postal

Much as I hate fender... and their qc standards are way low.... Anything that doesnt pass qc is cut up and scrapped. Fender had much higher production when I was working there- the downturn in the economy, they cut back production and had a big lay off too... but up until 2007 they scrapped about $100k worth of materials every year. Think about that number a second... SCRAPPED $100K PER YEAR... Been meaning to show this thing off for some time.... Have a look- This is the SINGLE BEST piece of birdseye I have EVER seen. Its a custom shop... I bet everyone is drooling about now.... .... just cant wait to see the whole thing.... can you? ..... wait for it..... ....wait for it..... .....wait for it..... HERE IT IS!!!!!!! Yup..... Best piece of birdseye I've EVER SEEN..... and custom shop chopped it right behind the nut. Worst of all.... There was nothing wrong with the neck. They just "didnt need it". And no one can have it either.... Has to be scrapped- The guy in charge of custom shop neck line in the mill gave me that head right after he chopped it off.. Just to screw with me. The entire neck was the same ultra dense birdseye... Sickening aint it? I'm going to put it upside down on a base, and use it for a coat hook. (seriously) At least fenders are good for something! I made a coat rack at the factory... for use at the factory... using cut up painted strat bodies... I angle cut the bodies, and used the upper horn as the hook. I forgot... 4 or 5 bodies like this all in a row... all different colors. Might still be there.. Anyone takes a tour... look on the wall by the drill presses used for side dots- accross from the fret gang saws- I had people on tours take a picture of that coat rack.... funny!

It takes fender 6 hours of man and machine time to crank out a piece of strat. That doesnt include glue and paint drying. Gibson even has a cnc setup to buff paint... So a better setup, and a little more work in the details... means cranking out a PRS in what.... 8 hours? 9? Ok... even 12 hours... double the time as fender... makes it double the price as fender.... and its a $1,200 guitar.... If they're so honest and proud of the cranked out cnc mades... ask them to honestly, and proudly explain their justification for those ridiculous prices....

I dont think so. Mostly pin router. To this day, they do a LOT of work with a pin router and templates. As of 2007 Jackson got a 2nd CNC... And they really only use it on the production stuff. Jackson custom shop- Mike S, Pablo, Chip, Red- use the pin router. I spent 3 yrs at fender. Whenever I had a question on how to /why to- I'd ask those guys... Hadnt worked there since 2007. Thanks for the correction. One more for you. Can you verify this. I read the late 80s model 1,2,3,4,5 guitars were built in Japan and shipped to Fort Worth for assembly. I had an 89 Model 4 and it was a pretty nice guitar. Not the greatest but pretty nice. Don't get me started on PRS. I am not a fan and never will be. Worked at fender corona from 2004-2007- Knew what was going on in corona, never payed any attention to mim and asian imports. No idea about the late 80's imports... but I never heard of anything going on in Texas either. Sorry man... just dont know.

Yeah.... But some builders are better than others. I can see a company like martin being a little more conservative about what gets their logo on it. I would. What if its a new guy making a full instrument for the first time? Would you want your successful brandname associated with it? Not me. Put your own name on there.... thanks. + even though its a company employee built in the factory with factory materials.... as you said it's a Uke... and they dont make a Uke... so it wouldnt even be a company approved model. So why would a non approved 1 off frankenstein uke from the new guy who dont know nothing... get a company logo on it? Just doesnt make a lot of sense. And as to add value as a "collectors" item... I dont think so. What do I know... but I wouldnt buy a 'custom martin uke' thinking it was a good investment...

I dont think so. Mostly pin router. To this day, they do a LOT of work with a pin router and templates. As of 2007 Jackson got a 2nd CNC... And they really only use it on the production stuff. Jackson custom shop- Mike S, Pablo, Chip, Red- use the pin router. I spent 3 yrs at fender. Whenever I had a question on how to /why to- I'd ask those guys... Hadnt worked there since 2007. -----oh--- and CNC *IS* the issue here when prs tries to pawn off CNC cranked out guitars as handmades. The ONLY reason they get the prices they do... fenders are CNC and go for $600. Better setup and QC like PRS would still only mean what....$900? So a PRS is actually worth that same $900? Maybe 1k? Okay... even stretch it, and call it $1,300.... Big drop from that $2.5k aint it?

