Desopolis

looks good, any ideas for finish?

Yes, because Les Pauls sound worse than Strats or Teles. That is a ridiculous statement, and something you should not be telling a new poster. Go away, build two identical guitars in all respects apart from neck joint, and then tell us if you can tell a difference, or if one sounds noticeably different tonewise or sustain wise from the other. no need to get testy After sitting in the search for a while I was mistaken, BUT it doesnt overshadow the fact that allthough your correct, there is/was still information out there that glue effects the the sound. I never said it was fact, I said I hear. And its true. there are at least 10 threads on the issue from the threads I found, it seams only if you use to much glue and the pocket is made poorly. Second, if somthing happens its much more dificult to remove and repair. argument there? Digideus, they are talking about a glue in vs a bolt in neck, not a through neck.. witch I would'nt atempt as my first build.. wood is expensive enough eek.. and lastly, I have a $300 squire strat, I have no Idea what the body is made of, maple/rosewood neck a pretty damn good finish and Ive spent some time on it. ALL new electronics, SD hotrails, duckbuckers, and a vintage single coil. New tuners, and I use DR strings. PERSONALY, myself and my friends agree that it sound better then my friends LP custom AND a buddies through neck. its all relitive to whos listening. the sustain is longer and I didnt even have to crank it to 11. lighten up!

I was recently told by my guitar teacher that had used a ebony fretboard and would leave black crap all over his hands and felt chalky... I love the darkness, and I might just blacken some rosewood if that really is the case for ebony.. anyone on here contribute?

Building on a budget. So I wanted to keep this post as informative as possible, in some kind of tutorial kind of way. First, I have been reading ALOT. I got Hiscocks book and read it all through, I’ve read all 21 pages of the strat build and everyone else’s builds on this site. I've been over the tutorials like mad and finally I started on my own. Here's my best attempt to record what I was doing.. I wish I had someone with me because some parts I just did without thinking, and they could of taken pictures.. I’ll try and remember the best I can. Tools: This is a picture of the hand tools I’m using/bought at harbor freight. I got there, and went mad.. Chisel set File set handled sander Planer mini planer surform Exacto knifes(had) Microform(that long handled thing in the middle) straight edge/right angle random pliers and clippers(had) small screwdrivers(had) Alan wrenches(for the truss rod) Blue painters tape titebond original glue Good quality masks gloves paint scraper/straight edge piece. paper for notes and about a billion clamps, ranging from 4” C clamps to 24” ratchets What you don’t see is my random orbital sander, table saw(had), Corded hand drill(had) safety glasses(still cant find them) I've spent a little over $120 for all the things I didn’t already have What I still need I long straight edge.. *** was I doing without one a flat right angle(its almost impossible to lay the one I have flat on the wood and draw lines.) Router, with standard straight bits and a roundover bit for the edges First a looked over my 8” x 2” x 50” piece of swamp ash. Mine had a bit of tearout on one edge, the other side is rough. one edge has a slope edge of some sort . I then used my full size printout ( from auto cad, I just cut and pasted till it was perfect) to figure the dimensions I would need and how much wood it would take. I figured 19.5 in length and 14” wide, although 1.5” off the edges, a little close to my design.. but perfect none the less. I measured the edges the best I could( board wasn’t perfectly square) and then used a piece of painters tape to mark the cut line. What this does is highlight the line, and if I start to see any blue dust I know I’m not cutting straight I set it up to be cut down the edge with tear off, the slice piece, and the 19.5 half line. pic and yes I have 5 toes, I just happened to be popping one at the moment of the picture. I then grabbed all my pieces and went out to the garage. This garage one had about 4k in car parts(engines, rear ends, race parts) and a variety of tools. All of that was taken out to the dump by the idiot contractor my landlord hired to put in a new door and side the garage. Thus one reason I’m moving in December. pic Here you can see my setup, but with the metal cutting blade still attached and no straight edge on.. Gotta love metal work. pic Someone had stolen my special extension cord(non ground) as this old garage had one outlet, the lightbulb. I had one of those outlet bulbs and it didn’t have a ground. So I thought I was done for the night pic suddenly I found a different one while searching my basement and ran back out to the garage. I changed the blade, cleaned everything up and started cutting. pic ash and maple all cut. now this part I didn’t take pictures off but Ill do the best I can. If you’ve never been taught how to use a hand planer your not alone. Neither had I. I had always used a GIANT belt sander or a thickness planer in my school workshop. this was new to me. so you don’t make the mistakes I did Ill give what I did. By no means am I a expert BUT I did get the job done. First, if your planers new like mine it will already be half setup, but if your like me you’ll try and figure out how it works and throw it all off. The dial on the back controls blade height, and the lever on the back controls angle. Don’t jack with anything else. especially the screw on the front, it will loosen the blade and you’ll end up confused like me why your planing at a 20 degree angle with the lever at zero. check the blade angle by setting it out kind of deep, then use a right angle or straight edge against the body of the underside of the planer, retract the blade until one side is against the straight edge. then using the lever adjust the blade angle until its flush. this may not be correct, but it worked for me. The deeper the blade, the more wood comes off. and the quicker results are achieved. its also quicker to jack it all up and be ¼ into the wood. So for a newb set the blade shallow and do a lot of passes. I tried planing the boards individually, and got good results. I simply ran the planer along the board pulling up shavings. then I put the two edges together and could see light..(ok so it wasn’t that good of results) I then wrestled this problem for about 30mins before deciding to put the two edges flat on the ground, then clamp them together. after that I just planed the edges together until little or no shavings were coming up. perfect pic I then took it all inside. I used the titebond on one piece, and stuck the two together on a flat board. I used to much glue but *** it was my first time. anyway.. clamp the ends and the middle, try to keep the top and bottom at least half way equal as the thickness planer will fix any problems, but the less wood I have to eat the better. I wiped up the excess with a dry paper towel, flipped it, wiped that edge and set it to stand until Friday pic I then wet the maple(because its STILL warped to hell) put a block on top and clamped the hell out of it. I know someone said to use sticks and everything, and I know I should, but I don’t have that stuff yet. pic I then went to take a shower and my roommate had just taken one and our crappy tub was full of his grime.. so I waited until morning.. Avoid sleeping with saw dust in any way possible. and I cant stress enough how the mask and gloves saved my allergies. Two weeks ago I was playing around and filed a bit of a maple neck that got beat up, later I thought I was dying.. be safe, wear a mask, wear gloves, and eye protection.

