Adding forearm contour to tele
- Thread starter Chistopher
- Start date
Yes, you "dun it with an angle grinder". Great. I never said it couldn't be done.
No, not at all! Definitely not meant to be "my way or it's the wrong way". Just trying to help point out a better way...from lots of experience. And, I was actually agreeing with what you said in post #39:
"I spent the majority of my time just removing the gouges I made if I slowed down
And the chatter marks when I went to fast
Big rasp probably would have worked better"
Now you're dissing me for agreeing with you?
However, you are absolutely free to do things any way you want...my "advice" was never a command. I am a firm believer in "natural consequences". In this case, the natural consequences of using an angle/disc grinder are gouges that take a lot of effort and time to smooth out. You stated that you experienced those consequences and that the "majority of your time" was spent correcting those consequences.
Look, I'm just trying to help people on this forum. I admit that my social skills are a bit lacking and that I come across the wrong way sometimes, but my ultimate objective is just to help you do things the easiest/quickest/best way possible. Next time you do an arm relief or belly cut you can use an angle/disc grinder again if you like (since now you have acquired that skill), or you can try a belt sander, or you can try rasps, or you can try to do the whole job with just sandpaper...it doesn't really matter to me since I've got no skin in the game, but my RECOMMENDATION would be to use the belt sander (then rasps and sandpaper).
That's all.
You can take my help if you want to, but don't put me down for offering it
ehdwuld
A Ficus
it is so hard to judge intent by the written word
I read it differently than you meant it
I apologize
thank you for your insight and approval
I noted the gouges and chatter marks as a warning that it may not be the best intent for others
these things happen when one uses alternative methods
I still have some fine sanding and will post some images when they load to imgur
thanks again Doc
solspirit
Ultimate Post Liker
Some people find that it's very therapeutic.
Zerberus
Baron Von Shred
There´s an old saying "Only a bad craftsman blames the tools", and this discussion is kind of symbolic of that. There are a hundred ways to do a forearm contour or the multiradius bevel the OP seems to be looking for, both with hand tools and with power tools, and in the hands of a skilled craftsman that knows how to use the tools at hand properly the technique all of them will yield an equally good result.
For ex. someone with many years of experience and just a touch of daredevil might carve necks freehand with an angle grinder (guilty as charged), or they might do it traditionally with rasps and a spokeshave (god that takes forever....)
And the exact same craftsman might do a fretjob with a radius beam, radiused files and an eraser, or he might need some "screw everyone else time" and do the same fretjob the really oldschool way with a bastard file, triangle file, sandpaper and steel wool.
Will the player ever notice any sort of difference if it´s done properly? No.
Does one way save time and therefore lend itself to industrial manufacturing settings or professional shops with high throughput? Yes
but does that matter for a hobbyist that´s doing it to his own guitar? Not in any way shape or form, the important thing there is to make sure the knowledge of how to use the tools is sound, teh mental concept of the final result is correct and feasible, and that both the guitrar and player survive. Everythign else is icing.
And just for teh record, even though I as mentioned do necks and most countours with an angle grinder and have since about 1997, i still teach the traditional hand tool methods first. Because as a professional you will inevitably at some point in your career come across a job that either cannot be done properly with modern time saving techniques, or an instrument that wopuld lose massive value if restored /repaired using modern techniques. For example fretjobs on Compound Radius fretboards are the exact same job as with a flat radius if you´re using anm OG bastard file or beam, but an absolute clusterf* if all you have are modern radiused blocks because that´s all you ever learned to work with.
The important thing (as a profesional) is to keep an open mind and actively explore other methods when they come to light, so as not to see the use of any specific Tool as essential or universally bad, but to understand where and when what should be used in which situation by whom. For example, most 9-5 working people aren´t necessarily going to have a belt sander just lying around... but angle grinder, rasps, files, sandpaper, thatßs much more likely. So while recommending the use of a belt sander might be the generally accepted way to do a forearm contour or tummy cut fast and clean in a professional setting, that doesn´t help the hobbyist that doesn´t want to spend 2000$ on a belt sander and empty half his garage to modify a 100$ guitar body.. . And we that have acces to thse tools and methods sometimes need to remind ourselves of that. :friday:
I´ve seen people hack out pickup cavities with a flat head screwdriver on their personal guitars.... will anyone ever know once the pickguiard is on? No? The fuck it, went faster than settig up the router and still works just fine when all the dust settles.
