tasty

Typically after you apply blush remover, the foundation and mascara will come off with ease.

And use some bacon on the fretboard to add extra shine and resonance!

Hi. Maybe you have one lying in your electronic bucket of parts by the ol' workbench? Need to find a Gibson HB-R pickup to replace an OEM one on a friend's Gibson. This is an 80's pickup and was stock on many Les Pauls, Customs etc. You can PM me or better yet, email me at:

benjamin

. (dot)

escobedo

@(at) gmail.com

It doesn't have to be in pristine condition or anything, just works. These pickups really aren't anything special, its just one of those things that is good to have in case you want to sell the guitar as 100% original OEM.

Thanks!

Look for a Gibson "The Paul II" made around 96-97 which can readily be had for about 300-800 bucks. Its like a LP studio, but has a little tummy cut and thinner body. All mahogany. Great axe.

Tokais are awesome as well. Great for the 500 or so price range.

PRS Tremonti SE (gut the hardware and electronics, locking tuners, intonatable bridge etc) great guitar.

On all these guitars you will want to replace the pickups and perhaps the tuners.

I agree that guitar is really awesome. The finish on both the mahogany and maple is really awesome! My only critique would be the non matching hardware (gold bridge/knobs) vs (chrome tuning pegs)....are there any plans to go all gold or all chrome?

Thanks Soapbar! I thought thats how they were used when the notch is in there! I am gonna try and to a quick tutorial really soon with pictures etc.

Typically if you need button cell batteries, Egay is the best place to purchase them in bulk. I have a friend who's young son has a lot of toys that take the button cells, and online is the way to go. Thanks again for the silver oxide tip!

Did you use a template for the body/carve? I am really impressed with your work and am thinking about building a similar type of guitar!

LOL...!

I had a quick question, if anyone could help. On the Stew-Mac calipers, they have that end with the notch in it to measure fret height as installed on the fret board. Since the notch must travel inward (towards the digital unit)..it must be ground shorter. Therefore my question is, when you use that end, do you have to "zero" out the calipers on a hard flat surface in order to measure fret height. I think the answer is yes, but was wondering if you guys knew the answer.

Once this mod is done it makes it a bit more cumbersome to measure depth of holes, as you have to zero out the calipers on the recessed end. However, this seems like the only way to do it? Yes? No?

I tell ya. I used spray on truckbed liner on my Beheringer FCB1010 pedal board and its killer. I wasn't really happy with the wussy look of the silver paint job...so I sprayed her down.

Just took off all the switches, buttons etc...and sprayed the chassis. Now its black with black buttons...really rugged and works excellent. That combined with a phantom power mod..and I am ready to rock.

rully? wowr.

Eck whatever. Just tryin' to save some bucks, and help others do the same. I'm no luthier- just a regular guy tired of getting raped at the repair shop for things I know I can do myself. Nuts, frets etc. I don't get why everyone is so defensive regarding Stew Mac's tools. I am willing to put in extra time, so I can afford to modify some inexpensive tools to save money I really don't have.

If I was a world class luthier it would be different, hell..I could write them off as business expenses. But I am not. Not even close. For the limited amount of uses I will get out of a fret press/fret bender/dial calipers...i can't see over spending on em' when I know damn well that I can make them excellent enough to do a great job. (and save several hundred dollars too).

I own too many guitars and play the hell out of them gigging every weekend, therefore I am willing to work on em' myself. Anybody who says that they can't do as good of a job with a non-stew mac fret press/fret bender/calipers is full of it. A vast portion (not all of) Stew Mac tools are just cheap imported knockoffs that have been specially modified for a specific use.

Reminds me of this mountain bike race I saw one time. Everybody had the most expensive, greatest mountain bikes, and gear.... along comes this guy on a late 80's Huffy! And you know what...he kicked everyone's ass and took first place...just goes to show.

Southpaw crowns his own frets with a rounded triangular file, and does a good job.

I just remember reading posts from Guitarfrenzy and Jay5 about homeade fret benders/converted arbor presses and thought the same thing when I saw the calipers. Tryin' to share the knowlege...give a little something back because of all the great things I have learned on this site. Thats it. I am glad some see what I was only attempting to do.... others are just willing to say "thats crap" or "inferior products"..

well.. bah.

Wow.

I do believe you just contradicted yourself when you said:

...doesn't mean it's accurate to .0005". And the Stew-Mac may not be either. I've seen both products in person. They are not the identical product. Both the Stew-Mac and the Harbor Freight are Mitutoyo knockoffs. So are several dozen other brands out there.

