MIMF

I have built a couple of HGs and when you get to this stage it can be very frustrating because they're a very difficult instrument to set up. The wheel should be sanded smooth and a very small radius sanded on the front edge (near the keybox) really just take off the sharp edge, I don't know what tu...

Most Hurdy Gurdys I've seen have around a 350mm scale length, anything shorter and it gets difficult to fit in the higher keys, the final few keys are not actually in the correct tuning positions, they are cranked to allow them to work and the final tuning is done by adjusting the tangents. I would ...

Usually in a Fender guitar the neck screws do bite in the body by a fraction, some neck screws are threaded all the way to the head and in which case I would drill the clearance hole 0.5mm smaller than the outside diameter of the thread, if the screws have a shank (unthreaded part) then drill the ho...

I feel your pain!...I do a lot of relic guitar finishes and it's always quite "hit and miss", some go really well and others just don't behave. I don't know what the Stewmac lacquer is but I always use nitro cellulose and a make that is low in plasticisers. I don't like using the pipe free...

Thank you so much for the advice, you wouldn't see this problem if the colours were lighter and therefore I suspect that I'm actually getting this issue with every finish that I'm doing but on the lighter colours I'm not seeing it. Is there an issue with cutting back and polishing the finish too soo...

Hi Steve, Many thanks for replying, unfortunately it's not blushing I'm familiar with that when I've sprayed paint on a humid or wet day. this fault, for want of a better theory, looks like the cutting compound has "melted" through the clear lacquer and settled on top of the colour coat, I...

I'm hoping someone will have a clue what's going on here.... I've just refinished a black Les Paul in cellulose, basically the first few coats are sanding sealer sanded back, then the black colour coats again fine sanded back to an even matte finish and then clear top coats. Everything appears perfe...

Actually Microsoft word is VERY good for this sort of thing, if you crop an image with a box and adjust the size to touch the edge of an image then if you use the picture tools you can actually type in the exact dimension that you want it to be (percentages are always a bit hit and miss so you can s...

It's a Les Paul Signature from the 1970s I think, they came with low impedance pickups and two output jacks, a great looking guitar I think but I'd have preferred to have the normal Gibson humbuckers on it. Most were finished with a gold top and only a handful in a burst. I'd love to find one that w...

From memory the Beauty of the Burst book, which is cover to cover '58-'60 Les Pauls has a page at the back with a bundle of dimensions from a number of Les Pauls from this era that give thickness of the neck at the 1st and 11 fret also nut width, they quoted 11th fret depth since at the 12 fret the ...

Thanks again for the comments guys! I'm liking "Catastrophe Strat" mulling over in my mind what headstock decal I could come up with around this theme?

Thanks for the comments, I like Mad Max guitar! I think my initial post lead to some confusion, I had no intention of doing a realistic relic, it was a project to experiment with different techniques. More often than not when doing a realistic relic the more complicated and accurate you try to be th...

A bit *of* fun....Grrr!

I know most are going to hate this but sometimes you've just got to have a bit of fun! I do a lot of relic guitars and restorations where the customer wants the guitar to have an aged look, I know lots of people have differing views regarding relicing guitars, from my point of view as long as you ar...

Haven't checked back here for a while, but thank you for the continuing help...

That's a lovely looking guitar, great colour...How do you cut the binding channel with the steep edge contour on the body?

Thanks for the help, yes I suspected that dying wood would be a waste of time, I'll try and hunt down some cheap wood as Gordon suggests..

These sort of errors are so easily done and after all half the secrets of being a luthier is being able to cover your mistakes! BUT I would suggest ALWAYS making a full size template with the neck pocket, pickup routs and bridge/tailpiece holes and whatever other cavities/holes cut into it and ALWAY...

I'm thinking of doing a guitar with somewhat of a "lute" look made from alternate strips of mahogany and maple and I wanted to put much thinner strips of wood between the strips, getting a contrast I can see may be difficult, a light wood wouldn't work because of the maple so I was going t...

Hi Brian,

Yes that is something I did seriously consider but so many things went wrong while doing this guitar I was just glad to get it done and dusted in the end!