Building: Tools, Fixtures, Jigs & Templates

[walterw]

Unwinding a string to any length is easy. Put it on the guitar and figure out what length you need, or where you need to unwind to. Saturate the inch below that point with Crazy Glue to fix it in place, just a couple of drops will do. Cut off the excess string, then unwind the outer windings, but not the inner windings, enough to give you a tail to wrap on the tuner post.

i've done this cheat too; as long as you do something to stop the outer winds from unraveling off the core and killing the string, the string should survive. with nickel outer wraps you can actually flow a layer of solder into the winds below your unraveling point to preserve the string integrity.

usually unwinding just the top layer is enough to fit an otherwise too-fat string around and down into a tuning post.

Lately I am seeing a third kind of bass tuner on the eBays, sort of a hybrid semi-closed. These are quite attractive, with medium-sized chrome ears, big vintage-sized posts, and black resin bodies.

the schallers that some fender american deluxe basses came with a while back?

i put these on my '96 american P in place of the massive boat anchors it came with, and they're doing well; very lightweight and stable tuning.

the only drawback to these is the tension adjustment screw, you have to drip a bit of mild loc-tite into the threads before putting it back in and dialing in the correct turning tension, or it will back out and disappear, taking the impossible to replace little metal collar surround with it

(the variation with the smaller key buttons didn't have this problem, the tensioning screw was on the key button side.)

Things you can't do with a lacquered guitar:

• use a capo
  
• use a clip-on tuner
• put it in a stand
• put it in a wall-hanger
• spill anything harsher than tapwater on it
• let it get hot or cold
• let it get humid or dry
  
• let it touch anything for more than a few minutes

Lacquer is a primitive finish from the Middle Ages - don't get taken in by stupid 'traditional' 'luthiery'.

you might be overstating things a bit again; thousands of people including me happily do all of this with their gibson instruments with no problem. if it gets a little beat-up looking over the years and decades, well that's part of the vibe i guess.

the lacquer will react to the wrong kind of stand or strap material, and can indeed get marked by capos and headstock tuners and such. a little informed common sense avoids the worst of the reaction disasters.

far from "medieval", i think george gruhn referred to nitro as sort of an early 20th century finish experiment that was less than successful; after all, violin varnishes from hundreds of years ago can still look pretty with the right maintenance, but a 70-year old nitro lacquer finish is likely to be a checked, brittle mess.

too late though; so many great pivotal instruments in the hands of great pivotal players have that same checked brittle finish now, so it's become a mark of quality and value. (i don't believe tonal difference arguments for a second, especially with solidbodies.)

You are actually stretching the metal, re-aligned the crystals in the wire until they are optimal, and also tightening the wrappings on the tuner post and setting the bridge end.

yeah, i don't think so with that one either; as i understand it, when stretching or bending string steel it either snaps right back to its original state unchanged or (if you go too far) it stays stretched, i.e., deformed. it's like a spring, either it snaps right back unchanged or if you go too far it gets ruined.

what you're mostly doing is cinching up the post wrappings and removing slack from the bridge (like you said), and straightening out any curved parts of the string, like this:

not done:

done:

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Alder
This is great reading, and great advice, I am a great admirer of common sense Yankee ingenuity over my own tendency to overthink or complicate inherently simple things. Your comments about the Cult of Nitro are particularly spot on. I've already inhaled or absorbed enough toxic chemistry for one lifetime. Have you tried any of the new Varathane water based finishes? I am a complete noob on finishes, and want to take advantage of less toxic new finishes, though they seem to require slightly different techniques that haven't settled into anything like tried and true practice. The poly is less fragile and more durable, but still pretty nasty without a spray booth and some good safety gear. I've been reading up on the Varathane water based floor finishes shot through an HVLP gun available on the cheap at HF. Comments or opinions appreciated.

 

[alder]

Sandpaper

Here's a plot of some numbers I found on the Googles: sandpaper "grit" verus actual micron size. Interesting to see what size scratches you are taking out ( or putting in. ) The curve starts at 320, which is the coarsest grit that might be considered part of the finishing process. For final finishing like orange-peel removal, I start with 1500 and work up from there, I find that even 1000 leaves scratches that are difficult to remove.

This picture that I stole from Wikipedia helps illustrate the scale of things. It shows a human hair with a diameter of about 50 microns, and a carbon filament of about 6 microns. Pull out one of your own hairs and take a look at it, or someone else's if you don't have one of your own. Another ready example: aluminum foil is typically around 15 microns thick.

Sandpapers generally use one of two abrasives. The more common and cheaper one is aluminum oxide, and the other is silicon carbide. Aluminum oxide is weaker and tends to fracture during use, exposing new sharp edges until it is finally all broken down. Silicon carbide is much harder, and wears down without much fracturing. It should not be inferred that silicon carbide is better than aluminum oxide - it depends on the job. Aluminum oxide is actually better for sanding soft materials like wood and plastic, as it maintains a sharp "cutting edge" much longer than silicon carbide. However, for sanding very hard materials like glass, aluminum oxide is nearly useless - it goes dull in literally seconds, while silicon carbide lasts long enough to actually do some work. Silicon carbide is the second hardest material known, after diamonds. Whether a sandpaper is "wet" or "dry" is a function of the adhesive and the paper backing, not the abrasive.

There are also two basic types of polishing compound. One is self-limiting, the other is not. With a self-limiting compound, the abrasive particles break down during use, until eventually the compound will cut no more. A non-self-limiting compound does not break down, or at least not as fast, and will go on cutting for much longer. Self-limiting compounds are designed that way to avoid going right through the finish, which makes them better for inexperienced users. Unfortunately, polishing compounds are generally not labeled with regard to this, but a little research can often turn up the answer.

Much of the technology of guitar finishing comes directly from the automotive industry. Even crappy nitrocellulose lacquer was once used on automobiles; I can hardly imagine how badly that worked out, under the sun and the elements. Your local auto parts store is a great place to find luthiery supplies.

 

[alder]

Alder
This is great reading, and great advice, I am a great admirer of common sense Yankee ingenuity over my own tendency to overthink or complicate inherently simple things. Your comments about the Cult of Nitro are particularly spot on. I've already inhaled or absorbed enough toxic chemistry for one lifetime. Have you tried any of the new Varathane water based finishes? I am a complete noob on finishes, and want to take advantage of less toxic new finishes, though they seem to require slightly different techniques that haven't settled into anything like tried and true practice. The poly is less fragile and more durable, but still pretty nasty without a spray booth and some good safety gear. I've been reading up on the Varathane water based floor finishes shot through an HVLP gun available on the cheap at HF. Comments or opinions appreciated.

