SearchVoat ago

Bleep bloop, someone mentioned this submission!

'Damned right. It's Friday night and time for the weekly guitar thread! All musicians, not just guitarists, are welcome. We even welcome listeners of all skill levels! Join us! We're a cult!' was posted in v/guitar and includes this reply from @Nadeshda:

This is very interesting and it sounding great is certainly the main thing, you may appreciate this post too for its sheer uniqueness!

https://voat.co/v/Welding/2722029

This notification (#450) was posted automatically by the SearchVoat.co Cross-Link Bot(https://voat.co/v/SearchVoat/2723025). More information here, including how to suppress this notification.

SearchVoat ago

Someone's talking about this!

'You know damned well what time it is. It's Friday night - and time for our weekly guitar thread. All musicians welcome and everyone else is welcome to come listen!' was posted in v/guitar by @TheBuddha and includes this reply from @TheBuddha:

This thread may interest you:

https://voat.co/v/Welding/2722029

This comment was posted automatically by the SearchVoat.co Cross-Link Bot. You can suppress this cross-link notification by appending a query(?) to your Voat permalink.

Rotteuxx ago

What is this sorcery ?

I like this, new function or I'm just late ?

crazy_eyes ago

I remember you talking about this many moons back

TheBuddha ago

Yeah...

I'm probably gonna be shitfaced all day today, again.

And the CSS is fucking horrible. I love it.

TheBuddha ago

I've been banned from better!

thelma ago

Strange looking AR10 ... but looks nice.

Rotteuxx ago

It's actually an M2-G flamethrower

Nadeshda ago

Awesome, @thebuddha sorry to inform you of another hole in your life mate but you could drive a monster truck with a fire breathing guitar case that has your seal of aproval on... just saying ;)

TheBuddha ago

I don't really want a flame thrower - just a fire-breathing monster-truck that takes sweet, sweet jumps.

Nadeshda ago

I think @Rotteuxx could weld something of this nature for you, he is pretty darn talented, just saying :)

TheBuddha ago

I'm probably not allowed to own fire-breathing monster trucks that can take sweet, sweet jumps.

It seems like a bad idea and something they should prohibit me from doing.

Nadeshda ago

They can try prevent you as much as they want but at the end of the day... lol

TheBuddha ago

Yeah, eventually they're gonna find a way to stop you. I bet you could do some pretty good rampaging in one, before the police could finally stop you.

Nadeshda ago

I don’t have to drive a fire breathing monster truck but I am pretty keen to ride a monster truck, at least once... :)

TheBuddha ago

They might let you do that.

That'd be the worst thing ever.

It'd suck to ride in one and not be allowed to drive it. That's horrible.

Rotteuxx ago

It'd be an interesting project to take on for sure !

Maybe @Thebuddha and I could associate professionally, he hatches crazy fucked up ideas and I make them reality.

TheBuddha ago

All of my ideas are sane - it's just a matter of perspective!

Besides, I know I'm sane - I paid for a ton of tests.

Rotteuxx ago

I paid for

That's insane, they're free online !

TheBuddha ago

Oh, these were serious tests. Like two fucking days - at eight hours per day, 4 hours of talking one week, and then a 2 damned hour long appointment to tell me that I'm unable to use insanity as an excuse!

My conclusion is that I can't bribe my way into an insanity diagnosis.

It was a strange period in my life, and I was pretty sure I wasn't sane.

I was wrong!

Nadeshda ago

He is possibly still very hungover today though with his gigging and partying like a 20 year old... lol...

I am pretty excited to speak to him about some music gear I purchased yesterday. I am going to set it up in my office today, lol... bring it on I say...

What can I say Mister Rotteuxx you are a freagin dream maker, lol... a man of all your talents... unstoppable !

PS: preview Voat is up ;)

PPS: Good morning

Rotteuxx ago

I've been waiting on the gas station to open to buy some creme... country life, when you forget to buy something it can make for a shitty morning, lol

Nadeshda ago

Ah man that sucks, you need a wife to bother about stuff like that, just saying :) lol

If only I could somehow digitally transfer some creamer this morning to you but it would possibly taste horrible; mixing up atoms like that, splitting and reconstructing them through the space time continuum travelling at awesomely fast speeds. It may curdle or turn into a resemblance of scrambled eggs, lol it’s too early for this but it’s a nice idea to want to give you creamer though... :D

Rotteuxx ago

Of course I go down for cream and end up having a chat with some locals. Now I have a welding job this afternoon, kek.

