2.5itims 2016 builds

[2.5itim]

I got my new jig in today from Andrew (knightro guitars) and I have to say this has probably been my favorite investment yet in the guitar building world. It use to take me about an hour to get my scarf joints glue ready and I was able to get this thing done in about 20  minutes tonight, it was super easy to use and just made my life so much easier. 

So thanks Andrew!

[2.5itim]

[2.5itim]

I started spraying shellac on the prs body again, this is the third time I've stripped it now. I am going to spray 4-5 coats of shellac this time with sanding between each coat. I'm 2 coats in now and it's looking much better than the last 2 times. 

While I was waiting  on shellac to dry I did a little hand carving on the body heel of the thinline tele, I just thought it needed a little something there to go along with the purpleheart/maple heel carve. 

[2.5itim]

I have finally gotten the paint the way that I want it on the prs body. I had just about lost all hope but it finally ended up working out. 

I have had to reseal and reprint it 3 times now. I grain filled which I probably didn't even need to do because of the shellac, then I sprayed 4 coats of shellac with sanding in between each coat to get it nice and smooth and then was able to spray my black coat. I kept getting fish eyes in the black, I think the cold has a part to play in that, I was spraying light coats and I just couldn't get rid of them so I steadily made my coat thicker with each spray and it ended up getting rid of them all and it's pretty much perfect now. 

[Tekkelenburg]

That top is going to pop when you sand and pollish it. Very nice!

[2.5itim]

Thank ya tekkelenburg! I think it'll look really good once finished, im gonna get the edges scraped tonight and hopefully get the 50 degree weather this Saturday and I'll hopefully be able to start the nitro. These 20-30 degree days are killing me!

[2.5itim]

My quilted top came in last night, I was so happy and couldn't wait to get it jointed and glued up. I left it sitting on my kitchen countertop so I would remember to take it to work to joint it in the morning. Went to grab it this morning and both pieces bowed like crazy.

i messaged the guy I got it from and he said it needs to acclimate to my weather/humidity so stake it and put something heavy on it for a few days and it should flatten out. FINGERS CROSSED!

[Andyjr1515]

The figured mahogany for my recent EB-3ish bass build was just the same...if anything worse.

 It had been sitting in my dry but cool shed for some time and was pretty flat.  I brought it in to start working on it and the following day it was like yours.  I popped a plywood board over it as a caul and clamped it completely flat for a couple of days, and reflattened after each process (squaring up joints, gluing the two halves etc,) until it was ready to glue on

[ScottR]

That has happened to every set of quilted maple I've ever had too.

SR

[2.5itim]

It's really frustrating because I like to get things and be able to work them right then lol. I think now that they are getting use to the 70 degrees at my work I'm going to go ahead and joint them, keep my heater on in the truck when transporting them home and then do everything inside my house until I can get them glued up to the body. Hopefully the less change In temp the less movement I will have. 

[2.5itim]

Also, one of my old motorcycle riding buddies contacted me last week and told me his family owns a hardwoods company in California and I told him I had been wanting to find a buckeye burl top. He asked me last night for my address and his mom is sending me a bookmatched top of buckeye burl and my first order is free, so score! I'm excited to see what they ship. 

He also said they have a ton of figured English walnut, I'm pretty sure that will have to be on the next order. 

Edited December 11, 2016 by 2.5itim

[2.5itim]

I got the top flat again and jointed/glued it yesterday. Today I got the top glued to the body, half way routed the body shape out and will finish that tomorrow. 

I also got the neck taper and headstock cut on the neck  I somehow got my maple strip off center which is driving me crazy and I really don't like how wide the maple strip is. I'm going to see how it looks after carving and if it's really noticeable I think I will make up a new neck and save this one for a guitar that will get painted  

 

[ScottR]

That's going to be a FINE top.

I kind of agree with you on the neck lams. but you're right, it may not be that big of a deal once it's carved. YOu're just going to have to test it and see.

SR

[2.5itim]

Yeah Scott, I'm very happy with the top! 

As for the neck I'm really hoping it looks decent after carving, I'm gonna start on it tonight but if anything it can always be painted for another guitar so I guess I won't call it a total loss. 

[2.5itim]

I got the neck carved up to the 16th fret, I don't want to go any farther until I get it into a body to figure out what I want to do at the heel. But after carving it doesn't look near as off center so I think I am going to press on with using this for the quilt top guitar. I remember now why I made the maple laminate so wide, I was thinking at the time there was a lot more flame in it that there is so I wanted to keep it wide, now looking at it carved I can see there's barely any in it now, idk where it all went but it disappeared. Oh well it'll be fine the way it is. 

Also another weird note, the headstock blank and maple neck laminate came out of the same batch of maple, I don't know why there is so much difference in color but hopefully they will even out a bit after a finish is put on them. 

[ScottR]

The centering issues are invisible now. Your flame will show up again with some finish sanding and oil or clear.