That's pretty cool- but I can see if the company would not want a logo on a personal build- as it wouldnt represent an authorized company product.

Hahahhahahhahaaa!!!!!! PRS charges what they do because they STARTED as a handmade custom. Nowdays, they are a fully automated slap it together factory just like fender. They just count on their name to carry them through. And for some silly reason.... it's working. PRS has just as many, if not more CNC's than fender corona. But you're still paying that "custom handmade" price. Gibsons qc has gone by the wayside for years. epiphones are higher quality than gibson.

flounder gives employees a 50% off MSRP. Which on lower priced items is not really much better than sweetwater or music 123. On high dollar items, it makes a significant difference. However- you must also note- people who work in that god forsakin sweatshop known as flounder in Corona- do not make enough money to buy the high dollar items. Ask me how I know. I spent 3 miserable years there. I started at min wage which was a whopping $7.25 at the time... Yeah... no high end equipment for me..... Oh... and 3 years later... I got up to a WHOPPING $10.63.... Did I mention I was one of 2 people who could do the bass block inlays and neck binding? Hell yeah.... pimp yourself out and all your mad skills for an insulting paycheck... and not be able to afford squat even at a 50% off MSRP... A buddy of mine wanted a "strat pack" for his kid. Sweetwater was cheaper than my price by a couple bucks. flounder can kiss my hairy non spanglish speaking a.... (I was 1 of 4 non spanglish speaking employees in the "mill"... and I know at least 1 other was laid off after I quit..... "made in mex suck o.... made in corona..... either way..... made by mexicans...."

You want "3M" Blue Vinyl tape in 1/8". The 1/8" takes curves pretty easily while still sticking flat. It leaves a very nice paint line. Much better than regular blue painters tape. Paint will not get under the vinyl tape at all if applied smoothly. I mask with the 1/8" vinyl- then use paper blue painters masking tape on top of the vinyl for masking. The 1/8" is the actual paintline.

Interesting strat. Does he have pickups hidden in it? I dont care for the dark stain to simulate the pickguard, but thats just me. I wonder how deep the carve is on strat. Looks pretty deep from the pic. Makes me wonder how he cleaned it up and finished it. I have a Rhoads almost done with a really deep carve. Sanding is a nightmare. Finish would have to be a wipe on since I cant get finish underneath overhanging features...

1- Yeah ends absolutely flush before dressing fret ends. 2- Geo is right.

That is cool! Great job on those. I'm considering trying one sometime in the future. I'll copy how flounder custom shop did that lava lamp build for the contest a number of years ago in guitar player magazine... I saw that one under construction, so I know how it was was done. Yours look fantastic though- The bigsby is a great touch too.

I use 2 or 3 usually Just depends on what I have laying around at the time. 2 woods, I tend to go with more layers, and 1 wood tends to be thin (1/4") but with a thicker stripe in the center. Mixing not only the number of woods, and colors, but also the lamination thickness can give interesting visual results. I try for strong contrast. Dont put mahogany next to walnut.... I'm working on one now, and it's "bland" from the color contrast. Too late now.... Gonna use it anyway. I do not taper my laminates.. They are all even thickness from nut to heel. Do plan on you number of lams, and thickness of your lams so you dont cut through the outer lam from the neck taper.... Thats important! Nothing looks worse than a multi lam neck where the outside layer was cut through from the neck taper.... Plan so the outside lam is INSIDE the nut width... and OUTSIDE the fretboard width at last fret.....

I will not use a hotrod after one snapped on me. I curently use ones from "doeringers", and theyre -ok- but people rave about the ones from allied lutherie. Kinda pricey, but people say they're great.

That "dip" is a 3" sanding drum. They use a 3" spiral cutter to rough it. then clean it up with a 3"sanding drum.

If someone likes that look, a normal 2 piece solidbody with a thin butcher block cap would probably sound fine and have plenty of strength as well. Personally, I dont like that look- but it'd be "do able".

