Southpa

Well, there are other methods. Quite a while ago I told my mother that I was interested in fixing up broken down guitars and to feel free to buy anything she sees at garage sales etc. Of course, this is a little wee bit off topic because it doesn't really deal with anything I'm building. Anyway, she picked up this little piece of CRAP steel string acoustic for 10 bucks. I noticed at first glance that it was unplayable in its current condition, pretty much not worth the effort to do a neck reset (which it needed). I've repaired countless noname types of guitars but this one was truely NOT worth the effort.

It was sitting around at home for a few months when I finally got a good idea. The people who run the electrical shop tool crib at work are under a great deal of pressure most times and I figured I would give them the opportunity to "vent" on something if they so desired. I brought the guitar in and wrote on it with a large black marker "STRESS AND ANGER MANAGEMENT DEVICE" I told them to hang it on the wall and if the need arises they can give the little guitar a stab with a screwdriver, be creative with it , whatever they want.

I have a Golden Age overwound with broken windings. I might just split it into separate single coils, don't know yet. I also have a SD quarterpounder that isn't giving any DC resistance. I still have to find the two ends, maybe I can locate and solder them back where they belong. But otherwise, it will be peeled and rewound. I'll probably just start out by buying unresponsive pickups and rebuilding rather than making them from scratch.

Interesting reading. I'm about to touch on this aspect of guitar building myself. I'll probably just start with hand/scatter wound pickups. The shop at work is being sorted out, ie. items being tossed that are outdated, not used anymore etc. I was emptying one of the scrap bins and found 1/2 spool (about 1/2 lb) of 44 ga copper wire and a 5 lb spool of 36 ga. wire. I asked "whats wrong with these?!!" The guy said some of the surface wraps were broken and its a PITA to sort them out. I only found one loose end on the 44 ga. so its ok but the 36 will need some work to strip down to ONE loose end.

The 44 ga. wire is still in good shape but VERY fragile. I imagine it will be a bit of a trial to use but should give me some high end results. I know the standard wire gauges used are 42 and 43 but what about the 36? Its still a relatively fine wire and I can manage plenty of turns on a single coil pickup. Does anyone see a mismatch here with standard Alnico 5's? Not enough or too much DC resistance? I know...try it and find out.

Only 46 yrs old!? Oh well, I got 2 years on ya. What did you do on your birthday? Lets hear some "tales from the Drak side". Been bassoon shopping yet? Oh, almost forgot, HAPPY B-Day!

Naturally it will peel off if laid over some other coating. Thats also the main reason for scuffing between coats. Poly requires a mechanical bond as it lays down as separate layers whereas lacquer fuses ie. chemical bond with previously laid coats.

of all the threads/posts NONE specifically mention the type of poly everyone is using

Sure they have. It takes some time but the info IS in here. Heres a pic I've posted in the past. The body was cut from one solid block of wrn maple.

The poly I used did not need any wetsanding or polishing. It basically levelled out to a mirror finish. Easiest guitar I ever built.

I was simply intrigued by what holly would be like as a fingerboard.

I'll let ya know one day. I just made a holly fretboard for a shortscale bass (30") but have decided not to use it for this particular project. I have some purpleheart for that.

I was given a 10" dia log, roughly 3 ft. long about 3 yrs ago. I contacted a local guy who owned a "Woodmizer", basically a large portable bandsaw, and he managed to quartersaw it for me into 2" X 4" sizes for making necks. Cost was about 30 bucks but well worth the money to get it done right.

All this talk about glue and frets. I've rarely had to use glue on frets with the exception of fret ends, and thats just as a filler to smooth the edge of the board. But if you've got the proper sized fret slot and the fret has been slightly overbent, then they should stay where they are without the aid of glue. Unless you are using a soft fretboard wood. The whole idea of overbending is to minimize internal pressures from the spring in the steel. The radius might be smaller but there is little chance of the middle of the fret popping up because it would require dragging the fret ends sideways.

If I have a slot that is too big for the fret tangs to grip then I fill the entire slot by packing fingerboard dust and CA glue then recut the slot. But I don't rely on glue to hold the frets down. It can also be a pain to remove them when its time to refret. Getting it right the first time is the easiest route.

A little trick I learned from a shipwright/boatbuilder/painter etc. When masking a surface, roll the edge of the tape up a little bit. It takes some practice to get a straight line exactly where you want it tho. I usually lay down a straight edge on top and then pull the tape up against the straight edge . You can also use a template that matches your curves in the same manner. When you spray the paint it feathers out to nothing rather than leaving that sharp edge. Believe me, its so much easier after dealing with those 2-part polyresin hi-gloss paints. I learned it the hard way. The stuff cures hard as rock and can be a real b*tch to sand down.

