ihocky2

I would stay away from the red flake that you get at hobby stores. It is silver flake with a colored surface. Works great for crafts and such, but ones you start doing any type of sanding to level things out and remove that colored layer you'll wind up with silver bits showing here and there. I am not sure about automotive flakes, someone more knowledgeable about those will have to give some info. There is a post about a material called Inlace in this section. I have not checked out the link yet, but they might have something usefull.

+1 for the right one. The grain stands out a lot more on it.

I don't see much of a use for one. A small table saw has mroe use. Other than fretboards there is not much on a guitar that a radial arm saw can be used for. If you are looking to cut blanks to length you would be better spending the money on a sliding chop saw.

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to do here. In the picture it looks like you are running the FB side against he router bit. But you already said that you ran it across the jointer which will have flatten and thicknessed that side already. So I don't see the need for using the router table. The other problem I see is keeping the neck vertical. You are balancing on roughly a 3/4" wide template surface. That is not going to be the easiest to keep perfectly flat. Even a slight bit of angling and you'll end up with a dip or a gouge in the FB surface.

I haven't tried it yet, but if you have some cut offs, you can try wiping it down with a solvent to remove to oil from the surface and then spray the first coat. Acetone, naptha, alcohol, any of those should work to draw of the top bit of oil.

Absolutely awesome. I especially like the inlay on the headstock.

I've had the same thing happen. Some poplar with dark purple and green mineral stripes that look pretty nice actually, but smells horrible to work with. Clean white popalr has almost no smell, but it seems those mineral stains get a pretty nasty smell.

I would love to say that I spent hours gluing little pieces together, but I didn't (Thank God). Woodcraft sells it in 3' strips. For the most part it is nice to work with. It is little bits of balsa died and glued together, so it is flexible and bends nicely around the larger curves with no prep work. The sharp tip on the horn is a nightmare and the cutaway is a little tough. I tried soaking in water, steaming, stright heat. Soaking in hot water was the best comperamise. Too wet or too much heat and the glue gives way and the pieces seperate. Not enough and it just snaps. The horn tip was still tough, it was jsut such a tight bend, but I managed to fold it over fiber by fiber and then some sanding cleaned it right up. And I am happy to report the new owner took delivery of it last night and was in awe. Seeing his face light up made every little hassle over the details worth it.

Every time I have used blood wood for anything it smelled like chocolate when I was cutting it. Not quite as sweet as a milk chocolate bar, but defintely a chocolate smell.

When he's cutting the aluminum it is. He uses the table saw the make the template/miter box and then the hand saw to work the fret board. But the blade he is using in the table saw does not look like the Stew Mac fret blade for table saws.

I just finished her up this afternoon. The pictures really washed out the color, the blue is actually much darker, the last link shows the true color. So with out further ado. Rear view. (The control cover is now on, it wasn't done yet but I was running out of sunlight for pictures) http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...SB/DSC06338.jpg This one shows the true color. http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...SB/DSC06343.jpg

I'm getting wood envy over here with pics like that posted.

When I say that it doesn't look supported I mean from the sides, by a neck pocket. There is only so much screws can do to prevent rotational movement.

I would try and find one or at least a simliar one in size before you buy one. Looking at it and the specs it defintely has a small scale legth. I would try one out just to make sure you can get your fingers into the fret spaces. Really, with some ebay savyness and some cheap poplar or pine you can build a guitar closer to a size you like for the same price or less money.

As a future consideration for any large purchases where anyone has to physically mail the payment, use a Postal Money Order. Anytime I get over $50 I use a PMO. I have to go to the post office to mail the check anyway, so what is a few extra minutes to get a money order from them. Private vendors like them better because it is as good as cash. For the buyer, it is a little safer, and depending on the amount a lot safer. In a situation like this, there was really no mail fraud, the letter was sent and got to the designated address untampered (presumably) and was then the check was cashed. This is more outright theft. The USPS will say they did their part and was their hands of it (I've been through it with any ebay purchase). When you use a PMO it is issued by the post office, so now they are involved and you can pressure them into action. As and additional bonus, if you are warning the vendor about possible legal action for failure to comply, they are tampering with a Postal Money Order and now any criminal charges are Federal and not local.

Just to help clarify since some people are not terribly savy with Photobucket, and I would imagine any of the other picture hosting sights are simliar. When you upload your pictures to Photobucket, there is an option to change the size of the picture, and they even have presets such as email, message board, avatar and such. Use this option so the picture is saved as 640x480 on Photobucket, and the message board does not have to auto resize a larger picture later.

The piece coming off is the sound board. And that is not going to be any easy repair, nor one for a first timer. And as said, it is hard to diagnose a broken bridge without seeing it. Pictures speak a thousand words.

That neck joint looks like it is going to be really unsupported, any pictures of it?

Look for a Fender Blonde or Fender Butterscotch recipe, that'll get you that color and finish. Then just do a faint tinted white burst around the edge.

J. Pierce already mentioned the pain of splinters, but I have to stress that one again. Until you get a carbon fiber splinter in your skin, you don't know a painfull splinter. They are worse than any kind of wood or metal splinter. They get in and they itch and burn and usually get under pretty deep. And since they are fibrous, even when you get the main chunk out, it leaves fine hairs in the skin unless you cut the are of affected skin out.

Are you trying to remove it from the piece of lie wood or did you dye the maple already. If you dyed the maple and mahogany I would sand out most of it. You are going to have a hard time getting it out of the flame, but I would leave it. That should help accentuate the figuring. Just sand it out of the rest of the maple, so it only shows in the flame.

How thick is it? Just remember Bubinga is heavy.

That is why the make and sell crowing files for narrow, medium, and wide frets. While it's annoying to have to buy mulitple files, they are made for a specific job for a specific size. I've never had great luck with a 3 corner file. I'm sure with enough practice I could get the hang of it. But if you are more comfortable with one, by all means use it.

Lubrication is always essential. But I would not try using that blade on aluminum. HSS will cut aluminum, but that is too fine of a blade to trust it. A carbide toothed blade like you would use for general cutting will slice through like butter with no problems. But that is a heavier blade with a wide kerf. Either use a handsaw or else mark out the slots on the aluminum and use a coping saw. Their blades are thin enough and if you destroy it, your out only a few bucks. Even if the cut ends up being slightly wider than the slots, the fret will cover the difference. A coping saw should have no problem with thin aluminum. Or if you have on, use a scroll saw with a thin blade.

Alpha is exactly who it was.