MIMF

I haven't built a guitar in a long time. Thinking about taking the plunge again. I would really prefer to use the wood I have on hand, as I have way too much of it. But it seems I have a lot of woods that just don't go together terribly well. I'm thinking of building something vaguely Tele-esque (a ...

I'm in South Carolina. Kinda hard to come by here. I hate not being able to choose my wood in person, and shipping cost is an issue too, of course.

Anybody know any place in Charlotte NC that might have it?

Where are you guys getting your alder? My local guy has gone out of business.

Maple f'boards are about the only reasonably priced thing going. But that maple look doesn't work for every guitar, of course.

Has anyone experimented with stains and such on maple? Does anything look good?

Thanks, guys. I'll cogitate on all this and see where I can take it. Yeah, I'm a big fan of the original Swedes. I love that mahogany top look. If I'm making something based on an existing guitar, as opposed to doing something original, I never do an exact copy. There's always something I want to ch...

Well, you learn something new everyday! Thanks. I hadn't thought of the grid thing. That might just work. I did experiment with printing ... what, 25-30 years ago (!)? I don't remember much about the experience except that they (Kinkos) didn't have printers big enough to make copies of my pattern .....

I never make the same thing twice (or even once, lately). The way I make bodies is to draw a design on poster board, cut it out with scissors, trace it on to a slab of wood and then go at it with bandsaw and lots of sanding. From time to time my drawings will come out too big or small. I will someti...

Nobody uses them these days. Take that as a warning.

I had one. I installed it in one guitar and then the same unit in another guitar. Same thing happened with both: No sustain and bad tone. It's a high quality product, but my experience with them was not a good one.

I can't remember his name at the moment, but some famous builder said in his book that he uses contact cement to glue veneers of this sort. Has anybody actually tried that? I seems like you would get a rubbery glue line that wouldn't take finish well.

I have the ball end at the head. I tie the strings on classical style at the other end. Works fine. The scale is 24.75". The turnbuckles are the smallest I could find. I don't have the guitar with me right now, but I think the body of the turnbuckle would be right at about 1.75 inches long. The...

Here's what I came up with for my backpacking guitar I built back in '96.

Hey Greg. Been away from the mimf too long. I didn't even know this contest was going on! Great project. I just discovered this thread and haven't read it yet, but I wonder why you went with such large cathode bypass caps. I haven't built an amp with a 12au7 as a power amp, but it seems that the usu...

Thanks, Mark.

Yes, of course. But a question: Do you guys do any roughening of the bottom of the fingerboard so the epoxy has something to grab? I made a knife out of a saw blade once that I just epoxied the scales on and one of them fell off after a few months. I didn't really know anything about epoxy at the ti...

I've built necks with hardwoods (maple, etc.) and softer woods (mahogany, poplar, etc.). I used to defend the softer woods. But now I'm not so sure. Strength, stiffness of the wood has not been an issue for me. But recently, I had a chance to play a couple of guitars I build 15 or so years ago, one ...

Yeah, I know. But I've had too many bad experiences with (admittedly cheap) epoxy: not hardening properly, failed bonds, etc. I'm kind of scared of it at this point. I have in mind to come up with a neck gluing jig that introduces a tiny bit of forward bow. I just never seem to get around to actuall...

Not sure I want to answer that.... Okay, as often as not my necks come out slightly backbowed after gluing the fingerboard on. You'd think I would have solved that problem by now, after having done this off and on since ... 1976? Damn! So maybe I need to start a new thread on glue ups and backbow? l...

Anybody know anything about Bruce Johnson's trussrod? Apparently, there's something new/different/better about it. The pics on his website don't reveal much though. I imagine he would sell them. Maybe I'll email him.

I like my guitars to be as light as is practical. And on my personal guitars, I always put the strap button on the back of the neck around the 18th fret, SG style (they just play a lot better when put there). Needless to say, that makes the thing tend to be neck heavy. Kinda looks like I might have ...

Stewmac used to sell one, but no more. Anybody know where I can buy this type of rod? It uses one rod that can correct for both bow and backbow. The rod has both ends threaded: one forward and one reverse - and it turns in two blocks, one at each end. I used to make my own but am not setup to now. T...