MIMF

Just a heads up, if anyone is interested in comets. Comet Neowise is rising in the northeastern morning sky starting about 3:30AM for mid-latitude northern hemispherites. Nicest I've seen since Comet Bennett on perimeter guard in Viet Nam in 1970. I got out of bed this AM and took some pics.

I've loaded my beard up with vaseline, messy but it works to make a seal. Takes lots of shampoo to get it out. Yechh! I think I'd shave my beard before I did that. :o At my age I'll probably get sick or die from other causes before sawdust or nitro will do me in, though I suppose now without a seal...

Yes, the jack just connects the neg terminal of the battery to ground (turns on the circuit by shorting ring to sleeve) when a normal 1/4" guitar plug is inserted.

Barry, from your avatar it looks like you have a beard (or have you shaved it?) How can you get a good fit from a mask or respirator?

Chuck Tweedy wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:01 pm

that's the hard part - i almost never check Jam, and i only check-in every few weeks or so. :-/

I check the forum pretty much daily - just go to the quick links button in the upper left and check new posts. Just takes a few seconds and I can see if there's anything I'm interested in.

Hi Matthew - it's not really my design, just sort of a modification of the Smallman neck, without the usual heel (which I decided was unnecessary structurally), so help yourself. Some people are probably offended by the lack of heel - I think it helps reach the upper frets if no cutaway. Good luck w...

Peter, the black/white stripes you see are the interruption of the headstock veneers on the ramp. I have a sandwich of black, white, walnut as you go up in the headstock layers. The neck is Spanish cedar. That's what I thought, but I couldn't see them in the pic. Now that I look closely I can see t...

That is a beautiful guitar. What is that black/white stripe at the nut end of the tuner slots?

Osage darkens up considerably if you fume it with household ammonia. It can get to about the value (but not the color) of mahogany with a day or so in a plastic bag with a container of the stuff. It darkens with age anyway, but this speeds it up a lot. Thought I would give it a try. #1 fresh sanded...

Carl - I'm guessing that this picture is more or less what you're suggesting, with the exception of the fancy purfling (which I might consider trying).

trim off a strip from the top and bottom edges of the sides that is wide enough to use as binding. Thanks Alan. That's something I could try, but with any errors I could screw up more than just a piece of binding, and I always have errors. :) How would you suggest I "trim off" the pieces? Can you c...

I'm being a hermit (hard to do living with wife and mother-in-law), gardening, and trying to learn to play pedal steel - 10 minutes a day doesn't produce much progress.

I've done a couple of builds where I have used the same material for the sides as well as binding. The binding was set off by B/W/B purfling on bottom and top/back. I thought it looked pretty cool. It sounds interesting. do you have any pics of what it looks like? I have a board of a different patt...

Thanks for all your thoughts and advice - a lot for me to think about. Although I'd like every build to be a learning experience, in this case I'd rather do a good job using what I know how to do, rather than a poor job trying something too difficult. Any more suggestions welcome.

A few more pics:

Finished another one of these: Mahogany neck, back and sides; spruce top; headstock, rosette, bridge, bindings spalted something (don't know what); Honduran rosewood fret board. I know bridges shouldn't be spalted, but this is a pretty solid piece of wood (time will tell.) Cheap UST and mic with pre...

Well, I guess there's no love for osage orange here :lol: - that's fine. Freeman, he definitely has to approve everything before construction starts. For continuity I'll be putting the lacewood on the headstock too. I thought the osage color was more consistent, at least the piece I have, though I l...

Here's the pic - Honduran rosewood on the left, osage on the right. That surface probably has 8 years or more air exposure, so not sure how long a freshly cut board will take to darken - maybe use ammonia as Alan notes above.

... but wants a "top of the line" handbuilt acoustic ... Money is no object. :D Well that's good news. I suppose he does realise that "top of the line" acoustics cost US$25K-US$35K and more for special requests. (Symogyi and similar) I told him that. The bad news is that if it's built by me it's no...

A friend and fellow jammer that I've built several electrics for wants me to build him a dreadnought. He's a fair player but knows nothing about how guitars are put together, but wants a "top of the line" handbuilt acoustic. I've told him I'm not the guy to build it, but he wants me to anyway - so b...