guitar2005

Bad advice! Thinning the glue with water will weaken the bond. Use the right product. The chair doctor glue is better than CA or epoxy for cracks like this one.

+1 I would dampen the glue joint, undo the headstock, let dry, clean, reglue, clamp and wait at least 48 hrs before attempting any work. If you don't want to undo the headstock, use this glue (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=30261&cat=1,110) . Better than CA/Epoxy this this kind of repair and holds up extremely well.

The Ibanez Edge family of trems are all very good trems and are my personal favorite because they have a little more mass than the Floyds, feel smoother and the finish is nicer. They're radiused to 16" which makes a huge difference in action compared to a flat Floyd (like the early 80's Floyds). Also, the edge can be recessed (HS block). The trem bar design is excellent and the entire thing is extermely durable. The edge is also very stable (more than any other floating trem IMO), especially if you get the locking studs. The only Floyd I would buy would be the Schaller or the Real deal. Some of the things to whatch out for are the block length (will it be recessed or not), the radius (will you have to radius the trem to your fretboard) and the type of trem bar you prefer (screw in vs push in).

I doubt anyone could tell just from listening to Randy whether his customs were maple or mahogany. His sound was so unaturally distorted and peaked that he could sound the same playing a Strat, V, or LP. I agree - Its just a wild guess. His top end is very crisp with the Paul and a little less piercing with the polka V he had which is why I guess the paul is a maple top. Listening to Sykes, the top end isn't as.... well... high. A little smoother (even in his JCM800 days) As for Randy's studio distortion sound, thats mostly from those god awful MXR Dist+ pedals he used and the brutal, in your face Altec speakers. His live setup sounded a lot better although it was pretty much the same gear. Thank you everyone for your help.

I think it a nice design but the pickguard really doesn't fit with the rest. You should consider changing it. Nice progress.

That's what I thought. I remember John Sykes (Whitesnake) saying his custom black beauty was all mahogany yet Zakk's has a maple neck/maple top. I actually prefer maple over mahogany for necks so I think I'll go with maple. Does anyone know if maybe painted customs had a mahogany top vs non painted were maple? Is there some kind of correlation there or is it just dependant on the year they were made? Listening to Randy Rhoads, I'm sure his cream Les Paul custom had a maple top.

This may seem like a simple question but I'm having trouble getting a definitive answer. Is the Gibson Les Paul custom made of Mahogany with a Mahogany top or is the top maple or better yet, is it 1 piece mahogany. As the neck neck, is it a maple neck with ebony board? Thanks

Acrylic Lacquer is great expect Dupli-Color clear. The stuff may take 1 year or more to cure enough so that jeans don't leave an imprint in the finish. Stay away from Dupli-Color clear. Colours seem to be fine tough.

Yup! Looks pretty dangerous to me. I'm not surprised it bubbled... and it doesn't look like you have a fan.

I finished a korina jem with Deft lacquer. I applied 3 full cans. I wet sanded after 1 week and buffed with no problems. The nitro continued to cure after I wet sanded and so it settlled into the grain. Had I waited a month, I'm sure that the nitro would have stayed smoother but I actually like the nitro to settle in the grain like that. If you want an absolutely smooth finish, use grain filler. Next time, I'll wait 30 days instead of just 5; that way, it will be easier to buff because it should be harder. F.M.

I personally think the guitar looked better before, left untouched - Personal pref.

A guitar is meant to be played. arghghg. Oh well, to each his own. Regardless, I think the project is looking great so far. I agree about the arm rest, you don't really need one but the tummy curve is a nice touch.

And don't forget the soft neck heel contour . I asked about all of this a couple of weeks ago... Nice to see some progress though.

Well... a drum sander is pretty pricey and out of reach for me from what I've seen and I don't really need to put an entire body through it either. Not only that; I hate sanding and the dust it produces. I've glued up many bodies and cleaned up slight variations with a simple hand plane. The intent is not to glue up an entire body blank and put it through the planer . I would probably thickness the wood before glueing it together. I've never had a problem with that method . The guitar building application is really for 1/4" fretboards, thicknessing 1.25" to 1.75" wood prior to glue up, thicknessing 1/2" tops of probably figured woods (very rarely), cleaning up resawed wood. I guess that the two speeds would be useful for figured woods... So with a drum sander being out the question, Is the 2 speed planer with more power and width really worth 2x the money as a small Delta planer?

I'm about to buy a portable planer, partly for guitar building. I was going to buy the 2 speed RIDGID planer they have at home depot because it has 2 speeds, cuts 13" wide and seems to be built well. Then, I started to think about it some more... Do I really need that much sophistication? Would a small 12.5" delta planer be enough for the average builder? What do you guys think? Why should I spend twice as much on the Ridgid? Are the extra features worth it? Thanks

Very nice. I like it. did you make the fretboard yourself?

Did you put a neck angle on that or is it just flat?

Actually, an angled bolt on neck pocket is fairly simple, assuming that you have a router and a neck pocket template to guide the router on. 1) Rout the neck pocket flat. The depth should set the shallowest point in the final neck pocket. 2) Using shims, angle the template at 2 degrees (or whatever angle you desire), lineup the template with the already routed template and route the angle.

It seems that the overall neck height at the heel is 1". This includes the base of the neck and the fretboard. By using these standard dimensions and varying the neck pocket depth, one can adjust for different types of bridges. So the question is, if everyone uses the same basic bolt on neck contruction in terms of height, there must be known neck pocket depths corresponding to different bridge configurations (assuming a flat guitar top): Non Floating Floyd, Floating Floyd Recessed floating Floyd TOM Recessed TOM Hardtail Fender/Wilkinson style trem There should be known numbers for a flat neck pocket and for an angled pocket. Some of you will say to draw it out and calculate it out, but I'd like to have some real numbers, from people that have actually done this.

Why bother glueing up the veneer? You're gonna glue it to the body anyways and I doubt that it would move... Is there somekind of reasoning behind this?

Here is the link to one of his auctions: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Guitar-Fretboard-COCOBO...1QQcmdZViewItem his ebay name is flyingvmach3

Hopefully it is quartersawn wood OR has the proper grain pattern so it doesn't warp.

1) Don't you have lumber yard where you live? Why can't you just buy the maple Locally? 2) The classical guitars I've seen have radiused fretboards, but then, I haven't played a lot of classical guitars - kinda like Ibanez RG/Jems and Godin electrics which are 16" radius. If you want to buy a pre-slotted fretboard, there's a guy on eBay that sells them in a variety of woods and scales. I'm sure that he could make you a fretboard with the exact specs you're looking for.

Godin makes bolt on guitars with mahogany necks: The LG and LGX. I have an LGX, its an awesome guitar and the neck has been great so far.

Yes... but how deep is your neck pocket and what is the overall height of the neck at the heel? I've been too busy to calcuate all of this. A quick answer would be awesome.