So if the StewMac is a "knockoff," and not as good as a Mitutoyo..why pay the huge price difference? Durrt.

Perhaps if it was a true Mitutoyo then it would be worth the price?

Then you followed up by

If the accuracy and lifespan of the HF unit is good enough for you, then more power to you. I'm using one that cost me $25 and has lasted for 3 1/2 years in adverse conditions, which is a lot longer than the HF unit as reported in that review. Whatever. Suit yourself.

If you RTFA you would know that the reviewer still uses his original HF calipers, and liked them so much that he bought a second pair.

I guess more power to me and I should "suit my myself"

I agree with you that a lot of the Harbor Freight tools are cheap knockoffs, but in this instance we are not making valves for the space shuttle..just measuring fretwire. I think "0.0005 is plenty good enough for measuring crown height.

i just saw some gibsons on ebay that were 50000% cheaper that the real thing. Even the logos looked pretty good!! Im never shopping at (insert store) ever again!

And I have played some $300 "Gibsons" that were %xxxx cheaper than the real thing and you know what...they played better! Tokai etc.... So I guess I'm never shopping at (insert dumb comment here) again!

Perry, its okay that you spent too much on your Stew Mac calipers..i can see you are really upset about it.

I can't believe how many posts that have been generated over my original post on how similar the Stew Mac calipers are to the ones at Harbor Freight! This was intended as a comparison. If you want to pay full Stew Mac retail (or already did) than go for it...for the rest of us we will save 200%. I can't stop ya!

Tasty-What are you going to use to calibrate that digital caliper? I personally use dial calipers (I am not family with digital). What can you tell me about the way digital calipers work. Do they all use the same method of tracking as they travel? I would imagine machining is as much a factor with digital as dial, and that is something you would have to inspect (and evaluate during a period of use). I am kinda curious because I have thought about trying a digital, but didn't have enough understanding to feel confident that I could use it correctly.

Peace,Rich

Digital calipers work without a rack and pinion type of setup. They utilize magnets and a sensor. 99% of the time that regular dial calipers fail is caused by debris in the rack. The little pinion then either gets jammed, or skips a tooth (resulting in a faulty reading). After a rack and pinion gets dirty, its near impossible to clean and the calipers are generally tossed. Digital calipers do not normally need calibrating, and can be set to zero at any point on the track. This feature is very helpful when comparing sizes of the same item. You can tell what is + or - and by how much compared to the original. Most of the time measuring errors are chalked up to inappropriate measuring techniques (operator error). With a tolerance of .0005, I don't think this caliper needs to be much better for the application at hand.

It's not the same exact caliper. It's one of many almost-identical looking calipers on the market. HF sells lots of tools that look identical to more expensive tools. In some cases they may be as good. In my experience, most of them aren't.

Did you even look at the pictures? How about this review regarding if "they may be as good"...:

HF Caliper Review

You are gonna tell me that the molded plastic LCD housing is different? You can see the same exact calipers, except for one difference. The Stew Mac version appears to have a silver track, where harbor freight's is black. The button placement, button colors, battery cover, LCD size, functionality, specifications...are all the same.

And as far as accuracy, as stated in the Harbor Freight review:

"The readout module is in a plastic housing with a 4-1/2 digit LCD display. The 1/2 digit reads out to the nearest 0.0005"

Stew Mac's:

"An accurate measuring tool for other guitar shop jobs as well, this caliper has hardened stainless steel parts. It's switchable for readouts in inches or millimeters, and measures outside, inside and depth dimensions up to 6" (152mm), with .0005" (.01mm) resolution. The jaws can be locked at any position."

Gee. I am not saying don't buy from Stew Mac. However if you feel the extra 200% markup is well worth the cost (on some of their items including this one) and nothing else will work...fine. I will be enjoying the extra money I saved that could go towards some wood, glue, MOP, strings, AAAAA flamed tops, etc...

For the record, Stew Mac is a great resource not only for hard to find tools but parts as well. This post wasn't an attack on Stew Mac. If it wasn't for some of thier tools and expertise, many of us here would not know nearly as much as we do. They offer hard to find parts and supplies which would be ordinarily hard to find as well as videos and instruction.

I just thought it was extremely interesting that the SAME exact caliper was availiable for almost 1/3 of the cost that Stew Mac sells it for (sans a few slots). They probably by them in bulk for even less! I did not describe how to mod the caliper because I haven't recieved them yet. However it seems pretty easy to modify, as Setch points out. Perhaps a tutorial is in order for the future?

