ByronBlack

From what I understood, the sanding sealer was the coat that is put on over grainfiller to seperate it from the clear primer coat, or atleast that's how I understood it from Melvyn Hiscocks book.

Ok, here is a small project i've been doing whilest i've been getting my tools and materials together for my first build.

I bought this guitar from ebay for just £70. It's a Japanese Randy Rhodes model with floyd-rose and some nice-sounding humbuckers.

I bought the guitar virtually blind as the pics that were on the listing were rubbish. I knew it was a wreck, but it was so cheap it would have been rude not to have bought it.

So, the project was inspired by the PG finishing tutorials, and I thought this would be an ideal candidate for a natural finish (seeing as my first guitar build will be natural).

Here are photo's of the progress - i'm upto the second danish-oil coating. Photo's are from the guitar as it was at arrival and up to the oil coating.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/byronblack/sets/737891/

The wood is pretty ugly to be honest, I can't identify it as there seem to be a number of woods used in a laminate, its quite odd. The wood has a green-ish tinge to it which doesn't come across that well.

For those who might be interested in a 10" bandsaw, i've taken some pictures of the SIP model that I recently purchased. I've done quite a lot of test cutting with it over the weekend, and i'm very happy with it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/byronblack/sets/737901/

My guitar is going to be mahogany with a maple laminate neck-thru.

I've been reading up on finishing (i'm going natural for this one) and it recommends using a grainfiller for mahogany because of the open pores - this I understand and have no problem with.

However, the stuff i've been reading says that the grainfiller comes coloured to match the wood, now I want to keep the wood as natural as possible, and also with the maple running through the middle, it would prove quite difficult not to go over the maple with the mahogany coloured grainfiller.

Is there a 'clear' grainfiller that can be sprayed on before the sand-sealer stage?

I've done a search on this forum, but havn't found an answer, so apologies if this is rather a basic question.

Cheers Guys.

Perry,

Thanks for the idea

Thanks Drak, Marksound.

From that link I found the confirmation that i was looking for:

"Tone is not affected to any noticeable degree"

Drak, it was the PG material cover tutorial that made me think of using textured leather in the first instance, I have a beat-up strat copy which i'm going to use as a test model.

One last thing, do you think I should apply a clear finish? I've seen some with and some without, and i'm conflicted as to what is best.

Any information is well received doc, thanks. I'll look into that model to see if there are any noted tonal differences, the leather i'll be using is 0.7mm thick and will be glued on and hidden around the edges by a normal binding method, I can't see it making a huge difference.

Either way it shall be an interesting experiment.

Cheers

That question (last week) was about hardening a scratchplate, and i've already done a search. There is one quite useful thread about how to stich/glue the leather, but what i'm after is some insight into how it might affect the tone. I've already done some research on the web without any real information.

Anyone else got any first hand experience with this?

I'm thinking about covering a guitar in a highly textured leather, what effect would this have on the tone, would it make it too 'muddy' ??

And has anyone else done this before?

This guy is great, for those of you who don't know him, David runs a tonewood supplies here in the UK.

Before I spoke to him, I had already spoken to touchstone tonewoods, and craft supplies, both of whom wheren't really that helpful.

I sent an email with my cutting list to david based on the recommendations on this forum. He phoned me first thing this morning to discuss my order, and actually talked me through quite a lot of issues I didn't consider.

He is also going to cut my body wood pieces (mahogany) based on a template so that i'm not ordering more wood than I need (its an explorer shape), he also helped me work out the widths for the three piece neck laminate.

My wood will be ready for delivery on monday, and all this for under £100.00.

Any of you guy's in the UK who aren't sure where to get your tonewood, I can't recommend David enough, such a nice guy and very knowledgeable. And good prices too :-)

His Website: http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/main.htm

The site is old, and out of date, but give the guy a ring or an email, the service is second to none.

Personaly, i'm not liking much of the guitars in the gallery. He is ripping off too many shapes (SG, Explorer etc) and IMO I think the carving is to the detriment of some of the guitars.

However, the guy has skill, and its that outlandish carving that I suppose is the key selling point for his guitars.

Ok

Here is a link to photo's of the vintage westbury.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16613415@N00/sets/737738/

I'm looking for a minimum of £250 this was a base valuation if I sold it to my local guitar shop.

Sounds good. Byron, where have you got this setup - is it in your shed and what did you mount it on - or is it free standing?

Sounds like a bargain to me..well done!

