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StratsRdivine

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Everything posted by StratsRdivine

  1. I second the reference to PWP - great products. Study the "In Progress" part of this forum too. Unless you plan to build you own necks and bodies, Warmoth gets good reviews of their bodies and necks. Then pups should be less than 100 bucks each. A lot of the cost is buying minimum orders on paint just for one guitar, so look into having it sprayed by a pro, which will cost more than the raw material minimums, but worth it. You can wet sand and buff the final coat. This purple / magenta color-changing borosilicate is my favorite color, so I can really picture what you are after.
  2. John Blazy here from Dichrolam, LLC / John Blazy Designs (might be Blazy Guitars someday) My first guitar after six months of cramming for this test. My wife and I love seeing a local cover band, and became friends with the members especially Steve Raz their lead guitarist, so I realized he might like a guitar made with my material, and I could use it for PR. Since Dichrolam laminates are used by PRS, Fender CS, Jens Ritter, etc (via Tom Schotland's inlay version using my dichroic cores), coupled with needing to promote my new "faux figure" laminates, I Decided to mod a Squier Strat in January this year. Steve loved it, and I got the bug so bad, I decided to look into full custom guitar building as a platform to market my products. Then really discovered lots of uncharted design territory in the current state of the guitar design art, mostly aesthetically. Studied hard, especially here (Thanks PG!), and hired a local luthier (Attila Custom Guitars) to make unfinished necks and body blanks to my design and specifications, and I would complete them with shaping, inlays, full face overlays, final finishing, cut and buff, then send them back to Attila for fretwork, wiring and setup. Mentioning this so you all know that I am not a true luthier like everyone here - I have not personally made a neck yet, which requires such precision jigs, and I decided not to re-invent the wheel here, (although I could). You should also know that I am a professional furniture designer / builder turned chemist, turned composites mfr with 35 years experience in the highest of high end commercial projects, so that too, is cheating a little here, so keep that in mind. Specs on the Silver/Gold Quilt guitar (might name it "Mr.T", because all the gold and bling isn't feminine here, rather more B.A.): Chambered Basswood body based on the perfectly designed Stratocaster, but I stretched, trimmed and 'sexified' the lines and added larger horns (size does matter here) making it over 1-1/2" longer than a Strat Body face "veneer" is 1/4" acrylic formed from molds I made to look like 5A quilt figure. Back coated with silver and gold borosilicate (real glass) metallic pigments in a "strafe coated" procedure that causes the quilt billows to change from silver to gold based on viewing angle. Body cross section is a longitudinal 30 inch radius "arctop", not archtop - 2" thick in middle, tapering to less than 1" at edges to counter weight of acrylic, while "raising" the bridge for playability, and eliminating the need for a forearm bevel. 25.5" Scale Flame maple neck with bookmatched flame maple fingerboard (vectored for directionality) with Evo Jumbo gold frets and gold Sperzel locking tuners Inlays and body accent deltas are "Gold Burl" Dichrolam, which has no metal, but looks metallic, and changes color according to viewing angle (epoxy version in inlays, and acrylic version in body deltas and knob covers). Hand wound humbuckers by local winder Turnbull Pickups (cutty and crispy) Schaller hardtail bridge 2K urethane with gold borosilicate metallic, cut and buffed (I know that not being nitro lists my address as a "finish offender" causing luthier school children to cross on other side of my street, but I didn't lay down 50 mils - only about ten total after cut and buff) See build thread here on PG: Hear it and see it here - go to 1:07:30 mark to hear Steve scream out some serious Neal Schon on "Stormy Nights": Escape - best Journey tribute band featuring Steve Raz on John Blazy's Silver Quilt guitar
  3. Wowwwwww!!! From raw to finished guitar in ten minutes of scrolling. Reminds me of your last thread - I remember well the details saying to myself "so thats how you do that". This time, I am saying "I want that plane". So sorry to hear about your deep loss. I had to wrestle alot when my wife was diagnosed with Cancer, and found a tremendous compassion for those with true losses. Two things - Its OK that you may never be OK, so don't try too hard to numb things away. Second is that building is soooo therapeutic as you know, so keep it up.
