mistermikev

oh shoot moving the truss rod out of that area... that'll do it right there. knowing that I'd do the bolts w/o worrying too much. zero fret... interesting thing I heard the other day about zero frets... that they wear out that fret pretty freq. that totally turned me off on the idea. what a pita to replace compared to a reg nut. looked at the kahler locking nuts... they have the sm v shaped string slots so... no worries afa string movement. might have to snag one of those pro nuts with the flip mechanism. those are really nice. yes, i'd agree that there really is no point in a zero fret w a locking nut. the only real advantage to zero nut is it makes setting height part of the leveling process, and you can change string gauges... the floyd nuts are just sort of a V shape so pretty sure you could use just about anything in there w/o issue. I certainly wouldn't do that (zero fret)... but this just in: gtr players have all sorts of crazy ideas about that sort of thing lol.

with a kahler... you have to have a locking nut... no locking tuners going to do it. you could get the alternative screw down locking nut... just has wood screws instead of bolts. all that said... if you do things to strengthen the neck I think you'll be fine. make a vallute, do some precision drilling to ensure you don't bury the nuts too deep in the back... maybe consider a multilam neck. w a zero fret... i don't think you'd need a nut if you have the locking nut. haven't looked at the kahler version but the floyd keeps the strings in exact position so no need for a nut before it.

have had/have many a floyd... but never a kahler. I have one in a drawer but I think I'm req by law to build a pointy guitar for it lol. with it being a cam... my guess is it feels a lot like the trem king. very fluid action. def benefits from a lock nut. doing a lock nut- there is not much room for forgiveness. you can always shim it... but ideally want to nail that. Another complication is that if you do the bolt thru lock nut... it will significantly weaken the headstock transition... which makes doing a thin neck rather risky... esp if you've got a big truss rod going through right there. both my jem and my hamer ss are like that... surprise the jem has stress cracks and the hamer was broken. yes, maple is a nightmare for inlay work... but I'm sure you won't have any trouble. now michael j fox... maybe not (lol too soon?)

had you considered preval? those are these little kits you can buy at hardware store where you can mix your own spray. comes w an aerosol can. I mention because clearly the pictured guitar is using a tinted clear. it's kind of opaque so the grain is muted. The only way I know of to achieve that is w spray. that said... if you don't care about grain being creamy/opaque like that... and just want the color... you could simply mix up some water based gray dye w a small amount of blue. no reason you can't get that color... then clear over it... it's just not going to have that one aspect.

well oddly, in the case of that bass... in all the places where it was walnut the oil soaked in fine... but on that mappa burl top... it really sat near the surface and as i mentioned left it sort of waxy. I imagine I could have gone clear over the walnut w/o much trouble but that mappa... doubtful. I did whipe it after... but apparently not enough.

when I saw you post this on facebook I looked at that joint area and thought... "I think I know what the problem is"! less real estate than an sg. The prs is kind of like that too... it's an absolute marvel that more of them don't have issues tho... as it's a pretty vetted design. this should be quite the departure from prev builds for you - seemingly a shredder... and with a kahler... noice. look fwd to seeing it come to life.

well surprise - I'm wrong. I did some danish on my first bass and it was such a waxy feel... wouldn't have guessed that it would be anything but trouble with clear over it. I stand corrected.

no expert but anytime you hear "oil" followed by "lacquer/clear" - had at least better make sure you do some tests. i know tru oil is pretty forgiving in this regard but it's not really oil.

that is a great suggestion to the tune of "why didn't I think of that". it is def the air trapped in the can that did it in... perhaps I should get some plastic containers that I can squeeze the air out of and close. afa diy... I've read quite a bit about diy and commercial shielding and seen a number of shootouts. you get what you pay for. from everything I've read the versions with actual metal in them are by far the best. stew mac is very good... but mg chem super shield consistently gets higher ratings. I don't use metal based all the time because they are silver in look... so sometimes go with mg chem total ground if it's going to be visible... but I'm convinced the silver look is something you have to suffer if you want better shielding. honestly copper is best but all my ctrl cavities tend to have irregular nooks and crannys that make that impractical so my compromise is shielding paint and copper on the cavity cover. ymmv.

well my powers of observation are somewhat lacking sometimes!

well for the record... this isn't really about trying to make or save money... on some level, perhaps subconscious... I'm trying to dissuade myself from being so "into" it by knowing what it's actually costing me! do I think I could give it up completely if I wanted to? no, probably not. At the least it will make me more learned, and that is never a bad thing. thank you for the thoughts sir!!