You've noticed not a lot of people replying to this thread? When I first read it I thought. " I ain't touchin that with a ten foot pole". We've had a few similar situations where someone said, "Don't buy from so and so because their product, service, attitude, or whatever is crap". We've actually had the accused register to the forum, come online and defend himself. So I would say NO its not a good idea to smear some company or an individual on this forum.

If your problem is a result of some sort of misunderstanding or accident on the part of either party then damage can be done and cause loss of business and reputation, not to mention bad feelings all around. A lot of people are registered here and read postings. Quite a few businesses and individuals rely on forums like this to spread their good name. Word of mouth is a powerful business tool. My advice is to tread lightly.

There are should haves and could haves. You should have sent the body back immediately after noticing the flaw. You should not have tried to fix the flaw yourself. A saw cut that interrupts across the woodgrain cannot be made to look right if your aim is a natural finish. When the company gets the body back and sees that something was done to it, how are they to know that it wasn't a situation where YOU inadvertantly made the cut and decided to try to scam them?

You should have taken some pictures of the problem areas and posted them on this forum asking, "What would YOU do if you got this in the mail?", before sending it back.

Is there any other info we should know? Perhaps you got the body at a good discount price because it was flawed? Maybe you missed some fine print? There are so many scenarios that could result in a plausible explanation as to why the company has not given you satisfaction. Everything from a death in the family to trying to keep up with back orders etc. Everybody makes mistakes, even the people who are transporting it from point A to point B.

Perhaps you could mention to the company that you are asking for advice here. Make it a point that you will not mention their "good" name... YET. If they really value their business they will make the effort to give you satisfaction.

Just one point, the longer the string length beyond the nut (and bridge for that matter), the easier it is to bend them. I found this setup a little on the stiff side in that area but still manageable.

It all boils down to the amount of and what kind of resources / experience a person accumulates over the years. Yeah, I can see someone wince when a person trashes, burns, annihilates (or whatever your poison), a bookmatched 5A quilted maple-topped mahogany project because it has some minor flaws that don't pass their particular personal inspection.

For a lot of beginners its probably the only wood they have for their project and they paid dearly for it. For some others, who have been doing it for a while, it might be done without a second glance because they have a roomful of 5A quilted maple and prime straight-grained mahogany that they have accumulated over many years of guitar building.

You could consider it a cop out to trash a project just because of a few flaws. It depends on the flaws. If they render the guitar literally untuneable, unplayable etc. without even the slightest possiblity of correction then I would deem it to be firewood. But where I come from there is ALWAYS a way to make it right. I've had guitars that I've stripped down to bare wood over and over (up to a dozen times) before I found a finish, method, "look" that worked for ME. I'm not a pro by any means and look forward to each experience thinking "maybe this time I'll nail it". I look at it as gaining more experience than anything else, the guitar is a testing ground for numerous materials, tools methods etc. Each time I'll try something different. If I get "sick up and fed" with it I'll put it down and leave it until I'm in a better mood.

If you have only ONE look in mind from the beginning then its a more difficult process. And if, somewhere along the way, you do something that destroys the possibility of getting "that look" and no other look will substitute, then the build is considered worthless. Some people have set lofty goals for themselves and take a lot of pride in their work. Remember, "A job worth doing, is worth doing well", this also reflects the person's general work ethic and some of their personality.

I am very flexible and my plans are constantly changing throughout the building stages. I only plan things up to a point in regards to precision, balance and overall structure, that is, the functional aspects of the guitar. After all, if those things aren't "right" then I won't have a comfortable, playable guitar. But my finishing materials, methods and madness can change at a whim.

If you DO decide to trash a guitar and want to show it to the world then I would expect to hear a reason for it.

1. "I'm a legend in my own mind and a temperamental prima donna. My vanity prohibits me from producing sub-standard work or it will tarnish my otherwise flawless reputation."

2. "I honestly don't know what I'm doing and and can't find a way to dig out the dry wall mud that I used to fill those great big tearout hole thingies. The paint wouldn't stick to it! Btw, could anyone tell me what a 'scale length' is???!!"

3. "Damn its COLD! The power went out weeks ago and we've burned the last of our furniture! I may as well share the warmth with all you folks out at Project Guitar. Look at the pretty colors!"

>j.pierce - The truss rod cover is a piece of stainless steel that I fabricated. Its been sanded/polished to a mirror finish down to 1/4 micron diamond grit paste. Then I used my dremel and a 3/8" dia. felt pad with coarser paste and overlapped get the fish scale effect.