  4. Don't even try to wet it and heat it - will make it harder for the wood to be re-aligned. It is clearly an impact, where the pot washers and nuts held fast, so the wood had to give, which means that once pushed out flush with top, it will virtually disappear. This is actually a simple fix. First remove the pot of course, then get a C clamp (deep enough reach - 3" or so throat depth) with two pcs of soft wood about 2" square x 1/2" thick (vary according to length of crack). Then sandwich the split wood area between the two wood protector blocks (one inside, one outside) and do a test press with the C clamp. This will tell you if the splits will re-align - 90% chance that it will. If not, you may need to razor slice a few slivers from the back (I would assess it, then do that anyway from the back). Then mix epoxy (not five minute, because you will need time, unless you are well prepared and did a test press) or wood glue and syringe it into the open splits. I get syringes all the time for stuff like this, but if the splits are open enough (you may need to re-push the cracks open) you might be fine just rubbing wood glue over it from both sides. Then cut a couple pcs of plastic from a ziplock bag and cover the wet glued surfaces, add the wood blocks, then press flat with the clamp. When dry, the plastic peels off, and water with a touch of alcohol will remove the wood glue from the face, and leave a slight trace of crack which can be darkened with a brown magic marker. You could always add a super thin pc of plywood to the inside for added strength, but the pot will be lower. Trying to think of a thin strong material here that glues well if you don't use epoxy, like a couple pcs of wood veneer, but you may not want to track that down. Personally, I would use thin single ply cardboard like the bottom sheet off a paper writing pad, because the glue will soak into it forming a fiber-reinforced composite - real strong and stiff, then re-drill the pot stem hole. Don't use epoxy like I mentioned because it will be impossible to remove from the face finish after it hardens. Wood glue should be fine, as it will dissolve later while leaving the finish intact. The finish on those guitars can handle straight alcohol.
  5. Thanks for the clarification on the image - didn't see some stuff til later, and pleased that the edit function worked - didn't see the little trash can icon on the image. I did the diagram to post on my wife's Facebook acct for wider release, then decided to post here after fixing it a bit (let me know if you see other errors). Will be filling out entry for GOTM soon. Yes the lower lighting as the night went on looked awesome. And I just love how Steve wails the solo on Stormy Nights at 1:08. BTW, I did the backlighted "ESCAPE" sign in laser cut Dichrolam using my latest shape-specific molded technique to make the letters 3D and allows the color-shift to outline the letters (hard to tell). The band and I have kindof adopted each other now after the sign and the new guitar. Totally addicting to hear such melodic music so well played, that I thought these guys really deserve this stuff. So many collectors buy the top boutique guitars and they never really get played like this, while guys like Steve are playing their hearts out with great guitars, but not custom instruments that they deserve.
  6. Sorry, a little more shameless self promotion: Guys are always asking for spec sheets and features, so here is a doc that details the primary features of my first guitar. Listen to it below - great solos at the 25 and 57 minute mark (all throughout is great, but its the whole 2 hour show) Escape - Journey Tribute band with Steve Raz on John Blazy's Silver quilt custom guitar
  7. So the Quilted Silver Boro guitar got a huge share of true testing this weekend in the hands of Steve Raz, the lucky guy that gets to virtually own it. He played three shows with it (all sets, each show), and won't use his Les Paul Studio if my guitar is there - real nice gesture, too nice, yet he and the two separate seasoned sound guys had the same interesting comments - that it cuts through the mix better with crisper note distinction. I initially just thought that they were just giving nice complements, since the guitar looks so cool, but after last nights show where the sound guy showed me the output graph, and explained it a bit, I am starting to think that maybe the scatterwound custom humbuckers are making the difference. Read a lot more about them this morning. What are your experiences with hand wounds? The big show was Escape - the best Journey Tribute band, so lots of screaming Neil Schon solos. Not going to dis Les Pauls (all hail king Gibson), but its good to see this as Steve's preferred guitar. Of course one could make a great case for Les Pauls saying that it requires months of hand labor with the top custom hardware to make a guitar that barely eclipses a stock Gibson.
