mistermikev

6 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Hey, you've learned how to build guitars and then you've learned how to make a machine do part of the building. You'll get there!

One thing I miss from my old camera is the focusing system, whatever those halves of a circle are being called. If I got a line continue from one half to the other it was perfectly focused. Agreed, it sometimes took a while but guitars don't run anywhere!

right on... honestly most of my non dslr cameras were so much easier than this one for everything from focus to flash... but with great functionality comes great responsibility!!

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Isn't the digital camera a blessing! 60 pics would have cost some serious money for getting the film(s) developed only to find out that they weren't what you wanted. If that sounds plenty, remember that professional nature photographers may take thousands of photos for every picture they publish!

A shiny object is tricky to focus on, You've managed to blur the background from what you used to, now it seems that the focus is often inside the f-hole, showing the matte black roughness!

I especially like the strap button pic. You've managed to get the essentials pop up - the curves, the faux binding and the shininess. Some image editing can also help! Here's the image with 30 less brightness, 30 more contrast and 20 more saturation, done with Paint.net:

And using the built-in Windows Photos App, using Filters/Improve at 100, Changes/Lighting -25, Colour saturation +50, Clarity +100 and Vignette +50:

 

right on, thanks biz.  In some cases I do some brightness contrast editing... but for the most part I think my biggest challenge is focus.  it's hard to see what it is actually focus'd on on a little lcd.  I bought a cable so that I could hook to my wifes monitors (her workstation is right by where I take photos) but I didn't use it... next time I will add that to the mix.  Still learning this camera too... I found that you actually can turn on/off the flash for any of the modes if you know where to do it.  I also learned where there is a mode designed for night photos and think I will try that next time in low light conditions.  I also could use a better flash... this one is so bright it tends to wash everything out.  maybe in another 1000 photos I'll figure out what I'm doing!

well... my wife let me focus on finishing this this weekend... so I'm very thankful.  action is 1.25mm at 12th fret low e and sm on high e... zero fret buzz on any frets, and I didn't use a rocker at all so I'm going to call my new process to level/dress a success. 

the dimarzio area t pickups - so these were already both north up polarity... so no need to flip the neck.  it's interesting to compare to the seymour vintage stacks I used for kevin.  on the upside... they really have a great twangy sound... I like them as much as if not more than the vintage stack... on the downside... the parallel positions are super quiet... and not nearly as nice as the vtg stack in those positions. 

my photo shoot... still just a struggle.  took over 60 pics.  used manual focus, used auto focus... used lighting, natural lighting, used the remote button and the cam on the stand with out flash to prevent blur... tried all sorts and this is the best I could do.  lots of room for improvement yet. 

anywho, penny for your thoughts.

1 hour ago, RVA said:

Thank you. Got it nearly almost all the way flat...and as anticipated, the 8th (or 9th?) fret took a hit!

I do have a fret slot saw. I would never have been able to install the frets it without it since the original slots were almost completely eviscerated. 

In the end, I got them level. I doubt I will keep this neck on here Maybe I can replace it with a scratch built neck one day if I can manage to acquire that skill.

 

 

 

right on... well don't be like me and put that off for 20 years and then wish you had (build a scratch neck)!  "you can do it"!!

can't wait to see it with some finish on but looking very nice.

kind of a cool fretboard.  my thoughts on it are... I've never seen wood with that consistently straight grain... making me think it's some kind of composite of wood or perhaps a synthetic fretboard.  this is not necc a negative thing... altho synthetic fretboards are like garlic to the cork sniffers... I think it could look pretty cool.  afa straight... well you have to get it straight.  there's no way around that.  if that means buying a fret saw and cutting them deeper and then sanding some more I suggest you do that.  make sure you have a really straight reference - in a pinch you can buy a level with a machined edge... but you want that sucker straight as an arrow else your fretwork is going to be a nightmare.  

i like your top btw.  rawk on.

nice work.  I was liking your f holes prior to cutting out the center, but they look even better now.  cudos.

so very creative idea about the saddles.  those saddles look like they would fit the ghost piezo saddles.  is that height adjust block removable?