I've tried some of the Varathanes, particularly the 'triple-thick', which brushes much better than any other poly I've used. The problem with brushing-on a guitar finish is the horrendous amount of work required afterwards to get a nice 'guitar' finish. I did that once, and never again. I've not had good results spraying water-based poly, but that could be my own fault, and I'm done experimenting with it.

Two things I don't like about water-based poly are rather poor adhesion, and no yellowing. Masking tape will easily pull up layers of water-based poly, even if it has been dried for weeks. And water-based poly stays clear, while oil-based imparts a nice yellow cast which gives many woods a much warmer color. I have also had much better results spraying oil-based poly. The only advantage of water-based poly that I have found is that when the job goes completely bad, you can clean it off in the sink.

The 'Fast-drying' Minwax polys are mineral spirits based, which is about the most benign solvent there is, also known as turpentine, and a component in some medicines to this day. The downside of this stuff is that it is extremely runny. It can only be brushed in very thin coats on horizontal surfaces. Likewise, spraying must be done in extremely thin coats, the slightest excess will run, but it sprays beautifully, even if the can says not to. It is also highly compatible with the aerosol polys, which can be convenient. Spraying this poly with an air compressor is nothing like the choking cloud of propellant and nasty solvent you get from an aerosol can.

I have no experience with HVLP. Much of the apparent popularity of that technology is due to the fact that the government pushed it hard in the commercial sector to reduce VOCs. That does not mean it is better, and I think for a home user, a classic LVHP setup will give a better result, especially on a guitar. YMMV.

 

[JustForSport]

Have you tried the small white foam rollers? Rolled once one way, then once 90 degrees (while still wet) gives a much more level surface than brushing.

 

[alder]

Have you tried the small white foam rollers? Rolled once one way, then once 90 degrees (while still wet) gives a much more level surface than brushing.

I tried a foam 'brush' once, and immediately hated it. I'm a pretty good house-painter too, and I won't use anything but a Purdy unless I intend to throw it away afterwards. I use cheaper brushes for dusting, works great on guitars - you can get into all the nooks and crannies without scratching ( or "mojo-ing" as it is known in guitar-speak. Can you imagine if they offered "road-worn" new cars? That whole thing is just so ridiculous. )

I am so well set up for spraying now, and have finally found a material I like, I am done experimenting with anything else. If you come up with any successful techniques, please post them.

 

[JustForSport]

I haven't found a use for the foam brushes either.
The foam rollers just don't leave any brush marks (raised lines and valleys) that have to be smoothed out. Rolling 90 degrees evens any 'edge of roller' marks, and if the coating is at all self-leveling, it's as smooth as a light orange peel to smooth.

 

[alder]

Stud Bushing Puller

StewMac sells a knob & bushing puller for the breathtaking price of $53.31, plus shipping, of course. Here is one I made in 5 minutes for about $2 in Home Depot parts. It consists of:

• 3/4" pipe plug
• 40mm long M8-1.25 ( coarse thread metric ) hex bolt
  
• generic washer that fits the bolt, more or less

Simply drill a hole in the end of the plug to fit the bolt. The bolt is of a suitable length to grab plenty of threads in the bushing without bottoming out in the hole. The washer is there to keep the metal bolt from chewing up the plastic plug. Not shown is some kind of padding to keep from bearing directly on the guitar finish, a folded piece of paper towel will do, or some stick-on felt padding.

This is by no means an original idea, although my use of the pipe plug brings the construction to its absolute greatest simplicity - all I had to do was drill one hole, and the tool self-centers. The M8 bolt fits the majority of the imported bridge posts I have to deal with, one other requires an M6-1.0 hex bolt, 40-45mm, and a matching washer. For USA-made bushings, use a 5/16"x 24 (fine thread) hex bolt, about 1-1/2" long. Get all three sizes, and you'll have a kit that will handle anything, for about three bucks.

StewMac also sells a simple little plastic knob puller for about $8. These things are great, I have several so I don't have to hunt for one when I need it, and I highly recommend them. But $53 vs $2? I am speechless.

 

[alder]

Guitar Racks

Since I've introduced the subject of furniture to this thread, here is my design for a multi-guitar rack.

Here is a pair of them, finish drying in the garage in front of all the winter snow equipment. This design evolved out of an earlier design for a small modular book-case, and is actually fully compatible with that - you can stack and arrange the units like building blocks to make anything you want. That is why my rack has the seemingly unnecessary shelf on the top - so I can stack other modules on top, and also to match the style of the previous pieces. The basic unit is the same dimensions as the rack, but half the height of these with a shelf in the middle. These are not quite finished, the bottom rack will get a nice covering of felt padding before it goes into use.

Here are three of the basic unit, stacked up to form a big bookshelf slightly over six feet ( with no books. ) The beauty of this design is that it breaks down into pieces that are easily man-portable. It is also quite strong and solid, much more stable than an equivalent bought piece. In addition to the basic unit, I built a TV hutch by omitting the shelf, and a double-height 4-shelf 'dresser' that uses inexpensive fabric bins instead of wooden drawers. The bins are similar to the ones in the picture, but bigger and deeper. It works great.

This building-block approach to furniture is far better than the junk from Ikea, and a lot cheaper than 'real' furniture, much of which nowadays is truthfully just as junky as Ikea. In a similar vein, I've built end tables, coffee tables, aquarium stands, couches, beds, chairs, and other things. My designs are solid wood, simple, lightweight, strong, and flexible in use. The finish is water-resistant, easy to clean, and easy to renew if it gets worn or scratched. Furniture built for real-world use, with the assumption that the dog is not going to stay off it. For example, I found a nice doormat to use as a spread on the coffee table, now I can just throw my feet up on it the way we all want to. I am for 100% practical, but if you're not all hung up on ornate carving and shiny lacquer, I think the pieces aren't bad looking either. These pieces are somewhere between "crate style" and "mission style".

Anyway, back to guitars and stuff ... I looked at a lot of multi-guitar stands on the internets, and found they all have the same flaw: they do nothing to protect the guitars from each-other. In other words, what every single design I could find amounted to is a sure way to scratch up one guitar with another guitar, or scratch up many guitars all at once. All you need is a clumsy dog, a six-year-old, or a careless bump with a vacuum cleaner, and there is nothing to prevent them from slamming into each-other. If I want that, I can simply lean them all against a wall, no need to spend money on it.

