sinner16

Jory, I let this post go for a day or so to see if anyone had any ideas .... To my knowledge it's not really a matter of the materials that is concerned. They all basically all FRP's (fiber reinforced plastic) work the same way in a nutshell pf being applied. You major concern is the "mold" you are making the finished product from. In this case a guitar body. If you have a copy made from MDF, any material applied to the outside of the MDF will give you an reversed imprint of what you are looking for. To duplicate a body like this, you will need to make a what I will call a 2 phase mold process. Phase one is you MDF copy of the original since you do not want to risk damaging the original ...or "master" as they call it in FRP land. LOL. Your second phase can be accomplished 2 ways. 1. apply a "wet lay-up" of fiberglass to the MDF copy, let it cure, and then remove it. Now the fiberglass part you just removed becomes your "new" mold. You would then do the same as before .... but this time you are "lining" the inside of the mold with the fiberglass and resin. Once this has cured ...you will remove it and that is you "half of body". You may need to do a few lay-ups or linings to get the proper thickness that you want. Option # 2 ..which may be a little more $$ and take a little longer ....would be to take your MDF copy and make a plaster mold of half the body. Plaster will work well as a mold and it can be used more than once if need be. However it is cumbersome to have... more $$$ and for a one time production may be over kill. Oh yeah basically you would wind up w/ 2 large plaster molds with the imprint of the top side of the body on one and the backside on the other. Then you would line the plaster mold w/ your fiberglass.... Of course I am skipping a lot of important points like mold release, adding stiffening strips in stress areas (neck pocket, bridge area) and things like that.... A book on FRP's would probably give you the best idea on how to construct everything and go into a lot more detail. I look at is as almost the same as baking a cake. You have to follow all the steps exactly in order for it co come out right. If you don't butter up you cake pan ... you have a hell of a time getting it out ... Same for fiberglass molds. The company I work for specializes in jetted tubs. These are made with an acrylic sheet w/ Fglass sprayed on the back. A quick view of the process is .. The sheet of acrylic is placed over a large aluminum mold (the same shape of the tub) The mold has hundreds of tiny pin hole in the surface. The sheet of acrylic is placed on a machine that hovers it over the mold. The sheet of acrylic is the heated to a specific temperature .... basically when it starts to sage in the middle. Once the temp is right, the sheet is lowered into the mold. A vacuumed pump then turns on and the tiny pinholes suck the sheet down into the mold. About 20 seconds later the acrylic is cooled.. and boom .. you have the acrylic tub formed. It is the sent to the "chop shop" to be glassed. Operators use a "chop" gun to apply the strands of glass while a nozzle on the gun sprays the resin. Sorry for the long reply... but I have a tendency to do that.LOL. As stated before.... Forbes Aird (author) wrote a very good soft cover book on all of this called "Fiberglass & Composite Materials". I highly recommend it if you are serious about a project like this. I only say that because there are a lot of small tips and theory explained. Theory that can be put into use. Good luck

Well ... As far as sound goes ..it sounded ok before I pulled it apart.... I'm replacing the pickups with some Dimarzio's and also shielding all the cavities. It did have a lot of hum and noise when plugged in. It my first attempt in rewiring a guitar... Well there was that time when I was 15 that I destroyed a perfectly good guitar trying to put a HB where a single coil was. Yeah I screwed up !!! I used a drill with a large drill bit to try and "route" away some of the body for access. It was an active HB and I had no room for the battery. 10 mins into working on it ... I wound up with a chunk of the body chipped away. The bit grabbed the edge of the body and just pulled it right off That was the end of that .... I call it being young and over ambitious with actually taking my time to research the process. Now ... almost 15 years later ...I'm getting back into the 6 string groove .... Hopefully this will go smoother than it did 15 years ago!!!!! So we will see if it sounds good or not.... Thanks for everyone's time.....

Lovekraft, Just a quick question for ya ..... How come you substitute an * for an (A) in your reply ? Is there a lincensing / copyright issue with using the name Str@t ? Just wondering ....

I came across this on e-bay..... Any thoughts? Is it worth it? Is there an altenative to do the same thing rather than buying this unit? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...3720729270&rd=1

Here's a pretty dumb question... but I thought I'd ask... How can you really tell without stripping off the finish? I have a lower end Jackson that is way light !!!! A friend of mine has a Samick (Valley Arts Shop) Strat that feels like an anchor!!!! Can the weight be a giveaway that it is ply? Is there a way to tell by looking at the trem / pickup route? Would you see the plys if it was plywood ? Should I just go back to sleep and stop worrying about trivial stuff like this ? LOL Any thoughts ? Thanks.....

