MP63

Full face shield period!...at the least...

Actually, what made me decide on this, was because the piece of wood I had for the neck was too short to accomodate the headstock. I was simply too short on the wood (no joking here). Then I got to thinking. Why not keep the fretting fingers on the feingerboard while playing and tuning? The right hand stays free and can make any adjustment while the note is kept. The tuners will be recessed in towards the edge so that thier tuner knobs keep the edge shape of the body. They will also be lower on the top side, so that my arm doesn't hit the 6th string tuner. I wish I could post the plan, but my computer skills limit my ability to do so. The only problem I have forseen is that of getting the correct angle between the tuner and the bridge. The heatdock will be made from the neckstock wood. It will continue the same dimentions of the neck just a few inches further. I will drill six holes and back that with a small plate of metel as the string anchor. The balls of the string will stick out, but that's the back side, so it won't be a problem. The string comes out of the drilled hole right to the nut. The angle will be sharp enough for good string hold on the nut.

I thought about that, but would the force from the strings be enough to keep it in place? I am worried that the tailpiece will flop around. The bridge is a Schaller Tune O Matic, with the metal rollers.

I am planing on a guitar with the tuners at the body end. I will recess the body edge and cut a ledge for the tuner shafts. (Hard to describe without a drawing) Becasue the spacing of the tuners will be so far apart, I need a contraption to keep the strings lined up for the bridge saddles. So far, I can only think of using strap buttons between the bridge and tuners to line them up. The string will go from the tuner, around the button groove and then to the bridge. The tuners will be mounted at an angle so that they are below the bridge saddle height. Any ideas or examples of past attempts? Thanks, Mike

Woods are just like people...once you get to know their differences, they work out just fine. If Eric Clapton was seen using an oak Telecaster, you'd be surprised how many "great sounding" oak Teles would pop up. I didn't know, but from reading here, that Gibson doesn't, or didn't, use headplates on the Les Paul headstock, and therefore had the tendency to crack there. But, it is still considered to be the Holy Grail of guitars, and is accepted becasue it is a Les Paul. Ears don't lie. If it sounds good, than it is good! People don't like what they're not used to, or what other "experts" might frown upon. Chravel/Jackson used nothig but poplar for the bodies on all the guitars. Now their "San Dimas" guitars are considered by some to be collectors items to the well seasoned expert. Oak might need a little more care than mahoagny, but mahogany needs more care than myrtle. So it's all relative. I say, build it, and give us all a review of what your hands have created (along with some help from God, when he made the mighty oak). unclej and fryovanni said it pefectly. Have fun and maybe, when the oak craze starts, you can say you did it first! Remember...."solid bodied guitars?...what's that?....Yeah right..."

Sum'mor of the update. Dr. tells me this morning that I have mild asthma. It never ends, does it? Mahogany is going bye-bye, because I know I don't react good to that. It looks like Poplar, Cherry and Maple (regular type) are going to be the only woods I will use from now on. They are just as beautiful, but shame to have to get rid of the other stuff I have. If anything good comes from this, it'll make me a much better expert on those woods, sort of. Lexan is looking pretty darn good right now. Thanks, and be careful. Remember friends, they're only guitars. Mike

In 1982 I made a Rickenbacker 320 copy. I chose it in black. I used a different brand lacquer bewteen the color and topcoat. By error, I strung up the guitar before completely drying the guitar. Well, the paint never dried. So, I had to refinish it the correct way. As I was on my last coats, the rope that the guitar was hanging on, got hung up. When I jiggled the rope, it gave some slack and caught on itself again. The jolt caused the guitar to pop up from the hook in the hanger and fall to the ground. It bounced on the bottom edge, landed again and fell on the face of the fingerboard. After the finish dried I noticed a crack between the fingerboard and the neck. I shot glue into the gap and clamped it down so hard, that I crushed the wood on the back of the neck below where the truss rod slot is. I caved in the wood. So, I ended up with a stripe of a different color lacquer (as I had run out of black and only had brown) where the clamp was used and a big crack/gap on the back of the neck. It plays fine, but looks like, well..... On the same guitar, I drilled the holes for the bridge too far apart. I had to file the holes bigger and found I had bone inserts for the saddles, so I had to run a wire from the bridge to the trapeeze tailpiece. Buzz city. Isn't learning fun? Oh, almost forgot...as I was chiseling the neck/body joint of this same guitar, I was in a hurry and tried to remove more than I should have. As I pushed (forced) the chisel with my right hand, the piece of wood gave way and the 1/2" chisel went straight in to my left hand that was hovering above the work area. It hit above my left index finger, inside next to the thumb. It went in about 1 1/2". Thought I'd hit a nerve or something. Just a butterfly closure and I was fine. Lesson learned: keep tools sharp and watch where things might go if you miss. Dummy.

