WezV

do your light switches look like this on the reverse?

wire the pickups straight to the switches, the switches to volume and volume to output your tone pots will spur off each switch on the same tag you have attached the pickup to.

i am guessing its a layout something like this get us a picture of the inside and we should be able to tell you what it going on

yeah, the book will give you the basic knowledge and vocabulary needed. then you will be able to ask more specific questions when you are stuck. the forum is much more helpful when asked specific questions so the first tip is read as much as you can

sam has done 1 too, and i think he might have done some CAD drawings

well i went with the harvite in the end. still need to darken them with some rosewood oils - this is the raw harvite look, which is pretty close to where we started - but not shiny and a bit less creamy. i also have the new logo in place, and slightly discoloured it a bit next is damage and darkening scars - the bit that is so easy to overdo!

your not wrong on 'lemon oil' - but there are purer varieties. if in doubt get the stuff from health food or essential oil suppliers

is it the bolt on or set neck version - if i remember rightly epiphone offered both options when they did their version in the 90's

it looks vermillion - which sounds much cooler than orange

bravo - its just what i was doing to guitars when i was about your age! i still quite like the duct tape finish ibanez put on their noodles signature guitar

i would have wanted a bit more clamping pressue in the centre of the bodies. it will probably be alright with the thickness of wood you are using but i tend to use a large clamping caul made from kitchen countertop and a few bigger clamps that reach deeper into the body - more pressue, spread out more evenly i also made about 30 spool clamps a few years ago - so useful!

trada is also pretty useful http://research.ttlchiltern.co.uk/pif306/pages/durabilitybeta1.1/durability%20beta%201.1/species/

respect the wood! - what a load of rubbish, make the wood what you want it to be!!! dyeing isnt really needed other than because of the colour variation. the clean look of a nice plain ebony fretboard is hard to beat my point is simply not to expect much special from the flame. the only time i have liked flame in ebony is with stripy macasser. i suppose it might look ok if it was an unbroken expanse - maybe on a fretless where enough of it could be seen to let the subtle figure become slightly more obvious

for me - yes! unless its got more colour variation than shown in the pics.

I am not really a fan of flamed ebony. the whole effect is a trick of the light - it just doesn't work as well with a black material the board is going to darken to a shade closer to black than it is now through use when its on a guitar it will just look uneven.

the washburn recipe - which is pretty similar, is 1 pint of pure lemon essence oil to a 1" cube of pure beeswax, melted together and allowed to cool then rub the paste into the raw maple neck.

i think there may be a bit more to the blend they actually apply at the factory - but it is an oil & wax mix and you can get the same result with tru-oil stuff - they must agree if they think its good enough for maintaining their necks

its gun stock oil (tru-oil) and beeswax finish.

it really depends how the shop is selling it though rather than where it was actually built. If the shop are openly saying "made by martin employees", would your bosses mind? some companies would, although martin may be better since you are not in direct competition, i imagine they may have more to say if the 3 of you made some acoustics at home. if they were clever they could make use of it to demonstrate how their workers were actually craftsmen deeply interested in guitars, whether that was totally true or not i say sell it to your bosses

hard to know with the price - its high, but not higher than a lot of other hand built stuff out there, and the fact there are 3 of you from martin works in your favour... but would they be happy with the three of you using your time with them (and therefore their name) to justify the high price? without their name backing the sale i think you need to knock a grand off at least. if its essentially being sold as a high end custom electric handmade by martin 'artisans' then maybe the price is right maybe martin should be looking at a small solidbody range. I know most acoustic makers tried it in the 70/80's and it didn't really work, but taylor and collings have had more luck with it recently

i know they claim its the same stuff used on their necks with 'clay' dots - if it is then its not good for me unless they have changed it phenolic is definitely a good choice for the black dots, although most people don't worry about the authenticity of their black dots as much anyway - new plug cutter is in and working much better or the poker chips. I think i can get 5 or 6 dots from each chip

i am going to take a guess as i dont know what you are using, and advise you invest in better/the correct sandpaper. it can seem expensive, but good quality sandpaper clogs less and stays sharp for longer. i have had some cheapo stuff before where the grit literally fell away on anything more than the softest of woods. you wont get anywhere like this also, the correct type helps. you are still sanding finish rather than wood so use the appropriate type i am currently favouring emery cloth intended for polishing metals. It can clog on some woods, but eats through most hard finishes in no time. it looks like its clogging, but a little brush/vacuum off and its fresh as a daisy. i never have to go coarser than 100 grit with it, and that is a nice place to be when you hit wood

I have had warmoth necks before with clay dots - even had one were i needed to swap them for pearl. it seemed to be ordinary plastic rod, not as brittle as bakelite. i could not be sure what they are made from but i wouldnt describe it as anything but relatively soft plastic. i see they advertise the phenolic dots - they also state they are cream dean - i dont think fender ever referred to them as clay when they were using them originally, its more a descpritive term than anything else, now used for the re-issues though. There are lots of myths about asbestos floor tiles or the grey pickup bobbin material, and various other things that could have been used to make them One of the workers at the time described it as a bright white toothpaste like filler. its accepted that they did start out pretty white as you can often see the colour when working on fretboards with old dots. thats why i wanted to see how they rosewood oils coloured this material. its also something that wears away a bit quicker than the wood will, which rules out fired clay. chances are they used different things at different point so no-one really knows what i was after was a material that looked and acted like the originals - and i think i may have found it. the extra providence from the custom shop guys helps. the callahams do also discolour, but not to the same degree but they are the closest thing commercially available that does the job i suppose i have a supply for red and blue dots too

this is what i was after - a material that took on the colour of the rosewood. this explains why the old dots can vary so much, darker boarded fenders from the period do seem to end up with darker dots. Obviously this can be explained with by playing wear, but it seems it could also be down to the natural oilyness of the wood too both the chips feel smooth and pretty identical. i suspect the 'composition' chips are pretty much the same as the box actually marked harvite - just a finer blend of ceramic in the mix maybe 1 more test before i commit, i want to see how they look at the right size - obviously this will affect how grainy they look

i got two boxes of chips, 1 made from harvite, 1 made from 'composition' sanded a test chip of each flat: and installed some dots - my 1/4" plug cutter was not cutting them well enough, i tried a different style but only had the larger size - but it cut much better so i will find that style in the right size. also, i obviously didnt pay attention to the size of drill i was using to put them in - hence the gaps So we have a callaham (incorrect spelling on pics) and the two types of old poker chip not much in it... all a bit pale darkened with the natural rosewood oils wiped with a bit of danish oil notice the rosewood oils came off the callaham when wiped with danish oil - the poker chips stay dark