I don't fully understand your questions. The primary concern with spacing the tuning machines, is that you can turn each one easily without without accidentally bumping one next to it. Also, depending on your hardware-/playing style- trem on fixed bridge- serious string bending or no- locking nut or locking tuners or no- ability to file a nut PROPERLY- etc, etc... anything from a straight string path to the tuner to a significant angle can work. Placement needs to be checked to make sure strings dont bind on another tuner however. A near 1/16" slot is for the low E string, but you need a *precise* measurement to know for what gauge string the slot was cut for- Though generally preslotted nuts will take 9's and 10's.

... Yes... but how does titebond "sound"? Tonal spectrum of glue.... who wants to compare the sound of hide/epoxy/pva? haha! I think you can use many pieces of wood as long as the quality of the joint is good. You do want more wood than glue though, or you will be hearing the "glue" instead of the woods.

Use weld on or acetone. This stuff melts the binding (ABS/Nitro) which is how you get that perfect seam. No other glue will look as good. If you use acetone, take small pieces of extra binding and cut them into little bits. Drop the pieces in a small bottle of acetone. Shake the bottle once in a while over several hours or even a day. You want the acetone to turn into a gel from the abs or nitro. Keep adding small amounts of binding until it gels up. Use abs pieces in acetone for abs binding, and use nitro pieces for nitro binding. This stuff sets pretty quickly, so be ready-

Good info in this thread- I only have one thing to add. Spiral cutter bits cost a little more, but make a far cleaner cut than straight bits. Someone "amana"? makes angled cutting flutes pretty cheap as well- but spiral is great. Only thing better is a "compression" bit. It's a double spiral- Look carefully when searching for spiral bits as there are downcut and upcut bits.... Routing using a pattern from the top, you want a downcut spiral. When you cut through the bottom of the body, an upcut spiral is best. The spiral cutter cuts much cleaner with less tearout, but must be used properly for the task. The upcut spiral used on the top of the body, will want to pull wood upward which is bad- You always want to push wood downward INTO the workpiece.... so a downward spiral cutting through the bottom of the body, would push wood out the bottom- hence you WANT the ucut spiral for this. This is where the "compression" bit comes in. 1/2 is downward spiral, then the flutes change direction, and the lower part is an upcut spiral. These can be found in 2" long pattern bits which are perfect to rout full body thickness on a router table. These bits do cost more, but spirals are worth it-

Fender uses 1 single coat of shielding paint- an "acid" brush is really handy for this.

Check Thurston manufacturing in the states- they make sawblades with a number of different arbor sizes. I believe they make the .023 5"-6"inch blade with 1" arbor standard- very cheap too. Too bad you arent in the states.... I'd trade you my 1" for that 5/8".

We have a winner.... This is how jackson really makes em. Long drill bit from the jack to the bridge pup. Carefull, and dont blow through the top or bottom.

I would guess those are the batman inlays others mentioned. If you like em- go for it. I personally dont care for them. BTW.... if you're going to build one... maybe someone should mention its RHOADS

You *want* quartered. Ihocky, myself, and MANY others would disagree with what Adam (newbie with 1 post) stated. I buy flatsawn and resaw and re orient the wood to 2 piece quartersawn necks if I dont do multi layer laminates. You can do a scarf with 3/4", but 1" is preferred because it moves the joint farther down the neck away from the neck to headstock transition. This is important to having a nice clean look since the glue line right in the transition becomes very large and noticable. The main thing, even with 3/4", is to glue the scarf before thinning down the headstock to final thickness, and removing the excess material from the headstock from the underside. This pushes the glue line farther back. If you scarfed 1" wood and removed the excess wood from the headstock from the front side, the glue line would be right in the transition. Get it? Draw it out if you dont, and draw the final headstock thickness if removed back, and if removed front to see the glue line/transition- Another good option for you is the 'alternative' scarf method of glueing the scarfed headstock to the underside of the neck blank and using a headstock veneer to hide the glue line on the front face. It's a perfectly acceptable practice.