Digital creamer huh... would probably be better than that powdered coffee mate.

Nadeshda ago

You are probably right about the creamer, not that I have ever digitally transfered these things.

But see it’s good for you the country life, interacting with your local community over some creamer, getting a welding job in the process. You are on a roll this week, you may as well keep up the momentum. :)

Nadeshda ago

Sweet! Looking good there Mister Rotteuxx !

Rotteuxx ago

Thx N :)

Got the back welded and it was time to go home. To be continued next week

Nadeshda ago

Going deaf at the music store with the kids, phaw... glad to hear you got time to work on the geetar... :)

Rotteuxx ago

You have carte blanche, ma chère

calfag ago

Sorry I stupid. What is it?

calfag ago

Holy shit and rock on! Very cool project!

Rotteuxx ago

Thx

Solstiare ago

He's about to (finally) weld up a stainless steel Guitar.

Rotteuxx ago

Finally indeed :)

TheBuddha ago

It's about goddamned time!

Rotteuxx ago

Well I had to research a new adhesive to use cause the other one went out the window... redid the entire bracing... then I had to make the jig that I've never used before... then I had to go to the shop on a Saturday which is hard to want to do on a weekend :)

TheBuddha ago

I didn't ask for your list of fucking excuses and your CSS sucks balls!

(You should be proud of that CSS.)

(Good afternoon!)

Rotteuxx ago

Oh yeah ?! Well fuck shipping it to you after then :p

@Trigglypuff is my css bitch so direct your appreciation towards her. Maybe she could fuck up /v/guitar afterwards.

TheBuddha ago

I'm not worthy of such a gift.

If you ever wanna make one to order, and after I've heard some more of your work, I'd consider commissioning a piece. But, as a gift - I am unworthy. There are far more deserving people.

Rotteuxx ago

Actually I'd enjoy your feedback on one of them. I'm still developing my fabrication process but I need to find out from a pro what I have to improve before I repeat mistakes over & over.

TheBuddha ago

I might consider that - but you should be very, very well aware that I may say some not-very-nice things.

But, if you want to have one examined professionally - we can do that. I might even have a way to do this with like actual lasers and stuff. That whole science thing!

Rotteuxx ago

I know you will say some very honest things and that's what I want. It's still all very experimental and maybe I'll never get passed it being novelty level guitars, I'm realistic enough to know that.

Welding sheet metal like that & trying to keep the traditional wool bracing elements in place is the biggest challenge and I'll opt to drop that from my next build. Only keeping the wood sound plate underneath the bridge for acoustics and resistance welding metal bracing instead. What happens is the top & back skins want to pop in or out because of the stress created by the welding process and I have yet to find an adhesive with enouth grab on stainless to hold up to it. Even yesterday I had to reglue some of the back braces so I might scap it & try my new desing.

The reason I don't fancy welding the braces is the added finishing work to eliminate the surface distortions afterwards & the possibly unfounded idea that it will adversely affect the acoustic qualities of the guitar body.

As for the necks, I'm still getting used to this fancy & precise wood workin which does not forgive any lapses... so I know they're not A1 yet. I need some woodworking equipment and that not a financial priority right now, still using neck blanks I buy online until then. But I love it, making necks is actually pretty fun and I love playing with the esthetics by buying all sorts of fancy woods. Like this piece of Shedua which will make an awesome fretboard & bridge combo.

TheBuddha ago

...

If they're any good, they're pretty easy to market. 'Snot hard to sell a good guitar. 'Snot hard to sell enough of them to make a living.

If you can make a guitar that passes scrutiny and has quality of build, I can tell you how to market it. 'Snot a problem. Shit, we'll get you a website. How do you feel about doing something like setting up video so that people could observe parts of their specific guitar's construction process?

If you build a good guitar, I can tell you how to sell it.

Do you know the hours they'd take to produce, as an estimate, and an average materials cost? I can probably even tell you how much your guitars are worth - which is not necessarily what you want to sell them at.

You may not like my answers. I don't pull punches. If I truly believe it is true, I will say things like your guitar is not worth the summation of its parts, nor even remotely worth the asking price. I can test a guitar's quality, including measuring the tone.

I can view some musical tones with some really fucking good accuracy. Let's just say I have that covered! When it comes to looking at the spectrum, I've got lots and lots of tools and choices!