11 hours ago, Dave Higham said:

When installing the strings, the ferrules are inserted into the anchors and the anchors withdrawn until half the ferrule is inside the housing. The other ends of the strings are then fixed. The strings are then brought up to tension, at which point the anchors are completely enclosed (like the one on the right hand end).

at first... I was wondering... and due to your explanation... I realize there is going to be another part (where intonnation will happen) - thank you for that... much less confused now lol!  some lovely work there.

I don't know what that could possibly be there... I'm stumped.  (hehe - just a bit uf umor)

looking good brutha!

45 minutes ago, Crusader said:

My 2 cents, having an angled headstock gives the player the choice of leaving it unlocked

well technically as long as you have the retainer putting that downward pressure you could leave them unlocked on the strat style neck too... but I take your point.  thank you for the reply. 

ok so was listening in on this... we get this request a lot.  so I whipped together a quick and dirty walkthrough on how to do this with gimp (a freeware graphics tool).  it could probably use some tuning but for the 40 mins I put into it... should get you to the point you can create a template for literally any guitar.  In this tutorial I take a picture of an alvarez dana scoop, build a fretboard layout using fretfind2D, the in literally one step I crop out only the body from the surrounding background.  

I have a lot more experience in photoshop, but opted for gimp since I'm guessing others might not have photoshop.  it IS a much better tool... but once again gimp comes through and yout CAN do anything in gimp that you could in photoshop.  anywho, hope it helps.

MakeGtrTemplateInGimp.pdf

1 hour ago, curtisa said:

Companies like Ibanez, Jackson, PRS etc are already tooled up to do angled headstocks. They don't have to change anything in the way of their production line to transition from non-locking to locking nuts. While there are a few notable deviations from their standard fare (the Ibanez JS has the Fender-esque flat stepback, but what Joe wants Joe gets?), they have their methods already well established in the chain of production.

There are still benefits to an angled headstock over a flat stepback - the headstock can be made from a different piece for strength or contrast, you can do interesting things with the transition between neck and headstock, the neck blank can be shorter etc. The whole scarf cut and glue-up process at that kind of level is largely automated, so the extra work over a Fender-style neck is probably trivial. Adding the necessary cuts to mount a lock nut is nothing more than a different bit of CNC code.

that is a very good point and it fits (tooled up)... the point I hadn't considered.  good call.  

23 minutes ago, curtisa said:

Locking nuts are installed on Fender necks with their standard flat stepdown headstock all the time. There's no back angle going on there.

If you mean, 'why not just have a flat extension to the neck with zero angle or stepdown behind the locknut to mount the tuners on?' , you still need some negative angle behind the nut to aid in tuning once the nut is clamped down. A string retainer bar behind the nut may be required where there isn't enough natural back angle as the strings pass over the clamping faces of the nut, otherwise the strings get pulled sharp as you tighten down the nut.

A headstock with zero angle behind the nut also invites buzzing at the nut and Floyd Rose style locking nuts are no different, whether they're clamped shut or not. If there's not enough downward pressure on the leading face of the nut slots the strings can get sitar-style open string buzz. You'll also notice that the clamping faces on a locking nut are also angled backwards. That's partly to get the strings pointing in the right direction as they head towards the tuners, but it's also to guarantee that there's downforce applied to the leading edges of the nut slots.

 

Take the string retainer bar on your Jem off and try tuning it unlocked, then lock the nut down. It's no fun at all trying to guess how much tuning offset you need to dial into a doublelocking tremolo before the nut is locked, only to have to try and compensate for it at the fine tuners because everything has pulled sharp. Ask me how I know

 

Headless guitars fitted with any kind of nut, string clamp or zero fret still need that downward string pressure at the string landing point to prevent things like buzz. There will be that negative angle, whether it's visible or not.

yes, fender hm strat... that a good call - forgot about that one and it is a fav.

"If you mean, 'why not just have a flat extension to the neck with zero angle or stepdown" - well it was more that I was questioning why you would go through the trouble to have an angled headstock... generally more work... when there is seemingly zero benefit.  angled or "flat" (ie fender style) you need a string retainer to give you a sharp angle.  Just seems odd that so many companies would do angled stocks and there doesn't seem to be any real benefit that is obvious to me.

for the record - i didn't mean zero neck angle as in a flat plank... when I say flat headstock I mean fender style ie just a stepdown. 

had not considered that about headless... interesting point.  

