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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:16 pm ] |
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I have pretty dumb question, but as Bruce said yesterday, the only dumb question is the one that is not asked. So here it is anyway : Would it be ok to use UHMW and cut nuts and saddles out of it? i just bought a 3 pound bag of white blocks and the thought crossed my mind ! Would you recommend it to the hobbyist that i am ? TIA, i'm also open to all suggestions of material you have tried other than bones 
Serge |
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| Author: | Dickey [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:31 pm ] |
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No, too soft Serge. Remember that little science project of my son's? The G string of a Medium Martin 80/20 required 57 lbs. of tension on our mockup to tune it to pitch. What you need is cow bone. But, since experience is the best teacher, try some and see if you like it. |
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| Author: | crazymanmichael [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:35 pm ] |
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uhmw is too soft. corian kitchen scrap is usable, as is micarta. but when good bone blanks only cost around $3 each for top quality material why worry about the alternative stuff. when you consider how much of your treasure and time is invested in a build, $6.00 at he end for a nut and saddle along with $2.00 for good strings is a very small thing. |
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| Author: | Arnt Rian [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:38 pm ] |
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Perhaps Serge has another reason besides $'s for not wanting to use bone? |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:56 am ] |
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Thanks guys, it was exactly why i didn't want the bones, it's the smell, since the archives of the company i work for are in my shop, i would not want my boss to act like Hesh's dawg!   I like the sheeps horn idea though. Are there other alternatives such as, don't know, old marble tiles or other hard stuff that i would be able to use for this ?
Serge |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:58 am ] |
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Michael, thanks for the corian and micarta tips, is corian and micarta from kitchen counter tops? and if so, is it manageable on a drum sander? TIA Serge |
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| Author: | Mark Swanson [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:04 am ] |
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It sands easily, and you can get all you want for free, if you find a nice person who works installing kitchens. They throw away more pieces of this stuff in a day or a week than you will use in a year. It isn't as nice as bone, which is really the best but it will pass...I use it for cheapo guitar repairs. |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:05 am ] |
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Thanks Hesh, it might be possible for me to get some from here, i'll take that into consideration but i'm still open for more ideas to choose from , dealing with strength and aesthetics, so i want a wide array of ideas. Serge |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:07 am ] |
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Thanks Mark, other ideas ? |
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| Author: | crazymanmichael [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:15 am ] |
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if you shape the bone by hand you avoid the burning smell but it does take a lot longer. ivory smells just as bad. the artificials like corian have their own rather nasty chemical smell which i find more unpleasant than bone etc. have never tried marble but it would not be easy to cut and shape and i don't think it would produce a very agreeable tone. a lot of things have been tried by a whole host of different players over a lot of years and bone is still the concensus best choice. but hey, it's your time... |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:22 am ] |
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thanks Michael, i guess i'll have to bring my drum sander into the garbage room of the building when i do that stuff! 
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| Author: | crazymanmichael [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:25 am ] |
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forgot to ask; how are you using a drum sander on nuts and saddles? |
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| Author: | Dave Rector [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:26 am ] |
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I agree with Michael, Corian does have a particularly nasty smell if it gets hot going through the thickness sander. I don't notice any smell if I sand it by hand, but bone doesn't smell bad worked by hand either. |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:28 am ] |
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I never did it yet, i would probably do it over the drum, a bit like Bruce does it with a holder, semi free handed . |
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| Author: | Arnt Rian [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:35 am ] |
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Then there is Tusq, graphite, fossilized ivory, mother of pearl (favored by many mandolin people), none of which I have used however, so I can't give you any details. Brass, ebony, plasic (yuck). Any more? Really, go with bone, shape it by hand; you'll be fine. |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:30 am ] |
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Thanks Arnt, it gives me more to choose from now, i will be looking into those!
Serge |
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| Author: | Brock Poling [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:30 am ] |
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Al posted some info a while back on shaping bone with a hand plane. That would cut down on the smell. |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:27 am ] |
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Thanks for the tip Brock! and thanks for the Magazine and t-shirt, just received them today!
Serge |
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| Author: | crowduck [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:36 am ] |
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Here's some info I received from a professional guy who works with Corian, and BTW Martin Guitar uses Corian on some of their guitars. "Cris, Corian is acrylic "ballasted" with marble powder, although Corain is expensive at $350-$700 a sheet it would be more expensive if it was solid acrylic. The marble content accounts for the WEIGHT of the material, it weighs just about as much as solid stone. Having said that, it works well with normal carbide tooling. YES it's tougher to work than most wood. Having said that he material is CONSISTENT which makes it easier to work in some ways than wood, there's no grain. The typical Corian workshop uses a large radial arm saw to cut down Corian sheets, then a normal 10" table saw to cut it into strips. Individual Corian fabricators are usually equipped with a 10" chop saw, a 4 x 24" belt sander and an armada of 3 horsepower routers. The primary router bits used are 1/2" single flute, 1/2" double flute and 1" flush cutter. These combined with various straight edges and jigs enable the Corian fabricator to "carve" out a variety of profiles. Edge detail is accomplished with smaller routers like the Porter-Cable 690 series using 1/4" roundover, 3/8" roundover or several different ogees. That's for kitchen countertop fabrication... For your purposes if you have a good bandsaw blade... SAVE it! Corian will eat up your bandsaw blade twice as fast as hardwood by my estimate. Having said that it might not be too bad for the small amount of material you need to cut. We cut down up to a hundred 10' sheets in a week, our notmal tool rotation is to re-sharpen blades once a week. Abrasives work quite well, coarse abrasives leave a surprisingly smooth finish. Use a reciprocating spindle sander if you've got one. For a recent project we had to face a piece of millwork with 1/4" Corian, instead of re-ordering 1/4" goods (1/2" is the norm) the millworking contractor milled 1/2" material down to 1/4" in their panel sander. an abrasive planer does the same job." CrowDuck |
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| Author: | Rod True [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:54 am ] |
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How about Iron wood, has anyone tried that for nut or saddle. It's preaty dense you know. |
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| Author: | crowduck [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:13 am ] |
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Over on one of the Resonator forums there was a discussion about a material called Ebonex. Some of the top reso builders are capping their saddles with it. I did some research, and found that Ebonex is a paper based phenolic material. It is made using heat and pressure, and the materials 'polymerize'. Anyway, it is suppossed to be extremely dense and uniform, and the polymerzation process does something special to the molecules(I'm not a scientest). I'm planning on buying a sheet of this stuff(it ain't cheap) to make some caps for my reso saddles, and I'll probably make an regular acoustic saddle/nut as well. CrowDuck |
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| Author: | dgalas [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 2:19 pm ] |
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Hey guys, I just picked up a small chunk of impregnated ebony from Larry Davis just for the purpose of testing it out as nut material. With the limited experience I have making guitars I don't think my feedback will be more than how it is to work and how it compares to my limited experience with bone, but I'll give some feedback nonetheless. I am interested in trying it out and defintiely excited about the aesthetic element it offers. I'll keep you posted. Cheers, -Dave P.S. As I haven't used it yet, any technical questions should probably be directed to Larry!
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| Author: | DaleH [ Wed Feb 01, 2006 2:57 pm ] |
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Serg,here is some corian I aquired from a guy that does kitchen installs. I cut it on the band saw & ran it through the thickness sander. I leave it in about 12 inch strips and then cut it to length as needed. It's very easy to work with & free!! This was just some scrap that the guy was going to throw out & I have nuts and saddles for about 50 guitars. 
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