demonx

I voted Curtisa. The headstock is not to my tastes but out of all the guitars if I had to pick up one, then yours would be the first. I like the gidgee fingerboard (Ive got three there myself waiting for builds) and the top looks great as well. The superstrat style carve on the tele shape totally works. Menapia was a close second and would have got the vote if the headstock and body carve were more to my liking but as always, you cannot please everyone. Good work.

Just buy this for $24 and be done with it - end of thread http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Scale-Fingerboard-Slotting-Templates-/370584838275?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item564893e083

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but titebond is probably just another F9 type glue. I know it's a bit different smell and consistency as the F9 my local joinery supplies sells, but they tell me titebond is basically the same. I've never had a problem with their F9

Go to a local joinery supplies and ask what yellow glues they have. Surely they'll sell an F9 which is pretty much a industry standard for joinery. A lot of the time they'll sell a unbranded glue that's bottled on site, but will be labelled F9

I always really liked the Nagal Gunslingers, they look super cool and very 80's glam. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nagel+gunslinger&client=firefox-a&hs=BEe&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=n157UZyQNuiHiQer2oDoBw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=982

You're right about wenge, you can't pick up a piece of the stuff without getting splinters. Last couple necks I've carved we're wenge and I have a habit of running my hand up and down the neck during the carving process to feel the progress. Ill leave the rest to your imagination. Filthy stuff. Raw it looks boring but clear coated it looks amazing.

Don't jinx me mate! Hahaha

It's an awesome red, but it doesn't look that great on this guitar for some reason. I think it may be because its old maple from Japan, its a lot more yellow than other maples I've sprayed this candy over so it changes the end color. This is the same color mix I used on my personal 7 string with black burst a couple years ago which looks insanely cool and have had plenty of requests for the same color since, however this is only the third guitar that's received it. http://searlsguitars.com.au/Gallery/014/014gallery.html

There's much better builders out there to follow than me but thanks for the kind words! You're certainly on the right track

Your work is very neat and tidy, definitely no need to feel "insecure", you put the some of us "serious builders" to shame! We'll have to lift our game! When I saw the title "7 Strings Ash/Wenge" I thought it was going to look very similar to a Ash/Wenge 7 String I'm building for myself, but you took it in a complete different direction! Love the double binding. Ive done that once and always planned to do it again on something, its a very cool/classy look This was my take on Ash/Wenge 7 string - I havent finished it yet.

I've taken a day off the house renovations to spend on the customer Warlock refurb I took on a while back. Sanded back the last clear primer coat I sprayed weeks ago and then mixed up this custom candy mix using 2k candy dyes in the colors violet, red/yellow, add to that some basecoat blender and some reducer and you have a trans candy 2k base coat: Then I managed to spill half of it on the mixing bench, leaving just enough to spray the guitar with none left over: Anyone that ever followed my threads knows that the camera doesnt like the lighting in my spray area, but heres some snap shots anyway. This pic was after two coats of the candy I mixed - ended out spraying three total: Then I came in with the touch up gun and shot a burst: This pic was after the first clear coat: This pic was after the second clear coat, I ended out spraying three: I'll end out leaving this for a week or so and then wet sanding and polishing. Hope to hell I dont sand through!

Looks great! I'll have to try my hands at a swirl one day. I'd be happy if it turned out half as good as this!

All this pickup building talk... when I'm happy with the actual guitar builds I do, then I'll worry about trying to make pickups, until then I'll just dream about it!

