demonx

This is just a timber mate filler. Today I added more water and had it runny but it was still going chalky very quick due to being a warmer day. I actually hate timber mate filler, i usually fill with west systems, but being these are oil finishes the timber mate is a more suitable choice. Not sure what you mean by a neat round over. The new guy has just done what I instructed, which is sand everything but not touch the edge until its finished and then just run the 320 around it to knock off the sharp edge. It's the way I've been doing it for years. In other news, I've found a guy I can outsource paint to and actually trust the finished result. He's a late 60's retired luthier that just does repair work, but happens to have a spray booth for the odd paint job. The run I'm starting in Jan will be the first four guitars I send his way. This means I can focus on my workshop being a woodwork environment and not have the issue of dust free days and loosing woodworking days to paint days. Hopefully I'll be a lot more productive. Ill trial this for twelve months and see what happens

I think you're right bob, BUT, I want him to try hard and I want him to sand that little bit more that the average person would. Either way - he got another guitar done today in about 3 hours and he finished off one from the other day - so sanded for six hours with a 40 min break and a couple quick cigatette breaks. Thats pretty good for now.

Bit more progress today - #2 is now grain filled and at oil stage: I normally don't spread the grain filled this thick, but it was warm enough today that the paste was drying before I could spread it out thin. Creates extra sanding work. #2 after grain fill was sanded and the first coat of oil applied: I also put together this trolley today to keep all the sanding supplies in one place. Makes things quicker and easier having a portable sanding station.

I'm curious how long it takes you guys to finish sand a guitar I'm talking after carving stage (lets assume its roughly at 40 grit stage) So sanding 80 then 120 then 320 or whatever similar pattern you use. The reason I ask. I've sanded LOTS of guitars. I know it takes me an hour or less but that is hard work, breaking a sweat and arms get tired. Now I've employed a guy to do finish sanding (an will take on additional duties the longer he's worked here), he's getting an hourly wage. He works hard, but it's taking him 4 hours to do one guitar. I'm not questioning his work as his sanding is great and I'm sure that in a few guitars time his amount of time spent will get faster and faster. I'm just curious, what is an average time for different people? What should I expect. It's been so long since I was "new" at sanding between all the cars and guitars over the years that I cannot even remember how long I was taking in the early days.

#5 was the first of the run to see oil. Here is a couple teaser pics: Branded logo in African Mahogany: A close up of the Black Walnut body, where you can see the Walnut, Mahogany and Ebony all merging: Three piece African Mahogany neck. If one piece wants to move, it has to fight the other two. Makes for a much more stable neck:

Some people love the Simtec some people hate it. I myself don't have an opinion as I've never used it. It is meant to be top shelf along with PPG and HOK. I know one guy in the USA whom I respect his opinion who's been a painter for decades. Their whole workshop dropped the PPG brand as it was too expensive and swapped over to the Simtec system. After a while they went back to PPG as they just weren't getting the same quality finishes. I have also spoken to a local painter who is quite skilled/knowledgable and his opinion was that Simtec (clears) do not age as well as PPG or HOK and he will not touch the stuff, however same again, this is second hand info, not my own experiences. I think a lot of guys are using Simtec these days as it is cheaper than the other brands I mentioned (around here it is anyway) I should note I'm referring to comparisons on their 2k urethanes, so I would assume their Polyesters are of similar comparison?

This run has been plodding along slowly. Sealing the fret ends (last week): Side dots went in today:

Back on topic though, I did a finish a year or two ago for a customer that sounds like it is as you are wanting Mahogany guitar, trans red with gloss finish. I didn't use any stain or dye, I cleared the guitar, then sprayed a transparent red candy (on the top only) and then cleared again. Just another way to approach the same finish. Here's a link to the guitar: http://searlsguitars.com.au/Gallery/024/024gallery.html

I've never used ZPoxy, so take my advice with a grain of salt, however there's a bunch of guys on another forum that swapped to zpoxy for their grain filling and are now realising after time the stuff is shrinking back into the wood. So it is giving sink back, which is the whole thing we try to avoid by using grain filler. I'm currently using west systems epoxy for that purpose. Have only been using it for a year and have not heard od sink back issues from it. I have heard other people having curing issues which they put to incorrect mixing ratios. Simple answer, buy the pumps and you wint have problems.

I voted the LP - but I totally agree with the missmatched binding comments Either gold or black hardware would have done the trick and it's pretty rare that I say gold! I also really dont like the zebra pickups but theyre so damn popular that my opinion means naught on that. CROW - yep, its another Crow PRS copy. Excellent work as usual. Looks great but since you're so damn good at building guitars I'd like to see some original stuff from you. That will blow our minds for sure. MEFGAMES - I just can't get into the shape. I'm sure there'll be die hard fans though. I can see theres lots of hard work in there. WHALEHAZARD - Awesome looking guitar and brilliant workmanship, I just cannot did the shape. Sorry. Only a person opinion.