even before the pandemic... the cheapest I could find switchcraft was philli luthier... $22. binding... well for a lp build getting thicker binding is key... and the best I could find (w/o looking around too much) was $11+ each. you figure you'll need at least one for the body, one for the neck, and probably half of one for the headstock plus some slop. shielding paint... the only way I can save money there is buying a big can of it. I did that years ago when I was building partscasters and even keeping the can in a plastic bag it dried up by the time I got done with 4 guitars. at $50... that's about $13 ea. I now buy little bottles from mg chem and they are about $30 plus shipping... and with 3 coats you get about 1.5 guitars out of them. that's a 1 oz bottle. thank you for the thoughts... def some places I could shave a few bucks here or there.

shit I'm sorry, I somehow missed your post. yes, that's the switchcraft premium. I'm well aware of some decent less expensive options. that said... I love the feel of switchcraft and oak grigsby. both have a stiffness you just don't get anywhere else. Both def things that would be easy to save money on if your main purpose was profit or just keeping costs down. I think one of the mistakes many builders make is comparing their build to mass produced. It'd be like comparing a painting done by banksy to a lithograph. As I said to AD... you don't get a guitar built by one luthier from fender/gibson until you go custom shop... and those start at $3400 and probably average $5000. These are not customized models... these are production models made by the custom shop... and you aren't going to find anything but switchcraft, honduran mahog, 5A tops, etc on those builds. I certainly am building for the love of it. cnc actually takes way more time unless you are producing in large numbers. I probably have spent 60+ hours just on cad/cam, and another 120hours building each of the recent teles I did. Of course I wouldn't go through that if it wasn't satisfying to me... and it is most def that. I love this hobby so much it has consumed me... and I have about 50 guitars I want to build... but I've recently come to the realization that I don't think I'll be able to afford all the things I want to build without at some point, to some degree or another, considering selling some of my completed builds or doing some builds for others. If you figure an avg of 800 each minimal parts/materials cost... don't even think about my investment in tools... that's around 7 grand. Nothing wrong with building cheap... it just doesn't suit my tastes. thank you again for taking the time!!

hehe, cooking dinner. one of my thoughts getting into cnc... was that it would keep my fingers away from power tools... and ultimately be safer given that it is easier to take very small bites of wood. I'm not sure how valid that is. that said... idk about cooking dinner. It could throw a workpiece at you pretty easily, or start a fire... so I'm pretty much watching it full time. I think ultimately, w/o even factoring in the design time... I would bet it actually takes significantly longer to do a one off on cnc vs by hand. I don't have a bit changer and so the time I spend changing bits after each operation, plus the time I spend aligning things... plus factoring in that you almost have to do a prototype operation for every actual operation... if you are really lucky at best you build two guitars... but more than likely you toss 35% of your first operations. I would bet the break even point is building 3 or 4... cause by #3 you know your code works as intended and can just run it. slotting and inlay especially. those operations take forever on cnc. that is part of my motivation here... I'm curious how much more time it actually takes. I def feel like my building has slowed down drastically since I started cnc... but it's hard to tell how much of that is just learning curve. afa chisel... um... a while back I damn near cut my index finger off with a util knife so... there is still plenty of that in my life! 150hours... so you figure a grand in parts... and 150 hours of build time... if you paid yourself a meager $20/hr that's a $4000 guitar. If you look at what it costs to get a guitar made by 1 luthier from fender tho... that'd be entry level custom shop... which starts at $3400... and even then a lot of the prep work is done by the factory so... pretty much on target. thanks for you feedback - very much appreciate it!!

that's a good guess. I've read over on tdpri that the typical flat top tele is generally 50 hours and that's a really simple build. I've read at mylespaul that the typical standard is 85hrs. I wonder how much of an under estimate that is for me!

no, I actually am fairly aware I guess... our own lef guitars uses them. Probably the majority here use them as every build I see seems to have one. Its just that I think the allied rods, and the lmii for that matter, are worth the small difference (in the context of the build). I have four left from the 5 I bought when I did the dano style... probably use them at some point to. oh, if I factored the cad/cam into the equation... esp given the learning curve for me... they'd be... I generally wouldn't walk away from the machine unless I was very confident in what I was doing... ie it was simple... I have a camera on it and freq have that on my phone while I'm in my office goofing around... but you are right - those hours factor into the real 'expense' of a guitar for me. I'm just really curious how long it takes me... as for the most part I'm doing one-offs... and this is def NOT the way to do them to make money... nor really is my design... but I'd still like to know the awful truth of how long I actually spend on them.