  8. Cool news. The president of the company that exclusively distributes for Floyd Rose, Schaller, Babicz, Pro Rock Gear and KTS Titanium saw the new knobs in Dichrolam (made with my stuff by a their accessories / knob maker, not sure if I can disclose his name), and was blown away - planning to pitch them to PRS (they already use Dichrolam in their bird inlays thanks to Tom Schotland's / Duke of Pearl luthier inlay version of Dichrolam - using my optical dichroic core within special inlay grade polymer sheets), and a ton other big guys at summer NAMM. Also pitching my pick guards and sheets of Dichrolam like the one in my avatar. Seems like making these guitars was a good idea.
  9. Buffed the body on the second guitar in Red Candy burst over quilted carbon fiber. Cleaning out some of the burrs from inside the switch screw hole openings, and my dremel rattled inside the hole beyond control and tore up the CF - really REALLY pissed me off. So I put in dutchmans what will then be covered by a dog-bone shaped section of Red Burl, or just black domed epoxy - should look ok, hopefully.
  10. Way amazing. Love the ridge carving at the headstock heel. Send us an edge view pic of that headstock. I hope I don't have to compete with that on this months GOTM.
  11. I love questions like this. Completely NOT the rush of overcoming technical challenges, although that is true when something is successful. There are too many times when I cannot overcome a technical challenge, which seems to kill the joy of the times when I do. The real drive is my insatiable pursuit of aesthetic dynamism, and more specifically, 3D effects within 2D surfaces (my entire line of Dichrolam products reflect this, but not here to talk about that). This pursuit makes me a better polymer scientist in order to pull off the visual effect that I am after. Here is why I love your question: Very few, and I mean very few people are conscious of the synergistic relationship between left (classic, analytical, math/scientific) and right (romantic/emotional/artistic) brain thinking. Notice I did not say that people are not aware of the difference - most know that artists are strong right brain, while scientists, engineers, and acountants are strongly left - that is common knowledge. What is not commonly known is that the more you embrace both modes of thinking, the better you will be at each side. Simply put, I am a better designer BECAUSE I am a scientist / engineer, and I am a better scientist / engineer BECAUSE I am an artist. Or this way, which is even more accurate: The emotional, adrenaline triggering desire for a kick*** aesthetic effect actually burns within me to motivate me to accomplish the polymer science needed to pull it off. Study the masters and you see this to be true - DaVinci painted like an emotional artist, yet designed helicopters and submarines. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, yet was the only architect/engineer to design a self supporting dome on St Peter's Church. Then look at modern examples: Ferrari's look so freakin cool aesthetically, but most of it is for utilitarian reasons (streamlining, etc), and require the utmost in technical engine design right along with the cool body design. BTW - I need to reshoot the silver quilt guitar on a whiter background before I post for the GOTM entry, so thanks for the headsup on the other thread.
  12. Now I present to you . . . Fiddleback ebony. Made another mold patterned after flame/curly and decided that it would make an amazing fingerboard for the Wenge neck going onto the candy red 6A Quilted carbon fiber body. Then discovered that I can IMD the Red Burl Dichrolam directly in the resin casting, eliminating the inlay routing, but casting with a 9.5" radius is a bit tricky. The fret slots will be cut with .030" diamond blade (epoxying the frets). Nailed the interlaminar adhesion with some special polymer science tricks so well that it cuts on the T-saw without delaminating. Mills better with carbide router bits, of coarse. If I can pull all that fretboard work off, then THATS Wizardry. This guitar will melt faces just sitting on a stand.
  13. Studio shots. So do I apply for GOTM? Maybe wait til I get the carbon fiber one done? Kindof cheating since I'm not a true luthier, and using wild materials that I have a monopoly on.
