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Bjorn.LaSanche

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Everything posted by Bjorn.LaSanche

  1. I am about to start my V project and I have decided that I am going to use the piece of Bloodwood I have for the body wings, as the oxidized board has darkened to a color similar to the old late 60s cherry color Gibson used, except a little leaning a touch browner, but not brown enough to warrant any color addition before just using a clear in the finish after grain filling and top coat. Which brings me to my questions. 1.) Have any of you used heat stabilization when using bloodwood to set the color? I ask because I have recently seen a guy on YouTube use heat to stabilize and bring out excellent color to Purple Heart. The Snekker Show is the channel, here is one of the videos. Seems putting the wood in a 350 degree oven for an hour works best for the best color as well as stabilizing the color throughout the piece. He shows several pieces of wood that were heat modified and unused yet in the area of 8-10 years old which have not darkened yet. I plan on seeing if my local supply store has any bloodwood pieces I can pick up to experiment on before I cut into mine. Just for fun, I am going to take a piece of cocobolo I have to heat modify it today and see what happens. I’ll report back with findings. 2.) I plan on finishing my V with a gloss coat, so to assist in UV protection, what would be a good base coat you guys would suggest to use? I have heard that using an evaporative base coat is the way to go ( de waxed shellac or Spar Urethane have been suggested). I have also read about General Finishes Arm-R Seal varnish is another excellent varnish to use as a base coat to use to help with UV protection. I’m leaning towards this route. Now a topcoat from here is a little perplexing in what can be used with what. I was looking at a 2K type rattle can clear gloss over the base coat. Can these two type finishes be used with each other? Without problems? A topcoat of at least 2mil once done allows for excellent UV protection if using modern automobile polyurethane as per reading data sheets of several 2K products (as well as calling a couple auto body shops and simply asking). That’s 2mil after all sanding. 3.) please tell me about the Armor-All hack and explain the schedule for it? I know you use the original type product and it’s applied pre grain fill or post grain fill, it is applied pre base coat. That’s as far as I have been able to figure out. The Armo-All just adds another layer of UV protection. thank you greatly in advance for any suggestions and/or answers to my questions. In advance. If any of you have any of these oily/waxy exotic colored woods and have a few pieces you can experiment with. See if heat modification as shown in the above video helps or hinders the color. Please don’t use anything ultra expensive. Was thinking more along the lines of using more of the commonly used fancy woods. Maybe we can create a type of database for the group tha will help alleviate shying away from using interesting wood because of what it would look like years in the future.
  2. This is just throwing an idea out there. You’re more experienced than I am. But could the frets themselves be rattling in their slots? I know that you know how to seat your frets, but have you tried using a little CA applied to where you think might be a questionable fret just to rule this out? My thought process here is that you are using a product that you’ve used many times before and your work flow is consistent and correct, but the product you are using has a slight change in the manufacturing where the nibs on the tang are slightly undersized than you are used to so when you install the fret the anomaly doesn’t show up until the neck is under tension. The frets aren’t loose enough to detect by tactile investigation except when playing. just throwing it out there. Outside the norm issues are usually those that happen when I’m trying to be a perfectionist on stuff I work on. Whether it be guitars to working on cars. So outside the box ideas are usually where I start thinking first. Which results in my taking longer on projects at times. I’ll automatically think worst case scenario and work from there.
  3. I know the shipping would make it overly expensive compared to what is available here, my thought were more to just try their product once. I have enough oil finished guitars as it is. Two is enough full oil and the remaining 8 having oiled necks. Oil is pretty, but I’m the proverbial bull in a China shop and the guitar and bass I oil finished now both have more body dings than I care for and the bass is always on a wall hanger if not being played which is rare. I am currently collecting the gear to set up a lacquer hvlp rig.
  4. Wow a hand plane thread that isn’t ancient. I love hand planes. My prize possession of my planes is my Bailey No 6 which I restored about 16 years ago. I use it to fine tune boards after going through my jointer. It isn’t truly necessary and I have the jointer fairly dialed in, but who doesn’t like making 3’ long wood ribbons that are see through? I wish I could get my small planes as sharp as the No6. Their irons are inferior steel and you can actually feel the difference by touch of the irons themselves.