arrrg.. im going to sleep now, but im posting a "tutorial" kind thing tomarrow.. one pic to go off with.

welcome, first Id start at www.projectguitar.com and read the tutorials.. then I would go into the finish tutorial section on this website.. it also sounds like you've eaten alot of the finish and may need to start over.. www.reranch.com has a good startign point as well. Good Luck!

4/4 means four quarter.. so 5/4 means 1 and 1/4 of a inch thick and so on. 13 is a bit expensive.. maybe its just me.. I can get a body blank for 45. maybe that works out right... dunno...

my first neck will be a bolt on.. I hear alot of tone issues between the wood/glue thing.. plus if I jack it up I can just undo it. personaly, as far as woodworking goes, I see it to be easyer with a bolt on..

the only one I have now is my Squire that I bastardized.. Hot rails, duckbuckers and a vintage single coil.. kinda lost that "strat" feel in some parts, so I brought the single coil back. the best Ive ever played was a flipped SG. good stuff.

SRV knew ALOT of theroy and is one of my biggest influences.. I learn alot of the scales and all the chords, i just can remember the names. or how they relate... pisses my teacher off, but I learn his lesson in 10 minutes and add my own flare to it.

ha! yeah I read all of your thread... my issue is the fact that im starting this weekend, i want to be done with the body and neck by the end of september or early october.. Then Ill experiment and start finishing.. But I move the 3d week of December to Texas... and I want to have it cured by then.. eek. allthough my area is much smaller(just the pickguard will have this much depth.. maybe the neck) the rest will be a stained laq finish over swamp ash..

seven months?!? jesus.. I ment "3d" because no matter how I take pictures, that "3d" look to some flamed maple never comes out in pictures like it does in person. awesome finish though..

thats the exact color I want for my pick guard. let me get this straight, you did a red/blackish stain sanded it back so it was just in the grain, then individual coats of red/brown/yellow? im confused.. have a reall 3D view to it?

there is a thread in the announcments area, go there, post pics and a description, then the entrys are closed and a vote thread is opened..

fenders are not maple. They are Swamp Ash(50's) or Alder. the necks are usually maple. a maple body will give a very bright tone.. for what your trying Id go with a Mahogany body, and if you want to see the grain a maple(flamed or quilted) top. that will be alittle more dificult becuase if you jack up the top its more expensive.. personaly, for you id do this: Mahogany body, solid color either a Quarter sawn maple or laminate neck, rosewood or ebony(expensive) fret board. you can get a pre slotted and radiused at stew mac. 7 string bridge locking tuners cut your own nut Seymour Duncan Humbuckers.. alittle $$$ but Im in love with them. Varitone switch, 5 way switch, and a volume.. output jack.

hiscock is sitting on my floor right next to my work.. good book, and points everything out, allthough the spelling and grammar errors look like he wrote it in a AIM message.. maybe its the whole US UK color spelling thing..

I have a fealing Ill be using surforms and rasps for my neck, I could just see me digging a ditch in the maple.

the next pedal I get is this: http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=123 I had a MT-2 and a OS-2 that got stolen.. its like 200-300 and has almost every boss pedal in it.. I was a bit skeptical of it untill I sat at GC and set up the pedals in loop and compared.. pretty damn close if not dead on..

how important is a spokeshave when allready using surforms and planes?

