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John Morciglio

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Everything posted by John Morciglio

  1. John Morciglio
    Had a couple hours to kill waiting for other parts to cure. Made some progress on Lil' Sis' ; The "big Les-Paul/Byrdland" look just screams COWBOY to me? Spent 78' to 81' in Houston. Ended up playing Honky-tonks with country guys. Hey, I was young :-) Might have to break out the leather Stetson and some flip-flops to bring back the 'good-ole-days! Bending metal is the only other thing I ever did for a living, besides carpentry (and composites for the last 5 years). Thanks JM
  2. John Morciglio
    Have not really compared my Ovation, to any other true hollowbody basses. It is a pleasure to play unplugged. The preamp/EQ, seems to have a wide, usefull range. They tried to talk me into a carbon top (91') when I ordered it. I said "no way" and thought they were just trying to sell me something. Didn't know I would be working with it full-time later. Originally chose the Adamas 6-string guitar over all the other acoustics I tried. Carbon top-plate. Could not overcome the "embelished/be-dazled" headstock. Plain ones were not available at the time. So I got an Elite with the spruce top. 1/2 as much cash also! Should have listened to the custom-shop recomendations. My bridge is lifting/seperating. Common with the Korean basses. (and aperantly the US made as well)? Went to fix it a while back and it's going to be a tough one. Need to lightly score the finish (so it doesn't peel/flake) without cutting into the wood to re-attatch. JM
  3. John Morciglio
    The Nomex idea is interesting. Have some here and also Clego-cell and Divina-cell foam-core products. The Nomex is the hardest/ most dense of the 3 types I use. Also the most expensive. I worrie about ANY type of damping effect? Contacted by some guys that are trying to build carbon drum shells. They determined they needed to varie the density in the shells. Like a graduated plate of an archtop? JM
  4. John Morciglio
    The truss-rods came in last night!! I breifly thought about re-sawing the wings on the Bass to bookmatch for stain. Remembered the 4'x9' custom entrance doors I built with the same material. The painter used red and blue tint that came out like a brilliant purpleheart color. Joiners only 6" wide. Bandsaw switch is acting up. Drumsander is like me, old and worn out. Needs to be set-up/tuned better, or gutted for parts. The guitar will have a set-neck. So think I will stick with painting them both. What does anybody think about Aluminum for binding??? One thing that always bugged me was, plastic parts. Have always replaced anything I could with other materials. I was using diamondplate for pickguards back in the 80's. Some polished Al. might look nice with the carbon tops? JM
  5. John Morciglio
    Remember checking out some of their basses. Back in the 80's. Very nice instruments. I liked the headstock shape and neck-thru. (always had Ric's back then). Two other examples I found but didn't link are; Washburn, not sure of the model. Slanted/patented sound ports. And an Ibanez (ab200?) they have one with the florentine cutaway, and one with a softer cut. If I was looking for another full hollowbody. One of these examples would have fit . Without finding the super-rare Gibby's. Funny how the traditional/familiar shapes draw me in the most. JM
  6. John Morciglio
    This will be a "work in progress" report, more than a build thread. Not very good at remembering to take pics along the way. Shop is always a mess. After seeing the EB750 here. It was decided I should build a 650, and soon. Upon gluing up the 5-peice mahogony with .115" carbon laminates, Noticed there is enough material leftover for a "sister" build!!! Bass; neck-thru (5-peice mahogony/carbon) 32"scale ebony board hollowed/chambered body with a carbon cap for the top. pair of TV Jones Thundertrons for pickups. TOM style bridge with trapeze tailpeice. Plan on painting the back, front will be clear, (why I used the angled grain for the wings) Had enough neck laminate to do a set-neck build so, figured I should do a matching guitar. Guitar will have a deep tenon, set-neck semi-hollow body with the same carbon cap for top. Wilkenson roller bridge, TV Jones pups, (not sure what to try? matching tailpeice. Glued up the neck, rough cut the body this weekend, Left-over stock; Will have enough for another 14x20" body. JM
  7. John Morciglio