SR

[2.5itim]

Yeah I'm hoping it'll come back after a finish. 

Im still not sure how I'm feeling about the really wide maple laminate, I came up with this really crazy idea last night to inlay something in the back of the neck on the maple to break it up a bit. but I have no idea what I would put there and not sure if I should do it because really it just sounds crazy lol. The finish on the quilted maple will be a natural center with a purple burst and the bridge I will be using I will have powder coated purple so if I do do the inlay it will be something with Purple Heart. 

[2.5itim]

Quilted maple/sapele update:

yesterday I got the heel block planed to thickness and glued to the neck, today I cut the heel block, routed out the neck cavity, sanded the neck to fit and routed out the pickup cavities. 

I had a bit of a slip up, I was planning on direct mounting the pickups but as I was trying to cut the neck for the pickup area I slipped and cut a little bit out of the top so I had to widen my pickup cavities and will now have to use pickup rings, oh well at least the mess up is gone.

This weekend I'm hoping I can get the body carved, headstock thicknessed, heel carved, fretboard radiused and tuner holes drilled, fretted and neck glued up. We will see how far I can get. 

[2.5itim]

Quilted maple/sapele guitar update: 

today I got the top carved as far as I'm gonna go with it, chamfered the bass side of the body and chamfered the insides of the horns. Cut the control cavity and drilled the holes for the controls.  Carved the belly carve which i forgot to take a pic of. Mounted the bridge also which i forgot to take a pic of.  finished carving the neck and did a little test of the neck joint.

after I get the neck glued in I'm gonna do a little carving on the back of the body I think to transition the body to neck area, we will see!

 

[2.5itim]

It is freaking cold here today and we just got our first snow of the year last night so my little shop heater just can't keep up. I think I've gotten about all done today that I'm going to, now I'm gonna go inside and get my feet by the fire. 

So, quilted maple/sapele update:

i got the headstock thicknessed to .580, drilled my tuner holes, carved my volute. 

[2.5itim]

Walnut/flamed maple update:

i got the direct mount pickup cavities cut, I didn't screw them up this time thank god! Got the bridge mounting holes drilled and mounted the bridge, and I also spoke a while ago about how I didn't leave enough wood after the 24th fret slot so the e strings wouldn't have been able to have fretwire there, I went ahead and rounded over the end of the fretboard and will now have a 23 fret guitar. I'm hoping after I get the fretboard radiused and to the right thickness it won't be so drastic and not stick out as much. 

[2.5itim]

Spalted hackberry/walnut/ambrosia maple update: 

i have FINALLY gotten around to setting up and wiring this guy. Now just need to get the string block powder coated black and cavity covers lacquered and it will be all done! This dude plays like a dream!!

[2.5itim]

Not really an update on guitars but it is a new amp day!! 

I just figured I'd share since I'm sure there's so hear heads in here too.  My prs archon 25 came in today, I played one a few weeks ago and just had to have one. None of the store near me had the special edition plum colors that I wanted so I had to order. 

This is hands down one of the best amps I've ever owned, it's just so versatile. 

Its really damn nice to be able to play my guitar I built on a nice amp for a change. 

[2.5itim]

I wasn't planning on making a post about this until I got farther along but what the hey! 

I was contacted a few weeks ago but a guy named Chris Mansfield, he's the singer/guitarist for the band called fences, I've been a fan of his for a really long time and this is going to be a real accomplishment for me if every thing goes as planned. 

Turns out my really good friend grew up with Chris and showed him my work and Chris said he had to get in contact with me. 

So anyways pretty much the only thing he said he wants and the rest is up to me is a sg style guitar, Pelham blue with a Bigsby. So with going off that what I plan on is. 

Sg body type, sapele body and neck, roasted Birdseye maple fretboard, arrow inlay, neck through construction, recessed gotoh roller bridge, recessed bigsby b50, paf pickups I'm going to have a friend custom make for me, and the rest I will make up as I go. 

So far all I've got done is the body/neck planks cut to length, thicknessed to 1.375 and will joint them on Tuesday. This is my first neck thru so  trying to plan out as much as I can ahead of time, before gluing the wings on I think I will go ahead and scarf joint the headstock. 

 

[2.5itim]

Walnut/zebrawood/maple update: 

i wasn't planning on working out in the shop till after New Years but it was one of the only nice days we've had in a while, so I opened up the shop and got to enjoy a little sunlight. 

Anyways, on this one I thicknessed the back of the body to get rid of some tear out on the zebrawood, this stuff is sure a joy to look at but such a pain to work, I thicknessed the body down to 1.312". 

I made up a control cavity design, made a template, routed the cavity and got the control holes drilled. 

I got the input jack holes drilled. 

I also drilled the string thru holes and routed out the string block cavity. 

Only thing left on the body is to drill the strap button holes and thread them and also install the tapped ferrules for the pickups, I still need to order them so can't do that yet. After I get those couple things done it will be ready for sanding and some odies oil.