Jory, your approach to putting the fiberglass directly to the body will give you a reverse copy of what you are looking for. Doing this will work as making your mold..... Think of how a special make up artist starts a mask. I'm sure you have seen behind the scenes of horror movies... or the making of Michael Jackson's Thriller ... There is a scene where MJ is getting white paste similar to plaster put all over his face. They even put straws up his nose so he could breathe .... That basically gives you the shape ... but reversed. Once the plaster cured and hardened on MJ head.... they then removed it. That gave the a perfect imprint of his face. Then they pour latex into the mold of his face... and a few hours later .... Bam.... a latex mask of MJ face. You would be doing the same thing by applying fiberglass to the body( it would need to be done in 2 pieces front and back)..... let it cure ... and then removing it. The fiberglass you remove will be your mold. You would then apply fiberglass to the mold, let it cure, and then BANG!!! You will have half a body made out of fiberglass. You can only mold one side at a time by the way. Applying fiberglass to the body directly and then hoping to sand it smooth is a great concept ..... However..... It will take you much longer to try and sand the stranded glass flat. And to get a quality finish ... I just don't see that happening. There is a lot .. and I mean a lot more to it then just getting some glass mat and slapping it on a body and Boom you have a fiberglass guitar. As Tony said... you need release agents for the mold, a constant eye on the temp and humidity, time and patience. Also, I would not use the actual guitar to mold off of. There is way to much opportunity of error. Especially if this is you first project. You wouldn't want to throw away $500 in fiberglass materials... as well as your original guitar. This is just my $0.02. Sorry about the horror make-up analogy ... it's the best I could come up with to give you the idea ... there are alot of other instances where the idea can apply .... I work for a large manufacturer of jetted / whirlpool tubs and that's where my knowledge comes into play. Hope I made some kind of sense

After looking at the picture again.... the curves around the body are going to be hard to duplicate. Fiberglass will drape around a corner ... it's the air pockets that get trapped in-between that will cause havoc on a project like this. I would suggest taking a look at some of the links on that fiberglast site I mentioned before .... like this http://www.fibreglast.net/contentpages-mol...uction-170.html Also, if your really serious about casting molds and fiberglass projects .... a good book is " Fiberglass & Composite Materials by Forbes Aird" . It's pretty good reading in layman's terms. I boughta different book about composites and fiberglass and I swear .. I thought I needed a PhD. in Chemistry to understand what the author was talking about. This book is really straightforward and is only about 150 pages. A lot of good info. I looked into casting my own bodies at one time... also making carbon fiber pick guards and stuff .... I just never had the time or shop to try it. IMO I also would start off with a project smaller than a guitar at first. Just to get enough practice / experience with fiberglass and resin. Temperature, humidity, and type of resin all can make or literally break how your project turns out. Cost wise, it would be cheaper get your experience on a small project say like a hum bucker pickup cover... I know I could mold, cast, spill some resin on the floor, and make about 10 -14 pick up covers (that I will throw away in the long run) and still cost less then the material for 1 body. Basically I would get 10-14 chances to get the steps and process down with a "small" item.. rather than a one shot deal with 1 body. That's just my opinion.....

Ok ..... So I have the typical h/s/s/ 1 vol 1 tone Jackson guitar .... I have a Dimarzio Evolution (F spaced) for the bridge ... a Dimarzio HS-2 for the middle ... and a Dimarzio YJM for the neck .... I'll be using 500K pots with and also .033 or .047 caps ... also the pick up cavities and control cavity will be completely shielded w/ copper tape (soldered at the seams of course) .... I have very little experience w/ these pick ups ... Does it sound like a good set-up ? I'm looking to be able to get the Yngwie type tone... then be able to switch it up to something like Via ... and then be able to pull off a mean sounding cover of Led Zep's The Lemon Song...... Any thoughts...... Also I play through several different amps .... Namely a Ampeg VT 120 Tri Ax all tube head and an Ampeg cabinet w/ 4 Celestion's when no one is home... a Line 6 Spider 112 amp ... I also play through a Zoom PS04 recorder..... Do you think these pick ups are going to be too shrill and bright ???? Thanks for any input ... ..

