mistermikev

so... I've got a black and decker model 9402 type 1 13" drill press.  One of the belts is about done. 

Took it off and looked at it and it says "Mountain M-21". 

Measured it rough and it looks to be about 21" circumference.  Found diagrams telling me it's part 99!  but that does nothing for me in terms of actually purchasing one. 

Is the belt I need an M21?  I see some other presses with m21 in the lingo but unfortunately, none of the products list the damn belt size.  i'd take a gamble if I knew at least it was a 21" belt. 

What can you tell me about drill press belts and how to find one that will work for me?

lol headache infinitum I would welcome... sounds awesome!

so, first off: not affiliated in any way.  this is NOT shameless self plug or anything like that. 

I've gleaned a lot of good info here from very generous souls and just wanted to A) give back a bit and B ) help out my canadian new best friends - woodtoworks.com!

I recently bought a 5A maple burl top from these guys and after shipping I paid approx $60.  It is a stunning top - a few bark incursions but the figure is all of 5A.  On the down side... right off the bat it started curling up due to the change in humidity.  These are all kiln dried... so there's that.  I'd show ya pics but I just took the top and laid it on a big flat piece of wood, put two straight 2x4s on top of it... and then loaded it down with barbells (I never work out anyway).  Will leave it there for a month.

Anyway, the site has some great prices on tops and body blanks (unglued).  Wanted to share as even after shipping - for what you get, and assuming you are willing to deal with a little bow - they are better than anything I've seen - plus they are canadian which means they are guaranteed good folks ime.

On 3/27/2018 at 2:31 AM, Prostheta said:

Four single coils or individual pickups could be looked at the same way as the four coils in two humbuckers. There are plenty of circuits out there that offer a wide variety of tones from the various coils available in those, so why not here?

you've been so kind to me and lots of good advice prostheta - I don't know if I'm being stupid but I actually just realized I didn't see this post before... and I felt like perhaps it was rude of me not to comment... at the same time was conflicted because I don't want to domineer and think I need to respond to every post... long story short - I think too much.  but this is true... altho I think 6 coils in this case.  could be two strats even!  anywho, I'll shut up now.

On 3/5/2018 at 2:47 AM, YellowSub14 said:

Brilliant idea! It would certainly make the circuitry a lot easier, and wouldn't limit the amount of options or combinations that I could try. Thanks a lot for that!

thank you... thank you very much.

On 3/27/2018 at 1:17 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

There are a lot of good ideas here.

I think multi-multi numbers of pickups can sometimes be unpredictable and seemingly illogical in the tones they produce. Splitting it down into a simpler and logical set of options as @mistermikevsuggests makes a lot of sense

you are too kind sir.

On 3/28/2018 at 9:15 AM, Crusader said:

The idea of having both Les Paul switch and 5-way Strat switch is great. I was contemplating it on a Les Paul I built but didn't want to do any more routing. It has a HSH configuration and deciding how to do the switching is a headache. First of all you have to decide what combinations you want - sure you can have them all but there's just too many solder joints and confusion trying to remember what they do

This is what I did to experiment:

I sent the Neck and Bridge wires from the LP 3-way toggle to a mini on-on-on switch. In the middle is normal 2 humbucker operation. Then click one way and the Neck becomes the Middle, click the other way and the Bridge becomes the Middle

Now that I have experimented I decided that this switching is too confusing to remember and the Neck (split) + Middle is a good sound but not fabulous enough to keep. So I plan to use a mini on-on switch so the Neck becomes Middle on the LP toggle switch

there is a fine line between kiss and too complex.  I know because I constantly cross over it.  So much so that I've begun the practice of putting a cheat sheet on the control cavity of many of my guitars/basses -reminding myself of how the controls work.  I'm a spice of life kinda guy... that's not for everyone.

2 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Ahhhhh....creating a template by moulding epoxy! Very good. Sugru or other "smart meltable plastics" or even two-part car polyester filler like Bondo might be less messy. I'm awful because I get epoxy everywhere. My apologies. I've been really time poor lately because I am training a student at work plus I've found a sister I never knew about. Life is super crazy.

no worries... I didn't exactly explain it and am admittedly a newby here so... was a natural conclusion.  I thought about bondo... but (i think) it is hard to keep it liquid enough to really drip into the seam unless you don't use much hardner - then it will take a long time to harden... that said I may try it next time as it's cheap and I have lots.  Plus that epoxy really sticks to the tape so...

students, sisters... sounds like good things your way -cudos.