  14. Thanks, Man!! It does get better, though. I will be casting the epoxy / carbon fiber curly figure fingerboard blank over the next few days. Here is the wild part: I will be casting Red Burl Dichrolam (which I also invented - inlay version used by PRS, Fender, Ritter, etc via Tom Schotland who invented the full inlay technology for the Burl line of Dichrolam) right into the carbon fiber directly, then radiusing the whole thing. No routing out the inlay cavities. Perfectly seamless between the Red Burl and the CF. Then I bought a 4" diamond blade that is .030" thick, which I will use to cut the fret slots, then gluing the frets in. Likely shoot 2K urethane first, cut and buff, then insert the frets. All on Wenge fingerboard and neck (which will have unidirectional carbon fiber in the headstock scallops to match the CF in cutaway scallops). Totally original neck design, not to mention body design with this new stuff. Then the Red Burl (in the 3mm thick acrylic version) will be lasered like the Gold Burl above, and trimmed with red anodized wire like the gold one above. The Red Candy CF quilt guitar will be "wrath of God" awesome. I counted about six major design innovations on these guitars that are not seen in other guitars even without these innovative materials. Back in January, after seeing such limited aesthetic designs from top luthiers and full on big companies, I decided that the guitar design community needed an enema, from a visual design perspective. Hopefully the figured carbon fiber / aramid fiber sheets will help introduce a new era in guitar design.
  15. Current condition. Love how the gold wire adds accent, but not too much. Ready to cut and buff. Knobs will have the Gold Burl as well.
  16. Hi Mike, You are definitely on the right track, and I see nothing you mention that would not work, and the only questionable part is the shaded areas, and how to get enough light to it. If Sunlight (which is a great source of UV, but sadly not always there in UK) then I would imagine a front surface mirror to focus on cutaways or just aim the guitar best as possible for those areas. A great source for high powered UV is the hand held 1500 watt system from American Ultraviolet, or similar source in UK. The smaller hand helds can be aimed directly where you want, and even the whole guitar if you make lawn mower passes. The reason chemist say to NOT use acetone in PE is because they are assuming traditional heavy build use of PE like boat hulls where its up t0 100 + mils thick. At 20 mils per coat, the acetone can evaporate out easily. Regarding additional tanning bed bulbs, you need to be certain that the UV coating you use specifies the wavelength of tanning bulbs, because that is long wavelength UV, whereas most UV coatings react to shorter, more intense UV waves. If the sun cures it, then tanning bed bulbs should. Back when I was a chemist, the sunlight reactive coatings had excessive amounts of photoinitiator to get full cure, and even then the surface was still tacky from oxygen inhibition. Then the coating would continue to crosslink and shrink over time due to the excessive PI that went unextinguished. I imagine that not to be the case much now, but I am skeptical compared to a good 2K urethane. BTW - when I mentioned cabosil added to PE for sealer coat in clear coats, the cabosil acts like a flatting agent a little, but mixes crystal clear, so no worry on clear coats. If you were to use UV as sealer, then I would coat only the end grain areas first, then cure as fast as you can before it soaks in too deep, then sand and coat whole guitar again with same UV sealer. This is the beauty of UV - multiple thick coats within minutes.
  17. Cool stuff to work with, and the sand to powder after 30 seconds of cure is quite addicting. I was a UV chemist for four years or so formulating sprayable UV coatings back in its infancy, 20 years ago, and developed buffable topcoats (unheard of then, due to stratification of the cured film). Although I have a couple patents in polymer science, I have been out of the coating formulation world for nearly 20 years, so I am certain that the working/curing/shrinkage/buffing properties of todays UV coatings are well advanced, so take my views with a grain of salt as to their accuracy (test and verify). If I ever get into the guitar building business, I am considering dusting off my 20,000 watt UV system (the ballast weighs more than motorcycle and pulls 100 amps upon ignition - you get bonus testosterone when its firing) just for instant finishes, but my current system is cheap, and effective (PE gelcoat sealer topped with 2K auto urethane). See my responses below in Red: To have a sun cure finish we can all have access to. Not need expensive UV light systems. Evidently true, but I am skeptical of "hot" UV finishes that might not fully extinguish the photoinitiator, especially in shaded areas not getting the full dose of UV, in which UV lights are a perfect choice. Meaning, that some areas of the guitar body like inside cutaways may not fully cure (extinguishing the PI) and will leave some unreacted PI in the film, causing migration, stickiness, not enough crosslink to cut and buff, etc. This may not be a problem nowdays. Preferably with no expensive spray equipment. Dipping is a neat idea - messy but I have done it, but adequate spray equipment is cheap, and worth it. Cost-effective. (Less than £20 a litre.) The savings on