tdog

If anyone is interested, I am in the process of buying a fairly large amount of Korina(White Limba)......I haven't finalized the deal yet.....but I will assure you this stuff doesn't sell for anything near what Ed R is asking for it.....As for Gilmer.....$200 for a 8/4 chunk of Korina 14.5 x 20.5 is still pretty steep(although a 1 piece body blank is a rare commodity and will fetch a premium price. I'll let everyone know if I aquire this wood....It may happen this week.....If it does happen, I can pass the savings on to interested PG'ers.....E-mail me if you may be interested. Greg

westhemann.....If you need someone to resaw your tops......let me know....I have a 36in bandsaw that will resaw damn near anything....up to 20in thick!!!!! This past week I cut 1/8 x 15in purpleheart bookmatched panels. I also have a 14in bandsaw with a riser block.....but there is nothing like a 36incher with a 7.5hp motor! Greg

I just cut 5 sets of bookmatched panels of Brazilian Lacewood large enough to do a guitar. This is very strong and dense wood....this stuff may be even suitable for fretboards. Most sets are @ 5/16-3/8 thick...7wide and 22 long.....if you are interested, I was planning to put some sets on Ebay. Brazilian Lacewood

I use a Lie-Nielsen Boggs spokeshave. It is a beautiful tool! Expensive though! I also use a pair of Clifton Spokeshaves. http://www.lie-nielsen.com/tool.html?id=BO...071538006794068

I've won a few auctions from sandi1070 on Ebay, Most of what I have received is Eastern Red Maple.....Very nice stuff! Buzzsaw-international also has some nice spalt.....His spalt is Big Leaf Western maple. ....This doesn't mean That you are goind to outbid me? Does it?

I've used a 1/2in pattern bit with the Stew-Mac template without any problems. You might want to look on the internet for Whiteside, Jesada, CMT or Amana router bits. These bit are of very high quality and less expensive....(I like Stew-Mac but some of their stuff is overpriced)...I'm not sure if any of these companies make a 3/8 pettern bit, but I'll check at my local dealer. I have had bad experiences with the Stew-Mac bit.......the bearings aren't great.

DaveMan....Great approach! I have a friend who builds 18th century reproduction furniture (BTW.....He is considered to be one of the 200 best traditional craftsmen in all genre in the country!) and every square edge to be joined is done in just that fashion....without the sandpaper!...of course!

I've used the Stew-Mac template with success on the strat side of the template using a Fender neck......You may want to make some test cuts first building out the inside of the template with some tape...a couple layers should do(@.006-.020in).....MAKE TEST POCKETS FIRST!!!!!....until you get the fit you are looking for. Remember to allow for the thickness of the final finish. The Stew-Mac template is cut slightly larger to compensate for different manufacturers' necks. I'm about to dive into the bass side of the plate and don't see any problems. As far as what to cut or route first.......I'd cut the body shape before cutting the neck pocket......being careful when you route out the pocket not to tear out any material around the area where the pocket and body edge meet. As long as you have a good center line, it probably doesn't matter which step you do first....but, I'd still cut out the body first, maybe leaving the area around the pocket a bit fat, so you can get a better flush fit when you fit the neck. Did I make any sense? It is 4:45AM and I can't sleep!

That's not much of a reference......Those types of guides are meant more to keep the tool from running off the edge of a 2x4. It will get you close to square, but remember, the more accurate you are the less visible a glue joint becomes. The guide on a power planer doesn't do the job of a fence on the jointer. These tools are really meant for rough carpentry. If I were to have one machine in my shop...it would be a jointer....even a small tabletop would be a better choice.

It is possible to joint the edge of a board with a router and a straight edge....and it is much more accurate than with a hand-held power planer....at least you will have a square edge. With the power planer you don't have a right angle reference, and you have to contend with a short "out feed" table, not to mention the torque of the motor possibly running you off course and losing your square edge......or go with the tried and true method of a bench plane and a good engineer's square....you'll have a lot more control over what you are doing. Greg

I have a Makita power plane. It only gets used in rough carpentry situations.....leveling out studs and other similar situations. At least a 6in jointer(or larger) should be in every serious shop, if you can afford one. But, all the old timers have told me..."Power tools are great, but you need to know how to use the hand tools first." Check out these hand planes....I have about a half-a-dozen of Lie-Nielsen bench planes and they are the best. They are not cheap though. A #2 bench plane will rake $235 out of your wallet. It has always been my belief that you get what you pay for. I just picked up a Boggs spoke shave for shaping necks.....Unbelievable tool! http://www.lie-nielsen.com/list.html?cart=...071538006794068 I hope I didn't sound like a commercial! Greg

Drak...There won't be enough time for a spatula, I've done hundreds of turnings using spalt and generally I just squirt or drop moderate amounts of CA onto the spalt. In some cases, I have used a q-tip on some very small turnings such as pens and letter openers and if you aren't perfect in your application, you'll glue the q-tip to the work piece. 9 of 7.......practice on some of the cut off from you spalt first so you'll get the idea of how much you will need to apply. Here is a link to vase I made....the blue material is turquoise which CA is the binding agent. http://groups.msn.com/GuitarGallery/shoebo...hoto&PhotoID=52 Here is a tele I'm working on with some inlay using CA. It has a way to go but looks cool. http://www.fenderforum.com/userphotos/inde...html?recid=4696 Greg