  5. I haven’t gotten to where I need to buy in rolls yet, but I use one of those file binders the accordion type. like this AmazonBasics Expanding Organizer File Folder, Letter Size - Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B25NN64/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabt1_dlC_GTNQFb072ZD93
  6. Man I wish the photos were still up. Does anyone have them archived?
  7. Has anyone tried this bridge on a guitar? Looks like it has taken a little bit of all the improvement ideas the OFR spawned.
  8. Akira Takasaki. Japan’s response to Eddie VanHalen.
  9. Not sure if you ever sorted this out or are still looking, if so, I have a BC Rich branded double locking tremolo I would be willing to part with. Drop me a pm and we can discuss.
  10. How did this turn out for you Macarel31? Interested to hear your final results. I’m glad I caught this thread as I was about to pull the trigger on some of Crimson’s oils.
  11. Not sure if you guys have already built your V’s but if you’re looking for measurements of the modern V (which is patterned from a 83, which was patterned off a ‘74, patterned off KK Downing’s ‘67 if we are to listen to Downing as well as some magazine articles). I have a 2001 Gothic model I would be happy to take any/every measurement y’all want and post them here. Just shoot me a pm here. I’m planning on building a second as I want one with a Floyd and no router is going to touch mine. I also know a guy here locally who owns a ‘58 and I will ask him the headstock length for sexybEast and sbandyk. If/when he responds I’ll pass the info along. Not promising anything because he is kind of a dick. Prostheta, I also have that Takamine Explorer you mentioned years ago, or was that the Aria Pro version? I can’t remember.
  12. The Floyd Rise special has a decent base plate but the saddles are are from lesser quality metal and have had long term stability problems for strings apparently over time digging grooves into the front side of the blocks, Another issue is the pivot pin in the saddle can wallow out causing tuning stability after heavy bar use as when the system returns to the zero point, the saddles could have shifted slightly (this seem far fetched to me and probably just rumor) I haven’t experienced this personally, as I only use either originals or Schaller made Floyd Roses(not schaller branded). I am just parroting what has been said about them by people I know personally and trust what they say. Their suggestion to me is if I pick one up to upgrade it to original Floyd model parts ASAP. FWIW ymmv.
  13. Follow these guys’ advice. I would also pick up Dan Erlewine’s The Guitar Players Repair Guide as it has a good setup schedule that starts at basic cleaning and proceeds through final check. If there are repairs necessary along the way, the book has fairly detailed chapters dealing with the typical specific issues one finds when setting up a guitar. i know the book discusses fret repairs, but I think it is only to help but minor repairs where pulling and replacing one or two frets at most is needed. Any further coverage of this topic I think he left for his video tape on regretting. I mention this book mainly because it was pretty much my bible when I first started doing my own repairs. I still reference it from time to time. I also don’t hold it as gospel. I have found stuff that works better for me in other places and other people but it is a great reference that covers a detailed set up.
  14. Damn that’s pretty. I just got done setting up the exact same model but in black. Sweet guitar, but I’m a stickler for old Square Heel RGs.