time covers the cost. Recipe available here for free. (I'm not trying to make any money off this.) The UV cure systems on the market at the moment mostly seem to be made of a polyester base with styrene as the thinner. As any of us who have looked into polyester resins know, you can get an additive to cure it via UV light. So the resin, styrene and UV additive are readily available to all of us in small quantities. This means we can all make these fancy UV cure finishes manufacturers charge in excess of $100 for and without the need for a few hundred pound/dollars of UV light equipment. (Plus the cost of safety gear when using said lights.) A low viscosity polyester resin is my starting point, that way we can avoid the use of too much styrene that would prolong flashing times. (The average seeming to be 15 minutes between coats.) That meaning that with an average (On MSDS and TDS sheets) of three coats, you can have your guitar or other project ready for level sanding and buffing in about an hour. Sounds good right? Now on to the issues I foresee... UV light from the sun on average will only penetrate wood about 80um (0.08MM). So that means unless you feel like the addition of MEKP, we need a sealer. I've toyed with the idea of a seal coat just using polyester resin and MEKP since we know polyester is compatible with itself... This would serve two functions, a grain filler and sealer. It's downfall being that there will be a lot of sanding before you can top coat, and anyone that's sanded polyester knows it's not fun. I'm completely open to ideas on other ways to fill and seal the wood here but with the preference of it curing/drying quickly. So far the starting point will be polyester resin + UV catalyst and around 7% styrene. My research has suggested that 7% is the maximum before we start to affect the polyesters properties when cured. This may make the already low viscosity resin too thin, but I'll adjust it as I go to get the right balance between spray-ability and runs. Although a few minutes in the sun and the runs can be sanded off, so worst case scenario it still beats lacquer. The addition of wax in styrene may be needed to make the final coat cure tack free, but that's a problem for future me. Anyone out there care to chime in? It may be a few weeks before I can buy the supplies to start the experiment so there's a while to discuss possible pitfalls or improvements. OK, now pay close attention at this point - gonna drop some science on ya. Personally, I would never use UV cure as the sealer, only the topcoats, and here are several major reasons: End grain will soak the resin in deeper than the UV will be able to penetrate and cure, therefore leaving "wet" resin inside the wood, which will then later dissolve the cured top film due to the "solvency" of the wet resin. Surface may feel dry after UV cure, but its a ticking time bomb. I have had this happen several times when sealing MDF edges with UV sealers. Months later, the film began wrinkling. When I cut the edge on a tablesaw, I saw and smelled the wetted UV binder had soaked in waaaayyyy beyond the point of UV penetration (like 3mm). This is the primary reason not to use UV cured sealers, unless quick coats are sprayed into end grain, and cured immediately, which I would never do on porous mahogany - will soak deep beyond UV depth within seconds. PE gelocats are sooooo cheap, (I pay about $50.00 per gallon) and soooo easy to coat and sand. Believe it or not, you still have a similar issue as above, with MEKP cured PE gelcoats, but for a different reason. The PE resin can actually soak in to end grain, and leave much of the sanding aids on the surface, but my tests have shown great adhesion. PE gelocat is awesome for several reasons: It thins to sprayable viscosity quite easily with a combination of up to 9% styrene, and 10% acetone. Flow is great, and the acetone flashes immediately. Styrene is recommended because it is a REACTIVE diluent, meaning that it actually crosslinks INTO the final polymer, rather than flashing off. PE gelcoats have two primary wonderful additives that make your life easier - Thixotropes and sanding fillers. The primary thixotrope is ultra fine silica called Cab-O-sil. Thixotropy is a reology term that means it is shear thinning. Meaning that when the coating is flowing, it flows with low viscosity, but once stationary, it "gels" and resists runs and sags. Cab-O-sil is common in ALL sealers but is really evident in thick PE gelcoats. You can spray 15 - 20 mils vertical, with tons of "hang time". Then Gelcoat has calcium carbonate, talc and sometimes microspheres as sanding aids. So there is my reason for using MEKP cure PE for sealer, on opaque coated guitars, but clear is a little different. You may not get the sanding aids but clear PE with Cab-O-sil additive, and you have a nice sealer - still better than UV cure clear sealer due to the end grain soak-in problem, and clear, pure PE resin is even less expensive than PE gelcoats. Now, once sealed - whatever method you like - UV is king of topcoats now. Full cure is expected, and sanding is easy for multi coat builds. The big issue is the ability to buff. This is where I am no help, as I have not researched which UV's will buff, but imagine that they all will.. I would personally use a high solids UV cured aliphatic urethane, rather than PE to decrease post cure shrinkage which will telegraph grain after your mirror buff job.
