Search results

A friend brought over his AC15 because it was putting out much less volume than it should. Turned out to be a bad PI tube.

My avatar is my first one. In 2012 a couple friends and I decided we needed to try guitar building. Between us, my friend Scott was the only one with any woodworking experience or any decent tools. Virtually 100% of our guitar building knowledge came from here on TDPRI as I spent many hours...

+1 Also, your taste/preferences will change over time as you begin to develop your own style. You’ll have a much better idea about what you want after you’ve been playing it for a year.

If you think it’s that close maybe wait to level the fretboard. You can always level it after the guitar is assembled and you see how well it plays. For the nut, make one from scratch that fits your neck properly. They’re a bit tedious but not really that difficult if you go slow. You obviously...

The flame on that neck will be wonderful.

Bee-you-tee-full

Never made a pickguard with it, but you want 6061-T6 aluminum. It’s soft enough to machine easily but not gummy. Carbine router bits will work fine although you may not want to use them for wood again after that. Drill bits and countersinks will be fine. I have a bandsaw made for metal so I’ve...

+1 for magnets. 3 or 4 half-inch diameter neodymiums on the body and the extension will hold it plenty strong enough. You could even bury them beneath thin wooden plugs or veneer strips so they would be nearly invisible. Do a good job gluing them with epoxy (rough them up really well first) or...

You didn’t mention how old your son is, but assuming he’s a teenager into Nirvana/Greenday he’ll never really be satisfied with single coils. It’s about 50% sound and 50% looks. For decent “budget” pickups, I haven’t used them personally but I’ve read lots of nice things about Bootstrap Pickups...

Congrats! It looks awesome.

Given the pain and suffering that will go into installing all the electronics, I’d recommend getting a genuine Switchcraft or Pure Tone jack instead of the one in your picture. Maybe also a Switchcraft switch instead of that one with the red lever.

I was thinking that too.

They make aluminum necks. I Googled for 5 minutes and found 3 or 4 companies making them for around $700 - $1,000. I played a aluminum necked bass once. I remember the main sensation was that it was cold, which I did not like.

Yes, do the side drawing including accurate height of the bridge you will be using. My doublecut Jr. has the fretboard about 1/8” or a little less above the body at the joint. Otherwise the 2-3 degree neck angle will be to low. If I understand your question about the tenon sides, I think they...

Yes, but as highwaycat said, easy pressure on the file so you minimize the depth of the scratches. And keep your file clean.

Not even close. My favorite part is the wiring channel between the pickups on the back.

Akai Riff-O-Matic U400. Best tool anyone ever made for learning and practicing guitar riffs. Unfortunately they haven’t made them for years. Anyway, I had worn out the guitar input and headphone jacks and didn’t want to mess with sourcing replacements. So I removed the old jacks and soldered in...

Thanks guys. You talked me into giving it another try. This is when I learned it’s not legal for liquor stores to sell Everclear 190 in Kalifornia. So I found a place to mail order 200 proof pure corn alcohol and will see how that goes. It will take a week+ for it to get here from Maine. In the...

Here’s one vote for shellac. Wipe on 3 or 4 very thin coats and then lacquer over the top with your color in the lacquer. It needs to be de-waxed shellac and it needs to be reasonably fresh. If you buy the flakes it takes a day or two for them to dissolve in alcohol before they‘re ready to apply.

Before you fix the outlet do bebopbrain’s test so you know what bad looks like. Then do the same test while plugged into a properly grounded outlet. This should give you confidence that you won’t have a repeat. If you don’t know how to do it, I’m sure your friend will. Also when doing a touch...

Hi Dave. I’ve seen your recommendation many times, but I don’t believe I’ve seen you talk about how you actually apply it. A squeegee doesn’t really work on the edges or roundover on an electric. Are you wiping it on with a rag?

I’m giving up on Z-poxy. Because it’s pretty dark I ended up with light and dark patches, depending on how thick it was in any particular spot. I had a little trouble on my last guitar and figured it was just learning curve. So this time I made sure to apply it as thin as possible. It looked ok...

Maybe do floating tenons or dowels to get more surface area for the glue, plus they wouldn’t be relying completely on end grain.

If it’s really a cm in there, leave it. Just cut the pickguard screw for that hole a little shorter and never think about it again.