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Working on inlay in a couple headplates and trying to clean up the bottom of the cavities for the shell and I found myself wanting for some micro tools other than the trusty #11 X-Acto that I use about as often as a pencil in my shop. So a little sub-1/8th inch chisel and a scraping tools were on my list.

One corner of my shop is a pile of "exotic" metals - anything that won't rust - stainless, aluminum, brass...I save it ALL, and it saves me many trips to town. How bad am I? Here's what saved the day - inside your old windshield wiper blades are strips of stainless steel and it's pretty hard like spring steel so I save some. Ya never know. They vary by brand but I had some that were 0.10" wide and 0.030" thick. Took one and cut off two 6 inch pieces and bent loops in the "handle" end so I don't poke myself in the eye. Shapened one like a chisel and the other at about a 75 degree angle to use more like a scraper (the way you would sharpen a lathe scraper).

They worked great and the bottoms of my cavities never looked better. Nothing fancy but they get the job done and should help with all kinds of micro wood removal.

Pics:

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Good idea. Those #11 Xacto blades can be reshaped too.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Brian, you are a man after my own heart. It's ALL raw materials waiting to be repurposed.

I read a thread on Mandolin Cafe of a guy who used wiper blade parts for bar frets.... Very cool.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks Chris and Steve. I'll take this opportunity to say the flexibility of the tool is actually a benefit in many applications. I should have taken pictures. But you know how it goes, you try something new and by the time it's done, and worked, you always forget to take the before pics. I hate that!

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Cool tools Brian!
Somewhere I have a Stew Mac fretwire tube filled with wiper blade cores I've collected over the years. I will have to put a couple of them to use.
How many of us have "pack rat" tendencies and save odd bits and bobs in the corners of our shops? They can save us time and money - if only we can remember where we put them!

My secret is consistency All I have to do is imagine if I had the thing and needed to stash it, where would I put it? Usually I come up with the same answer as last time, and there it is.

renecking a D45 and 7 bodies in the spray booth

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Only just got around to working on this thing. Just in case anyone was curious about what it looks like inside a Genuine Givson 12-String Dreadnought:

Josh beautiful craftsmanship on the Givson.... Banana crate never looked so good

my that is priceless I bet that was all Hyde glue construction

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Doesn't look like they hid the glue at all, lol

Boy you dont see many antique Givsons anymore !!!! Impressive Find

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Just bumping this to show what I did with the pickguards. I'm not sure whether the images will show so if not, please see the original post about epoxy pickguards, on the previous page(20).

Looks sharp!

I could use one for the Givson, it’s pickguard is painted on


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Little Tru-oil work on St Jude Raffle Guitar

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Zpoxy applications completed.
Shooting lacquer tomorrow.
Ye-haw

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

“This old guitar of mine just won’t play in tune!”

^^^ YE GODS! ^^^

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

It ain’t a 12 string guitar, either


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I wouldn’t want to look in one and see that!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

errrrrrrmmmmmmm ???

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

It appears that at some time in this guitar’s 60-year life, someone moved the bridge aft by 3/8” and redrilled the holes. The original correct holes are the ones you see there filled with plugs of bondo or similar. Owner wants it fixed …

Have fun with that one, Josh.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Did they change the scale length (fretboard) to match?

No sir, they did not


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