Yeah, the vintage yellow is bloody amazing!!! Sort through my build diary and you will see!!!
Printable View
Yeah, the vintage yellow is bloody amazing!!! Sort through my build diary and you will see!!!
Hey Pest you better pull ur finger out Gav is 7 posts higher than you, wonder who will make the grand first ?
Good move Tristan moving trumpet to axe !
Tristan - you never know - with a teaching, music and soon to be lutherie background, you could corner the market in Aus running lutherie courses! I know that there are a couple around, but that's it - a couple... Good luck with the build.
hey there, just up to removing the stain from the binding and while it's coming off of the top easily, there are parts on the sides where I obviously didn't polish it adequately and the stain doesn't want to come off.
Any advice? I'd just sand it with very fine sand paper, but I'm afraid that I'd remove finish accidentally/
Cut strips of sandpaper 320 grit the same width as the binding, then using your thumb and fingers position the sand paper(adhesive works best) so that the thumb and sandpaper is perfectly aligned with the binding. Sand gently along the length of the binding, cleaning the residue from the sandpaper regularly. Your fingers should support your thumb and basically lock your thumb in position by positioning your fingers on the soundboard/top/face of the guitar. If you do this carefully you wont remove the paint from the body, only from the bindings. To finish, polish with OOOO steel wool.Quote:
Quote from tcjbrown on June 8, 2013, 08:30
hey there, just up to removing the stain from the binding and while it's coming off of the top easily, there are parts on the sides where I obviously didn't polish it adequately and the stain doesn't want to come off.
Any advice? I'd just sand it with very fine sand paper, but I'm afraid that I'd remove finish accidentally/
Thanks very much Gavin, I'll give it a go.
Thanks, that's working exceptionally well.
Gav's a champion!
Indeed! While this is going to take a while, it's producing great results.
I'm a bloody bridesmaid! :) think I have come second three times this year in the GOTM! Haha but I'll take the compliments....
I have spent many hours doing the binding trick above simply because I didnt know of any better way of doing the binding. DB was keeping this secret at that time!:
Preparing the Binding BEFORE applying WUDTONE
If your guitar has binding you will spend ages removing paint from a 'keyed' binding surface if you do not prepare the binding before painting.
I learned this trick from my good mate and fellow author on this thread DB, here is his trick for keeping the binding clean..
After sanding, grab some 400 wet and dry and VERY carefully give the bindings a polish.
Then break out the 600 and repeat.(If you don't have 600 grit, you can polish the binding with steel wool) Then let the Wudtoneing begin!
When you have let each coat dry, a light and VERY careful rub with the steel wool will remove any Wudtone and add to the polish on the binding.
Do this after each coat and by the time you are at the top coat stage, you wont have to worry as the binding will be as smooth and shiny as a *censored, censored*..... you get the idea!
Yup, I used four hundred to remove the stain and then steel wooled it and that worked quite well. Thanks Gavin for the help, I've noticed that removing the stain from the neck binding was far more difficult than the body and I suspect that it will cause me problems after the base coat is ready. (pics soon I promise :) )
First base coat applied, it's starting to look pretty good.
Starting to see why people here swear by wudtone, as it's been far easier than my attempts at lacquer finishing, and is looking better.
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...3-image-2.jpeg
Btw, those neck holes are the same as on the neck mounting holes on the body, they were drilled in a strange place on the body. I'm considering re-drilling it.
They are a tad wonky... But I wouldn't worry about it as there is bugger all string tension and there is no way that the screws will give out on you.
Plugging those holes requires a bit more than a roughly shaped dowel, you need a proper plug cutter to be sure of a stronger than the parent timber fix.
Having said that, the above is true as long as the neck mounting plate doesn’t over hang the edges of the neck/ body.
If it does, then we have a work around to sort you out :)
The mounting plate is fine, I didn't even realize that they were off until I had removed the neck. It doesn't really worry me and doesn't seem to structurally be an issue as you said.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to add any more coats the last three 'cause I kind of lost my steel wool. I found it under the television in my parent's bedroom (not gonna question that) and I have now applied the 3rd and second last base coat. Pics to follow this evening.
