ihocky2

I don't know much about the multiple scale guitars, but after looking at that link I do have a major question. That calculator asks for the tuning, which makes me think that you have to decide that up front. Once the scale, and tuning and layout is set, are you basically stuck with the tuning, or can they be changed as easily as a standard guitar.

The only place I see any problem is when shaping the neck just because of the difference in density. It'll be like a poplar neck with a rock maple head. Probably not that drastic of a difference, but one will sand, plane, crave, and scrape much easier and faster than the other. Just something to be aware of and to plan for in the build. And long as you know the issue is there, you can work around it.

A crowing fille will never let the crown get any wider than the shape of the crown in the file. You will only lower the fret. When a fret is first leveled to top looks more like / \ with a wide flat top. When you start crowing the first things hit are the corner and it slowly (or kind of quickly) removes those corners and round them down. Use the marker method, and you'll see that with each swipe the marker line gets thinner. Using a triangle file, you can make the shape however you want. A crowning file will give you the same shape on each fret on every guitar everytime (in theory).

Well, unfortunately you learned a big lesson the hard way. That is why people let the wood sit in there shop for a few months or more to acclimate, and especially if they do not know the humidity content. I don't know the expansion properties off the top of my head for those two woods, but I am sure there have been builds on here that have used stuff with a much different ratio than those two have. What type of glue did you use? I can't really see wood shifting like that unless the glue you used allows for the wood to creep, which is a bad thing wether the wood was dry or not. If it expanded/contracted the same all around, I would say that it was the wood, but with it moving in different directions, I would say that it was the glue allowing a little movement. Where is you shop located, and how much does the climate swing in there? At this time I would probably let it sit a few more months and wait to see what the wood does and if it moves any more before trying to correct it.

If you are using abs binding, the nice thing about it is that heat makes it plyable. When I am doing tight curves with abs, I give it a second or two at a time in front of a heat gun until it starts to soften and then hold it around the curve until it cools and holds the shape. If you are careful with the heat, I have used in on white binding and had no problems with any kind of burn marks. You need it just warm enough to soften a little. For an area that large I would work a small area, tape it down and then proceed. Once it is soft, you can small swizzle sticks with it, so a arm contour is no problem. I am still just trying to figure out how to get the channel routed evenly.

Sanding before tapering might sound like it will get you an even edge thickness, but in the end you get the same result either way. It is just an unchangable geometric issue. When using a straight radius, the narrower end is going to be thinner. Draw it out on paper and see where different widths lie. I am not really sure what the big companies do to compensate for it, if they do anything.

The only maple fretboard I have done, I sprayed with the frets on and then removed the poly from the frets later on. You can leave it, the leveling and crowning will remove it anyway, and if not when played the strings will remove it. I just scored along the edge of the frets once the poly was dry and then scraped it off, peals off easier than a ripe orange.

I'll add a dumb question on to here. At what point do you route the edge for the binding? Everytime I have done it, I have to route the head before I glue on the fretboard, or else the face does not lay flat on the router table. Does anyone have any other ways to do this that might be faster or easier.

Great work. The quality is definitely there. The only two knit picks I have are the waist looks like it could have been deeper and given a little sleeker look. And I am not feeling the headstock. Looks a little too anorexic to me. Love the inlay work and the over all apperance though. Nice clean work.

Glad to see it refinished, looks great. I had a similar problem with CV, and when I stripped it, it was built up really thick. The stuff definitely, can't be laid on too thick. I used it in thinner coats on my work bench and the result has been just fine so far.

Check out what DeVilbiss and some of the others have to offer. I know DeVilbiss offers a nice mini-gun that is a little more pricey, but they highyl recomend for this type of work. I know SyxxString has used and Iwata that he liked. I will be giving the Finex it's first run this week to dial it in and then paint and guitar, so I will post a result on it. Also get your self a regulator to mount on the gun so you can dial in the pressure correctly. And get one of the good regulators. The cheater valves reduce the pressure, but as the tank pressure goes down, so does the feed pressure. The regulator keeps the pressure constant.

I am pretty much right on board with J Pierce on this. Different brand and price pots sound the same to me. The only time I would say to spend the money on actual Fender pots or other electronic parts is if you are working on a vintage instrument. Otherwise, they cost more and there are better quality that cost less because they are not Fender. CTS is a great brand, there is another top brand that I can't remember right now.

