ToddW

10" 10! Like the 10 felonies that Blagovasnichivicheswhatsizname up in Chicago has admitted to. The 1 is just in WMD font style.

Anyway, I almost bought that 10" Ryobi but decided to get something a bit bigger instead. Still, for $25 yours was a steal!

Oh, I wasn't suggesting the lace, just saying it was how I got around lining up the pup studs and strings. If I did it again I'd use a cheaper PUP and put a cover over it. I'd also use a cheap fixed bridge, go for 4 strings, not six, and pull off the outside saddles. I was silly and used the Schaller roller bridge so I could narrow the spacing.

4 string chords are much easier for a kid, and they never just play the top 4, they always bang away on every string. Well at least that's what my kids and my friends did.

17" is a concert ukulele scale. I built one and it fits the 4 year old who's playing it perfectly. He'll outgrow it in a year or two, but he's big.

My advice, only go with 4 strings. EBGD, but you'll probably tune up a fifth. A five year old has little hands.

Also, use a zero fret, with the strings so short, you get big tuning/intonation issues at the first fret unless the action is super low.

Lastly, I wouldn't bother with a truss rod. Go with carbon fiber or steel truss rod.

I used a blue lace sensor because I didn't have to worry about string spacing, and the taper was pretty extreme with a 17 inch scale and 6 strings.

Good luck!

Todd

I agree that the sales pitch on those is voodoo, but it's nice workmanship. Just pricey. Wood won't give me a grounding point, so maybe I'll try aluminum. Is Carbon fiber electrically conductive?

Todd

Sorry I wasn't very friendly in my last post, because I do understand the excitement, and 1+ to Fookgub. Not cheap, but definately very nice work.

Best,

Todd

No offense Lazerblitz, but your first post sure reads like a sales pitch for mr hefner.

Just unwrapped my new B. Hefner Co. company web link Tele Custom Body & I am one seriously impressed happy camper . . . . I thought I had paid for a cheap two piece Tele Custom body with a thinned heel. What I received instead was a premium quality, absolutely gorgeous ONE-PIECE Swamp Ash Tele Custom body with a contoured heel for under $185US including shipping. . . . lots of links again . . . .

$185 is a good price, but it's not what I'd call cheap. Cheap is when you win one on ebay for $50. It's a rough economy right now, so if you're really here to try to stir of sales for Mr. Hefner, I can empathize. And if not, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with your new piece of swamp ash.

I have mostly contractor grade tools, Porter Cable, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Panasonic (drill), and such. Steel City bandsaw and Dewalt planer . . . None of it's Festool or Laguna or minimax, but it's good stuff. Good tools don't make me any better as a wood worker, and unfortunately, they never die so I don't get to upgrade.

On most power tools I think the home owner stuff does just as nice a job. Circular saws are circular saws. Cordless drills . . . But having bought a cheap router, and now owning a decent one, I think it's one of the few items where the high end stuff actually gives me a better end result because I can use 1/2" bits. I also love the little step dial feature that lets me plunge a little at a time on deep routes. On hand tools, I think the high end stuff does actually give a better result out of the box. Took 3 hours to tune my Stanley Plane, and my Lee Valley is still nicer.

Anyway, I'm rambling, and I should be working or making sawdust. . . .

Unfortunately, those HP numbers are pretty useless. Go by the amps if you want to compare power. That a better comparison, but still not great.

I don't do moldings, I use my router mostly off the table and just put the little Ryobi on my cheesy router table, but I think that if you're putting it in a router table a lot of the time, then maybe you already got the best router for you. Doesn't the Rigid let you adjust the bit height from above the table? I don't think the other two do that.

I've thought of using something like this for grounding, as mentioned. Is a plate like this available anywhere?

I'm going to revive this, because I can't find one of those plates online. Anybody know where they're sold. I'm thinking about using graphite saddles.

Thanks,

Todd

as far as good/better/best goes, it would be ryobe/milwaukee/rigid. Then you have Dewalt with B&D/Dewalt, where B&D is your homeowner and Dewalt is your professional.

There are representatives from both TTI and DeWalt who come to the stores to sell their product, and they'll tell you the same thing pretty much, only with more sales pitch... If you get there on the right day you can get them to fight to the death!

That's interesting, because I've heard the opposite. It's true that TTI bought Milwaukee, and since TTI makes the homedepot house brand tools (Rigid), I'm told Lowes won't be able to sell Milwaukee anymore. But I've also heard from the contractors who work at HD that while TTI wants you to think Rigid is better (after all, they designed them), a lot of the Rigid tools aren't as good yet. Clearly HD want's you to like Rigid more since you can get the Milwaukee tools for less at other retailers. You can't get the Rigid tools anywhere else, and if TTI want's to keep their contract with HD, their reps had better push the Rigid line!

That said, I think most of the Rigid tools are great, and they're usually a good value. I just liked the Milwaukee router set more than the Rigid one. I liked the 800 series Porter Cable system too, and it's dust collection looked better to me. The Plunge release lever spring is a bit stiffer on the Milwaukee, but other than that, it just seemed to be a little better designed than the Rigid. The fixed base is definately more comfortable, but I seldom use that.

Most of the reviews that include the Milwaukee and Rigid favor the Milwaukee, but that's absolutely no reason to choose one or the other. People have had problems with both designs, so pick the one you like better. I almost bought the Craftsman, but it sounds like some people here had bad luck with them. Might be model dependent. I think I heard or read someplace that TTI makes some of the craftsman tools now. If that's true and the craftsman looks identical to the Rigid, it might be. In this economy, unless they have non-compete contracts, I'll bet TTI will make a house line for anyone.

