avengers63

http://www.woodworkerssource.com/ I wouldn't use them for figured woods because you really need to see what you're getting, but for unfigured woods they're not bad. They're a little high on the price, but the shipping is pretty reasonable, which counteracts it a bit.

Since you asked... I'm not overly fond of the bass side of the body running halfway up the neck. I've seen it happening a lot on bases here, and I'm not thrilled by it at all. Putting it on a guitar (or baritone in this case) doesn't help it any.

CAROUSEL182 It looks like you did a nice clean job on it, but nothing jumps out at me to make it stand out from the crowd. KINGS X This variation on the Red Special doesn't do anything for me. The headstock is clunky and I don't like that the grain on the control cavity cover is going in a different direction. IHOCKY2 I remember seeing this in a build thread a long time ago. I REALLY like the idea of using banding strips for binding. I'm gonna have to use that idea now that I've seen that it works. Nice job. LOW END FUZZ I like the split-level top you have here. It's a really nice effect. What I don't like is the lack of a bass horn. It imbalances the whole thing visually. Avengers63 MARCOVIS It takes a good hard look to see that this isn't a standard Fender P/J bass. In one sense, that's a really good thing. For GOTM, though, it just doesn't stand out enough. SJE-GUITARS I'm sorry... I hate the body shape. They stick out in a really funky way. The bass horn is way too thick & chunky. RFR It looks like your usual work - very nicely done and very clean. We only have two pics though, so it's hard to get a real impression of it. SWEDISH LUTHIER The second I say this, I knew my chances this month were gone. There are a lot of details on this one, all done exceptionally well. The one thing I don't like is the control cavity cover. I usually like that the cap wood is displayed on the back, but not this time. Probably because it's purple-bursted. It doesn't look right in the big field of brown. Other than that, you soundly kicked our collective butts this month. Good job... now knock it off!!! HYDROGEOMAN Nice clean work. FOIL1MORE The body shape is a little wonky. I can't put my finger on it. The f-hole is too far forward. The finish looks... sticky. Maybe it's just the pics.

I have been for a while now. Every other month or so I put a couple up on eBay. Without fail, someone contacts me to do a commission for them. I just finished up 4 commissions in the last few weeks. One of them was actually a trade with a fellow PG-er - a finished neck for a body, neck blank, and fretboard. I'm really excited to see what this one ends up going for. Construction-wise, there's absolutely nothing special about this one at all. It's the uniqueness of the formica top that should do it. I might NOT get the Retrotrons done this week - I'm out of binding. I have ONE strip of white, and I need 4. Maybe they'll come in before the weekend. I'll be ordering them Monday. ae3: the back is raw wood. I'm not shooting any finishes yet. Personally, I think the back & sides should be painted black. Nothing is done to the top either - it's straight formica.

I don't own a cabinet scraper, so I don't use them, so I suppose the thought just never occurred to me.

Wanna see something REALLY cool???? IT WORKED!!!!! I'm so happy I could give weathemann a compliment. I'm not going to, but it wouldn't bother me if I did. The only thing I was concerned about was leveling out the binding where it was sitting proud of the formica. I took a piece of cutoff formica and took some sandpaper and power tools to it. I started with 220, but got down to 100 before I could even feel an effect on it. WOO-HOO!!!! That means I can put some 150 on there and sand down the binding, just like I did on the sides. Not a scratch on the formica at all. Now that I know for a fact that this works and exactly how to do it, these Retrotrons are getting knocked out before next weekend.

That wasn't the original plan. I wanted the top to be flat. It ended up thicker than the height of the binding, so I just wanted a subtle curve on the top, not a full carve. In hindsight, I should have just planed down the top a bit. But what's done is done. At this point, I'm leaning towards making a reveal around the edge. I have a pretty steady hand. I'll be getting some sanding drums for my Dremel this afternoon and having a go at it. Unless someone comes up with a better idea that I can work with before then...

Not offensive at all. You're right - I DO have a penchant for rounding things over. It's a lot more comfortable to me than those squared edges. It looks more slick to me as well.

Thanks!!! Coming from a pro & veteran, that makes me feel like I'm starting to arrive. No, for multiple reasons. 1) I don't know how. Steam iron? 2) I seriously doubt I'd be able to get it back on straight. 3) there's not much of a carve. It's really just a slight rounding from the binding to the top - maybe 1/4". I have no spraying equipment. I'd have to use black spray paint and a body template propped up over the top. Wouldn't that be asking for trouble? Instead of rigging up something involving paint, what if I simply didn't sand back all of the black around the edges? Wouldn't that give the illusion of a burst? I could also do that with the red, so the yellow is more intense in the center. That's actually a really good idea. Make the mistake uniform to give the illusion of double binding. That'd be a lot easier than a rigged up blackburst!

