Prostheta

Similarly, how feasible is it to use a Dremel tool with a fine (1mm-2mm) bit in a home-made miniature table router jig for fine cutting of shell? Would it be better and/or easier to use a handsaw instead? Just thinking about speeding up the process without losing the results.

Sorry Mike, I haven't gotten around to it yet. I need to saw some wood down to make a few neck blanks, plus my purpleheart is in big old 3' x 4' planks at the moment so I need to work out how I'm cutting it down before nibbling away small bits. My current project is a set neck Explorer to be finished in white, so I'm only working with mahogany and maple right now. I think I'll save the purpleheart for my Dinky.

I cheat slightly sometimes. The jointer gives as true a perpendicular planed edge as it's setup allows (readjust with set-square every time I pop it back on the bench) but even a 100th of a degree can cause (I forget the true word for this) hydroplaning of surfaces under the pressure exerted by clamping for glue. I find you get it less if you lightly rough edges with 80 grit, dampen with a cloth, rough with 120 and then lightly apply glue to both edges, spreading with a credit card for consistency. Waiting a minute before applying both edges and clamping seems to cause a little less shifting when bringing up to pressure. I have no scientific proof of why I do this, or any evidence to say it's better than any other method. It works for me on porous wood like mahogany, and it doesn't seem to cause excessive buildup of glue line. As with anything, your mileage may vary!

I bought a jointer today, and given that I'd rather spend what time I have doing the real handiwork it was worth every penny. All three sets of mahogany blanks I bought from Simo are glued and curing in the workshop right now. Awesome awesome awesome.

Totally the same as thegarehanman. Two sash cramps, and four F-screw clamps. The greaseproof paper is a must also. Much better than chiselling MDF caul scraps off your glue seepage lines! The best thing is that the sash cramps I have are so large, you can pick up the glued piece by the bars and lean it against a wall whilst it's curing. Then you can get on with the next set :-)

Angle grinder! A surprisingly efficient and controllable tool when used to carve contours :-)

Sorry, I'm not usually pedantic but it's spelt FINISH with one N. My wife is Finnish (as in from Finland) so it kind of wicks on me a little, you know. All meant in the best of humour of course!

Done. PM sent. Well, not sent but sent in two minutes if you read this post retrospectively as opposed to me writing it like, right now. Sorry, should have left it at "done". Done. DHL. That'll save me a tidy trip on Saturday as I'm off to the sawmills and my Cougar does like to drink the petrol on these stuff-acquiring excursions.

Link posted in that other flood thread of yours.

Where in the UK are you based? Got to figure collection or shipping on this one....I'm in Lincoln....

I'll take all three off you for £125. *dons asbestos underwear*

For my wife's birthday I've slated a LP build but I'm chambering it and adding a LR Baggs or Graphtec TOM bridge. My wife usually plays a Washburn EA20SDL so I'd like to create a sister :-)

Heh - reminds me in an obscure way about a discussion I had with an aircraft engineer about inflating performance car tyres with inert gases. I say up with Kryton inflated Les Pauls! Sorry, I had the urge for a second. *ahem*

Gurrrrh. I'm too drunk on Finlandia right now to recall my qualifications in electronics. Let this be a lesson to you. Gurrrrh.

Well, rather than me learn through spoon-feeding, let's give it a whirl eh? I'll be sure to let you know how much I mess* up. *f, etc.

If it's wood, then you can - yes. It's basically a method of using water and heat to expand the wood fibres in the dent. Use a wet tissue and a soldering iron. Works nicely on my natural oiled mahogany Explorer, which to be honest, dents whenever you look too hard at it. You may have to sand the swollen wood flat, and the finish (if any) way need retouching. Sorry I haven't any links to a perfect solution, but this one works for me. YMMV.

Agreed. Planer thicknesser/jointer perhaps, but drum sander thicknesser? The buyer must have all the time in the world to churn out guitars. Watch out Ken Lawrence. Somebodies got a thickness sander!!

http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com Ronnie will sell you the full Thunderbird templating for everything - I've just ordered that set myself. You'll find it difficult to acquire a T-Bird body on it's own purely because it never came as a bolt-on, ergo not many people have them apart! Epiphone did a cheaper version as bolt-on IIRC. Nobody has released a CAD file publicly. Oh yes, direct link: http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/Thunderbirdbass.htm

I would agree on the custom shop angle, but if you go to a friendly dealer you can get a hell of a lot of discount off the price. My wife used to deal with ESP for customs, and there's a pretty significant fraction you can take off the cost for dealer profit. Not sure how it works with Jackson. If you want it done badly (as in well, I mean) there are plenty of people who do sterling work on this board who would be more than happy to do the work, but won't pull punches on the sum cost of labour and parts. It's not a cheap job to have done well, but you can easily have it done badly if you don't spunk your cash.

How did you make the purpleheart and maple binding that thin? I'm wondering how to do this myself to be honest, short of relying on the wood binding direct from Stewmac!

I'm melting!!! </wicked witch>

I feel that a matching cap on the head to the body "dampens" the overall effect. If you've gone to the lengths to make it a laminate body and neck with beautiful woods then show them off. Unless it looks gaudy in which case - don't. As far as a the maple burl goes, i'd say "do". Oh yes, howdy-doo neighbouroonie!!

I was thinking more around your tank oscillating in sympathy with some part of your amp. Thing is, 60Hz or multiples thereof are actually closer to B than G. Good to hear your solution was cheaper and simpler. Not as cheap as simple as my car problems I bet!!

I'll second Matt's opinion also. Make a cup of tea (no milk, no sugar thanks), dunk your pickups rings and forget about it for a while.

Sawdust and wood glue worked nicely in guitars where I've moved strap buttons or plugged/drilled new holes from stripped threads. Mix some up with a matchstick and plug it in there something chronic - make sure you don't plug air in there though! The other option would be to open out the hole with a drill and gluing a dowel into the body using wood glue again. One option is prettier and less obvious, the other is plain to see but probably easier to get perfect results.