guitarchump

well im thinking black for the neck-thru, i think it will suit the shape, as well i have never owned a black guitar HAHA. For the explorer the cedar will be stained red with black grain filler, the cherry left natural and the back and sides black with a black burst over the edges. I am still open to sugestions on both!

I'm not saying buy/download a book im just thinking of a guide we can direct first time builders to before they dive right in. I dunno it was just an idea.

This may or may not be a new idea, but i was wondering if any members here were interested in writting a sort of guide/book to guitar\bass\acoustic bulding for new members of the foum to look through before decide to go head first into the world of the luthier. I have seen way to many people in the forum ask the same question 300 times and people to lazy to use the search function. I was thinking that if we could get some of the members in this forum (if they had time) to put together a collection of information/pictures/diagrams in some sort of guide (that could be aimed towards to first time builder and if we have time even add in some advanced techniques). I think it would be a great help to the members of this community both the first time builders and the experinced members. What is everyone else's take on this idea... Im sure im not the think of this...

damn is that nice! I dont have much more to say then that... haha

~LARGE UPDATE~ Sorry it has been a while but i have got caught up in a two projects now haha. Ok so I had an explorer i built lying around un-finished, this was because the neck was a total mess and way to narrow some how at the heel. so i decided one day hey lets add a set neck into this thing. So i did that and was happy with how it turned out. Later that day i was down at the good old hardwood store and had a crazy idea. A SEMI HOLLOW EXPLORER..... So i picked up some nice cedar and cherry that i found for a good price and ran home. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06976.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06975.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06974.jpg so after slowing down on the progress of the explorer, last night i picked up the other guitar and decided i would use a recessed TOM bridge and i slapped the wings on to the neck of the guitar. I let it glue over night and this morning i began to carve the heel, as well as finding out where the strap buttons were finally going to go. Hurray for victoria day or what ever this holiday is today haha. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06967.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06973.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06972.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06971.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06970.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/thrash/DSC06969.jpg Should I start a separate thread for the hollow body explorer??

I like the stewmac double action. There well built and easy to install and replace if needed. The only reason i would not use a double action is if you wanted a thin ibanez wizard type neck where there is no room for a double action truss rod. my 2 cents.

O man this is such a hard one to vote on! I think i may just have to vote for the all wenge one but for a first build how can you not vote for verhoevenc! Ahhh and setch has such a nice guitar as well! damn you peopla and your good luthier skills! haha Well anyways who ever i vote for all of your guitars are great.

Thats a good thing! When using hand tools when you first start can be very helpfull. It forces you to plan and learn them. With power tools beginners tend to just go "meh, oh well ill just give it a shot" and blindly make huge mistakes. And have the proper tools like guages and stuff take ALOT of guess work out of things

now that you have moved take a look at www.albertametal.net cool forums great place to find shows happening in the area. I know this is kinda offtopic but meh you may enjoy it.

HA someone skilled headed over my way! Hope you have a good move! Where you headed in alberta? Calgary Maybe?!?!

Making an archtop top shouldnt take you 100's of hours when using a vacume press. the whole instrument could possibly take that long. My whole question is asking if any one has tryied it and what it was like. I can see that the tone wouldnt be that great but i thought it might be a neat experiment before i take on a project of using carbon fiber. Im going to try to make really thin and light guitars just to see what i can come up with and maybe see if adding carbon fiber to a neck really adds a whole lot of strength.

I have his book, I must say I like yous better ! I love seeing your work its such an insperation to me. Keep thoughs inlays comming!

hudreds of hours? and alot of money? My friend got a vacume press that you can use a hand pump to suck the hair out and it cost kin like 60 buck canadian and you can order different sized bags for not alot of money. For the mould all u need to do is sepend a few hours carving a piece of blue or pink insulation foam..... I dont see where the 100's of hours go... my question is if anyone has ever done it...

I'm not talking normal foam im talking about the blue or pink stuff thats used for insulation. It works very well for molds for longboards which tend to have harsher curves then the arch top. I'm not talking normal foam im talking about the blue or pink stuff thats used for insulation. It works very well for molds for longboards which tend to have harsher curves then the arch top. and about epoxy sorry i would be using titebond 3 to bond the wood i was thinking about using people using firber glass on longboards for a second haha.

On the blade topic. I just got my first timberwolf blade and WOW! SOOOOO much better then the stupid ones i got from homdepot and places like that. I used to go through at least 1 to 2 blades a guitar now i can slap the timberwolf on and it cuts great for a very long time. I recomend it highly!

Sweet, what kind of metal will it be made out of....

I spary minwax poly outside with only one of thos medical rated dust filters and i dont feel that im inhaling any fumes.Plus i do tend to spray down wind if theres a slight wind, but im usually behind the shed thats sheltered.

I think you will be surprised with the poly i was told that its hard to polish, hard to sand, and had problems blending between coat. But I found it way easier to use then nitro. Poly built fast was clear hard and wasnt that hard to polish. I like the finnish alot more then nitro in general. Keep in mind the rattle can poly is one part poly and not 2 part and there are some differences in the finnish. Ive only delt with the 1 part if rattle cans. im sure using a spray gun with any finnish would be way easier once u got the hang of it. Try out the minwax poly i think you will be happy with it and not bother going with the nitro that drys slow and builds slower. But thats just my opinion. Hopefully you find one that works for you.

I found nirto to dry really slow for me. It took 8 weeks for it to be hard enough to touch without leaving marks... Maybe it was a bad experience. I was using wacko nitro cans(bad stuff imo). The Minwax poly i used on a different project went on nice. just put it on as evenly as possible. I found the poly way more forgiving when it came to runs and drips becuse it builds so fast you dont run the risk of sandinf through. Also with poly, the down side is you need to set out a good 5 days for finnishing. Never stop in the finnishing process with it and continue weeks later or you run the risk of getting an ugly finnish that didnt blend well between layers even after sanding. Thats my 2 cents

Well i have a friend who makes longboard decks and he uses a vacume press on 1/8 inch ply wood laminated and he can make crazzy bends and curves with it. so i was thinking with two 1/16 inch wood tops i could make a foam mold of the profile of the arch top then soat the tops and then place it in the bad and vacume press it into shape and add some appoxyto bind the 2 layers together. Does this eem doable?

I have used a drum sander on a router on a router table but you MUST have a variable speed router with a very low rpm setting. Look at your drill press and see what speed it runs with your sanding drum. Then look at your router if its lowest variable speed can run at the drill presses low of rpm. I know mine can...

has any one tryed using a vacume press to make an arch top instead of carving it?

Right now im listening to alot of opeth. They guys in that band a amazing writters IMO. I listen to alot of european metal bands like stratovarius, sonata arctica, AMon amarth, blind guardian, helloween, evergrey etc....

DONT USE IT! i used it on one of my guitars i took around 5 cans of it to build up to less than a 128th to 64th of a inch and i had to be very carfull not to rub through. I have way better esults with minwax poly. The lacquer also tends to run becuase it has such a large amount solevent. I found it very anouying to use and i had way better results with minwax poly that you can by at any rona, can-tire, or homedepot. Hopefully your not set on lacquer over a poly finnish. Hope this helps

get a thick sheet of black anodized aluminum and cut a tribal inlay out of it to cover the hole. Then use that as the control plate for the electronics. it would be sick.