MIMF

You might try to figure out how to clamp guides to the neck on each side of the saw blade so that the blade has no choice but to cut where you want. I know freehand is tempting, but that blade wants to dance and it will get what it wants sooner or later. If I were doing it, it would be worth my whil...

Many factory built instruments are quite overbraced, so you’re probably okay. On that instrument, your experiment wouldn’t cost too much even if it failed. If you’re going to keep the existing pin bridge as a string anchor, worry about the break angle on the new bridge being high enough to keep the ...

The height of the frets is a variable depending on the frets you select. So, the specification has to be to the fretboard face. Stop short of your desired depth so you have room to adjust. If this is your first time, you might want to carve up a 2x4 section first just for the experience. Hard maple ...

If you have time to wait, use japarts.ca. They order direct from Gotoh. The prices are good.

Decades ago, I tried a Harbor Freight trimmer. The runout in the shaft was so bad that the device was useless. Shy away from the cheap routers.

The one that I have that I use the most is the Ridgid cordless. I bought extra bases so that I could leave them set up for different operations and just move the motor around. It’s a light duty router. I don’t use it for truss rod slots—it would do the job but not with enough beef to satisfy me. I u...

I use 24 lb copy paper (with an ink jet printed label) and fish glue.

If you don’t mind retuning when you put on the capo, then the frets can be any size you want. Otherwise, the shorter the fret, the less the capo will pull the string sharp. For my personal guitar, I put up with the inconvenience of retuning for a capo in return for ease of playing I get with the tal...

A few months of light exposure ought to darken the patch considerably.

Nice fit. Congratulations.

Yes, but much smaller and closer to the original outline so that you don’t go out to the edge. It will look better if you redo the mahogany patch as one piece rather than inlay strips. Making a template to guide the router will increase the odds of your success. You can make the template several tim...

Why not rout a little shelf around the opening and make the mahogany filler fit that rabbet? Any gaps would be the same color and wouldn’t require filler to look professional. Timbermate will look like you pushed putty in the gaps and will shrink later and leave depressions.

I have purchased “Prime-Dent” and “Orthosource” flowable composits on EBay in the past. Both seem to work—it’s some kind of a UV cure binder with what seems to be glass particles embedded. You also need some curable bonding agent(I bought “Optibond”), some phosphoric acid (I got way too much for lit...

Ebay. Cheap, no problem. I don’t know who else buys it. I’ve never heard of back alley dentists. A dremel tool and a mirror, I could save a fortune on dentistry.

I stayed with the dental fillings.

For my big one, I used a 500w charcoal lighter from Lowes. I had to get it hot and bend it to fit it in the pipe. This little cartridge (200w) was $10 on Amazon. I used to use a propane torch but went to electric to avoid the fumes.

Thank you, an even better idea.

Thank you. Sounds easy enough to do. I’ll give it a try.

I have a 2 3/8” pipe with an electric charcoal lighter inside that I use for most of my bending. I sometimes bend tighter radiuses by heating the outside if the bend. I decided to make an iron with a tighter radius. I have the pipe and the heat cartridge shown in the picture below. Unlike the charco...

You can buy dyed black holly veneer from LMI. You have to be careful to scrape both sides before you glue it, but once scraped, the glue joints hold. I think they use pressure to get the stain to penetrate.