ADFinlayson Posted March 4, 2019 Report Share Posted March 4, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 4, 2019 Report Share Posted March 4, 2019 Using G-clamps with no padding or cauls underneath the jaws? You haven't swept up the floor? You've made up a lefthanded neck blank when you should've made a righthand one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2019 Ha I think all of those are correct apart from the last one. But no, I got cut in the wrong place for the scarf, so if I put the headstock on top it’s too short and if I put it undernieth, the neck is too short Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 5, 2019 Report Share Posted March 5, 2019 Add a new lamination on to the 'headstock' end of the neck that will be big enough to be the proper headstock. It will push the scarf laminations further up the neck, but you'll be able to use the neck without scrapping it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 5, 2019 Report Share Posted March 5, 2019 pfft, I can outdo that... watch this... jk. just make it a different scale length. bam, now it's a feature! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2019 (edited) I think it will be ok actually, the plank is 30mm thick so there is a bit of leaway to move the nut forward by sawing the angle again a bit further down. Fortunately this is just the offcut the the mk2 neck that I’m doing a test run with as it’s my first go at a scarf. Good job I did a tester too! Edited March 5, 2019 by ADFinlayson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 Looks like I've got away with it, lucky the blank was on the thick side. I've moved the nut down a bit and there is enough recut the headstock angle. The lesson here is to plan the scarf joint before cutting. The joint came out well though! I've continued my experimentation and this looks to be turning into another build thread Took this Khaya blank down to the yard and they reduced it to 40mm for me. Band sawed it out and shaped it with the spindle sander. I've nearly always used a router and template to do final shaping before but, I figured that by the time I've glued the template down etc, I might as well just sand it, I'll have to sand it later anyway. Now on to a job I've not done before. I did this with my no4 plane then levelled it all off with my little block plane, took 5 minutes, I'm never using a rasp again! Next up will be to attempt to bend this top over it. This was only a cheapy £20 top so it won't be the end of the world if it all goes wrong, but I'll do a bit of research on the job first. I do need to fill several areas with epoxy but I figured that might hinder it's bendiness so I'll do this after it's glued. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 6, 2019 Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 Ooooh, nice looking top! I hope you pull off the bend, I'm looking forward to seeing this top finished. How thick is it? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted March 6, 2019 Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 Ooooooo.... that top looks nice.... I like the shape too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 1 hour ago, ScottR said: Ooooh, nice looking top! I hope you pull off the bend, I'm looking forward to seeing this top finished. How thick is it? SR It's 4mm, golden pheobe wood from china, but it's a lot harder than maple. I think I'm going to have to use an iron and a wet towel or something. 1 hour ago, Jdogg said: Ooooooo.... that top looks nice.... I like the shape too. Thanks, I can't take credit, I've got some Suhr Mordern templates that the body is based on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted March 6, 2019 Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 might be a good idea to ease that hard edge on the forearm contour. the more radius you put on there the less likely it'll crack. Also, use a heat resistant glue when you glue the top together... in case you need to use an iron. wouldn't want the joint to separate while your trying to bend the contour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 15 minutes ago, Jdogg said: might be a good idea to ease that hard edge on the forearm contour. the more radius you put on there the less likely it'll crack. Also, use a heat resistant glue when you glue the top together... in case you need to use an iron. wouldn't want the joint to separate while your trying to bend the contour. Good advice, I’ve already glued the top together with titebond original so that’s not possible unfortunately, but I have rounded over the arm bevel with a block plane to ease the bend, I’m also thinking of putting some relief cuts in the underside so less heat is required Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 So that escalated quickly. I weighed the body on the bathroom scales and it came out at 5lb so I did a bit of chambering. Weighed it again and it still came out at 5lb, turns out 5lb is the minimum my bathroom scales registers at so it will be a nice light body by the time I've done a belly carve and control route. I roughed out the neck, notice all the holes? sodding bandsaw blade died, I've been telling myself that I need to order new blades (being down to my last one) for weeks but I didn't so I drilled a load of holes and cut it out with my coping saw. I blasted over the underside with the random orbital and 120 so it was a nice smooth glueing surface as this top came rough sawn. Placed it in the right spot and drilled 4 2mm holes and used cocktail sticks as locator pins. I clamped an ali bar down just before the bevel starts so there is no pressure on the glue joint. Then I put on clamp and cauls loosely on the very edge of the bevel put a towel down on it and just kept pouring small amounts of water over it while attacking it with the heat gun (being careful to stay away from the glue joint), and tightened up the end clamp gradually over 5 minutes, then when it was full down, I added 2 further clamps And that's it! I cant believe how easy that was. I'm well impressed with this top - I love how the grain circles round the horns, but I am definitely going to have to fill the large voids with some colour epoxy, especially where the khaya is clearly visible. This top was big enough for a bass body so I've got a got enough left over to make a 2 piece headstock veneer, not bad for 20 quid 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 7, 2019 Report Share Posted March 7, 2019 Nicely done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 7, 2019 Report Share Posted March 7, 2019 "spot the idiotic mistake" - I know this one... what are "things people say when they see me"? that is a really cool looking top. love it. build is coming along nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 (edited) On 3/7/2019 at 10:56 PM, mistermikev said: "spot the idiotic mistake" - I know this one... what are "things people say when they see me"? that is a really cool looking top. love it. build is coming along nicely. When they see me, they normally used to just walk away shaking their heads So I did a bit more last night, I glued the top down which required all my clamps, then I jointed a couple of offcuts to make the headstock cap. Having no clamps left, I tried this method that I saw on Fletcher Guitars' youtube channel, this is so much easier than clamping thing pieces and I'm going to do it on the next drop top too. Took the clamps off and success! I've got a couple of small