dpm99

Varitones are fun to play with if you like to experiment. I have a strat-type guitar that has the second tone knob replaced with a varitone. With all the varitone positions, two split humbuckers, and a kill switch, it yields something like 73 combinations, if you count all the varitone positions. I have a mind to replace the varitone with some sort of high-pass filter though. Or maybe a DIY piezo. We'll see.

Welcome, Robert. I believe I may have run across your website before.

Add a varitone.

There's so much to say here, but it's been said over and over. Read through old posts, pick up a book or two, and as Ken said, take your time. Understand that it's about the process and the learning more than the finished product at this point. The way to build a nice guitar is usually to build ten lousy ones first. I'll give you a couple of pieces of money-saving advice. 1. Buy wood locally if you know enough to pick good stock. Don't go buying a "body blank" from a parts supplier. This isn't a commercial, but I actually supply guitar woods from time to time myself, with very limited selection. Let me know if you need help, but I still say local hardwood is your best option. 2. Don't buy any parts or tools until you need them. As you go, you'll be researching more and more. You may think at this point you want a set of Seymour Duncan P-Rails and then change your mind later. Be patient. It will save you a lot of money in the long run. Also, I can't think of much you'd need for a semi-hollow that you wouldn't need for a solid body, except maybe a forstner bit. Don't give up. It hard to build a guitar, but rewarding.

This should be a sticky. Having not researched this topic much, I'm beginning to understand better why my plane blades require so much resharpening with bubinga.

You can make a guitar body out of anything you like, as long as it has enough strength to support the pull of the strings. Even if it doesn't, you can do a string through design or something. EDIT: I once made a guitar out of nothing but ambient air, help together by the power of my mind. It wasn't very loud, but the tone I heard was better than any guitar I've ever heard in my life. Hmm...Maybe I ought to make a copy of that and sell it. Air guitars, anyway? Is there an interest? I could produce proprietary parts as well.

Congratulations, and you're a good man to post pictures, even if it didn't come out quite like you wanted. Keep at it. I'm curious to see if you can get enough paint off to make it work. How does it sound?

ALL GONE!

Nice, clean work. I'm looking forward to seeing how that neck works out. I assume you just air dried the wood?

+1 The practice is what's valuable.

Good work cleaning up that back! You really want it to look something like this: So...a lot. That's the correct way to do what you want to do. If for whatever reason, you just can't buy enough materials for that many clamps, there's always a way to rig something up. It may not be as good though. As for which forum, no idea.

Wow! That's ambitious. Please post pictures of your final results. This is what you want for your clamps: Buy some long bolts and wing nuts (or whatever kind of nuts), and put a cork on each end. Cheap and easy. What are you gonna use for the back? Are you using the old back, or gluing on a new one?

Just so you know, you're not the first person to have ever made that mistake. And you won't be the last. It's happened to a lot of people.

Thanks. I'm having trouble importing it into Gimp and Inkscape, but I think I have what I need anyway. I figure as long as I'm 2 3/16" at one end and taper to the nut width, it should be close enough to accomodate whatever I need.

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

Well, yeah. That's what I've always done. But what I really want to do is build an accurate template I can use long-term, with my own necks, Fender necks, or OEM necks.

