JPL

I'm just melting down an old bell and recasting it into a 2 1/8" Les Paul. just think of the sustain.

The minor increase in price for the soulmate isn't enough to deter me, when I decide to build from a pre-made neck.  Those multi-lammed, made-to-order necks seem like excellent value-for-money.

Other than that, I'd be more tempted to go with the Carvin than the StewMac, given the reputation Carvin has for playability.

Greg

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Carvin makes necks for StewMac.

wat is this ca glue?

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CA is superglue.

Have you pulled the frets yet?

Can you buy the crushed stone and mix into epoxy yourself? You could then just pour the material into your cuts.

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The short answer is yes, most jewelry supply outfits carry crushed stone for inlay. The correct answer is closer to what Clavin said. What you would end up with is more like concrete with chunks of stone rather than the recon which for the most part tries to look like the real thing. Crushed rock inlay is not as easy as it sounds. I would rather cut and set a whole rock any day rather than fight the mix.

I use push pull pots with speed knobs and have no problem. I did spread the split shaft a bit for a firm hold. I'm not sure I would recomend glue.

That's not bad, you may be on to something. Maybe if you had a buxom blonde holding it...

Last I knew the Stewmac necks were made by Carvin. If you go direct through Carvin you can get a few more options but not as many as Warmoth. Both make very fine necks but I think Carvin does better fret work.

I'm starting to like that last version.

Now for the "but"... I would smooth out the curves on both bouts. On the top one just round out the top a bit and swing the waist in a little deeper. On the bottom I would round out the cut creating a bit more of a soft "S" curve.

Just my opinion of course, I might be turning it into too traditional of a shape for what you want. When I look at a guitar I like to see something sexy and curvacious. It has to look like something I would want to hold and feel the contours. But then again I might just have a one track mind.

Also, the carvin CT series features a recessed tom, but their previous guitars with the shallow TOM didn't recess, and didn't have neck angle.  the ct's are recessed, and use a different TOM bridge. 

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I was just about to say that because there has been some confusion about the two bridges. If you want to make sure you get the right one or just want more info call Carvin, like so many other companies they really aren't that good responding to their email.

The lowrider bridge will work just fine with no neck angle and no recess. Carvin does have a pretty wide neck with a large radius (16" or their compound radius which is close to 16" at the end) so keep that in mind. If I remember right their bridges come with a 12" radius or something like that and they file the saddles to their 16" necks. Sorry, my Carvin's buried in the closet so I can't measure the spacing.

I already tried it, dude.

And I got crap.

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Really? I got six pages of good crap. Yes I know there are a lot of threads that don't answer your question but this has been discused in great detail. If you take the time to wade through the results you will find a wealth of information.

I'm kind of lazy and dont want to search thru the pages.. ha

Thank you ahead of time!

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Please, no offence but lazy and finishing just don't go together. If you are too lazy to read up on the subject you are not going to have the ambition to do even a passable job on your guitar. In my book finishing is the hardest and most painstaking part of building a guitar.

No flamed maple to speak of on ebay, also I was hoping to buy from a company or supplier as i want more than 1 set.

10 sets would be best.

any ideas are appreciated.

thanks.

Eric.

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Try searching under "bookmatched" or "BM" veneer. Think of every possible lable someone might put on it and paw through the mountain of results. Searching for wood on ebay can be a pain because there are few standard lables.

It's been a while since I've looked for veneer on ebay but there used to be tons of it. Some of it may not be listed as bookmatched but come in bundles of sequentualy cut veneer that you can bookmatch yourself.

Carvin necks are great as long as you like the size, shape and options they offer. Carvin is a direct seller, they have no distributors. Go to carvin.com and check it out.

Whoa, where did that come from? You're making an awful lot of assumptions that just aren't backed by fact.

Just whose plans am I messing up? Are you mistaking me for someone who could even remotely be called professional? I am not in the business of selling guitars and have no plans to do so. If I were that would be a different story. I would then make sure that I could fill the order with a quality product as I have in the past in different mediums. Even when I was selling my product I would push the limits on my own time to further the art. This is called growth and should not be feared. See what I mean? When a product is for sale I aim for perfection but I will never give up trying to push myself for fear of "failure". Some of my best work is the result of what I have learned from failure. Look at the R&D dept of any business and you will find racks full of "failures".

I never said I was diving in blind. In fact I said "If I feel I learned my lesson from my first screw up". Everyone here has jumped in over their head when they first start. And like most everyone here I have spent a great deal of time researching and planning. I will admit that I don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will not fail, what fun is that? I don't set myself up for failure but I don't fear it either. While I have yet to use the wall of death I am perfectly willing to face it if need be. Pushing the limits is basic human nature but some are willing to push a little further than is considered safe by others.

