erikbojerik

I level with a randomly-orbital (electric!) sander using 320-400-600 dry when it comes to levelling a grain fill. I make sure everything is nice and smooth at the 600-grit stage before applying finish - prep sanding is the first key to a great finish. To avoid sanding hard on the edge, make sure the spin of your orbit has the sandpaper sliding OFF the edge rather than into the edge, just pay attention to which way it's spinning and where you are on the instrument. Build coats I usually end up levelling with 600-grit wet (soapy water) by hand with a hard rubber or wood block - my random-orbital is a velcro job and I just don't feel like the velcro system has a hard-enough backing to get the finish as level as I want. To me there is no avoiding this step. At the buff-out stage (after levelling with 600-grit) I use Abralon 1000-2000-4000 foam pads wet, with the random-orbital - but I'll also use them by hand in tight spaces. Then 3M Fine Cut followed by Meguiar's Swirl Remover on separate StewMac foam pads chucked into an electric drill which is held in a vise, so that I can hold the instrument with 2 hands. Also paying attention to having the pad spin OFF the edges rather than into them. A great finish always requires a certain amount of work by hand IME.

LOVE the rosette - very well done.

The whole power amp discussion is missing the point of this rig approach - which is to free yourself from the requirement of "turning up to match the drummer's volume" while still making as few compromises in tone as possible. And freeing up stage space as well. Of course, all of this depends on the drummer sitting behind a drum shield. I get the power tube points, I can hear a difference as well, but in most of my gigging situations the drummer sits behind the shield, and the house PA is sufficiently good that I don't need a power amp to provide the guitar tone "garage-band style". All I need is a dedicated monitor, just loud enough that I can hear it and still pull in feedback when I need it. It is a totally different world - you can actually talk to each other during mid-song without having to shout over the stage volume, and it saves on the wear & tear on your eardurms (which is irreversible). And its about 10% the weight of a stereo power amp & speaker cabs I'd need.

Wipe-on poly will still gas off and fill your apartment with fumes. KTM9 might be a better choice - it is supposed to have lower VOCs - but I've never used it so I can't comment on indoor curability.

Archtops have a fair bit of string behind the bridge. Interesting idea that is worth a try - but I wouldn't commit old-growth Honduran mahogany to an experiment that might not work out. Especially since you're addressing issues of playability rather than tone.

Well, there still is 2U worth of space - but in all honesty, there's no effect I could put there that isn't already there. Except a MIDI controller. Or a wireless. I do need some kind of shelf for the back, to hold up the arse end of the Triaxis (which is a very deep unit).

Yeah I hear you. I know exactly where you're coming from, I have just fallen in love with lower stage volumes, letting the PA push the house volume, and just making one trip from the parking lot to the stage. The Triaxis does sound better when I bypass the first-stage A/D/A, it would be better to have had an analog filter+compressor in that stage. But I'm not sure if you can employ an envelope follower in analog - and I do like my generous helping of touch-wah. Bass sounds great through this rig too BTW. If I ever land a regular bass gig, I'll probably invest in a crossover and run the low-end dry and the high-end wet-dry-wet in stereo. I'm working on an acoustic guitar patch as well. Once I get the music room re-arranged, I'll try to post some sound clips.

My power tubes are mostly either behind me or below me - pumping out the house PA. Actually, they're transistors.... All you power-amp guys - that's all great if you're playing a venue that has enough stage space for your dedicated guitar cabs (at least 2 if you're running in stereo), and a room big enough for your sound, and lacks a decent PA and sound board. And even though you're willing to lug all that stuff around, how many venues do you play where you can actually push those power tubes? If you're playing a typical club, are you really pushing those tubes to the point of power tube breakup? I think you can see that the evolution of stage gear - and stage volumes - is headed in the opposite direction. That means a clean stage space - Pods instead of Marshall stacks, wireless mics instead of cables everywhere - and a stage volume where you can actually hear yourself think - in-ear monitors instead of wedges (if you even have monitors), and the drummer in a plastic cage where he belongs anyway! Some bands these days, you don't see a cable anywhere on the stage, except from drum mics if you look hard enough. I wasn't willing to dumb down my Tone by running through a Pod - although I use a Pocket Pod for rehearsals - so the mini-rack is a compromise in that it delivers great Tone without taking up too much stage space. And I'm not really after that "power-tube soak" tone anyway. The Yamaha amp is actually a classic jazz amp from the 80s (not quite as classic as the JC120 but almost) and it is very clean - perfect for an onstage monitor, but I'm tired of lugging it and I'll gladly leave it at home if (when) we make the transition to an Aviom monitoring system.

Well.....I am in the market for a used 570 but there are not (m)any out there. Maybe there's a reason for that. I went "pre-owned" for this rig, figuring that if I hated any of the units I could resell them at pretty much the price I bought them at. But nary an Engl 570 is to be found - and I MUST have the ability to store and recall many many distortions. I also looked at the Randall (cf. Egnater) pre, but meh....only 4 distortions per unit. I have to say I am liking the Triaxis pretty well, and it was easy to score a clean one.

