strummer2k

Thanks guys, I've been working on documenting all of my jigs in my "spare time"

Like Chris says, it's aluminum and can be cut with woodworking tools, but it'll dull them. I used a non-ferrous metal cutting blade in my chop saw to cut it and an old, junky file to smooth the edges.

As for where to find the track, I bought two server racks at a going out of business sale. Rockler has something similar, but they're definitely not cheap.

DC Ross - do you remember what kind of server rack you got that from. Just curious so that I know what to be on the lookout for. Thanks.

As for where to find the track, I bought two server racks at a going out of business sale. Rockler has something similar, but they're definitely not cheap.

Man, you're right, they are proud of that stuff.

Now, maybe combine it with some ideas from this and we have the ultimate jig for planing and neck pockets!

I can find lots of places selling the small t-track stuff you have in the base, but the wide stuff is not to be found.

Or you can go all out (my interpretation of Myka's neck jig)

This thing works a treat. It was relatively simple to build (with scrap aluminum track from a server rack I had).

Set the neck angle; clamp the body lining up the centerline; align and clamp the neck between the two rails; set the short crossmember to stop the router base at the rear; and tighten down the knobs.

DC Ross - love this jig. 2 questions:

- since I don't have a server rack sitting around, do you have any suggestions where I might pick up some of that t-track...don't remember seeing it at Depot

- what would I use to cut it to length? I assume you also had to smooth the edges with something (ok that was an extra question)?

I think I may have messed up. Embarassed

I am building a custom body with two humbuckers, a Bigbsy vibrato and the appropriate bridge for it. So, I am ready to wire it up and I realize I haven't done anything to ground the bridge. I have already pounded in the inserts for the bridge posts and don't think I can get them back out. So I don't know how I can ground to the bridge (any suggestions welcome).

I can up underneath the Bigsby from the control cavity, so I thought that would be my fix - I could just run the ground to the Bigsby (would this work??). However, I cannot get the solder to stick to the bottom of the Bigsby.

I would appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks.

I saw this HVLP System at Woodcraft. Do you think it is worth the money for one or two finishing projects a year?

I am in the process of planning a build for a friend of mine who wants a Bigsby installed on the guitar. I don't know anything about Bigsby's. It will be a flattop electric guitar, bolt-on neck. So, after looking on the net a bit, are the following correct assumptions?

1) There are two models which seem to fit the bill, but I don't know which would be more appropriate:

B-5 solid body electrics (although the guitar will be chambered, it will be solid where the Bigsby attaches)

B-7 more downward pressure??

2) I would still have to buy a bridge to go along with the Bigbsy. Are my only options the tune-o-matic style bridges?

3) If I have to get a tune-o-matic style bridge, then I need to make sure the neck is a 12" radius neck and I will probably have to angle the neck into the pocket to account for the height of the bridge?

I think with the B7 you have to make sure there's plenty of wood behind the bridge --it's a pretty long trem. The bigsby site has measurement's I think. Other than that, both look cool in their own way. I think the downward pressure is the same, since they both use tension bars. I think the B7 is more common on archtops, and the B5 more for flattops.

There are other bridge options, sure. You could go with the Bigsby rocker bridge or the compensated wraparound (doesn't matter where the strings come from), although, true they're both TOM style.

But if you look at this guitar:

I modified the bridge for the Bigsby by carving slots for the strings. Worked great (I eventually took off the Bigsby when I modded the guitar again, then sold the Bigsby...kind of wish I hadn't now...I'll have to get a new one).

You could do exactly the same with a hardtail bridge, maybe with a three-barrel type.

Didn't the strings bind up in the slots when the Bigsby was used? Seems like a roller bridge or maybe graphite saddles would help the Bigsby work smoother? Again, I don't have any experience with one, but I would prefer to not have to use a tunematic style bridge and angle the neck pocket.

I am in the process of planning a build for a friend of mine who wants a Bigsby installed on the guitar. I don't know anything about Bigsby's. It will be a flattop electric guitar, bolt-on neck. So, after looking on the net a bit, are the following correct assumptions?

1) There are two models which seem to fit the bill, but I don't know which would be more appropriate:

B-5 solid body electrics (although the guitar will be chambered, it will be solid where the Bigsby attaches)

B-7 more downward pressure??

2) I would still have to buy a bridge to go along with the Bigbsy. Are my only options the tune-o-matic style bridges?

3) If I have to get a tune-o-matic style bridge, then I need to make sure the neck is a 12" radius neck and I will probably have to angle the neck into the pocket to account for the height of the bridge?

I've used roundover bits on cherry and maple, and there's no more or less risk of tearout than any other routing job. Maybe there's even a bit less, but that could've just been my imagination. So, the roundover shouldn't be a "special" problem, though you always need to take care.

As for chambering, I think people are hesitant to answer because they're not sure if they're missing something by pointing out the obvious: just chamber it only as close to the edges as you can go without getting into the rounded over part... problem solved. If your roundover bit has a 1/4" radius, then don't go any closer to the edge than 1/4" and you should have no problem. Depending on the thickness of the cap/drop-top, give yourself an extra fraction of an inch for wiggle room.

