Jump to content

Woodenspoke

Veteran Member
  • Posts

    1,281
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Woodenspoke last won the day on April 7 2012

Woodenspoke had the most liked content!

About Woodenspoke

  • Birthday 09/09/1957

Profile Information

  • Location
    Loveland Colorado
  • Interests
    I have been a woodworker and luthier for over 35 years professionally and as a hobbyist. I worked on 48th street in NYC in the late 70's with the likes of Ken Parker the founder of Parker Guitars. <br /><br />My luthier interests are only a small portion of my woodworking skills. I have run production shops (not in the luthier field) and designed production tools for small companies in need. <br /><br />I have also worked in the business machine field as well as in IT (Computer support) for several Major publishing companies. <br /><br />I have well equipped shop able to produce anything from fine furniture to production runs of instruments. I am moving to metal work to round off my skill set as a builder of guitars and to learn tooling production as evident by the fret bender I sell on eBay (now sold by LMI not available on ebay).<br /><br />I have started selling guitar parts only because I believe the guitar industry is already saturated with enough builders. I hope to someday move from eBay to a more suitable web prescience and offer the same products at a more reasonable price point.<br /><br />George Brown<br />Pennington Luthier Supply<br />PLS

Recent Profile Visitors

2,339 profile views

Woodenspoke's Achievements

Mentor

Mentor (12/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Posting Machine Rare
  • Conversation Starter
  • Week One Done