The problem stems from trying to build a rack that will hold anything, from a slim Stratocaster to a fat acoustic, from a wide hollow-body to a narrow SG. There is no way to allow for all those variations and simultaneously achieve secure storage and volumetric efficiency ( how's that for engineer-speak? ) So I took a different approach. My rack is designed to fit a standard body size that is approximated by a solid-body Fender. Coincidentally, I have a herd of Stratocaster basses I built that need a home.

You can see that the bottom of the rack has ~2" slots that snugly hold each body, with a ~1-1/2" spacer in-between each one. This ensures that no matter what happens, the contents can never come in contact. Even if two guitars face each-other, the knobs cannot touch, although you do have to remove tremolo arms. Similarly, the "comb" for the necks is fairly tight and allows little movement. I am not depending on a guitar's lean to hold it in place - the guitars are basically vertical and cannot move.

A simple removable bar across the front of the comb prevents the contents from rotating out accidentally. Short of completely upending the rack, there is no way that one guitar could come in contact with another. The spacing is more than adequate to remove and replace individual guitars, and the back of the comb forms a bin for small parts storage, like those tremolo arms.

Construction is entirely 1" southern yellow pine, dimensional lumber in various standard widths, cut to length with a mitre saw. ( Home Depot 'Radiata' pine is a good substitute for yellow. Super-soft white pine is not. ) All cuts and joints are 90 degrees. The top shelf is assembled with biscuits, the legs are assembled with lap joints at the corners. The top-to-leg joint is a bit tricky, and is the only place that uses screws, all other joints are Titebond glue. The legs are two pieces of wood glued together to resist warping. The top looks like a double thickness of wood, but the edges are just narrow facing pieces. The entire construction is surprisingly light and extremely stiff and strong. I have never had one of these pieces warp in any way, neither the shelves nor the legs.

I made maximum use of less expensive materials. Only the top surface of the shelf and the main part of the comb are expensive #1 grade material. The legs and other framing and everything else are 3" or 2" 'clear' pine, which is not #1 grade, but indistinguishable if you pick and choose your pieces and cut around any knots. The 3" material is $.68/foot; while 4" #1 costs $1.59/foot. This is not only a cost savings of almost 60%, but a weight savings of over 25%, with perfectly adequate strength. One rack uses almost 60 feet of 3" material, switching to 4" would add over $50 to the cost.

The comb turned out to take the longest time to build and finish. Cutting and sanding all the ins and outs was a lot more work than simply gluing up a plain shelf. The surfaces and joints of the major assemblies are smoothed with a #36 belt on a belt sander. Similar parts are clamped together before sanding so they come out uniform. The #36 belt really tears through pine, it pretty quickly grinds all the clamped-together parts to a uniform size and shape and smooths out any uneven joints. Exposed edges are then rounded-over with a 1/4" router bit, and all surfaces are sanded along the grain to 80-grit and left that way. It takes a deft hand with a belt sander to get a nice even scratched finish.

For the final finish, I applied a coat of 'natural' stain as a pre-treatment. Wood sanded to 80-grit drinks up stain, and even the lightest color will turn very dark, especially any end-grain. The pre-stain clogs up the wood grain and prevents it from absorbing too much color. Then I applied a coat of stain from a can I had standing around. I have never seen wood stain match the color on the can, so it really doesn't matter what 'color' the stain is. As near as I can tell, there may be 30 different shades of brown on the shelf in the store, but they are all either light brown or dark brown, and without proper pre-treatment, they are all dark brown.

In this case, the natural stain didn't work as well as actual pre-stain, I ended up sanding and re-staining some parts to get it all even. Before the stain dried, I applied a coat of Danish oil, which smoothed it out some more. and in my experience, stain fades and mellows over the years. It will eventually get several coats of Danish oil on the parts that show. The resulting finish is ready for the real world - you can bang it up, sand it down, and re-oil to be like new.

The bottom rack will be fully lined with self-adhesive felt. The neck comb is just smooth bare wood. Any pine is much softer than finished maple, and is not going to mar the necks, and there is almost no force there. The guitars rest on their body sides on the bottom frame rails. There is no foam rubber or anything else other than felt and unfinished wood touching the guitars, so this rack should even be safe for lacquered finishes. As safe as anything anyway, I don't think there is a way of storing a lacquered finish that won't ultimately damage it. The comb is attached with screws only, so it can be re-positioned up or down if necessary.

I started out building two of these to hold 9 guitars each. There is just enough height to fit in even a full-scale bass, although that was not one of my original requirements. Since anything worth doing is worth over-doing, I decided to build a third one to hold the other sizes. That one ended up completely different, I will add it here when it is done.

Total cost for both of these racks came to about $120 each. That's a lot cheaper than any bought rack I could find, even if there was one that was acceptable, which there isn't. You could probably do the whole thing with only a drill, jigsaw, and belt sander. Mitre saw and router are helpful but not necessary, the belt sander will clean up all kinds of woodworking sins. All the joints are glued, but many of them can be screwed or nailed instead of clamping, and if you're clever it won't show.

You can alter the rack spacing to suit yourself, or attach the body spacers with screws so they are removable. The comb could be built up from multiple pieces of wood instead of cutting it out as I did. Finally, for an absolutely minimal design, you could omit the top shelf, shorten the legs and use the comb as the top brace. That would cut the cost and the work in half, and still be better than anything you can buy.

Update

Feeling loopy from muscle relaxers - my back hasn't been right since the big snow storm, and I finally went to the doctor. So power tools are out, instead I decided to rush one of the racks to completion. The finish is still sticky in spots, but that's ok, I can apply the felt, as those parts are unfinished. At any rate, the stink of the stain and oil is minimal now, and it will harden-off much faster indoors than out in the cold garage.

Here is the bottom section all done. Cutting the felt requires a very sharp razor. The way I'm feeling, even that could be risky, but I got through it with all my fingers. ( A piece of advice from the other day: Never ever touch the table saw blade. Nothing good can come of it. Thumb is healing up nicely though. ) Here is a shot of how I made the cuts:

The ruler has a piece of paper attached to set the width. True up every cut with the square, otherwise your errors will accumulate until it becomes a problem. I found that the felt cuts best at an angle to the grain of the cutting board. Very little went to waste, I found uses for much of the scrap, and in the end I had lots left over from a 12x36" sheet, so I cut 1/2" strips and did the neck comb as well. The felt comes in lots of colors, and I toyed with green or red, but finally decided on dark brown - it just disappears, so if the job is not perfect, it won't show. And there is nothing perfect about this finish, you might consider it one big flaw, which is why it wears so well and is so easy to repair.