very thankful to have your input as always. good call - set of strings... I'm guessing there are 30 other things I'm forgetting and would love to hear more if you or anyone else sees a hole - will add that one asap. well... I'm not sure my raw material costs are reflective of what it would cost me today... but at a certain point you have to just put down your costs and let the chips fall where they may. the allied truss... I think it's a very reasonable point... cost/benefit. That said... when you are talking about a 900 investment and 95+ hours of your life... I'm not sure truss rod is the place I want to save $30. the allied truss is braised instead of welded... the metal is really high quality stainless, there is 1" of block at either end, the threads just feel like precision, and the spoke nut is much smaller than the Chinese variations of this rod. afa I know the cheapest dual action I can find is bitter root for approx $13 so not 8x but perhaps you weren't trying to be literal. I guess if one was seriously considering mass production that would be a good place to cut some costs tho so - good point. tallying labor - well if I trade/sell a build I'd like to know at what point it would be "worth it" for me and for me... that would include my time. That said I'm more curious than anything else. I'd also like to know how fast/slow I am compared to others (would love to know if anyone has an idea of how long various builds took them). I guess with cnc in the mix it's going to muddy the waters... but also I'd like to know what percentage of my hours is just running the machine vs working the parts/assembly. I suspect actually tracking my hours would be a real eye opener. the tracking app is a good idea. I think I might try to setup a camera and turn it on every time I work, but the track app would be a good fallback plan. thank you again for the input!!

Right on, I guess like anything else it all depends on how you do it . Now that I think about it when I was doing that with a jig I was using a bowl bit the whole time and that probably makes a big difference too not having sharp edges

not sure I agree that you can't get a smooth surface w a router. if your jig is smooth the surface is only going to have superficial tool marks that will easily be sanded away at 220 grit. When I did the radius for my strats - by hand with a jig... the sanding prior to gluing on a top was absolutely minimal 5 mins max. sure you are going to have to do some sanding either way... but the amount of sanding you'd do doing the radius-sanding-block vs the amount of FINISH sanding you'd do after a router/jig is night and day different amounts of work. i think above, you say after the belt sander you can do it in an hour... so figure 20 mins of belt sander + 1 hour of hand sanding... if you spent that 1 hour building a jig it's going to mean 10 mins of runtime and another 5 - 10 mins of finish sanding. more importantly... a router/jig is going to be much more consistent and less prone to issues when leveling. not saying it can't be done well... but even with guides at the side keeping your radius block flat... unless you use a 21" radius block... it would be very easy to get results that mean more sanding afterwards with a leveling bar to flatten things perfectly. iow it's more idiot proof and I suppose that's why it resonates w me so well!

so lately how much i spend on guitars has been under the microscope (by me, not necc the wife - she lets me get away w far too much!)... I suppose partially due to prices/inflation/gas etc... but also because I get a few asks here or there to buy a guitar I've made. not really interested in selling, I don't build with that intent... but at some point all of us probably have to consider just tossing more money at guitar builds or perhaps selling off an old build in hopes of recouping some cash to finance future builds. Also, perhaps to prove a point... maybe only to myself. I think in general most of us would be surprised at what we actually spend building a guitar. I know I was surprised at what I spent on kevin's tele for sure. With that in mind, I wanted to track actual costs on a future project as accurately as possible. I also would like to track my hours. so I've started a spread sheet for a future lp build, not going with the cheapest of parts... but also not going overboard. just middle of the row stuff - stuff that I would actually buy. I'd be interested to know what you think of it... just honestly how it hits you. I did not factor in shipping costs... and I'm guessing some things are missing... but an honest attempt at figuring actual cost for a prospective build. Have any of you done a similar analysis? What did you find? further... how many hours would you guestimate to actually make a lp standard with single binding, typical 14 deg headstock, trapazoid inlay? I'm told the avg tele takes 50 hours... my guess is a lp would be near 90. I don't know what I spent on my baritone tele/paul... but I'd bet it's even more than that. WOODS: COST: SOURCE: body blank - mahog $35 peterman neck blank - qtr sawn mahog $35 peterman top - flamed maple $65 jlcraftwood fretboard blank - ebony $30 unknown HARDWARE: gotoh bridge std post gold $34 stew mac tailpiece gotoh gold $30.08 stew mac tuners - gotoh sd90 mg sl gold locking $59.99 amazon pickups - seymour 59s used $89.99 craigslist fretwire - evo gold med $17.99 philledelphia luthier truss rod - allied flex strong spoke $43.00 allied luthier ELECTRONICS: pots - bournes long shaft 500k (2x) $15.18 amazon push-pull - bournes long 500k (1x) $8.30 amazon rotary stew mac 4p6t $17.39 stew mac 3-way toggle switchcraft $24.59 stew mac out jack - switchcraft $4.69 stew mac wire - braided, solid-core… $4 stew mac preamp $50 me MISC: ctrl cavity pguard - all parts w toggle cover 14.95 guitarelectronics.com toggle cover n/a see above toggle ring 3.89 stew mac out jack plate allparts cream $7.99 sweetwater scratch plate 8.99 guitarelectronics.com scratch plate bracket gold 6.49 guitarelectronics.com binding - cream (x3 11.34) 34.02 rothko and frost pickup rings 9.79 amazon inlays - gold pearl 27.99 j/n pearl on ebay headstock inlay $5 strap pins 10.03 sweetwater nut - bone 9.99 amazon pickguard screws $3 guess ADDNTL MTRLS: wood/ca glue $3 sandpaper $12 carpet tape, masking tape, binding tape $12 tool wear $25 fret slot bit, whiteside 3-wing, 1/4 endmill, 1/4 ball nose shielding paint $20 mohawk seal/clear $20 dye $8 pore filler $4 TOTAL: $810

