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SG project - The T.N.T


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This is my sample board for the finish. Several applications of a custom-mixed Tikkurila alcohol-borne stain (75% DC22 and 25% 720R I think) with French polishing over the top. The wood was sanded to 320 grit and given a single black Brummer grain fill. A few more applications of filler would get rid of the pores entirely instead of highlighting them, and we're undecided on whether to go for smooth or slightly textured. Both are nice. The chatoyance and bloom in daylight are astonishing as you'd expect from French polishing.

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I haven't, however I know a lot of people who have. It isn't a million miles away from Timbermate (which I bought this in place of) or even watered-down wood filler. I experimented with Osmo's wood filler, watered down to a thin cream consistency, and found that it isn't any different to a dedicated pore filler. Just expensive, but simple and convenient. Reading the MSDS of various dedicated products (esp. Timbermate) and alternatives shows that many ingredients are common, so you can infer broad similarity.

Oil-based might be the one I'd try as being less likely to shrink back if I wanted that, unless they too have a high solvent ratio. These evaporate and reduce the mass causing shrinkage. With high solids comes higher surface tension which makes it difficult to work into pores. Several rounds of pore filling is the best way to go in my book. I've never been one to fight against what the wood wants to do, so glassy mirror finishes are not something I've ever aimed for. I love "living" wood finishes that patinate and age gracefully.

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I'd go with textured rather than smooth... I feel on open pored woods the light just reflects better off of shellac when not ultra smooth.

The test piece you did for example is ultra sexy! B-) I take back what I said about colour filling in my build thread.

Mike.

Edit: Lovely bit of Greene And Greene there...

Edited by Mike.Mara
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7 hours ago, Mike.Mara said:

I'd go with textured rather than smooth... I feel on open pored woods the light just reflects better off of shellac when not ultra smooth.

The test piece you did for example is ultra sexy! B-) I take back what I said about colour filling in my build thread.

Mike.

Edit: Lovely bit of Greene And Greene there...

Thanks Mike! I'd like the red to be a little darker or deeper, however I think it's a winner.

Greene & Greene are a huge inspiration in my furniture making. It doesn't carry over much into guitars really other than problem solving and jig making I guess.

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A Greene and Greene inspired guitar would be a difficult thing to design I would imagine.

Their furniture has always inspired me to be better at woodworking, I'd love to build a replica piece one day.

I think it looks stunning as it is but more red isn't going to hurt. Either way with grain patterning like that it's going to be beautiful! The chatoyance of shellac mixed with any mahogany/mahogany like species is always going to be a winner.

Mike.

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To be fair, credit should go to the Hall brothers for their millwork and detailing. The Greenes simply designed and oversaw rather than being the wood butchers. ;) I've done a fair number of replica pieces, albeit mostly in Birch.

Thorsen House dining room china cabinet:

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....and I learnt a lot from them. :thumb:

I've been working on the guitar (was there a guitar in this thread....?) this evening, altering the neck angle from what it was originally dialled in at for a Les Paul down to a more sane 1,5° for an SG. That places the bridge reasonably low down, but not too much.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Slowly getting through the remainder of pre-season one legacy builds....

So, onto thicknessing the Ebony headstock plate!

 

Simple piece of MDF with two equally-thick plywood rails screwed on.

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The plate sites neatly in between....

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....the router with the wide perspex sled self-limits at either side (so the rails are "safe"):

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What's a hot snot not? (hot melt glue added)

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Plate pressed into place.

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Reasonably shallow cut.

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Too reasonable, it would seem.

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A hair more....

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Prise it up (carefully) off the hot snot with a palette knife and apply double sided tape to the freshly-milled side:

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Set it in place again....

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"....and viola!" 

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Final size of the headplate is 1,65mm - the "2-3mm" was the size as the plate arrived....

In total, the headstock (13,3mm) and headplate total a blonde one under 15mm. With the Vintage Kluson keystones, that leaves the ferrule lip bang under the part of the post where the wraps lay:

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My objective tomorrow is to bandsaw the waste and cut a precise 14,5° angle at the leading edge of the headplate where the nut sits.

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Notes to add; the double-sided tape requires a dust-free surface to adhere well. The MDF was vac'ed and hot snot residue scraped away. Also, keep the rails free of debris. With this not being a captured cut for the router, extraction is poor so dust is an issue to keep on top of. It's best to adjust your router to the lowest speed possible that will produce a good cut. That way it's producing chips instead of dust. Far easier (and safer) to manage at cleanup.

Ebony is ridiculously fragile at these thicknesses, so don't use chisels or other narrow blunt items to prise it up off the hot snot or DST. A palette knife or similar is a must.

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I've stopped using double sided tape for re-thicknessing veneers... I couldn't get uniform thickness because the router pushing the veneer in all directions... Instead, the superglue+tape trick works  much better and gives much more accuracy.

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Really? I found the opposite myself. Certainly, if the surfaces aren't clean (dust is always a problem) then the DST can have problems sticking. I don't use it for roughly-sawn faces, hence the hot snot for the first pass. Once it's got one flat face, DST works perfectly.

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Totally opposite indeed, as I still use DST for the roughly-sawn faces and superglue for the second pass. :) 

Well, the thing is that I can't find here DST thin enough, the one I use is like 0.5mm thick... so the veneer gets 0.5mm separated from the surface, plus the stupid elasticity it has, makes the veneer moving up and down, even left to right while passing the router. The movement is minimal, but I could check myself just pushing with the fingers. Superglue+tape keeps the veneer completely fixed to the surface, which gives me a much more consistent thickness.

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Ah, that would explain things. So it's not the 3M pressure-sensitive DST that StewMac and G&W sell? That stuff is superlatively awesome. In fact, it's easy to use too much and find that you're unable to prise the parts off whatever you've stuck them to....a typical acrylic template on a body blank needs about 4-6 small squares 20mm x 20mm and it isn't going anywhere. If you're getting anything from G&W in the foreseeable future, grab a roll. It'll probably last you your entire life!

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This thread. UGH. 

I've got a guitar refinished that needs put together, I've got an 8-string coco-necked multi-scale uber build that I've got no time or reason for, the red special trisonic pickup build that I'm actually gearing up for, and no space for any new guitars.
 

BUT, I've also got this mothballed korina neck through with carbon bars already epoxied in it, truss channel cut, and angles done. Two custom wound P90s and between this thread and watching Phil X vids on YouTube, all I can think about is an insane plain korina SG.

Thanks for that. :D

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On 2017-6-20 at 4:01 PM, Prostheta said:

Ebony is ridiculously fragile at these thicknesses, so don't use chisels or other narrow blunt items to prise it up off the hot snot or DST. A palette knife or similar is a must.

Quick tip from the guys over at Stan Winston... Isopropyl will pretty much make hot glue pop right of off almost anything. :thumb:

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Neck shaping. Define the back contour at the heel and volute, rasp in the transitions to the headstock and heel, spokeshave "join the dots", then refining with a random orbital sander (the DEROS rocks this). Still plenty to go. Aiming to hit a taper of 22mm to 25mm for a relatively "slim side of vintage" feel. Not too rubbery, but not so thick that Nina can't play it comfortably.

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