47 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Tight radii are smaller, hence either closer to the heart (argh, earworm) or in the case of it being on the bark edge, a small part of the trunk. These matter because tangential movement (expansion and contraction around the direction of the growth rings) is a percentage, so the longer ring paths shrink/expand a large distance compared to smaller, tighter rings which do so much less. The upshot of that is cupping and warping from the differences in movement.

It depends on how wet it was when they go ahold of it. I can't see any purple colouration in the Walnut, so it might be safe to assume that it was kiln dried. Air-dried Black Walnut retains the weird purple hues around the wood, whereas kiln-dried goes a more uniform range of browns. This is still not a guarantee of course, but a good clue.

Anything that has been kiln-dried properly will be brought down to a moisture value below 15%, however even if it was dried to 5-8%, storing it outdoors or an otherwise uncontrolled climate would bring that wood back up to the teens within a couple of weeks.

I store any wood that I am going to use for indoor furniture or instruments indoors for at least a month laid flat with good air circulation around the piece. Longer is always better of course. Truly dry wood (that 5-8%) has a distinctive feel of being airy, light and not cool to the touch. Of course, the wood may be wetter inside than outside so this only goes so far, as does checking out how cohesive the dust is. I usually pull the extraction from the saw at work when I'm crosscutting a so-so board and see what the dust says. Oily woods aren't as easy to read this way for obvious reasons. Walnut is just fine.

With your fingerboard end being shaped, there's no reason that you can't simply use an overhang on the fingerboard and keep the neck underneath relatively "Fenderish" with a square end and rounded corners. You could even keep the heel end square and chop out the rounded corners that a routed pocket leaves with a chisel. Epoxy isn't that good as an adhesive in reality. It just covers a variety of sins easily, but performs poorly in the long term. Many epoxies (as far as I have seen) designed as adhesives retain a degree of plasticity and might creep over time, or at least kill resonant coupling between the neck and the body.

Am I right in thinking that you are bolting this one in and also using epoxy? If so, that's super redundant and we can get you in the zone where a better performing joint can be achieved, definitely. I'm really voting "no" on the use of epoxy here. Not my call of course, just saying that it isn't ideal.

as always - a wealth of info.  i will have to move it indoors - good to know - also it hits 115 here pretty reg in a few months so would have to anyway. 

afa fingerboard: couple things... I was thinking that if my neck build is a disaster I'd want to buy a warmoth neck and that has the rounded heel... so just being conservative there. 

afa epoxy - I'm not sure if you smell what I'm stepping in there... what I was doing is rough cut out the neck, sand it right, put tape around the edge, put it back in the piece it was cut from, epoxy in the gap... then this is just used to create a template.  The final neck will have no epoxy whatsoever.  Now I have a template that is tight.

38 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

It's somewhat difficult to discern from the photo, however it looks like the growth ring's radii are a little tight from it being an average sized tree rather than massive monster.

How dry is the wood? Straight in from "the source" or has it been sat indoors in your shop for a month or more? These two points may help you not fall foul of the board cupping on the bark side. The tighter the rings (smaller radius trunk) and the larger the difference between the inner and outer radii plus moisture content are critical. Black Walnut isn't the most stable of woods as it stands, so you need to stack the odds in your favour.

Does the wood feel cool the touch at room temperature? If you cut it, does the sawdust form clumps if you press it between your fingers? These are two bluffer's signs that the wood isn't yet as dry as it should be.

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Ah, you posted on exactly that subject as I was asking....hahaha

Anything that impedes the flow of moisture. Paint or wax usually. Paint can be a crapshoot depending on how permeable it is, however it's cheap. Wax meant for the job is more costly, but great for preserving  yield on more expensive woods.

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Meanwhile, as the wood is drying we can get to work on sorting you out when it comes to this whole epoxy thing....if you're resorting to that because you can't get a tight neck joint, well, we can fix that.  Nobody needs to resort to epoxy as an alternative to improving their woodwork chops!

thank you very much for chiming in.  Lotta good info there.  I'm not sure I undersand your first line other than that you have discerned that it wasn't a huge tree... my process was: "gee it looks pretty - lets make a guitar of it!"

afa dry: I know it was sitting at the place I bought it for at least 3-4weeks.  By how fast the pile moved I'm gonna guess they got it 2-5weeks before that.  It feels dry when I touch it... not 'cold' altho it isn't really resonant when you knock on it.  Not sure if that's just because it is so dense or because it is full of water.  For now - the two pieces are pretty much straight as an arrow