Here it is all finished and loaded up with Stratocasters in size order, with the lock bar in place. You can see one of them doesn't quite fit. I'm fine with that, I made this piece as tight as possible knowing things like this could happen. It does take some care to remove and replace them, but that's ok too - I'll keep my favorites on regular old stands. The brand-new finish looks rather harsh, but it is my experience that it will even out in a year or so. The camera flash is not doing the finish any favors either, it actually looks much better in natural light. Finally, here is a shot of it in place:

The odd Strat is out front, and you can see why it doesn't fit - the bridge is almost at the edge of the body. That's ok, the Tele can go in its place. Next to the guitar rack is the dresser I mentioned, and next to that you can see the end of one of the 'standard' modules. That basic design has proven to be incredibly adaptable. The dresser is as tightly designed as the guitar rack, with a space for shoes underneath ( the floor as a free shelf. ) The new rack replaced a forest of guitar stands that had gotten out of control. Eventually, I will place a short shelf unit on top of the guitar rack, but the finish will have to be totally dry and hardened first, a month should do.

The guitar rack is the only one of the modules with triangular corner braces. The inset shelf joints of the other models are incredibly strong and provide all the side-to-side or diagonal stiffness necessary, but the guitar rack doesn't have any. The comb is not designed as part of the main structure, it is actually adjustable. To compensate, the bottom joints of the rack are lapped and staggered for stiffness without extra bracing, which in any case would not fit with the guitar bodies. But I have my doubts about the top joints, so I added the extra braces there. The result is zero flex, the same as the other units. Empty weight is 36 pounds, about half of the expected payload. As an engineer, I had to know.

Another thing I like about all of these designs is that every part and every joint is necessary. There is nothing extra that could be taken away without compromising the structure or the function. There is also a minimum of fasteners, with almost none of them showing. Some of my earlier designs were based on things I'd seen, and for example, used solid side panels and overall heavier ( and more expensive ) construction. But for these I boiled the design down to a bare minimum - low cost, strong, lightweight, simple, and efficient. Once an engineer, always an engineer. ( Aerospace, wouldn't you know? )

As I said, you could not pack guitars any tighter, yet they are as secure as possible while still on display and easily accessible. I like the way they all look together in perfect alignment, yet each one is unique. My "JL" has crept into the picture as well, it's been doing that lately. I suppose this is a stretch for a thread called "Building: Tools, Fixtures, Jigs & Templates," but if you build enough guitars, you're going to need place to keep them, right?

 

[alder]

Sharp Fret Ends

I took this 'Bird down from it's usual place up on the wall to take some measurements, and I noticed that it had grown fangs along the ( otherwise excellent Mighty-Mite ) neck that were not there before. Sharp fret ends is something I see people piss and moan about all the time. It is going to happen. It's not that the frets weren't dressed properly at the factory, the problem is that most guitars are made in warm humid places like China, Mexico, Indonesia, and Tennessee in the summer. Wood swells with moisture. When they are brought to the USA and placed in a dry heated winter house, the wood dries and shrinks a tiny bit, and the fret ends protrude. Everything about fretwork is a matter of thousandths of an inch, even the tiniest discrepancies are obvious. So this is not a defect, it is something that is simply going to happen, and it is easy to fix.

In the picture, you can see I am holding a six inch fine file lengthwise against the frets. I am actually holding it at a slight angle towards the strings, it is not contacting the wood at all, just the fret ends. Simply slide the file along the frets to remove the protruding ends. Slide the file only in the direction it is supposed to cut, then lift off and re-position - don't hack back and forth. Always cover several frets at once, never just one. GO SLOW - make a few swipes, and see how it feels. Except for stainless steel, frets are fairly soft and file down quickly. If you can just barely feel the ends sticking out, that means you haven't touched the wood yet. That's where I stop. This is especially important on a painted neck - you don't want to cut the finish. On a maple board like this, I don't like to go through the finish either, but on an oily rosewood board it makes little difference if you nip the edge a bit. So a rosewood neck is a good one to practice on first.

This really is easy, it practically guides itself. Watch the angle that you hold the file. If you are careful, you can do this without even un-stringing the instrument, as I am doing here. Of course, it is easiest when the neck is not yet installed, but the problem probably hasn't even arisen at that point. I don't bother with any further dressing, although you could smooth over the fret ends individually if you are anal enough. Just remember, the more you mess with it, the more likely you are to mess it up. If you must, 1000 grit sandpaper wrapped around a finger will smooth things further, but also results in a black mess that may work itself into the wood grain. With this maple neck, I am not going to make my life difficult. Good enough is good enough; going for perfect can result in ruin.

You will only need to do this once, probably in the dead of winter when the neck has dried out and contracted the most. Come summer, the fret ends will likely become slightly recessed, you probably won't even notice. While you are at it, you can also tap down any proud fret ends with a small mallet. For fret work, I use a plastic-faced one I found at Sears - it is good enough. A little Elmer's Glue can also help. Elmer's is good because it dries clear and cleans up perfectly with warm water, unlike most wood glues.

A very important note:

These files usually/always have a nasty burr on the end of the handle. You need to grind that off before using it, or it will scratch up everything. I do that automatically whenever I get a new file.

This guitar is about as odd as it could be. A 34" Jazz neck on an oiled cherry body, with MusicMan pickup and bridge. Active electronics and three-way mode switching for the pickup, with Telecaster knobs arranged like a Rickenbacker. The two-piece pickguard is my own invention, to keep from chewing up the wood under the strings. It plays and sounds great, although I don't know if The Ox would approve. The oiled finish is the same as the racks above, just applied much more finely. Here too it can be periodically refreshed by simply wiping on a new coat. However, an oiled finish like this provides much less protection for the wood than a polyurethane; for an item that is going to be handled a lot, it is not the best choice.

