I added the maple cap. Updated Set

That's the main reason to do a guitar shape in my eyes mate - If YOU want it! I can't wait to getstarted. Is 40mm thick enough for this guitar do you think or will it be a bit too thin? I did consier putting a cap on rather than veneer. ← Congrats on scoring some nice wood for 40p! I though I was doing ok when I got enough mahogany for 4 necks for a Tenner :-) As for the design, i really like it, it seems 'sporty' and plenty rock! 40mm enough thickness? I would definitly say so. My Explorer build at the moment is not far off that, and the wafer-caster will be between 25-35mm so yeah, 40mm should be plenty IMO ;-) I'm sure you'll do a good job and its nice to see some fellow UK builders on the forum!

Now that is a nice idea - I think your right, red would look cool, well compliment the mahogany neck nicely. Cheers Godin!

I agree, I've got some nice 5mm curly maple - I think i'll use that, spray the sides and back black with a burst on the front - or no burst but use a binding...but what colour to put on the maple? I'm thinking of a black stain like Myka's although slightly more sanded back to allow the figure to show more.

Ok, i've made some more progress tonight on the final design and a template. Free-hand Sketch on actual body-piece: Image 1 Accurate drawing of shape on paper: Image 2 Paper template cut out: Image 3 Bandsawing shape out of a piece of pine to use a template: Image 4 Bandsawn Template: Image 5 Drum-sanding the template: Image 6 And the almost finished template: Tomorrow i'll be cutting out the body shape and creating the neck. I'm having second thoughts about the final-finish, at first I really liked the knotty look of the yew, but I do have some curly maple which I think might be better, i'll have to think on this further.

With my Wafercater and this, seems thin guitars are all the rage !

I can also recommend axminster, however the perform range of cutters are rubbish and i cannot recommend them. The best place i've found for router bits is: Tool Shop Direct. They have a vast range of Trend Cutters, which are IMO superb, I got a 50mm long 1/5 Flush trim pattern cutter for around £30 - cheapers than elsewhere and also a better cutter.