beltjones Posted March 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2018 4 hours ago, Prostheta said: It must have been that afternoon you left the wood sit in the wrong place. I've had blanks do that to me when I prep them at work or at the local community college, then put them on the back seat of the car on a wet day or midwinter. Once in the home shop, they go back to normal. Yep, that was it. Thanks for not letting me spend another day trying to flatten something that was going to flatten itself eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 11, 2018 Report Share Posted March 11, 2018 I don't think that it's worth rushing anything when building instruments. The wood I have prepared for the YouTube builds has been sat for several months and you can feel a clear difference in what that time has allowed the wood to do. It feels light and airy. Dry and not "slightly cool to the touch" like wood that has just been bought or milled from rough has. Everything in the shop here will be hovering around 6-7% EMC which is absolutely ideal. I feel bad if I take anything outdoors for more than a few minutes going from shop to shop....! Glad that the top decided to do what it needed to and that it didn't put you in a panic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 I'm getting close to gluing the top on, which feels like another one of those big "milestone" steps where it looks more like a guitar, but of course I keep making little mistakes here and there.The switch cavity was supposed to be 1 5/8", but I did the math wrong when choosing the router bit and template guide and of course I didn't do a test on a piece of MDF, and it turned out to be 1 3/4". The cavity being on the lower horn there doesn't leave much buffer for the cavity cover. It's going to take some thought on how to do a cavity cover.The other thing I'm trying to decide is how heavy I want this thing to be. Adding up all the components, right now it's almost exactly 12 lbs, which is kind of heavy. Now, I still have to carve the neck and the top, carve a belly contour on the back, and route out the pickup cavities. I think all of that might cut off a pound or so (for reference: routing the control cavities took off exactly half a pound). An 11lb guitar is pretty heavy. My quick googling tells me a Telecaster is about 7.5lbs, and a strat is about 8lbs. A Les Paul these days seems to be about 10lbs, and back in the 80s, before weight relief, they came in at about 12-13lbs, and were considered ridiculously heavy. I could get lucky and the neck/top/back carves could take off more than a pound, and I could try to drill a bunch of weight relief holes with a forstener bit before I add the top. I'd hate to do that, though. I think the thing I might do is a full back carve, in addition to the belly cut. That might take off another half a pound. Ultimately this is a neck-through guitar which is a heavy construction technique, with heavy woods, particularly Wenge and Paduak. I think I may have to chalk this one up to experience and just live with it if it's an 11lb guitar. Here's the cavities routed. And the access channels. Question for the brain trust: If I'm using shielded wire, there is no benefit to shielding the access channels before I glue the top, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 You'll lose a little more weight when you add the body carves and pickup routes. Your control cavity is actually pretty petite and you could afford to expand it a bit more towards the lower edge of the body if you're looking to shed as much as possible without/before resorting to dedicated weight-relief chambers. A bigger control cavity will also help when you're trying to get a bunch of fingers and a soldering iron into the guitar to finalise the wiring. 3 hours ago, beltjones said: Question for the brain trust: If I'm using shielded wire, there is no benefit to shielding the access channels before I glue the top, right? Correct. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 6 hours ago, curtisa said: Your control cavity is actually pretty petite and you could afford to expand it a bit more towards the lower edge of the body if you're looking to shed as much as possible without/before resorting to dedicated weight-relief chambers. A bigger control cavity will also help when you're trying to get a bunch of fingers and a soldering iron into the guitar to finalise the wiring. I make my control cavities large for exactly these two reasons. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Thanks dudes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 So I glued up the top this morning, and had a big internal debate about how long to leave it in the clamps. The temperature is supposed to dip about 20 degrees f tonight, and with the guitar in the clamps in the garage I was afraid of weird movement in the wood. So after about 10 hours in the clamps I de-clamped it and brought it inside. Interestingly, when I put the top on the body today it fit like a glove, with the top basically laying flat on the body with no gaps or anything. By the time I took the clamps off, the joint in the center of the to had failed a tiny amount, near the fretboard side. I used my finger to push some titebond into the crack and brought the whole thing inside. At its widest it's about the same as the pores of the wenge, so it's not that noticeable. Plus, the worst part is where the neck pickup will go, so it will get routed away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Pushing in Titebond won't do anything other than clog up the pores. It'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 10 hours ago, beltjones said: The temperature is supposed to dip about 20 degrees f tonight, Holy crap. You must be up in the panhandle. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 17 minutes ago, ScottR said: Holy crap. You must be up in the panhandle. SR Haha. Nope, I'm in Houston. It was 65ish and dipped to 48ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 3 minutes ago, beltjones said: Haha. Nope, I'm in Houston. It was 65ish and dipped to 48ish. Me too. I misread your comment. I thought you said it dipped down to 20 degrees. