Acousticraft

Ideally the neck should push in snugly and be tight enough to stay in place without the screws. Certainly you dont want to have to sand them every time. When you seal the pocket it stands the grain up so that will make it tighter.

I have a colleagues Epi LP guitar for repair. It had no output and was humming and the first thing I thought of when he explained the problem was the output jack earth wire broken and that turned out to be correct. Probably due to a crappy plastic plate to mount the jack to which had cracked. I found an old plastic electrical switch cover and made up another jack plate to sit under the original to stiffen it up. I had always thought Epiphones would have been reasonable quality but when I removed the cavity covers I discovered a few things. The body is not Mahogany like a Gibson but some very light coloured wood and is stained to make it look like Mahogany on the outside. It is made of four pieces of wood across the back and three on the thickness. Obviously they glue all the offcuts together to get more bodies out of them. So not including the cap there is twelve pieces of wood plus the two for the Maple? top. I dont know whether it is Maple or been cleverly airbrushed to make it look like it is. They never even thickness sanded it properly as the joins are obvious even though the lacquer job is OK. Inside the control cavity there is no shielding apart from an aluminium strip that sits under one pot and runs up to connect to the cover which also has aluminium foil glued to it. The shielding on the wires are so tiny compared to the Stew Mac wiring they supply. I am frankly disappointed at the quality of this guitar and if I was Gibson I would be uncomfortable to sell stuff like this. I dont think us as home builders, are doing too bad when I look at the quality of this. They are still quite an expensive guitar too here in NZ.

Looks like the air consumption of the gun matches the compressor nicely. What size needle has it got? For lacquer you need around 1.8mm.

I cant tell from the photos but I am assuming the fret board edge is straight when you sight down it. From what I can see the string looks OK as far as distance from the finger board edge, should be about 3mm. Is it slipping off when you are doing bends or just normal playing? If some of the fret edges have been excessively bevelled back that can cause the problem as well.

Man thats cool. I wish i could play half as good as that. Nice Ibanez Gem as well.

Heres the link to the Vox demo on You tube. What an amazing amp with all the sounds you dial up on this puppy. Theres also another video featuring the Vox Valvetronix ADVT15-100 Chrome series.

They are not as comfortable to play without a radius IMHO.

No only join by soldering so there is no resistance in the wire. Put some shrink wrap sleeve over the join and use a heat source like a cigarette lighter to shrink the insulation over the join. Makes a much more professional job than tape. You should be able to get that from any auto supplies store.

There are three wires . An earth wire, red and white. For normal humbucking you just tape off the end of the white wire and connect the red and earth. For coil cut you then use the white wire and connect it thru an on/on mini switch. so connected to the switch end terminals are the red and white with a common out from the centre. Check out the digram. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_p...GE.html#details I have one of my guitars set up with two mini switches for single coil operation or a combination.

Sounds like fret buzz. Is it on the open strings or when fretted in a particular place. If it has been ok previously it may need a minor truss rod adjustment to give it some curve (relief) in the neck. Changing seasons can affect the moisture takeup or loss in the neck making it expand slightly or shrink. So a minor adjustment probably quarter turn of the nut may be all that is needed.

The main thing to look at is to make sure the air consumption of the spray gun you get is less than what the compressor can deliver. So in realistic terms you will probably need a minimum of a 2.5HP compressor most likely.

Give me a red Gibson 335 because they are so versatile. Everything from Jazz to Heavy rock and all else in between.

When I made my first acoustic using "The Steel String Guitar" book by David Russell Young (Out of print) the plan for making templates for the sides are shown in the book. It gives a nice curve to the back when viewed from the side which of course makes the body stiffer. I marked the shape on the sides before they were bent and once bent, cut and sanded them before they were clamped in the mould. Worked brilliantly.

Because it is loose and not locked in place, it may resonate when under string tension and playing low notes. That is something you dont want.