Depends on where you are at. StewMac is in California, look at the UPS delivery time chart to find out.

I've seen a number of V's done with the grain parallel to the edge. Like you I can't see any reason that it would be a problem, in fact I think it would probably be a little stronger for the shape since there is less end grain.

I made a lot more progress today than I had expected to. I had originally only planned on sanding the fretboard board to 1000 gritish and dying the body and the head stock. I ended up fretting the neck and well and completely finishing the leveling and crowning, and still managed to get the dye work done.

Well, the most important thing then is that you are learning from your mistakes. I have made plenty along the way, as have others on this board, but as long as you learn from it, there is no such thing as a bad mistake. Really, I like that you tried thinking outside the box and trying different construction techniques. It seems like you just need a little more experience to figure out the pitfalls and where to compensate to make your ideas work. One thing to consider in the future, is being carefull about uncontrollable feedback. With large chambers, and a large soudhole like that, it seems like it will be prone to feedback. I am not terribly familiar with the design concepts behind semi-hollow or hollow bodies, and what is done to help prevent feedback, so that might be something to study on.

I love the look of blood wood. You get my vote for a super thin.

I'm not really feeling it. The narrow neck end looks very unproportioned. The small lower horn looks even more out of place. The arm contouring makes it look poorly planned and cheap, more so because of it cutting off the stripe on that side. If the tops woods were thicker to avoid that, or if the alder was contoured first and the top bent to fit it, it would look much better. I am not sure why you are using quilted maple for the back. I understand the fir top since it is a traditional acoustic sound board, but why use a nice piece of wood for the back to not be seen? I will say though that the construction does look very clean and solid.

I've learned that you do not necesarrily have to have a large compressor to run an HVLP gun, but you'll need to get one of the micro guns, and still watch the CFM requirements. I just bought a Sharpe Finex 1000 which is a mini HVLP gun that does not use a ton of air. But those guns are more expensive. Iwata also makes mini-guns that run on low CFM and can even run off the pancake aircompressors, but those are generally $200 guns. Full sized HVLP guns generally need at least 13 CFM, which you need a very large compressor to run. The mini-HVLP guns are generally 6 cfm or less.

Updates: The body is almost done as far as wood work. I just need to glue on the binding after I dye the top and then grain fill. The neck is sanded to 150 grit at this moment. I'll get the fretboard down to at least 800 tomorrow and then start fretting. I'll be dying the maple and the head stock face blue tomorrow as well. more body http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...SB/DSC06316.jpg Body Back http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...SB/DSC06317.jpg Inlays a little closer http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...SB/DSC06319.jpg

Forstner bits everytime. Those wood bore bits are not made to handle wood as hard as we use on guitars. They are made to chew threw soft pine quickly and fairly ugly. Even if that had not split I doubt the hole would have been 3/4". But they do what they are intended for very well, I've used those for renovation work and they go much easier and faster through studs than spade bits.

I am very excited about this build, since it is my first for an actual paying customer. So here are the details. Triton semi-hollow body style Mahogany body with maple cap, dyes blue with wood banding Maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 25.5" scale Some brand of Tele pickups, still have to finalize Black hardware Here is the body roughed out Maple cap roughed out Neck profiled to shape, just need to start carving http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...SB/DSC06287.jpg

What color is the guitar now? When you are refering to the stripes I am am guessing you mean the tiger stripe figuring that comes from the maple top. If your gutiar does not have a curly maple top, you are not going to be able to reproduce that exact look. You can still paint it that burst color, but it will not have the striping.

Also, what kind of poly, 2-part automotive poly or 1 part furniture poly? How thick are the coats you are spraying?

I have Gotoh's on two guitars and am very happy with them. They seem solid enough and stay in tune nicely. I am dying to try out their Magnum locking tuners. I had the Ez-Locks on one guitar and they seemed to make no real difference in the tuning and where a little more annoying to string up, not bad but the heavier wound strings were tough to get tight around the post. But those got switched out to the Gotoh's, tuning stays just as well and they are a little less hassle to string. But I have to say that I have not used Sperzel's yet, so I don't know how they compare.