Regarding the glue: If you've glued the top to the body nicely, there won't be any significant gap left. In some cases, it's so seamless that you can't even tell that 2 pieces of the same species have been glued up. I wouldn't sweat something like "shrinkback" at this stage of the game. By the time you've finished'er up, there won't have been enough shrinkage to even notice. And in the worst case scenario-- is it so bad to see a little line? The difference in colour and woodgrain will already show that they're 2 different pieces.

That's my opinion, anyhow.

Greg

Thanks for the input, yeah, my main worry was tearing up the maple cap when I rounded it, but now that you mention it, it really isn't much different than routing for binding. My hope is to make it end up looking like a single piece of wood since the color will be a solid.

sorry about the toilet seat comment, it wasn't my intention to insult you im just not a fan of those type of shapes, like the vox teardrop

I am not the least bit offended. Honestly. It isn't something I would build for myself. I am just trying to get some answers, but I guess no one has run into any of these issues.

Alright, very funny on the toilet seat thing. Like I said - not my design. Now can anyone help with the questions I had?

Questions:

1) When I start to route the edges, am I likely to start chipping out the top, or tearing chunks out?

2) Under an opaque finish, is the seam between the two wood pieces gonna show? I have heard of glue kinda sinking back. Maybe covering the seam with epoxy would help (much like the grain fill process for Mahogany).

3) Is there anything special I need to know about installing a Bigsby?

That design is bizarre but I really like it for some reason..

If it were me I's scrap those pointless little cutaways and make it a flowing curve. I know you'd be sacrificing some upper fret access, but it would look a lot better.

reminds me of bo didley's guitar:

http://www.edromanguitars.com/avail/guitar...ch/6138_950.jpg

Well, my friend is pretty set on the horns, I am just trying to make it happen for him.

First off, I have one successful build under my belt and now a friend of mine wants me to build him something. He has come up with an original design and mocked it up in Photoshop (so not everything may be to scale). To me, it looks a bit like some of the old Ovation electrics that were around for a short while. We're going for a Brian May vibe and I want to put some ?Trisonic pickups in there instead of the humbuckers. Here is the mockup:

This will have an opaque orange finish.

So, the problem is that he is dead-set on the rounded edges as shown in the pic and I really, really want to chamber it because it sounded so good in my other build. For the sake of argument, let's say I use the traditional Mahogany back, Maple top approach and glue those together after chambering the body.

Questions:

1) When I start to route the edges, am I likely to start chipping out the top, or tearing chunks out?

2) Under an opaque finish, is the seam between the two wood pieces gonna show? I have heard of glue kinda sinking back. Maybe covering the seam with epoxy would help (much like the grain fill process for Mahogany).

3) Is there anything special I need to know about installing a Bigsby?

Thanks for any feedback. I know the horns need some work(doesn't look like you could get your hands in there comfortably) and some of the controls will have to move.

I just got a Guild Bluesbird off of Ebay (great gtr btw). Anyway, the binding is just starting to separate in a couple of places and I want to make sure it doesn't get any worse. The gap for the separation is like a 1/32 or maybe a bit larger. But it is definitely coming loose.

Question: would regular binding glue from Stewmac or CA glue be better to fix this with.

When I finished a recent project using the regular binding glue, I remember it being a bit messy to deal with and I absolutely do not want to wreck the looks of this guitar. That is why I was considering CA glue. I think it might be a bit easier to work into a small place like that.

Also, any tips would be appreciated. I don't want this repair to be visible. Thanks.

Thanks for the comments,

The maple came from a wood supplies near me, they have got loads of bits; I just got lucky on the day. I also got some iroko (spelling) but unsure if it's any good for guitars? Anyone know.

As for the bridge, I think its fine, the only prob is that if you have it set too low it's a real pain to re-string as the end of the string won't fit between the bridge and the guitar body. So it's set a little higher than I would like. In hindsight I would have recessed the body to allow for it but I didn't think of that at the time.

Also for the next one I’m going to invest in a proper polisher as the results aren't as good as I think you could get.

Cheers,

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I haven't ever dealt with that kind of bridge, so I may be way off, but wouldn't angling the neck pocket fix that problem? It seems like that would allow you to raise the bridge??

Yup, another one done 

Info:

Alder body with a light flamed maple top, Maple/bubinga/maple neck, Ibanez Edge, Rio Grande BBQ bridge pickup ibanez V7 Neck pickup.

I used scrap from the neck to make pickuprings and vol/tone knobs.

More pics HERE

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Very nice. That neck is outstanding.

Wow thats a awesome finish. I think i might be starting a tele project when im done with school. You got me hooked on that quilted top. Where did you buy the top at?

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I bought the top and the mahogany body from Tommy at USACG when I ordered the neck. That way I knew the neck and body would be the same type of mahogany.

This Looks Great!!

How does Phat Cat sound? I'm going to put into my tele project  too...