No, "it's really not that difficult" when you ignore the written word and run with assumptions.

I understand Perry, I just don't agree.

I guess I've never been afraid to dive in over my head. If I feel I learned my lesson from my first screw up I'm ready to jump in to something else I can screw up rather than stay with something "safe". I would rather push myself to the next level and face failure than only do the things I know I can do.

If you have had trouble with measuring scale length and positioning the bridge, you should reconsider building a carved top, set neck guitar.

If I used that philosophy I'd still be sitting in my mother's basement playing with lincoln logs. If at first you don't succeed... give up.

Like everyone else I screw up, I learn from it and move on to better things. With a defeatist attitude like that we'd all still be banging on hollow stumps. Give the kid a break, help him learn and just maybe he'll be teaching you some tricks in a few years.

For me a big eraser.

Why everybody always want everything free!

Isn't the purpose of a forum to SHARE information with other people. Help'm out when they have similar problems you once encountered???

Good point and in order for the forum to continue sharing information it needs donations to stay alive. This place takes money to operate! Now it would be ideal if people gave just for the warm fuzzy feeling it gives but the reality is that most people need some incentive to part with their cash. That is why those files are for contributing members.

The other alternative is to get out a pencil and come up with something original that you can be truly proud of. It takes a good craftsman to copy something but it takes a good artist to create.

My pricing follows my experience... none.

I don't have a pricing fomula because I don't feel cocky enough to charge for something I know little about. I am building a guitar for a friend but I'm only charging material cost. I'm doing it for experience, fun and as a favor for a good friend.

Someday my time may be worth something but for now I'm just playing.

I suppose if you held your finger against the wheel long enough you could do some damage but I used to brush my finger against it all the time with no ouchies. Then again my blade was old, a new one might have a little bite to it. The cutting surface is smooth, the only teeth are the bits of diamond that have to work pretty hard to cut a soft elastic material like skin. I would think you would get a friction burn before it ground through your finger. The first few times my finger hit that blade I about jumped out of my skin but I still have all my digits. The only injury my family has had is when my mother brushed against the edge of a sanding disk on the arbor. She still has the scar.

Kero scares me too but lots of folks have used it. I used oil in my slab saw and when cutting hard rock like agate and running it through a little too fast there were some sparks flying. Kero takes a bit to get it to fire up and there is more than enough flow there to keep the heat down but I still wouldn't want to push my luck. Water is by far the most pleasant lube for anything you will be using for inlay.

Nice home made rock saw. I used to have a store bought trim saw along with a slab saw and a four wheel polishing arbor. Unfortunately my ex wife took custody of them even though she had no interest or knowledge in using them. But that's another story.

A couple words of caution. While it is very safe for skin that thing will chew through fingernails before you know it. Trust me, I know. Also, while water is perfectly fine to lubricate most cutting jobs do not leave the blade sitting in the water or that $40 blade will be a rusty mess. You can get additives to prevent that but is probably not worth it unless you are using it in a production setting. Oil or kerosene is often used especially if you're cutting harder material like agate but it's a stinky mess to work with. Stick with the water but don't forget to dump the water when you're done.

Have fun with it, it's a fun tool. Get a few diamond bits for your dremel to do final shaping and you can do pretty much any shape you can think of. I just might have to add that to my list of tools to build, I miss mine.

i was just going to buy a tin of black satin paint.... i take it thats a no no.

all my bought guitars have this amazing deadly flat surface with zero imperfections, its almost like they are made of plastic. ive varnished and painted a few things in my time but have never reached that level of excellence..... what gives?

Read this.

Ok is there any other type of mill that works with a computer that can cut a body from a CAD fill thats 3000 or less. It doesnt have to be cnc. I realized i just needed a computer operated mill. Or is that what CNC means.

this will cut a body

So will this

There is a guy on the Carvin forum that cut the body of his seven string with a hacksaw blade with a duct tape handle.

What's my point? Well, this guy wanted to build a guitar and wasn't going to let something like lack of tools stop him. If you really feel the need to build you'll do it even if you don't have every tool mankind has ever invented. I'm as big a tool junky as the next guy but if I waited to have the perfect workshop before I start I would never get a damned thing built.

can a carver cut that deep for a guitar? If does, where can i buy one for a good price? Also how accurate is it because it looks like you have to sand like crazy to get it to a decent smooth wood?

The CopyCarver site will tell you everything you need to know.