well that's a lovely piece of maple. afa bandsaw... it is certainly a do-able proposition. lots of folks do it that way... but some sanding it going to happen. if you have some sort of disk sander or belt sander that can clean it up afterwards - would make things a lot easier. another alternative... since you no doubt have a router... is to create a jig for doing it via router. i used to do angled headstocks with such a jig. use a protractor to draw the angle on two pieces of scrap, use a straight edge piece of scrap to router off the angle. then use some straight scrap to connect the two pieces. put a big chunk of plexiglass on your router and it should allow you to place it on that angled surface and move it around. just a thought.

so was talking on the axe fx forum about wiring and had mentioned one of my fav mods for a strat... is just wiring a dummy coil up to the 2nd volume as it allows for hum cancellation against the bridge or neck as you dial up the volume. Someone had asked for a drawing so I did a quick and dirty... thought I'd share it here. In fact... we should really have a schem repository but then they are so available in this day and age, perhaps not worth it. anywho... this is that. basically you grab another single coils that is similar in spec to your bridge/neck pickup... pound out the poles with a screwdriver or nail set... and wire it up as pictured below. stick it in the extra space between your pickups or in the control cavity... doesn't really matter. so... as you turn it up it cancels hum in the 1/5 positions... You can just turn it up until the hum stops... but also dials down the pickup output a hair... making it less aggressive. also dials down the brightness just a touch... like a fine tune control.

looking good brutha.

Hello curtisa, always good to have your input. yes, I am aware of the fact that emg uses a difference amp to subtract the noise from the signal... and as such doesn't require a ground. In fact most actives use some variation of this idea. in this case I was planning on using a cool pickup that was made for me by my friend over at oat soda pickups. it's two p bass passives - one based on p bass and one based on a split jazz. so in short they are passive, and could be quite bright (have not heard them yet). the orig carl t used an emg guitar pickup... and my early drafts of this bass were using that. the downside there is that there would be no splitting/combining of differing pickups ie less variety. another downside is I'd have to re-think the preamp I was going to use... i do have a haz lab pre pcb cut... and it does have an option to optimize for actives vs passives... but has more controls than I intended(bass/mid/treb + mid freq). the upsides being that the piezo doesn't require grounded strings, so using them would indeed mean no string ground required... and it would simplify the controls a lot... hmm... I'm gonna think on that, good call on your part. I have a p/j set and a 707... would have to see how I would integrate them into my existing route/cover-design.

well I thought of doing this but A ) the ferrules have black paint... which would have to scratch off where they make electrical conn and it might be problematic to actually solder to it, B ) it would seem a bit cumbersome as if it gets disconnected after the ferrules are in... would be a pain to take out. Also... running wire from each ferrule to the other... would be hard to hide this and not have issues with the ferrules sitting flat. I had thought of running a ground wire to just one ferrule... then using a steel or brass nut to transfer ground to strings E-G... but again then with the nylon tape between the actual string and the nut I don't think there'd be a great electrical connection there and also would not be black. another idea I had was to just get some 1/16" flat brass and drill holes for the ferrules to mount in it, this would ground them together, then put a finish plate over the top of it. with the radius there... would just create a route for the new ferrule block and given the string slots are pretty long on top... should be able to make it work. again, would make a wood cover to top it and use magnets to secure. would hide the whole thing. option z is I machine my own brass block and put make the holes follow the arc. I guess it's really only drilling 6 holes... in theory my cnc can do brass... but then have to buy some bits for metal, have to get a coolant pump... not sure I want to go through all that. I guess I'll just keep thinking it over in my head until it comes time where it's the last thing I have to do and maybe then I'll know which way to go! appreciate the input biz - thanks,