Steel Guitar Builder

Some more pics

Last 3 pics

Dave, I would be proud to play that one, Really looks beautiful. Hope you can get out a sound clip sometime of that guitar. Rick D.

Thanks for compliment. I think it sounds pretty good myself, but then again I wear hearing aids in both ears I have never recorded a steel before but am going to attempt to get it done. May take it to someone who can play and record for a true assessment.

That is looking good Dave, congratulations.

Ron Mc

Dave, eye candy and I bet ear candy too!
Maybe I missed it, but how did you do the fret board? Painted it on? silk screen? Very neat and beautifully done!

Thanks Bent for the kind words, just wish I could make my projects look half as good as yours The fret board I made by taking Holly strips and inlaying them for the frets and boarder, the position markers I sort of took the short cut approach as a test and used the stick on aged MOP markers and lacquered over them. I figured if I don't like the look I will use them for a stencil down the road to cut out for a real inlay of a different material, however they look pretty amazing and when the light catches them they look real. Something a little off subject, you know anything about or ever hear anything about a JET JMD-18 Milling/Drilling Machine with a 9 1/2 by 32 1/4 table with 20 1/2 in. longitudinal travel. Was wondering if this would be capable of handling endplates and such?

Dave

I know I'll get some blow back from this, but unless you can get it for $500 or so, run don't walk away from any "milling-drilling" machine...they're capabilities are very limited and they are much more a glorified drill press than they are a true milling machine. The full retail price on the model you're asking about is way too much to spend on something so limited. I don't know where you're located, but here in Nor Cal (where used machine tools are not usually as cheap as they are in the midwest or east) can find decent true knee mills for less. I just saw a good Taiwan made Enco knee mill yesterday for $1000. FYI...Taiwan machine tools tend to be better than Chinese.

Mill drills are tempting due to their price and size, but if you get one, be sure to never use a real mill because you'll kick yourself! Small knee mills are also out there, but tend to command higher prices due to their rarity.

Last thing is...take what I say with a grain of salt, I'm a total gear queer when it comes to my tools. I've made my living with such tools all my adult life and while I'm very budget oriented and seek the best deals I can get, I've long since given up trying to get by with more hobby oriented machines like mill drills. As much as I loathe mill drills, I seen many very nicely made parts come off of them....it comes down to the patience and talent of the user. Most of the people I've known that owned or used them, hated them. Everyone I've known who owned or used one longed for a real knee mill and replaced their mill drill with one as quickly as possible.

Hope I'm not bursting bubbles too badly....for you folks that may have and like them, I admire your patience....flame on!

Ross, I appreciate the input and what you say makes a lot of sense. I am in the Kansas City area and have seen used mills on Craigslist going for around 2k which is about what the Jet sells for, and the used units sometimes have a lot of tooling included. Only problem I've seen is that the units usually are HUGE and like you said the smaller units are hard to find. Probably better off to be patient and keep my eyes and ears open for that one good deal and get a machine that is made to do what I need, mill.

Thanks again to you and everyone else's comments, that is what makes this forum such a great place for people like myself who are just starting out building.

Dave

Looks really nice.