OK Been a while, but heres a bit of a update.. I showed up home from work today and saw this: WOOT! http://www.desopolis.com/guitar/ash.jpg 8" x 2" x 50" peice of swamp ash from a distributor in Cali.(no longer mentioning names after "the controversy") piece is awesome! much larger then I need.. alittle tear out but plenty of wood to get arround that.. 3 times my body height in the length of the board.. http://www.desopolis.com/guitar/ashbody.jpg I love the grain, and thats exactly what I wanted out of it.. Plus I think a white stain will look awesome on this. I printed a full size drawing and taped it all together. heres it next to my strat: http://www.desopolis.com/guitar/bodys2.jpg I forgot to buy LARGE clamps when I attacked harbor freight, so I'll have to get them later this week. Im thinking Ill cut it with my table saw, glue and clamp it, let it dry all week, then get my neck piece, maple, and the body blank planed at a local place, then have them bandsaw the body.. I could do it with a jigsaw.. but what the hell its $5 http://www.desopolis.com/guitar/woodpile.jpg current status

If I remimber correctly, AL was the guy who drilled them allitle off to the side, so everyone suggested a different piece of wood.. either way I like it.

a copy of my email > To whome it may concern, > > Recently I purchased a smaller piece of AAAAA quilted > maple (9" x 24" x 5/8") > and the customer service was great, she found a piece > that suited my needs and was very simple.. > sadly though the quality of the board when it arived > was not as great. > The grain of the wood was not what I had assumed was > 5A based on your website and a few others, I took > pictures and compared them. This I can live with, and > have learned a lesson about buying wood without seeing > it. > The main issue is the level of warping in the wood. It > is twisted like a ribbon and I dont know if I can > straighten it. > I set it on a flat surface, one side twists up at > least 1/2"(enough for my finger to go under) and the > other side at least 1/4" > > Currently I dampened the bends in the wood and clamped > it to a flat surface, then applied roughly 80lbs of > workout weights on top in a attempt to straighten it. > Monday I will check to see how flat it is. > > I dont know what to expect from you, but I asked on > the guitar forum Im on what to do, and the average > response was to contact you on the issue. > Http://www.desopolis.com/guitar/warped.jpg > Http://www.desopolis.com/guitar/quilted1.jpg > > any thing would help..

Sara, First, the word "scrap" never came out of my mouth in our discussion. I said I didnt need a full length board(most of yours are a few feet in length) or a body blank(2" thick and usually 24x14) I said in the end I needed a 9 x 9 x 1/4 piece for my project. You told me that you didnt have anything that was 1/4 thin. I said anything would work really, as I could allways just cut it. I was going to take the fact that I would have to buy a full size board from you. You told me you'd go look. You called me back, said you had a perfect piece for me, that was 9x24x5/8, 5A and had a "uniuque" figure to it. I said perfect! you also told me you had a $10 processing fee, and shipping wouldnt be that bad as you could USPS it.(and it wasnt, $13 isnt that bad) I accepted that fact, because I ordered a 7x2x48 piece of swamp ash for the same price as this board only 20 minutes before first calling you. and also had to pay more in shipping then purchase price. The end result was what I got. the Twist was not discussed, and if it were, I would of simply asked you to cut me a 4/4 piece and went with that. EVEN THOUGH I DIDNT NEED THAT MUCH. You were very friendly on the phone, and very helpfull. I thank you for making a effort to help me, also how quickly lewis responded to my e-mail. I am not attacking you or your company. You cary many pieces that are of superior quality and your customer service was very helpfull. That being said, the piece I recived was questionable to what we discussed, and what I could use. The piece must be flat, and honestly looking at a edge of this wood, I can see the side and both faces. YOU DID charge me 4/4 BF rate. actually Alittle less, I got .8ishBF and you charged me for .7. I was disapointed and didnt know really what to do in this situation.. if you notice the title, I asked what to do. and the awsner was to contact your company and search a resolution. In my e-mail I even said I asked on a forum what to do. lewis responded very quickly, so quick in fact I couldnt call him back from work I was so busy. You can see his response^^^ Ill wait untill monday and see how the piece looks He also said, that the piece I recived SHOULDNT of been sold to me, and that you just found it somewhere and I agreed that you were trying to help. I NEVER came in a attempt to bash you or your familys company, I simply asked other builders what they would do in this situation. and as you can see, I did exactly that. I should of asked for a picture, or you should of said it was twisted, or I should of asked for a standard piece,or you should of said it wasnt possible, or I should of asked here first, or or or.. heindsight is allways 20/20 the biggest companys in the world let out a few bad products, its how they handle the situation that is the measure. and yours has done very well. I havent left anything out, or changed the story.. and come on its only a $28 piece of wood. I just dont like lighting $42 on fire.

That would be awesome!

yeah I did, he said try flattening mine first. if not Ill ask for a 9" 4/4 1' or 2' board... i figure he can cut that...