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RGman

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Posts posted by RGman

  5. Newbs First Batch Of Swirls

    in In Progress and Finished Work

    Posted

    I just finished my first batch of swirls,and would appreciate some feedback

    I uploaded the ones that didn't fail miserably,of which there were many.As you can see, i have along way to go, and as i sit typing this i realise the advice that everyone on the forum gives is practice practice practice ,and then practice some more, is appropriate!.

    To begin

    I primed black and scuff sanded 10 scrap pallets.

    3 only on one side,I wanted to see the difference the base coat made.Photo Labeled #3 is the swirl on raw wood.

    for the strawberry shake swirl

    I used Benjamin Moore Alkyd Enamel red , yellow/cream and grey All puchased as mis tints from a local paint store, and a garden variety paint thinner to dilute. (I know that the tutorial says to use paint time extender,but doesnt that just delay the drying time? not actually thin the paint?)

    I had major problems with the yellow and grey being too heavy and running off the pallet when i pulled it out of the water.

    But the red worked perfectly.

    I mixed the red and yellow to get pink and that worked perfectly the first time.

    After the first batch of the Strawberry swirl i never got the light colors to work again.

    After that I bought a pint of Blue Varathane plastic enamel.I wanted to do a blue red, purple swirl, however Even as I write this i still cant get the blue to work on its own.I started thing maby the borax mix was wrong for the plastic enamel,

    but when I mixed it with the red the purple is a monster.

    I am still getting streaks, and i still don't think the paint is vibrant enough. I assume this has to do with the type of paint? or the finish? not sure if anyone knows i'd appreciate any insight.

    so its back to the drawing board for now,I will post more when i do my next batch.I want to get some more colors and try priming a solid white.I also have an old jackson body laying around i am itching to dunk then the Jem replacement body!!

    http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s153/shrly2/

    W

    Sorry man, not that great..either too busy or and not bright enough, though i don't blame your skills..just the materials used.

    My tips:

    Use better paints, oil based paints (Humbrol model paint works well)

    Don't use black as a base coat. (Stick to light colours, such as pastel greens and whatnot.)

    Once you have done this, practice controlling your swirls, with a bit of practice you can get the paint to go where you want it and to do what you want it to do.

  10. Average Age Of Pg'ers

    in Put it to a vote

    Posted · Edited by RGman

    I fit in between the 18-20 group, though i feel old today as my right knee plays up in cooler weather, thanks to slamming my knee into a tree when the forks on my yz426 bottomed out after a slight jump, a few years back.

  16. Wood Selections

    in Acoustic and Hollowbody Guitar Chat

    Posted

    Thanks for the info Rich :D

    I will be using different radius' for the top and backs, i may even try and make my own dishes, no harm in trying i guess.

    I have a thickness sander that i borrowed from a friend for this build, though i think i can get but my backs and sides thicknessed to 2.5mm and sikta thicknessed to 3mm.

    The first things i will be doing will be making all of my moulds, jigs, templates, side bender, bar press, radius dishes etc, which of course will help with the current and future acoustics.

    Thanks for the help!

  17. Wood Selections

    in Acoustic and Hollowbody Guitar Chat

    Posted

    Also, after skip reading Kinkeads book, i cannot remember it saying anything about radius dishes etc...

    But i assume you would need a radius sanding dish for the backs of the braces, and a bar press contraption for glueing the braces and forming the arched shape of the soundboard and back?

    Just working out what i need to buy/make.

    RGman

  18. Wood Selections

    in Acoustic and Hollowbody Guitar Chat

    Posted

    I think you would do well with any of the back and side woods you mentioned. My recommendation would be to go with the one that looks best to you. As for the soundboard wood. You have have some woods that tend to be stiffer and some a little less(Sitka is generally stiffer than say Western Red Cedar). You will need to adjust how thick the soundboard is and your bracing to suit whichever you use. I am not familiar with Kinkeads book. Does it give you some general rules of thumb for thicknessing and bracing differnt types of wood? If the information is pretty non specific, then I may lean tward a Sitka(probably the most commonly use top wood). Most all woods will make a good sounding guitar. You will learn to refine your methods to make improvements over time(this is more like icing on the cake, maybe 20 small changes make a slightly notable change). If you use the basic recipe from your book and build well. You will be very happy with the overall sound.

