Robert Irizarry

I spent several years in the 70's trying to learn about violin making and in those days people with expertise were very unwilling to share.

So I think it's great that you can come here and learn.

I do however get a kick out the the social dynamic of a virtual community.

Be Cool,

d ward

I love Project Guitar. Its still a bit amazing to me that so many are willing to share their experiences and knowledge. I totally appreciate it. Thank you everyone.

I also really enjoy the social dynamic and hope to be a part of this community for a long time to come.

As a newbie, I think that's a great idea. Fortunately, I think I've largely avoided many of the issues that surround newbies (please correct me if I'm wrong but not too harshly ). Before I posted for the first time, I dug through a great deal of the topic section I thought would be of greatest interest to me and in so doing gained a sense of the board's rules of etiquette. However, I'm going to admit that I'm probably a bit different than the typical forum participator. I enjoy spending hours and hours reading and researching topics - if you could only see my notes and saved links.

Anyway, I do think that's a great idea not only for the newbies but for the more experienced as well. The more experienced tend to forget the "stupid" questions they may have asked when they were learning the ropes.

I just finished reading quite a bit about Danish oil finishes... I think I have been pretty strongly convinced to use it on this project. I think I'll go for Watco Danish Oil in the Natural Color... or maybe Golden Oak.

I've been reading quite a bit about them myself. They seem like a straightforward and simple way to get a good finish. I hadn't come across that they come in shades. I think your guitar is going to look great with it.

I'm wondering what experiences people have had with finishing alder. I've done some searching on the Internet and come across indications that it is hard to finish as well as easy to finish!?! Anyway, I'm hoping that the fine folks here can set me straight.

Specifically, I'm interested in staining alder darker. I understand that furniture makers sometimes use it as a substitute for cherry. I'm more interested in going with something a bit darker but I guess the techniques and/or issues are the same.

Anybody use Danish oil finishes on it?

Thanks!

Robert, if you're joints are aching, you're doing something wrong. Maybe you're not warming up enough before you start practicing?

I'm a late re-starter too. In my case, I'm a singer, didn't practice my guitar enough when I was younger (too busy being a singer, if you know what I mean ), so I never got any good.

I found a good teacher last year, and I'm making the big push now...I plan on spending the rest of my life jamming...

I completely agree. I've been focusing on my left hand and I definitely find that I apply too much pressure. I've been focusing on this and its definitely helping. Its probably related to my Type A personality. The other key is working in IT and constantly abusing my hands with all the typing. My wife has been suggesting that I ice my hands after practice (something that athletes do to reduce inflammation) and as much as I hate doing that it also seems to help so I'm getting there little by little.

Jeez I'm almost 50. Didn't start wanting to really learn to play until 18 months ago. And started building too. I have a younger guy here at work thats played for almost 20 years. Hes a good teacher and pretty tolerant of me...

Keep going when ya stop learning you stop living!

Hey I appreciate the encouragement! Fortunately, I'm no stranger to getting a late start. I'm just finishing up my degree after deciding to pursue it a few years ago.

Its funny though. I expected that others would have come to the guitar "later" in life, but I find it very interesting that several have been simultaneously bitten by the building bug. My particular interest in building has come out of a growing interest in ergonomics. Between a bad back over the years and the constant abuse I put on my hands from working in IT, its become more and more important to me.

That's a sweet looking bass and nice job documenting! I feel my first build coming on...

I've got an article that shows how Tim Donahue built the pre-production model of this guitar out of a single piece of wood, with a router being his only power tool. It's always been tempting for me to try.

http://www.timdonahue.net/ishibashitdguit.jpg

Very cool! I took a quick look at Tim Donahue's site and saw some comments regarding the guitar. Is that article you mention available online by any chance? I'm not so interested in the fretless aspect but I'm a fan of the headless guitar...

Have you checked your posture, if your left wrist is curled round too much that won't help !

I'm a relatively young 31 (playing since 16 but with a 5 year break until 18 months ago), and I still get a sore left hand sometimes trying to pull funny chords that I'm not used to, I guess it happens to everyone at some point. (Not to mention a sore right arm from playing too much Slayer )

However as a sufferer from RSI (tendonitis in right[mouse] hand, I work in IT) I have to be careful, but luckily it doesn't seem to have affected my playing.