.  You've just answered my prayers with your info regarding sawdust and now I know exactly what I'll do next  - cut a corner and see what the dust looks like!  I bought this early in my process because I have read that you wanna let it sit in your "shop" (for me a garage!) for 6-12 weeks prior to doing anything.  If this is anything like letting my saltwater fish tank cycle... well lets just say I'll do my best to work on other things for at least another 3-4 weeks!

afa neck joint... well I know you can do it with straight edges screwed in next to the piece... but the sanding of the heel radius to make it match is an achilles heel (pardon the pun) for me.  I am aware that collets would have worked, however the epoxy method is just something I wanted to try... and I like to think it worked pretty good for first time (pics above).  It was surprisingly easy.  Surely my process could improve and frankly it was impeded by a combo of not enough epoxy, should have used 2 layers of tape for a 'less tight' joint, and a cheap bit that wasn't as wide as the bearing.  That said - my joint looks ok yes? no?  I thought it was pretty tight, especially on the cavity cover.  I don't even think I'd need screws to hold that - just friction!  then again... once I have some finish on a piece it would be too tight.  Lots of room for improvement in my skills for sure. 

Thanks again for the response - if I ever sound like I'm not appreciative I don't mean to.  I just think out loud a lot and frequently think as I speak!

cheers!

thank you sir.  if I may ask a question?  what should I spread on the cut end of this board to preserve it while letting it acclimate to the location?

so... I know this is going to be sorta 'meh' for you old pros but I can hardly contain myself right now.  I found a local source for black walnut... and not just black walnut but 14" wide black walnut. 

I don't think I got all that great of a deal on it... but then again I don't think I did 'bad'.  Got a neck of 8/4, also black walnut, for $23 tho... so that may make up for it a bit.  At the end of the day I'll be paying approx $50 per guitar blank for 1 piece walnut... so how'd I do?

anywho, kind of considering of NOT doing thinline now as the grain on this is really cool... I dunno.  be a shame to cover it up.

I've been dreaming on this build and working on my templates (pics below).  Used my idea of filling in with epoxy to generate some fairly tight neck pockets... see below.  again, for you guys probably 'meh' but for me... as tight as I'll ever get it. In fact too tight... should have used two pieces of tape to give myself a hair more gap.

got some cool figuring on an area too...

scottR - hehe, I changed my facebook avatar because I was getting zero responses trying to buy a router on offer up.  Figured the zombie face may have been putting folks off!  Not sure this was an improvement as I'm told I look fairly unhappy.  I've already changed it to one where I'm smiling... I'm guessing that one hasn't trickled out yet. 

Anywho, thank you for your advice -echoes what I was suspecting.  I did some experimentation with differing things - some minwax pecan poly,   the dye, etc.  None was satisfactory. 

Also, the acetone/dye/tru oil I poured out over sawdust in my garbage can gave me a pounding headache.  I'm so stupid.  I leaned that lesson once long ago.  working at a cab shop my boss, as a joke, asked me to grab a wrench that was sitting in some solution at the bottom of a barrel.  That was a mean joke because it was acetone and it nearly knocked me out.  20some years later - confirmed - I'm still stupid.

probably for the best as since I've had some time to sit with it... I think I'm over the shock of them being so different and onto being 'ok' with it as is.  With the pickup covers and knobs bringing the lighter color into the body I think it looks ok... just not what I initially envisioned.

Did some more work on my knobs... inlayed some abalone to match the fretboard.  My first 'inlay'.  Not perfect but it'll do.

Have some ideas on a switch tip... need to get a plug cutter so... to be continued.

very nice work!  I learned something - write the rout direction on your template!

testing some mixing... keda dye plus true oil plus acetone... keda is water based so I should've known that wouldn't work.  dumped it.  guess this venture is either going to involve a trip to the hardware store for ??? or I'll have to order something.  open to suggestions... would really appreciate.

so... looking for vote: add some brown to tru oil and hit the neck with another few coats or leave as is?

got quite a bit done this weekend... put my studs in, mounted the trem spring hook thingy, had to router out my control cavity a bit to fit my knobs where I wanted them, rebuilt a little plexi piece to hold my dummy coils, more finishing on the neck, and bought some 1/2 flamed maple to build the knobs.  started finishing the body at which point I was really surprised at how different it was th an the neck.  The wood for the neck didn't soak up much... this body just keeps drying as I pour loads of true oil on it.  love the color had I known I would have sprung for a roasted neck.  you live and learn.  So at this point... feeling like I'd like to darken up the neck a bit.  I can add some dye to the tru oil... and I think that should work... any suggestions would be welcome.

said pickup bracket and earlier attempt below...

well, my orig plan is for a 22 so... that'd work.  Thanks for the response.

