Lex Luthier

krazyderek - Thanks

bluespresence - Do you work out of your house? I have been thinking about getting a business licence, but my shop is currently in my bedroom, guitar room/den and a small storage room. I was wondering, doesn't WCB and the firemarshall or workplace safety people come through businesses? What would they say to some 19/20 year old workingout of his bedroom?!?

And if it's a custom application you have the right to ask for it to cover yer butt.

Definately.

...Sent in my forms for the resale certificate and business license.

Does that cost anything? My dad owns a restaurant (so he has a business licence) and he said it cost about $100CDN when he was telling me that I should look into getting a business licence for my guitar building.

Congrats buddy. I just sold my fifth, which also happpens to be my second commissioned job to a repeat customer. You can see this one being built in REAL TIME in my pinned thread.

"he's bringing cash before i order anything...on-going"

You mean like as you need to order materials he gives you the money? In the future I would start asking for a downpayment of at least half, more on instruments with more "goodies", and also have a reciept system of somesort so you both know and understand how much is paid/owed.

so Lex, how long has been building that guitar for?

I think he started it during the last half of my last year in highschool, so it's been two years because he's busy as a teacher and I am not there everyday in class to assist him, and also paying for all the materials slowed the process down.

Kench's pager #, 770-917-6168, is on that 11 year old's website. Maybe Jehle could page him and try to get in direct contact with him. He's a youth minister, I bet he's a ****.

There should be a tracking adjustment for the idler drum. It may be a knob near the unpowered drum that turns perpendicular to the way the belt runs so you can move one end of the drum closer or farther away to shift the belt over - or at least this is what is on my bench-top belt sander, though you should have a tracking adjustment on a hand-held belt sander.

I made a few in highschool wood shop, sold two of 'em. The shop teacher was so impressed and interested in what I was doing, he wanted to make one, but didn't know how, so I taught him! I graduated from highschool without him ever finishing the guitar. I've been in touch with him when he's needed my help at certain stages, he recently phoned me asking about installing and slotting the nut, and will be assembling the electronics portion of things in January with my help.

Have fun!

Tilting edge sander

Dust collector

Band saw w/ height attachment

Thickness sander

...ROOM FOR ALL THIS!!!!!!

you must be proud

Is she a friend or word of mouth? Just wondered how you got to build her bass

I built it and put it on consignment in a local music store where the lead guitarist of De La Terra teaches guitar. He showed it to her and she bought it, and now she wants another with some modifications to the design.

sixstring is right that is a very good school! i know a few builders that only will hire from there!

I've read on other forums that some builders WONT hire you right out of a school, they want someone with experience, not a certificate of lithurie.

I think the best approach would be to keep building guitars. You say you're in high school, take advantage of your school's wood shop (assuming they have one) and build a few guitars there - that's what I did. I don't think building guitars is really a career where you can make a whole lot of money, MAYBE enough to support yourself and do it full time once you have a reputation and a steady flow of guitars, but you wont get rich off it, and I was told by a local luthier it helps to have a wife or girlfriend to support you.

Do you want to work for a place, like the ESP Custom shop, or do you want to have your own line of custom guitars?

Right now I just do custom designs and one-offs, one at a time, as a hobby and I like it this way. I don't ever want to get so big I need to hire employees.

I will be experimenting with this for my 1960 relic Strat project. What I'm thinking would work is scuffing the PG, and then re-buffing it, but less so in certain areas to absorb more stain. For the yellowing I've heard coffee works, I wonder if even just sticking the thing outside in direct sunlight for a week would work, or even sticking it in front of a UV lamp, not sure if you can buy those though. For the knobs I used perminet marker on one of my Strat's once. I colored one section at a time, like the top, then skirt etc., and quikly wiped it off, and it seemed to tint the plastic somewhat, probably not easy to do on an entire PG though. I wonder if with a perminent marker, you could open the thing up, smear the ink all over the PG, then QUICKLY wipe it all off vigerously, and if it was too dark in some areas, buff it lighter. Hmmmmmm...I may try that perminent marker thing on my relic Strat when I get to that point.

