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SHB-2 - Tele build


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Worked on cleaning up the new fretboard a little tonight.  I think the color matches the koa nicely, interesting grain, and definitely simpler than the highly figured piece.

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I'm not sure what to call this, but it's the one flaw I'm finding in the board.  Have you all had this before in a fretboard? Did you do anything about it?  I thought about filling with CA and letting it all get sanded down when I'm radiusing, but I'm not sure....  

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Fretting template comes in the next day or two, so I'll have to spend some time making a sled, and then I get to slot it. 

Also, here's how the vinegar and salt mixture patina'd the copper material used for the pickguard.  I'm waiting to do the pickguard though cause I think once I rout the cavity and mount the bridge I may need to do some trim work on it.

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Edited by hittitewarrior
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12 hours ago, hittitewarrior said:

'm not sure what to call this, but it's the one flaw I'm finding in the board.  Have you all had this before in a fretboard? Did you do anything about it?  I thought about filling with CA and letting it all get sanded down when I'm radiusing, but I'm not sure...

That's not really a flaw. It's just the pores in a fairly large pored wood running parallel to the surface of your board. You can fill them or not as you choose. I probably would not, but I've never use such a large pored wood as a fretboard...

SR

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  • 2 weeks later...

Table saw is now fixed!  Replaced the bearings, blew out all the sawdust (old craftsman so not a TEFC motor...), and some other light maintenance.  Runs much better now. I still need to install a new blade, and figure I should check and make sure everything is plumb/aligned etc.   

I did start working on a sled for cutting the frets, as well as using a laminate trim bit to trim up the top on the guitar.  I had some problems when gluing the top on, and it left me with some gaps... I think the only way to truly hide it is to rout a binding channel and put a binding on... which I don't really want to do.  I guess my only other option is fill it.  At the moment, I'm feeling like trying something like Japanese "kintsugi"... embrace the mistake, put some copper dust or precious stone in (malachite?), and just let it be part of the learnings and story.  Feels like the cheap way out, but I'm not really ready to take on binding yet..

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Progress!

ZCI:

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Sled & First fretboard!

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I did run into one snag... I accidentally ran one fret through twice, and part of the slot is now too wide.  Is this something I can fix with superglue when fretting?  Looks like 1/4 of the fret will seat in the wood snugly, but the rest has a little play in it.  Thoughts?

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And I made one more for good measure...

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Haven't decided which I'll use yet.. and yes, the top one will have 23 frets... A silly mistake, but it was the first.

One last question... For those of you doing inlay, do you inlay before radiusing or after?  Ideally I'd think after, but I'd imagine the radius means having an unstable base when using the router?...

 

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On 4/20/2017 at 11:05 PM, hittitewarrior said:

I did run into one snag... I accidentally ran one fret through twice, and part of the slot is now too wide.  Is this something I can fix with superglue when fretting?  Looks like 1/4 of the fret will seat in the wood snugly, but the rest has a little play in it.  Thoughts?

I would try filling with veneer and re-cutting first. If that all comes bask out when you re-slot it, then go with CA or epoxy might even be better and clamp it down white the glue cures.

On 4/21/2017 at 3:28 AM, Muzz said:

What's wrong with 23 frets?

I've got three guitars with 23 frets...

SR

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 24/04/2017 at 11:30 PM, ScottR said:

I would try filling with veneer and re-cutting first. If that all comes bask out when you re-slot it, then go with CA or epoxy might even be better and clamp it down white the glue cures.

I've got three guitars with 23 frets...

SR

Between us we have five, I love guitars with 23 frets, I don't know why, they just look cool :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Moving very slowly towards physically working on the guitar again... Been working on building the shop up mostly.  Procured a new bandsaw, and new to me jointer and drill press (the local tool auction this spring was great...).

Most recently, been working on making the fixture to create radiused sanding blocks so I can work on the fingerboards... Hopefully I'll get to radiusing this weekend... a high aspiration, but we'll see.

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Looking forward to seeing this guitar come together, but that radiused sanding block jig is what really jump-started me this morning.  I love seeing the creative solutions that other builders come up with and this is one that I can't wait to copy!

-- se

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Thanks!  I gotta admit, I've been amazed at how good Pinterest (of all places) is for jig inspiration.  Seen a lot of useful ideas there.  I'll be sure to post pics of the blocks.  We'll see how long it takes to make them, but I'm hoping to do a full set (9.5, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20), and then just dismantle the jig once that's done.  Big Red sells them in a couple different lengths... Do you guys have a length you find most useful?  I was planning on 8" or so.