Even with plates on both sides of the headstock? Man, the scarf joint is hard to get just right. I'll still give it a try. Thanks guys.

Johnathan Kincaid has a book on acoustic construction. He's an English fellow and it does have some great photos and ideas. One method he uses for his scarf joint, is to glue two 1" thick slabs parallel to each other. They're glued on the flat side. One piece is the main neck piece and the other is about 7" long glued to the underside at one end. Than he cuts an 11-degree angle to the top face. The thickness of that cut is about is about 3/4". (that'll the headstock width). The idea is the same as Method #2 above, but without the need to made a perfect splice. Anybody try this one? With a nice hard headplate of ebony, it should be as strong as any other scarf joint, wouldn't you think? Mike

I am looking to solve a router dust poblem. Since I am getting more sensitive to wood dust, I need a place to do my routing, besides my little shop (garage) room. The dust floating around and settling on everything, is becoming so much of a problem for me. Is there anything out there that is able to catch the waste from the handheld router right from the source? Anything like a small table-top enclosure that will keep the mess to the router area without going the route of an industrial collector? Any, and all, ideas welcomed. Give me all you homemade contraptions! The only idea I could think of that would completely isolate the chips, was something like those little sandblasting units. The ones where you work through the walls with sealed gloves. Is this too much? Thanks, Mike

OK...Which one don't buzz and don't break on you? Any horror stories with any of the best known ones? All I want is for the truss rod not to fail once it's in. There are cheap ones, I know, so I'm just going by the experiences of the masses. So everyone has had success with the Stew-Mac and LMI ones? OK, I feel better. Thank you gentlemen and ladies! Mike

I have an unfinished headstock from the factory many years ago. I can send you a trace of that and just reverse it. PM me with the address

Well, here's a little update on where my NEW allergies are at. Since I first noticed a problem two months ago. Things are getting worse. I had allergy testing done. So far, over the last three weeks, they have tested me for 96 items. 32 at a time with a 32-pronged 'thingamajig' that injects you with 32 drops of extract. The only foods that I reacted to were avocados and cherries. BUT, I reacted to EVERY grass and weed and most trees. So, I either live in the "bubble" or get the allergy shot treatment. I really have no choice. Several people who have had the treatment say 's been very helpful. They do not get as many colds and say that they feel better all around. I've had pneumonia twice in the last 1 1/2 years. It started with a big mahogany sanding session. Ionly had on a respirator, but it still got all over my skin and body. Now the wood gets to me if I just handle it. Almost all woods. Mahogany and oak now. The list keeps getting longer and I keep getting more sensitive. Right now I take Claritin, and Albuterol if my breathing gets a bit funny. So, part of my plan is to get away from firefighting. 17 years is enough. I inhaled a buch of smoke at a big fire on March 2, 2006 and since then I had pnemoinia anthen this crap with the woods started. For those of us who are getting sensitive to woods, what are you using to combat the reactions, i.e., like clothing type, and what woods are messing with you? Meds anybody? Well, keep safe and remember that no guitar is worth your health. if you can make treament work, do it, but if you're left with now choice, go buy a guitar like everyone else. Damn it....I'm just like everyone else. Take care, Mike Perez

David, Guitar #30 with the P-90's is simply too beautiful. You have a jig for the scarf joint? Which one? Maiden 69, My first thought was 10 degree angle but I'm not sure how the string might sit in the slots. 12 was the amount I chose. Thanks guys.

When I'm done with the mahogany I have left, it's no more for that wood. Big allergy to that. I'll have to seal myself up when working with it. I have two solid one-piece bodies of mahogany, rough cut for a Tele body. Real cheap! They just need final routing of the edges. They have no cavities routed, just the outline. Any Los Angeles builders let me know. Mike Anybody have ideas for a head design for a "headless" guitar? I saw someone use Telecaster style furrules for the headstock. They simply chopped the Tele head and made it about 3" short. The strings came out of ferrules mounted on the head. The ones the Tele has on the back of the body. For body tuners, I might use the Steinberger's, but after reading those comments about them, I might have reservations.

