MIMF

I don't mind if you don't use the neck I made. After this time, I might not be satisfied with it either, I kind of screwed up the binding on the headstock. It was an approach I experimented with, maple and walnut I think, jatoba fretboard, to make a grid pattern on the heel. The joint is 100% Benede...

That part of the tailpiece is not reproduced (not to that pattern, anyway), and can be easily repaired by a jeweler - mine was decades ago. The two bails that hold the strings are quite available.

7 courses, 13 strings. Which string is not doubled, and why? You have me very curious!

My 1946 Epi's frequensator cracked there and was brazed/soldered, and has stood the test of time since. It's a sunburst, they did sunbursts on most guitars up to the advent of TV and the desire to be a bit more stand-out, I think. Sunbursts sometimes get accused of covering up less desirable wood ch...

When setting intonation on a long scale bass like a P-bass, is it common to have the G and D saddles in roughly the same place? I was somehow expecting the normal-for-a-guitar slant to the break points over the saddles.

I think no binding is a very courageous decision these days. Cost cutting in the day, now a statement of worth and skill.

It's kind of funny, on guitars and basses, the neck is attached to the body and that creates a whole definition of how you think about them. With banjo's it's more the body is attached to the neck - the neck is the defining element and you make the body fit it, not the other way round.

Nice advice! Thank you both very much. I had a ton of relief before I started, and I really notice the buzz above the 12th fret thing. I'll go get my nut files and see what I can do there.

A friend of mine gave me a Squier P-bass, kind of a kit. I have nerve damage in my left arm and hand that's makes it very hard to play guitar, so it occured to me that maybe I could play a bass - so I put it together over the past few days. I set it up kind of the way I do a guitar, and consulted th...

The last two I made I used one bolt only, and a slightly oversized hole for the bolt to pass through. In one case that's the hole in the neck block, in another case the bolt goes through the heel of the neck and the threaded barrel is in the neck block. It's inevitable that final fitting of the neck...

Jake Wildwood's blog has a ton of old banjo reviews, repairs, etc., and a ton of pictures. Here is one https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/2012/03/c1890-buckbee-5-string-banjo.html The top of the fretboard on most seems to be level with the top of the rim, which is proud of the actual head surface. Ne...

Elegant simplicity, I like it a lot.

The thing about an acoustic guitar pre-amp, presumably for a peizo pickup, is the modern, good sounding ones are quite sophisticated in their processing of the signal. It's not just a gain amplifier, they process the signal to change the frequency response to make the pickup sound like an actual gui...

Yay!

I think your choice of inlay material is a tad thin for fretboards, unless you bury it under something very tough. Most use material about .060", 1/16th inch, and treat it very carefully. The issue is you typically inlay when the fretboard is flat, and the inlay is laid flat in a flat bottomed ...

You could always put '13's on it and tell him it wants to be a Jazz guitar.... Those mediums will induce some relief to the neck, if not to the fingers...

I might drill a hole into the truss rod slot, from the back of the neck or through a handy fret marker dot (although you imply you didn't use dots) and inject some non-hardening sealant into the truss rod, and then plug the hole. I've had the same thing happen, and I was able to get away with just t...

I like tap tones. I do archtops, and they need a live box, particularly the back, to generate tone and volume. My expectation is that I will build what amounts to a drum, leave out anything that muffles the drum, and I will have a great tap tone. I actually call it a drum tone. As long as it is robu...

David, will the VFD's you are using convert the 230 VAC 50 hz single phase power into 400 VAC three phase power for use with machines commonly available in Australia? A great solution if so, but only available used - discontinued over 10 years ago by Rockwell.

What I did when purchasing three phase industrial machine tools (like a Bridgeport, Southbend metal lathe, others) is either simply replace the motor with a single phase of appropriate size, or in the case of the Bridgeport I had it rewound from three phase 600 volt (all common three phase power sup...