Bizman62

Super glue is a good choice for loose frets, gluing and clamping one at the time should do the trick. It's also possible that either the fretboard has been a bit too moist when the frets were installed or the climate afterwards has been extremely dry so the fretboard has shrunk a bit. Proper oiling after gluing the frets in should take care of that.

My two week pause will be just because a) I only go to the workshop on Saturdays and b) next Saturday I'll go visit a friend or three, hopefully not getting any nasty souvenirs! But yes, during the renovation of our house I learned that even the best plans will get improved during the morning drop!

Get the Stunning Stain Shots, they weigh less so you don't have to pay for mailing water. You can then mix them either with water or alcohol so you'll get both in the same tiny bottles!

You'd better listen to your local guy, @axegarden!

Good point. Stay safe! I guess I'll get my first shot by September...

Hmm... Despite the strings being muted they'd still vibrate to an extent, similarly to the plucking sound when you strum a muted string. Don't know if there'd be enough energy in the singing to make the muted strings act as an acoustic screen, though. Another option is that the pickups were more or less microphonic, no wax potted at all.

Well... I wasn't quite happy with it after all. During the week I kept wiping it with a damp cloth, getting the center a bit lighter and the edges a bit more translucent. Today I figured out that I don't like the marker fix at the top edge of the lower bout so I sanded it until the glue was gone. On the opposite edge there was a long dent or scratch which I also sanded away. And I sanded the center to be more natural. And I mixed and applied some more of the stain concentrate, both with alcohol and water, trying to get the edges right. In between I sanded the very edges clean all over to get rid of any glue squeeze outs. For some reason the edges didn't want to get dark again, I had to wipe the dye in almost raw. And there was still some pale stripes of glue infused wood which I fixed with a black Industrial Marker, drawing a hair thin line all around the binding! And lots of rubbing with a clean rag moistened with either water or alcohol. In my eyes the result is more organic now, having a sort of a vintage vibe. For some reason the two cracks started to show more, I guess I'll just infuse them with thin cyanoacrylate before applying lacquer. It'll be two weeks until I'll visit the workshop again so there's plenty of time to change my mind. And I won't tell how I managed to a) throw the cup of stain on the floor, making a mess and b) sprinkle raw dye from the syringe all over the guitar body because the lid didn't want to find the thread.

Adding water to alcohol makes the "open time" a bit longer. So it will dry faster than water but slower than alcohol. The "situation" mentioned can mean something like normally using plain alcohol but on a hot day some water added would give you the time needed to spread the dye evenly. Note that if you want to apply colours in layers rather than blending them, the underlaying layer has to be completely dry. And, since the concentrated dyes can be mixed both with water or alcohol, even the alcohol based layer will eventually blend with the water based layer if you really soak the wood.

Yes, definitely the black rather than the leopard. Such a stylish build shouldn't get dressed like an overaged cougar.

I would mix them for the reasons shown in the Crimson videos: If you apply alcohol based dye first, let's say like bright yellow, it won't blend to green if you apply water based blue stain over it. That's one way to get the Caribbean Sea effect on a flamed maple top. If you use water based dye for both you'll get a blotchy green. If you want to make a sunburst turning from black through red to yellow/amber, apply the yellow as alcohol based first all over, then the water based red where it needs to be, then water based yellow to the center smudging the edge of the red ring, then water based black to the outer ring, again smudging with the red. You can even do the blending from one colour to the other with a wet rag, using circular movements or swipes from one colour to the other. As you'll see in my thread, I very much redid the top today to get the burst smoother and the center lighter. Yes, they can be "hot" but they're also noise cancelling by nature. On a single coil pickup the coil runs one direction only which will catch any electric noise like the hiss of fluorescent lights. On a humbucker there's two single coils wound in opposite directions which effectively makes the unwanted noise signals to counteract each other. The metal housing often used also creates sort of a Faraday cage to further cancel noise.

