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Geo

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Everything posted by Geo

  1. Geo
    Given the other variables in intonation caused by your finger (downward pressure, how much you deflect the string across the fingerboard), it may not be an issue. Of course, your ear may automatically correct those things (e.g. your finger quickly gets the string back in line if deflected in a slight unwanted bend); in which case your ear may not know what to do with intonation that can't be corrected by less pressure or straightening of the string...
  2. Geo
    Perhaps not an issue since this neck has been finished for a long time... but removing a lot of wood may cause the remaining wood to move, in which case you would want to plane it flat again before attaching the fingerboard. Just another consideration.
  3. Geo
    If you don't have a router (I'm guessing you don't since you suggested using a jigsaw), you could try a chisel. Maybe scribe the exact lines of your new pickup holes and carefully carve down. If you work slowly you could be able to produce a good result, and I imagine that the pickups themselves will hide the very edges of the holes, thus you don't have to be perfect.
  4. Geo
    Removing a fingerboard is not hard... use warm water and a knife and take your time. It'll pop off. Save the truss rod, CF, etc. Save the fingerboard if you can and sand off the glue. After you build a few necks, it's not a big deal to scrap one. You shall learn, grasshopper. Don't worry, your second neck will be a lot better than your first and you'll be glad you replaced it.
  5. Geo
    If it's a bolt-on neck, just put a shim in the bridge-end of the pocket. Try something around 0.5-2mm. You don't have enough back-angle to the neck, or your bridge is too high. (Really this is the same problem, but there are two approaches--change neck angle or lower bridge. You choose which is easier for your design.)
  6. Geo
    For serious body carving, get a rasp or a spokeshave. It'll take you a few minutes to rough out a carve. About fret access... I would leave that lower horn alone. You can always build another guitar with a perfect cutaway and 24 frets if that's what you need. This design is so good aesthetically, I would let that impracticality slip. This isn't the last guitar that will be built in the world.
  7. Geo
    Just wire the pickups in parallel and put a kill switch on each hot lead. You will want to wire the pots like Gibson did, I think, to keep the neck vol from turning down the bridge pu and vice versa. BTW, I think the normal 3-way selector is a lot simpler. You only have one switch to fanangle for neck, neck/bridge, bridge. The walnut looks beautiful!!!! Yes, you'll have annoying buzz without it. As I understand it, your body is an antenna collecting radio noise. If the strings aren't grounded, all this radio noise is not directed to ground and can get into the strings (thus into the pickups) or go directly to the pickups. When you touch amp/guitar ground, you take your antenna self and ground it, thus dumping all that crap to ground.
  8. Geo
    That looks REALLY good. I would vote for a nice rich green stain for the maple. Green+red+black is a great combo, I think.
  9. Geo
    That looks great. The headstock inlay is very classy. Care to describe your shellac finishing process? If you're worried about the shellac, you might try something like tru-oil next time.
  10. Geo
    LMI's fretsaw has a kerf of .023" I think and isn't too expensive. I've used it on all the guitars I've built (four or five).
  11. Geo
    Wouldn't the sustainer just overpower the strings' initial vibration and "convert" them? Or would the adjustment be endless, so that the sustainer is always "one step (phase) ahead" of the strings?!
  12. Geo
    Ripthorn... you don't HAVE to fill the grain of the walnut. I finished an acoustic, walnut B&S, and didn't fill the grain. Of course the surface isn't mirror-perfect, but it's a nice low gloss. But if you DO grainfill with tru-oil, I don't think the maple will absorb the slurry. (I don't know, I'm just guessing.) Maple is so close-grained, I can't imagine it picking up the dust-and-oil stuff. I would test it on some scrap first, whatever you do.
  13. Geo
    That looks great. I don't think I've ever seen a blue 335. You say your center block extends 3/4 of the body... is the bridge mounted in solid wood? I would NOT mount a bridge in top wood in that kind of guitar.
  14. Geo
    If you apply tru-oil to an oily wood, you might want to thin it or something. I tested some on cocobolo and it was NOT good. It took about ten times longer to dry than tru-oil on a non-oily wood.
  15. Geo
    To the uneducated eye, the only difference is the upper horn (not a horn in this shape, but that area), the neck pocket area and the cutaway. These differences become apparent when you look closely, but at a casual glance, it appears to be the same shape with a more rounded carve. I'm not dissing you, I think both the Dean and yours are good designs. Just letting you know--if someone glances at it and says "it's the same as a Dean", it doesn't matter that you changed little things here and there. It still looks nearly the same. Absolutely right... but just letting you know... the casual observer will see almost no difference.
  16. Geo
    The top will be around 10mm thick - the carving. It probably doesn't need bracing then. Just my feeling, as I have only built one acoustic and have little experience.
  17. Geo
    A string vibrates in three dimensions, not two. I'm pretty sure that no matter what "direction" you pick, the string will carve out the same space.
  18. Geo
    I don't know, I like making pickups! You have so much freedom to design exactly what you want. Did you do a similar-looking 6-string a while ago?
  19. Geo
    Thanks Mattia... I'll try to post a picture some time, but I'm moving tomorrow so it probably won't happen. Essentially, this is a bolt-on mortise and tenon joint. The tenon is about 20mm deep and I'm going to say ~35-40mm wide. I realized that the neck is now leaning slightly to one side, so that the bass E is closer to the edge of the fingerboard than the treble E. I think this is because the shim I used (part of a guitar pick) has a curved side, which is facing up and providing a slight point of rotation for the neck. The lean is not really noticeable in playing, but now that I see it it's bugging me. The neck was aligned without the shim.
  20. Geo
    Thanks Mattia. I shimmed the neck with a piece of heavy guitar pick, and the action is now excellent. Just for clarification and future reference... when you say this... ...the saddle is not installed yet, right? I guess it's obvious, but I just want to be sure I understand. I was pretty sure they usually have a neck angle (~2deg, I seem to remember), but this Martin plan from LMI didn't show one. I figured, with my method, I could shim the neck if it was wrong.
  21. Geo
    I have very little experience with dying, but I imagine that it isn't dry if it's still coming off on your fingers. This... plus this... ... might be why it's taking a while to dry. (I assume it's just the general humidity of the rain, not that you're leaving it out in the rain. )
  22. Geo
    That's right... you gotta find the root problem, or you'll just keep blowing fuses. Look over the PCB for burn marks, goo, melted stuff, broken connections, etc. I hate troubleshooting amps.
  23. Geo
    I finished my first acoustic. Oh happy day! The action is too high, about 1/4" above the frets at the highest. I built the guitar with no neck angle, following a plan of a Martin OM. The total height of the saddle is about 9/16" if I remember right. I'm thinking the best thing would be to angle the neck back slightly with a shim in the pocket and then lower the saddle if it's still needed. This is a bolt on neck, so shimming it will be easy. Any thoughts? Is that a good way to proceed? Thanks.
  24. Geo
    The pot is probably broken and only making contact at the end of its rotation. Pots do funny things when they break. As to the fuse... I'm guessing this is a solid-state amp, in which case I don't know. But I agree with Paul, tube amps generally use slo-blow.
  25. Geo
    I know what you mean.
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