fookgub

I usually don't post after voting, but I had to this time. Everyone's build was fantastic this month. Really, I mean that... you all did a great job. Extra special congratulations go to Phil. ERB's are really complicated, and you pulled it off in a big way. In the end, I had to vote for Scottyd. The bass is unique and cool and built with superior craftsmanship, but what really put it over the top is the tuning system. It looks great, and as a person with some machining experience, I really like the fact the you built it yourself.

I have a Bosch RA1181. No complaints. The table is big and flat. Jointing fence works well. I drilled a hole through to plate to use with the above-the-table height adjustment on my router. Only annoyance is that it was a pain to level the plate with the table. You only need to do it once, though.

It's neat seeing how shallow the patina is on that cypress. What did you do for finish? It looks like gloss everywhere except the top. No finish on the top?

... but I never hear anyone complaining about changing string on a string through body guitar.

Ok, fine... I'll complain. Changing strings on a through body is a pain in the butt. For me it's top-loader or bust!

That's from the Lollar book. According to that the measurement of the bobbin heath was 0.686 with enough magnet length left to stick up through the pickup cover to be flush with the surface. I figure 0.022" would be a reasonable thickness for the pickup cover. And it makes sense as Leo was keen on saving money by using the same part for different applications and so on. If he could use the longest magnets from the strat pickup in the jazz pickup it would definitely mean money saved.

If you would like to, I could make a quick CAD (PDF) of the jazz pup from that book (that is pre definition not like copying copy protected material) and other jazz pups. I have no problem doing so as Jason have let that book go out of print and he has no intentions to make a reprint.

I don’t really buy in bulk. I get most of my stuff from Steven Kersting. Half decent prices if you order for more than 300$. Example one 0.656 tall A5 rod, retail price SK .85$, bulk SK .35, Stewmac 2.68$!!! A5 bar magnet SK retail 4$, SK bulk 2$ Stewmac 6.40$!!! But I don’t like his HB bobbins. They do not fit my current standard. Have to find another place to get those.

A PDF would be great, if you don't mind. How could I get a hold of Steven Kersting? Is $300 his minimum order? That's a whole lot of magnets!

I have seem some basses and guitars with graphite fingerboards.

Does anyone have experience with them?

Where can you get stock material?

How do you radius and fret it?

I believe you're referring to Ebonol, which is a phenolic paper/glue laminate, not graphite. Common trade names are garolite are micarta. In many respects, you can work with it like wood. At least as far as radiusing and fretting goes. I haven't had much luck using edged tools on it. I've got a 3/16" garolite fretboard sitting around that I glued up from 3 pieces of 1/16" material. It is not as stiff as wood, but stiff enough, I think, for an experiment. I'm going to try it out on one of the guitars I'm building. There was a discussion here a while back about garolite. You can pull it up with a search for more info.

thank you finally someone kinda understands where im coming from.

anyway i just came across this on the floyd rose website. have no idea if itll fit or even where to buy one. seems like it doesnt exist in the merchant world. anyone know anything about these things?

http://www.floydrose.com/fixedbridge.html

Unfortunately, that bridge probably won't fit your recess. Soapbar is right on about Floyds being a pain to setup, but at least they'll hold their setup for a good long time. To really get the action perfect, you'll probably have to shim the saddles.

Anyway, I'm a Floyd hater myself and would love to suggest something different, but I don't know of any options that will drop into that rout. You could fill the rout, but then you're pretty much stuck with a solid finish, and it would be a shame to cover up that expensive lacewood.

I'm not sure you have the right dimensions for the jazz bass. According to Jason Lollar they should be 0.186 in diameter and slightly longer that 0.686. I would use the stewmac # 5958 for this. I know that I have seen Music man style magnets somewere but I just can't find the link. Sorry.

Thanks for the info. Did you pull that from Lollar's book? I've read a bunch of conflicting info on the net about polepiece length. I trust Lollar more than most, but I'm still considering renting a jazz bass and measuring the pickups for myself. I would like to get the magnet diameter right, though. The strat polepieces will work in a pinch, but you can tell the the jazz bass has narrower ones.

Anyway, do you buy your magnets in bulk? What can I expect in terms of pricing and minimum order if I go with a commercial supplier? A big reason for making my own pickups is that I need odd spacings, and I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for custom pickups. I was thinking about sending an RFQ to Magnetic Hold (http://www.magnetichold.net/) and Master Magnetics (http://www.magnetsource.com/). Have you ever dealt with either of these guys?

I'm looking for magnets for Jazz and Musicman style bass pickups. They are, from what I have gathered, 3/16" (4.8mm) and 3/8" (9.5mm) in diameter respectively. Not 100% sure about the lengths yet, but I think 7/8" would work. AlNiCo 5 is the material. Stewmac and other guitar parts suppliers sell Strat magnets (.195"/5mm), but I haven't been able to find any magnets in the sizes I want.

