guitar2005

I like the way that's coming along. The colour is very nice. For the binding fix, those can be tough to get to look seamless. On one of my latest projects, I just decided to cut and replace the section that was too thin.

Well, if you want to see the wood behind the art, just use a clear sanding sealer. I use shellac.

Prime/seal the wood in white (or black or grey - whatever color is best suited to have as a base) and do the artwork over that. Then, you can clear it. Personally, I would use paint to do the work. Make sure that you artwork paint is compatible with your sealer/primer coat as well as your clear top coat.

Yes, it can long and tedious to get nice f-holes. I've done a few but when working with maple, it can be really time consuming, especially with a thicker top. I've gotten by with homemade sanding sticks and small files but recently, I got some scroll saw sanding belts and that has given me the best and quickest results so far. I get mine from here but many places have them http://www.leevalley...465&cat=1,42500 Of course, that requires a scroll saw but they can be found for pretty cheap on the used market. I use my scoll saw for inlays, truss rod covers, cavity covers, f-holes, template work.... I just take my time, apply little pressure and let the sanding strip do the work. Also, If I have say a 1/2" maple top, I rear route the top around the f-hole so that the thickness is reduced to 1/4" or less. Its visually more pleasing and easier to work IMO.

Do you have a plan of that jointer sled? I'd build one. Do you pre-cut on the bandsaw 1st? That would save the jointer blades. I've tried a bunch of different methods and the router method is my 2nd, better method. I did try the jointer without a jig before but felt it was too dangerous. This take the risk down.

Beautiful stuff you have going there; and I like that jointer scarf jig. I'll have to try that out. I currently use the router to prep the scarf, but it always needs cleaning up after. This seems like a better method.

Hmmm... there is a big difference between a teacup and a bass.

As a rule of thumb, staining with food products usually results in fading down the road.

To Woodenspoke - I get my drill bits @ Lee Valley. I use the forstner bits. With some woods, depending on the grain, the tip can move a little and I believe that's what happened here. I've changed my technique so that the fretboard is a close as possible to the drill bit tip with the drill press in resting position. I lift up the board to lock it into the mark I previously made with a tack and then, turn the press on with the depth stop on.

not if you wet it slightly before starting the dye process. I've dyed Maple many times with no blotching.

Wrong..it is in the family Acer and is therefore by definition a maple tree.That is exactly the kind of misinformation that a little reading on your part could fix..hell,your own link tells you it is and it is on scale with other softer varieties..as well as every other professional wood description site.Don't be a maple snob http://en.wikipedia....ki/Acer_negundo However,it is softer by far than "soft" (bigleaf)maple...just being in the maple family doesn't mean it is suitable for necks. The Box Elder is, for some, an odd variety of Acer, still, not a real Maple tree if you ask some experts ... hehehe. Yes, I do know my Maple trees. We have tons of them around here. I even have one of these "Box Elders" in my backyard. These trees are a pest as they grow fast, anywhere and everywhere, causing problems most of the time, so much so that some cities have banned them and destroy them in certain areas. The branches break easily and when you look at the wood, its very white, often with red streaks. It is mentioned in my own link, yes, but not everything you read on the 'net is 100% true. If a lumber store sold you this wood as maple, they would be screwing you, period. In my experience, it is softer than "soft" maple; is some cases, closer to poplar IMO but it also depends on where the piece of wood comes from in the tree and where / how the tree has grown (kinda like Ash/Swamp Ash). The Janka rating for poplar is approx 500. That link I provided has some errors in it for sure. If you would care to do some research, Wes, you'd find that it is in fact not a proper acer but most of the internet data for it is in french, not english. Some botanists call it Negundo aceroides http://en.wikipedia....ki/Acer_negundo Some people also refer to it as "Ash Maple", but again, it is not Maple, nor Ash. Do you know what makes a tree part of the Acer family or not? Many botanists do not consider this tree to be an Acer family tree. It was mistakenly put into the "acer" family by french immigrants to the USA/Canada (more specifically, Illinois) in the XIX'th century because the seeds looked like maple seeds. You can also look for "Erable à Giguère" and "Manitoba Maple" if you're interested in learning more about these trees. If the internet is your primary source of information, you might be dissapointed as there isn't much info on this tree. I hope this helps and that it didn't take this thread too far off course.

Being from Canada, we consider "Silver" maple as "Soft" like I stated earlier in this thread. The "Rock" maple is from the sugar maple. There are other varieties but where I live, those are the two main ones. We also have red leaf maple. The soft maple is definitely softer and you can feel it just by touching it, shaping, sanding it. Here's a good explanation of the different kinds (box elder is NOT maple BTW): http://www.wood-data...and-soft-maple/ You'll see that the on the Janka Hardness scale, the rock maple clocks in at close to 1500 while the silver (soft) maple is approx 700. That's a big difference. I personally prefer the rock maple because of the nice color it has and tight grain. The softer maples can ve very nice as well and you're more likely to find flame maple in those species. Birdseye maple tends to happen more in the rock maple. In terms of stability, I haven't really noticed a difference. I always select my wood with no grain runout along the length of the neck and I often laminate. For the grain direction, I try to select as much as possible either parrallel or perpendicular to the fretboard. If you going to use the softer maple for fretboards, use a sealer as the pores are slightly more open.

"Soft" maple, or what they refer to as "Silver Leaf" maple is actually quite hard. I've used it on neck many times. The color has a greyish hue to it.

I never thought of Ebony as oily. Rosewood, yes, Cocobolo, yes but Ebony?

Good Idea Wes, but a little too late. I'll keep that in mind for next time. How much does one of those cost?G

At a minimum, I would apply a sealer coat of shellac or tung oil.

Let its settle for longer before polishing it. What are you using got finish and how long are you waiting before smoothing it out?

Well, I unglued the fretboard and it took about 30mins. If Ihad done that in the first place, I would have been better off.

I would resaw the rosewood to two 1cm tops and use tem over alder, mahogany or even hollowed out northern ash.

I always use brad point bits and everything was centered but what I've noticed is that sometimes, the point of the bit moves around if the center punch didn't go deep enough. Lesson learned.

Yeah, at this point, it looks like the fretboard is coming off. Seems like such a waste though. This is fixed, re-fixed and re-fixed, then... re-fixed again. I could have made a new fretboard (almost) in that time.

Well, I tried blending it in some more by cutting up the maple around the inlay but it just makes it darker. Had this been ebony and a dark wood, I wouldn't have this problem. I've already spent way too much time on this... I think. My next step is to remove the fingerboard and make a new one. The neck itself is nice and I can't bring myself to destroy another neck in less than 7 days. Lesson learned I guess. Its just too bad I caught this after having fretted the neck.

You can't just remove veneer. In both instances, I put the guitar through a drum sander and removed the armrest portion with a hand sander. Why? Because you have to remove all traces of glue do apply a new veneer.

I had an off center inlay on one my my latest neck builds and I relocated it. Unfortunately, it shows and I'm not happy with it. I tried to fix it up but it not working. I'm looking for ideas on how to fix it or maybe cover it up with a larger inlay. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. This is what it looks like: You can see, to the left how I tried to blend in the existing wood with the filler but its just really bad. I already scrapped one neck this past week, I don't want to scrap another.

Definitely. Having done veneering a couple of times, I know first hand that a curved top is much harder to do than a flat top (like a tele), the thinner the veneer, the harder it is to get just the right amount of glue and getting a decent center line is also quite the challenge. When I did the lacewood vennered Jem, I redid the top 3 times.