The method of fret dressing described here is probably the origin of Fender's "C-shaped" neck. If you overdo this and file away wood, that is exactly what you end up with. Their marketing department simply seized on this manufacturing flaw as a feature. It is worth noting that overdoing the fret dressing this way at the factory - until the ends are flush with the wood - is exactly what results in protruding ends when the neck shrinks. "Luthiery" is so ridiculous. Thank god automobiles and airliners aren't made by luthiers.

So learn how to fix this yourself, and you can fix it right, the way that will never happen at the factory.

End rant.

 

[alder]

Question: how many guitars can you cram into about 3 feet of wall space?

Answer:

This double-decker monstrocity has slots for sixteen. The lower part will fit a full-scale bass or a thin hollow-body guitar, the upper part will hold most guitars under an 8-foot ceiling, or anything if your ceiling is higher. This is Rev. C of the design. Rev A was similar to the previous racks but larger. I stopped work early on that when I doodled-up this, most of the materials were salvaged and re-used. Rev B was basically this, but in one piece. That proved to be too unwieldy, so I sawed the top section off and re-framed the bottom. You can see the new wood in the picture - I have not yet stained it. The lock bars leaning against it also need to be stained. The two-part design is not as stiff as the original, but I have no worries about it being strong enough, and it is light and easy to move around, not cumbersome at all. The top section would make a nice rack all by itself, and has given me some more ideas ...

Once again, there is nothing extra in the design. The main framing is 1x3's sistered together with TightBond, the neck combs are 1x6, the rack spacers are 1x2, all yellow pine. The build is very economical, use of expensive materials is minimal. Most of the joints are glue alone, with a few screws where needed. An additional set of horizontal corner braces at the top stiffened the lower section almost to what it was before. All the bearing surfaces will be covered with felt, and dowels will keep the top positioned on the bottom. The front leg extensions make it very stable; it is assumed that it will stand against a wall and can't tip backward.

The top weighs in at 20 pounds, the bottom is 33 pounds and just over four feet tall, a very reasonable piece of furniture for one person to move around. That is one of my design aims - large pieces should break down into sections without tools, and small modular pieces can be combined into large assemblies. Rev. B must have weighed about 50 pounds, and at over six feet tall, it was just too much. Fully loaded, this rack's payload will be more than twice its weight. I haven't been tracking it too carefully, but I think this rack cost maybe 30% more than the first design, and holds almost twice as many guitars in the same space, with much less restriction on size and shape.

So now I can get back to building guitars. And get rid of a lot of guitar stands on Craigslist.

 

[alder]

Bridge Template

Here's a little gadget that I finally got around to finishing, that should save me a lot of bother in the future. It is a template for laying out screw holes for various bridges, both guitar and bass.

Ya, I know, spell-check​

To use this template, assemble the neck to the body and align it to the center line, or align the center line to the neck, whatever works. Measure from the inside of the nut and mark the exact scale length on the center line, no compensation. Lay the template on the body and line up all the marks, the large holes are for sighting. Then mark the bridge holes with a sharp pencil or a push pin. The bridge will install in exactly the right place. The measurements are taken off real hardware.

I am surprised StewMac does not offer something like this. They are welcome to take the idea, as long as they don't screw it up like their awful neck pocket template. I can't figure out what their Precision bass pickup template is for either, but that's about it, the rest of their tools are great, and Dan Erlewine is the Bob Vila of guitars.

It might be better to make this from clear Lexan, but that would cost money and break my heart, so I used a scrap of my favorite tone wood, masonite.

 

[rojo412]

I love this thread. Thank you for the inspiration!

 

[alder]

My Idea of a "Play Station"

Spots for five guitars/basses and a small amplifier, with storage below, and small parts bin on top. This started out as an abbreviated version of the top section of the double-decker. I figured, if I made it a little deeper, it would fit an amp. Neat, eh? The only expensive piece of wood is the comb, which was a leftover from the previous build. The rest is either inexpensive 2's and 3's, or scrap that was lying around, and the felt was also leftover. Even the big top shelf is joined pieces of 3" lumber, about half the price of what 6" would have cost, and came out so good you can hardly find the seams. The bottom shelf is a piece of plywood from the scrap heap, set on braces cut from more scrap. Every piece is cut from the shortest stock available, so eventually even my mistakes get used up.

Since I already had all the stain and oil and screws etc, I don't think I spent $40 on this. Amazingly, every one of these racks actually fits in the car, although this one takes some maneuvering to get through the hatch. That means it also fits easily through doors, around corners, and up and down stairs, and each one is easily moved by just one person. I hate giant monolithic furniture, everything I have breaks down, even the recliner, and the old 7 foot couch unbolts into pieces since I modified it. All of it is solid wood, strong and simple, to last a lifetime, not just until the first time you have to move it. Take that, IKEA ! Nothing folds, or needs to - folding is a feature that is not useful to the end user, the real reason for folding is that it makes packaging, shipping, and warehousing cheaper.

Don't mind the ugly cardboard underneath, it is still in the finishing stage, but done enough to take out of the shop. The oil finish takes its own sweet time drying, but it can be hastened with a fan and good ventilation, the same is true of paint. Surprisingly, temperature has much less effect than air circulation. While the stain stinks pretty bad for a day or two, the Danish oil is mostly boiled linseed, not much worse than cooking oil. Sometimes I follow the stain within minutes with the oil, which both evens it out and smothers the smell. You can also stain over the un-dried oil if necessary, and the oil is available in a variety of tints in addition to plain clear.

Danish oil is a mix of mostly boiled linseed oil, with maybe 10% varnish. To build the finish, start with one or two heavy coats of oil, and let it soak in and dry thoroughly. This will seal the wood, so that following coats will begin to dry on top. Without the dried sealer coat, wet-on-wet, the oil will keep soaking into the wood forever. Apply as many coats as you like with a rag, this will take several days. It is possible to get an almost lacquer-smooth finish by lightly sanding between coats to knock off the dried nits and lint from the rag, or you can leave them and get a rougher finish that hides wear better, which is what I usually do. Note that this is nothing like the instructions on the can ! Common lore is that oiled finishes are fragile, but when built-up like this, I have found it to be very durable.

Over the course of years, an oiled finish like this will mellow, becoming lighter, more even, and warmer in color, especially if exposed to direct sunlight. From time to time it can be refreshed with a new thin coat rubbed on with a rag or paper towel, preceded by a light sanding if necessary. If outright damaged, it can be sanded-down and re-done entirely. This finish is also highly water-resistant, even where water spilled from potted plants, there is never a mark or ring. Compare that to lacquer, which basically self-destructs, or polyurethane, which is tough but very difficult to repair.

