Bjorn.LaSanche

Thank you.

@Drak, Just to be completely on the same page on my end, if I have already used a grain filler, a Sanding Sealer is not necessary prior to primer(if the grain filler is applied correctly)? My plan was to use a high build sandable lacquer based primer, then base, color, clear coats. I wasn't able to really find a proper guidance on this. Intuition told me that a high build sandable primer essentially is the same thing as a sanding sealer at least vert similar by description.

What would be the steps to take to darken actual Ebony? I have a fretboard on a build that while I like that it is showing some white grain, I would like to darken it some. Would the second technique you described work? I’m just concerned on the tightness of grain already. I don’t want to use a dye or stain as I don’t want it totally black, just darker than what I have now.

Wenge is all it’s cracked up to be. I was looking at a piece at my local supplier and as I was putting it back in the stack, it slid across my hand on the only darn unsurfaced section. I didn’t feel it to about 30 minutes later. Those fibers burn like hell. You also can hardly see them. I was able to remove about 10 with tweezers and the used a razor blade like a scraper for the rest. Topical and injected Benedeyl helped the burning / itching but my palm blistered for a couple days after. Careless mistake but I know now what that Hellwood can do.

I am using carbon fiber rods in the neck of my current build. I had decided this build would be all native Texas woods. I had settled on Mesquite originally for the body and pecan for the neck, but like most Texas pecan once it’s dry, it’s hard as hell, but tends to become brittle. The neck blank failed once cut and glued. The wood bowed twisted and split. So in a pinch I found a Mesquite mill about a half hour from my pad and went and picked out the choicest pieces of quartersawn boards they had. If you’ve ever seen a live Mesquite tree, they tend to not ever look straight. They more than not take the shape of a tree shaped like it would survive a tornado (shaped like the tornado wind pattern in trying to say). So stability was on my mind. They use it for flooring in old building here, so I used a carbon fiber rod on either side of the truss rod. With the truss rod in the center slack space, no twists or bows. as far as using it elsewhere? I’m not sure I would unless I was able to have someone make whatever I needed for me. I have already gotten bit by the drop off when I shortened the rods for the neck Ans one splintered. I’m still feeling some of the fiber in that splinter. Feels like a burning needle sometimes. Otherwise it itches. It goes along with a wenge gotcha a few days later on the other paw. Y’all can have that wood but that’s another issue.

I have a set of Schiller M6 90s in Ruthenium I am looking to trade straight up for set in Nickel or comparable nickel set. I bought them for a build that never materialized so they’ve sat in the drawer forever. Ruthenium is sort of like Cosmo Black/Black Nickel. These have never been installed and still in the Schaller box. prefer a straight up trade I’ll eat my post costs you do same unless you’re in Texas than I don’t mind meeting up and doing the deal over a meal and a beer or two. If interested but don’t have Schallers to trade, any known branded sealed machine heads in Nickel will be fine. I’m not brand specific. im also willing to sell outright. Current US price for a 3+3 set in that finish is $157. I will let these go for $115 plus your shipping. If you’re wanting that color this is a deal as Ruthenium Schaller anything are made as they are ordered and you have to wait until they have enough orders to justify a run. I waited 2.5 years for these and I’ve had them a while.

Those look neat but I would like to see what it’s like in person before further comment. It you want to see some really interesting work like that check out Conklin guitars. That guy is nuts. He has done several where the woods look like they are melting into each other. Conklin Guitars custom shop gallery

Adjustable circle marker tool this is similar to what I picked up except there is no center section that opens and closes with mine. The whole thing expands and contracts. So you can use the inside or outside of it to be the circle. Mine uses the inside of the circle to determine the size. Mine is 2”-4”. It ran me $21 pls tax. No name brand on it. They had a bunch at the store. I’ll get a name next time I’m there and post that in case anyone wants to pick one up. I’m one of those that likes to manually do drawings when I know there are tools that make life easier(photoshop, vector art software, and cad). A little bit about my mastery of photoshop. The instructions to scale an image of a guitar that were on this site years back were step by step and moron proof. Well guess who disproved that? There was one step. That I just could not figure out how to make it work. I got so frustrated over it I stopped trying, printed out images, and took image measurements and scaled them up and redrew the instrument. To my mind it was easier to scale up measurements on a calculator and redraw the thing on paper. Then again I repeatedly will take a harder route to get where I need to. Especially with construction. But when I’m done, whatever I built will not break, come out of shape, and will last until the materials it’s made from disintegrates.

