Paul M
Forum Replies Created
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Not sure what a script would do differently than Austin’s parametric fretboard? There have been updated versions of the parametric fretboard which are available for free on Austin’s discord, made by some of the members. They are rock solid for multiscales and whatever kind of board you’d want to make. They also have the bridge location, etc. There’s ones with every variety of pickup laid out already parametrically, and full neck models that are also parametric and/or will automatically model all the Fender shapes.
I dunno. I don’t see anything a script would do that would help me to be honest. If you are doing your own custom work, I don’t really see much of it getting automated, but there is a ton of stuff for free that’s already great.
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I would probably blue tape/super glue the bridge in place vs bolts which would change the weight somewhat radically.
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If you’re building guitars more than repairing, a modern bench that has a gobar deck built over the whole bench is going to be a lot more useful than a traditional woodworkers bench…mostly they are optimized for cabinet work and beating on with big mallets. A gobar deck that covers your whole bench is super handy and I like a much higher bench for making guitars.
Just my opinion. Christopher Shwarz’s workbench talk is helpful, basically a bench is built to do certain things, that was helpful for me to know.
I’d love to make a big Ruobo style bench but it wouldn’t really offer me anything that my current bench doesn’t, at least guitar wise.
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yeah, cool machine but what would you use it for?
For me the leading machine for a small shop right now is the Altmill 2×4′. I think I could do everything on that and the footprint is small enough for a small shop.
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I’m not an expert electric builder but I think I’d go something like
pickups 70%
Body type (archtop/solidbody/variations thereof) 15%setup 10%
vibes 5% -
Is there a reason you’re using 206? Any chance that you’re in a cool climate? That stuff doesn’t cure below 60 degrees but it’s really made for high temperature areas.
It’s helpful to remember that West stuff was specifically designed a long time ago for boat work. The slow hardener is kind of for when you’re in Florida trying to wet out a whole boats worth of fiberglass and if you use the regular hardener it’s so hot that the pots are burning off as you mix them.
Personally I wouldn’t use the 206 in a guitar shop, it doesn’t really offer you anything. I’m sure that had something to do with why it took so long to cure, although it would have to be pretty cool to be a problem. Where are you?
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I use epoxy for bracing on new builds but it’s pretty unusual on repairs, I might suggest you start with the old reliables (titebond or hot hide glue).
There are a lot of west system products, what are you using? The normal west system is 5:1 ratio resin to hardener. Or did you use g-flex?
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I bought a way big CNC and that was mostly a mistake. The capacity is cool but it takes up so much of my floor space. I use it in ways I didn’t really think I would. I could definitely get by with a smaller machine.
I re-arranged my shop a year or so ago. I also traded someone for a bunch of big cheapish tool boxes. They sucked up a lot of mess.
The biggest problem in a one room shop is dust. Total problem all the time. I luckily have 3 big windows, so when it gets bad I open them and use a mini leafblower to blow it all out on the unsuspecting pedestrians 5 floors down. But my life would be a lot nicer with a separate machine room.
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I have some moving/packing paper from Uhaul, it comes in a box and there’s a million sheets in each one. It’s sort of newpapery. I assume (!!!) it’s super non-reactive.
Just wondering if you don’t really need a cushion there, just something to separate the finishes. No idea, just a thought.
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I’m not super smart and all of this is on the outer edge of my ability to understand things, but for me, Guiliano’s methods are the ones that are most approachable to me and additionally he’s been exceptionally helpful in talking to luthiers here and elsewhere.
For that reason I’m sticking with his methods and not worrying about anything else. I’m grading my own wood and just going through the process I think I’m learning things. Importantly I think it’s a big thing to build guitars as you go, you will figure out what you want to do having some experience (at least that’s the case for me, the guitars I built last year led me to questions that provided ideas I’m trying to implement this year).
Anyway, just my thoughts. If you feel confident in your own methods, it sort of doesn’t matter what how someone else measured something.
I’m not getting super freaky about bracewood, mostly focusing on the density at this point.
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There’s a lot in the Gore construction book on lightweight bridge construction I made some laminated koa and carbon fiber bridges. I glued them in a vacuum bag in a food sealer. It was definitely some experimentation but i enjoyed it…
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Not sure where you got your blanket but i got one off eBay that does not get hot enough. Or at least it doesn’t get as hot as fast as one that was given to me.
I use barbecue thermometers in my stack for monitoring temperature.
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If anyone is interested I posted a 3d printed speaker housing for the speaker Guiliano recommends in Loothprints.
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I think raising it is very difficult to impossible, not sure but I think that’s what Guiliano said.
My recent guitars have been crazy thin and have insane monopole mobility and sound great. They aren’t structurally as stable as I’d like so I need to dial back but they sound amazing.