With the sanding block, I've got those dura blocks and all sorts of other flash car sanding blocks but I don't use them on guitars When sanding guitars I only use the small cork blocks that are a couple dollars from a normal hardware shop for the block sanding and then the paper in my hand for all curves and then later for all finish sanding I work in X patterns as that way it hits it from multiple angles making sure you get an even cut/sand

That inlay looks pretty cool! I also agree about the one thread for everything thing. Its a good idea. For the members who are building and doing other related things regualry theres no point having dozens of different threads which just creates clutter as you called it. For example if you include the couple refurbs I've got at the moment there is about eight or so guitars in the workshop at the moment, theres no need for eight or so threads when they can be bundled into one and keep the place tidy. If people arent interested they can just ignore the one thread rather than be annoyed by eight seperate ones! Back to topic though, nice work. Cheers

That and I've been working a lot more at the factory and running around sourcing and planning a house resto, hense why I've been working more to help fund it, so I've been flat out and most guitar stuff has been out on the back burner. Just have to get these three customer guitars finished to free up a bit more time.

Looking great. Excellent work, fantastic detail.

I was obviously a bit too careless with the gun on the last clear day as the Mock repaint ended out with a terrible run. The quick fix, tape around it and I knocked it back with some 320 wrapped tight around a cork sanding block: From there I removed the tape and wet sanded with 2000 grit and some elbow grease = runs gone: the front after wet sand and polish:

I've got a sliding mitre saw setup for fret slotting, I do plan down the track to upgrade it to a radial arm saw. I went the sliding mitre saw to keep the budget low but I think the tolerance is not quite as I had have hoped. The radial saw I'd think would be much better. Until such day I'm using the current one. You can see in the pic how I've adapted it to fit the stewmac template setup. Well I'd do the same with a radial arm saw.

Ok! I can post!

I can post on my mobile (apple) but for some reason on my desktop PC I cannot post. I click reply to thread and then the text box appears but I cannot type in it. I've tried both explorer and firefox and my firewall and ip blocker don't appear to be blocking anything

Bit of cut and polishing today Start off with a 2000 cut, then a 3000, then a polish with 3M perfect it and a soft waffle pad Hanging inside after I took it into the house for a wipe down with a scratch proof hand polishing rag. This stage is basically to wipe off all the polish from the previous stage. I still have not recieved the last of the hardware from the customer, so assembly will have to wait for a while. You can see in the last pic that I have not wiped out the cavities. I've found its easier to clean these out when the polish has dried than it is when wet. When its wet it just smears around, when dry, it can be blown out in seconds with an airhose. So I'll do that just before assembly.

Todays a paint day, so no new pics, but before I started spraying I took a quick shot of this. I pickup up the black plastic dust chute a few days ago as part of a store credit deal I have for selling my timber scraps through the shop, then I use the store credit to buy sandpaper, bandsaw blades and things like this. So basically I'm getting them for free as if I wasnt selling them they'd be getting burned as kindling. The chute was $14.00 and the stands for the chute were over $100.00, so rather than buy a crazy priced stand, I bought the cheapest chinese mic stand from ebay for a few bucks and then attached the chute to the mic stand! As the mic stand is highly adjustable, I can move it, make it higher or lower or change the angle to make this dust extraction suitable for a wide range of machines in the workshop.

Todays lesson... READ LABELS I spent the whole morning doing paint prep. I mixed up the last of my white base. I start spraying and it isn't spraying right. I adjust the air pressure and it's still not spraying right. I then realised that I had grabbed a tin of clear coat instead of reducer and mixed that into the basecoat. It was orange peeling like all buggery and spraying like it was chalk or something. I tried to spray thinner over the top to save it, which it did in parts but mostly unsavable. Need to let it sit for that abomination mixture to cure so i can sand it off, then buy more white basecoat. Start again. Looks ok in the pic, but up close it looks like a rattle can job by a 10 yo kid. Only good thing to come out of today is I fitted a new bandsaw blade after breaking my old one a few days ago and I filed a bolt on heel to be a nice tight fit into the pocket of a bolt on 7 string I'm making. Other than that, todays a complete bust.

Whoever told you its USA has no idea about these guitars! The N.J. stands for Nagoya Japan which is where all NJ's were first made until they moved the production to Korea and China to save money yet still kept the NJ title. There was NEVER a NJ series made in the USA by B.C. Rich.