Joeglow

Thanks for the info. I didnt think I was actually going to get an answer at all at first. I will post a few pics Sunday of what the wood looks like now.

Don't kill me if this has been covered, I've tried to search for an answer in the archives and came up empty so now I need to ask. I have stabilized my bookmatched pieces and have sanded them back and they feel nice and smooth but..... there are still some shiny spots from the CA that I guess I can sand further down to get and worse yet there are some deep voids or holes, for lack of a better term to describe it, in the board itself. I guess they are really just spots where there was rot and the wood was just not there to begin with. My pieces are roughly 3/4" thick and I plan to resaw them to get a 1/4" or 1/8" finished top out of them. The "voids" do not go al the way through to the other side so I am thinking I should be okay but since this is my first time using this wood I thouyght I would ask the experts before proceding. I just want to say that I really appreciate the help and I see that there are many talented people here so I apologize if this sems mundane or repetitive to some of you. Thanks.

Great link.

Thats wierd that it only happens at the 5th fret harmonic. What about and open string harmonic at the nut or 12th fret or just playing the open string? Does it happen with those notes as well? Is it possible that intonation would have anything to do with it? I tend to agree with the pup height too but you say they are very low. I would try to raise them for a test first then also try the other frets and check the intonation.

I have made a few p/g's by tracing or drawing what I wanted on some poster board, then tracing that onto a piece of MDF to make a template. I prefer MDF b/c it is easier to shape any hard edges on the curves if you leave any when cutting it out. Then using a bandsaw, I cut the pattern close the the pencil line but not on it. This allows a little margin for sanding and reshaping. Once I've got the shape I want I use a CA on the template edges so it remains hard and sand it nice and flat after it has dried. Now you place your pickguard material on top of the template you've made and trace the shape onto the material. Leave the protective film on the p/g material the whole time.Bandsaw the p/g material close to the edge of the trace line. I put double stick tape to the back of the material and stick it to my template, drill the screw holes in anto the material and screw it down. Using a tracing laminate cutting bit in a table router I simply follow the template and get a perfect cut. If you want to get the 45 degree edge you can use the V shaped bit mentioned to finish it off. Just my way, may not be the best either but it works pretty well. Hope this helps.

Or maybe he's waiting for people to do an actual search for once. One search for 'spalt' by 'drak' gives a thread titled "CA Method". How more obvious is it? Click Here I actually did a search for spalted maple and not CA method. My bad. Thanks for the link and everyones help. I have to get used to your forum layout and members again.

This sounds like the same method as grain filling using epoxy. I have filled mahogany with epoxy before using those fugazzi credit card that come in the mail with great success but that just filled the pores and then I needed to sand the epoxy from the surface real well. I thought the viscosity of the epoxy that I should use was water consistency. I know that the regular epoxy is much more gummy or gooey for lack of better terminology and won't really seep into the wood. I did a search and found a thread where Drak says he uses a CA to seal his wood but there isn't any outlined technique discussed. I just really have a beautiful bookmatched set with some tiger stripe in it too and really don't want to ruin it by being too hasty and not really following a proper procedure. That, and it was pretty expensive so I really don't want to toss money away. And yes, the piece I have was really spongy when I got it but like I said I clamped the 2 boards in between a 3 hardwood boards and then set that on my workbench. My shop is climate controlled and I keep it pretty warm, 70 degrees. The other day when I removed the clamps, the hardwood I sandwiched them in had an apparant water stain from the boards and the boards were considerably stiffer and drier feeling. Here's a pic of what I have. I plan to use a hardwood like mahogany to combat the tone absorption of the spalt maple and a possible ebony or rosewood fretboard. Thank you again for your helpful advice.

Thanks guys, I've heard that Drak is da man too and I am supposed to ask him but I figured I should reintroduce myself before I start to pick a mans brain for advice. Heh heh What type of CA does he use? A specific brand that he prefers and any technique on how he spreads it over the wood would be awesome. I'm going to have some time off here for a couple of weeks as I will be a proud dad agin of my first baby boy on Thursday so after next week I will be home and when nappy time is around I would like to get the wood setup for laying it on top of some mahogany,walnut or Koa - not sure which yet. Thanks for the quick replies.

Hey all, I was a member a few years ago and 1 computer tower ago. Lost my info so I've rejoined. I am a mod/admin over at the Reranch forum and have lurked here for a long time and must say that you guys have done some amazing stuff and have some great resources here. Anyway, I've recently purchased a beautiful bookmatched set of spalted maple boards and need to stabilize them. I've been doing a lot of research on it but not much info on the proper stabilizing solutions, mostly I get conflicting suggestions. I know it is toxic and a respirator is amust when cutting and gloves are necessary for handling it because of the fungus and rot. So far the best thing I was able to do to keep it from curling was sandwich it between hardwood boards and clamp them down. The wood was pretty spongy at first receipt but since the clamping water has been pressed out and I have them in a very warm and dry place. I have a moisture meter on order now and I know I need to keep about 6-8% moisture in the wood but need a suggestion in stabilizing the slabs so they can be cuttable w/o crumbling like blue cheese and so it will not deteriorate in the future. One respected RR member suggested the use of a water like consistency CA or epoxy made by West Sysytem and I was wondering if there were others here that have used spalted maple and have any suggestions/advice for a first time user. I thank you for any help and I'm glad to be a part of the forum again. BTW, shout out to marksound for the brilliant suggestion of posting my questions here again.