Personally I’m a believer in finishing the guitar in front of you and learning your lessons. But this is a big reason why I’m planning to switch to glueing my tops on first and then shaping my braces and potentially sanding off some top thickness after the top is glued to to the sides, I will have a lot better idea how things are going to move (I’m using structured sides so don’t really need to be in the mold). I think (Hope?) that this will be a really cool thing.
The guitar might sound amazing.
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Sounds like you got it figured out but have you trammed your machine in general? Sometimes some stepper motor calibration is really needed.
Mine was off by like 1/16″ in the Y axis over 36″ which was subtle enough not to notice but totally screwed me for doing very fine work. Took me 2 years to figure it out.
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For like $400 or maybe less you can find Sherlines everywhere. The most I use mine the more it seems like the perfect luthier’s shop tool. I got a lathe and mill and a ton of accessories for $800, definitely a steal but they are out there.
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Theres a 7 part Ted Woodford videos series on a harmony rebuilds that’s excellent. I did one according to the videos more or less.
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On another point, I appreciate your efforts to keep your soundboard consistent in thickness but I just do not think that some sanding in on area is going to make any perceptible change on the sound of your guitar. It’s near the sides and that’s a place that some people remove thickness anyway. Obviously you need to send a larger area to get it flat but shit happens.
Fairly sure you will not know the difference. Sonically graded or not.
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Depending on budget, a 16-32 thickness sander is an invaluable tool (I have the supermax and it’s great). A planer is pretty rough on most guitar woods. I do this sort of thing on my thickness sander.
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The other thing is that it could be flat, but curved. Meaning that if you clamped it against something flat, it would be flat, but it’s naturally taking a curved shape.
Again that might not be suitable for a neck blank. But for me after I mill the neck (including the back, on CNC) I clamp the fingerboard and the neck together against a flat surface and that tends to make things flat.
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I do the sled thing with my thickness sander and it works well generally.
How deep a cut are you taking? I would try taking tiny cuts so that you can see that fall off slowly disappear.
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that peak looks a little “wolfy” in how it breaks.
I don’t think any manufacturer warranties against wolf tones, that would be kinda nuts.
You could try putting a small amount of fun tack (or a large amount) somewhere near the bridge area and see if that moves the wolf between two pitches (make sure the guitar is at 440 before you do). If that works, you could weigh the fun tack and make an equivalent weight piece of wood and glue it inside the guitar at the same location.
You could also tune the guitar to a slightly lower pitch (maybe 438) and see if the wolf disappears or moves.
Not sure. You could ask Guiliano….
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oh wow he cut through that dovetail. That is a wild color for wood.
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that does sort of look like mold.
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I guess I don’t think that the minute differences in bracing stock are going to make measurable differences, ultimately I’m tuning the braces towards target frequencies and very importantly, target deflection which I think will likely account for the vast majority of these miniscule differences in tiny pieces of wood.
Ultimately I’m looking for things that a) will allow me to improve my guitars significantly without b) taking tons of time as I’m of the opinion that the knowledge you get from finishing multiple guitars is far greater than you get from splitting hairs on one guitar and I have experience that seems to bare that out. I like Guiliano’s methods because it’s a small ecosystem of data selection and he’s made it accessible to someone like me without any significant math knowledge but most importantly it’s starting to become quick and seamless in my process. Ultimately I have a goal of what I want a guitar to sound like and act like structurally and I can’t really understand that vs the numbers unless I finish a bunch of them.
long story short: I’m measuring the density of my brace wood and comparing it to the density of nice Sitka spruce that I’m using for tops but I’m not getting nuts about it past that, I think that’s pretty reasonable.
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That could work but it would make an insane amount of dust, you definitely want a cover on it and dust collection.
And for doing guitar tops and thinning stuff no way a drill will be enough power. You want a monster motor. Mine blows my fuse all the time. To sand 15″ of wood at one time takes a lot of power.
But in principle it could work. I would look for other designs.
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I could be wrong but snipe I think is more like tear out that happens at the end of the board but a little different from what you’re describing.
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I think I know what’s happening.
You need to take the end of the board as it’s coming out of the planet and apply some upward pressure on it when it gets to the end.
Planers aren’t really meant to do this job, obviously. It’s a jointers job.
I think what’s happening is that at the end of the cut the planer is pushing upwards on the sled at the end of your cut. The sled is probably longer than your stock. There is nothing to stop the planer from digging in on the way out.
It’s good practice with a planer to put some upwards pressure on the beginning and end of a cut. I think maybe more so in this situation.
Could be, anyway.
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Yeah you want to take cuts that are barely anything. Mark the surface up with pencil cross hatches and take the tiniest cut possible. You should see the planer catch in some places and not others. As you slowly come down it should take more and more and then your complete pass should be flat.
The other thing could be that the wood is got some wild grain thing and you’re releasing tension in the board. In that case I consider the wood suspect for a neck if it moves a lot as you’re milling it.
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What epoxies did you have a bad experience with? I might try system 3 silvertip.