    Peace,Rich

    Yeah Kinkeads book has a bit about thicknessing tops, backs and sides and has thickness recommendations for different woods.

    I think i may go with a Sikta top and QLD walnut or Indian Rosewood back and sides.

    :D

  20. Wood Selections

    in Acoustic and Hollowbody Guitar Chat

    Posted · Edited by RGman

    I have decided on my project for this year, an Acoustic! i felt like a challenge and so i bought Kinkeads book and decided it would be great fun to build my own acoustic. It will be based on the plans in the back of Kinkeads book.

    So, being an acoustic newbie, I need someone to give me a hand with wood selection, mostly i need to know what sounds good and what works with which top etc...

    Here are my choices from ALS

    Back and Sides:

    Australian Black Acacia Sets

    Indian Rosewood Acoustic Sets

    New Guinea Rosewood (Narra) Sets

    Queenland Walnut Acoustic Sets

    Queensland Maple Acoustic Sets

    African Mahogany Acoustic Sets

    Sound Board:

    European Spruce Tops

    Sitka Spruce Tops

    Western Red Cedar Tops

    Australian Bunya Pine Tops

    Australian Kauri Pine Tops

    Some of this woods are cheap, some are not.

    I personally like the look of the Queensland Walnut and the Indian Rosewood, nice and strain grain, minimal or no flame and it's fairly cheap (which is good, seeing as it's my first acoustic)

    The rest of timber i will be using:

    -African Mahogany or Queensland Maple neck.

    -Indian Rosewood fretboard and bridge

    I hope to purchase my timber in the next few weeks, so i can get started on something (my weekends are getting boring with nothing to do :D)

    RGMAN.

  23. Kelly

    in In Progress and Finished Work

    Posted

    Hey metalwarrior, where did you get those woods from?

    + costs!

    Oh and NICE fretboard!

    I am in the process of ruining the inlays with the engraving :D

    I printed out the skulls in all different sizes for gluing to the pearl and to get the pattern for the engraving.

    The original picture looks pretty badass IMO but when I did the engraving it just looks like the skull is smiling and having a good time - which doesn't fit the metal look I'm going for.

    I got the fingerboard blanks from a place in the city called FretCo ($40 each for the ebony and birds eye maple). I since realised StewMac sells slotted, radiused boards for less than half the price.

    FretCo doesn't sell woods for necks and bodies, but they recommended a place called Otto's which is off Magill Rd, Stepney (I think it's on Ann St.). The poplar bodies are $66, and the necks range from $40 to $70. All their neck woods are much longer than any other place I've seen. As for body woods, last time I was there they had a piece of mahogany that was about $130 as well as some woods I have never heard of. All the blanks were about the same dimensions, which is slightly smaller than you would need for a real Kelly or Flying V.

    If you head out that way, you might also want to check out a place on Magill Rd. called Mik International. They have high quality tools that you won't find at bunnings.

    That's where I got the ebony stain from. I also got some coloured dyes from there as well as Rustin's Plastic coating, which I will be using to finish the guitar.

    I bought this off eBay for AU$25 including postage

    434943Cypress%20DropTop35_1.JPG

    Here is a pic of the shell I bought:

    http://www.hugeuploads.net//images/559527DSCF1134-Pearl.jpg

    The pieces on the left were purchased from FretCo about 4 years ago, you can see the prices still on there.

    I got the other shell off eBay - 50 Pieces MOP (32 x 16 x 1.5) $30 & 100 Inches Paua Purfling (25 x 3.17 x 1.3) $41

    I had some problems with some of the MOP splitting when I was cutting it, but since this is the first time I've used pearl I don't know if it was bad quality or if pearl always does that sort of thing. To do the entire fretboard took less than 10 pieces of the MOP & I still have more than half of the abalone left.

    The main expense is the tools.

    Thanks, those prices from fretco are wayyy to expencive for an unslotted board.

    I have never been to Otto's although i have been recomended to them before, what is their service like etc...?

    I will check out the tool shop, sounds great.

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