COOL! I myself am building a 59/60 relic Strat, probably oly white, and know how I'm relicing everything except how to check the finish. How did you do this?

Good links lex. Those dudes are cheap. Now if they only had pictures.......

They'de probably send you some. Bruce, the owner I guess, is a nice guy. I bet if you told him you were looking for something specific, like tight flames, he'd send you some pics, not sure tough.

Notable Woods

I bought a SWEEEEEEEEET piece of burled claro walnut from them on ebay. There ebay ID is "notable-woods". I don't think the stuff they sell on ebay is there regular stuff though. What I like is the discounts you can get when buying sets.

I made one once, sucked. It was to "wiggly", especially with the weight of the router, very unstable. I've seen alot of people on the MIMF, go into the forum, make there own, there may also be plans in the library over there.

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice entering it for guitar of the month?

Next month

yeah i think a double neck might be neat-o. whaddya guys think teh best config is? 6/12 6/fretless? im not sure!

I think the classic 6/12

will white glue actually hold it though? i heard somewhere it will come off easy.

What's your nut material? Bone is sorta pourus(sp?), I think, so titebond or just white glue works - you can also use super glue, but BE CAREFUL with superglue, the THIN stuff likes to run like water. If you use superglue, put a SMALL dab on the nut, then put the nut into place.

how heavy did that walnut end up being

Not too heavy at all, I don't think. The body is actually 1.5" in stead of the standard 1.75", so that was obviously a factor.

I am announcing I have an order of a second bass, going to the lady I sold THIS to, making it the second one of mine she'll own. (A repeat customer, WOW! ) We had discussed it being a shorter scale length, the original being 34". Her and I both figured it would be a problem to obtain strings - short scale, flatwound, for a 5-string - so the scale is staying the same. She loves the shape a feel of the neck, but wants it a bit thinner, so I'm going to use quartersawn wood and do a laminated neck, maple and something else, not sure yet. She also wanted the width narrower, but she switches from 4 - 5-strings, so it would mess up her playing, so the nut width will remain the same. She explained how she has to sometimes adjust the instrument while playing, particularly the upper horn is a slight problem, though she loves the body design. She said if the body, especially the upper horn was narrower, it'd be more comfortable. She said she also loves the hardware and pickup I put in it, which were just Allparts's low-end stuff, particularly the pickup, so I will use the same exact kind of hardware, and also the same exact wiring setup. Fingerboard will again be Ebony, and the body will be "regular" Walnut, nothing like the one pictured in the link. I may also use an alchohal based dye-stain we've used at my work. I saw a Walnut table top stained with the stuff and it looked COOOOL. It had a real sweet maroon, burgundy tone. The table was also clearcoated with the laquer we use at work, but I will do some test pieces to see if I could stain the wood, then use a tung oil as the sealer/protector finish, because I don't want to put a solid finish on it. It will also have a bolt-on neck.

one more thing... just curious what a drill press does and what it is used for... should i get one?

Drillpress

Basically you drill holes with them, but you drill them with acuracy(sp?). You can also get drumsander attachments for them. I would recommend one for drilling bridge post or screw holes, neckbolt holes, string-thru body holes.

In the listing for the router it says it uses 19 amps. You can't run that off your regular house curcuit, you'll blow the fuses. It may be a typo, I'd email the company and ask them. House curcuits are 110 - 120VAC @ 15amps. I have a Craftsman 3.5HP 15amp router, with "soft start", which means the motor doesn't require more than 15amps to start up, or "kick start" like some motors do (or they are "capasitor start", where you see a "handle" looking thing on the motor which is a large capasitor), because it would blow the fuse if it did.

Pics

SPECS:

1-piece Rock Maple neck

Lightly flamed Ebony fingerboard

2-piece locally cut Western Walnut, could be called Claro I guess

Hand rubbed oil finish

Allparts gold hardware

Allparts humbucker pickup

Push-pull treble booster

Series/Parrallel mini-switch

Self-designed glueless dovetail neck joint

The woman I sold this to has just ordered another one from me, but with a thinner neck, and narrower body. I may also use an alchohal based dye-stain, in a burgundy-ish color for the body of the new one.