essexdave Posted May 14, 2005 Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 I like the 3x3 design - but then I'm biased because it's the same as the one on my current project! (Almost) My Guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted May 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 I like the 3x3 design - but then I'm biased because it's the same as the one on my current project! (Almost) My Guitar ← wow! that is close isn't it.. i might have to tweak mine some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexdave Posted May 14, 2005 Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 It's alright - I won't sue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted May 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 It's alright - I won't sue! ← whew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Sorry Devon, I had you mixed up with someone else. I get kinda scatter brained sometimes. My bad . Peace, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted June 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 bump.. (more like resurrect this from the dead.. 4 pages down ) OK.. Update time FINALLY!! The tele is coming along. I put in some recesses for the knobs, and am not through sanding out the lines to smooth out the bottoms. My buddy has his drill press set up with a mortising attachment and until he's done with that, i can't get to the press to finish up post holes and other stuff.. Here's a shot of the body as is. Carving si finished (it's dusty still) and I have a little bit more finish sanding to do around the top horn but here it is: Also, I still have to turn the knobs. The knobs will be dome knobs made on the lathe with limba bodies and ziricote caps, from offcuts of the fingerboard. Now.. at long last, the neck! I foobarred the scarf joint the first time i cut it so I recut the scarf, lost about 1/4 inch of wood (not too bad) and redid the joint. Very happy with it now. Set the joint, routed the TR channel and test fit, then I bandsawed the profile to a rough point (i'll take off the last 1/16 or so with a straight edge and a flush trim bit) Body And Neck I realized i didn't take a shot of the neck without the FB laying on it. In the picture above you can see the back though. Obviously the back is unprofiled so I can have a flat surface to work with until I am to that point. Speaking of the fretboard, this one turned out beautiful. It's the Ziricote I picked up from Rich (wood for sale thread) along with the limba the body and neck are made out of. Stunning. This was a quick run through the grits - i'll sand some more but it's got a nice reflective shine. Here is a closeup: Close up of Ziricote Fretboard I made a little jig like in Hyscocks book that I stuck the fb blank to after I tapered it on the table saw, leaving about 1/8 inch on either side overhand. The jig is really just a board a hair wider than the fb blank that acts as a straight edge. Took a while to sand the radius into it (i'll be exploring some router based radiusing options real freakin soon!!!) but once I was done I just left it on the jig and used the edge fo the mounting board as a straight edge for my marking square. I have the slotting template from stewmac - as I bought it with the mitre box. The mitre box was junk and I sent it back but the template is actually nice as the notch is just the right size for a mechanical pencil. So I scribed the board up in about a minute, then with the marking square and my backsaw (stewmac with depth guard) I slotted. Ziricote cuts really easy and slotting only took about 5-10 mins. Really pretty easy and I cnecked the slots to the template afterward and they were all spot on (whew) The peghead. I made this up as I went ad i think it may be similar to some others I have seen around here but that's not by my intention, so if i've copped anyones peghead, I apologize.. Here is a closeup though. It's roughed in but I still have to refine the curves a bit. Peghead Closeup If it looks kinda skinny, well it is a little skinny.. 3 inches wide at widest point but i like them kinda narrow. However, remember my FB is about 1/8 wide on each side so that throws it off too. That's all I could do this week. Next week I hope to finish the neck as I have 2 more bodies to get gluled up and cut out. One more shot of the carve I really like how the lower bout turned out. It's a very comfortable, organic tele to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Looking pretty good but I noticed a couple've things. First off, like you said, next time you might want to scale up the headstock a little bit. It looks like you still need to carve a bit of a recess so that you can adjust the truss rod without banging into the sides of the channel. Everyone likes different kinds of carves, but I think that you should make the carve go all the way up to the bridge. It's more of a gradual graceful curve than what you've done and it also gives some variety all the way around the body. All in all it's one of the few projects I've ever been really excited to see updates about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted June 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Looking pretty good but I noticed a couple've things. First off, like you said, next time you might want to scale up the headstock a little bit. It looks like you still need to carve a bit of a recess so that you can adjust the truss rod without banging into the sides of the channel. Everyone likes different kinds of carves, but I think that you should make the carve go all the way up to the bridge. It's more of a gradual graceful curve than what you've done and it also gives some variety all the way around the body. All in all it's one of the few projects I've ever been really excited to see updates about! ← Well thanks.. that's quite a compliment Of course several of us are using the same wood! When you gonna get a digital camera? I'm anxious to see how yours turns out.. I just chisled a hair off the