Dave White wrote:Craig,
Would it possible to make the strap-pin that covers the adjusting nut to be all wood rather than wood and brass? No's 2 & 3 done all tyger myrtle or tyger myrtle knob with ebony shaft and back washer would look stunning imho. Fabulous invention and craftsmanship as always!!
Dave , I have had similar thoughts . Too many colour /elements in there may tend to make them look a little 'busy' .
The problem is the thinner part of the shaft and the rear bearing surface have an important job which only metal can handle . I suppose I could coat the metal parts black to match the ebony knob , but I don't like that idea at all ( reckon the coating would come off over time and look disastrous )
The all brass one ( No.4 ) alleviates a busy look , but loses the "cool factor" of the matching Tiger or Ebony knob. ,,,,My dilemma
Jeff, I've already had a go at installing a flat rear plate into a hole drilled into the heel with a fostner bit . I have a Fostner bit of the exact size as some 5/8 " brass rod I was going to use. Unfortunatley ,there must be some runout with the bit as there ended up with a very very slight gap between the dowel and heel . Not much , that's for sure , but enough to annoy me . I tryed a little moisture in the hole to swell the wood which helped , but I'm still not at all that happy with the result . Next step would be to bring down the diameter of the Fostner bit itself , which I have already done to a 1/2 " bit I have. I think I may continue to find a way to make it work , as a flat surface on the rear of the back plate makes a perfect 90 degree to the screwhole easier to achieve. This , an important consideration with bearing surfaces . There is another problem of sanding and applying finish to the heel with a hole in it. ( The hole would have to be made prior to heel shaping for a neat hole .) I thought of temporarily plugging that hole with some wood dowel of the same size whilst sanding and finishing to avoid taking " shoulders' off the holes surface edges and also not causing disruption when applying the finish. Still work in progress !
Many thanks to you folk for the very thoughtful opinions shared thus far . Grant brings up an interesting point : If I later added a strap button , to a No .5 type heel , it would look crap.Way too much happening , so I guess I've got to decide now if I want a strap pin or not ( a good part of the reason for this thread )
Some guitars don't seem to need or warrant them .I'm thinking finger style guitars , no pin ,,,, Stage guitars with pin . I have no pin on my Mahogany fingerstyle guitar , but because of this Tiger guitar's woodwork and inherit unavoidable bling it might just end up doing a stage gig requiring one . ?? I must admit to not really liking strap pins. They're in the way ,and interupt the flow of the heel. most seem to not 'belong' ,which is something I'm trying to overcome here
As to which type wood ( Ebony or Tiger ) to use on the knob , I take your points ,,,, It will depend on the other appointments . I have some wonderful Tiger bindings , headplate material and other pieces I've purchased from Tim over a period of time . So many beautiful pieces. I'm tempted to use Tiger all over ,including even the tuner buttons, bridge,Rosette , endgraft and purfling , with a thin black purfling ( maybe ornate ! ) to seperate . This may end up a little over the top considering it has a Tiger neck as well , but might be just what " sends it "
Taffy ,,, You've got to make the time !!
Cheers to you all , and once again thank you so much for your carefully considered replies thus far . I can't express how much I appreciate it . Interesting that the many prefer the no strap pin approach so far.
Onya guys !
Craig