You know Mickguard, I never really thought about using the handtools again, like I once did You're right. I'll give it a go with those same tools again. Sometimes, I forget the passion that this hobby was built on. It's the will, not the skill.... Thanks again, Mike

Thanks Mattia. It is for a piece or rock maple. The only problem with hand "scarfing" is the occurance of rounding the joinf surfaces. My very first guitar, in 1981, was done completely by hand. A crosscut saw, a scraper and a file. It was perfect. I checked it all the time with my straightedge. It took days of patience. At 42, my patience is thin. It should be the other way around. Now that I am older, I have less patience. Maybe I'll buy the MDF (fancy name for particle board) Thanks for the help. All the way from Holland too! Mike

The topics a bit old, but I thought it relevant to my situation.. Just a note from my experiences trying a scarf joint. Did a search and out came this topic. I made the jig that is used with the router. Did not work well. Joint not flat...reason?...guides not perfectly flat. Lots of wobble. How to get guides flat?...use table saw to cut them... Hava a table saw?...Then no need for a jig. All day trying to tweak the jig, then the plywood made nowadays is full of gaps, so that piece of wood was trash. And the worst part, they show up AFTER you've cut the wood. I made scarf joints at a guitar factory years ago with a chop-saw. Set a piece of wood against the edge with a 13 or 14 degree, or what ever it was, angle, and cut away. No need to sand, no nothing. BUT, them puppies run several hundred dollars. Was it really worth wasting a whole day for something like this? For me it wasn't. The pictures and videos are from people who have the complete shop with everything available to them. For the regular guy, buy the tool if they have it. The time wasted making a tool could have gone towards buying the tool and a little extra time for the family. And less aggrivation. Do I sound like a defeated man? I'm broken and want to curl up into a little ball in the corner and cry...... Who's got a chop-saw for sale? Thanks, Mike

I have done both and had no problems. If it has a finish, I start the screw holes with a 1/16" bit, with my fingers, then finish with a hand drill. One reason I like to drill all the holes first. is to assemble the complete guitar before finishing. I can catch any mistake I may have made, such as perfect bridge placement, neck alignment, etc. Sometimes you need to make adjustments that require shaving a little wood, and with a finish on, you're too late. Everything I ever use, ends up making small cracks on the edges of the screw-hole paint, regardless. Especially when you screw in the pickguard screws. I use a big coutersink drill bit to smooth the rough edegs of the hole lip. That's where all the paint builds up on the hole. Also, it seems that the holes get filled with grain filler anyways. I used mineral spirits to wet sand on advice from The Guitar Reranch, and it worked great. I used to use soapy water before and didn't have a problem. I feel you can wait till the end, if it's just for pickguard placement, jack screws and the like. For big stuff, that's got to be before. Hoped it helped.

...still ain't happening. I checked the checks, crossed the crosses, and dotted the dots, but no go. Hmm. ".....must....reach....Bat-belt....for...help....Robin..........."

More than type, I was aking about brands and sellers. In other words, what would you put in your top-of-the-line, once-in-a -lifetime, made by the sweat-of-your-brow guitar? The one you "take with you to the grave" guitar.

What is the best truss rod? Considering ease of use, durability and quietness. The only ones I've seen are from Stew-Mac or Luthier's Mercantile. With so many to choose from, one-way, two-way, what do you find is the favorite? Mike

One option a local hardwood supplier told me (who no longer does resawing, and good luck finding one who does, that won't charge you $60 for it), was to use a table saw set high. Then flip the peice to cut the other side. There will be some waste but it will be closer than a hand saw.

If you are sure it isn't the glue joint (maybe it started there) use Titebond (or similar) glue and flex the joint slightly. Very slight. That works it into the crack. Clamp, but not to hard, because that starves the glue joint of enough glue. If it's just the wood that's cracked, then the break should be clean with no pieces of wood missing. Once dry I would put reinforcement strips. That might be a problem if it will be a clear finish and you have fancy wood for the neck stock. The strips would span the break and be about 1/4"+ deep. Glue on top of dry glue is not a good bond. Epoxy might be a good answer as it bonds to almost anything, but to old glue is still a question. This problem you had made me decide on MY scarf joint. I will opt for the joint at the peghead with a veneer to reinforce the grain runout. Is there a picture of the crack? Hope we are helping. Mike

Man, that is a beautiful piece! Mahogany correct? Damn it! I am now allergic to mahogany, so that's that. I had sorta that shape i mind on the upper shoulder area. That only problem with the tailpiece, would be that fact that there would be no presurre to keep the tailpiece from falling out. It would only be used to keep the string aligned. If it had holes for the studs like a TOM bridge it might work. A TOM alone wouldn't work. The string angle would be so severe, that the saddle notches might not be deep enough to keep the strings from pulling out.