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Hah! That's a good question!

My best guess outside the looks is that the angle may help getting the tuning right, thus reducing the need of fine tuning at the other end. Then again, there's headless guitars with a Floyd and that tells that the angle is not crucial.

right on.  I know there were some fender variations with kahlers that did have an issue with the locking nut taking it out of tune... so while that's not really wide spread it could be a factor. 

I guess it just seems to me like it'd be better if the grain didn't run out there since you've often got two bolts running through the neck.  For some reason tho... I think the look of a locking nut w/o an angled headstock is kind of unusual to me all of the sudden.  

was just thinking about this.  in theory once the lock nut is locked the headstock is really out of the equation.  yes I think both my hamer and my jem have angled headstocks and locking nuts.  I think jackson guitars do this too.  In fact... I'm not sure I know of any guitars with a floyd that don't have an angled headstock.  I'm puzzled.  If you can think of reasons why you might want, or might not want an angled headstock on a locking nut guitar - other than mere cosmetics... please... enlighten me.

i have seen the infomercials about this quite a while ago... they paint a doll head black and then shine flashlight on it... similarly I instantly thought of applications with guitar.  as mentioned... once you clear over it, you are essentially going to negate the effect but at the time I was thinking this would be absolutely stunning to use on the inside of an f hole... and then perhaps do some sort of contrasted wood sitting on a 'peg' seemingly suspended in air inside the f hole.  it's on my list to try.  def if anyone trys the finish - would love to hear how that goes.

14 hours ago, RVA said:

Thank you very much. I enjoyed your build threads and videos!

well thank you for saying so.

2 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Remember to buff your backside, but don't go too coarse otherwise it'll burn.

u just reminded me of this (I think dana carvey actually says "wax it and buff it" in one of the variations of this skit)

29 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Not to mention having your neck mounted... A certain Dr. Victor Frankenstein comes into my mind.

oh... I guess I went way into the gutter on that one.... but yes "that's fronkenstein" lol

36 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Context. Context is everything.

SR

jokes on y'all cause now yer imagining me wet sanding my body!  "my eyes!"

On 5/11/2022 at 1:16 PM, RVA said:

Sorry. My PostImage links don't appear. If anyone can help me figure out how to link here, I would appreciate it. I hate to burden your server with uploads

 

But for now, here are some resized photos of build 1. Spalted and burl maple on Mahogany 

 

 

you had me at tele-w-p90s.  nice job.

4 hours ago, Madmtnmotors said:

This seems to be what I've learned in my limited guitar set up experience. I'm a sheet metal worker by trade and a shade tree mechanic by necessity so I have quite a bit of hands on with different files. The triangle file seems best when dealing with deep divots and the crowning file for finishing the shape. I make sure the pointed edge of the triangle file is blunted or rounded to help prevent damage to the fretboard and often with a stainless steel fret board protector. I use the sharpie method to keep the crown centered when using the triangular file and will do equal number of passes on each side of the fret, usually in sets of five. I'll start with a high angle for five passes and then roll the file over towards the fret for a shallower angle for five passes without going past center, repeating as necessary.

right on.  i guess there are quite a few triangle devotees in here... wouldn't have guessed.  thanks for the reply.

4 hours ago, Prostheta said:

That's it entirely. Can you feel the fret ends during dry weather, do the fret ends impede playing, are they all consistent and smooth, etc. All that they truly require. Everything beyond that is cosmetic.

well... at some point i'll have to dry the dome end thing... but i imagine it would stop me from doing that steve vai thing where you purposely push the string over the fret end and get that wierd birch chirp!  not sure I want to live w/o that lol!  thanks for the reply!

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Hey! Your photography has improved! The fret end images are almost perfect!

The fret ends look polished and comfortable enough. Old skool instead of the currently popular dome ends. If they pass the stocking test they're fine!

thank you biz!  thanks for noticing.  I did use manual focus on those shots and am getting used to that a bit.