Chris G Crazy Art Teleish Build

[Chris G]

Hey Guys, here is my second attempt on trying to post this forum. I spent an hour yesterday writing this post and when I hit submit the site timed out and lost everything. I know its been a while for me on the site and I try to keep up with everyone's builds, but life is pretty busy some times. With my absence on the site I still here for everyone and donating monthly to the site.

 

Here we go this is my second guitar build. The first one came better than I expected and it is playable. I am going to take everything I learned with the first one and apply it to the second. I am going to make a through-neck teleish guitar with some interesting wood choses. I bet everyone is scratching  their heads wounding what does the Crazy Art mean in the title. A few months I was on bookface and seen a post in one of my groups that a few woodworkers have been creating bowls and vases with colored pencils. Here is a picture

 

 I was looking at their work and thought that was very cool. Then I thought what if you could apply what they did into a guitar? Yes make a guitar out of colored pencils.  I looked all over the interwebs to see if anyone has tried this and it looks like no one has. I may be a bit crazy for trying this, but if it works out I could be the first to do a guitar out of colored pencils. I am not going to make the whole guitar out of the pencils just the top. The top will be 3 layers of pencils. Lets jump into this.

Wood that I am using with the pencils. I will be making a multi laminated  out of Purple Hart, Curly Maple, and Black Walnut. The body will be Purple Hart and Colored Pencil top. The fretboard will be Brazilin Ebony and I will be able to get two fretboards from this one blank and only paid 6.50 for the blank. Here are some pictures of the wood.

 

On to the Pencils, last month when all the back to schools sales, I could get a 12 pack of Crazy Art brand pencils for .45 so I picked up 30 boxes (which was not enough). The videos I seen they woodworkers used hexagon shape pencils so they would have a flat surface for to glue them together. Since the ones I got are round I had to find a way to make each side flat for a glue joint. I came up with little jig that I could hold the pencil so I could plan the sides. I used some 1/8 inch plywood and a screw to keep the pencil from moving. Here it is.

 

After I planned the pencils which did not take too long, I started to glue them together with super glue.

Almost done with the first layer, had to plan some more pencils.

Done with the first layer.

Time to plan it flat.

I epoxy the pencils to fill the gaps.

Time for layer two. This one took about 1/4 of the time to do.

Done.

I used the greats Luthiers' trick to hold the pencils down for planning. Bye Bye double sided tape!

So Satisfying!!

Sanding the epoxy down to fill any gaps that I did not get the first time.

More epoxy.

 

What does everyone think? I think it will work, they are easy to work with and are stronger then you think once they are all glued together and epoxied.

Chees guys Its good to be back on the site and working on a new build!!

[Aakoo]

Nice idea

Reminds me a bit of these http://www.prismaguitars.com/

[KnightroExpress]

Looks like it'll be really interesting when it's all done!

[ScottR]

Fascinating project Chris. I'll be watching this one with interest. 

With a bit of care, I think this will work. Sanding through to the waxy leads will probably give you new challenges to solve. 

Forge on!

SR

[Stratman1966]

Should sound good playing some Lead Zeppelin tunes

[Chris G]

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

Fascinating project Chris. I'll be watching this one with interest. 

With a bit of care, I think this will work. Sanding through to the waxy leads will probably give you new challenges to solve. 

Forge on!

SR

Thanks Guys!! ScottR I am hopping that all the super glue I have been letting soak in the wood will help stiffen up the leads.

[Chris G]

Hey Guys still bee working on the build. I dont have much progress to report. I have gotten all the pencil layers done and going to glue up the 3rd layer to the other 2. I also been working on my shop and will post some pics once I am done. I also been working on my plans.

What do you all think?

[KnightroExpress]

Cool shape! Reminds me of the Jane model from Relish Guitars. 

[ScottR]

I like it too, but I think I'd go a couple of inches higher on the bass side, using the same curve.

SR

[Chris G]

9 hours ago, KnightroExpress said:

Cool shape! Reminds me of the Jane model from Relish Guitars. 

Thanks and yes I imported a Relish Guitar image in inkscape. I really like the shape and used the Tele plan to incorporate both shapes. This is the draft and still need to add the carves and headstock.

 

9 hours ago, ScottR said:

I like it too, but I think I'd go a couple of inches higher on the bass side, using the same curve.

SR

Thanks SR, are you saying to take the top left and raise it up a few more frets?

[ScottR]

4 hours ago, Chris G said:

Thanks SR, are you saying to take the top left and raise it up a few more frets?

Yes, I think if you create a little more variance in height between the upper bout and the top of the horn on the treble side it might be a little more visually exciting. You could raise the top left or raise it a little and lower the cutaway and horn on the treble side. Try it on paper and see what it does for you. If you're not feeling it, then keep what you've got here, which is still pretty dang cool.

SR 

[Prostheta]

Hi Chris! I'm checking in late since I've been all over the place and sick for weeks. Sorry I missed this happening.

[Chris G]

On 10/3/2016 at 0:51 PM, Prostheta said:

Hi Chris! I'm checking in late since I've been all over the place and sick for weeks. Sorry I missed this happening.

No problem Prostheta! This will be a slow build since my wife is in school, but she gave me the her blessing to continue building guitars.

 

I have been working on the plans in Inkscape. I have learned a lot about that program but I think I am finished working on the plans and will finish on paper. I could continue in inkscape, but with still learning it I will not get it perfect and would waste a lot of time.  I will print them out on the plotter at work today. Here it is.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Chris G

[Chris G]

Like is said in a post, I was working on my shop. I am almost done. I got some  green shelving for the great price of free from a friend. When I was starting to organize everything my wife said why dont you put all the big tools in the middle so it gives you more room. Which was surprising. I am still not done but its really looking like a proper shop and really has came a long way.