edges of the TR slot opening so the nut would fit. I do still have some cleaning to do. The headstock I like so far, but this is an experiment. Once it's done i'll know if i'll do it like that again. Next time i'll glue a couple of wings on if i want it wider. The carve.. for a tele, this is comfortable to me. It's supposed to be a flat top guitar and if you don't have a defined boundry, you kind of lose the definition of the top. But that's just me. My next one will have a more rounded, LP type lower bout and I intend to take that all the way up, in a nice dome.. to the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_the_damned Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 that's some really good work there. I'm not a huge fan of tele's but this is lovely! I bet that crave must have taken an age to do! the fingerboard looks amazing!! and the headstock is a nice individuat touch that nicely echo's the body shape :)lovely work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Dude, did you even know your body is quartersawn? It will sound great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 Nice work Marcus! It was worth the wait. I am really lookin forward to finding out how those custom knobs will look. The work looks clean mister. I can't remember if you had planned on any binding? The carve looks great, just the right amount to set off the top. Headstock seems a bit small, but I like the shape. Drak- Of course he knew it was figured. He rejected the first six bodys I sent because they did not meet his expectations. I think he painted the figure though. Marcus is one demanding fellow and a perfectionist, he calls me names too. Peace, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted June 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 You guys are killin me. yeah i didn't realize it till I got it but it is a nice piece of wood. Hell, everything Rich has sent me has been superb.. I just hope I do it justice I had thought about binding originally but i kinda did like a PRS and deep carved the lower horn so I don't have a plane to bind anymore. I'll probably just leave this sans binding and try that on my next one, which will be a flat top. Thanks Robert - I wanted to do something different than just a stock tele. Hopefully it'll all come out a-ok. My allparts box came today.. 3 guitars worth of hardware in there!! have to get to sorting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted December 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 ok.. 6 years later - i'm gonna finish this project!! haha.. seriously, i have moved twice, changed jobs 3 times, stuff just happens. Got the neck's back profile halfway carved tonight and made a new fingerboard blank. I used the one for this on a maple neck for another project. Still zircote - but a different piece. I will do a few things to make the project a bit easier - no hand turned knobs, etc.. gonna keep that stuff a little more simple. Anxious to get this finished though. I doubt anyone in this original thread is still even on here - but if nothing else, i might get some new feedback from some new folks. cheers, marcus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 ok.. 6 years later - i'm gonna finish this project!! haha.. seriously, i have moved twice, changed jobs 3 times, stuff just happens. Got the neck's back profile halfway carved tonight and made a new fingerboard blank. I used the one for this on a maple neck for another project. Still zircote - but a different piece. I will do a few things to make the project a bit easier - no hand turned knobs, etc.. gonna keep that stuff a little more simple. Anxious to get this finished though. I doubt anyone in this original thread is still even on here - but if nothing else, i might get some new feedback from some new folks. cheers, marcus ... and I thought I had some stuff on the back burner..... Looks good so far. What color you gonna do it up in ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 OK.. i'm embarrassed to say that the one thing that has held me up on this whole process has been getting around to the finish. Seems when i have the time the weather is awful.. and when the weather is nice I don't have the time haha. Anyway - the weather is kind of mild these days and i'm gonna get this thing done. I tried out this new grain filler I had heard about and wondered if anyone had used it before. It's called TimberMate and I picked it up from woodcraft. Interesting stuff. It's wood filler putty, however you can thin it with some water and use it as a grain filler. Apparently you can remove it with water, reconstitute it if it dries out.. thaw it if it freezes, etc.. You can tint it with any kind of dye you want... I was intrigued. It can also take stain afterwards and pretty much anything you want to put on top of it is ok. The literature says that the laquer top coat catalyzes it and it doesn't shrink, separate, etc.. Here is the product... Here is the slurry brushed onto the back of another body that is done and waiting a finish. The alder just had a couple of scrapes and a few areas the grain needed to be filled. This will be my test. If all goes well - I plan on dying a batch really dark black and filling the korina body with it. When I sand it off, the black will be left in the grain accentuating it. I had planned on doing a dark burst on this thing anyway, fading the edges to black to really highlight the carve. So yeah - if anyone has used this stuff i'd love to hear what your experiences have been. I'll sand this thing off in the morning and see how workable the stuff is and report back. if all goes well, i'll clean up the binding and get out the cans of deft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 I use timbermate, i find i need to do a few passes to fill the grain with a flat flexible painters spatula. You can definately tint it though which is handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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