  18. Both. Haven't been bit in a long time, but when you use the tablesaw every day for 30 plus years, especially under the constant deadline gun of a small business, the bites happen when you least expect it. The top most fearful cutting operations are styrofoam and Polycarbonate. I cut all foam on my bandsaw now. Cutting wood and plywood is a dream - its all the weird stuff that gets you. Will be casting the neck fingerboard in carbon fiber this week in my newer mold that replicates curly figure. Can't wait.
  19. Thanks, Scott! This is the one I am really psyched for. Just sprayed today. There is even carbon fiber in the cutaway scallops. Ever heard of 6A quilt? Now you have.
  20. Neck sprayed. My trademark inlays are "exhaust plumes" which is why I shaded them with white vapor trails. Needed the whitest possible fingerboard anyway to show off the gold frets, so I bleached the maple as well, which whitens it, but doesn't remove a slight yellow cast so I plan to pull out one of my finishing tricks and add the slightest amount of purple dye to the clearcoat to cancel out the yellow.
  21. Stumped me on the Ambrosia. I had to look it up, and its evidently a type of maple. Since I am making sheets now of simulated figure, I am studying all I can on wood figure types, and species that it occurs in. I have been a wood nerd since high school, nearly memorizing the book, "Know Your Woods" since buying it in '85, but I have been out of woodworking for the past ten years, so anyone out there know of other species in which quilt figure occurs besides maple, mahogany, and Sapele (pommelle is close enough)? Also wondering what the market value is for 5A quilt in solid nowdays (prices seem all over the place, but around 175 for 2 sq ft top blanks). Great burst job. Is that gun sprayed or rattle can?
  22. Dayam. Sweet chunk of redwood. I bought some "fiddleback" redwood (what Certainly Wood called it) back in '94 in which the waves were nearly 4" crest to crest. It was the first cuttings of its kind back then, so its good to see it common now. Your contouring is nice, and pretty interesting cutaway carves. Did you make the neck too? Post more pics - show us the back, headstock, etc (unless this is a tease, and you'll reveal all later). Welcome to the forum!
  23. Apparently, glass works with this system as well, using different "resins". Will be marketing this to the commercial arch market as well. The only bummer, is that I have to use carbide blades to pre-cut/score the CF prior to cutting the glass, but most arch specs are for tempered panels anyway, requiring no cutting after laminating. Maybe I should just relaminate a backer glass panel and have it waterjet into samples.
  24. Sweet work, and love your shape choice - I have always loved the aggressive look of V's and Explorer styles. I used to be a UV chemist, formulating 100% solids sprayable coatings for industry, and still own one of the 20,000 watt iron-doped irradiators (ballast pulls 100 amps on ignition, and weighs over 600 lbs), so I was considering dusting it off and using it on guitars, so I was wondering why you don't use UV for all coats, not just sealer? I recall formulating the clears, and they were difficult to buff out, until I started using Henkel aliphatic urethane oligomers (fancy word for same stuff in 2K urethane), and was able to cut and buff just like 2K automotive. That was 17 years ago, so I imagine now there are UV cured topcoats that buff great. Best part is sanding to powder 30 seconds after spraying.
  25. Looks like you are using QCAD. I love QCAD - pretty simplified - all the functions needed. I have done similar methods to scale out a pickguard, like placing a ruler right next to the pickguard, and shooting a photo of it from far away, and as perpendicular as possible, then insert the photo in the "insert bitmap" function, (which allows jpg's a well), then adjusting the scale size until it matches the graduations on the ruler in the pic. Then I use the spline curve tool to draw all the irregular curves, and basically draw right over the picture. Then delete the picture, and send it to the laser to cut a test on mylar film, then verify any tweaks needed before I cut my expensive pickguard material. Usually comes out perfect. The scanner is clearly better than my method, but I dont have a scanner large enough normally, or I am too lazy, and like the challenge of making the photo / ruler trick work.
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