ES335 Update and other junk (boring text update)

Well it's been a while, almost a year. I graduated college with a BS in Electrical Engineering, and currently have an awesome job lined up. Being out of college and home, I have been thinking of plans for future projects. Once I start working and have some income flowing, I plan to kick start a few projects (along with paying off loans, o' course).

The Bauer 335:
Well the guitar looks great, except for the lacquer spots I've mentioned. I haven't gotten to fixing that for a big reason. Since adding the hardware and stringing the guitar, I've noticed my action was a little high. The bridge is lowered as far as it can go, so I've just had to deal with what I got. I'm not alright with this, however. I've contemplated lowering the bridge by machining it slightly, but that would become a problem as the stopbar would also need to be lowered to prevent loss of pressure to the bridge saddles. My only sure-to-succeed solution would be......

A neck reset. 

This is rather insane with this particular guitar, due to the number of contact points of the mahogany neck with the rest of the body. I'd need to modify 5-7 different surfaces of the neck/body to get it to sit right. I'm only looking for possible maximum of 1/16" of wood removal/addition to achieve the proper angle. I've seen the process done online on different guitars and I have all the tools, so my only fear is just passing the initial hump of temporarily destroying my pride and joy.

Once repaired, I should be able to set the bridge to the proper height to allow adjustment to below perfect action. More importantly, the increased bridge height will increase the angle of the strings from the stopbar, reducing buzzing I've been hearing at the bridge. I will do any lacquer touch ups needed around the neck joint and the rest of the guitar, and respray the entire thing. I will let the new lacquer cure for a much longer period of time, so after buffing the finish won't get hazy like it did.

The high action has been haunting me and is the only thing that is preventing the guitar from being comfortably playable (besides the fact I don't have a functioning amp). Plenty of research will need to be done.

Another 335:
Well I have all the tools, jigs, molds, and material. Why not?
If I were to build another, I'd make a couple modifications:
1) Change the outline shape of the guitar. The blueprints are crap in representing the original. The body's 'ears' are too pointy and the cutouts need to be more rounded. The joint of the neck to the body should be smooth, without a 'discontinuous derivative'. Meaning it should be flush. This only affects the outer jig I made. Easy fix.
2) Reconstruct the contour mold. Changes would include more defined contours around the 'ears' and a smoother belly on the main body. Nothing ridiculously different. I may just get some Bondo and better contour my existing mold.
3) Practice better building techniques. This includes: Using the proper binding width on the body, drill holes perpendicular when they need to be (bridge pins are crooked), use glue other than Titebond III, spray lacquer thicker and let dry longer...

Accordion Bellows:
On my diatonic accordion I built a while ago, I used too thick a material for the bellows. This caused problems with finding the proper parts, so the project has been on hold since almost 2009. I plan to rebuild the bellows with thinner material and dress the instrument up nice.

Sitar:
I found a couple plans for a sitar online, which are detailed enough  to give me a possible direction to head with a project. It would certainly be interesting. First step is to obtain a giant gourd.....


I will keep updating here as long as I have time to do so. I have slight plans to start my own website, but that's further down the line. I will let the 1-2 people following this know if I plan to move elsewhere.

I did college.

Thanks everyone.
-A Bizzle.