I still have more to do, but I thought I would share and also will start on the templates this weekend.

[Chris G]

Lets Make some sawdust!!!

Cutting the Maple

Brazilian Ebony for the fretboard.

Purple Hart

Testing it out. Center is Black walnut, next flame maple, followed with the purple hart, and maple again. I am going to have to go to a friends shop to have it all planned.

That is all I have gotten done today. Hope I can get everything planned this coming week and glued next weekend.

Cheers!!

[Chris G]

Hey guys Its been a long time since I posted on this forum. I have been working on this build off and on for the past 2 years and have not made much progress. Been busy with life, work , family, getting my first Harley, My wife finishing 2 Masters degrees, and so on. The past 2 years been working on a new hotel and that just opened.

Here is the site.

https://www.blackberrymountain.com/

My work has exploded in the beer world pick some up. Here is the brewery site.

https://blackberryfarmbrewery.com/

Back to the build! I have had my ups and downs with this and not going through all the bad and good, but glad I can move on and continue the build. Here are some pics and not in order sorry.

 

 

 

 

[ScottR]

Cool sites Chris.

That's going to be a sweet neck.

Good to hear from you again.

SR

[mistermikev]

yes some interesting stuff there.

that bloody neck is awesome (that's bloodwood right?  or purple heart?  can't tell from here...) looks like this will be an interesting build to check in on.

[Chris G]

Thanks it is purple heart. The body and fretboard will also be purple hart. The top will be colored pencils. I have the blank ready and here it is. 

[Chris G]

Also what is the best way to cut the neck break angle on a neck through? 

[mistermikev]

8 minutes ago, Chris G said:

Thanks it is purple heart. The body and fretboard will also be purple hart. The top will be colored pencils. I have the blank ready and here it is. 

purple heart... well that's not bloody at all.  Still cool looking tho.  interesting top direction.  rock on.

[meatloaf]

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 11:32 PM, Chris G said:

 The top will be colored pencils.

I'm liking this a lot, am I right in thinking that's pencils and resin, can't wait to see that finished 

[ADFinlayson]

On 4/8/2019 at 11:36 PM, Chris G said:

Also what is the best way to cut the neck break angle on a neck through? 

Determine what that angle needs to be on paper, transfer that to the your neck section, then cut on the band saw from the end of where the fretboard (will) end onwards. If you're putting a cap/top on the guitar, you will need to include the thickness of the cap + the distance you want the fretboard to be off the body in the amount of material you remove, you want to cut the parallel angle on the bottom too. Then use a plane to tidy up the surface. It can be easier to tidy up the surface once the winges are glued on so that you can plane the whole lot flush.

I found this really daunting when I was getting started on the V but once I did it, I thought Oh that that was actually really easy!

[Prostheta]

I'll add my own take on this from two standpoints; marking out and cutting.

I mark out angles using a simpler and more reliable method; trigonometry. If you know the position of the neck to body break and the length from that point to the rear of the blank, you can calculate how far "down" the back of the blank a specific angle will emerge. Mostly this is ATO, or adjacent * tan(angle) = opposite. Marking out between those two points is far more precise than trying to do it from an acute angle.

My method of cutting things like this come from one of three options, with some overlap depending on mood and tool availability. I don't like the work of cleaning up the non-flat wandering edge that a bandsaw leaves, however for most that is the most available tool. It can be planed by hand afterwards, but it becomes a bit of a chore tuning it into a flat plane that corresponds to the desired angle, with scrubbing here and there. Not my thing.

Another one I like is to use a jointer. I've described this previously, and it's a bit dangerous if you're using a small jointer or don't have the experience to do it safely. If that's the case, leave it be. This method is to increase the cut depth to half the total drop of the acute angle. You joint into the waste halfway, which is the most dangerous part....withdrawing or lifting the workpiece can be tricky. The blank is then reversed and the cut depth reduced slightly; the blank rides tipped upwards on the two edges left, creating a plane parallel to the cut line. For example, if the distance from the blank surface to the point where the angle drops at the back is 8mm and the point where the neck meets the body to the rear of the blank is 500mm, set the jointer for exactly 4mm of cut (yes, it's a lot hence large sharp jointers only please!) and plane into the blank till the cutter just meets the blank surface at 250mm. Reduce the cut slightly (say 3,5mm) and run the blank the other direction (remember that this is into the grain, so again, sharp jointers and safety need to apply at all points) riding on those two edges to create a flat plane. The cut still needs to be large so that the cutter starts to take material from the blank, and that point end up on the outfeed table before the leading edge is removed. Only acute angles work here.

The second method is the table saw, the most common large sliding compound cabinet saws only have a maximum cut of 100mm or 4", so wider neck through tenons won't work here. The blank needs to be perfectly squared up. I mount the blank on it's side on the table saw's compound with the headstock end against the compound fence, and a stop used as an incremental adjustment reference to fine tune the cut. The fingerboard plane faces the blade and the blank is angled in so that the cut introduces itself from the neck break through to the rear of the neck/body. That means the waste falling the "other" side of the blade. A t-track on the compound or some other clamping is essential to hold the blank square and securely. The compound stop helps with this also. Two clamps are always better than one, but one very secure and stable clamp normally suffices. If the saw doesn't have scribed marks to help with alignment, take measurements between the blank and the compound to get a rough idea, tap the blank around and take many cuts up to your desired point. With care this can be left finished off the tool.

Lastly, just plane the material off. It's the most work and requires the most technique I think. Removing as much waste as possible first always helps, especially with establishing a rough starting plane.

I'd say that your best tools will be the initial marking out and your eye during any process.

[Prostheta]