    I won't be going after that Dean. Rather build the 650 version. Never really seen a bass or guitar that I, "had to have", like this one. The Byrdland has always been a favorite so.....REALLY glad I didn't find a 650 for sale. Might have pulled the trigger on that. I will e-mail the site to make contact with more local musicians. Just started up building again. Not really trying to promote anything yet. Figure it will take 5 or 6 to dial in the top lay-up to match a well-carved spruce-top. Or get close enough . These have a really strong projection and my tops are WAY overbuilt, (too thick!) Good for hi-volume stuff I guess? Also seem to have a "warm and bassy" tone. Thought they would be really bright. Thanks again for the motivation,,,(distraction? JM
  8. John Morciglio
    These are coated with System 3 clearcote. I use it to KILL pinholes. Like to let it cure for a couple weeks before sanding back for final color and clear. Have also been busy with a new model prototype bike and it is pulling me off the guitar building=( REALLY FAST BIKES!!! JM
  9. John Morciglio
    Yes, I am going for the semi-hollow. Chambered LesPaul type thing. I have an Ovation custom shop 5-string with 34" scale deep bowl. (built to match my Elite). Love having matching guitar and basses!!! My Jazzbox molds will be made into a bass version. Full-hollow, or toneposts. Got enough African mahogony today for 3 complete builds w/neck-thru for 177.50!! When I whipped up that mock-up bass. Used some maple I had sitting around with the neck-thru. It was a VERY fast build. NOT finished to high standards. Will cut the "wings" off the body, and re-purpose the neck. Got some "slotted and dotted" ebony boards on clearence. Still have one w/dots and one without. It worked well for me. Still in the finishing stages on 3 of these. Strung up a couple to see how they sound and am BLOWN AWAY!!!! Thanks for directing those links. Inspiration at a glance!! JM
  10. John Morciglio
    That Dean is within 40 mi. from here. What are the odds of that? Called every dealer in Mi. I could think of. NONE had ever even laid eyes/hands on a eb650/750. A rare beast indeed! JM
  11. John Morciglio
    Are the mods./editors making my links come to life, or am I doing it correctly?? Doubt' if it's me. So, THANKS! Can't find the EB650 anymore? It looked like the DG (Dave Grole) model 335. (Pelam?) blue. Priced mahogony neck blanks and body blanks at the luthiers supply stores. WOW! Can't find anything long enough for a neck-thru. And the body blanks are too small. The prices?? OUCH! Really wanted to cap one with flamed or quilted maple. All the samples are Les-paul size. Not wide enough for an archtop. May have to make the cap in carbon. Have a veneer supplier (in Detroit) that has all kind of EXOTIC stuff. Might take a trip to see what I can get and veneer the cap? Reminds me of veneering MDF for custom cabinets and panels for libraries etc. Makes me cringe a little. Will be visiting my local mill tomorrow. He has the needed mahogany in 8/4". JM
  12. John Morciglio
    Dean image. JM
  13. John Morciglio
    Hope that works!
  14. John Morciglio
    I tend to think in "production" mode. Some of the "jigs" for radius' fretboards are kind of scary. Some look solid. Going back and forth with the mill is acurate, and stable.But kind of slow. Better than a router , so I should be thankfull to have one! Still requires "finishing. I set up another fixture for "convex" board/backers. The spindle shaper, with power feed, would go through alot of board feet in a very short time. It would be nice to have multiple fret cauls and beams with graduating sandpaper grades. For my convex backers, I might just get some from one of our mills. 100' min covers the blade cost at Miliken millworks. We used an overhead planer/shaper to do radius casing/molding. It would be more cost effective to just buy the beams. Marketing sanding beams to luthiers, would probably be harder than selling guitars? Poor guys crown/cove molding trick; No offense if you've used it =) Use the tablesaw with a fence/guide set up at 90 degrees to the blade. This is usually done at an angle for crown or cove but if you were carefull setting up your fence and have a 12" capable saw, it should work. RECOMEND feather boards and/or rollers, on top and outside of the work, to prevent any unwanted movement. Take a little each pass! Powerfeeds work nice for this type of work. I wouldn't do it myself though. 7,8, 9, and 10" blades are common. (all measure diferent than stated dia.) Let's see, 4 to 6 aluminum beams from Stewmac = ???$$$ JM
  15. John Morciglio
    HMMM. Sorry, where is the edit option? Thanks for looking. Hope your not dizzy! JM
  16. John Morciglio
  17. John Morciglio
    Checking ti see if it is right? Shows up OK on the photobucket? Sorry about the fuzzy pics. Phone lens must be dirty. JM
  18. John Morciglio