Anyway back to the point, I use the sprung hand-grips you would get from any sports shop (or a tennis ball would do) to increase my grip strength and get the tendons working. Any slack time i.e. sitting in traffic, watching TV is time to get the grips out. Not only does this help me keep myself in my chosen occupation but I reckon it increases 'playing stamina' too.

Obviously if it starts to hurt you should stop playing - tendons are a lot more delicate than you might think

Hope this helps !

Thanks for the input. I'm also an IT person so I'm sitting in front of a computer all day then I go home and do it some more. I'm paying more and more attention to all the things that might impact playing the guitar such as activities that might contribute to repetitive stress. Thanks!

Hi Everyone: Not only am I a newbie to guitar building, I'm basically a newbie to the guitar as well. I took a half hearted stab at it many years ago in my early twenties but didn't stick with it mainly because I was being a dumb 20 something. I recently picked it up again after my wife gave me an acoustic for our anniversary last year. I'm fast approaching 39 and I was wondering what experiences anyone has with taking up the guitar a bit later on in life. Any tips or issues you've run into along the way? One of the things I've encountered is joint stiffness in my left hand. I think part of it is technique related (applying too much pressure when chording for example) but I'm guessing part of it is being the proud owner of somewhat older joints.

Great topic idea! As I've been digging through some of the archives of the site, I've come across a number of cool projects with no further follow up. I'd love to hear what became of them as well.

Now this one is fairly recent but I couldn't resist putting it out there anyway. Back in November, Black Mariah posted on a Klein/Teuffel inspired guitar designed primarily for playing in a sitting position. For those of you who saw my recent topic post on ergonomic guitar features, you probably have a good sense of where my head is at. I know it hasn't been very long but I'd love to hear how this is coming along! No pressure.

Black Mariah's Ergonomic Guitar

Here's a link to a review on a custom guitar built with a Pacific Yew neck...

NB Custom Les Paul

Warwick thumb basses (bolt on versions of course) have just a hair over 2 inches in contact area for the neck pocket. They use four screws. I would use three screws or bolts minimum, unless there was some sort of tenon going into the body, then I might be comfortable using two.

Awesome! that's what I needed to know! If a bass can handle it, I don't have anything to worry about. For my own piece of mind I would still go with four screws but that's just me. Thanks again.

John Mayall travels with a cut down Strat... (Squier actually), so, you're probably okay.

That's pretty interesting - with the exception of the headstock its even smaller than the original Steinberger broom shape. Personally, I wouldn't like the lack of support for the picking arm but that's me.

I guess the question for GREGMW is whether he feels he will be comfortable with the guitar shape he's considering. As GuitarFrenzy points out with his quick Photoshop work, it would be odd looking - like a funhouse mirror effect. Is that what he's going after or is it more the dinky Strat look?

Draw it out full scale. I'm guessing this may not look as good to you once you see it "in person". I've had a few disconnects between my mind's eye and reality so this is a good way to test. Then again, you might like it and that's all that matters. However, as Mickguard points out, I can't imagine it being comfortable to play or very well balanced.

Are there any other factors other than aesthetics in your idea of going with a stretched out strat look?

I'm willing to bet that the sloped sides of the Anderson joint is overkill -- the essential feature is that the heel of the neck is surrounded by the body.

You can go a step further but introducing a lip or shelf on the front (headstock) side of the heel (there's another builder out there who does this, unfortunately, I'm not a repository of linkage). The neck pocket will have a corresponding shelf for this. In this way, you've essentially surrounded the heel on ALL sides.

I can only believe that that would be an extremely stable joint. And not all that difficult to achieve either using a purchased neck. A single screw would more than like be all that's needed to keep in place.

But you can take it a step further --with this kind of construction, you can simply GLUE the neck into the pocket --with all the various contact points, there's no way that neck will ever come off.

No need for screws, and, as I pointed out before, you don't need all that much wood beneath the joint. You'd be able to sculpt a very comfortable heel that way.