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Dude, I only wish I had routed a humbucker sized space in the bridge. I would have immediately bought and thrown the bridge Phat Cat in there after hearing the neck. They just seem to handle anything. The cool thing is they are sized so that if you don't like them, you can just throw a humbucker in there. But I can't see ever getting rid of one. It is just a gorgeous big single coil sound.

no seriously if this is your first build you have to enter it...

how much wood working experience do you have?  have you sprayed before?

Its very very good and very worthy of GOTM!

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Only had high school shop class, but that was so friggin long ago. I just got Melvin's book and bugged everyone I could on here. This was my second finish job, the first was my black Strat you see in the avatar thing.

How much Reranch nitro did you use? Was it in rattle-can form?

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Hmm, uhm about two cans of Sand and Sealer and 4.5 cans of clear for both the neck and body. Yes, they were rattle cans.

that looks familiar... I am working on something like that right now...  only painting back black.

please do us a favor and enter that into the guitar of the month section.

well done!

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Thanks for the compliments, but I don't think it holds a candle to some of the other work being shown in here. I really don't know if it is GOTM material especially since the neck was made for me. But thanks again.

BTW, what's going on with that pic of the back?  I see what looks like blue quilted maple where the ferrules are located.

Dave

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That is exactly what that is! Truth time. It is actually covering up a f***-up. My drill press wasn't deep enough to drill all of the ferrule holes, so I tried some other device which ended up just wrecking the holes (live and learn). After I got through kicking myself, I made a template the width of the set of ferrule holes and got the router out and went to work routing out about a 1/4 inch deep. Then I shaped a piece of left over maple to fit in there, redrilled the holes and voila', no more f***-up!

That is beautiful!  Please tell me how you did the finish.  Thanks!

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Well, Drak gave me some wonderful tips. I guess the best advice is to practice on scrap as much as possible. I used StewMac blue stain. It has a metallic sheen to it that just pops out at ya. Much better than the powder dye I started with (again, thanks Drak). Drak's recipe uses black as the first stain on the maple and I made some killer test samples using that method. However, the guy I made this for preferred the pure blue/blue effect. I will use Drak's black method on my next build. The other trick I learned (Drak again) was to ignore the ratio StewMac puts on the bottle of stain. It is too weak and I wasted alot of time trying to get it to look right. So make it strong.

Then I used a clean rag to wipe it on, let it set for about 30 seconds and then gently wipe some of it off with another rag(wet). After drying, you sand back the maple until it leaves the blue in just dark grain areas (not the best term). Then take your stain and reapply again, this time, I let it set for about 30 seconds but was a little more aggressive with wiping the stain off to get a better contrast. If you have more questions, Drak is very helpful and knows way more than I do.

The mahogany was done with grain filler that I added dark walnut stain to. This really pops the grain out.

Everything was then finished with tons of ReRanch Nitro finish. They have a really good website with tons of finishing help.

Hope that helps.

First, many sincere thanks to all who put up with my questions. This was my first build and I wouldn't have even tried this if I hadn't found this forum. This is kind of a bittersweet end to this project because it is actually a wedding gift to a good friend I used to be in a band with. Now, if I can just talk the wife into letting me build one for myself. I built the templates and everything else where the body was concerned. The neck was the only part I had made. Here are the specs:

- 12" radius USACG custom made mahogany bolt-on neck (Tommy rocks! You won't find any better quality)

- Bone nut

- Mahogany body which I chambered

- AAAA quality maple top

- Nitro finish

- Binding front and back

- Maple inlay block string ferrule holder thingy (look at backside shot)

- Handmade mahogany cover plate on back

- Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue Tele pickup in the bridge

- Seymour Duncan Phat Cat pickup in the neck

- Grover tuners

- 3-position tele switch, volume and tone knobs

- StewMac tele bridge

Some more links here:

http://www.advantexcom.net/~scarpen/angle.jpg

http://www.advantexcom.net/~scarpen/backside.jpg

http://www.advantexcom.net/~scarpen/headstock.jpg

Too much water.

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Here are a couple of ways to get around the problem.

1) You could use plumber's putty to plug the holes, and yes, as has been mentioned, reduce the amount of water you are using.

2) If you are spraying nitro, I use mineral spirits(wear gloves) for wet sanding. It works great and doesn't cause any swelling.

If you have a PROFESSIONAL, well-adjusted resaw machine, there's hardly any waste at all. The blade is only about 1/32" to 1/16" thick, and a really well-tuned machine, and a perfectly planed flat piece of wood, heck, you can resaw that baby up into lots and lots of pieces.

It's the lower-quality machines and machines that can't be adjusted well that will have a lot of blade waunder and eat up your thickness and you don't get as much back because you then have to thickness-sand the pieces flat.

A really great resaw machine will cut them -perfectly- right out of the gate.

-Those- are the guys you want to get to know unless you got the money to buy one for yourself. 

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Drak - one more question. I have a 14 inch Delta bandsaw. Would that be suitable for resawing or should I look for someone who knows what they are doing?