Those sides look like Sapele with those stripes running through it? I never bothered with a dish as such. I made some sheet-metal radius templates 20' and 25' radius. I cant remember if those are the correct radius es as it years since I originally made them. I made the braces and sanded them to the radius of the template. 25' for the soundboard and 20' for the back? I cut out and sanded a couple of thick MDF strips with the matching internal radius sanded in them. I notched them so when they are put together they made an X to match the X bracing on the other side. I used them to clamp the glued X brace and soundboard to to pull into into the correct radius. With this setup you could still use a go bar type flexible sticks to clamp it down if you had a low ceiling over your bench. Those long plastic garden stakes you can buy would be perfect for the job. I can see how those radius dishes and go bars would speed up gluing but they aren't essential. Once the X brace is glued down the sound board is pretty much the right shape

There is a book I used when I started "The Steel String Guitar" It had a white cover and was written by David Russell Young. I looked on the web and it is now out of print but "Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar" by Jonathon Kinkhead seemed to have a good review from lots of people on amazon. Anyway "The Steel String Guitar" it is a fantastic book as it has plans and patterns and measurements for every bit of the guitar and is easy to follow. The first thing you need is to make a mould so you can clamp you sides in once bent so the guitar ends up the correct shape. This is fully explained in the book as well. I found the book in our local city library and that set me off on my guitar building obsession I seem to have now, about 7yrs ago.

Those other nuts listed are not flat bottomed so that is where the problem is. I am assuming the nut slot is flat at the base? I always use blanks then you can space the slots to suit your final neck width which in my case doesn't always work out exactly what I planned it to be. I just come in 3mm from each edge of the fingerboard and space it out equally 5 times with a pair of dividers between those marks. That way if you are slightly wider or narrower you can compensate easily and it doesn't matter.

If you have you marked out the tuner placement on you plan as I mentioned before, then you can use a scriber and put your pattern on your headstock and mark it through into the wood.

I would use brass as it want rust and gives good sustain. You should be able to get some brass flat bar from a Hardware or Engineering supplies store and cut it to required length.

Obviously the slot for the truss rod has been cut too long and too deep by the sound of if it is moving back and forward/up down like that. It cant be a curved single action as it wouldn't work in that state so it is either aluminium channel type or Hotrod that hasn't been fitted correctly. Is this a neck you have bought or you have made? I would be sending it back if you bought it. I personally would be concerned if the truss rod is moving around like that. It should be locked in place and shouldn't move.

Is it 6 a side or 3x3 layout? I assume you have a template the shape of the headstock made up. Then you mark you string spacing at the nut and position your tuners so you have clearance for each each string past each tuner. If you have an odd shape headstock then the distance from the edge may vary. The golden rule for successful guitar building is to make templates for all parts by drawing everything full size so you know precisely it all works before you cut any wood or drill any holes. It also makes it much simpler in your mind how it all fits together.

It is better to get it fitting perfectly before you glue it on. Mark a centre line on the finger board and on the neck so you can line the two up perfectly. Mark down each side of the neck on the back of the fingerboard with a scriber to get an accurate shape. Then you can cut off the excess waste and plane down to your scribed line until you have a neat fit. You can do your inlays next and work your spacing off the centreline and sand smooth with a radius block. What I do is clamp the fingerboard down so it fits perfectly and use 4 brass thumb tacks with the heads snipped off with side cutters for locating pins. Put one of the thumb tacks in a drill and drill 2 holes each, in the first fret slot and up at the 20th fret about 10mm from each edge. Drill through the fingerboard into the neck and you have accurate locating for you fingerboard when you glue it. Take off the fingerboard and drive the thumb tacks into the neck with the points upwards. Check that they are deep enough so they are below the level of the fret slot. Apply glue thinly to both surfaces and spread it with your finger so it is all thinly covered. Then align the fingerboard with the pins and push it on by hand and check the fit. If all is aligned properly lightly clamp until you see squeeze out at the edges. I have a clamping jig made up the shape of the fingerboard and with a thin strip of timber the length of the fingerboard down each edge so the clamping pressure is at each edge and not in the middle of the fingerboard. Use 5-6 clamps down the fingerboard. Use cardboard under the clamps on the neck so it doesn't mark it. You can drill and fit your side markers once the glue is dry.

It has been designed as an American Strat that can do other things not just a modelling guitar. The demo is darn impressive and it would be great for gigging when you want some different guitar sounds without having extra guitars.

Is your compressor from Guitar fetish?

The windings from the pic looking down on the pickup look like they are loose and have not been wound or wax potted properly. I wouldn't accept a pickup that is not perfect. Send it back for a replacement. What brand are they as a matter of interest?