spots where you can see a slight gap between the top and body so I'm hoping that khaya dust and titebond will hide them, there is also a small hairline crack on the bend at the base of the body, I can't see it from the side profile so it appears to be only on the surface. I'm not sure whether to fill it with dust and super glue or fill it with colour epoxy like the rest of the top as there are cracks and voids all over it. I'm pretty sure this crack occurred because I stayed away from the glue join on the centre line with the heat gun. I know for next time to use a water resistant glue for tops. I've got a fair bit of clean up to do around the side which I'll do on the spindle sander, the top is currently a pencil line oversized so I can affort to be fairly brutal with the sanding. But I'm going to do the cleanup after I've carved the belly contour so I don't lose my no go line (chamber depth). Edited March 8, 2019 by ADFinlayson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 Shaped the belly carve, although it's not a done deal, I might come back and make it a bit larger yet, you can see all the burn marks from my cheap roundover bit, I need to invest in a good one and will have lots of hand sanding to do here Mixed up some 2 part epoxy resin and added some black powder paint then filled in all the voids I could find. I'll need to give this at least 2 days do dry, possible more if it's cold over the weekend. This is what the side looks like after filling the dodgy areas of top glue up with mahogany filler and a good going over withthe spindle sander. Then finally tonight, I routed out the neck shape, excluding the headstock because I'm going to do my standard moustache with 3x3 tuners. Really pleased with how the scarf joint came out! I was going to put a quilted Jatoba fretboard on this, as it's the only fretboard I have at the moment and this is very much an experiment from offcuts etc so don't want to throw money at it, Jatoba feels lovely but is light brown in colour and I'm just not sure that it's going to work with the khaya neck. So I'm contemplating whether or not to wait and get ebony instead. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 Not sure what's going on with the last post, images don't seem to be showing up again, when I replace the image, it appears in the editor, but disappears after save :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 9, 2019 Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 I suspect the links to your images you're inserting is being cached on your local computer but is incorrect on wherever you're hosting them. If I try to edit your post and direct link to the faulty images I get a 404 error. Are you hosting the images elsewhere and linking them into your post or are you taking advantage of Projectguitar's own image uploading in the post editor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 13 hours ago, curtisa said: I suspect the links to your images you're inserting is being cached on your local computer but is incorrect on wherever you're hosting them. If I try to edit your post and direct link to the faulty images I get a 404 error. Are you hosting the images elsewhere and linking them into your post or are you taking advantage of Projectguitar's own image uploading in the post editor? No idea! The pics work when clicked on, they just don’t seem to embed in the post. Never mind. I’ve been looking after our tiny human tonight do haven’t had much time other than to joint and glue a fretboard on. Based on trying to keep this quick and cost effective, I decided to go with the Jatoba board. Continuing on with the theme of experimentation and doing things differently; I’ve thicknesses the board down to 5mm because the only nut I could find for a 44mm width was 5mm high, but then I though that reducing the height of the board and nut would also reduce the break angle which is a concern as I’ll be capping the headstock. So rather than glueing the board in at the nut (0 fret point) I’ve glued it back by 6mm into the headstock, then I’ll cut the nut slot so I can keep 1mm of board under the nut to save me shimming it. Usually I square off the board and mark my fret positions prior to glueing, then use cocktail sticks as locator pins in the fret slots to keep it in position. This time I’ve decided I shall do no marking of slots until the board is on, sized and radiused. I’ve recently bought an Incra protractor and decent fret ruler so I’m going to try it this way - I figured fret slotting will be much faster if the board is already radiused as there is a lot less wood to saw and the slots don’t need to be as deep, nor will I have to come back and check them after radius. and I think this is my neatest clamp up yet. Normally I’ve got 20 clamps all over the place also checked my epoxy and it’s still a long way from dry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 9, 2019 Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 12 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: No idea! The pics work when clicked on, they just don’t seem to embed in the post. Never mind. Weird. When I click on your links it tries to take me into the Google login page. If I then log in to Google the image displays as a broken link: Maybe the reason why only you can see them is because you've pasted them from some kind of Google-based private storage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 23 minutes ago, curtisa said: Weird. When I click on your links it tries to take me into the Google login page. If I then log in to Google the image displays as a broken link: Maybe the reason why only you can see them is because you've pasted them from some kind of Google-based private storage? I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, these images must not be public, they’re hosted on google images, I’ll get on that. Ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 I've seen that in my posts occasionally, some years back. Oddly enough, they eventually showed up, without me having done a thing. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 Look into the image permissions and they can only be altered at album level so if it was a perms problem, there would be no images visible - seems to be a strange anomaly that happens some times. Didn’t have much time today but managed to get a bit of routing done. Fretboard glue up was a success so trimmed that flush with the tenon, leaving a bit of an overhang that I will sand don’t to size later on. epoxy was set hard so I went at it with the random orbital and a 60 grit pad, took a fair bit of work to remove all the excess, but I’m very happy with the result! I’ve routed the neck pocket and the hole for the trem, haven’t routed the pickup cavities her because the template is for direct mounted pickups, which I’m not doing and are too large for standard rings, so I’ll whack a different template on to finish that off. Also I have no idea how deep I should make them while leaving enough clearance for the rear route for the trem springs. Once the trem arrives, I’ll offer it in and see what I need to do. Reservations in the jatoba fretboard are gone, really like how it looks against the top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 I'm a fan of jatoba. I think it makes great necks. That's a pretty unique coloration. It looks great against your top, I agree. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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