MMMMkay... best leave the question of why the steel wool was found there well alone :)
Just ordered my guitar shop starter kit and 12' radius sanding block from stew-mac.
If you can guess what why I stole a bone off my dogs today you'll win an amazing prize!
(not really)
Bone nut!!!!
I suppose that was too easy! But yeah, I thought doing it from scratch would be a fun and challenging experience. I'll boil it tomorrow and give it a week to dry/degrease.
DONT BOIL IT!!!!!!!!!
You are best to leave it to "cure" naturally. Boiling cooks the bone and weakens it.
Try and find an old bone that has been sitting around in the sun for a year.
I place my dogs old bones on an ants nest to clean them and then hang them in the chainlink fence for a year to be bleached by the sun, looks strange but it gives the best results.
Okeydoke. That shouldn't be too hard. Nobody wants a weak bone!
... keeps away visitors too!Quote:
Quote from dingobass on June 15, 2013, 17:34
[...] hang them in the chainlink fence [...]
Also drives the dogs insane :)
Well we have four dogs and already have enough insanity :)
Thanks for the nut blank DB, I'm a patient guy and i'll let that bone do it's thing.
It'll certainly be a better idea than boiling it and maybe my patience will give it better tone :)
Hey people, I've noticed that the smallest nut file in the stewmac nut making kit I ordered is a 0.012' and I want to use a set of ten - forty-sixes. Will that cause a problem? I'm making up another order for a couple of crowning files anyway, so if that is an issue I can get another correctly sized file.
It will be fine, it's actually better if you use a file that is a few thousandths larger than the string width just in case you decide to try a different string gauge!
Thanks mate, just wanted to make sure. Just realized I didn't need to order a crowning file as the fretting kit already has one. Derp.
There were alternates that AJ was looking into that had a different range of sizes - Japanese files from memory.
The StewMac nut kit contains a 0.010" Gauged Saw which will allow you to accurately start your string slots and will pretty much be all you need for your 0.09-0.010" strings.
Scott is correct, i have an .010" which I use for my Pit Bull Strings which are .009" from memory. You actually DON'T wan't to go a few thousands of an inch too big otherwise your string could rattle in the nut slot. If you want to change your string size to a thinner gauge then ideally all you do is redo the nut!
I'll see if I can make do with the supplied files, if I have to I'll organize some more gauged files from Stewmac. It strikes me as a little weird that they don't supply files for common gauge strings like 16 or 46.
Some new toys... er, tools arrived today.
I'm going to butcher... er, setup a guitar tomorrow as a practice run, probably one of my less played guitars like my epiphone les paul junior, or a 70's japanese SG copy I have lying around. I've decided to leave the pics of the V till the finished product, partially because I'm already up to the second top coat, partially because of laziness and because of the knowledge that there's a tl-1 on it's way. (extremely distracting :) )
The next order is already sorted (Bottom Pic), with many important toys tools that I desperately want need.
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...b-image-4.jpeg
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...8-Untitled.png
Great start!
Check out the Katana fret level tools at www.rectifymaster.com
Great tools at a great price!
Just had a look at that db, does it require you to have the neck straight before the level?
the diagrams seem to suggest that the neck need not be straight for it to be leveled.
It's designed to allow you to set the neck to the relief you want under string tension, and then an adjuster on the Katana allows it to be matched to the neck's curve. Basically, small brass wedges sit on the fretboard so that you can match the Katana with the curve, then you remove the wedges and level the frets to match the curve. And, it appears to have the DB stamp of approval.
It has my stamp of approval as well! Mainly because DB won't stop raving about it so I felt obliged to add it to my toys....and because I can't stand it when DB has better toys than me! ;)
The Katana has to be the best new toy on the market!
The better the fret set up is at the beginning, the easier it is to get a fast result.
On Pit Bull necks, I press all of the frets before I begin working on the Guitar.
This ensures that they are all evenly seated, takes a lot of work out of the equation later.
For those of us without a fret press, you can firmly tap the frets in with a hard plastic faced hammer.
Remember to support the neck though, other wise the whole thing will just bounce back at you or worse, you may crack the neck :(
DB, at a pinch, would a small Dolly Hammer against a small piece of wood be suitable?
rob