mdw3332

Ooops - what am I gonna do with this? DRAK - help

Wood

Drak,

I certainly won't accept no stinkin' apology from you.

All you did to me was to walk me step by step through one of my first builds - the zebrawood in my sig. Each screw-up on my part resulted in an e-mail to you, generally with pictures, and a response that answered my stupid question and included your encouragement to keep moving ahead. At that point, you were the best resource I had. In fact, you are the one who turned me onto PG. Thanks for that too.

Anyway, your work and your willingness to help have earned my respect………………of course, that and $3.50 will get you a latte.

Thanks,

Marty

Hisock's book is very good. I also like Dan Erlwine's 2 books: How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great, and Guitar Repair (not sure of the 2nd title.

I would also suggest picking up a kit for your first one - you will learn a lot.

Good Luck.

Greg & Drak, thanks for that. So, that's all I need to make guitars that look like Drak's huh?

Marty

actually, both the client and i arent happy with the shade of green, so its back in the workshop for a darker top. Should be finished AGAIN by next monday. It is going to be a dark emerald colour.

PS I used the stewmac spirit based powder stains, and they faded. This is the second time that has happened. BEWARE.

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Well, actually, I hate green guitars, but you can send that one to me

It is beautiful, what is the clear coat?

Great work,

Marty

The disc isn't 'sharp', it's overlapping bits of sandpaper.  I believe it's called a flap sanding disc.  I finally found some but they don't fit on my wannabe grinder, so I'm going to have to consider buying an actual grinder if I want to try this method out. 

Greg

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Greg, No offense, but it doesn't look like the sandpaper things that I have seen. DRAK, can you verify?

Thanks,

Marty

Thanks for the pic sir.

Marty

Drak, that's gonna be beautiful. Thanks for posting the pics. What kind / shape of grinder is that?

Cool dog too/

Marty

Here's a picture from our front porch at about 9:15 PM. We're in Salem, Oregon.

I will buy the book if you still have it. Let me know. BTW, I'm in Salem.

Thanks.

David, your jig is interesting. I'm going to start my first neck soon and I like the router idea. Does it make a difference if you do it without the fingerboard attached?

Great thread - very timely.

Thanks.

Get a hold of a book called "Understanding Wood Finishes", it is a great piece that describes just about every kind / method of finish, their benefits and how to use them.

Search through PG, go to MIMF, and look at the site below for guitar specific information. However, it is unlikely you will find a step by step guide to do exactly what you want to do - there are too many variables and often times there are many ways to get the results you want.

For me, finishing is the most difficult and rewarding part of building. Experiment, practice on scrap and keep looking through PG to see how some of the experts are doing it

Good Luck and welcome.

Marty (Not one of the experts )

Re-Ranch

Getting lacquer in CA is not a problem. I just moved from Orange County and bought it at two different woodworking stores. The brand was Behlen (also called Master) and it came in rattle cans as well as regular cans.

The places I got it were Rocklers (which is a nationwide chain) and Austin Hardwoods in Santa Ana.

Tandy Dyes

Anybody ever used this stuff? A friend used it on a Mondolin kit and the pictures looked pretty good. Not sure what, if any, advantage they would offer over traditional stuff.

check your email, there was a little typo. thats why I didn't get the email or money from Paypal

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OOPS. Re-sent today.

I need to get rid of this stuff folks, (So I can buy more stuff)

If you want something, make me a reasonable offer or trade

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Scott,

Did you get my e-mail today? I sent paypal on Sunday.

Marty

For most of us, it's like someone once told me about being a photographer. "You'll support photography for a lot longer than it will support you."

Here's my Zebrawood. Just shot with nitro. I don't think I would have done anything to change colors. Lots of help from Drak.

I picked up a used one of these today. Haven't had time to play with it. Any advice?

Performax 16-32

I'm not sure they are worth the money. I have one, and the plates that hold the sanding discs come loose fairly easily. A good idea that doesn't seem designed too well.

Has anybody tried it with a radial arm saw? If so, how did it work?

Rich,

Got the wood today. It's beautiful.

Thanks.

I completely agree.

One of the good things about planning it out is the ability to 'do it right' the first time, and using your central vac system is not 'doing it right'. I'm glad someone else pointed that out too.

Besides that, sounds great, congrats!

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Drak,

I'm not going to worry about a finishing area, I'll just ship 'em to you OK

I'd bag the "use the central vac as a dust collector" idea and get a dust collector. The whole house vac will die a quick death and they're a whole lot more money than a Jet or Grizzly collector. One of my customers tried this in his garage shop and the poor sucker (the vac not him) died in about a month at a cost of about $700.00. The sales guy said it just isn't designed to pull that much stuff for extended periods.

I was kind of worried about this too. You would probably be better off with even a small dust colector and a few blast gates.

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Guys,

Thanks for all the advice - especially about the dust collection. Good to find out now than later.

Folks, thanks for the help. mledbetter, grizzly.com was agreat idea. I had been looking for something like that. I did some layouts of the shop and my office on it.

doug, yeah a downdraft table is in the works someplace along the line. It's interesting that you mention the big bench and cabinets with wide - thin drawers. I have a flat file cabinet thet is about 3 X 3 ft and about 3 ft high. I took that and mounted a solid core door on top with legs and casters at the end. Basically, I have an 8 or 9 drawer tool chest / storage bin with a 30 X 80" top, and the whole thing is movable. I know that it will get cluttered - everything in my shops becomes cluttered - but it is so great to work on that it will survive.

I have so much room that I hope to have several work stations with varying degree of dust protection. A drum sander is about the only thing I would spend significant $s on any time soon.

Thanks.