Drastion

Prostheta Thanks for that book recomendation. Just got it today a lot sooner than they said. It has a metric ton of info in there. Took me a half an hour just to thumb threw it. This will keep me busy for a while and I am sure answer about all my qustions. Thanks again!

After looking throught tons of sheets on veneersupplies.com I finally found two sets of sheets I wanted. When I went to checkout it was over $17 for shipping 4 sheets of veneer. I understand its super fragile and they have to use secure packaging and probally insure it also. The veneer was already quite expensive at $32 for four sheets that shipping it a bit too much. Is thay average shipping? Are there any other sites that show pictures of the specific veneer? It makes me nervous enough ordering a prs se with how the quality of their top varies so dramatically. Looking how varied the veneer on that site was and how long it took me to find the ones I wanted. I don't think I would want to buy site unseen veneer. At least the lot picture gives you an idea of what you are getting.

Shevlock Thanks for posting that it took a while to get all the way through but was worth it. Definetly think used is the way to go rather than a kit. Looks to be a great learning experiance. That and have something to be proud of. Now just a question of what. Guitar to get and how to get that polly finish off.

I defintly know about getting ahead of yourself. Planned on using airbrush at first. Got everything together and made the mistake of getting a crappy brush that frustrated me. Turns out learning to play better was more fun and rewarding. Now that I have learned more about my tastes I realized I like figured wood rather than painted. So untill I get a better brush and pump that stuff is just gathering dust. Any chance there I a common guitar to use as a test dummy? Preferably stoptail and no pickup guard. Not real particular on a braused. Maybe PRS SE but they are $250 cheapest used. Not that its a lot but my others are better than those. So no point in spending more on something I wont use.

I know its probally impossible but if I could find a veneer that looks like this I would be in heaven. Brown may not be fore everyone but to me this top looks incredible.

Oh I wasn't planning on that. I wanted to either refinish one of my guitars. That or get a cheap used beginner guitar and do that. Just need to know where to buy some good veneer so I can do like you said and practice laying it down and staining it. Plus with the beginner guitar I could do all the things I am afraid to do on my guitars like wiring a two conductor pickup to a 4 conductor. Honestly I haven't found my perfect guitar yet so I don't want to try and build one untill I know what I will like in the build. So its either a kit guitar like the saga prs design or a cheapie. Just not to keen on stripping the old finish off a used guitar. Thanks for taking your time to replying to my post. Trying to temper my excitement for the project and set more realistic goals. Is their sonething more I would learn from taking a used beginner guitar down to bare bones than a guitar kit? Both would equally crappy hardware so it wouldn't be for playing just a testbed to hopefully make all my stipid mistakes on.

You sounded quite confident in that recomendation so I ordered one. They seem to be out of print though. Should be an interesting read once it gets here. Any recommendations on where to get good book matched veneer. Saw lots on ebay but few big enough to cover one side of a guitar. Also are there any rough recommendations on what to look for. Being so thin I would assume it would have no noticeable effect on sound. But what about color? Guessing the lighter the color the better for staing since you can always darken it more.

Is there a good book you can recomend preferably with lots of examples and photos to make it easier to follow along. Even with all there is on the net I still prefer a book as I can take it anywhere and can just sit back and read.

I have really no tools other than what came with my guitars. I got a new job that pays twice what my old one did but I still live life like at my old job. So cost isn't so much an issue. Its more of knowing what to get and where to get it. Don't want to buy cheap crappy tools that don't work well or last long. On the same hand I don't want to just want to buy the most expensive just because more expensive means better. Like what's a good budget for tools and supplies. Been a while since I first found this place. Thought it was just a forum forgot it was just part of a whole website about this. Tons of tutorials but no shopping lists of things I would need to get started. So much is involved with making a guitar. Routing and shaping aside its hard to figure out what one needs.

Prostheta Don't apologize it was a very interesting read. I do think I got over excited. As I looked at my guitars with binding on the necks. Refretting is something I should try later. Mainly wanted to because my first real guitar didn't have the frets crowned. Silly me thougt extra jumbo ment extra wide flat tops. Building a guitar would be beyond amazing to be able to do. But not in the cards right now. I know I could never make money playing. But even as a side thing building guitars would be a dream job to say the least. Mainly was thinking a kit guitar because 1. I wouldn't have to remove any finish so no big mess to worry about 2. Cheap so if I recked it no big deal 3. I wouldn't be attached to it. It would bresk my heart if I screwed up one of my favorite guitars Never heard of a veneer hammer. Reading up on it its used like a rolling pin rocked back and fourth to work the veneer down. I assume you wouldn't drag it across the veneer. Is using hot hide glue the best thing for veneer or is guickbond II good enough.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I enjoy a challenge and get a little ocd when it gets hard so I usually prevail in the end. The real thing I am trying to figure out how to get a good bookmatched burl or guilted maple. Kind of hard when it is site unseen on the internet.

When you have to rework a veneer can you use a glue that allows you to take the veneer back off or do you have to destroy the veneer to take it off?

I read heat gun is the best for removing finishes. For obvious reasons that is not an option. Do they sell sand paper sets so I could get all the grades at once or will they wear out so I would need to buy multiples anyways. Have a home made fire escape that's more like a small porch. Of course I would have to wait untill its not 30 below before I try that. Prostheta Does the bag of gravel method work well? Where you fill a bag with landscaping rocks and put it on top of the veneer to hold it down with some 20 lbs of stone. That rub on polish you are refering to is that something I can put onto bare wood or would I need to seal it after I get the color on it I want? One last question how difficult is it to refret a guitar? The main issue I see is getting the neck completely flat without the strings on it. Can this be done with the truss rod or is that a bad idea and I would need one of those jigs that stew mac sells. Ok one more guestion. When using veneer is it best to start with a light colored wood. I want to use a guilted malple or some type of burl. Just something to make it really unique. Though I am not sure if you can get book matched burl at a decent price or even a decent book match on the internet.

I was going to start this a while back but learning to play guitar became to much fun and took up most of my time. Now I am getging frustrated in not being able to find the guitar I like the look of without importing it. Now I don't have any plans to make a guitar from scratch. I live in a apartment and have no basement or garage. So it would mainly be refinishing work. Putting a top on that I like so I wont have to spend the big bucks when my tallent is no where near good enough for something like that. Sorry if this has. been posted before but there is so much on this site it just gets confusing. My two ideas 1. Get a kit. guitar from saga mainly the PRS style one. Reasons I wont have to worry about taking off the original finish At $155 I would not care much if I screwed it up. Better suggestions I am open to like better kits or maybe just getting a used squire bullet that I would equally not care about screwing up. 2. Just taking some veneer to a peice of plywood or something and using that to practice on. Reasons Minimum cost Wouldn't have use for a crappy guitar even if it looked super nice. Also where is a good place to get everything that I need? These two seem like a good start but I am totally open to suggestions as I have never done any of this before. www.veneersupplies.com/categories/Veneer__Products/Wood__Veneer__M__-__Z/Maple__(Quilted)/ universaljems.com/ I live in a little nowhere town so everything will need to be bought on the net. Thanks for any help I love playing guitar and making things so this seems to be a match made in heaven. I can create something that I would love to use.