So, I'll be checking everything from measured harmonics - how it resonates from the body, an actual amplification amount on such an output - if there's one thing TheBuddha has, it's microphones with high fidelity!

In other words, I'm gonna tear into it pretty fucking hard.

I've got many things to compare it to and will be as objective as I can. I will tell you the absolute truth about the sample and send it back.

I really don't deserve it. I'll buy one, perhaps. But, one you made without cost, a gift, is something I don't deserve. There are far more deserving people and I'm not actually morally compelled to accept gifts.

I'll turn it into an article or three. I'll give as close to accurate assessment as I can. I can't justify keeping it. I also can't keep it if I want to review it on my site. Well, at least I can't keep it - if you're gonna market it. If you're a guitar manufacturer, I don't accept gifts for assessment. You can't even pay for my service. My answers are objective and unbiased.

I have really high standards.

If you think you can meet my standards, or you wish to know areas where you can improve, let me know. I'll be happy to help - but I can't keep the guitar.

I'm trying to be nice by saying that there are people who deserve a gift more than I do. It's also true. If it's any good, I'll probably want one for my collection.

I don't even know what one of you guitars sounds like. Did you ever get some audio files?

Rotteuxx ago

Does this work on your end ?

https://imgtc.com/w/yCuE4BB

Do you know the hours they'd take to produce, as an estimate, and an average materials cost? I can probably even tell you how much your guitars are worth - which is not necessarily what you want to sell them at.

Well as you know material costs can vary greatly depending on the hardware and types of wood used. Besides that, yeah I know my baseline cost. The amount of hours to produce one will go down considerably if I decide to setup properly for it, so I'm not too worried about optimizing that to be profitable.

Fuck I already have a desing for a water cooled aluminum welding jig that would make mass producing "body blanks" a breeze. Manufacturing is my specialty after all, I can optimize a production line Ford would be jealous of.

In other words, I'm gonna tear into it pretty fucking hard.

Exactly what I need to evaluate the worthiness of this project.

Who knows, if by some miracle it gets a passing grade we give it away in a /v/guitar contest or something if the sort. If it fails we get a gun toating goat to destroy it on the firing range.

Alright, I'll try the metal bracing method and get in touch with you when it's done. Might as well evaluate that option first.

TheBuddha ago

No, that link does not work.

I can tell you the files I would prefer, if you want.

Rotteuxx ago

I still have the 12 string build and a 6 string I could record with my phone... once I reset the bridges on them, lol. Another learning experience about pull force & fastener placement.

TheBuddha ago

Alright. Wait and record this one. I want to hear it before you send it.

We can work with whatever equipment you have.

I don't suppose you can get me a high resolution audio recording of this guitar - after it's complete?

In fact, I'll want a series of them.

If you'll trust me - I'm pretty good at telling luthiers exactly what I want. You're not even remotely the first guitar manufacturer that I've spoken to.

You're welcome to my experience, if you think it is beneficial to you.

I know exactly what I need and how to do this. This is not my first custom guitar. I've bought guitars that have a serial number of 1 of 1. I own guitars from some pretty great luthiers.

I will share that with you.

I don't mind - but I will write about it for my site. I will be using this as fodder for articles for my site.

I don't need anything too difficult to get. I have a series of tones that I want you to play - and being able to play guitar (well) is not something I require of you.

However, they're for when the guitar is done. That's where I'd like the journey to begin. Save construction pictures. I'll need rights to publish them.

I will have many, many questions. They will be very specific questions.

I need to know the exact makeup of the materials - including detailed specs on the metallic components such as their percentages of aluminum.

I will do most of the analyzing myself, but I'll probably call in a friend to do the initial assessment and actually pull clean files. He has a real studio. I can interpret those files. I know what those squiggly lines mean! We can even visualize their waveforms! He will also provide a second opinion, with which I can check my own assessment. However, the final assessment is my own - as I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to give one and this sounds pretty much like the best day ever.

Fuck, I suck at being retired. Seriously, I fucking suck at this retirement thing.

But, this sounds like fun. Count me in, if you'll have me. I will do what I can. You don't even have to pay me. You can't pay me, to be quite frank. I will not be financially obligated to you. I will not cede you that authority. There's literally no amount of money you can pay me. I won't even accept payment for sharing the experiences with you to learn from. That's a conflict of interest and requires shit like contracts. Fuck that. I'm not obligating myself to anything of the sort.

LOL

I'm also kinda drunk. I reserve the right to rethink this sober. I also want to make sure we're on the exact same page.

