RVA

Ok, so I went to Harbor Freight today and checked out the Hercules 12" miter saw. It was rock solid even when extended and tilted. Normally $399, and on sale for $339 until 6/19. Not bad at all

53 minutes ago, avengers63 said:

 

It ain't trimmed up yet.

It ain't pretty.

It still needs some eopxy in a couple places because I'm not an expert at acoustic construction.

But it's ON, and that's a major milestone. 

Ima try and do the epoxy fill-in before I hit the road so that when I get back, it'll be ready for the next step - the center block.

Looking good! Nice work 

7 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

zero play rail and I use an infinity super general blade in the tablesaw.  

Nice work!

I bought one of those zero play rails at your suggestion (thanks again!). It will be used for this jig.

So that Infinity blade has 40 teeth (as per a quick google search)? I would have thought a higher tooth count would be needed (but I don't know that much!).

2 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

btw... before when I said metabu I meant makita.  look at this design: 

it backs right up to the wall so no need to keep it out 10" from the wall... and it's extremely stable... that said $900.

I was going to buy that exact table saw. I have it in a cart right now. Great because it has no need for rear clearance.

Issues: First: the rails have been known to be off from each other and in need of a hard adjustment (loosen an Allen and pry with a a 2x4) . I called Makita about this to see if it persisted and they told me that it was due to shipping mishandling. Second issue...shipping mishandling. The boxes have been known to come destroyed and the saw damaged. You must reply on the vendor to provide good secondary packaging (unlikely if also looking for free shipping).  Third issue, the detent plate wears - this would probably not be an issue for me because it would not get enough use. Fourth: price. Normally $739, on sale for $ 639 and with tax, $ 700 to my door.

This does everything the Makita does - except it needs rear clearance. It is very well rated and about 1/2 the price. It is a Dewalt 780 ripoff made by Harbor Freight 

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-dual-bevel-sliding-compound-miter-saw-with-precision-led-shadow-guide-63978.html

26 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

yes the guy from projectelectric guitar facebook group.

btw there are some jigs for doing this all via a drum sander as well in case that suits you better.  

for me... I am hoping to completely avoid the sanding part.  

You mean cut the perfect scarf joint on the table saw that needs no sanding? What blade would you use? 

56 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

right on.  I'll prob build that jig tomorrow... will take some pics.  

 

This guy makes and uses one.

4 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

even the $600 saws have a lot of movement left/right. 

Thanks. Because of your previous advice in this regard, I will be making my scarf joint jig for my table saw, as pathetic as it is 

Is that a Hercules miter saw? If so, do you like it?

I am too lazy to even dirty mine today! But in my defense, I did 5 hours of office time earlier 

I got this guitar assembled and playing tonight. I even got the neck from hell playing well, which is an accomplishment in itself. I need to complete some final details before I take any more pics (truss rod cover, back plate, knobs), but it felt good to put it into action

First guitar that needing sanding and finishing

First guitar that needed routing in addition to finishing. There were about 4 of these until I tried my first scratch build

My first scratch build

My first dyed finish

This was done simultaneously with the purple tele above, so I might as well post it!!

And as you all know, my first non-tele build is in progress

3 hours ago, mistermikev said:

i dissagree... it WILL be really cool.

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

wow, those are really dark.  thought it was figured ebony at first.  cool.

Yes, darker than it appeared in the pictures and more than I would have ever expected. Definitely different, which is OK by me. Now if I can make it into a working neck, that would be really cool!

3 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

are you positive that by "one piece" they mean the body and the top are all one continuous piece...

That is my interpretation of the "one piece" designation for the blue one and my experience with PRS. I own 7 and was covetous of many more! I could be wrong on the red one. 

5 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

thank you very much for the reply!  well... afa I know there is nothing about any ash that would tell you it's swamp ash just by looking at it.  by definition... swamp ash is just any variety of ash that happens to be light weight.  In truth that'd be pretty rare in white ash... but not impossible, or so I've read.  what my eyes are latching on to there in that prs... is the bookmatching.  I think this makes a good point altho perhaps unintended... if I had some 16/4 ash... bookmatching it is a great way to make it asym and look fantastic.  In case of this prs I suspect that's just a top... which makes it much less 'astounding'.  I'd like to see the back of it!  I will take that away from this on thing tho... perhaps I should have added an ash veneer on the backside of this guitar.  Thinking of it now it's like "why the heck didn't I think of that?  despite all odds... I have learned something.  Thank you RVA.