I had a look at the suppliers list at the pickup makers forum, and I also looked around ThomasNet for a while. Seems like everyone that might be able to provide what I'm looking for is oriented towards commercial sales/industrial supply. I haven't RFQ'd any of these guys yet, but that's the vibe I get from poking around their websites. I'm looking to build about a half dozen pickups on this first go-around. Are there any places where I can buy these odd-sized magnets in small quantities without paying a fortune?

On a side note: I see that some suppliers offer alnico rods cut to length, but most just offer them in about ~6" lengths. What would be the procedure for cutting my own rods to length? Abrasive cutoff wheel? Hacksaw? Do I need to worry about heat ruining the magnets?

I'd get the floyd, and then install a Tremol-No so you have the option to lock it to a fixed bridge if you need to.

I agree... or better yet, just block the trem completely. Floyds actually make pretty good fixed bridges if you're willing to put up with allen keys and cutting the ends off your strings. If you block the trem, you won't need a locking nut.

I've used these veneers from LMI on a few bits here and there, and liked them quite a bit. I'm curious, does anyone else know another supplier of this material?

Also, being not-quite wood, and seemingly less porous than plain wood veneer, am I asking for trouble using them as accent lines in a laminated neck? Given the thicknesses involved, I don't foresee it being a problem, but perhaps I'm mistaken or missing something.

From LMI's description, I think Garolite (sold by McMaster-Carr) might be a suitable substitute. It's much cheaper than LMI's stuff, but you have to buy more. I ordered a large sheet of 1/16" Garolite from them a while back (36" x 48" ~$40), and have been using it for neck stringers and other accents. One of the instruments I'm working on has a mahogany body, maple top, and a garolite accent between them -- real sharp looking. I use black epoxy to glue them up, and I always rough up both gluing surfaces first. As long as you get a good glue joint, I don't see any reason not to use it for necks.

Looking great so far! I can't believe how fast this thing is coming together.

I went on a little adventure today, so I thought I'd post what I discovered. Hopefully this will be of some use to the folks in and around Austin.

Here are the places to buy lumber in Austin that I know of:

Brazos Forest Products - 600 Industrial Blvd

Formerly Hogan Hardwoods, and Paxton before that. Paxton was once located at 3907 S. Industrial Dr. (note: S. Industrial and Industrial are different streets), but it moved years ago. They have a small storefront up front for hobbyists and other people wanting non-commercial quantities. Virtually no exotics, but they have a decent little selection of domestic hardwoods.

Bluelinx Hardwoods - 4209 S. Industrial

Formerly Austin Hardwood at 2119 Goodrich Ln., they were bought, renamed, and moved last November. They have a nice, but fairly small, selection of exotics. Most are surfaced on both sides and about 1" thick. Good for neck stock, but I would look elsewhere for body blanks. They have a fairly large warehouse with a lot of domestic wood, but I didn't take a close look. Seems like you would need help to get to most of it... they stack it pretty high. I bought a nice looking piece of jatoba there today. They didn't seem at all annoyed that I came in looking for a single board (though they weren't very busy) -- the salesman's name was Mike, and he was very friendly.

Fine Lumber - 9407 Brown Ln.

Seems to be the most well-known lumber yard around Austin for hardwoods. They have a good and easily accessible selection of many woods. 2" boards of soft maple, poplar, and mahogany for body blanks are easy to find. They have alder, too, but finding a wide enough board for two-piece bodies can be tough. They usually have some wenge, bubinga, purpleheart, etc., but the selection seems to be sort of random as far as quantity, size, and species. They have lots of 1" mahogany and maple (both curly and not). You have to dig for a piece suitable for necks, but it can be done. I usually show up looking for one or two boards. Sometimes they're real nice (one guy in particular, Jason, has been quite helpful), and other times they seem like they would rather not waste their time with me. I guess it depends on who's working and how busy they are.

Anyway, hope this is useful for someone. I'd be interested to know if there are any other places (besides Woodcraft, that is) to buy hardwood in Austin.

Neat... got any more pictures? I built a whamola a while ago, too. The thread is here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=29208.

Ok, well my problem is with squeels, mybe the sponges will fix squeels, just not hum? is that wrong?

Squeals usually have to do with microphonic pickups. No amount of shielding will help if your pickups are microphonic. I doubt foam will do anything either, but it won't cost you much (if anything), so it may be worth a try. Unfortunately, the only good solution is to buy better pickups. I suppose you could try to pot your current pickups, but I don't know anything about that.

I don't like the tall, squared off knobs they recommend for EMGs.

