Dranoel

Sometimes I do what I want to do. Sometimes I do what I have to do. If you want to see the truth you will need contrast, not adherence to a single idea. The truth is in the contrast. You may know a thing and it is not true. But in understanding, there can be ONLY truth. EDIT: And the one that started me down a great path: The truth, that which is happening right now, cannot be written down or spoken. Once it is it becomes knowledge and knowledge is not truth because knowledge is fixed in time. Truth is ever moving, ever changing. Once you pause to reflect, it is not truth.

Great looking piece. I like the millwork and especially the 5" dust cover. Looks outstanding.

Looks nice! And the frame is good like that. Don't know another way to have done it except to book match the sides but even that might not look right for a frame.

Indeed.

Most everything I need is already here. Mainly just need the barrel, sights, spring and pin kit and extended slide stop. Other than that minor stuff like firing pin stop. Frame comes with MSH, Grip safety, Ambi thumb safety, trigger and mag release

First, get a piece of fairly firm foam rubber about 3" thick and larger than the guitar body, 2 pieces of 3/4"plywood, again larger than the body and 4 cement blocks. Steam the wood until it's very soft. Lightly coat both contact surfaces with glue, and while the veneer is still warm, position it and press it on as much as possible. Put 2 tacks through it into the body where the pick-up routs will be to keep it from shifting and cover it all with a sheet of parchment paper. Lay the foam on top, both sheets of plywood on top of that and and the 4 cement blocks. That's enough weight spread evenly through the foam to press the veneer tight to the contours. And as long as the veneer is still wet and warm it will stretch and conform pretty well.

Thanks, guys. To give you a little background on these three, they were my first three attempts at carving an archtop. I had been wanting to do one for a long time and since I have sorta leaned more towards Jazz and Blues over the last 15 yrs I wanted to build a ES335 for myself. So to get some practice I chopped up a pine 2x8 and glued them up as body blanks. 1st one was a total disaster. 2nd was rethunked and came out pretty good except for some chisel marks too deep to scrape or sand out. But it was good enough to give me confidence to go for the real thing. So I got some maple and marked it all off and carved the Les Paul. (I called it Lisa Pearl as I never felt comfortable telling people how Les Paul felt in my hands. ) The top turned out fairly nice but again had a few unrecoverable toolmarks, So I got a sheet of 1/16" Spalt maple veneer, smoothed the toolmarks with wood putty and laminated the veneer on top. Finished it all up and it was pure sweetness. Not only was it the first LP I ever built but the first I ever owned. Though that didn't last long. 3 mo later I was offered $1100 for it. SOLD! The other two are considered "Languedoc" style bodies but I was not aware of Languedoc when I started. I was just looking for something different than a 335 and got the idea to do a Fender Starcaster with pointy horns. A friend came over as I was gluing the top on the first one and said, "Oh! You did a Languedoc." I had no clue what he was talking about. He explained and I later looked it up. Not an original idea apparently. Anyway, as most experimental projects go the first one (the black one) ran into all sorts of issues during the build, including the top developing a long crack after the drill bit bound up drilling the hole for the 3-way switch. It was on the firewood pile several times but this voice kept calling to me to fix it and finish it. It turned out to be the best sounding one of the bunch, So I named her "Gretschen, the redheaded stepchild" and it may be one I never part with. The second try at it turned out a lot better except for the water based lacquer that refused to fully harden. But I was happy with all of them. And I have a plan to do a couple more Langs with a twist. I figured out a way to make a table and rail rig to use my router as a mill and I want to make one that is not just a straight through neck but the neck and body, sans maple cap, are all one single piece of wood top to bottom.

Just ordered my new frame and slide from Caspian. Seems they are back logged 8-10 weeks. Was really hoping to get everything together in the next couple weeks, but it'll have to wait. Good thing I found out before I ordered all the other parts. No sense having $800 worth of parts and nothing to put them in. But if you are considering a new build based on Caspian components, plan ahead and get the order in before you need it.