I can understand how a business operates, but Stew Mac really has a sort of "monopoly" in the luthier-tool business. They offer "special" and "unique" tools that are "exclusive"...at really expensive prices only because there is no competition to challenge them. It would be like the only gas station in a 250 mile radius charging you $10 a gallon becuase they can. If I told everyone where another gas station was that sold for $3 a gallon would I be quashed as well?

These tools can often be made for a fraction of the cost, with a little know-how and modification.

Myself (and all the wannabe-aspiring guitar repair/luthiers ) choose not to take our guitars to the local shop because we want to do these repairs ourself. This helps save money and also gives us the satisfaction of a job well done (when things go right). If we were all suckered into paying outrageous prices for readily available goods, we might as well take our guitars into the shop and pay lots of $$ for it.

Trying to squash information like this isn't right, and isn't in the general interest of what this forum is all about IMO. This forum is about people helping people, even complete strangers. I agree that nobody wants to hear about how Stew Mac (LMI, xxx, whatever) sucks everyweek...but nobody wants to get taken for a ride either - that feels terrible.

Excuse me, but what is wrong with saving some hard earned money by purchasing the same tools elsewhere than Stew Mac? It's not like I am selling Stew Mac knockoff tools and putting the money in my pocket (a violation of Forum Rules btw). You misunderstand that is not an anti-Stew Mac post, but an "anti-overspending money you don't have to" type of post.

Brian's tutorials demonstrate exactly how to make your own tools which save money (Fret Beveler, Fret Radius Tool, etc) so why would you suggest to "stop these anti-stewmac posts" when similar valuable information is provided by the Forum Master himself on the "Tutorials page".

If we followed with your cynical assertation and stereotyping of this post we would have to pull down basically the entire Tutorial section. I am sure people who haven't already overpaid for Stew Mac tools will appreciate the truth in information provided.

Perhaps you are just upset that you already paid the Stew Mac prices for the same item, and want everyone else to have to pay the 200% inflation rate on some of the same exact tools.

Best Regards

Check this out:

Go to harbor freight

Type in part number 47257-3HWC

Gee...they look really similar to this:

In fact..if you look at the button layout and color..they are the same.

They charge about $35.00 to notch the bottom and top for ya!

Just thought you guys would like to know. Now I am off to see If I can make my own fret press system.

I love my Ryobi 18v ONE+ set. Home Depot of course. I had a complete set with the 18v drill, dustbuster, sander, circular saw 2 batteries, 2 chargers, flashlight etc. I ended up losing the drill on the highway (dumb ass move on my part). So I was cruising craigslist.com and found someone selling an entire kit (used but great condition) for only $150! I bought it and now have like 5 batteries, double tools of everything (except the drill) and am psyched.

The Ryobi 18v drill is variable speed, 2 speed range, adjustable torque, has dual bubble levels as well as a magnetic tray. 99$ for it with the flashlight combo.

I have a TremontiSE PRS that I have modified and I absolutely love my pigtail wraparound bridge. I paired that up with some locking studs, locking tuners and Seymour Duncans and the guitar absolutely rips!

There is a certain window of time where the paint is tacky when it is best to take off the tape. It takes a certain "feel" to find out when the best time is. You could use a sharp blade and trace around the binding but that is a pita. Practice slowly taking the tape off when the paint is tacky.

IMO the pod is great for plugging into a PA etc..but if you are just using it for effects (not preamps/dist etc) then get a TC Electronic's G-Major. Wayyyy better an straight forward. Plus its rack mountable.

Steve,

You wouldn't happen to be located in RI would you? I just sold my HRDx to a gentleman there. There is in fact a piece of foam that fender includes with the HRDx which goes over the smaller tubes. If you are that guy then PM me and I think I still have the foam hanging around. Otherwise it could be faulty tubes.

Yeah, but thats a pain...mostly because acoustic pickups sound like ass through electric amps and vice versa. Therefore he would have to switch on the guitar as well as stomp on a a/b box. I see what he is getting at. Either get 2 transmitters or deal with the cord.

Not to be a stickler, but are these quilt maple tops bookmatched? Sometimes it doesn't appear so down the center cut...maybe im just a doof?

Do you have any socks nearby?

I'm pretty sure putting a sock over the camera would improve the image quality. Or maybe you could jab me in the eye with a spoon - I'm pretty sure that would help.