I'm also thinking the Anderson joint is overkill in addtion to being overly complex to recreate. However, the idea of a shelf of sorts that locks the neck and body together is sounding better and better to me. I had just come across this idea a couple of nights ago as illustrated by U.S. Masters Guitar Works on their Guitar Features. Scroll down the page a bit and there is a good picture of the joint. If done properly one substantial machine screw/insert would hold this very well.

Thanks for making me reconsider this approach...

Really nice looking guitar! I'll agree with rokeros on not painting it. You should consider a wipe on finish such as Danish oil. The woods do look really nice. It be shame to hide them. I think you'll also be happier with the quality of the finish since Danish oil wipes on and you don't have the right tools for a solid color (unless you use spray cans). I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I'm assuming you want to use bolts closer together so they'd be out of the way when playing ... I can't think of any other reason to want to do it.

If so, why don't you just countersink the holes in the body and use ferrules and shorter neck attachment screws? www.stewmac.com has them, I'm sure.

Maybe I need to rephrase one more time. As I've had time to think about it, the real question is - What is the smallest neck pocket anyone has seen on a bolt on guitar? Thanks for everyone's patience in trying to make sense of what I'm asking...

The two bolt bolt-on - Anderson Guitars

Its an interesting idea that complicates the process of making the neck pocket - not something I look forward to but there it is. I guess I can get away with quite a bit less neck heel in a pocket than I thought. Hmm...

I'm pretty sure I've seen a guitar with just two bolts (I'm sure marksound has the link to that )

Here's hoping that marksound sees the thread.

Heck, I found a guitar that uses a single tee nut and bolt to hold the neck together. However, that requires building the neck with this tee nut integral to the design. Take a look at the Details and Construction Features for one of the acoustic/electrics for Veillette Guitars. However, I'm not ready to tackle a neck build. However, it is intriguing.

Back to the drawing board.

As far as the adjustment range, if its any help, I'd be glad to get you an estimate of the adjustment range of the tuners on my Hohner headless as well as any other dimensions you might think helpful. Its currently strung with .010-.046 strings if thats any help. And again, I've never had problems tuning it. Let me know and I'll get these measurements for you this weekend.

That would be great. I'm sure I can work in the same range.

I'll get the information for you and post it by tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Here's what I came up with off the R-trem type bridge. The threads on the tuners is a hair over 1" - about 1 and 1/16". That 1/16" is taken up by two tiny washers that are under the tuner knob as it comes up against the bridge. I couldn't get at the jaw that holds the string in place (without unstringing the guitar at the moment but it appears to be approximately 24/32" long. This is the piece the threaded knob connects to. Inside the bridge, there is a spring through which the tuner rod runs. Another piece that is probably important is the neck side of the equation. This is a little harder to measure but the strings anchor into the headpiece approximately 24/32" above the bottom edge of the zero fret.

Hope this helps a bit. Let me know.

the need to be spread out so that the aresupporting the whole heel, you can go with slight variations, but i think if they get too close together the neck will just snap off

Since the heel of a neck can vary in length and the locations where designers choose to insert screws into their necks varies, that doesn't really lead me anywhere if you think about it. So, I'm back to asking my original question slightly rephrased - What's the minimum spread of the attachment screws seen in successful bolt on neck designs? One of the more obvious types to look at would be all the variations on the AANJ types. These are all over the place. I'm just trying to find what is the smallest separation someone has seen on a production guitar. Thanks.

looks like that bass paul mcartney plays

Yep - the Hofner (mickguard corrected me - thanks). I guess I'm not so sure how comfortable one of these would be. I also agree with NamelessOne - get it drawn to scale so you can get a real sense of how it will work with a human. Otherwise, its interesting although I would say the straight lines in the upper body area conflict with the lower rounder body. But that's me.

I'm trying to get a feel for how small a spread of the attachment screws I can use to bolt a neck to a body and still have sufficient support. Some measurements from some of you with AANJ type setups would be very helpful!

THANKS!

But because it's wood, it's twice as thick as a normal pickguard, and it just doesn't fit well --my pick kept hitting the guard and became too annoying to play.

As Nitefly suggests,

you could route out a place for the pickguard, so say you make it 5mm thick only 2mm would show.

P.S. Lovely avatar.