Jory .... I'm no expert on molding fiberglass ... however this site has a lot of useful info on fiberglass. Their forum is kind of like PG ... but it deals with composites. I know you will have to take into consideration separation points in the mold, reinforcement points along the body. I think your approach of making many layers of glass and then routing will be highly difficult. The weight will be on the heavy side, the amount of layers would be very time consuming. Also, routing into fiberglass may give you unwanted results .... chipping. This sit has some good info http://www.fibreglast.net Are you trying to make this a solid body ? If so, you may want to look into using a 2 part casting resin rather than fiberglass. From my knowledge... the fiberglass basically reinforces the substrate or resin and gives it strength. Casting resin also has drawbacks too.... such as air pockets, curing time and temp. The vapors are not good on the lungs. Also, "pot life" (the amount of time after mixing the 2 parts together till the time it starts to gel or cure) will be a huge part. You would first start off with a resin that has a long pot life... so you have time to work out any problems as they arise. Don't be expect it to come out perfect the first 3 or 4 times. It's not like working w/ wood. There are several ways to building a body like this. Check out that site.. they have a glossary of terms and how too's... Hope this helps out.. good luck....

nyjbkim : I guess Jory could not "extrapolate" how to wire in a master vol. control ... So I guess yes ....It does require an additional explanation .... I'd like to know myself how it can be done or what I should extrapolate from other wiring diagrams to come up with a viable schematic. I'm sure there are more people in this forum than Jory and myself who are not Thomas Alva Edison's. Jory: I'm sure someone will have an answer on how to wire in a master vol. for your configuration... Unfortunately... I don't Oh, by the way... "extrapolate" I believe that's worth at least 20 points in Scrabble......

hmmmm (scratches head) I see 2 vols. 2 tone ... and 1 Master volume ... and I'm just learning how to do wiring myself....

Drak, How did you ever get tape through the wire holes ???? Were your wire holes larger than on a "normal" body? When I say normal, I really mean a mass production model. I'm sure the guitar in the pic is a hand made guitar, and you were able to make things the way you want them to be. Should I try to run a fine copper wire from cavity to cavity and then to ground? I have not looked close to see if the wiring holes are big enough to be able to use tape like you did? It sounds like I need to re-think this wiring idea. Very nice work by the way Drak, Do you have any othe photos showing how you used the tape from cavity to cavity? Sorry for all the question.. but I'd rather try and get the majority of problems resolved before I start with the copper tape.... LOL Thanks for everyones help... Now all I need is for my knee to heal and I'll be back on track!!!!

I've read about a half a dozen "How too's" about shielding pickup and vol/tone control cavities. All of these involved a pick guard of some type covering up the copper / aluminum foil shielding. What or how would you shield a guitar without a pick guard ? Like a Jackson... or an Ibanez RG1570 where a pick guard does not exist? Would I use the shielding paint that is available these days, or do I even need to worry about shielding ? I just don't want to plug this thing in and have it hum in my face!!!! Oh by the way ... I'm using a s/s/h set up .... a YJM, a HS2, and an Evolution F spaced pick up configuration in a Jackson body? Sorry if I'm not making sense ... I think the pain killer I took is kicking in !!!! Knee surgery sucks!!!!!!!

the suspense is killing me !!!! Why are ya selling it now ...???

Ok guys ... I've been pondering this for the past few days .. and I need a little outside advise. For some strange twist of fate .. I got my hands on a Jackson PS2 Performer S/S/H. Now I know that it's not a Custom Shop ax... nor will it ever be. But since I'm the type that hardly parts w/ any guitar .... I thought I might throw some $$ at it and see if it can be a well playing ax. Here's my dilemma: 1. It does have a Jackson Floyd copy on it as we speak. After looking close at the bridge, I found that the square blocks in the saddles were gone. Basically, someone installed the ball end of the strings in the saddle and locked it in with the tip of the bolt. I'm sure this was not Floyd /Jackson's intention. Does anyone think this caused damage to the saddles or bolt? With a saddle removed, I threaded the bolt into the back end of the saddle. There was a lot of play and movement of the bolt. It didn't feel tight at all. 2. Should I scrap the Jackson unit and start over w/ a Licensed Floyd? Dimensionally it should fit without too much trouble. 3. What are the tell-tale signs that a Floyd is worn out or the saddles need to be replaced ? And what would be the best bang for the $$$ be. 4. Also... the guy who had it before me must have been a dive bomber with the bar. There was 5 springs mounted to the 'block". Is it me ..or does 5 springs seem a little stiff? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

I would rather pay a little more up front and have peace of mind that if there are any screw ups... I don't have to worry about a horror show in the making .. Also when I spok to their customer service.. They seemd like they just wanted to get rid of me. I know alot of large companies will accept an order, ship what they have(if they even know it is missing a part) just to close the sale. They figure that by the time you realize you are missing a part .... they will have it and send it out to you. In my case .... I aske them to see if they can find on from another box and ship that to me.... the lady just told me " We don't have it".... end of story!!!!!! So I spent about an hour boxing up everything to ship it back for a refund!!!! Oh well ... Buyer beware. Thanks for listening to my vent....