9 of 7.....Here is a link for the cyanoacrylate(super glue). http://www.lonestar-models.com/cgi-local/Order.pl.cgi I've been getting my CA from Lone Star for about 5 years. Spalt will tend to drink the CA very quickly, so you may want to get the 8oz bottle, it is much cheaper in the larger size. You may also want to get an empty 2oz bottle for ease of application. What you don't use can be stored in a freezer indefinately. When using CA for "stabilizing" spalt, be sure to use in a well ventilated area. With the volume of glue being used, it will cure quickly giving off tremendous heat and some really nasty fumes that can burn your bronchial tubes and lungs. I don't want to scare you off, just be aware and be careful.....Safety First!!!!!! BTW....get the thin CA....Insta-Cure.......it has a water-like viscosity. Greg

Thanks to everyone for the input. It is time to get to work.

I'm in the design stages of an 8-string bass build. Aside from going the custom built route with say...Seymour Duncan (this is my first option as I see it now), are there any pickup companies making pups for 8-string basses? Since the octave strings are so relatively close, would a normal 4-string pickup do the job? Greg

daveg....The Gemini II duplicator, which I belive is the one in the photos posted here sells for @$2700-$3200 (depending on the bed size)last I checked, but the company may be having a sale as we speak!....$500 off? Greg

I have a Crouch 8 x 132 edge sander, not a cheap machine....@ $3500! Crouch 245 Be careful of using edge sanders to true-up surfaces. The extra long length of the sanding belt leaves it more vulnerable to humidity changes, causing the belt to cup (to a certain degree). This can leave you with a surface that is not perfectly flat like a jointed surface, but rather a surface that can tend to fade at the leading edge of your surface. Keeping the belt flat on the platen can be difficult because it rides on a graphite backing that tends to get a lot of leading edge wear. They are great machines to have, but do have a specific purpose. There are some tasks that us guitar makers can take advantage of .....tapering necks and smoothing the outside edges of roughed-out bodies......I don't know that I'd trust it to leave a perfectly flat surface though. It can give you a glass-like surface with 180 grit belts and remove a lot of stock quickly with an 80 grit belt. Right now I'm looking at an oscillating spindle sander to do my bodies. I believe that I am better served with an 8 inch jointer and the spindle sander for most applications. ....Just my 2 cents Cheers! Greg

....After reading this , I thought that we were talking apples and oranges! Brazilian Lacewood looks so similar to the Australian Lacewood, that the only way to tell the difference is to pick it up...the Brazilian Lacewood feels almost as heavy as Cocobolo! And all of these woods bear a resembleance to quartersawn Sycamore. Surinam Snakewood has a rusty color with goldish-orange highlights with the nearly black leopard spots Snakewood....scroll down about half way A piece of snakewood from Surinam which would be large enough to do a fretboard wwill set your wallet back about $125 for the really nice stuff. This snake wood is not a very big tree. One can usually buy from specialty wood dealers small half log pieces maybe 4x6x48 and expect to shell out $400-600 or more!

Snakewood is very difficult to come by without defects. It is prone to twisting and checking while drying. Snakewood is very dense, and when dried without complications, makes for stunning fingerboards. BTW....This is very expensive wood!

Find a steel supply shop in your area. Most of these operations have a cut off bin. Here, you can get this plate for the price of scrap. It is usually sold by the pound. Since you don't need much, you may be able to get it for under $10.....depending on the going scrap rates. The last time I was at my supplier, I was able to get this aluminum plate for $.91 a pound. Usually, this material costs about $200 for a 4 x 10(or was it 8)ft sheet. I may even have a piece big enough for a guitar. Greg

I wouldn't think that it would do anything but improve the tone. Spalted wood has no tap tone to speak of....relatively speaking. You won't hear that lovely ringing tone that you experience with a mahogany or rosewood, when you tap it with your knuckles. This type of wood is in the early stages of decay, so every piece of spalted wood will have very dense areas and softer areas, to varying degrees. With some spalts, the wood can be picked apart with your thumbnail. CPES will strengthen the wood fibers and it can be assumed, improve the tone by providing a denser material. The softer wood fibers will act as a shock absorber by not transmitting the kinetic (mechanical) energy from the strings efficiently. So by strengthening these fibers, you increase the efficiency of the string vibrations...not to mention increase sustain. I believe a spalted maple guitar build may be in my future! GREG

The product you are looking for is CPES.....Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. This stuff is great to harden the soft areas of spalted maple.....I have never used CPES on a guitar body, so I can't tell you how it interacts with laquer or poly. This stuff, if I remember correctly, is about $30 per quart. The Minwax product does OK. Thin superglue will harden the soft fibers and take a glass-like finish.....but to do a guitar top or body requires maybe 8oz or more.....the spalt really soaks up the CA. The superglue(CA) also gives off some toxic fumes if it cures too quickly....The heat generated by the large amount of the CA in the wood fibers, sometimes causes the rapid cure. tdog....aka....Greg