MIMF

David, again, good advice I've already kind of been following on the router, which is why I've driven myself insane. I can't really afford much in the router department-- most of the options I *can* afford, especially in the plunge router department, have too many scary reviews to invest-- but I've ...

Thanks for the well-wishes, Peter. I learned more from my from-parts build than I did from reading all these hundreds of build threads, so I know I'm just gonna learn a heck of a lot more from the next "deep run." Jason, yeah, what you describe in terms of bare-minimum tooling is mostly th...

Peter, if I'm not mistaken, you're the dude who built the Tele out of discarded lyptus and a photocopier. I ran across that build thread on another forum a few weeks ago and it pretty much made you my hero - also gave me the idea to use the clamped-down hand sander for as long as I can get away with...

Thanks yet again, David. This is all very helpful.

And David, your suggestion re: jigsaw tables led me down the Internet rabbit hole to this. The real deal is quite reasonably priced, to the point where I wonder if it's even worth thinking about DIYing something equivalent with a roller guide, and of course it can do more than straight cutting. Eith...

David, I am curious what the model number of your Skil saw might be. I haven't yet been able to locate one with the scrolling head. The Progressor blades (I think that's what you meant by "Aggressor"?) do sound very promising. Nate, I do have access to a few friends who have reasonably wel...

Interesting. I was wondering if "jigsaw tables" were possible / even advisable. I have heard nothing but good things about that "ROSS" (which seems to be the colloquial acronym on at least one other amateur-luthier-populated forum for that particular Ridgid unit). It is a little ...

The small bandsaws usually have three small wheels instead of two larger ones. In order to bend over the smaller diameter wheels, the blade has to be thinner. It is very hard to set up those saws so that they will cut controllably. I appreciate all of those solid justifications / personal experienc...

Yeah, of course after posting, I now see that there are more than a few affordable jigsaws that can cut deeper than I recalled (thanks for the added recs on blades for sure). I still wonder if anyone can clarify why a smaller bandsaw is such a problem, as I'm theorizing that it would be MUCH easier ...

I've wanted to get into hobby solidbody electric building for a few years and built one Tele from parts two summers ago, telling myself I'd try and build the next one from scratch "in a few months." I don't have much cash or room for tools and I am certainly a lifelong mega-overthinker / -...

Greg, sorry about that. Unfretted has some kind of silly Javascript going on which prevents easy acquisition of direct image links, otherwise I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of screencapping and reposting either. Shan't happen again.

Thanks again, Hans and Peter. Having already spent way too long in the electrical aisles of every hardware store in town, I had not thought to check Radio Shack for some reason, nor had I looked at connected "non-single" units or nylon-encased offerings. Seems terminology is a little vague...

Hans, that's an interesting method, I may try that for a second build. I can't tell for sure but I think your kroonsteen is the same thing I've been trying to find in US hardware stores for the last few weeks. I found this fretless guitar build where a guy is using something that looks very similar ...

RD - the guitar was built as part of the 2009 MIMF $100 Tele challenge, from scrap wood, and hardware/electronics from a junked copy machine. The thread is long gone. Aww man, I bumped into a mention of that as a prizewinner but couldn't find the thread. I *really* wanted to see what you did with t...

Hans, the wingnut solution looks good (way easier than individual blocks of wood or u-channel). I'm gonna go try that, thank you so much for the heads-up. Peter, do you have a thread on that guitar? I can't believe you did all that for $5 (and I'm super jealous of your pinblock pin score too). I'm j...

Thanks for all the feedback. I had in fact just begun considering using a harder wood and zither pins, which is basically what both Warren and Peter propose. (Peter, I really like that Tele neck - is that hickory?) The pine actually isn't posing *that* much of a problem with the screws, once a strin...

Technically I'm building a solid-body electric guitar, and the concepts are probably some that super-budget electric builders have explored previously, so I figured this would be best here. Long story short, I'm trying to build the world's cheapest / smallest lap steel (or something approximating it...

This is looking amazing / inspiring so far. I can't wait to see what it ends up looking / sounding like.

This guy's fretless guitar build has been seriously intriguing me for a couple months. He uses "vertically compressed bamboo" for the neck underneath a zero-radius aluminum-bar fret(less)board. I have had no clue where to get the bamboo, the link he includes is zero help, but I'm picking ...

I would think a start would be to use the sparkle vinyl fabric that Kustom used for many of their amps and cabs. I don't know if this will be helpful as it seems to be the easy part. Mojo seems to have recently started carrying this when I looked through their tolex section. A great US supplier is M...