>mick - the neck is 23" from the tip of the headstock to the center of the heel (between the 21st and 22nd fret).

Wow, a thread from the dead! Yeah Mick, heres a pic, the headstock is on my 24 fret SG build.

I juuuust managed to shoehorn the tuners on, a little on the tight side as far as spacing goes but still functional. It turned out to be a nice guitar and was entered into GOTM over a year ago , I think. Its all a blur these days. But 5" is about the limit for a scarf jointed headstock that should be 7 1/4" long.

http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Guitars/SG_front.jpg

Hell, I've seen pics of guitars being destroyed unintentionally during their construction! Some have even been destroyed in their initial conception, yes, before they were even built! I remember one series of pics being shown of a botched scalloping job. I figure its a form of catharsis for those individuals who would otherwise take the old 22 rifle out of the closet and start shooting into crowds of people. Now theres an idea, just cut out the middle man and shoot the guitar instead. I honestly don't care, they are just "things" that we own. If you want to show me how you are going to trash your guitar please be creative about it and provide some entertainment value.

Nice Work! I 3rd the opinion that the bass side of the TOM bridge should be about 1/8" farther back. I can see that the 6th string saddle had to be backed all the way, you barely made it!

where did you mount the bridge pickup?

The bridge pickup is in the standard tele position mounted to a tele bridge plate.

The main function of a stacked humbucker is for hum cancelling. Splitting into single coils results in relatively weak output as the individual coils are quite small. Anyway, I happen to have pretty close to what you are looking for but with no angled pickups. I built an all maple tele a while back and made some sound samples.

The neck pickup is a Seymour Duncan "Hotstack", (stacked humbucker with a bar magnet). The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan "Vintage 54". ToddW mentioned the best idea for wiring a tele in series/parallel with a DPDT. But not within the actual humbucker but between the bridge and neck pickups. My guitar is wired like that and I got some very interesting results. I also wired a friend's strat in a similar manner and it sounded fantastic. The trick is to use pickups that are very different from each other. When wired in series you have one pickup's signal chasing the other which gives a flanger effect. The more difference between the pickups ie. output strength etc. the more pronounced the effect, in my experience. In the sound samples I played through a Musicman 210 Sixtyfive and used no effects pedals. The neck pickup sounds very mellow and the bridge has that classic tele twang. Combine the pickups and you get a different flavor altogether. You be the judge.

http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Sounds/

Is the block you are using a hook and loop type of block? ie. sandpaper attached with Velcro. Even a little bit of cushioning between the block and your sandpaper can cause the paper to sink into the softer parts of the wood grain. I would suggest using a hardwood sanding block and glue on garnet type sandpaper. Clean dust from the wood and paper frequently as you sand.

I second that sentiment, very rustic looking. What do you call it... The Goon Spoon? Mexican Backhoe? No offence to any folks south of the US border.

I've had a couple friends say they want to buy this or that guitar that I built. But I take their words with a grain of salt....unless they show up at my door with a bunch of hundred dollar bills. What you need to do is rub elbows with LOTS of guitar players, jam with them do whatever it takes to get them to try out your guitars for a few minutes. And ask them to give you a critical rundown on how they like your work. They may not want to buy your guitar but they can certainly spread the word around and say that you build decent guitars.

The problem is the brainwashing that has been going on in the music "biz" over the past 30 or 40 years. You get some kid whos been thrashing away on his cheap Chinese plywood guitar and all he can think about is saving enough money to buy that Gibson or Fender. If it doesn't say either of those names on the headstock then its not worth bragging about and there is no resale value. Face it, a one-off custom guitar is not worth squat to the "mindless drones" unless the builder developes a reputation and becomes famous somewhere along the way.

So, the shrinkage factor rears its ugly head again...turn off the AC.

My main project is on hold for the time being so not a whole lot to say these days. I'm also rethinking a fretboard extension on my mahogany custom, should have something to say about that by the weekend. Otherwise, the new job takes up my day and then dealing with chores etc. when I get home. You can see 10,000+ members but actually a small percentage are active posters.

I learned one important fact about doing setups , fretwork etc. for other people. The way you play may not be the same. I remember doing some repair work on this guy's classical no-name, bridge was on its way out and action was damn near 1/2". I get the thing fixed and set it up the way a classical should play and return the guitar. The next day I get a call by the owner saying the low strings were buzzing. Hmmm....so I go over and tell him to show me. He picks up the guitar and starts wanging away (and I mean HARD) with a bigass plastic thumbpick. I said, "If thats the way you play your classical guitar I should have left it the way it was!"

Some threads could be stripped.