samhay

Great, thanks Andy. The cut-down OM body shape is unusal, but is quite similar to Nigel Forster's tenor/bouzouki body.

There's nothting quite like a good bench WIP. Thanks. One thought on your latest progress. Usually the leg-side vice chop extends all the way to the top of the bench - ie.. the leg is flush with the side of the bench. Your latest photos show a lip between the bench top and the leg. Are you planning on leaving it this way, or do you have some work left to do on the edge of the bench? Also, where is the cross coming from? I'd love one of these, but have been reluctant to spend Benchcrafted money on one.

Did the back and sides come from 'edelholzhandel2012' on ebay? I have been looking at some of their walnut too and was curious how the ordering would work out. Sounds like it was ok, but how long did shipping take? Thanks.

Figured Sycamore is lovely. If you do source some more, would you mind passing on where you find/found it? If it's 18" wide I would do a single piece slab body. Could do the processing quite easily by hand, although the thicknessing would be a bit of a work out.

That Dewalt is probably a nice bit of kit, but quite expensive for a 1/4" router. In my opinion, you could happily use 2 routers to build solid body bass/guitars. A big 1/2" router is good for routing the final body outline with a template and doing the trussrod channel. A smaller 1/4" router is great for pickup and neck cavities, binding, etc. You can use a big 1/2" router for the smaller jobs, but they are big, heavy and most people are scared of them. They are a good choice if you are burly, are going to put them in a router table, or have other uses for a router - maybe you want to also build furniture, do DIY, etc. 1/4" routers are much easier to handle for finer tasks and can be pushed to to body outlines and truss rod channels at a pinch. They are perhaps a safer choice for a 'first' router. Bosch 1/4" routers seem to be popular with luthiers, and Stewmac sell one of these. [Edit, I see this was mentioned earlier. In fairness, the Bosch routers are a lot cheaper than the Dewalt recommended, which may explain the popularity]. If you want a big (1/2") no-nonsense router that is 'trade' quality, a relatively cheap option is the Hitachi M12VE/ . I have one of these, and can testify it is a beast. Dust collection is pretty terrible, but not a problem if you put it in a table, which most people do. Above table adjustment requires a router raizer or lift, which isn't ideal.

Thanks for taking the time to write this all down. The only pulling backwards on the stones techniques is bringing back distant memories. Must give it a try. Do you ever use honing compound at the end?

There is a fairly common type of pickup designed to mount to the end of the fretboard of an acoustic archtop guitar. One example: https://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_Electronics/Pickups/Electric_Guitar_Pickups/Kent_Armstrong_Suspended_Jazz_Humbucker.html You can bend the mounting arms to account for some variation in the width of the fretboard, but this may not be enough to fit. Also, while it should be designed to have a pretty good bass response, it is a guitar pickup.

>You're a dream!!! Thank you How did you find that? Their website pages are number sequentially, so it wasn't difficult. I like the way you shield the cable rout - very slick. Do you get good electrical conductivity between the foil on the top and bottom?

Looks like these are coming along nicely. Thanks for the pointer to the TalkBass thread. Hadn't seen the new Rocklite rosewood alternative, which looks very cool. Also, if you are looking for the 'hidden' Rocklite page, try: https://www.rocklite.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/1848?opendocument&part=9

Happy to help. A sharp plane is a fine thing, regardless of how big it is. And a little time spent building jigs is time well spent.

[quote name='honza992' timestamp='1503742527' post='3360635'] Alternatively I've already got a number 4 bench plane. How good a job could that do on jointing the two body halves? Of course I still have to learn to use that one properly..... [/quote] A No. 4 is a good size for jointing using a shooting board.

With reference to this photo: What happens if you slip and only push on the right handle of the router?

Please excuse the ascii art. Edit - that didn't work. Will upload a picture: [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/svh7qltx59uqpx6/twist.png?dl=0"]https://www.dropbox..../twist.png?dl=0[/url] (please forgive the spelling). If you do not have the metal rods connected to the router base square / at 90 degree with the rails in your jig, the angle will not be what you calculated.

I like the jig, but what keeps the router square to the two side rails? If it rotates about the spindle axis, you will change the angle. I guess the trick is also to get the neck blank centered in the correct place so you have 0 degree twist at the correct fret position? I assume this is your inspiration? [url="http://littleguitarworks.com/torzal-natural-twist/"]http://littleguitarw...-natural-twist/[/url]

A further tweak to the Stanley blade scrapper technique - which is what I would try first - is to add a bur. See here: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Finish/RazorScrape/razorscrape1.html