I took up playing guitar at 10 after a hand injury in order to get my dexterity and strength back. Started on a cheap acoustic and then bought an electric from a pawn shop a year later. Now like most of my hobbies, I can't do something just a little bit, For me it's always all or nothing. So, it didn't take long before I was reading books and experimenting with modifications, electronics at first but it pretty quickly progressed to building replacement bodies and then necks and then the entire guitar from scratch. But the hand injury is coming back to haunt me 40 yrs later and my left hand just doesn't want to do what it's supposed to anymore, so I don't play as much as I used to. But I still build one or two a year. Here's a few of my latest builds:

Two words.... Velcro.

Got it in my left middle finger. it has it's bad days but most of the time it's barely noticeable. It has prevented me from playing guitar at times but for the most part not bad enough to keep me from functioning. I may get surgery if it gets worse but right now it seems to be getting better.

INTJ Introvert 33% Intuitive 62% Thinking 25% Judging 22%

The closer your sight line is to the bore of the barrel the better. Keep in mind that the front sight has to match the rear. If you have a taller front sight, then the rear sight will have to be the same height, regardless how low profile it is, to get the proper sight alignment. So if you are going for a new rear sight, get a front that matches it.

I have used the Ed Brown jig for years and it does a fine job. Comes with very easy to understand instructions, as I recall. (Haven't seen the instructions that came with mine for 15 years)

I'm betting as lot of .45acp Bowling pin loads would be close to 200 if not over.

Just found Briley's website and they have a 10mm barrel with a cone bushing and 4 chamber comp. They also have the same barrel in 40S&W and 357 Sig. I think I just solved my dilemma.

I understand the capacity issue. But this is primarily going to be a Pin gun that I can use for steel and an occasional USPSA/IPSC match. I am building it on a Caspian wide frame so I'll at least have 12 round reloads. If I end up shooting more steel or "jump and run" I'll build a second gun, which I'm already considering. The 45 I think will be the better compromise for me as I really don't trust 9mm/.38 for bowling pins. My original idea was to build a 10mm and swap in a 40S&W for everything else. But I just can't find a compensated barrel for 10mm.

Pretty much anything you get these days is going to be fairly reliable. I have been using Caspian stuff for a long time and it has always been good to me. But it might be hard to find someone offering a complete pistol. But it's not hard to build a good one yourself with a little planning.

Soooo.... I should just get one of each casing, put my hat on the floor, toss all the casings up in the air and whichever one lands in the hat wins? Is anyone using .45 ACP with any success? Understand, I have no delusions about being world champion or anywhere near that level. But if I can be relatively competitive locally (top 10-15) I'll be pretty happy.

A roman walks into a bar and orders a Martinus. The bartender say, "You mean a Martini?" The roman says, "If I wanted a double, I'd have asked for it." A roman walks into a bar, holds up two fingers and says, "Five beers, please."

Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton and the Pope walk into a bar. The bartender says, "What is this? Some kind of a joke?"

Or Enema at the Gates?

"I would never call you stupid. It's quite obvious to anyone who knows you that you have an intellect and wit that surely rivals the worlds FINEST garden tools." "His slinky's kinked." "Boy is surfin' in Nebraska." "And you said PIGS were smart." (Me to co-worker after the new guy did something really dumb)

I'm assuming a ramped barrel is still required for .38 super major? And for 9mm as well?

@ Parallax: Not so much that I WANTED to run one of those, more just wondering if they were still around or if anyone even remembered them. That and knowing what is popular right now helps me down the road when I can build a second gun just for Open class. Right now I'm kinda stuck with making one gun work for bowling pins, steel, and jump and run matches. So that means a .45 for pins and I can make it work for the rest for now. I had thought a 10mm barrel might be a better compromise if I got a second barrel springs and mags for .40S&W. But after a lot of searching just wasn't finding a lot of barrel options that appealed to me and I really don't trust a 9mm for pins. A year from now I may get another frame and slide and build a 9 or 38s/sc. But even building them myself it still costs a lot. BTW: I am assuming .38sc is just a stronger case for .38 super?