mistermikev

10 minutes ago, ScottR said:

That looks good enough to eat just as it is.

SR

well thank u fer sayin' so.  it occurs to me after the fact... that sand back is reall not much of an option after natural binding... and drawing the top color off with alcohol like I usually do might be problematic too.  Off to research the effects of mineral spirits on nitro laquer!

well... took the tape off... hope to finish the other one with one last coat tonight and take the tape off that as wel... maybe dye this weekend...

well for the record... I think I may have answered my own question last night while I was cleaning up one of these bodies.  I noticed the highest concentration of 'stuff' was in the f holes so wondering if perhaps this was all just sitting in there and got blown out when I sprayed.  I guess i'll have confirmation the next time I use this sealer.

9 hours ago, killemall8 said:

This one is thicker than my standard. .82 at the first fret, .89 at the 12th.
Dual action rod.

13* headstock angle, graphtech nut

nothing really out of the ordinary anywhere... out of ideas.  on the bright side... it would seem this indicates your neck building is perhaps better, not worse!

On 8/19/2021 at 9:30 PM, killemall8 said:

Maybe? This one isnt a multi piece neck, just maple with an ebony fretboard.

jeez, wrong at every turn here.  It would seem that more vibration = better... but if it's rattling that much... how does that even happen?  Do you use dual action truss?  Is your neck carve super thin/thick?  is your nut cut with a sharp angle?  I'll quit poking but just dumbfounded.

so... admittedly this was my first time spraying anything with my compressor... and perhaps this is not the right product...

I bought some mohawk vinyl sealer as it was recommended to me somewhere to work with mohawk nitro lacquer (looking back this seems like an odd combo).  I sprayed my two bodies last weekend but out came all these fine hairs and other particulate.  I figured i just needed to add a filter to my compressor... so added a spray filter right at the gun and an inline filter 15' back on a line.  sm issue!

I got enough sealer on that it was fine, and I spent the time and cleaned/sanded the bodies.  Then sprayed nitro clear just to see if I'd have the sm issue... no issue whatsoever.  

Now I'm left scratching my head... it could be that since the sealer sprays sort of opaque... perhaps it just magnifies any debris?  Perhaps I sprayed out all the crap (I did clean the gun with some acetone between sealer and clear).  what is your guess?

I'm afraid to ever use this sealer again because it was such a pain to clean.  Would love to hear any/all experiences with it!

3 minutes ago, killemall8 said:

Haha whats interesting is that Is a 54 

jeebus, would not have guessed that.  have to wonder what any other guitar looks like comparatively.  that one - just looks like an awful lot of movement.  My guess is that neck must be ridgid as all f and the vibration has no where to go but the string?

nice work.  nice and clean.  good job.

wtf?  if you had set out to do that... it'd be awesome!

perhaps put some massive strings on it?  r u using .008's??

"he's just ambitious"

very ambitious build, very cool.  Instantly had this song in my head lol!

On 8/1/2021 at 4:34 PM, ScottR said:

All of these steps are to get some midtones in the figure, which really increases the three dimensionality.

SR

Wow, adding green really brought this to life.  Nice call.

wow, once you smoothed it out that figured just jumped out at me.  still... i love the look of your guitars when they are in that 'rough carved' state.  is really neat.  

lovely!!

hubba hubba on that top.  lovely build!

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

Pulling and reinstalling frets is valuable experience.

I'll be willing to bet you've learned a bunch of stuff you wouldn't have otherwise.

SR

true.  this is only my second time doing it and what I've learned is that I hope I never have to do it again! 

seriously tho... maple is really a dif animal than ebony or rosewood -if it chips you are not going to hide it at all. 

I took great care to not pull any chips out... it was slow and a lot of work.  ended up buying those step mac chip preventers and they worked pretty good altho I didn't use the sm puller - just heated em up and worked the edges slowly with a razor blade.  

On 7/11/2021 at 6:32 AM, Armaan said:

This is really nice!

well thank you very much for saying so!!

for the record (and those who care about my progress) I was working this morning on putting frets back on as I had a bit of a snafu when leveling and am now back to a point where I can reinstall them.  Hope to move to finishing after I finish fret install/leveling.

26 minutes ago, komodo said:

One of my favorite phrases is "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

@mistermikev your train of thought is very much what mine is/was. I've already plugged the holes, but there wasn't a lot of grain matching there. The finish looks like it's probably a poly of some sort and I don't think filling it is going to be a decent option. Stripping it would even be a PITA. I think running it through the planer and taking off the surface on both sides will be a good start. I'm leaning solid color to help hide the plugs and the wood repair up by the neck pocket. Or, a front and back plate, but I don't love that idea. I've got the basic tele hardware and am starting to relic the crap out of it ala barncaster. Worst case is it's a regular relic'd tele.

I could also sell the neck off and ditch the body. Or do the EVH Frankenstrat paint on the body and make into a beast. Honestly, if the neck was a maple fretboard I probably would've already done that.

Right on... relic Tele around b nice for sho.

5 minutes ago, Drak said:

Bowneck Guitar

 

ok... yeah i'd probably have probs playing those in tune.

1 hour ago, Drak said:

"nailed it" hehe, there's some beauty there... but def a bit 'out there'. transparent neck or just... no neck?

yes, quite a departure for you it would seem.  it would be hard to pass up such a lovely figured neck... genuinely interested to see you restore it.  putting some "right" back into this crazy world.

I'd plane it down and toss a nice top on it.  I'd find some grain matching wood and see if I could cut plugs to match.  Perhaps do a mary k finish so I could hide the match.  Either that or a matching laminate for the back side - pancake style.

if you haven't played a tele you haven't played guitar IMO and a tele is not a tele without a tele bridge and tele bridge pickup.  IOW I'd probably turn it into a nice tele.  the thought of turning it into a metal machine or humbucker guitar... well... just reminds me of that scene in 'gran torino' where clint asks the kid not to put a spoiler on it!  (hehe - you do you tho)

does the neck go flat? (EDIT: read your post - u say it's flat)  that would be my first suspect as I wouldn't think anyone in their right mind would turn a neck like that into a chair if it wasn't warped or otherwise problematic.  that said... crazier things have been done in the name of art.  

congrats brother - well earned.

19 hours ago, t1r12003 said:

Very cool.  Probably stating the obvious but this has been the most labor intensive body I’ve ever made.  Totally worth it when it’s finished though 

yeah, lots of butt joints.  I would think cutting them at a 45 on chop saw with angle not visible would make shorter work and better joints... but either way gonna be a lot of work.  you go!

3 hours ago, curtisa said:

And his guitar teacher was Joe Satriani. 

One of Joe's other students around the same time was a young Kirk Hammett.

Small world.

well I knew kirk/steve vai but learned larry today.  

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Fixed cracks save precious wood so it's an ecological choice saving the planet! Good job!

I also save all the plastic bags I get in my truck and use them for garbage bags... and napkins lol... but that's more because I'm utilitarian. hehe.thanks

you caused me to research the origins of larry lalonde... he was in a punk/speed metal band before primus: (just thought you'd find it interesting)