Pariahrob Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 Great technique. I think I’ll have to try fretting that way too. I can see the benefits now. love the laminate details. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 I decided to put the same demarcation feature under the headstock plate. I cut some maple and ebony veneer offcuts: Then glued and clamped them under a decently thick piece of sapele: For the fretboard, I did the side dots, then filled the fret slots with a mixture of epoxy and macassar dust: Once that was set and the edges sanded down, it was time to glue the fretboard on In the meantime, the pickups have arrived 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 I'm sure that having cracked the clamping pressure puzzle, you're flying with these laminates and pinstripes, Andy! Have you had the pleasure or planing or scraping them yet, causing ribbons of stripes to go curling off the workpiece? I love that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 13 minutes ago, Prostheta said: I'm sure that having cracked the clamping pressure puzzle, you're flying with these laminates and pinstripes, Andy! Have you had the pleasure or planing or scraping them yet, causing ribbons of stripes to go curling off the workpiece? I love that. Yes - it's even more satisfying than popping bubble-wrap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 With the fretboard on, I can now finish the body carve : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 Having added another two frets with the revised fretboard, I've deepened the two cutouts to try and achieve the full fret access and thumb-anchor position for bend to, and including, the 24th fret. Having done that, I've started to finish the top shaping. I may need to tweak it a bit more once I've carved the back, but this is how it's starting to look. Those who've seen my builds before will know that I add an early quick coat of tru-oil - regardless of what finish I'm going to use in the end - to show up any lumps and bumps a bit easier. I'll be trying to finish the back carve later today / this evening and then hopefully tomorrow comes the neck carve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 If I hold my mouth just right I can see a cow looking at me. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariahrob Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 Son of groot made into a guitar. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 Still watchin'. Still enjoyin' the show. Keep calm and carry on, sir. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 3 hours ago, curtisa said: Still watchin'. Still enjoyin' the show. Keep calm and carry on, sir. Aye, aye, Cap'n Sir And so to the back and neck carve. I'm probably about half way through that so far. As I've mentioned before, I finish the neck profile off once the guitar is finished and fully strung up - yes, I know. I'm weird like that - but there's still a bit of bulk to take off to get to my preferred softish 'V' profile before that stage. After just a few minutes with a spokeshave, most of the carve has been done using micro plane blades, just held in gloved hands like a scraper. The towelling underneath is to stop any dints on the top (you see, I do sometimes take notice of your gems of advice, @Prostheta ) - you can see it's been used for many times for past staining jobs. Based on the fact that a number of my staining jobs are red ink, it has the unfortunate look of the results of a serious router/finger incident! At this stage, I tend to do a lot of air-guitar playing I've got some more bulk to take out at the heel / body transition, but the thumb anchor points and 24th fret access feel fine so far. You can see why I took impressions earlier of where the hidden weight relief chambers are! Breaking through at this stage of the process would definitely spoil my day Total weight so far is spot on 4lbs - about 4oz lighter than my previous build. Having a bash at making my own wood knobs - which will save 2-3oz over the brass ones I previously used - a final 5 1/2 lbs weight should at least be within reach 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: At this stage, I tend to do a lot of air-guitar playing Total weight so far is spot on 4lbs - about 4oz lighter than my previous build. Having a bash at making my own wood knobs - which will save 2-3oz over the brass ones I previously used - a final 5 1/2 lbs weight should at least be within reach 5.5 lbs IS a true air guitar. ever strap on an alembic? they are back breakers. looking good mr andy, looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 42 minutes ago, Mr Natural said: ever strap on an alembic? they are back breakers. I have...and don't really want to again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 This is still bounding along. I'm sure there will be a big boo boo sometime soon but 'so far so good' (actually there is a small fixable one that I will confess shortly). Pickup chambers. Hmmmm....and my aversion to anything relating to routers. Trouble is, when you need a flat bottom in a deep chamber, and you've only got a maximum of thickness of 5mm left at the end of it, there aren't that many options. So I did it the same as the last few times: Started with drilling the corners, taking especial care with the depth: Then Forstnered them: Then chiselled down to the top depth around the pencil guide lines. Then used a very short bearing guided router bit to straighten the sides without routing any of the depth Then used the resulting substantial and square bearing-guiding sides to safely guide the router bit deeper, a couple of mm at a time, to the final depth, leaving around 5mm wood short of break-through: And then the inevitable premature mock-up: On many levels, I'm really pleased with this one so far. Oh...and the boo boo? OK - do you remember me saying I was going to have this as a single pickup guitar? Well, I changed my mind in the end and decided to go for two humbuckers, three way and master tone and volume. The boo boo? When I stuck the top on, there wasn't going to be a neck pick up. And so there wasn't the need to cut a cable routing into the back wing from where the pickup up chamber would be to where the control chamber was going to be.... But happily, I have a VERY long drill. One long enough to go through the jack hole, into the side of the control chamber and all the way to the neck pickup. I think we've all said - when new builders are super deflated at having made an error - that many of the more experienced builders regularly make silly errors too (certainly, I do). We probably are just a touch quicker at finding work-rounds to fix them 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 10, 2018 Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 Yeah, the number of times I've made a dumb mistake because I was off in ComplexLand and not covering my basics....I've got to go outside and empty my dust extractor's bag. I really don't want to. Not sure how this adds to the conversation in anything other than me doing pickup routs on a proof build, and I'm also drilling out the corners.....! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 16, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 Well - I think I'm on the home straight on this To save another couple of oz I decided to have a go at making my own control knobs: I got some inserts and a cheapo diamond tile hole cutter Then drilled and cut a slice of oak offcut: Then cut a plug of the macassar offcut. Glued them together, added a MoP dot and rounded the top: Then it's onto the finishing. The amboyna needs high gloss, so I will do the body in polyurethance varnish and the neck as tru-oil slurry and buff silky smooth. I'll actually finish the neck profile again once it's stringed up and playable and then finish the slurry and buff at that stage. However, for the body some of you will know that I use the tru-oil slurry and buff approach as the base for the gloss varnish. This is almost ready for the varnishing stage: Total weight of what you see here is 3lbs 10oz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 8 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: Total weight of what you see here is 3lbs 10oz Good Lord! That just looks like wood. It's really made of cloud fluff and cotton candy! And the body is shaped like an airfoil. You could probably give it a toss and it would soar away like a paper airplane. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 7 hours ago, ScottR said: And the body is shaped like an airfoil. Don't even go there. Occupational Health and Safety would have a field day if you used this instrument for a cliff-top shoot in a music video. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 1 minute ago, curtisa said: Don't even go there. Occupational Health and Safety would have a field day if you used this instrument for a cliff-top shoot in a music video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 The body on this is destined to be gloss finished, with a satin slurry-and-buffed neck. Being not overly sure about the gloss version of Osmo (in the trial and recent build, it seems to be more a glossy satin than a true gloss and so doesn't pop out the full depth of the wood figuring) I've reverted to my old method of wiped-on standard household polyurethane varnish. The varnish manufacturer has recently changed the formulation to lower the volatiles (of course a good thing) but I do now have a few issues with it - mainly that it doesn't take a lot of thinners very well and its self-levelling is not so good. Nevertheless, with my now usual method of a slurry and wipe tru-oil combined grain fill /primer followed by (this time) three thin wipes of slightly thinned varnish using a budget soft micro-fibre cloth, just three elapsed days from the sanded wood state has got me to here: And, actually, I'm not going to go any further - just a final polish with Meguiars Ultimate Compound in about a week's time. In the meantime, it is already perfectly tough enough for normal handling so I'm going to see if I can finish the build over the next few days 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 I love how you made those knobs! It's nice to see a method that doesn't require a lathe or dodgy drill press set-up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 It's getting close. Busy week this week - and the end jobs always take an age - but I'm pretty sure it will be finished this week. Putting everything left to fit onto the digital scales, it's looking like the final weight will be below 5 1/4lbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 19, 2018 Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 33 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: Putting everything left to fit onto the digital scales, it's looking like the final weight will be below 5 1/4lbs And what a pretty 5 1/4 pounds it is, too! SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 One of those "I've meant to ask this rookie question since...well...since I was a rookie" questions The first fret - high or low? In the perfect world when you level a fretboard, you straighten the neck, then level until the levelling beam is just starting to work on the lowest fret. This means that all the frets are now as level as the beam itself. But, as you know, my world is not perfect. And sometimes it is clear the neck isn't completely flat, and the levelling doesn't quite get to the lowest fret. Because of the geometry, the result will be that the first fret and the last fret will be ground down disproportionately. But once it is all strung up to check all of the action and line-ups, etc: ...and the strings buzz at the second fret when the first fret is pressed down (but nowhere else)... Is it the first fret that's too low or the second fret that's too high? Either case is easily fixed...but you do need to know which one it is! So how can you check? Normally I would use a three-fret rocker, but - for rocking over the 1st/2nd/3rd frets, that's not going to work. Yes - it will rock, but you still won't know whether it's the 1st fret low of 2nd fret high. Answers on a postcard, please, marked "Rookie" in the top left hand corner. All suggestions gratefully received Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 ...and I think I've worked out how to easily do it (and my 1st fret is too low). But I'm still interested what other folks do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 21, 2018 Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 You sure the string is buzzing at the 2nd with the first depressed? It could also be buzzing at the maximum string displacement when plucked, which would be somewhere around the 13th/14th. I guess you could use the fret rocker across the 1st/2nd/3rd frets, press it towards the 3rd fret side and see if you can get some feeler guages between the fret rocker and the 1st, and then repeat at the 2nd/3rd/4th to see if the same gap exists at the 2nd position? Buzzing exclusively at the 1st is not something I've experienced. Getting the neck to buzz all over the place, however, is one of my specialties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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