For ex. someone with many years of experience and just a touch of daredevil might carve necks freehand with an angle grinder (guilty as charged), or they might do it traditionally with rasps and a spokeshave (god that takes forever....)
And the exact same craftsman might do a fretjob with a radius beam, radiused files and an eraser, or he might need some "screw everyone else time" and do the same fretjob the really oldschool way with a bastard file, triangle file, sandpaper and steel wool.
Will the player ever notice any sort of difference if it´s done properly? No.
Does one way save time and therefore lend itself to industrial manufacturing settings or professional shops with high throughput? Yes
but does that matter for a hobbyist that´s doing it to his own guitar? Not in any way shape or form, the important thing there is to make sure the knowledge of how to use the tools is sound, teh mental concept of the final result is correct and feasible, and that both the guitrar and player survive. Everythign else is icing.
And just for teh record, even though I as mentioned do necks and most countours with an angle grinder and have since about 1997, i still teach the traditional hand tool methods first. Because as a professional you will inevitably at some point in your career come across a job that either cannot be done properly with modern time saving techniques, or an instrument that wopuld lose massive value if restored /repaired using modern techniques. For example fretjobs on Compound Radius fretboards are the exact same job as with a flat radius if you´re using anm OG bastard file or beam, but an absolute clusterf* if all you have are modern radiused blocks because that´s all you ever learned to work with.
The important thing (as a profesional) is to keep an open mind and actively explore other methods when they come to light, so as not to see the use of any specific Tool as essential or universally bad, but to understand where and when what should be used in which situation by whom. For example, most 9-5 working people aren´t necessarily going to have a belt sander just lying around... but angle grinder, rasps, files, sandpaper, thatßs much more likely. So while recommending the use of a belt sander might be the generally accepted way to do a forearm contour or tummy cut fast and clean in a professional setting, that doesn´t help the hobbyist that doesn´t want to spend 2000$ on a belt sander and empty half his garage to modify a 100$ guitar body.. . And we that have acces to thse tools and methods sometimes need to remind ourselves of that. :friday:
I´ve seen people hack out pickup cavities with a flat head screwdriver on their personal guitars.... will anyone ever know once the pickguiard is on? No? The fuck it, went faster than settig up the router and still works just fine when all the dust settles.
Zerberus
Baron Von Shred
BTW, I remember teh furst time I showed up in my Master´s shop with an angle grinder in my 2nd year... I still think she wanted to just kill me right there before I did anything immensely stuipid and sacriligous.... But she let me continue, she wanted me to fail by myself and learn.... "unfortunately" for her, when I finished 15 minutes later and looked like a browm yeti, she said "ok, now I gotta trey this myself, show me how that works":lmao:
And 4 weeks later she was so passionate about this awesome new technique that the guys over at Blade in Allschwil thought whe had gone completely mad when we were out for lunch, until I told them it was my idea and Gary just said "Why am I not surprised you ´d be able to make that work?".... Good times, better memories.
And 4 weeks later she was so passionate about this awesome new technique that the guys over at Blade in Allschwil thought whe had gone completely mad when we were out for lunch, until I told them it was my idea and Gary just said "Why am I not surprised you ´d be able to make that work?".... Good times, better memories.
ehdwuld
A Ficus
I have made a swimming pool route with a rotozip
and a chisel
On a daphne strat
And documented the results on this forum
I remember using the phrase
Whilst I have the chisel in hand
And started the same panic
It may have been the same panicers
I just got back from Canada
And that just doesn't look like it's pronounced
Like it was in my head.
Hmmmmm
and a chisel
On a daphne strat
And documented the results on this forum
I remember using the phrase
Whilst I have the chisel in hand
And started the same panic
It may have been the same panicers
I just got back from Canada
And that just doesn't look like it's pronounced
Like it was in my head.
Hmmmmm
I appreciate that, especially since you are one of the forum members that I have a lot of respect and admiration for.
You all are right in that there is no specifically "correct" way to make a guitar (or any part on it), just like there is no correct way to play a guitar, and that's all ok. But there are just some techniques that make either just a little easier or better or quicker, and that's ok too.
PS: belt sanders don't cost $2000. But it's certainly ok to use what tools you have if you don't want to buy more.
PS: belt sanders don't cost $2000. But it's certainly ok to use what tools you have if you don't want to buy more.
