MIMF

I seem to recall a discussion some years back that Steinberger recommended bullet end strings, like Fender sold, to avoid the unraveling at the string ball ends.

Lots of things I had considered. Much appreciated! I had planned to use Titebond; I'll have to give epoxy some consideration. Caul to spread out/even out the pressure-not a difficult adjustment. Maybe a sandbag layer under the weight to even out the pressure. The first project is gluing up 2 layers ...

I'm trying to decide if I can use weights instead of clamps to glue up a 1/4" drop top on a solid body blank. If I know the needed pressure, couldn't I multiply that times the gluing surface area to get the needed weight? If I chamber the body blank, that would reduce the gluing surface area fo...

Thanks for providing some piece of mind.

I have a late 70s Traynor TS-15 solid state practice amp that I bought new and passed on to my son for his college dorm. Fifteen watts, 2 - 8 inch speakers. He tells me the on/off switch is stuck. No evidence of abuse or liquid spillage, but hey, its nearly 40 years old. I've opened it up; switch ha...

A belated update: "If your shellac is crawling away from the area it could be one of two causes: grease or oil contamination, or too much alcohol. Alcohol tends to crawl away from a pool, and leaves a border around the wet area. You can see this happen if you apply alcohol solvent finish too he...

Regarding Waterlox as sealer, certainly a possibility. This project was sort of a test case in that regard. The body is a USA Custom Guitars "web special." It appears that there is some worm hole filling on the back. It may be the filler used affected the Waterlox/shellac from adhearing, b...

Yeah, I've been coming to the same conclusion. Probably a contaminant, may never figure just what is was, but I have to get rid of it. I've been searching the web, and seen Jeff Jewitt quoted as suggesting wiping it down with a 50/50 alcohol/water mix. Other suggest a solvent compatible with the fin...

Hmmm. You've given me some ideas. While I don't think I introduced something in the prep stage, a couple of possibilities: After the preval sputtered on me, I did some sanding to even out the splatter before continuing with the wiping. I used a rather fine grit, 400 or 600. Could I have burnished th...

Thanks for the ideas, Dennis. I'm no expert either, but my thought here is that the color coat is a surface thing, rather than a dye which would soak into the wood fibers. I realize some shellac/alcohol would migrate into the wood, but between the color coat being on the surface, and the sealer coat...

Thanks, David. I wouldn't think it was a drying issue. It's been about a month since the Waterlox was applied. In the meantime, I had been Waterloxing a couple of necks, applied Tru-oil style (multiple, thin coats), in the garage. The body seemed sufficiently dry and odor free that I had been able t...

I'm trying to finish an ash telecaster body. I decided to go simple, no pore fill, maybe 3 coats of Waterlox, but first I wanted to experiment with getting a butterscotch blonde color by mixing up some Mixol (yellow, white and dark red, with a touch of amber/brown). I don't like the way oil stains l...

I’m thinking to laminate a solid body guitar with the middle layer chambered to save wait (2 layers at ¾ inch, and a droptop at ¼ inch). Since each layer is a darker color, I’d like to add a maple veneer between the layers for that pinstripe look. I was looking at these wide and/or flexible and/or p...

Thanks Jeff, for the update/details. Nice to get the real lowdown, rather than assembling clues from assorted folks with limited experience.

Can't recall if links to other forums are cool, so google "i finished lp poly also tom paul kit review" and you'll find a link to a thread on another forum where someone used wipe on poly with astounding results. I believe he used a spray can for the headstock.

Jeff Jewitt, maker of Transtint, at his Homestfinishing forum warns that he does not recommend mixing it with mineral spirit based oil finishes (e.g, Tru-oil, Waterlox, etc.). While he suggests he has an expensive additive that will make it work, he recommends dying the wood, then finish with the oi...

Nice guitar. Kinda a Breadwinner thing going on. I agree that less break angle works better with this bridge. Once you have the sitar effect/intonation issue down and have concluded you have the break angle right, you might consider making the tailpiece thing out of a harder material, either metal o...

Nice!

Set neck, no truss rod access at the headstock. Where, then? In the neck pickup route?

Many Gotoh sitar bridge setups us a trapeze tailpiece, something you might consider.

Another comment on the bridge: while I figured the intonation point of the gently radiused "saddle" would be near the back of the bridge my experience is otherwise, that is closer to the front edge (maybe 3/8 to 1/2 inch back). Which raises another question: if the saddle is radiused rathe...