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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2015 4:24:33 GMT -5
Hello, I have been doing some tests lately on : - making dowels using 2 methods - best woods for dowels I don't know if those will apply to any guitar I have, but I did them just for the sake of completeness and training. It all started when I saw my tech doing this to one neck heel hole of my UV70p, in which he used Indian Rosewood plug 8mm which he cut himself. The threads felt so good, tight, almost like screwing into metal (ok... not really but close) . So I thought of doing the same to the rest 3 holes, which probably never do, I will hand it to the same tech to do the job, but it got me into dowels, woods, etc. I tried 2 methods for the dowels : 1) www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Set-of-4pcs-6-16MM-Titanium-Plug-Cutter-Hole-Wood-Drills-Power-Tools-Kit-/371486260628?hash=item567e4e7d94:g:LAAAAOSwl9BWJgDX2) A variation of and 4 woods : 1) Indian Rosewood 2) Beech 3) common kitchen cutting-board softwood 4) common Greek pine Greek pine was apparently the wrong piece, not dried and subsequently very soft, not usable in my case. Cutting board's wood was also soft, and used this to install the plugs in. Beech is a lot like maple, very nice and friendly to work with, and also adequately hard. But hey, the neck has already maple, so we need to go to the next level. Enter Indian Rosewood! This wood is a hell to work with hand tools, like hand-saw. It smells bad, especially under stress or burning, but is hard a a rock. Method 2 gave me more freedom in options, but I got my share of failed rosewood pieces. Method 1 almost always resulted in plugs slightly smaller than the intended diameter. Used for re-drilling/tapping, Rosewood is so much harder than beech (or maple) (about 2 times), so for a 3mm interal dia, 5mm external dia wood screw, I'll drill the holes with a 3mm bit for beech but with a 3.5mm bit for rosewood. I also used three different glues to secure the plugs into their test "host" wood. 2 CYA's and 1 PVA. Again PVA behaved like always, reliably, whereas 1 CYA (UHU) failed me. So, Indian rosewood is smelly and hard to work but is so hard that it makes IMHO the ideal wood to accept neck screws.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2015 4:28:07 GMT -5
Taking it to the extreme, maybe using *even harder wood* could replace metal inserts, in a wood-friendly manner ? I am thinking of smth like inserts which could equally glue very well to the rest of surrounding wood.
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 17, 2015 23:11:16 GMT -5
Quick tip on gluing rosewood: Wipe it with acetone just before you glue it. That will reduce the natural oils in the rosewood and allow a stronger glue bond.
Both methods in your links are good. Back in the day we'd chuck a piece of wood in a drill press and do something very similar with a chisel.
As far as the wood part of it... Not all different species that make up maple are the same hardness. Same with rosewood, ebony, birch...you name it. Certain birch wood is harder than maple. Certain rosewoods are softer.
Either way, stay away from poplar, alder, basswood and any type of pine or spruce. They just aren't hard enough to make the work involved in the repair worth your time.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 0:05:06 GMT -5
Thanx Cyn, about the acetone tip, you mean with use with the PVA right?
Yesterday I played with drilling and screwing/unscrewing screws into already plugged beech/rosewood respectively. Drilling into the beech went very well. Drilling into rosewood resulted in a small piece of rosewood on the bottom of the dowel breaking and falling off. After drilling with 3.2mm drill bit, and after making the threads, the rosewood threads held much better the screws. Beech seemed like the stock maple of the Ibanez.
You are right about different species of maple/ebony/rosewood/etc... I have a radius sanding block made from maple that is hard as rock. I would like to explore some local greek woods (although no-one uses them or produces them anymore), I know for sure one local beech and a very rare local maple from my home region and around is very hard.
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 18, 2015 1:48:44 GMT -5
Thanx Cyn, about the acetone tip, you mean with use with the PVA right? Yeah. My preference being TiteBond II. Or III if you live underwater... When drilling very hard woods you really need to watch the grain. They hate any tooling and will dull everything in a fraction of the time of the tools life expectancy. Purpleheart is very hard to work with, because it's as hard as Hell. Work slow, make incremental steps up...and did I say work slow? And that's why your guitar tech used it. It works great, but normally too expensive for most shops to use it. I would be willing to bet that somewhere in Greece...probably in your city...someone is tearing down a building with hardwood timbers over 100 years old. I don't know what the preference is for wood beams over there, but I can bet dollars to donuts that if you find it, it'll be the best dowel stock you'd ever want to have. Find a cabinet maker. If possible, one who has been at it for 30 years. Buy them their favorite beverage(s) and you will get an education on local woods well worth the investment...and their cab ride home if they're anything like the cabinet makers I used to know... Happy Trails Cynical One
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 3:11:49 GMT -5
Thanx for the info Cyn1!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 5:17:38 GMT -5
I have seen people from Crete using Olive wood for local musical string instruments, which has a fantastic color and touch and is naturally .... oily I have seen a guitar built from Olive wood but it was for decoration purposes only. It is very stiff, and heavy (it is one the few woods that cannot float on the water but sink). + plus because it produces a useful product/food their use is limited + it is expensive + it hard to dry and process.
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