One thing Danish oil is not good for at all is fretboards - it makes a gummy mess. For that application, boiled linseed oil works well, with much better staying power than lemon oil, albeit without the nice smell. Linseed oil can also be used to shine-up a Danish oil finish, or even an oiled-wood guitar finish. Let it soak in for a while, then rub off the excess with a dry rag or paper towel. It gives bare wood a beautiful translucent glow. In fact, I think linseed oil is better and cheaper for just about anything you would do with lemon oil. However, straight linseed oil offers no real protection, and cannot be built-up like Danish oil, no matter how many coats you apply - if you try, the best you can do is make a soft sticky mess.

This rack weighs 26 pounds ( engineer - had to know, can't help myself. ) Boy, talk about mission creep - I set out to built just the first two racks, and ended up building five ! Now I am out of wood, out of felt, out of space, and out of energy, so this is it. Ahhh, famous last words !!! By the way, I did all of the round-overs and other routing for all of these projects with the little DeWalt router that I mentioned earlier. It has basically put my two full-sized routers and router table into retirement. With my custom base plate, it seems there is nothing it can't do.

The Tele-bass is my own construction. When I conceived the project, no such thing existed, but it took me so long to bring it to fruition that by the time I did, Squier had beaten me to the punch. However, I much prefer my interpretation, one-piece solid ash body ( that weighs a ton ) guitar-width short-scale neck, active electronics, and a decent approximation of a Telecaster pickup arrangement. Plays and sounds as good as it looks. The Squier has an extra-wide 32" neck and weird pickups. The guitar is a real Fender, one of the "Lite Ash" series, made in Korea. I wouldn't compare it to a USA Tele, but it is much nicer than a Mexican Standard.

The amp is an old Silvertone 1472, made by Danelectro - dual 6V6GTs. I recapped it, built it a quieter safer power supply, put in a new 'classic' Jensen speaker, upped the output with a few mods courtesy of 1482 and Fender wiring diagrams, and then installed an attenuator. I also got the tremolo working for the first time in its life - it was wired wrong at the factory ! ( This is not that uncommon - my old Japanese Strat was wired wrong at the factory. Good thing QC didn't catch it - Invalid Link Removed with a soldering iron would be an awful way to go. ) Point-to-point tube circuits are wonderfully simple, you can actually work on them yourself, just don't get electrocuted ! This one is an early model, around 1961, with the 'refrigerator' handle - which I think is added cool. The 1482 is the same basic design with all the components driven harder. I'd rather have a 1472, it is bound to be more reliable. All in all, a much more interesting way to get a nice tube amp than to just buy one at GC.

 

[alder]

Guitar Vise etc

Here I'm getting ready to re-upholster a Danelectro. This is one of the reissues from the '90s, which are very nice guitars and very underrated. However, the real point here is the felt-lined jaws on the vise. I made these by cutting out pieces of mild steel sheet and clamping them in the vise. Then I hammered them over to be form-fitting on the jaws. I smoothed them on the belt sander, and then lined them with dense self-adhesive felt. These hold the guitar body securely, turning a bench vise into a guitar vise. Previously, I would hold the guitar between my knees for this job; it will be much easier like this.

Earlier in this thread I described how to make and attach the Danelectro binding tape. This one had already been done once, but that job didn't take. So I pulled off the old tape and cleaned it up with mineral spirits, which quickly removed the residual contact cement with no ill effect on the poly finish. I have several more of these to do - long-term, the spray contact cement method has a 100% failure rate. So far, the one I have done with E6000 adhesive shows no delamination at all, but it has only been a few weeks.

Felt is your guitar's friend. I have never seen felt make a mark on a guitar, not even a lacquer finish. That is why I covered all the bearing surfaces of the guitar racks with it. I also covered a few guitar stands and hangers with felt to make them lacquer-safe. For those I put pieces of non-adhesive material around the lacquer-eating foam. I simply stapled the flaps, much the same way you might sew them. The downside of this is that the result is a lot more slippery than the original foam, and non-symmetrical bodies tend to slide to the low side. A material you want to avoid at all costs is vinyl - it devours lacquer.

For really delicate finishes, cotton is probably the softest thing you can use. Another option is just bare unfinished wood. White pine is softer than just about any guitar wood/finish, although in the long run it may press a dimple into a lacquer finish. Lacquer just sucks - there is really no good way to stand/hang/case a lacquer finish, no matter what you do, it will find a way to ruin itself.

I also tried covering the foam on the stands with gorilla tape, but that turned into a sticky mess after a while. Fortunately it cleaned up with mineral spirits, which has become my go-to solvent for just about everything. If it leaves a residue, you can clean that up with denatured alcohol, which is also very gentle and has virtually no residue. Things that mineral spirits won't remove can be attacked with acetone, but be very careful - acetone will dissolve almost anything, including plastics, Crazy Glue, and automotive paint !!! Polyurethane guitar finishes are relatively immune, but don't press your luck. I would not touch a lacquer finish with anything other than soapy water; you can also try furniture polish, but don't spray it on directly, as the propellant might attack the lacquer.

You can also take a lacquer finish off right down to bare wood with acetone and rags, and then refinish with something proper. This has the advantage of no sanding. Did I say lacquer sucks? Don't let the luthiery supply houses sucker you into using it on a project - it will come out nice at first, but that won't last, and you will end up very disappointed.

I recently pulled a guitar out of the case it was stored in, and here is a knob that I had foolishly lacquered white in the days before I discovered the truth about the horrible stuff. It was stuck solidly to the inside of the guitar case. Fortunately, I have a spare, but seriously W.T.F. ! $@%$!&^%@ , I mean really &^&&# %$!@&^ this stuff is so awful, you can't even keep it in a case !!! On the plus side, the knob saved the similarly lacquered pickguard from being ruined. Never use lacquer for anything ever, not even for the smallest part, as this example demonstrates. Do not believe the luthier BS. Polyurethane is the way to go. Epoxy, enamel, Danish oil, shellac, varnish, there are lots of alternatives, there is no reason to ever use lacquer.

...