I've discovered a supplier of very high quality wood just a mile or two from my house. The only problem is he only sells full boards, and they're generally bigger than anything we'd need for one guitar. I was over there the other day, and bought a piece from a stack identified as 4/4 quartersawn Bubinga. We did some random measurements in the stack with a nice moisture meter and got results ranging 8.2% to 9.1% MC. Each of these boards are 30" x 3", and I've tried to point out any imperfections I could find in the pictures. Wood info: Bubinga is a smooth wood that doesn't need a finish. It has a good tone that's somewhere in between maple and mahogany, and while it's an exotic wood, it's been used often for guitar necks (and particularly for bass necks). I will ship via USPS in a 36"x4"x4" box with bubble wrap/packing peanuts. For most domestic areas, shipping ought to be between $10-$15, plus any surcharges for rural areas. You can figure it out here, and add in about a dollar for packing materials: http://postcalc.usps.gov/ I'm considering buying more (including other species) in the future if there's enough interest. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Board #1-1: $35 Straight grain, and will include extra wood for headstock wings Board #1-2: $30 Straight grain, and will include extra wood for headstock wings. I've priced it a little lower because it's not quite so quartersawn as 1-1. Board #1-3: $20 Straight grain, and will include extra wood for headstock wings. HOWEVER, this board has a small split in the surface, and it's at the more quartersawn end. It extends about 1 1/8", and I've thrown in a picture of it so you can see what you're dealing with. As you can see from the other pictures, it doesn't go all the way through the board. Boards #1-1, 1-2, 1-3, wiped with Naphtha Boards #1-4, 1-5, 1-6: $10 each These aren't quite as good. There may be tiny knots, or the grain might not be as straight. Great for laminate stock, of course, but iffy for neck blanks. They could be used for scarfed headstocks, fretboards, veneers, or ??? If you want more pictures, I'd be glad to take them. I was running out of daylight. I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have about any of this stuff.

So I know a Strat neck pocket is supposed to be 3" down the center line, and 2 3/8" wide, but it's tapered. My question is whether it should be 2 3/8" at the top of the neck pocket, or at the bottom. And if anybody just happens to know some crazy precise measurements, I'm all ears. Thanks, David

Yeah, but the new Stanleys are low end hand planes. Ever since WWII, they've been pretty lousy. *shrug* The one I had was out of tune when I got it, but after I got it flat and sharpened, it works just fine. I've heard of people getting good results from well-tuned new Stanley planes. I've never owned one, and am just going on what I've heard, but from what I understand, after WWII Stanley started saving money by using less metal in their planes. But if it works, it works, right?

Yeah, but the new Stanleys are low end hand planes. Ever since WWII, they've been pretty lousy.

Avoid the Depot! What you'll find there is a Buck Brothers plane that will do nothing other than make you hate hand planes. Ebay is your friend here. These are a few Stanley Bailey planes you might look at. I just glanced at them, but they look right: http://cgi.ebay.com/Stanley-Bailey-No-5-Wood-Plane-/150627221932?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23121501ac#ht_6123wt_1139 http://cgi.ebay.com/STANLEY-BAILEY-No-5-1-4-JACK-PLANE-/310327675402?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4840f88a0a#ht_500wt_922 http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Stanley-Bailey-5-1-4-Cast-Iron-Bench-Plane-VG-/350474509593?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5199e89d19#ht_500wt_922 http://cgi.ebay.com/1910-ANTIQUE-BAILEY-NO-5-PLANE-ESTATE-FIND-NO-RESERVE-/300573272878?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fb902b2e#ht_4424wt_1139 http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-STANLEY-BAILEY-NO-5-PLANE-/120744575239?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1cf00107#ht_500wt_1156 http://cgi.ebay.com/STANLEY-BAILEY-NO-5-PLANE-VINTAGE-NICE-/280704903052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415b50e78c#ht_1959wt_1139 It should be noted that a hand plane is also unlike other tools in that it won't work correctly right out of the box. You have to tune it up, which can take several hours. Here's a good tutorial: https://home.comcast.net/~stanleyplanes/planes101/tuneup/tuneup.htm David

Sounds like a good excuse to build a guitar to me. You could wire pots of different values on switches and add a varitone for cap values, and use it as a working illustration. You could also have switchable treble bleeds and stuff. Might be fun as an illustration, though I think it would be a little ridiculous for a working guitar. Alternatively, you could build it all into a pedal. If all the guitar's pots are at 10, their influence should be minimal. You could then control volume/tone/whatever with the controls in the pedal.

If you do decide to buy a plane, get some advice first. With most tools, it's not quite as critical, but planes are tricky. My own recommendation would be a pre-war Stanley.

Good job, trying it out and all. That's the way to go.

Do you have a hand plane? That's what I use. It does take time though.