I suppose one drawback would be that you aren't going to be switching to another neck... then again it's only .092 off. Likely could make that up with saddles.

Hello,

as the title questions... any issue with taking a 34" scale bass fretboard... and reslotting the first fret into a nut... taking off 1.9xxx for the first fret and use this for a 32.x" scale bass?  Should work no?  Possible issues?

thank you all for your help.  I was looking at it this morn with a clear head... got out my 64ths ruler and making comparisons and thinking - I was way off with thinking it was a strong 32nd bigger... more like a light 64th, if that.  So I got out some 220 and with relatively little effort I got it to go in.  still a little tight so will sand in prep for a little expansion from true oil, but nice fit.

on to the next step!

thank you gentlemen.  I'm going to guess that's a vote for "router it".  was thinking last night... I could test fit on a template and always add some tape to bring it tighter if I need to.

good article and very similar to a few threads I've watched on you tube (I'm sure that is where the youtube folks got the idea).  just thinking out loud here but unfortunately I don't think it would quite work like that for me since the joint is so close it's hard to get the neck to sit on the body  without half dropping in (if that makes any sense). 

in my case, both neck and body have a rounded heel.  square isn't going to be right (although it is covered by the overhang) so I'd have to make the middle board a radius.  right now the rounded edges match pretty good but the corner is more square on the new neck.  I suppose I don't need to route that part and could just use the middle board as a stop assuming I could get the neck set on there.  certainly would be a lot less work and avoid the risk of getting epoxy on my neck so thanks for that!  (Still going to use this idea for a control cavity template so - "the south will rise again"!)

Hello friends... got my neck today and have some questions:

heel is just a hair too large to fit in this pocket and ends are more square.  a heavy 1/32 too wide.  Now, I could A) sand the neck till she fits or B ) create a template based on the neck and rerout the pocket.

I have some ideas on how to make a good pocket template using the neck, some tape, a 1/4 piece of board with a rough pocket cut out, and some epoxy.  fill in the blank, let dry and clean up the edges. there is the risk that i get epoxy on my neck if I'm not careful and it's a biotch to get off.  could use bondo.

The flush cut bits i have (red devil and stew mac): the cutting edge overhangs the bearing by a hair... so I'm concerned I take away too much and end up with a sloppy pocket.  I think I stand a little better chance with a sanding block.  IF IT WERE YOU - WHAT WOULD YOU DO? 

i will sleep on it tonight...

new neck:

starting to look like a gtr below.  shout out to evilbay gent I got the flamed maple pckup covers from!

well... this guitar will have all bumble bee caps, carbon comp resistors, vintage fender pickguard screws... and pickup wire that was blessed by the pope so it would fit the theme - hehe.  Seems like it would fill any void with decent material tho.  Will it make me sound like srv (on bass perhaps, I dunno, was he any good on bass?)?  Probably not... but it seems like with anything really good you'll pay 75% more for .0001% more performance.  that said, and given this is my first build and will likely be riddled with mistakes (and possibly 22 rounds depending on how it goes)... I'll probably go with the cheaper recommendation in the end (barring possible lottery win b4 then).

Once I get some confidence, and build my next - I think I'd like to try the wood sheath ones.

gentlemen: thank you very much.  I will have to digest as I'm not sure what makes a good truss rod although the idea of a wood sheath seems fairly obvious and interesting although very expensive.

thank you both very much for your advice.

no worries... glad you like the idea.

thanks Prostheta.  The only examples I've seen have been tapering with the neck but good point - I suppose it doesn't have to. 

Prostheta / curtisa / norris: I hope I'm not being a pain, but could you recommend a dual action truss rod... if you had to pick one what would you go with?

I had considered it... however figured it probably wouldn't be necc since warmoth doesn't do it on their 30 and 32 necks.  Also, this project is already probably more than I am capable of and graphite rods tend to be done at an angle... not sure I am up for the added challenge.  Perhaps just consider making the neck a bit beefier?  I don't know... I suppose another thing to consider is the weight added by those big beefy hot rods.  Perhaps the low profile one would be better.

true that Norris