Raw beveled fret edges on #4 #4 again, this time after a level and crowning, semi polished. The polish will get finished later in the build.

Danish oil in video 8 and furniture polish in video 9. The black was a standard furniture stain. Not my preferred finish choices, but it's what the customer wanted and it works. It was left for over a week before buffing otherwise the Danish oil will go all funny, you want it to harden right up.

It's been my experience that kahler haters are those who have never played one, or have not had one set up properly. I often get people asking for a floyd or a hipshot or some bridge other than a Kahler. Most often these are people who have never owner a Kahlered guitar. This is why I install Kahlers on my builds: Benefits: Its both a trem or a hardtail. I play mine as a fixed bridge, there is a small grub screw in the back that locks in, if its in, its a fixed bridge and it cannot move, if its out, its full trem like a floyd. More adjustability than most bridges. You can adjust string spacing left and right. Great for getting the guitar to feel right for your playing personality. Can adjust individual string heights as well as the usual intonation forward and backward. There are aftermarket springs to adjust tension, or different saddles etc can be experimented with. Ie: upgrades are available. As a fixed bridge - it recieves all the benefits of fine tuners and lock nut that is missing from all fixed bridges. As a tremolo - It has a cam rather than blades like a floyd has, so if you dive, the cam rotates wheres a floyd can jump, screwing up your tuning etc. It has individual rollers on each saddle, so the rollers move with the string rather than a fixed saddle which doesn't. On a kahler if the string moves the roller helps it to seat back in the exact same spot not effecting your tuning On the 7 string bridges, the upper strings have larger saddles to allow for the trend of massive string guages. Kahler route Vs floyd route - the kahler has a shallow, top only route. The floyd is routed through the entire guitar and then a massive cavity on the rear of the guitar as well. People crap on about "tonewood" - most tremolo's reguire you remove half of it. Not the kahler. Neat and tidy. CONS: The kahler locknuts are crap, that's why I use floyd locknuts with the kahler bridge. Sure they're a little chunky than some of the "petite" bridges on the market, but you very quickly get used to that and the fact they're a sure solid bridge thats been on the market since the 80's and has benefitted from decades of improvement.

Just fretted two more after lunch. All five are now fretted:

I like them the best! Simple

#2 and #3 were fretted today - I'm a bit behind schedule but these things happen:

Have you asked around your local timber supplies? You should be able to order Walnut or Wenge through local stores, Rosewood probably not so easily.

I used to hate all this style guitar, but lately they've been growing on me. This one is looking great! Should be very happy with the way it's turning out.

Kill switch

That was back when I was looking at 700 - 800 to ship a guitar, I've since had much more reasonable quotes.

I'm building one right now - it's #1 in the latest run. Few minor sifferences but virtually the same thing. Oh, and it's sold.

I assume you're in USA? Your profile doesnt say. Tasmanian Sassafras and the Sass you guys have over there are not the same tree. "Atherosperma moschatum Labill" is what I have (Tasmanian Sassafras) and what is grown over there is "Sassafras albidum (Nuttall)" Different tree, different leaves, differrent timber. But they share a name, very confusing.

Got a few strings on this one finally:

What Brett is referring to - he has sold a couple guitars to Perth (international for Brett who is USA based) and he knows he can trust Perry if he needs someone reliable in that side of Australia. HOWEVER if he send one somewhere else, how does he know the guy isnt going to take it to a guitar butcher who destroy things. Just because someone is a guitar tech or repair person or whatever doesn't mean they do good work. I'll give you an example - I sold a guitar to a guy, he told me his band has a tech that does all their repair work and setups. Cool, no problem. I get a phone call a week later saying that the "repair guy" has to do a refret. I asked a few questions thinking *** as I have a video of my playing this guitar the day before this guy picked it up, in the video I was playing an yngwie Malmsteen cover. Both clean and distorted footage. No fretting out, sweet, fast, low action, I was happy with it. So I asked why it needed a refret, the guy said he took it to his "tech" who for some reason cut off all the strings and decided to file all the frets without even playing the guitar. Then there wasnt enough fret left so it needed to be refretted. How is this my fault? I think this is what Brett is referring to when he talks about being able to trust other luthiers around the world. It's not saying everyone is bad, it's suggesting he doesn't know every luthier in every corner of evewry butt**** town in the world.

Part 9: http://youtu.be/hvf6noPFdBs