Arseneau

Just wondering if any of you have any ingenious ideas for how you could print/stamp, etc a logo onto a pickup the way Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio (or most manufacturers) do onto theirs... Thanks

Thanks for the response. I use AutoCAD 2005 to view the files. How exactly do I convert the .dwg file to a .pdf file? Sorry if this seems obvious but I'm pretty inept when it comes to graphics software. Thanks

Anyone have any idea where or how to get AutoCAD files printed in full size? Does Kinkos do it? Staples? I've called a bunch of local print shops but most of them say they can only print them if I convert them to a .plt file or something which I can't seem to figure out how to do. I've found a couple of tutorials on the Net for converting them but I can't get it to work and it seems way too complicated. You guys MUST have some easier way of getting your designs printed, am I right? Thanks in advance for your info

You only have to cut the slot deeper if radiusing the board makes the slots shallow enough that the ends of the frets stick up. The slot itself does not have to be radiused to match the board exactly per se, just deep enough to take the whole fret, rougly following the camber of the board. I generally have bought pre-slotted, un-radiused fret boards and have rarely had to cut the slots any deeper after radiusing (unless I get over zealous with the radius sanding block ) As for the binding, cutting a channel after the fret board has been attached sounds like a recipe for disaster. Instead, simply make your fretboard 1mm (or whatever) narrower all around and add your fret board binding before you glue the whole works to the neck. Not sayng it absolutley wouldn't work your way, just that this way is MUCH easier... G

While I haven't been around here that long, it has been long enough that I have been helped by bluespresence's knowledge and genuine desire to share his knowledge with others. My condolences to his family.

Just use shellac.

Don't laugh, but check out those stores and kiosks that are in every mall in the known world where they sell cheap necklaces, earrings, that sort of thing. A lot of their stock contains MOP and abolone shells in various formats which are simlpy coated with a thin clear coat that easily sands off. Voila! The exact same shells that you can get for $20/oz on ebay (or more from other online dealers) you can get for a fraction of the cost. My girlfriend works at one of these stores (hence why I don't mention the name, but I guarantee you that there's at least one in every major town and city in ) and it's where I get a lot of inlay material. Just last week she brought me home three necklaces that each consisted of a full shell of black MOP. Not just a small fragment, but the WHOLE shell. Just those three shells alone would cost at least $20 from an "inlay material" place, or less than $10 from one of these stores (even less if you can convince a staffer to give you their discount). You do the math. Granted, a whole shell still has it's curve and therefore will only be partially useable (the flat parts) but, how can you go wrong for the price? Plus the act of cutting the shells into useable, flat blanks is good practice for when you actually try to cut your pattern out. Laugh if you will, but I've got pearl shell material in black, pink and red heart, gold, white and abalone from this place, not to metion every colour imaginable of coloured plastic that looks like MOP. Rock on

Is the look you were hoping for more like this? If so, then the exact same thing happened to me due to the same tutorial that you noted. The problem is that there is very little contrast to speak of when you use the same colour twice (ie: red, sand back, red). I assume that that was the look he was going for in that tutorial and I chalked it up to oversight on my part. In any case, if your problem sounds similar, then the answer is walnut brown dye (or that's the shade I used anyway, but any very dark shade of brown dye will do). You coat the top in the dark brown, sand it back using 400 grit paper after it's dry, THEN add your red, with a little yellow on top to really make the figure jump out. Hope this helps... EDIT: Never mind, just saw your other thread. You are obviously going for the lighter look than I was.

Really? I've used minwax poly over a decal four times now and it's never damaged the decal. Strange...

The main problem with hardwood from the building supply store is that it generally has lots of knots and other imperfections in it. And you definitely do NOT want to use a piece of wood with knots in it for a neck.

You don't really want anything thinner than, say, 1/8" (if that) since, as mattia said, spalted is very unstable in thin slices. I got a beuatiful bookmatched spalted set on ebay that's slightly under 1/4" for $20 a few months back.

I actually just noticed that the ones I have been using are the ones that say they contain no wax or silicone. Like I said earlier, haven't had a problem with finish sticking, but looks like it's a risk...

Hmm...I stand corrected. Never had any problems yet myself that I could attribute to the tack cloth, but your comments definitely make me reconsider the idea.