<<edit>>...forget the question, I looked it up on diytools site...did you get the stand with it for £130

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At the moment i've got it sat on top of my workbench in my shed, the bench runs round two walls, so its perfect to have it on one end. I believe you can get a stand for it for about £25, I didn't get it with the unit as I don't have the room to have it free-standing.

I've taken deliver of my 10" SIP Bandsaw, here are my initial findings:

First impression is that it's very heavy and very sturdy, the design is quite nice too and is a similar case to Elektra Beckhum and Record power bandsaws, i'm guessing these are all made by the same eastern company.

I took the table, fence and mitre guage out of the packaging and they were all covered in gum, oil and some other nasty substance, not sure how nessecary that is.

I fit the table and its corresponding bracket, this is quite tricky, the holes have poor thread on the table making it difficult to locate and screw in the bolts. Once the struggle was over, I measured up and the table is a degree of, I have to adjust with said annoying bolts. It is quite tricky to get the table perfect, but its there now.

The blade has rust on it - not a good sign.

After all its been put together, I start it up and do some tests. First off, I like to comment on its quietness, the blade seems smooth, there is no warping or wobbling and it cuts straight as a die. The mitre guage rattles slightly in its groove, however this is very small and I don't think it will effect the cut too much.

The rule on the table is off by a number of millimeters, this is fine as I can now compensate.

The fence fixing bracket is quite flimsy and it tooks a bit of wiggling to make sure that thef fence is parallel to the blade, not a big problem though, just a tad annoying.

So, my conclusion is:

Despite the bad points ive listed above, it cuts very quickly, very straight and is generally a joy to use. I stuck some thick maple through it, and it cut it like butter, very impressed. I will however change the blade for a good quality after-market one. The controls are easy, and it has a number of safety features (blade stops when opening the door), has a large extraction port, and despite some of the lesser made parts, it's mostly well-built, solid and very good money for value.

I intend to use and learn with this tool for a while, and will upgrade to a Scheppach quality tool later down the line.

If you want to spend under £130 for a bandsaw that can accuratly cut out your body and neck shapes, then this tool is just the ticket.

Sorry for the delay on the pics (dropped my camera today chasing the cat

However, i'm going to get a new one tomorrow, so the pics are coming.

David,

Thank you for answering my questions in some depth, I do appreciate it, and i'm sure many 'Newbs' like myself will gain some useful tips and get an idea of what is required to attain their goals.

Brent, do you have any links or information on how to setup a router for use as a jointer, as this would be something very useful for those of us who don't have jointers.

Sure, no problem, i'll take some pics tomorrow and get them uploaded.

Hi Guy's

I have for a sale a rare gem of a guitar. An original 1979 Westbury Walnut Standard. Featuring DiMarzio Paf pup in the neck, and a DiMarzio Super Distortion II in the bridge (Both original and untouched).

The guitar has a lovely deep walnut finish, rosewood fingerboard, solid mahogany body, and tune-o-matic bridge.

This guitar is in pretty good shape, could use a pro-setup but is generally clean and sounds awesome. These guitars are very rare now and can usually only be found in second-hand shops or dirty lofts.

If anyone is interested, i'll post some pics. I'm looking for a fair and realistic price, and i'm happy to post anywhere in mainland europe and the USA.

Perry, in all fairness mate I didn't say 'straight away', and I did clarify in a post further down after the one you quoted - but it's no point arguing, I understand the points you and drak are making, and I dont want to get on a downer with you guy's because i've already learnt a ton of usefull information since being on here.

I will indeed go create some dust, unfortunatly just waiting on wood and hardware at the moment, soon as i got anything to show, i'll post it in the progress forum.

PS Did you see the last test match?

explain how we have got you wrong???

YOU HAVE ZERO EXPERIENCE, and you have stated that you are going to start selling guitars STRAIGHT AWAY.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ah, excellent, Simo, that was just what I was looking for - a user feedback on the SIP. If I get on well with the 10" eventually i'll trade it in for the 14".

How did you find the accuracy of the fence and mitre guage.

Perry

Again your jumping on me about not running before I walk, but please give me some credit, i'm just sounding out idea's and creating a discussion, this is after all a discussion forum. I'm totally clued up about what i'm going to do, and totally realistic. I'm thinking of years down the line and just seeing what experiences other have. But let me itteriate that I do appreciate the sentiment, so it's all good.

uncleJ - the website is probably where I would go, as thats what my business is at the moment (designing and building e-commerce and web-applications). What I intend to do is have a 'build-a-guitar' facility so that people can literally build their guiter online and have it generate a quote.

Btw, if anyone needs a pro to build them a site, give me a PM i'm currently taking time out of client work and i'm available for 'personal' work for the next 2 months only..