Behold the majesty of Erik's new rig: Total Rig: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/bojerik/EHHrig1.jpg The Rack: The case is a Gator 6U powered wheeled rack, with telescoping luggage-style handle. Locking lids front & back. From the top-down: Behringer Eurorack 1602 line mixer Eventide Eclipse Mesa Triaxis (2U space) TC Electronics G-system (brain) rack power conditioner The Floorboard: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/bojerik/EHHrig3.jpg Here is the G-system's foot controller. It connects to the brain with a standard Ethernet cable, and sends out MIDI program change messages to change patches on everything in the rack. The Triaxis is superb - basically 8 of the best Mesa Boogie tube preamps in a 1U space, from vintage to rectified. It has 5 JJ Electronics 12AX7's. 100 user presets. The G-system has great digital effects, 200 user presets, and nice big footswitches that make my size-13's happy. Built like a tank. Also has 5 programmable analog effect loops for routing or stompboxes. The Eclipse is a digital processor from another planet - delays, harmonizers, pitch shifters, reverbs and more out the wahzoo, all of them super-tweekable. Great for great ambient effects, including stuff very strange and scary. The routing is this: Guitar->Gsystem IN Gsystem Loop 1 sends to Triaxis Triaxis returns to Loop 1 and Loop 3 returns Gsystem Loop 2 sends to the Eclipse Eclipse returns in stereo to the line mixer, output panned hard L/R Gsystem outputs in mono to the line mixer, output panned center (might switch this to stereo - not sure yet) So... Loop 1 on/off is dirty/clean to the Eclipse Loop 3 on/off is dirty/clean to the Gsystem Triaxis volume knob A is dirty level to the Eclipse Triaxis volume knob B is dirty level to the Gsystem I can mute either the Eclipse or the Gsystem on a patch-by-patch basis. Line mixer sends stereo output to the mixing board, and line mixer headphone out goes to my Yamaha G100-210 as a stage monitor. I can also use the headphone jack for (yep...) headphones to practice while the kiddies are asleep. Next step is to establish a rack-global tap-tempo from the Gsystem floorboard, and get a couple of expression pedals. I'm pretty pumped! Even if I am broke...

It was rare seeing two teams give each other so many touchdowns - but I wouldn't call it a "treat" exactly. "Letdown" is more like it.

200 mA @ 9V is enough for most pedals, but is not enough to power a Pocket Pod as it turns out. Looks like 500 mA is a good number (so the G-sys PSs won't work): http://line6.com/support/thread.jspa?threa...82&tstart=0

Quick check - capo at #1 and fret wherever you want, then look closely (on a completed guitar that is). Next level - good straightedge as soap says. Also works great on neck/fingerboard blanks! Want to measure the gap under the string or edge? Feeler gauges.

Chris.....***?!?! You mean to tell me you're not putting that law degree to use in some NYC skyscraper trying to figure out how to engineer a hostile takeover of Myka Guitars?!?!

Nice job Paul! I've always wondered how one would transplant the piezo PCB onto a trem block - I always figured it would mount to the front, but I see now that it would not leave much room for the bridge studs if you did it that way. I'm assuming you needed to enlarge the back of the trem rout so that you didn't crush the PCB, eh? What are the power requirements - I guess 9V (since you can use 6 AAs or a single 9V) but how much current? I have a TC Electronics G-system that provides 9V stompbox power (200 mA) and I'm wondering if I could build my own power supply to bring power in from a stereo cable (like the XPS mini).

The problem with using a radius block is that...you will end up taking noticeably more material off the ends (ie: the frets will be taller in the center). This happens because it is difficult to keep the block perfectly parallel to the centerline at all times. Radius blocks are fine for putting a rough radius on, but to get things nice and level you need something perfectly flat and use it to sand parallel to the strings. I currently use a 12" x 4" piece of polished marble sliced from a marble bathroom tile, but I'm looking for a larger tile to use on basses. I actually round the edges and use it with the strings on to mill in the fallaway under string tension (poor-man's Plek).

Hash, I would be interested in the sofware you're using - what it is? Sounds like the software version of Chladni patterns. Every solid object has a characteristic resonant frequency - it is simply the strongest freq that comes across when you bonk on the object. It may not be all that strong, but it WILL be there, and it has to do with the size of the object and (to a lesser degree) its density. Hash, most folks who build acoustic guitars purposely try to tune the body AWAY from the keys that they will play in, so that they can avoid these kinds of resonances. Resonances in solid body instruments will be less strong than in acoustic instruments, but they will be there - a bass player I play with regularly has a Ken Smith with a really really strong C# - sure enough, if you hold the bass by the head and bonk it (with the strings muted), C# shows up on his tuner. (OMG!! What is happening to Bill the Cat?? He's losing pixels!!)

I think he means that the bass was originally built for a wider spacing, and the customer decided later to switch the bridge out for a more narrow spacing.

I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1....

Hey Mike, that looks great! I really like the color, and you did a nice job on the black-burst. Let me know how you like those Holdsworth pups. A few years ago I made a semi-hollow walnut strat with cocobolo top for a guy in VA, and he used those pickups and loved them.

It's already done! Just need to finish-sand it and it'll go out in the mail tomorrow.

FWIW making templates is GREAT practice for making the actual instrument. Highly recommended.

Do a scarf joint like Setch does his (use the search Luke!), and do it after you cut the neck angle then headstock angle.

You've got to be kidding me..... .....you mean to tell me that in all the years that this forum has been going, NO ONE has grabbed the name "guitar_player" yet?!?!?!

Update....folks, the price of gabon ebony has almost doubled since I first posted the order form. So, if you're thinking of ordering an ebony board and you have a copy of the original form, you'll need to account for the change in price. To figure this out, leave off slotting ("fretless") and radius ("flat") to get the price of the blank by itself....then double it. Slotting and radiusing are still only $10 each, it is the price of the lumber itself that has doubled. I'm working on a new version of the order form as other prices have increased as well....but ebony is the only one I'll charge more for at this time, until further notice.