I am coming to the same conclusion. That is why I am making a set myself that will be based off one 67, two mid 70’s models(to include the 70s headstock average from between both, my 2001 model and a 2011. I will use an average in the technical drawing as well as a separate page that will give alternate measurements if any are wildly off or significant (ex. The 1970s rounded headstocks, if any of the round edges are different or wing angles greatly differ). I’m not doing this for any form of cloning except two I am making for my own personal use. As stated elsewhere one will be all Texas native wood, the other Bloodwood and Ebony. If I did a V build for anyone else I already have personal sketches I’ve made that I think are updates on the body style. Looking at some of the build threads on other sites, the replica obsession runs way too deep for comfort. Example is the neck and headstock construction. I’m a firm believer in laminate neck/headstock structural construction A Gibson way to me is asking for trouble if the instrument ever falls. the guitar I’m planning for the Bloodwood build I am hoping to get creative and use something that is close to white as possible for the pickguard and have it inset into the body. I was thinking something along the lines of pink ivory, or enough white sections of an Ebony to construct one and have the entire piece being able to lift away from the guitar and any connecting wire that stays in the guitar use the same type of connectors that EMG use in their solderless stuff for those wires only. As for the easy way to determine a circle, I am probably the worlds worst photoshop user. Same thing for any cad type software. I picked up this thing today that is like a cross between a ruler and a compass. This art place in town sells them. Starting at 2” circles. You loosen two set screws and the circle expands up to a 2” larger size. The drawback is that there are no measurement notations on it. You still have to use something to figure that out. A digital micrometer worked well. (My guitar has a circle radius of R38.46mm/1.51” for the crotch curve. Assuming the spec is around 1.5”. oh no worries about the book. I have tendency to be wordy in discussions like this myself because I don’t want to let anyone have to assume what I am talking about. I would rather take the time to fully explain my thoughts as well as read others thoughts in a discussion. It’s a benefit to all who read and wanting to gain knowledge.

It is not an actual 67 but I do have access to one and my own guitar and the 67 have the same lines albeit it is actually a bit less refined than mine. Made by hand vs machine made but all dimensions are close enough to justify calling mine a 67 body/headstock model as all modern flying Vs are as they are all based of that Flying V model revision and only the 58 by shape. If you get me.

It’s also fairly odd that you guys are I forming me that plans for guitars are essentially loose guides than using them as blueprints. I will take your suggestion under advisement.

Thanks Curtis, I am feeling fairly similar to what you mentioned regarding feedback with the guy. The discrepancies I’m getting on the plans alone were my main reason for wanting to touch base with him. The plan set I purchased is a set of three pages showing various profiles of the same guitar depending what you are wanting to focus on. Me thing I do like about them is that the headstock looks and measured on paper sized different depending on which way you’re looking at it so at least that aspect follows ones perspective on how a headstock measures out. It looks shorter if looking at it head on, but once you flip the instrument 90 degrees to check its profile, the headstock length sorts itself out. (These aren’t the discrepancies I was concerned about though. Yeah I’m reading one now on the Telecaster site where there is actually a photo of a V with lopsided shoulders. you guys do know that the original model and the modern variant are actually very distinct from each other. Enough difference that altogether could be compared to a Gibson and a Jackson V. As I wrote earlier and it got disappeared, the 58 and Epiphone model reminds me of a guy in drag trying to look like a sexy woman of the late 1950s. Thing J Edgar Hoover. The 67 and modern version reminds my of just on the scene Debbie Harry back in 76. and my dumbass is using my guitar as main model a 67 body and headstock with 58 contools. Im such a glutton for punishment.

Last idea is that you mention that the issue is on the instruments you built this year? If it is fret buzz, we’re all the guitars built using the Sam batch of fret wire? Could you have gotten a batch of bad wire where the size of the wire is off somewhere or the tang is separating from the fret after installation?

I am trying to use the body curves on my V to draw up a set of good plans for a ‘67 style Flying V as there are none online and the ones online are all different and most have glaring mistakes. The only one I have not seen is Crimson’s version, but postage between the UK sand USA can suck it. Postage is more than the $27 set of plans. I picked up a set from Gen One Luthier Supply. I’ll be very polite and say they are nice line drawings. 1:1 print results in a top down increase the the body and neck of 5% for the body and 7% increase in size of the neck. I won’t go into the measurements as they are not correct on 1:1 print to the drawing on the paper let alone comparing measurement to measurement with the actual instrument. The headstock curves are correct. Straight lines are not. Mainly being either the states length is one length while the actual drawing is smaller with the real headstock being somewhere in between. The Shoulder body curves are correct as are the wing tips. The crotch he has as a .75” radius circle. Not remotely a correct size as that is the one thing on the guys plans that throws the whole body plan off. The ‘58 crotch size isn’t right either. I don’t have a circle template large enough to put it up against my guitars body to determine what size it is. I also suck at backward engineering tangents. so I am asking you guys if any of you know? Possibly written down somewhere? Another question I have is, would it be unethical to correct measurements discrepancies by using paper measurements as well as measurements based off my actual guitar? I would then like to notate them on the digital copies of the plans I bought and email a corrected set back to the guy at Gen One? I don’t want to insult the man nor burn a bridge, but there are a lot, I mean a LOT of measurements that aren’t even correct using his drawing to verify the measurement he has on paper. I wanted to correct the ones that are incorrect on the drawing then under his paper measurements include the one off my instrument. I am asking what you guys think because the difference in size like the difference between a Jackson Double Rhoads/ original King V and a modern Jackson King V. His measurements make the resulting guitar body larger than a ‘58 in comparison to a ‘67/modern V.

