chunkielad

Chunkielad, I did a little checking into it and your idea looks like it will work great, Thanks!

Nate Robinson

Glad to be of service - I'm a signmaker myself over here in the UK so I was sure it'd work. One suggestion is to either fit the vinyl wet or get a signmaker to fit it.

The water you use is just a garden spray bottle with one or two drops of cheap washing up liquid (no more than two drops) and a tea spoon of meths. The liquid breaks surface tension and the meths helps it all evaporate. You get to take the vinyl back off before squegie time if it's not right then. Make sure you get rid of every last bit of water and tada!

Yes Scott sorry - just a bit too expensive - he's disabled so doesn't have a lot of money (not in a wheelchair or anything but unable to work).

I was not sure how the guitar bridge would work with saddle changes. Saying that, I've seen the vintage 'roll over' saddles on strats so that may work.

At just short of 30" scale length I would have thought the music man is classable as a bass. It's short but still bass length isn't it?

Excellent - remember the photos for us all when you start!

I think it looks like E.T.!

My brother has asked me to make him a bass but he wants a six string with the strings tunes e-e like a guitar but lower!

To do this we are looking at using lower guitar strigs as the high bass strings (assuming there aren't any bass strings oiut there like this).

This takes us to the bridge. Standard 6 string bridges and nuts are very wide and his short, fat, stubby fingers just can't reach accross the fretboard so....

.. I thought about making our own bridge something similar to an accoustic bone saddle in a tiber frame and then a timber stringthrough saddle. I figure we can make our own spacing and seat widths this way BUT how thn would I intonate the thing?

I know we can build a compensated nut and the bridge can be put on an angle to help but that surely isn't going to giv us the exact intonation we require. Any great ideas out there?

For your first project it's a great place to start - you have to be comfortable with what you are doing.

It does seem you've done a lot of work to this one already then so that next step of making the shape yourself won't be that big of one to take.

You can make your own template quite simply with some plywood or MDF and a jigsaw, a file and some sandpaper.

If you are after a standard strat/tele body etc to start from, Simo sells great accurate templates. I have some myself ready for my Tele project. It saves you messing about with them yourself if you'd rather get straight onto making the guitar itself.

All in all, you've done a great job with this project - lets see another one then!

I'm sure it'll all turn out fine in the end fella. Just take your time on practising the burst and you'll have a monster finish.

The one thing I would keep in mind here is that as much as the cost escalates each time you get something, tools and techniques are there for more than this one guitar. Plus, you tell me where you can get a guitar of this spec for the money you've spent.

It's a good job from both of you. Have a go at making a body next time though mate - you'd be surprised at how doable it is.

I worked a mock up of the guitar shape over the top and it's just too blooming gorgeous for any sort of stain - Tru Oil only is a very big possibility! What sort of volume of Tru-oil is a body going to need? Is the small bottle enough?

Now what will really confuse everyone is the 120v coming out of the wall socket is actually 340v p-p.

I'ts 230V here in the UK!

It defo wasn't available last time I looked but hey, always happy with new finds!

Excellent news - I got a pot a while back but never used it - I think that'll be the wayI go then.

I haven't done a rear routed yet but I'm pretty sure that if you put the washers, nut and locking nut on the potentioneter and measure the gap that's left, you'll have your answer.

On the Pot I have here, It's about 3.5 mm.

What d'yall reckon to some sanding sealer, then a few good coats of Briwax? Will that come out anything like a satin/gloss finish?

I don't want full on nitro glossy but then again, I'd like some shine.

I've looked for tru oil before and never been able to find it around here.

Anyone know where i can get that and naptha in the UK?

How would tru oil work over a stain? Will it pull it out at all when I wipe? Is shellac ok as the first coat to protect the stain?

The brown and orange Tiger eye idea is really coming to be the most attractive toi me at the minute.

Personally i think it looks pretty horrible.

And I'd agree! It looks dirty.

The proper gibson is a bit better:

It does but stll not quite right. i wonder if Amber will make a difference....

(Goes looking for black and amber - probably best with brown Amber though)

Another good link cheers Robert.

I strongly recommend you put at the very least a tiny, tiny radius on the board. This isn't for feel (you can put a radius so small it's undetectable to the touch) but for appearance - if you go totally flat, as your fretboard dries out over time, the fretboard can start to appear concave, and that looks really bad. You'll see it quite a lot on very old nylon or gut guitars. Sometimes the board actaully goes concave enough to lift the fret a haor in the middle of the fretboard.

Now that's gold mate! Exactly the type of thing I was worried about.

I'd never have imagined that happening but now you suggest it, it makes sense.

Thanks for the link Simo - I'll pop over there now.

Thanks for the answers guys.

I think my biggest concerns aren't with the making of it more with the 'how will it play?'

I've never seen a totally flat board. As you say mammoth on the classical it's actually slightly curved but very close to flat.

I thought there might me a valid reason for me not coming across one but it seems not.

I've been trying to work out the geometry of it all in my head and I can't think if I'd be better to make the neck thinner (across the fretboard) to accomodate the change.

I'm making a Tele next and thought about doing a flat fretboard. I enjoy playing on my classical which has a flatty and wondered if there were any pointers you guys could give regarding this. Are there any issues? What about the nut and bridge?

Just had a look for Tiger Eye and they seem too brown or orange for my liking.

Anyone got pics of a yellow type stain which has had a black or brown sankback?

I say leave the headplate too.

that guitar is very nice - I love the workmanship and those sand throughs are one of lkife's happy mistakes I think - you could make them work to your advantage I'm sure - Maybe it'd be nice to sand through the rest of the guitar edge so it's a two tone front?

I like the guitar Al but I'm not a brown fan unless it's the original colour of the timber.

You gave me an idea though which is to stain the whole guitar brown and sand back then stain the front in a yellowy/brown more of an ochre colour then try the shellac satin finish.

I agree setch that you can get a great effect under satin and I am pretty sure I don't want to gloss this one.

Have i heard the phrase 'tiger eye' some where? i'll go do a search....

This is the old one - never put pics up of it finished as it still isn't! Just needs the control plate wiring up and fixing - I'll sort that this week but I'v been playing it straight out to the jack socket from the pickup for now.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...1&hl=custom

I was thinking of some sort of grain pop but my main thing now is the fact that the timber the body is made from (the ash and mahogany) are really nice looking and I'd like to keep them natural but the maple cap has an amazing quilt and I'd like to stain it - the cap is 5mm thick and I'd like to have the edge of that not look too out of place.

Never tried a binding before and not sure how well i would get on with a fauz binding so I was thinking a burst but then i don't want to lose the figure...

catch 22 eh? Dunno just want some more ideas to play with I suppose.

After building my own custom last year but using a bought neck, I've decided it's time to do my own.

Just to make things easy on myself, I've gone for a well known shape and bought templates off Simo so it'll be about concentrating on build quality rather than a new design.

So.. a Telecaster it is. I have some mahogany and ash for the body (ash centre with mahigany wings) and a 5mm quilted top is on it's way. There's maple for the neck and a sexy bubinga fretboard.

So now, choices on finish. I'd like something transparent all over and was just thinking os a good old sealer and Briwax but that quilted top needs something more - Any ideas?