I've never seen a manufacturer recommended a specific knob

Your question is a little bit confusing, or maybe you are a little bit confused (no pun intended). You want to use a dome knob with a concentric pot right? You can use whatever knob you want.. as long as it fits the pot shaft.. Knobs are purely esthetics.

Just make sure you have a 25K pot for active electronics.

I think he's asking whether or not the knobs for common stacked pots (like the ones stewmac sells) will fit the stacked pots that EMG supplies. I don't know, but I bet someone does.

Ok, so I better not waste my time with that, what can I use? What around the house will help? tinfoil?

You can use aluminum foil and apply it with spray adhesive (like 3M super 77). That works well for flat surfaces like pickguards, but it's a huge pain in the butt to do control cavities and other stuff with curves. Also, aluminum is very difficult to solder to. Copper tape is a better solution, but conductive paint is less work. You can buy both the tape and the paint from stewmac. Personally, I would use aluminum foil on the pickguard (if there is one) and conductive paint for everything else.

Nice to see some progress on the Kelly. It looks great!

I agree on the fret markers. They have to go. Otherwise, it's a really nice looking drawing. Are you going to extend the neck heel to the front pickup, and go for a heel-less bolt on?

The sky's the limit with regard to non-traditional guitar building materials. Here is what I've seen:

Metals:

Steel tubing, ala this or this.

I've seen a couple hollow Telecasters welded together out of steel plate. Also, a member here built a semi-hollow with a wood core sheathed in aluminum. Very cool looking guitar, but I can't seem to find it now. There's the Birdfish, too. Another member here posted a guitar he had machined out of solid aluminum billet. It was one piece, but had a bunch of holes in it for weight savings. Can't seem to find that one now, either, but I bet someone around here can.

Other interesting uses of metals would be 80's Kramers with aluminum necks. I think I've seen an aluminum fretboard on a Viger, too.

Those are just a few examples. I've actually seen a number of interesting guitars using metals.

Composites/Plastics:

So many choices here I don't even know where to start. There's phenolic fretboards (also called ebanol, garolite, micarta, etc.), used by Cort, Parker, Knuckle, and lots of others. Phenolic can also be used for neck stringers, headstock plates, and other accent pieces.

Carbon fiber is all over the place. Status might be the best example. BassLab uses some sort of carbon fiber process, too, but I couldn't tell you the details.

There are some acrylic/Lucite guitars around. The Dan Armstrong guitar is possibly the most famous. B.C. Rich has made a number of acrylic guitars in various translucent colors. I've even seen a couple DIY clear guitars.

Other stuff: a few manufacturers have used luthite. Don't know what it is. Some sort of cast resin, I think. The two examples that come to mind first are the Cort Curbow and the Ibanez Ergodyne series (my favorite of which is the EDA-900).

Anyway, that's just the beginning. It's a big, wide world.

EDIT: Forgot to mention stone. Check this out: http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58720

Like Dingwalls any?

If he's running a spiral cutter on the shaper, it'll make a huge difference to the tearout - that and practice, so that your feed rate and pressure are exactly right.

Found the video: http://www.webcastgroup.com/webcast/window...l=&r=&i

It's pretty long, but I thought it was worthwhile. The shaper bit happens around 23 minutes in. I can't really tell what sort of bit they're using, but it doesn't look like a spiral to me. It looks like the guy at the bandsaw did a nice job cutting close to the line, though.

hmm.... I think everyone should have a Tele of some sort. Especially since you already have a nice little Fender-style guitar collection going. It just doesn't look right without the Tele. On the other hand, that Jaguar bass is pretty sweet looking. I guess you'll have to build both.

Thanks 'spoke & Mattia. It's nice to be getting all this advice from people that know their stuff cold. I guess I need to look into my setup a bit, though, because something starts to vibrate at about 18k RPM. It might just be a small part somewhere that I need to lock down.

Anyway, I got a body blank jointed and glued yesterday. Even at 16k RPM, the bit produced a very clean cut. It was pretty fiddly getting the fence and everything set up right. Took over an hour to really get it dialed in to my liking (much of this time was spent pacing back and forth in the shop). But it beats buying a jointer that would spend 99% of its time collecting dust.

This discussion reminds me of a Ken Smith factory tour video I saw a while ago (unfortunately, I can't seem to find the link now). I was always amazed by how quickly and fearlessly the guy at the shaper trims the body profile. He does it straight off the bandsaw in one deep, full-width pass, with no tearout. I almost always have problems with tearout around the upper horn. How does he get away with this?

Actually, I believe the Reverend guitars are mostly passive. The "bass contour" is probably some sort of passive filter. Could be lots of different stuff, but an LRC circuit wouldn't suprise me. No way to know without getting to look at one in person.