I wouldn't be without it for finish sanding. It does gum up your hands a bit but it's the only way to really get ALL the dust and dirt off of the wood before you apply your finish.

As an addendum to my earlier post and in complete agreement with unclej and Mickguard: yes definitely use a template. I was going on the assumption that that would be obvious, but I definitely should have mentioned it. You could do some real damage otherwise.

It would be pretty hard to get a nice even edge with a spokeshave. A router pass around the edges would probably be your best best.

I've done it several times using polyurethane and it's always worked fine. You can use it over whatever stain/dye you're using since the label doesn't touch the stain (at least the way I've done it). As long as the clear coat is compatible with the stain and the label is compatible with the clear coat, the stain and label won't interact and you should have no problems. Lay down 3 or 4 coats of your clear, set the label into the last one while still wet. Once it dries, continue with clear coats until the label blends seemlessly into the surrounding finish. Can't see why it wouldn't work the same on the body. Just a side note: I had the whole logo printed rather than doing it like in the tutorial (just the black outline and filling in with metallic pens). The pen just seemed like one more chemical that could react adversely to me...also consider poking pin holes in the logo to let the clear seep through and avoid air bubbles. The holes are invisible once you get the clear over top. Anyway, test on scrap. In regards to nitro, never tried it, can't say.

Why not do a "dye-burst", front and back so that the entire edge around the body is left really dark (more of your dark brown/black base colour)? That way it won't matter that the end grain pulls up more dye since you want it dark anyway. I think it would look awesome. Granted, I've never done a whole body this way, just tops, so there may be some reason that it won't work that I've been overlooking.

Yes, that's the tool I was thinking of. I have one in my shop but it almost never gets used. The blade on the scroll is MUCH bigger than on the jeweller's saw, plus I prefer the control of hand cutting over electric cutting. Not saying it's impossible, just seems kind of pointless to risk an intricate inaly (not to mention fingertips) on an electric saw that has too large a blade for the job. Just my 2 cents...

A jeweller's saw is so precise and easy to use once you get the hang of it that I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. I assume by scroll saw you mean the electric variety? Seems to me that it would be okay for Gibson style fret markers but I can't see using it for anything overly detailed...we may be thinking of two completely different tools however...

You can definiely do this inlay but, like mentioned above, the "template" will be useless except to draw the pattern onto paper. What you'll want to do is transfer the pattern onto paper, cut out each shape using an x-acto knife, then attach each cut out piece to your chosen piece of inlay material using double sided adhesive. I like to then put a layer of masking tape over the whole thing to reduce shattering of the shell and redraw the pattern on top of the masking tape so you have a good clean line to follow with your jeweller's saw. Once you get the pieces cut out (this will take MANY hours/days and countless blades for your saw), then you can attach them to the fretboard in their proper positions with a SMALL dot of glue, scribe around each piece with the x-acto, pry piece up carefully and use your Dremel and some small carving chisels to clean out the cavities (this will also take many hours/days). This way, each cavity is tailored to fit a specific piece (be certain to number your pieces or you will guaranteed get lost) so there is no realistic way of using that template to actually cut the pieces out. See what we're getting at?

I did this one with a thin coat of amber shellac under several coats of Minwax fast drying poly.

Link 3/16" according to this guy. Sounds about right compared to my memory of the ones I've seen. Like you said though, probably not entirely critical as long as the zero fret itself is the correct height.

I'm doing a flame maple top on a 5-string bass and I bought some red aniline dye from Lee Valley (powdered stuff) and I have been messing around with scraps trying to get that cool deep look that you get using black/sand back/blue. I learned from the tortoiseshell thread that you shouldn't use black under anything but blue, grey, etc., which totally makes sense. So what do you use as the "darker" coat for red? Brown? Just a more potent mixture of the same red dye? That's what I was thinking and I tried it on scrap, but I haven't yet found the right proportions to get a good contrast. Any suggestions? The look I'm aiming for is something like this:

Okay, so this is probably a really dumb question but I've searched the forum over and over without finding an answer (or simply couldn't find the right key word/phrase) so here goes: What would happen if you used a pickup that was marketed as a "bridge" pup in the neck position, or vice versa? Would it sound like crap? Why?