Here's the youtube link of the one that inspired the design:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP1HgLmZhDw

 

His design is a little more robust, but I was looking for simple & easy.  

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8" or maybe 10" sounds about right.  I have 24", 12" and 10" straight sanding beams, and find that I'm always grabbing the short one for fretboards.  Even that one (the 10") feels a little long when I am working on ukes, but I like it for guitars.

-- se

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  • 2 weeks later...

It wasn't as simple as I thought it would be (rarely is...).  I've had a bear of a time removing flex from the framework.  It kept giving me varying depths in the cuts, sometimes very severe.   I added some additional supports, changed the thickness of the cross member, and (not shown below) added a support directly behind the raidusing board as low as I could (prevents deflection as you push into the router bit).  

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I wasn't able to get rid of all of the deflection, and am having to deal with some spots with .005" varying depth...  Visibly noticeable, and I can feel it, but I'm thinking when I'm sanding, it won't affect anything.  Below is the worst of it. Thoughts?IMG_4517.thumb.JPG.b6745471b91abc78cf0fe1d30542a385.JPG

I did go back and set the bit to the deepest spot, and reworked the board.  It looks better, but I can tell there are some issues... At this point, I will probably just try it, and see how it goes.  The 12" radius board came out much better.

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I ended up going with about 16" in length.

Time to purchase some double sided tape so I can get to sanding.

 

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Low spots aren't that much of a problem in comparison to high ones for a sanding beam. The paper won't conform perfectly to the low areas so in general your beam will be functional. The most important point is straightness by length. The rest averages itself out.

If the wood isn't perfectly stable, your 10" will be more likely to move according to relative humidity than your 12". At least, the 12" will squish or expand the radius very marginally whilst the 10" will distort it. In reality, this is very unlikely to be of consequence if the wood is already good and dry.

Excellent work, and I love the madcap setup!

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Could the radius beam you're routing be wobbling in the cradle, rather than the jig moving?

Presumably you're feeding the beam through the cradle with the router clamped at a particular rotation, then swinging the router a smidge and repeating the process. If the blank piece of timber you're feeding through to create the radius beam doesn't have a flat back, or it goes in with a slight upwards angle you'd probably get a similar effect.

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Just now, Prostheta said:

I've always thought that it might be possible to laminate a thin sheet of 2-3mm laser-grade Birch plywood into a roughly-radiused beam using epoxy....

Now that is an interesting thought......  I have some really thin veneer... I might have to try this...

 

9 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Low spots aren't that much of a problem in comparison to high ones for a sanding beam. The paper won't conform perfectly to the low areas so in general your beam will be functional. The most important point is straightness by length. The rest averages itself out.

If the wood isn't perfectly stable, your 10" will be more likely to move according to relative humidity than your 12". At least, the 12" will squish or expand the radius very marginally whilst the 10" will distort it. In reality, this is very unlikely to be of consequence if the wood is already good and dry.

Excellent work, and I love the madcap setup!

Thanks :)... it is definitely a bit madcap isnt' it lol.

 

7 hours ago, curtisa said:

Could the radius beam you're routing be wobbling in the cradle, rather than the jig moving?

Presumably you're feeding the beam through the cradle with the router clamped at a particular rotation, then swinging the router a smidge and repeating the process. If the blank piece of timber you're feeding through to create the radius beam doesn't have a flat back, or it goes in with a slight upwards angle you'd probably get a similar effect.

It has a flat back cause I sent it down the jointer first.  I was really scratching my head at first, but when I started trying to move things by hand, I found a couple notable axis of rotation/slop.  The guides on either side did not go down the jointer though (that would be one of the future upgrades if I did it again)... They bind when the board is 3/4 of the way through and I have to push hard with a push stick... I suppose it is possible that the board climbs a little bit, but I doubt it.

Thanks all for the comments!

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Are your planer blades in line with the outfeed table when they're top dead centre? If you don't have a precision straightedge, a steel ruler can be used to check this. Unplug the machine, put your straightedge along the outfeed table and manually turn the cutter head. If the blades lift the straightedge, then they're set too high, or the outfeed too low. Check along the blade at the outer edges and centre. Then you need to check that the infeed is parallel with the outfeed. :thumb:

Problem is, a lot of smaller jointers have less than adequate adjustment so I hope you're able to tune it up. I don't like the sound of you having to force stock across it because at the low end of fear there's snipe and the upper end is....injury....scary things can happen if you're having to put more effort in than should be necessary.

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