DarkAvenger

I'm fairly new to the setup game, just a few years under my belt and mostly setting up new guitars, so correct me if I'm wrong. However, one element I think should be recognized would be the neck angle. Now, I know about why some necks need angles and some dont, but I think this is actually relevant in a different way. Depending on the material and specs of the neck, your neck is going to bend. Even with a truss rod, a more flexible neck will have more variation in where it bends and how much it bends. With a strong neck, like say a 5 piece neck with double action truss rod neck angle won't vary much. But a flexible neck(maybe with a one-way truss rod) might bend more at the bottom or at the middle, and depending on the neck, a little neck angle will get a lower action without buzz.

There are plenty of other great woods out there, it just sucks because I love the look of lacewood and I haven't really gotten my fill of it yet. At least the veneer should be safe enough. Although, I suppose if you were allergic to a wood but wanted the figure, a thin veneer might still be a pretty safe way to go. Not very much saw dust involved and I believe most veneer is treated, which could remove some/most of the oils if that's what your allergic to.

Just thought I'd share my experience with lacewood or silky oak(not actually related to oak) as it can have a real nasty reaction. I've used it twice, the first time using a veneer with no problem. I still have some left overs around, I think it's been treated to remove the oils or something. However, the second time I used it I wasn't so lucky. I was able to work a body together, shaping and sanding, and I was fine. Until it came time to route the neck pocket/cavities. I wore a respirator and goggles, but the next day I had a rash that itched like really bad poison oak, and after benadryl and itch cream, I had to go to the doctors who gave me steroids, which provided partial relief. Although I wasn't 100% sure(more like 99.5%) I left the body alone for awhile, highly suspicious it was the culprit. I finally decided I would just sand through the little work I had left and seal the wood asap. I got pretty close, most of the body had CA sealing it. But it was semi-hollow with no way of sealing the entire inside, and that just wasn't going to work out. It got scraped after I got back from the doctors, again.

-220, 300, 400 for the wood prep, till the scratches are all out -8 to 10 coats, less when you get familiar with the sanding -Use super thin glue and apply by wiping on with a lint free cloth(I just use a blue shop towel folded a few times) Dont soak the cloth, a little will go a long way. If done correctly, you should get a fairly smooth surface. You get a window from 5 to 10 seconds(+/- a lil) after you put the CA on the cloth and once you start wiping on, dont keep the cloth touching the longer than 10-15 seconds or it may stick and keep moving in one direction, dont go back to touch up if you miss a spot. You can get it next coat. -You dont need to, just level it when you final sand -I carefully orbital sand with 1200 then I buff. It's actually pretty tough and buffs very well. if you burn thought, wipe more on and try again. As for leaving it as a top coat, I've use it on maple necks and I know many people who do the same and have for a long time, and nobody has ever had any problem with it. HOWEVER when working with it, if the fumes bug you and you have a comfortable respirator, maybe use it. Otherwise ventilate when working with super glue. SOME people can actually get an increasingly bad reaction(not toxic) after prolonged use, mainly tearing up as the fumes irritate the membranes in your eyes, nose, and throat. Most people are fine working with it and have for years without ever thinking about using respirators. The only time you really get fumes is when you use accelerent on your 'lint-free cloth' *cough*shoptowel*cough* to harden the glue. You can usually get a few uses out of a shop towel if you do this.

Wise man. The first build is usually a learning experience, even for fairly skilled wood workers. You just kinda get a feel for stuff. Tru Oil is great, I used it on my last build for the neck. AND I did cyano for the front of the head stock to get a really nice shine. I would stay away from wax, just oil leaves a nice finish but also leaves the wood feel and look. Wax over oil is just kinda missing something IMHO

I would start by doweling the original holes. You can find a dowel the right size at a hobby store, or if not they will have one a little bigger and you can sand it to the right size. Glue in the dowel with regular wood glue, hammer it in a bit, and a cut off the excess after it drys a day. I use a chisel and slowly and carefully cut the dowel by working the chisel in a circular pattern around the dowel(dont use a hammer or excess force). It is a bit slow, but if you keep it flat on the finish, you shouldn't cause damage. Once the holes are plugged, you can attach the new bridge. If you use wood screws, you'll be good.

Shellac takes a long time to create a nice gloss finish. Wiping on is the way to go, French polish being the best looking. The art of french polish has a slight learning curve, but once you get the hang of loading and applying, it's pretty easy. You will probably have to wait at least a month(most people recommend 6 weeks) to buff it. If you dont wait long enough, it will come up on you if you buff. Oil over highly polished wood is a very fast finish and produces arguably the best tone, but offers little protection to denting etc in most woods, unless your using a hard wood(literally) like maple or purple heart. Basically, very fast, looks good, sounds great, but won't take a beating. Another finish that's very, very fast is CA(super glue) I use it for maple fretboards, and it looks great. Wipe on with a shop towel moving very quickly down the wood. It will take a bit more time sanding to get a smooth surface, but you could do a whole guitar, buff it, put it together, and being playing it in the same day. CA is just Cyano-acrylic urethane. You can(and should) get accelerent from a hobby shop, but use sparingly as it can give the finish a white tint in areas.

Thanks! The silver is amazing to work with, just make sure to use dead soft silver. It took a few trys to get the polish to shine right without affecting the wood as well, but I finally got the hang of it. I still dont think the photos do it justice, but I'll try to get better photos when it's done. And wait till you see the surprise ending...

Ok, so I have most of the body finished now Bent maple top

That's a pretty interesting video. It makes me really want to try this mod, too. I might have a go at it, it's time to change the strings on my HHjag anyway, and I've been wanting to mod one of it's vol. controls to spin-a-split. While I'm at it, I think I'm gonna try this out.

