PeteBuchan

My wood supplier sells lime if you still want that - he is really cheap. http://scottish-hardwoods.com/ He's not really a guitar specialist, but he has a big store of the common scottish hardwoods, which if you ask for a nice piece, he'll pick out a section without knots etc. I live 10 miles from him so I just drive along, but he has a pretty quick postal service. He has a 100% positive rating on his ebay shop. Here's an example of his olive ash: I should probably put his address in the suppliers section? Pete

The plastic strat type ones will be easy to drill to size. You only really need to remove the splines from the inside of the knob and no more. If you drill slightly too big, you can just push a flat headed screwdriver into the slot in the pot shaft and lever them apart a little until they grip the inside of the knob. Pete

Back to something someone said earlier, people who make radio controlled aeroplanes make the wings from balsa frames and cover these with tissue paper. They then brush on this stuff called 'dope' and as it dries, it stretches the paper pretty tight. I'm pretty sure you could make your own from watered down PVA glue, but I'm not sure how much a fabric would tighten since it is woven. It would have to be stretched beforehand and use the 'dope' to make it rigid. Might be worth doing a google search for some model supplies.... Pete

Ive recently put the tele texas special pickups in my ash tele and it does indeed sound excellent. I find it to be a little cutting at times, but you can always play with the tone control to take away some of the trebbles. Pete

The wd one is much better - they have the cts pots, which are really good. No crackles when you turn them. The other pots don't look like cts ones. I've used the switch that the crazy train kit uses and have had problems with the contacts in it. The wd kit, however, uses the same switch used in american fenders and has a much better capacitor. The output socket is also a really good, reliable one. If I were you, I'd be buying the wd kit. One thing to watch with it is that the cts pot shafts have slightly larger diameters to standard pots. This means you either have to drill out your current knobs, or get the ones with the little grub screw. Pete

I have completed the tele. Got a new neck on there since the last one was bent and couldnt be straightened by the rod, or by applying weights etc. I also came across this nice picture. Its one taken of my other guitar before it was sprayed. You'll notice my clever routes to keep the wiring nice and tidy. The pickup wires go along a channel routed under the top laminate, from the neck pickup to the electrics cavity. This meant the pickups had to be screwed to the body. As you'll see from other pictures i got rid of that idea and went along the traditional fender route as i was having issues lining up the pickups with the holes on the plate. Now they are just screwed directly onto the plate.... Construction picture And i see my other picture links have died so i'll fire them in here.... First one with sunburst First one complete First one - other angle Tele with sunburst I'm going to have to start selling some of my guitars soon, but I keep liking what i make. I'll have to make another tele and another 'custom' one and keep the one I like best, and sell the other Pete

I'm from north of Aberdeen, although I live in Aberdeen through the week while i'm at university. I'm going to see if they have any woodworking facilities I could make use of My supplier is a random place called 'Grampian Powertools' in Aberdeen. They have a catalogue which they order stuff from. They use all the pieces with knots for the turners, and keep all the nice bits for sound wood. Not sure what catalogue they have, but has a fair range in it. As for my body wood, I go to a farm near my house up north. His Website His stuff isn't really soundwood, but the wood for both those bodies came from his place. I think he has a mail order service too. Pete

Cheers, I'll have a look at that. Pete

I've only lacquered 4 guitars, but that sounds pretty thorough and should work nicely. One thing I would add is to leave it for ages before you rub it down and polish it. I used cellulose and left my guitars to hang in an airing cupboard for a month before rubbing down and polishing. Lets the lacquer harden properly. As for violin, I quite fancy the idea of making an electric. I'm a grade 5 violinist and used to play scottish dance music back in the day. I reckon my band could find a use for a violin somewhere. Our singer also has grade 5. What did you use for electronics? I'm going to research this I'm having issues amplifying my acoustic violin. More than 80 years old. Sounds really nice, even with the cheap-o strings i used to use. Might find it and see if I can still play it Pete

Which would be the best solution? or even a mix of more than one? My wood source does sell ebony neck laminates, of 2x48 inch with a choice of widths 1/4, 1/2 and full inch thicknesses. How is lacewood for necks? It looks like it might have a pretty cool grain for the outer laminates, but I'm not really too sure about strength of it... Scotland is amazing.....Think tonight is going to be the first of the zero degree nights. Its gonna be cold till june now!

The truss rod definately isn't too tight...I unscrewed it completely by mistake trying to get rid of the bend. Its not the neck angle I don't think, you can see exactly where the bend is when you look along the length of the board. As for more pictures, I have a picture of them both including necks, but the first one doesn't have pickups installed. More Picturage That does expose the colour of the finish I applied initially. I went for a yellow solid colour but after seeing how the tele turned out, I had to strip the paint back and start again. I just left the pickup routes yellow and sprayed over them with the tinted lacquer. I'm going to try my hand at making a neck next time. I reckon a through body is likely after having found a local source of maple and padauk. I fancy making a 12 string electric. Would one truss rod be sufficient if i were to use 9 guage strings?

I've been lingering about here for a while and decided to actually post something for a change. I started a few years ago with a saga kit, and recently bought Melvin Hiscock's book about building electric guitars. Fantastic book it is. Anyway, on with my first creation..... This is a shape I came up with, along the lines of a strat, but a bit more diagonal. Specs are as follows: Body: 2 piece scottish ash Neck: Fender mex with rosewood board Finish: Cellulose Pickups: Fender texas specials Tuners: American fender Bridge: Random through body hard tail Scratchplate: Made from some 5 ply I got from a jewellers Some pictures of it in it's current state: Picture of Body Picture of body contours I've played a few gigs with it and it sounds pretty good. Really bright sounding and a lot of definition. Needs setting up properly but other than that I'm really happy with it. My second guitar is a tele copy. Body: 2 piece scottish olive ash with 2 large tone chambers Neck: Tokai strat neck Finish: Cellulose Pickups: Fender texas special teles Tuners: wilkinson aged Bridge: Random steel ash tray style with 6 individual saddles Tele during spraying process Tele with parts in position tele - showing finish I hollowed out some pretty big chambers along the same lines as the thinline tele, but not at the side with the electrics. At the moment the bridge is running with the strings going through the bridge, but it can operate as a through body. Do you reckon I should convert to through body? The neck was perfectly straight but when i strung it up, it seems to have develloped a bend in the opposite direction to the bend whoich occurs when the strings are tentioned. So even with the strings at standard tuning, there is still a bend meaning there is a LOT of fret buzz. One of my friends is a guitar tech at a local music shop and is going to try clamping it so hopefully i'll get it sorted pretty soon. Thats about it for now Pete