  15. I play music where tremolo picking is a common technique in the rhythms. Example 16th notes at 190+ bpm. I know the path you are on quite intimately(my own personal research)with your thread. If I may, I would like to offer a few things I have found in my search. For sake of brevity, I’ll touch on pick geometry, or mechanics as you call it. Without a doubt, the jazz style pick design tends to be the “fastest”. Three reasons why: 1. The sharpened point and slightly larger area where the pick is held compared to a teardrop design. 2. Long edges that arc towards the tip instead of straight lines from base to tip of pick. 3. The playing edges are not sharp chamfers, but rolled edges from pick flat face towards playing edge. The arc’ed long playing edges and rolled edges allow for the pick to slip past the string once contact is made while picking hand mechanics is going from downstroke to upstroke and back. Hard edges will actually grab the strings and slow the picking down until normal use rounds out the hard edges. This is my own gathered data I have studied, observed, discussed with peers over the last 34 years of playing fast music. Most of the hardcore geeked out info was garnered within the past 10-12 years. It has always been a what can help play smoother and faster snipe hunt. Pick material (aside from at times only being able to use what is commercially available from pick companies) choice for the end user is largely determined by an individual’s picking style. Do you, pivot from the elbow with locked wrist? Do you relax the elbow and pivot at the wrist? Do you only use thumb and index finger movement? Do you roll your forearm back and forth in a twitch motion while relaxing your wrist while using the weight of your hand to provide the past the string contact rebound? Every picking style has bonuses and limitations resulting in the need for different pick materials, stiffnesses, and mass. Rhythm tremolo picking requires a pick manufactured from a material that: Maintains it’s shape while being used.(tip smear that changes the pick centerline) Stiff enough to not allow the faces of the pick to mold itself along the dominant finger while it’s warming from the pick contact of the string friction, as well as the players body heat; while at the same time providing some material flex to allow relaxing of the fingers and hand to just hold the pick enough to maintain control harder substances with no flex actually will make you hold the pick tighter as it will want to bounce out of your hand resulting in speed decreases due to hand tension slippery enough of a material so it will easily glide against the strings being played without disintegrating into dust as it’s used (celluloid is a decent example of a material not the best suited to tremolo rhythm tasks ( I don’t care what Slayer uses, they grew up playing before newer plastics came to market and like all guitarists, creatures of habit they make those rounded triangle celluloid picks work for them. You don’t ever see them taking out faster bands on the road with them)). Two materials I have found were the perfect materials for MY personal picking style 1. Old formula Black “stiffo” nylon Dunlop used on the Jazz III picks. This was a matte black plastic and would not polish up to a shine. Sadly Dunlop stopped using this material around the same time they released the Eric Johnson signature Jazz III’s. 2. The Carbon Fiber impregnated nylon used in the Pickboy High Modulus picks with the Marijuana leaf imprinted on the pick. The 1.14mm thickness of these picks has the stiffness of a 2mm+ pick while having the slight flex needed and these wear at about 1/4 as much as Black Stiffo, Swiping these picks across a carpet once or twice before use will give you an almost perfect playing surface (use only enough pressure to knock off manufacture material flash). Sadly the two materials have some downsides. The Dunlop material is no longer used ( Dunlop will claim it’s the same, but the old stuff was impossible to polish into the shiny picks you can purchase now, it’s just whatever the red stuff is colored black) The Pickboy High Modulus are hard to obtain and expensive. $9/ pk of 10 with zero chance of purchasing a refill pack/dealers pack/musicians pack. They also only have ONE dealer in the US in which to purchase them. All buy through them and tack on their costs, etc. Paying $30+/month for a months worth of picks is not economically feasible for me I can purchase a bag of 75 Jazz III XLs in Tortex direct for $21 from my local dealer. I ended up compromising with the tortex picks of the Jazz III XL shape with the 1.5mm thickness. Absolute best material? Hardly, but material and thickness are in my personal required criteria. The trade off is weight and faster wear. Plus the White Tortex has tendency to keep its matte finish. Here is a weblink for the Pickboy picks I mentioned above. Cool picks, but damn they are expensive http://www.osiamo.com/PB33P114
  16. @thaumgarrettit was the heavy figuring on the body + headstock, dark fretboard with ginormous inlays, dual humbuckers, and faux F-hole. That was one of the more popular models Carvin made. The other a strat-like model. Both were advertised in their print catalogs as they were the Country Music go to guitars, like Ibanez and Jackson were marketed towards shredders. My guess was a shot in the dark, but i recognized the construction aesthetics.
  17. Anyone heard of this company and specifically this tremolo they sell? http://www.killerguitarcomponents.com/store/bridges-tailpieces/tremolo-bridges/strat-style-tremolos/the-killer-trem-detail
  18. t is good stuff man regardless if it isn't you on the recordings. Would still like to be able to get a copy even if all digital. always enjoy good music of any genre that moves me. Are you in this or any of the other De Tonal State online videos? https://youtu.be/UuqmYpuon94
  19. Did you guys ever release anything officially? I like this and if nothing else would like to get a dubbed copy unless the other two tracks you posted were the rest.