What? You're still here? Ok then, since I seem to have your attention, here is a Danelectro binding job:

With the guitar clamped in the vise, I apply 3 beads of E6000 adhesive around the ass-end - one at each edge, and one down the middle. This in not what the instructions on the tube tell you to do, I am completely ignoring them. I spread it out into an even layer with a popsicle stick, then I draped the binding over the glued section of the body, pressed it down gently with my fingers, centered it and secured it in place with luthier's special tan binding tape from Home Depot. Then I took the body out of the vise and gently rolled the binding with a small jelly jar to smooth out the lumps. I only use the vise as a third hand for low-force applications, I hold the body in my lap when I am pushing hard on it.

A small glass jar makes a great roller for this sort of application - it is hard and smooth and easy to handle, and free. You want to get a little squeeze-out along the sides; it cleans up easily later. You don't want to roll too hard and squeeze all the glue out - you need it in there. Roll just enough for a smooth job. It is easy to clean the glue off the glass at any time, or just throw it away and get another one. A baby food jar is perfect.

More glue along the entire bottom edge, with some extra on the inside curve. That is the problem spot where the binding always pulls away. What happens is the vinyl tape shrinks slightly over time, and the contact cement is not strong enough to resist it. The vinyl binding and the contact cement seem to have adverse effects on each-other - the cement aggravates the shrinkage, and the vinyl weakens the cement. I have not seen this with E6000, which seems to give a much stronger bond, but time will tell. Do not put tension on the binding on the inside curves, if anything, try to push a little extra material into it from the free end.

As before, I pressed on the binding and taped it in place, then rolled it out. Extra tape in the inside curve to hold it in place until the glue sets. A messy amount of squeeze out there, but that's a good sign - complete glue coverage. The binding may also soften there a bit, but it will re-harden, again ok - good glue adhesion. For that, I could also have roughed-up the body edges with sandpaper, but I chose not to on this project. In this picture, you can see plenty of extra adhesive inside the horn - the biggest trouble spot.

And finally, taped off again, as before. The other side is just the same. The glue stops at the corner of the neck tongue for now. The final step is to trim the binding and overlap it behind the neck under the strap button. After the glue skins over but before it fully sets, remove the special luthier's tape and rub off the squeeze-out with your fingers. It will roll right off a slick poly finish. Note - this would not be a good idea with a god-awful lacquer finish, which would probably be completely ruined. Uncured E6000 also appears to clean up with alcohol, which is a real nice discovery. It is wonderfully tacky yet slow-setting - I have done minor clean-up and pressed-out bubbles as much as a day later, yet it grabs to a useful degree almost immediately. It's like magic. Full set-up takes 24-72 hours.

And that is the best way I have found to attach a Danelectro-style tolex binding. This method is very calm and sedate, with plenty of time to make adjustments, and none of the clock-ticking one-shot tightrope-walk total panic of using traditional contact cement, and virtually no mess. As you can see, I had plenty of time to take pictures, and I'm letting it sit half-done while I write this. And note how runny this glue isn't - not one drip through this whole job.

The final-final step is to trim away the excess binding around the neck pocket with a very sharp razor. I use a pin to find the screw holes for the strap buttons, probing until it goes through.

Myself, I think that the bright white tolex binding is a beautiful accent to a guitar. It also gives it a firm grip on your leg when you play sitting down. If you get set up to make your own strips, you can make any color or pattern you like. The Danelectro-style body construction of masonite over wood is easy and inexpensive, especially when updated to use plywood for the frame. Masonite is my favorite tone wood. All the materials you need are at Home Depot.

Going to attempt a repair on this one - the binding sprang only in the upper curve. It is in very good shape - not curled or otherwise messed up, and not too much contact cement on it, and the body is such a simple shape that everything should fall right back into place. The contact cement never truly dries, it stays sticky, which is why the slightest pull dislodges it. Funny, it is actually gooey-er now than when it was new. The E6000 dries like real glue, so I have much higher hopes for it. Notice the special luthier's work pad, otherwise known as an old towel.

I cleaned the body the same way, and then turned my attention to the goop on the back of the binding. Cleaned that off the same way - mineral spirits followed by alcohol, just more elbow-grease, and let it dry for a few hours. There seemed to be no residue to interfere with the E6000 adhering to the tolex, so I went for it. BTW, this is a bought binding, whereas the one above I made myself. I can see no difference.

This is a reissue of a Danelectro 'Pro' model, sometimes known as the Flintstones guitar. I've always toyed with the idea of building one of these as a bass, what could be easier? But at the moment I have some other ideas, similar in ways to that, so maybe someday. This guitar is Chinese-made, not as nice as the Korean model one above, but still a well-made inexpensive guitar. This one originally had 'aged' binding and pickguard and a satin finish. I hate 'relic'-ing of all sorts, I shined up the body and whitened all the dingy parts. I also painted the knobs to the correct authentic color. I still need to square-off the headstock to the correct shape. ( Now that I think of it, this one had a bad neck, which Danelectro replaced under warranty, no questions asked, shipped to my house. After that, it is a nice guitar. )

A clean and polish with a soft rag and my special guitar formula from the luthiery supplies aisle at the supermarket, and she's all purty again. This 'Pledge' stuff is great, I sometimes even use it on furniture ! Orange is for electrics, there is a lemon version that is formulated for acoustics and ukuleles. Also, you can see my special guitar cleaning tool - a soft angled paintbrush that I use only for dusting. I got the idea one day from watching a program on archaeology. It easily gets into all the nooks and crannies without scratching. It is labeled so I don't accidentally use it for painting. The umlauts are for cool. If anyone would like one, I can run to Home Depot and pick one up and write "Guitar" on it and sell it to you for only $25 plus shipping and handling. Come on - that's a bargain for a real luthier tool !!! For an extra $5 I'll even add umlauts. I also have several spare luthier's work pads available for luthier prices.

I'll give the adhesive a few days to set up good before I handle it any more. If you look close, you can see that this is one of my 'felted' stands. I hope that the E6000 works in the long run, otherwise I give up. I'll have my answer in a year. I know these are guitars, not basses, but it makes no difference unless you are splitting hairs. This post has really wandered far and wide. These long posts are as much notes to myself as anything else, I often refer back to them to refresh my memory, especially my other thread on wiring, where I have stored lots of useful diagrammes.

UPDATE

The repair to the blue guitar is looking good, but it was far too much work to try to save the existing binding. When I finished the upper curve, I noticed the lower curve was not tight, and ended up doing that as well. Might as well have done the whole thing. In the future, unless the repair is basically just a spot, it is better to strip off the whole thing and work with a new clean piece of Tolex, now that I can make them myself for less than a dollar each.