They are usually solid ash (see links below). I though about the book matching aspect when I posted the pic, then I thought how sad it is that a solid piece would be less attractive to some. The links below are one piece

https://reverb.com/item/54405863-prs-swamp-ash-special-2002-one-piece-swamp-ash-body-maple-fretboard-moon-inlays-turquoise-prs-case

https://reverb.com/item/1272058-prs-swamp-ash-special-paul-reed-smith-usa-sas-with-hardcase-and-tags

1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

so if I may... I posted this guitar on a number of sights.  always interested in potentially learning something or seeing it from the outside in.  overwhelming positive response but I believe there is probably something to learn from the one semi-negative response I got... perhaps.  

"Wood grain on the back looks like a less than expensive piece of wood."

so, have to at least ask myself - is there something to this?  On the one hand... looking at the ash I used... in his defense... it is just plain old ash... not anything fancy like if I went out and overpaid for 'swamp ash'.  It is def not "paint grade".  Is it a "choice" piece of ash... well it's def good 'nuff for me... but I have to wonder what a more expensive piece of ash would "look" like.  

I guess if I had my choice of ten boards... I would go for something with really tight grain lines everywhere with little to no runout.  At the place I would buy this ash... it'd be the exact sm price.  That said finding some w/o any heartwood or other blemishes is def more difficult.

so my question is... what is your interpretation (trying not to just dismiss him) of what expensive ash looks like (short of building the guitar from tamo ash!)?  

This is highly subjective. You picked a wonderful piece of ash, but the masses generally are not "wowed" by ash IMHO. I think it is an irrelevancy with nothing to be learned unless you are evaluating marketability. 

I would note that PRS does sell "swamp ash" guitars that are quite popular. They often look like this, with "rings" and curves

2 "cooked" flame maple necks have arrived

2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

I tell you this not to say "yer doing it wrong" or anything, but more so that in case you are in doubt about it at all... this might be another option.    

That you very much for the input. I am at the investigation stage and all ideas are welcome. 

I did toy with some scrap wood and my non-sliding miter saw today, and the concept was not as easy as I would have liked. 

I have a $ 100 table saw, and while it have a lot of limitations, the fence stays square to the blade, so maybe I could create a rig from the miter slot. I also have a 14" bandsaw as an option, which may yield a decent cut with a miter slot jig and a resaw blade.

Could I trouble you to put up a pic of your jig? I am having trouble understanding the diagram you posted

Here is another scarf joint video for guitar 

2 fingerboards arrived today. Tigerwood (Goncalo Alves) and Ebony (Gabon)

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Yep, all the jigs are already built into the base! That would be a neat tool for mass production, maybe a bit expensive for a one-off neck?

There's quite a lot of five star reviews but some of the critical reviews at Amazon were umm... interesting.

Cool, thanks for the feedback.

I always think that tools will come in hand eventually. Something like this keeps my fingers away from a table saw for a myriad of projects. In retirement, I hope that wood is my biggest concern. I have a nice little wood shop going now - 10" jointer, 13" planer, 14" bandsaw, router table. None of them get enough use to justify what I spent on them, but the limited use I gets makes me happy, which is what it is all about in the end. Hey, I think I just justified a CNC machine!!

This beast seems like it can cut any angle you may need with the bevel adjustment. It is capable of tilting from 0 to 48 degrees in either direction 

Great playing on a great guitar! She sounds as good as she looks!

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

No expertise here...

I just wanted to say that there's several ways and materials to fill the pores. Lacquer type fillers tend to shrink so multiple applications are needed for a glass smooth finish - although a well polished grainy surface can have a more "woody" feel!

Once I saw someone fill the grain of an ash body with ebony dust and either glue or lacquer. Wood dust should fill more effectively as you can control the solids content.

I have done the slurry method with Tru-Oil and it worked well. 

My very first neck blank. East Indian rosewood. I have 2 more blanks on the way in case I screw this one up!!