  20. This is the guitar I was trying to find a work around for an action problem I had grown tired of dealing with. After I had removed some wood from the neck pocket and tremolo route, I decided that I really did not like how the guitar looked. Really I had just watched the Crimson Guitars video on Shou Sugi-Ban finish method and I thought it was an interesting method of finishing ( Read: Looks FUCKING Cool and fun ). Being the methodical person I am went and looked at how it was really done, as Ben's videos on the subject aren't as serious as I would like. I watched this video as well as reading what I could find over a couple days online. On how to properly attempt the finish. It is a modified Oil Finish and you must use your oil to build up past the charred wood that brushing did not remove. I usually apply 3-4 coats oil to a guitar before applying wax and has been good for me in the past. This finish took around 11-12 oil applications. before my wiping rag stopped picking up black residue. I do like the finish method. I would like to see if color can be applied after charring and add to the technique, or enhance what appears. I have seen other builders sand the surface smooth prior to oiling, but in my opinion, the texture is important to the technique. Otherwise, the Japanese would sand their cedar siding prior to oiling. I took these photos this evening when I got home from work so framing and colors aren't perfect. Mainly to give an idea of that the finish looks like up close as you can zoom fairly well into these.
  21. It didn't change the timbre much. Just the initial pick is a bit more pronounced, compared to before. The body is basswood which is usually rather vanilla sounding being neither bright nor warm. I would liken the pronounced pick attack now sounds more like something made from alder but retaining all the other tonal qualities of basswood. Shou Sugi-Ban changes the molecular structure of the wood somewhat (at least that is what is claimed when I was researching how to do it) causing it to become more dense, or hardening at the molecular level perhaps? Perhaps that is only to the cedar that is used in Japan for building siding. All I can say is the guitar has always sounded good unplugged, just now is a little louder than before charring it. I did the entire guitar, not just the body, so the extra presence could also be coming off the neck resonance as that is maple? I only lightly charred the neck wood as I didn't want the fret board(not done) coming loose, or cause damage to the truss rod. When I get home from work today I will post a couple photos of it. I love the color it turned out as well as the texture it got from brushing off the charr.
  22. Update on this topic. Removing wood from the neck pocket worked some what. The main problem was the tremolo anchor studs and posts. As this tremolo was retrofitted to the guitar originally, The original cavity route on the high side was too close to the body face, so when drilling the studs deeper to set the posts further into the body, I blew through the high side and had to dowel and glue it back. I attempted a second go as far as I dared due to the depth of the high side and left as is. Will redo the body eventually so I can properly get decent action. It will probably be better to just purchase a spare RG neck off the internet and make a new body from scratch. Until then, the guitar is playable, but still goofy high action. While doing all this I redid the finish using the shou-sugi-ban technique and I actually liked the way it came out. The only change I noticed using this finish was the pick attack is now really present.
  23. If any of you will be in the area on October 28, 2017 We will be playing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fest II. It will be at the White Swan down in the 5th Ward. We go on second. Unfortunately, Blood Storm had to cancel. (My band was to back the vocalist). I hope someone will be able to attend as I would like to meet all of you eventually.
  24. Yeah this is indeed an old thread. Necrothread away we go... After many years trying the gamut of different brands and lines within the brands I have returned to D'addario XL's Just the regular plain Jane type. Not because of any perceived tonal variation they give, but the fact that they are the only ones that withstand the way I play leads. I use the tremolo bar heavily as a good portion of my technique and XL's seem to be the only brand/line that will not die out quickly, nor break like others do. Once they are properly stretched out and locked down, they just work. I can tell when they are starting to go south as one of the wound strings will start to go flat after every song until said string breaks at the top of the locking block of the saddle. I will get anywhere from 4-6 weeks a set. With strings now going for over $6/pack on up, this works out financially for me.
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