Here is the nightmare binding job:

The inside of those devil horns has shed the original binding tape and every attempt to cover them since, and every spot repair likewise eventually failed. The waist curves are also a problem. The old binding was a complete mess of contact cement and repair spots when I pulled it off, no thought of repair this time.

I did this one in sections: first the ass-end around the bends to the straights, and let it set for a few hours. Then the waist curves to the tips of the horns, and let it set overnight, which is where it is at now. Finally, the inside of the horns tomorrow. I have learned to tape-off the edges completely before rolling it out. This keeps the cement from squeezing out excessively, where it just goes to waste.

This is a reissue of the old Sears Silvertone 1457 Amp-in-Case model favored by Mick Jagger, who can certainly afford better. Both the original and the reissue are wonderful chimey guitars - poor man's Rickenbacker, very sixties sounding. This one was originally satin finish and artificially shabby, I shined it up the same as the blue one. The headstock is all wrong, and it is begging for a coat of silver sparkles, but at least I installed the correct stacked knobs and an original-style rosewood bridge. The pickguard is also an exact repro of an old one that I made, with the jack on the front and the side hole plugged under the binding. It's a nice guitar when it is all together, closer to the original and much better than stock. They also issued this model as both long and short-scale bass and baritone/Bass VI - probably the only time ever that you could directly compare different scale lengths on the same instrument. I only have the guitar though.

Thinking about it, the problem with ever-gooey contact cement is that it creeps, a lot. So as the entire length of the binding contracts, it shifts around trying to relieve the tension, and pulls out the inside curves. That explains why it never separates on the outside curves or the straights - it actually pulls tighter there. What is needed is a cement that does not creep. That would keep the tension localized at a low enough level that at no point does it exceed the bond strength of the cement. I'll bet Danelectro used hide glue against bare wood 60 years ago, but that is not an option here. I've successfully repaired loose spots on those old guitars with Elmer's. The E6000 definitely softens and swells the Tolex, but it all hardens after a few days.

The cheapest I've found clear E6000 is KMart - $3.99 for a 2-ounce tube. The best place to get Tolex is [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. You can get 54" widths, and they list the weights. I use lighter-weight Tolex for guitar binding, I don't think a thick chunk of pleather would look right. Their Tolex glue looks like a water-based contact cement - useless for this application. In fact, my experience with water-based contact cement is that it is useless for any application.

 

[alder]

Pickup Tester

The big vise holds the geetar, the small vise holds the pickup at a suitable location. In this case, I'm actually testing the strings to see if they work with a magnetic pickup, they do not. I could have figured that out with just a magnet, which I also tried - it won't stick to them. But you get the idea.

 

[rojo412]

I love this thread and I finally have something to contribute! (if that's cool?)

Currently, I'm in the process of learning how to build basses and guitars from scratch. The teacher is the internet machine!
My latest project is a semi-hollow guitar for my dad and like an idiot, I didn't plan very well for the template on hogging out the body. I was losing grip of the router as it tipped off of the template and it was quite frustrating.
The proper cure for it would be an OVERARM ROUTER... but being a broke-a$$ chump, buying one wasn't an option. So I googled it and saw a design I felt could be easily borrowed.

So here it is, the drill press, masquerading as an OVERARM ROUTER:

(The removed wood in this picture was from pre-overarm. As you can see, it wasn't very consistent.)

The arm can raise and lower with the crank, the router can still be fine tuned with the base clamp for exact height adjustment. If it weren't so damn late, I'd have finished the hogging out, but that will have to wait.

Anyway, this is a really cool mod that cost practically nothing (assuming you already have a router and a drill press). Scrap wood, bolts and screws.

 

[alder]

I love this thread and I finally have something to contribute! (if that's cool?)

Currently, I'm in the process of learning how to build basses and guitars from scratch. The teacher is the internet machine!
My latest project is a semi-hollow guitar for my dad and like an idiot, I didn't plan very well for the template on hogging out the body. I was losing grip of the router as it tipped off of the template and it was quite frustrating.
The proper cure for it would be an OVERARM ROUTER... but being a broke-a$$ chump, buying one wasn't an option. So I googled it and saw a design I felt could be easily borrowed.

So here it is, the drill press, masquerading as an OVERARM ROUTER:
View attachment 839148
View attachment 839149
(The removed wood in this picture was from pre-overarm. As you can see, it wasn't very consistent.)

The arm can raise and lower with the crank, the router can still be fine tuned with the base clamp for exact height adjustment. If it weren't so damn late, I'd have finished the hogging out, but that will have to wait.

Anyway, this is a really cool mod that cost practically nothing (assuming you already have a router and a drill press). Scrap wood, bolts and screws.

Nice ! How did you secure the router?

 

[rojo412]

Oh yeah, that might help
I got longer 10-24 screws and ran them through the wood to secure the router base UPSIDE DOWN. It still works as it does rightside up, which is cool. You can slightly fine tune the height and clamp it shut as needed.

So yeah, cut a 3-3/4" hole, match the base mount holes as well, then attach the base to the bottom. Run the router through the top and it's good.

And if you happened to mean "how did I screw the whole assembly to the adjustable part of the press base?", then I just added some bolts through the slots in the adjustable press base.
More pics when I get home from work, if you want.

 

[alder]

I love this thread and I finally have something to contribute! (if that's cool?)

Currently, I'm in the process of learning how to build basses and guitars from scratch. The teacher is the internet machine!
My latest project is a semi-hollow guitar for my dad and like an idiot, I didn't plan very well for the template on hogging out the body. I was losing grip of the router as it tipped off of the template and it was quite frustrating.
The proper cure for it would be an OVERARM ROUTER... but being a broke-a$$ chump, buying one wasn't an option. So I googled it and saw a design I felt could be easily borrowed.

So here it is, the drill press, masquerading as an OVERARM ROUTER:
View attachment 839148
View attachment 839149
(The removed wood in this picture was from pre-overarm. As you can see, it wasn't very consistent.)

The arm can raise and lower with the crank, the router can still be fine tuned with the base clamp for exact height adjustment. If it weren't so damn late, I'd have finished the hogging out, but that will have to wait.

Anyway, this is a really cool mod that cost practically nothing (assuming you already have a router and a drill press). Scrap wood, bolts and screws.

Yes, I see it now. The whole thing is very clever. I did something similar with a special base, but it won't do a whole body like this. I may have to make myself one of these.