    I rotated ALL those pics on photobucket??? Some show correct and some are still off when I view as slideshow?? Love the camera-phone. Took the pics with the phone oriented correctly. First time anything showed up upside-down. Just realized. The "overhead shots", with the phone flat probably throw off the giro? Think I will go for a neck-thru in mahogony with carbon strips for strength. Will keep it thin, 1.5 to 1 3/4" at edge. Round-over the back and full arch in front. Lots of chambering. This bass was a "mock-up done over a couple weekends. I kept adding a little more till it was wired and stained. It was also a "practice" carve and does NOT represent my finished work. I'll save the neck but the body will be cut off. Home Depot maple. This is the size I am going with on the full-carbon builds. Checking for neck-dive to see if I could use the 34" scale. It balances nice but the body will be lighter in full carbon. Won't mind running a big "tone-block" under the bridge. The guitar next to it is smaller, 14" and just built to see if it was worth persuing a full carbon build. JM
  19. John Morciglio
    Glad you made it back to shore. Thanks for the links! The Palomino was the same Dean. Prototype I found WAS a bass though. Spent some time sketching in the shop today. Should be finishing already built guitars, or working on customers bikes. It's the holidays right? Printed pics off of Gibsons sight. Claimed sizes of 16 x 20 and 17 x 20". I can see two, if not, three different cut-outs at lower horn. I like the Birdland best. But, 17 x 20 seems HUGE!. It scales to 21.7 long! My archtops are 15.5" x 18.5". It does not seem that big when it's all laid out. But I will definatetly shrink it up a little. Maybee 16x19.5" I scaled the Birdland and used my templates to "fill in" the bout's and waist etc. Reduced about 1/2" from scale. Not sure how many pics you can upload here, so I'll start another reply? JM
  20. John Morciglio
    1" spindle shaper? We used to get our knives made for $27.00 per inch. Laminate some hardwood for stability. I have a turret mill, so can swing the head in a 12" arch. Would rather have the knives made with the 12" radius and 1 in 12+fret height. Plus I back the carbon boards with maple or mahogony. Made the female fretboard mold (for carbon fretboards), with the bridgeport. It was a pain and time consuming. But free! Have a freind with multiple cnc's. He only charges me 160.00/hr. He also taught me to draw on his computer, so I don't have to bug him to program small one-off parts. He could run a quite a few beams in Al. in an hour. There are a LOT of small machine shops in Mi that are hurting now. Some don't mind easy set-ups/short runs? JM
  21. John Morciglio
    Can't stop searching for images, info, SPECS, plans. Could have sworn I saw ES-175 prints on flebay? There is also a Dean prototype dated 2010. with the same look/layout. Did not go into production. Probably just use my templates and see where that goes. Tempted to do a quick carbon one-off. Or a chambered mahogony with maple cap. Want to go with the semi-hollow/thinner format. Already will be able to use my doublcut plug for a full-hollow bass. The violin shape is another one thats tempting me for some reason. First 2 basses I had were a Hofner (hated it as a kid. And an Echo knock-off. That one had a better set-up and feel at the time. (didn't know much back then). JM
  22. John Morciglio
    Thanks JM
  23. John Morciglio
    Hello, New to the forum, second post. I don't know if I should thank you, or curse you Started playing guitar in 67' and bass about 71'. Thought I was a gearhead and had seen everything. This bass (and the 650), is NEW to me. The Byrdland has always been one of my favorites. Have never seen a bass with the same layout. Now I HAVE to build one and quick! Have been working on Hollowbody carbonfibre archtops for a while. Going to use the same body plug for a bass version. With a little less depth. Now that I've seen this bass it will be my next project also. Just kicking around if I should do it with carbon/wood neck, or go for an all wooden build. Wood for me, would be much faster. Been searching all over for es175 dimensions or plans. I would change the shape just slightly. Anybody know if the EB750/650's are the same dimensions as the 175's?? Thanks JM
  24. John Morciglio
    New to the forum. Hello all! Have been lurking for some time. Hope to enter some of my builds in the GOTM section soon. Recently started building guitars again. Built a handfull back in the 80's. Have a small fabrication shop where I build carbonfibre racing bicycles, custom speaker cabs, and lately some carbon archtops. Some may have seen them on other forums. A recent thread on the Gibson EB750 bass caught my eye so I will be responding there. Classy forum, look forward to participating. JM
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