I love how we get looks. I’ve no clue about what dust does to you but I hate sanding it. It doesn’t like to be sanded. Those oil filled razor sharp hook fibers it’s comprised of are evil.

There’s another after it turns black and perm-stains your skin under your fingernails? By merely looking at it too boot.

Checking his store out now.

Serious Bowie worship there. Hats off to you.

I have to laminate this Bloodwood board for the body of the V I’m about to start building week after next. Why not? All the fancy Ibanez Rockett Roll V’s were thickness laminated.

Thanks for the review. I’m going to look into these. Lead holders are kind of my hoarding item I like to collect. My two go to lead holders are currently a Koh-I-Noor Versatil 5311 for all woodworking and construction type work, and a Offidea Graphite 2.0 for all other pencil work. Both are comfortable. The 5311 is a stubby size while the Offidea is pretty much a Staedler 780 knockoff. While I prefer the Staedler 780, the Offidea isn’t junk and came with 6 packs of lead covering all the common lead hardnesses. For a few dollars less than the Staedler. I will admit though, that I try to cheat as much as possible and use my 5311 almost exclusivey. I am quite capable of using a piece of 600 grit sandpaper to sharpen a 5mm lead to a super fine point.

Have you checked to ensure none of the hardware is cracked along the string path. Especially check the face side of the headstock tuner collars. Mainly along the threaded portion. I had a bass this year come in that was making similar buzzing as well as tuning instability. The string that wouldn’t stay tuned, the collar to the tuner was cracked along the threads and when I noticed that collar was loose and tried to tighten it the collar failed. Necessitating a replacement. Not saying the issue is that, but it’s something I had not come across before the collar was chattering when the string would vibrate. Just something uncommon to check and eliminate as a source.

None of the images had any photogragimmickery done aside from simple cropping. They were all taken inside under the whitest light I have in the house (Kitchen). The baked piece I am going to leave out and displayed but kept from actual sunlight as much as possible. After a period of time I will take three more images to show any changes to the color. Health, or Projectguitardotcom longevity willing. Here is the piece on a wall shelf where you can compare it to other colors

Here are findings from taking a piece of cocobolo from a piece I have and putting it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour (was actually 1 hr, 17 minutes. As I had to take the dog out and he took forever). i got the idea of color modification from watching a video by The Snekker Show channel on YouTube from his experimentation using the same technique to purple heart. I did not use as many pieces or variables as he did. I used 350 degrees at an hour as that seemed to give him his best results for that wood. I just used a single piece because cocobolo is super expensive here in San Antonio. The main piece I have was $12.81 +8.25% sales tax. The piece dimensions were 3” x .25” x 40”. That’s $60.00/bdft so making several pieces to experiment with was a no go. The idea posited by The Snekker Show is that some of these Highly colored exotic woods with a high oil content is that it is not light or air that is the basis for the color, but rather the oil itself. The application of heat allows the oil in the wood to spread fairly evenly throughout the piece and locks into the wood fibers vastly slowing the normal darkening to the typical browns we are used to seeing after a period of time. My intrigue on this was heightened when the show displayed a few examples of heat modified Purple Heart that still had intense purple coloration after sitting in the guys shop for periods between 5-12 years. I am planning a project using bloodwood in the near future and am interested in using this technique to maintain the vibrant reds that species is known for. My piece of bloodwood I have is not at my residence and I have no scrap to experiment with, but I had the piece of cocobolo, which is another colored wood with a high oil content, so that became my test object. Apples to oranges to bananas I know, but hey all three are desired for their colors. All three have a relatively high oil content. All three are New World species of tree. All three are from areas closer to each other geographically than any other popular exotic woods used in making guitars. Examples Wenge, Bubinga, and Paduak, Walnut, Ash, and Red Oak. Using any of these in the experiment would truly be using dissimilar lumber to observe. So this experiment is on to something and comparisons can actually be made using an educated hunch. So bear with me. The first image is my “control”. It’s the rest of the stick of cocobolo I own. The second set of three photos is the piece prior to baking. The next set of three are post oven. And the final two are after the modified piece is sanded from 320 grit sandpaper through 4000 grit abrasive mesh then had two light applications of Howard’s Feed and Wax with a final hand buff.