bob123

Not intended to be a debate thread. Simply curious about your "go to" nut material and why you choose it. Each seems to have its own benefits and drawbacks, and i have read and listened to people like Mr. Smith discuss nut materials, but a down to earth discussion about what you choose would be cool. Recently, used a brass nut for a telecaster build. I've never played a brass nut guitar before, and I must say, the look is cool, but I dont see all the hub bub about the "brightness" of it. Sounds pretty similar to my graphite nut telecaster with similar woods (only difference is the rosewood fretboard). For ease of use and quality, I don't think I will be using brass again, pain in the arse to get it sanded to the right height. Graphite seems to be the best choice for me. Plastic in feel, but has a bright, chimey tone that works well for my style. Easy to work on too if you need to.

Food for thought. Mahogany is a VERY common neck wood. Has a janka hardness of around 800. "Soft" maple has a hardness of 8-900 depending on species, but similar in strength to mahogany. What I would say, stay away from super figured soft maple for necks though, as figuring weakens wood, and the more figure, the weaker it gets. This is ESPECIALLY true with birdseye figuring.

NICE! You very much should be pleased with how that turned out! You sprayed it very well too!

wes here is the main man responsible of getting me AWAY from oil based finishes haha. That said, tru oil on a neck provides a GREAT feel, and seems to hold up. Easy to clean, apply, and take care of. I wouldn't consider equal to catalyzed varnishes in terms of protection an durability, but it "works" as intended. The problem will be the long term, "down the road" thing. Theres no way this oil finish will last like a poly finish will. Just some food for thought.

ehh.... anyway, I personally feel the true art is in the design. Give two men the same tools and materials, and 2 very different guitars will come out I'd bet. Just a means to an end I'd say lol.

Interesting approach! I agree on the "clutter" aspect as well. Your stuff looks great, love that strat neck!

Umm, pertinent questions that no one asked... what music are you playing? What amp(s)? Are you looking to get an actual humbucker, or do you want to get a single coil sized humbucker?

Interesting ideas. More jaguar then telecaster in my opinion. I must say, i am NOT jealous when it comes time to do truss rod adjustments. i do like the good longtenon though!

Too late to edit apparently... anyway, early jems have different decals then later jems (slightly smaller), and some of the oddball jems are different. best-decals.com sells very accurate jem decals.

hey dude, what tail piece is that?

which jem...

Wild stuff man. Strange seeing such professional level work on theses types of guitars xD Cracks me up a little. Should be exciting builds when you are finished!

Man thats coming out great. Honestly, much better then i was expecting with your carving ideas. What color hardware and pickups? Its screaming white pups and gold hardware to me

If you in usa, you can get them from any hobby store. Most notably hobby lobby. Cheap too!

Thats fair, i dont disagree even a little bit. I simply read as "black is wrong, dont use" (the joys of textual context and syntax) which raised some flags in my mind lol. I find with some figures, when i used black it came out "dirty" looking and was a nightmare to sand off. Never had an issue with tops though.

Like i said, go tell prs, ebmm, etc etc they are doing it wrong.... Not really up for discussion, and we dont need to make this a pissing contest. Black works when done right, theres no argument here. If you do a crap job, or you dont do it right, then your end result reflects that. Tylers work speaks for itself. That is interesting. Because almost all the top end luthiers i know of use brown or a darker color of the top coat.

Might also be incumbent on dye type and technique as well. I know for a fact, top end luthiers use black frequently. Obviously, color choice is a huge factor here as well.

Im not speaking from my knowledge base. Ive made some ugly maple with black dye before. PRS uses black quite a bit, obviously not for lighter colors. Black base on amber would look dumb lol. For deep reds, purples, blues, etc, black is great if done well. Ive tried the "darker color" before, i wasnt a fan, but its all subjective anyway. Whether you agree with it or not, it is true. Black can kill the grain instead of make it pop most of the time. If you look at the difference between woods dyed black first, and woods dyed with a darker color first, the ones dyed with a darker matching color are much deeper and more 3d. Black first just gives it contrast and kills the figure.

Better tell PRS, Suhr, EBMM, Tom Anderson, and Mcnaught they are doing it wrong too then.... Tylers work speaks for itself in my opinion.

I apologize if its been said already, what are you planning to finish the guitar with?

Hey guys, I did in fact use analine dye, so that may be the culprit here, if thats what it is. I'll go double check the brand, but the clear coat is a catalyzed medium build urethane, but its definitely water white. I did use a "cheap" sanding sealer, could that have caused issues as well? (just some cheap water based stuff) 2005 -> I do in fact have a drill press, and I did in fact use it haha. I marked the holes from the bridge directly, maybe something got lost in translation somewhere lol. Still learning, and this isn't anything to sell or anything like that, so I'm not too concerned with it. Functions 100% and sounds great to my ears though, and thats really what I was going for with this build. I do enjoy the similar build patterns though!

What a classy guitar! Very very nice and elegant with out being too gaudy or over the top anywhere. Very very cool!

Man, I was killing myself. that with some gold hardware.......... the wifey asked me to color it though... the color shifted from the bottle as it dried unfortunately. It was a nice, pale blue, then it got splotchy and turned really green when I cleared it It still looks good, but not like how I had it though. Theres no way I'd have proceeded from there with the stain looking blotchy like that, but Im hoping it will fade and have some kind of charm. If not, I can sand and redo it at some point.

I LOVE that color!

campbell makes AMAZING products, can't go wrong with them. Just make sure they are clean and working properly and you will have a nice rig on your hands!