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Aaaaaaaand this happened. The rest of that screw is about 1/2" deep in the wood. What a fun new problem to solve! Anyone have any tips? My first idea is to google "remove broken screw." My other idea is to use a forstner bit to remove wood as close to the broken screw as possible (I'll need to do that anyway in order to route pickup cavities), and then try to get at it with a pair of vice grips. Or, as my dad's friend once told him, regarding removing an old dishwasher, "What I would do is, I would do whatever it took to get that thing out, and then fix whatever I broke." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 I did that recently myself. And I took a similar approach as your "other" idea. I carved the area around it away and twisted it out with a pair of vise -grips. It actually broke off again..it was stuck in a jatoba tenon-- but it broke deep enough that it was below the depth of my pickup route. I just left that last bit in there. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Make your own plug cutter out of a piece of brass tubing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 It's not budging. There is still about 1/2" of screw in the wood, and even if I clamp some vice grips on it. I can remove about another 16th of an inch of wood from the base of that hole, but I'm not sure that will make a difference. It might help if I have more room to get the vice grips on it, so I'm going to make that hole wider and keep trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 14, 2018 Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 If you have a dremel with a cut-off wheel you can cut a slot in it and use a screw driver to try and back it out. Otherwise get to the bottom of your pickup route and cut / break it off there. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 Someone suggested trying to thread a nut onto it with some red loctite or epoxy, or otherwise trying to get the chuck of a drill on it. If the vice grips won't budge it I don't think the drill will do anything. I think the two ideas I like the best are Scott's suggestion of cutting a slot in the top, and if that doesn't work I'm thinking about putting a center punch on the screw and whacking it with a hammer, the idea being that there is glue holding the screw in place, and maybe I can break the seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 Or, what I think I'm going to try first is heating the screw up with a soldering iron in order the break the glue's hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 14, 2018 Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 6 hours ago, beltjones said: Or, what I think I'm going to try first is heating the screw up with a soldering iron in order the break the glue's hold. For smaller screws this usually works well. It will be a bit more challenging with such a large screw but the theory is the same - you hold a soldering iron bit firmly against the broken face for enough time for the screw end to become very hot. The screw expands and forces the gripping wood back. It is then left to fully cool. The screw contracts again, leaving a tiny gap between it and the wood, basically breaking the friction seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted March 14, 2018 Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 if heating that screw doesnt work by itself (it should if you get good contact)-take a 1/16th inch drill bit or thinner if you have it- and drill along side the screw as close as possible- take a wet quarter sheet or so of folder paper towel, lay it over the screw/hole you just drilled and take the soldering iron and steam that bad boy -the steam will both heat the screw but also expand the wood fibers- it may help break that crap up. same principle as steaming a neck joint on an acoustic but without the needle appliance for the steam- the channel the drill bit leaves will help get the steam down the length of the screw (theoretically anyway) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 Ok, I'm going to give this a go. I'll check back with you guys in a few hours and give you an update (which, knowing my luck / skill, is going to be something along the lines of, "Ok, so I accidentally de-laminated the entire guitar..."). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 Ok, I got it out. I first plugged in the soldering iron, and while it was heating up I whacked the screw once or twice with a center punch and a hammer. Then I grabbed a bigger forstner bit and hogged out more of the cavity-to-be. That allowed me to get in there with the regular vice grips (as opposed to the needle nose) and I was able to twist it out without using the soldering iron. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2018 I'm so mad I haven't bothered to take pictures yet, but I will. I ordered a humbucker routing template from Amazon because I figured it would be cleaner than anything I could make. Well, the center line on the template was about 1/16" off, and of course I didn't notice until I routed the first pickup. I'm contacting the seller and telling them to check their CAD files and get back to me. For once I didn't mess up with the router and slip, and the template I purchased was jacked up. This is my luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 15, 2018 Report Share Posted March 15, 2018 Just shift the template back the other way by 1/16" and re-route it. I'm sure a 1/16" oversize humbucker route won't be too noticeable once a pickup is in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 15, 2018 Report Share Posted March 15, 2018 7 hours ago, curtisa said: Just shift the template back the other way by 1/16" and re-route it. I'm sure a 1/16" oversize humbucker route won't be too noticeable once a pickup is in there. Trudat. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.