Here's what I made. Here's what happened. I made the binding chanel a little too low. The edges of the top had to be angled down to meet the binding. The darker wood came through around the perimeter. So... without sunbursting the top, how can I hide this? My thought was to dye/stain the top black, sand back, do it red, sand back, do it yellow. That should really make the quilt pop. It should also hide the edges. But what id I didn't want to go through all that? Would one dark color effectively hide it?

I use template bits with bearings too. That doesn't stop me from being paranoid about it.

+1 I make my duplicates out of construction grade pine. I don't know that it's any better than ply, but it seems better to me. Personally, I'd never use MDF. I'm concerned that the friction might heat up the glue and cause the edges to fall apart.

I never heard that about Dr. pepper. Mr. Pibb is supposed to have prune flavoring. It's ironic that we both left food service for IT.

John!! Why do you do it??!! Now Wes will want to know how you know what a$$ tastes like!! Strange thing about a$$... girls have one too.

You ain't kiddin' about rip-off price. I started playing in '87 and hung out in my local shop a lot. IIRC, their Applause listed new for UNDER $200. For that money, you could have bought a new Peavy.

The more I look at this, the more I don't really like the looks of it. I'm seriously considering stripping the finish off the back & sides and staining the wood black. The top & neck would be untouched, but the ash would be stained black. Any thoughts or other input?

Personally, I don't like Coke. Diet Coke tastes like a$$. I'm all for the alternate colas - Pibb & Pepper. The leser ones are even better, like RC. Diet Cherry RC is exceptionally good for a diet soda. But for my cheapness, you can't beat Vess. Mix & match your own case at the local discount grocery chain for about $5.00 with flavors you can't find anywhere else... oooooohhhh yea. I used to drink 2+ sodas per day when I was working in restaurants. I'm down to 2-3/week at most now. I was surrounded by a seemingly endless supply of free food & soda. I left the industry in May of '07 and have put on 20 pounds since then. Tell me how much sense THAT one makes.

Probably the best thing you can do to get past the learning curve is 1) read everything you can get your hands on, and 2) get out there and do it. Get some 2" thick construction-grade pine from Lowes or Home Depot and make some bodies. You'll drop $20-$30 if you really go hog-wild, but the knowledge and experience you'll get will be worth 100 times that amount. As for tools, I can't help you except to say that there are cheaper alternatives to big power tools. A jack plane instead of a planer, add a combo square to check the edges instead of a jointer, jigsaw instead of bandsaw, circular saw instead of table saw, hammer & chisel & rasps instead of a router. Now, I don't actually suggest you use some of these alternatives, I'm just pointing out that there are cheaper ways to go. Keep in mind also that power tools didn't exist until we had electricity everywhere - maybe 90 years ago. Before that, it was all by hand.

That's completely subjective. And by "I'm not quite capable yet", do you mean tools or skill level?

If it's a set neck.... ...and you don't even have the wood for the body yet, much less the neck pocket routed... I don't get it. Why are you spazing out about it being too small and not fitting?

So.... what's the issue if it ends up being 1mm off here & there? And how can you be 100% positive that the one you're wanting to buy won't be off just a smidge? Unless someone has access to a computer-mapped image of the original, and you KNOW that Fender isn't going to let that escape easily, you'll not have a completely accurate body.

You probably made the right move. It might feel like a small defeat, but it'll lead to a greater win in the long run. Sometimes, you just have to blow up and start over.

Just working through a couple of wiring issues. I only buffed the finish up to 1500 this time, just to see what the difference is. It's pretty significant. This isn't nearly as mirrored as going to 3000.

Stain or dye needs to penetrate in order to work. The idea of sealing the wood is to prevent moisture from being introduces to the wood. Can't stain/dye it if it can't get into the pores. I don't know that you'd NEED the sealer coat of shellac with tru-oil. Every barrier finish (which tru-oil is) seals the wood just fine with the first coat or two. The subsequent coats build up the thickness. So, for pure sealing purposes, the shellac would be un-necessary. Now, you've introduced color to the wood. With that, you'd need to consider if the solvent would draw the pigment from the wood, dorking up the whole process. To the best of my knowledge, grain filler doesn't become solvent again after it dries, so whatever solvent is in the finish would not draw the pigment out. If you do stain/dye the body, repeat the whole process on a piece of scrap and test everything on there. Alcohol, shellac's solvent, might draw the pigment, as could whatever is in tru-oil.

Nah... it's the leopardwood capped Avenger. I got some cheap pups from a Canadian eBay seller. How about a quick tutorial on how to set & use my multimeter to search? It's a cheap-o with a dial & needle.