Editing to add: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journ...661.html?page=1

They liked the Bosch the best. I hear good things about it too. So now you can be really confused, but remember, it's just a router.

Well, I hate voting for "another" quilted maple top build, but it was just so beautifully executed that I had to. Liked the others too, expecially Jaden's. If you'd positioned the cavity differently and matched the control covers to the wood better it might have won.

Nice work all of you.

Todd

OK, I looked at the link, and now I understand where the confusion is coming from. I've seen that video before, it's even been linked to in several threads here. You need to understand that here is a difference between figure and grain.

With your ash, you have a grain pattern that you want to accentuate. A pigment stain will settle into the grain make it stand out.

With the Maple James Condino is working on, it's figure, but it's not grain figure. If you look, you'll actually see that the figure is perpendicular to the grain. Normally if you dye maple, it can look blotchy. But with the maple he's got, the fibers are oriented so that the variations that can make dyed maple look blotchy, are more organized. That means the blotchy pattern you normally try to avoid, actually looks good because it's organized into tiger stripes. You'll also notice that you don't see the grain much after he dyes it.

You probably don't have flame or quilted ash, and I don't actually know if there's such a thing as flamed or quilted ash. So the only blotchyness you'll get will probalby be just that, blotchy. And, it won't accentuate the grain, it will obscure it. Stain should accentuate the grain better than dye, and that's probably why most people recommended it to you.

Best,

Todd

PS) re-iterating, I haven't worked with ash, I'm going by what I've read in Flexner and my woodworking magazines.

No good reason. Both are good routers, I looked at them before I bought my Milwaukee.

But I'm curious why you would buy the Rigid if you could get the Milwaukee kit for less money. It's a better router than either the rigid or the craftsman and you said they had over 40 in stock for around $130.

Best,

Todd

Hi Doug,

If you look back in the thread, you see he was going to use stain, not dye, and an oil based one so he would avoid some of the absorbtion issue and also have plenty of time to wipe before it dries.

-Todd

That's really nice!

Question, is there a red stain on the wood in the first picture or is that a reflection?

Todd

That's an awsome deal. It's 50% off their normal price and 70 less than I paid. I'd grab one if I were you, you won't regret it. Even if it's the 1 3/4 HP version, it's still a good buy:

http://www.ewarehousedirect.com/Items/5615...%20Router%20Kit

Us ToddW's are a dime a dozen, ask anyone

I've never stained ash, but what your saying sounds logical. You should read this:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...=38646&st=0

I think you can use an oil or a water based stain. Some oil based stains have noxious fumes, so you'll need ventilation. On the plus side, they don't dry nearly as fast. If you do go water based, dampen the wood first so you don't have to wipe quite as fast.

Might be time to grab an old baseball bat and experiment If the stain, sand, stain works on the bat, you'll have a matching bat and guitar combo.

Rick,

Have you used the tung oil finish on ash? And if so, did you pore fill first.

Hi Troy,

If answers are slow in coming, it's because the tru oil vs tung has been discussed dozens of times, so you should do a search. But very briefly:

Tru-oil is polymerized and will actually harden to a fairly protective coat, tung oil won't. Both will sink in.

Also, there's a difference between a true tung oil, and lots of the tung oil finishes. Most of the "tung oil" finishes are an oil/varnish mix. They do harden and are protective. I have no experience with tung oil or oil/varnish mixes, and since you're new to this, I'd rec'd going with tru-oil for lots of reasons. It's easy to use, very safe, and pretty protective. After all, it's a gun stock finish, hunters drag their rifles through the woods all the time.

As to dying the body, I don't know if using an aniline dye on ash is a good idea or not. Ash is a pretty open pore/grain wood, so you might be better off using a stain since a dye might look muddy. Here: Didn't read this, but you should http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Mat...ut.aspx?id=2954

Good luck,

Todd

I voted for the second place one. The one that's winning sounded "boingy" to me. More bass maybe, but not as tight. It's really not a great test because you can't standardize how the notes are played. You'd need a machine to strum it kind of like they use a machine to test golf clubs. Of course, how it'll sound given your style/attack etc is completely up in the air, and I think most good players will be able to compensate for some of the differences.

Todd

has any one ever used loctite slow setting epoxy, we seen some at ace that was 60 min. set time

Forget that stuff - that's for kids. I tried it once and it stayed sticky forever. Go with the real deal (Zpoxy, System3, or West System).

+1 to all that. I have had nothing but problems with the Loctite brand epoxy. Bad for gluing, worse for finishing.

Funny, I've never had a problem with the Loctite stuff. The "set time" is a lie, it's more like the open time because the stuff doesn't become really hard for at least 24 hours. But it's super easy to mix a small quantity up for gluing in carbon fiber rods and such.

I would never try to finish with the stuff, it costs a fortune on a per oz basis and is so thick and gooey it'd just be a mess.

Best,

Todd

Well, some tuners are reversible, like the thumb lock sperzels where you can take them apart and flip them. The ones on the squier mini strat aren't, but they're really poor quality anyway. My 8 y/o daughter isn't bending notes or I'd have already replaced them. I'd order a new set. The tuners are really the only item on that $99 guitar that is garbage, which to me is pretty impressive.

Best,

Todd

I have that 2 1/4 hp set from Milwaukee and love it. The coupon with that one was for $10. I don't think they meant to sell it for $124, but if they set that up, you should have bought a few and resold them!