Build #2 - The Osprey

[ZekeB 206]

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Golden hue sounds yummy!

Forgive me my ignorance: In Finnish nitro belongs to the lacquer family as well as all polys but you said you may do lacquer before the nitro. To me that's confusing. Are you possibly talking about shellac there?

Sorry you are correct.  My English is no good

[ZekeB 206]

Sorry I meant shellac.  My English es nah good

[Bizman62 356]

43 minutes ago, ZekeB said:

My English es nah good

Not any worse than mine. At what age did you start learning it?

[ZekeB 206]

Oh, it's my only language, lol.  Still not very good at it.

[Bizman62 356]

Don't worry. Since you're on your second build there must be dozens of words you didn't know to exist. At least that's what I found out when I started this hobby. So many tools and other stuff you've never heard the names of. Not to mention that many things translate irrationally so especially when playing with finishing chemistry one has to be extra careful not to just take something that sounds alike the stuff mentioned in some foreign video.

And didn't you just type another phrase in Spanglish? Doesn't that make two languages?

Edited September 10, 2019 by Bizman62

[MiKro 257]

That is a beauty.

As far as color, I would ditch the gold hardware and exchange for black hardware. Maybe add light black grain fill, then clear coat. Or possibly use a type of ceruse finish for the black then clear coat.

Just my 0.02 cents worth.

Nice work.

MK

[ZekeB 206]

Thanks Mk, I'll check that out.  Here's a quick and dirty of the red grain filler vs the black.  I could have sanded more and sprayed the shellac but I'm just interested in the effect right now.  

[ZekeB 206]

Heres no filler.  Just realized that other piece was darker all together.  That being said I like the golden hue.  I think the black would pull them together well.  Nitro will bring that out some more as well I believe.  Feel free to chime an opinion in.  I'm experimenting and I'm in no rush.

[MiKro 257]

1 hour ago, ZekeB said:

Thanks Mk, I'll check that out.  Here's a quick and dirty of the red grain filler vs the black.  I could have sanded more and sprayed the shellac but I'm just interested in the effect right now.  

I like the black grain fill, add black hardware not the gold and it will be stunning in my opinion.

Then again I have a very strong dislike of gold hardware. I have used it before, but it looks cheap and gawdy to me, even when I used it. I have a bunch of gold hardware I will sell cheap though. The BLING is the wood and how it is used not the hardware. Minimize the hardware look so it is not jewelry on the guitar.  It should be more like subtle accents to the Bling in the wood.

Very nice work Zeke.

MK

[Bizman62 356]

The black fill has some character but it seems to kill the chatoyance visible at the other end.

I recall seeing someone use wood dust and lacquer for filler, in that case ebony dust over ash. That might make the wood look more organic. Depending on the size of the dust particles the smaller gaps would be filled with lacquer only which by my logic should add translucency.

[ZekeB 206]

Learned some really good things on grain filling.  I had issues having to refill multiple times and decided to try a light layer of shellac before the filler.  The next big lesson was scrape it.  Don't sand it.    So heres the colors.  Regular mahogany on the right.  Black on the left.   Getting better

 

[ZekeB 206]

Thanks Mk.  I'm going to stick with the gold for now.  I think it goes well with the gold inlays.  Also they didnt have black for a replacement, lol.  

I agree bizman.  I think the black is a bit harsh.  I do believe a lot of that is my technique.  I'm making a new batch with less black and other natural colors to see if I can find that right balance.  We'll see!

[ZekeB 206]

Forgot to mention.  About three nights into the neck profile.  Just taking it slow.  I put a 2 degree angle on the neck so it sits further in the body and doesnt get cut directly off from the pickup cavity.  I'm not sure if there's real merit there in logic but it does feel very nice and looks cool.  Not sure how far to mellow out the heel to body.  Time to go peruse the forums.

[Bizman62 356]

42 minutes ago, ZekeB said:

Not sure how far to mellow out the heel to body. 

That's a question as big as the universe and with thru-necks you can take it much farther than with bolt-ons.

That one looks quite a lot like my last build, the LP Jr shaped one. With two cutaways I felt there'd be no reason to go deeper. If you can easily reach the neck pickup I'd call it easy-access enough. Some roundover might add just the tiny bit of comfort you may be looking for.

With a single cutaway the mellowing can be more problematic. The most extreme I've seen was a bass by @Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515 1,065]

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

With a single cutaway the mellowing can be more problematic. The most extreme I've seen was a bass by @Andyjr1515

Yes - I've had my moments 

In general terms, @ZekeB , with a through neck you can be fairly bold.  The most extreme one I had didn't have a heel - the neck depth just carried on along the whole body.

But, you do have to be aware of any cutouts - either for the top to slot into or for, say, a neck pickup (as on yours).  While the neck is supported at the sides, by the body joint, nevertheless, I would be wary of this distance marked with arrows getting too small:

My personal limit is 10mm minimum, and preferably more, otherwise it becomes more of a set neck than a through neck.

Hope this helps.

It's looking scrumptious, by the way.  Just my kind of build

 

 

[ZekeB 206]

Here was my original thought.  I think I'll have a little more than 10 mm.  thanks for your help guys.  

[ZekeB 206]

Last one.  Dialed back the black.  Feels a lot more natural

[ScottR 2,477]

That one is nice!

SR

[ADFinlayson 488]

On 9/12/2019 at 4:11 PM, ZekeB said:

Here was my original thought.  I think I'll have a little more than 10 mm.  thanks for your help guys.  

based on where your fretboard ends and the neckthrough joins the wings, you could get away with having plenty more material there at the heel and still have a very shreddy neck. I'm sure you're design is plenty enough wood in strength terms, but I don't think it would hinder playability if you wanted more. Looks great anyway, really like the natural finish you're shooting for.

[ZekeB 206]

Brought the heel way in decided I'd use the "3rd finger rule".   I ended making it fit just the inside of the palm of my hand.  Took off some body area as well to make that transition more comfortable.  

 

[Bizman62 356]

All-access rules!

[ZekeB 206]

So I had a router accident on my control cavity.  I put an edge on the inside of the edge to even it out.  I still didnt like the balance so it lead to the back carve wrapping around.  I was looking in the forums and found your back carves, Scott, which inspired this one.  It's just a lot less aggressive on the carve.   I still need to even it out and sharpen edges a little bit I think it's going the right direction.

I actually left the cover just slightly proud.  There's something I like about it.  I just can't figured what it is yet to exploit it more.  Maybe round the edges a little more or something.  I'll ponder on it a while.

[ZekeB 206]

Thinking and looking at it now I may take it a little more aggressive to accent that shape.  I'm starting to really dig it.

[Bizman62 356]

1 hour ago, ZekeB said:

I'm starting to really dig it

You're not the only one.

[Andyjr1515 1,065]

It's coming together very nicely.  

You are right that the only way of being sure about fret access is trying it!  That access is good and the result looks stylish too.  A good result