Ok ... Not to try and due a company in... but I would like to share some useful info on a company that I dealt with .. I'm sure at some point in time everyone has heard of Harbor Freight. It's a large company the carries tons of mild quality tools at "sometimes" even prices. I guess that is part of the allure to this company. It seems sometimes my better judgment takes a quick vacation and leaves the rest of me open for target practice!!!!! I was looking to try and get a decent quality work bench for my basement without breaking the bank. Traditionally I would have built the thing myself ... however... the 9-5 grind, along with remodeling an entire house, as well as a 6 month old female carbon copy of me...... (you see where I'm going here .... Anyway... I placed an order via internet with Horror Freight .. pops I meant Harbor Freight in the beginning of January. About ten days later I get a knock from the UPS man holding a long box outside my door. I signed for it ... and he mentioned that there was another box on the truck... I brought box number 1 to the side of my house... while Mr. Happy UPS man goes and gets the 2nd. He brings the box midway to my drive way and leaves. The second box is kind of ripped up... Like they dragged it from CA ... to my home. Anyway .. I understand .. these things happen. So I opened everything up to make sure all the parts were there.... I found that I was missing the "hardware kit" to assemble the bench. I called their support line and was issued a replacement order. 1 month goes by ... still no hardware... my bench is collecting dust in the many parts as it came to me. I then make a 2nd friendly call ... "Oh we are on back order on that kit, we should have it out to you in a week ..... A week has come and gone.. Still no hardware to assemble this thing. I figured that I would give it one last shot.... So I called again today..... Oh.. that is on back order ... we should have it ready by March 22nd. Are they kidding me!!!!!! After a few more sentences in our conversation... I knew I was dealing with a company that could care less about my situation.... My guess is that all of these model benches were being sent without the assembly hardware..... They figure they can still close the sale... by time the items is shipped and delivered.. they would have the inventory to issue replacement parts.... I'm sure this bench was not that popular .. that they couldn't meet the supply and demand. As it stands now... I will be shipping this stupid thing back to Horror Freight for a refund ... which would probably take even longer!!!! Anyone have a similar story...... Moral of the story is to think twice about the savings you really do get!!!! I could have easily paid a little more for a bench directly from a Home Center... and would not have had this type of hassle. Just my $0.02 on internet purchases from a large company ..... Most of them have lost the meaning of customer service and resolution to pending issues. Ok My rant is over.... Hey Brian.... How about I give you $20.00 to take Horror Freight off of the "tools reference" page? I'm sure this could happen to anyone here... Just giving a heads up..... Now I think I'll go to Home Depot.... spend the $$$ on the lumber and make my own bench!!!!! I'll keep ya posted on the total outcome.... but please do yourself a favor.... Stay clear of Harbor Freight...

OK I'm a little lost... I did compare the the size of a OFR and it seem very similar as far as I measured with my digital caliper .... But where do I find a pic of "your" new one ???? I'm new here and mybe I am missing something....

lovekraft .... No offense taken at all ... my whole idea was to get a decent price/quality axe and mold it into what I want it to be. My Jackson PS2 I got for next to nothing so .... I'm not up to the point of cutting and routing my own bodies yet... I'm just starting out.... But I do appreciate your advice ... and I will try the audio taper pots too ... Thanks ...

I hear ya about the Performer series.... I'm just messing around with it. I'll probably just get some off of Brian ... his prices are good... and he's part of this site... Might as well give him the business than hunting all over the net looking for the lowest price I can find!!!!

Damn ... I always forget something... this inlay would be thick like the acrylic tutoiral ..... not a thin shell... or MOP. Thanks again ....

ok .. I always wondered about doing an inlay... and then doing a mild scallop to the neck... Would you still need to use a raduis block when sanding down ? Also I not talking about a super deep scallop either..... just enough to get the feel ... and also without going through the inlay!!! Any thoughts.....

Ok ... I have a small question .... I'm looking to use different pots my Jackson PS2. The stock volume and tone post feel very sticky and hard to turn .... it makes volume swells impossible ... Are there any specific manufacturers that are known to be smoother than others ? Am I just over analyzing this and a pot is just a pot .... Any feedback would be appreciated...... Thanks....

opps... I Hiy th wrong key !!!! Damn... Anyway... Any ideas on a trem unit that will be a "not so bad" install ??? Thanks guys.... I'm hooked on this site!!!!!!! Anthony ...

Hello all .... I picked up a decent deal on Jackson PS2 ... It's decent for what I paid for it... however I'm looking to replace the JS 500 double locking trem with something better quality .... I'm just trying to get an idea of what I will need and how much additional routing might be needed. The less routing the better Not that I would want to ... I'm just not set up for any routing yet... (tools... space... bench.. etc..etc) I'm just starting out ....