Vinny

I see that you want to use bloodwood...

This is my favorite wood. It is SO beautiful. I say go for it. It will be difficult to work, very hard and it has a tendency to splinter if you drill it. But the reward is great... and it smells really good too.

I'm playing a guitar with bloodwood fingerboard right now... well, I could go on about it all day.

Theres a huge list of shop tips on Frank Ford's site Frets.com. One of them is a great way to prevent tear-out when drilling, start drilling with the drill set to reverse to create a shallow dimple in the wood the size of the bit, then drill as usual. -Vinny

Sorry if Im hijacking this thread, but a better vise is something I want to purchase soon and Im looking at this one from Grizzly. Looks like a copy of the popular parrot vise a lot of luthiers use. -Vinny

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Parrot-Vise-/H3302

Thats looks like a Saga kit if it came that way, there's a few threads here regarding them and how the 'top' was only a thin paper veneer. If thats the case go easy with any sanding. -Vinny

Hi Natman and welcome to the forums, its a great place. Nice pieces of spalt you have there. Rich (fryovanni) has done amazing work with spalted wood and is always willing to lend a hand here. Keep us posted on your build, there's an 'In Progess' section here you can log a diary of your build progress. Take care, -Vinny

Riff, check out the tools section on craigslist.com in your area. -Vinny

Nice work Godin, I mean Daniel You're a righty I think, what's the vibe when you're building opposite your natural playing side? -Vinny

Nice score !! soft start and a plunge to boot. you rule! -Vinny

Yes, its definitely different planing hardwoods than say pine, its a hairy job on the jointer. I have a belt sander and will consider clamping it down and sanding it to final thickness. Thanks Rich, -Vinny

I had some success thinning my archtop sides over the weekend and wanted to share what I did. They were 2x36 flat sawn walnut ripped on the bandsaw to roughly 3/16'', I needed to get them down to 3/32''. Here's what I did. First I tried using a Safety Planer chucked in the Drill Press, even though I put a fence on the drill press table, the planer blade grabbed the side out of my hand. I was going slow and taking off the bare mininum but I think it happened because it was walnut. I used to use the safety planer for a lot of things but since adding a 12'' planer and a 6'' jointer its been sitting under my bench. I thought this could be better accomplished on the jointer so I then took a flat 3x3x36 poplar blank and attached the side with dbl sided tape. It took 5 passes at the lightest setting to get it down to what looked thin enough. I ran a flat metal ruler down its length to separate the taped side from the poplar carrier board. Dont pull them apart because the weaker of the 2 boards will crack. It was perfect, actually too perfect because I went one pass too many. The side was down to about .065'', too thin but nice and flat and ready to go on the bender for a test bend which I plan on doing tonite. I'm glad that Ive figured out a way to get my sides down to corredt thickness, but I'll try to get them off the table saw a bit thinner first to cut down on waste, If I can rip them at 1/8'' that'd be a plus. A thin kerf re-saw blade for the tablesaw is on the list. -Vinny

Thank you Thank you Thank you, Very cool Rich. My next puchase will be a bandsaw thats big enuff to do re-saws. I look foward to following this thread. -Vinny

I'm losing 1/8'' to sawdust to make a 1/8'' cut on the table saw now. Its killing me.

yeah, your 1st will take a while, when you get the hang of it, the others will go faster. -Vinny

Hector's method is the one I use, no fancy rulers. Just enough clearance over the 1st fret while holding down the string at the 3rd fret. Try it, it works. -Vinny

Well one of the main reasons for them was to stiffen the neck before adjustable truss rods and can actually used to put a back bow on the neck prior to strings. I'm not sure about the slot depths that's half the reason i posted.

And as for tone surely the same agruments can apply to most things on a guitar by increasing the surface area (and the mass) of the fret in contact with the neck it will make a difference just like materials and construction of the bridge do at the other end?

I fully admit it may not make much difference but nothing ventured nothing gained!

But anyones views are welcome it's just hypothetical at this point but i do have an old strat copy neck lying around......

Hi Josh, and welcome, I suggest reading up on what a fret's job is. A wider contact area is actually not desired. The reason for crowning frets is to minmize that contact area, The same same is ideal at the nut, you want to make the string slot ramp angle a bit steeper than the string angle coming off the tuning peg. So your string contacts the nut right at the exit point where it comes out over the fingerboard. This will eliminate dead notes. -Vinny

The only time Ive seen bar frets it was in pics of old restorations or re-fret jobs, I believe it was on Frank Fords site frets.com -Not something for me though, I'll go out on a limb here and speak for everyone and advise you to use commom frets. -Vinny

RGman is right on, the first one I made I did as you have, then used a sanding drum chucked in a drill press along with a belt sander and files, rasps and whatever else I could to remove the rest of the wood. What a pain in the arse. Then on my 2nd gitar I listened to the advice here and made a 1/4'' thick template (boy was that easier to shape) and stuck it to my rough cut body with dbl sided tape, a quick trim with the router using a pattern bit and what a pleasure. Done in no time and the template hangs on the wall ready to make another one. Definitly worth doing. -Vinny

Buy the book "Making an Archtop Guitar" by Robert Benedetto, he show all the steps, specs and templates with needed jigs to build it right. -Vinny

http://cgi.ebay.com/Making-an-Archtop-Guit...7QQcmdZViewItem

I've ripped 3 fretboard blanks from walnut, I slotted and radiused one and it came out nice. I enjoy working on walnut, a friend gave me a bunch. It carves and sands easily, a bit chippy as noted above. Where maple would take a dent the walnut could chip out. I asked whether it would make a good fingerboard over at the 'other' forum and most said no but a couple have used it with no problems. I say go for it. -Vinny

The string ends do catch on the bridge, I've already tested that. I might just put them in just to be safe. Have you got a good way to get all the string holes lined up and in the right place easily?

Thanks

Why are ferrules needed here? The strings are not going thru the body. Ferrules serve as an achor in the back of bodies so your string ball ends dont rip thru your wood, body 'top' ferrules are used to provide a solid ramp break angle. -Vinny

Im in the middle of building my Fox style bending jig (thanks Peter!) and decided to go the heat blanket route. Heres the post on receiving my blanket. -Vinny

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=34652

DJ, go to your local signmaker. -Vinny

Cool ! I mean hot, I didnt know and will have to look to see if mine does that. -Vinny

I'm making a side bender and just recieved the heat blanket I ordered from Omega.com. I wanted to make a mention of the great service they provided. Fast shipping with a UPS tracking number and after I ordered online I was asked to fill out a survey regarding their website for a free gift. I filled out the survey and at the end I had a choice of 3 items, one was a multimeter, Sweet ! I needed one anyway. So my blanket arrived with the free multi meter and I can now ohm out my pick-ups and vol pots to know what Im working with. Very happy customer. In case your wondering I ordered a 4x36 flexible silicone blanket, 360 total watts, $78 plus $8 ups. -Vinny

Yes, make them yourself. -Vinny

Awesome work Godin, I think my next set of linings will be the reversed type. The slots facing inward makes more sense after making my 335 body with the traditional style (out facing slots) I was able to flex the sides a good amount before glueing on the top and back. -Vinny

That's cool Thirdstone, I dig testmules. I can see the frankenstien lightning bolts coming down from above bringing it alive. ITS ALIVE..... ITS ALIVE !!!! -Vinny