Absolutely brilliant. Added to todo list. Has anyone done this before?

I like it, I wish I could hear it though. It would be REALLY interesting to do a side-by-side comparison.

The easiest way to put a killswitch on a strat without modification would but the add a push/pull pot. If you aren't familiar with them, push/pulls are a DTDP and pot in one. You pull up on the tone/vol knob to turn your killswitch on, no drilling required. All you have to do is wire the out from the volume(leading to the jack) to the middle pole, ground goes to the side closer to the pot, and the lead going to the jack goes to the side away from the pot.

Wiping on shellac with tint is easy. I do one quick coat of clear (shouldn't need it for poplar, but stops botching on maple), wait a few minutes (tint the shellac while you wait) wipe on color and give it day. Test on scrape before hand, you can always tint the first layer of poly to enhance the look

So far, the neck is completed. 24 3/4" scale Ebony fingerboard with hand made sterling silver inlays. The front of the headstock is CA finished, the rest is oil finished. The body is still in the finishing phase.

I use Seymour Duncan color code, sorry its a bit hard to read. If I was going to change anything, I might change a the neck volume to a dail-a-tap

As far as the dye goes, I would add a bit of shellac to the mix(best if made from fresh from flakes) This will give you a stable and solid tinted undercoat while keeping the finish thin. Nitro, and shellac for that matter, are somewhat delicate finishes offering low amounts of protection, not my idea finish for a guitar getting 'heavy use'. a Polyurethane(2 part with catalyst) is IDEAL as it offers good protection and can produce a glass like finish fairly easy. Another option not commonly discussed is polyester. This will produce a nice finish can be a bit easier to work with, but it shoots thicker and could effect tone more. If done right, it should be a good finish. I generally avoid rattlecans especially if you already have a HVLP gun. I would try for a poly finish, safety being the number one concern. ALWAYS use a respirator(not just a painter's mask), and you need to work out a way to ventilate. Not saying it's wise, but if you plan on only doing a few finishes with poly, you may be able to work out a makeshift ventilation system, but I'm not sure what your abilities/limitations are. 2 part Poly, once the safety concerns are met, might end up being the easier and quicker way to go. Cure time between coats is two days, 5 days to buff, and will require as little as 2-3 spray sessions. Total finish time: about 2 weeks

Thank you so much! I don't know how to repay you p.s. haha would you mind editing my address off your post? again thanks!

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This is how I wired my Jag, I'd like to explain the theory of the binary switches a bit. Before that, you should know WHY I like this setup and what is special about it. With this setup in OoP, I can get huge bass on the lower strings OVER a really really nice trebble on the high strings- both ends come out crisp and clear. SO many tonal options and I find I actually use all of them. Also this might sound weird, but I have this lick I wrote that has never really sounded right except when I play it on THIS guitar or my cheapy nylon acoustic. PLUS, I can ditch OoP and go back to either or both regular pickups. One of the biggest reasons this setup works so well is my neck pickup is a nice warm low output and my bridge pickup is super high output, more for grungey? On to the actual setup The top switch on the jag is the neck on/off, with a vol/tone next to it The bottom three switches control the bridge: on/off, series/parallel, coiltap and vol/tone The complicated: First, you have 2 on-or-off switches for two pickups(I have humbuckers) Normally, you might have a spot when both switches are off, no signal is reaching the amp. By doing a little bit of rerouting of the grounding(careful of vol/tone), you can be left with 2 pickups where both or either are on and sound normal, but when BOTH switches are in the off position, they will become out of phase with each other. Grounding Routing pup1 on; pup2 off pup1 (+Jack) (-ground) pup2 (+disconnected) (-Jack ,no signal to jack/no ground) pup1 off; pup2 on pup1 (+disconnect [at pup2 selector]) (-ground) pup2 (+jack) (-ground) For the interesting one pup1 off; pup2 off pup1 (+ goes to pup2 +) (-ground) pup2 (+ goes to pup1 +) (-jack) Since being out of phase means the two signals from each pickup are being partially cancelled out by each other, having a coil tap and series parallel just in the bridge opens up a lot of variation by changing how much of the signal is being cancelled out. Having both in series while out of phase produces a weak fender-like twang because most of the signal is cancelled (like cancels like). But having a series humbucker in the neck and a single coil in the bridge produces a warmer but still twangy sound. See diagrams below Feedback much appreciated!

I would love some bits if you still have any, guess I can't PM yet ^^ Just let me know if/how you would

Im new to the process of shellacing guitars and wanted to hear from anyone who likes it. I currently have a maple top that I'm trying to get a thin finish with. Shellac is something I've worked with a little, but never to get a high gloss look. Now, here is my current process and any feed back would be appreciated 1. sand to 400 and grain fill 2. sand to 400, then thick layer(relative I guess) of shellac 3. sand back to wood, hopefully ending with a somewhat sealed and smooth surface 4. microplane top (maple) 5. begin shellac/polish process(olive oil, mixed shellac/DA, polish)- few layers of color/dye followed by days of clear Now I'm left with a somewhat glossy finish thats cured a few weeks, but do you think I could get it better with a little super fine steel wool and hand buffing, or should I just try hand buffing alone. Alternative I could refine my polish technique, but I always figured I'd just buff it. Also, next time, is there a way to get a super thin poly or urathane coat over the color layer instead of shellac? I tried a technique on the head stock of adding CA one layer, then sanding and/or scraping, then another layer, then sanding, etc and I got a REALLY nice finish and very thin

thats the best way Ive seen so far, thanks!

I've been working on LP and I need some advise. I have cut the shape of the body but now its time to do the carved top. What is the best way of doing this? I know many people cut it with a router in steps, but are there an other ways?

Alright, Thanks for the help!