Recent Badges

2

Reputation

  1. If you doing dot inlays you need to spend the money on good brad point drill bits. Standard brad point bits are garbage. I have used Lee Valley brand with good success. I never use my dot drill bits on anything else in my shop. You can buy them individually in English or metric sizes. The run out on your drill press should also be minimal, if you dont know what this is or how to check it you are already in trouble. I always prep dot inlays while the board is in a raw state with the frets cut. The layout is scratched into the board along with a center line. With a good ruler and an awl I make a small hole in the proper position, small hole Then I use a fence on my drill press to make sure everything lines up. The fence not the hole is the center line, the whole is the distance between two frets. Double dots will need the fence readjusted two more times. The side of the board I used for fret cutting and marking is always against the fence. If I make a mistake I can adjust the taper of the fret board a bit but I have never had to do this on my own work. Keep the side you are marking from labeled or put several small saw cuts in the other side on waste wood as a marker. Dots do come in standard or undersized. If you are doing maple never buy undersized dots.
  2. Changing paer is a pain +1. even harder if you buy uncut rolls like I do.
  3. I am not a nub who has never used a panel saw, a 1 hr blade change..really.??????. The word "delicate" honestly makes no sense to me, its "accuracy" I strive for. Sawing is in itself not a delicate process no matter how small the cut. Chop saws are not delicate tools nor are they extremely accurate or made to be.. IMO. Fanned frets yes thats a reason to choose one tool over the other but you did not show a fanned fret sled nor mention that fact until now. My point is you made a decision I would not have, which was to use a chop saw over a table saw.
  4. A crack in a billet and a split in a thin board are two different entities. You will never get a billet crack back together again says Humpty Dumpty.
  5. I will assume you are talking red vs white oak as the differences are huge (at least to me) and my experience white oak is not cheaper than lets say maple. All oak stains my hands from the tannin in the wood. I think red oak is cheap looking and filling pores on the wood is just a huge undertaking I would rather avoid at all costs. I have a stack of red oak in my shop that will alway be for other projects. You have to say to yourself if manufacturers do not use oak on painted guitars because its cheaper there must be a reason. Learning about the properties of a species is knowledge that will allow you to make informed decisions on the section of woods you want to use in guitar construction. Every species has its positive and negative aspects as does oak. Most hardwoods are suitable for guitar construction, but not all hardwoods are used for guitar construction...
  6. I have a large collection of hand plans and always head for the drum sander to do most of my work. Nothing like it for guitar building. I use hand planes for joinery or removing material where a drum sander cannot go. I suggest you buy a used plane on ebay, and save some bucks. Put the rest of the money towards a real drum sander. Every time I see those open roller table top sanders I have to laugh as there is no way to properly thickness a board. As has been said drum sanders will snip the end of a board, its not the sander but the first feed roller that spring down (once the wood passes) and causes the wood to jump up into the drum as the pressure is released on one end, this causes snipe. Using some scrap wood behind your expensive guitar wood .will eliminate most snipe. Even pine will work, stopping the roller from dropping abruptly. You do need to support the wood as it comes out the other side as well.
  7. If you have a good table saw why would you make a jig for a chop saw?
  8. Gummed drum sander paper needs to be replaced immediately. If the paper rips its the wrong stuff or its not on tight enough. These rolls are always cloth. You can buy paper at Klingspors as RestorationAD said. Buy it in large rolls and cut to size to save money. You cant cheese out on a drum sander, you need fresh paper available always. Any resin build up will burn your wood, not a good thing. you also will need several grits from 60 to 120 if you use it to level figured wood. I even have 36 grit for heavy duty removal.
  9. If you draw a 12" arch And take the longest piece of the inlay set which is approx 1.3 " the distance from the top of the arch to the inlay is approx .02. Meaning you will loose .02" on each end (This is just an estimate as I am no math teacher). That is if you correctly cut the inlay slot and make sure you are not removing material from the center of the board you should be OK. If you use a compound radius even better as the longest piece is lower on the neck. Unless you expect to cut through the inlay abalone as mentioned is not translucent like MOP and is more forgiving if you are getting close to the other side of the piece. The only issue is if the pieces are not similar on both sides as the pattern can change. Its nice to have the extra .01" but honestly if you make a mess of it: .01" is not going to help you or make it that much easier
  10. Been awhile, sorry the first post in months is a commercial. I have sourced a USA supplier for block inlay and Gibson 335 style split sets (10 position for the split set not 9) in both MOP and imitation Turquoise.I have listed both of these items in my eBay store The Luthier Store (link is in my signature below) . Under woodenspoke user ID. If you are interested in multiple sets I can work out a deal. All US shipping is free. Unfortunately if you are overseas the postal service has just jacked up the rates. I am currently selling these sets at $36.50 US. The reason why I am touting these sets is they are edge ground not cut like most sets. The corners are crisp and perfect. This is top of the line not made in Asian using old school methods.
  11. I am never sure how action will be on a particular guitar. I repaired a broken plywood Davis flying V a month ago, a free repair for a friend. The headstock was smacked backward and a split ran 6 " down the maple neck, but the board was still flat.. After spending way too much time gluing the neck, replacing the nut and setting the neck angle (shims were missing) the action turned out super low. I spent little time cutting the nut slots as I had already exceeded the cost of a replacement guitar if I was actually charging them. Sometimes you never know what you will get. Dont think they even know how good the action really is now.. Oh well. I have built some guitars where the action was not as good (in the past).
  12. Its a mess that will never be a usable guitar. I support Swedish Luthier when I say it was a good learning experience now move on.
  13. Interesting. Looks like you have your work cut out for you. My only comment is that knot in the billet scares me a bit. Considering the amount of compression wood that could be around your neck headstock area I would take it slow and leave a bit of wood on that spot while you are doing the neck. Let it sit for a few days before you go to town finalizing dimesions. If it moves you may have nothing to work with.. Just a thought.
  14. I agree with cSuttle. I would not suggest a gap between the fret tang and the inlay. It is the fret barb that holds in the fret. The thickness of a piece of inlay is generally larger than the distance between the bottom of the fret crown and the top of the barb. If the barb is not seated onto anything your fret may pop up or be spongy. Adding glue is an option (I use it regardless) but I would just take it slow seating a fret into an inlayed neck especially without a fret press..
  15. I would probably rule out that it was something you introduced after the process was finished. I would tend to believe it was something in the finish that surfaced over time. I have not heard of such a thing happening that long afterwords. But maybe it was something you didn't notice was happening until much later once the finish was polished. My first though would be something got into the finish such as moisture from inappropriate filtering of the compressed air. now it is slowly oozing up through the finish. I am not an expert this is just my first though.. But if you dont have a good filter system on your compressor..bingo...
×
×
  • Create New...