Heh, for me it seems amazing how much people seem to want to do online shopping for minor items like that. Maybe it's an age and culture thing, I don't know. The last time I bought nail varnish it was because I saw a big bottle of clear for €1 in the bargain bin while shopping for food at the grocery store.

Instead of Amazon I'd walk to the nearest drugstore or the equivalent department in a supermarket as they have samples of every shade available for the brands they sell. "Cherry Red" isn't an exact colour and comparing the image on your monitor to the actual neck is referential at best.

At first I thought you were talking about the spoke nut version but the word "Hex" clarified the type a bit. Also I read that you're going to adjust it from the heel. In that case I'd recommend a full length rod. If you had the adjustment access from the headstock the 17" rod would suffice as it wouldn't do anything inside the neck pocket anyway.

LOL! It must have been Animal Magnetism a.k.a. Mesmerism... In reality he made the strings vibrate with his voice, making the strings act similarly to the foil inside a microphone. Of course you knew that, but someone may not.

That's a clever way to glue the scarf joint!

The dye part is on page 4 or so, but I guess you might find a trick or two to fix various issues along the route. And just as a reminder, there's a layer of alcohol based dye wiped all over the top, the back being all alcohol.

Exactly. And it's only grounded, not charged. I'm not an electrician but it's meant to eliminate hum. The Stunning Stain Shots are concentrate versions which you can mix with water or alcohol. Also note that alcohol can be mixed with water so basically you should be able to mix alcohol and water based dyes for a certain hue - there's no such thing as 100% alcohol, there's always some water included. If you apply alcohol based dye on wood and let it dry it won't blend with water based dye applied at a later stage. But if you apply water based dye, you can either wash it with plain water or blend it with another colour. In my latest build thread I just made a burst with water based dye. The fading was made simply by rubbing a clean wet cloth at the edge of a colour stripe. I did that a week ago and I've now wiped it twice to get rid of the excess dye and fade the burst better.

There was (is no more, I'm afraid) a video with the guy having cloned himself, on the left side was the stiff guy telling how tonewood and pickups matter, on the right the clone was showing his "bright maple", "muddy mahogany", "sparkling single coil", "beefy humbucker" etc. sounds all with the same guitar, same pickup, just altering his picking style and position. Can't remember if he used the volume and tone knobs or not. Way back I saw Carl Perkins on TV, telling how they had seen Les Paul play. Not knowing anything about tape delays or other fancy gear they just learned to play the slapback echo with their left hand! He showed how and it was not a trick, he really could mimick the delay-lay-lay just by tapping the frets with the left!

LOL @Drak, you nailed what the ladies think they look like!

Yes, anything that conducts electricity will work. Many glues act as insulation so some creativity in folding the tape edges may be required. AFA doghair, would this qualify as a wire haired dachshund? If you apply alcohol based dye first, it won't blend with a water based dye you'll apply after that. Thus you won't get some dirty brown if you have alcohol based red as a base layer and water based blue on top of it, unless you really flood the top. I've used the Crimson Shots both with water and alcohol. Getting a solid layer mixed with alcohol was no big issue for a first timer...

There's a couple of easy methods. One is to use the Snipping Tool included in Windows. Simply crop what you want and paste it directly to the post. For even smaller pictures I've used Image Resizer: https://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/ AFA the pickup cavities, the black in the neck PU cavity looks like standard shielding paint which basically is graphite and glue, the bridge PU cavity looks like it hasn't been masked before applying the multiple layers of various paints. Aluminium can be welded so asking a small metal working shop to do some magic might be worth it.

Thanks, that makes it more scientific!

Without a doubt it is. As you said, EVERYTHING matters. As Arnold says, "if it wiggles, it's fat" which in guitars means "if it's affected by the vibrations, it'll affect the thing that makes it vibrate".

I tend to look at the mirror and keep saying "I'm smart." The guy on the other side of the glass seems to smile somewhat pityingly.