Rotteuxx ago

Sounds good to me !

TheBuddha ago

I think we're on the same page.

I'm not formally agreeing to anything yet. I don't like to do that while still drinking. I hope you understand my hesitancy.

I'm offering to give you a significant quantity of my time.

It sounds like it'd be pretty much the best day ever.

And, to be 100% clear, I want your guitars to meet my standards - with flying colors.

That's what I want.

I don't want to say your guitar sucks.

If it does, I will.

You can either use that to improve, or you can use it as an excuse to ask someone else. If it sucks, stop doing shit that makes it suck.

You may be interested, in the interim, in reading about a fella known as "Paul Reed Smith."

He is just an example, but he's an excellent example. His process of making a guitar is to assume that a guitar is subtractive. You put an energy of 10 in, and the materials and methods of the guitar take some of that energy away. No guitar is perfect and gives you back an energy of 10. The goal is to get as close to 10 back as you can. To be subtractive as little as possible.

It's a good philosophy.

Do you have a picture of your bracing structure?

Rotteuxx ago

I'm not formally agreeing to anything yet. I don't like to do that while still drinking.

If it sucks, stop doing shit that makes it suck.

Editing

TheBuddha ago

I tell it like it is!

Rotteuxx ago

I hit submit too fast, edited

TheBuddha ago

When your current build is done, I want you to do a very simple test for me.

Place a match over the sound hole and gently tab the top. Hold it perpendicular to the hole, so that I can get at least a rough estimation of the volume of air being moved and the resonant factors of the top.

Are you particularly attached to any style of bracing, or are you open to suggestions?

Rotteuxx ago

Way open to suggestions !

TheBuddha ago

Do you have CAD files and how much control do you have over final top thickness?

I'd like to know the consistency of the material across the entire surface - the exact(ish) thickness.

I also want to know how much fidelity you have to control that thickness? Is it possible to make portions thinner than other portions - with relative consistency. With how much precision can you realistically control that?

Like I said, I'm going to have a lot of questions. They all serve a purpose.

Rotteuxx ago

I only have 2D cads for the top & bottom skins that got water jetted. No complete model or anything, I'm not too cad literate.

The cutouts i have right now are 22ga stainless 304, 0.0312 on charts but it can vary by .0005" from one batch to the other.

Varying the thickness is possible but I don't have the required industrial machinery to do so reliably... unless I'd invest in press forming molds & subcontract it which is costly. Hammering it would be an entirely artisanal process which would be extremely time consuming. (How awesome would it be to have a hand forged guitar though!)

I'm guessing this is going the way of the violin too plate ? Thicker around the bridge & thinner on the edges ?

TheBuddha ago

I can't answer your last question without some additional research and knowing more about the physical natures of the materials involved. I can give you a qualified opinion, but that will take time.

I ask now, because I know it will require me to do some research. This isn't stuff I can pull off the top of my head - but I have ample source material and reference material. I can give you an informed opinion and we can scientifically measure the results. We can be as objective as is possible.

What you haven't yet asked is why. Why would I really do this? I have all sorts of things that make every day the best day ever.

The reason is that I know enough about the subject to have been impressed with the fit and finish on your completed work. You obviously spend a great deal of time to ensure they look good - and that may translate into sounding good and having good performance characteristics. We can give those an objective score. We can get that data.

So, it's because the looks were there and those looks are indicative of an attention to detail and craftsmanship.

That's enough to pique my interest.

Rotteuxx ago

Awww thanks for flattering my ego :)

I had a phase which included doing some research before even attempting the first build hence the violin question.

This site helped a lot at first :

https://www.liutaiomottola.com

I appreciate you even considering this. I always jokingly called this my retirement project which gives me enough time not to rush things... but i still have to take leaps forward once in a while

TheBuddha ago

Hells yeah. How could I not wanna do this?

I'm probably more passionate about it than you are. ;-) You're obviously passionate.

Rotteuxx ago

Yeah, I have a lot of shiny tools so I easily get distracted by them. The passion helps keep me focused.

TheBuddha ago

Indeed. I can tell.

I understand enough about metal fabrication to see the quality in the workmanship and the attention to fit and finish.

Ol' Buddha has been around.

Rotteuxx ago

Ol' Buddha has been around.

Dad ?

TheBuddha ago

Possibly. Did your mother live in an Igloo in 1967?

Rotteuxx ago

Probably a VW bus for a while

TheBuddha ago

There are some odds.