mistermikev Posted August 5, 2019 Report Share Posted August 5, 2019 that is "mirror like" but then all your finishes are so... I prefer to see you get that mirror shine using only your saliva. (I think you could do it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2019 I can't even spit shine my boots. I think I'll stick to micromesh and polishing compound. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 5, 2019 Report Share Posted August 5, 2019 40 minutes ago, ScottR said: I can't even spit shine my boots. I think I'll stick to micromesh and polishing compound. SR fair enough... but don't say I didn't believe in you. Perhaps you could elaborate (if you don't mind) on how you know when to proceed from one grit to the next? do you just have a 'feel' for how much to do, or do you stop and look for scratches, or do you get to the end grit... see some scratches, and go back a couple grits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2019 In all honesty, I do, or have done all the above. In the beginning the course grits are about shaping as much as smoothing. By the middle grits, 180, 220, I start watching the scratches. When it get up into the finer grits, micromesh 2400 to 3600, I start paying very close attention, and may back up if need be. When there is a question, I'll sand that grit in one direction, say vertical, and keep doing it until all the scratches go the same direction. Then I'll go it again going horizontal. When all the scratches are going that direction, I know I've sanded out all the previous grit's scratches and can move on to the next. Note that this mostly happens on the clear coat, but it works with wood as well SR 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 6, 2019 Report Share Posted August 6, 2019 17 minutes ago, ScottR said: In all honesty, I do, or have done all the above. In the beginning the course grits are about shaping as much as smoothing. By the middle grits, 180, 220, I start watching the scratches. When it get up into the finer grits, micromesh 2400 to 3600, I start paying very close attention, and may back up if need be. When there is a question, I'll sand that grit in one direction, say vertical, and keep doing it until all the scratches go the same direction. Then I'll go it again going horizontal. When all the scratches are going that direction, I know I've sanded out all the previous grit's scratches and can move on to the next. Note that this mostly happens on the clear coat, but it works with wood as well SR thank you, that's helpful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 12, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 My pickups came in, so I got the cavities routed. And I started the carve......this one is going to take a minute. Also, I got a new computer with a new operating system, My photo editor does not have an option to compress pictures like the old one did. I'm hoping the forum compresses them or I'll have to figure out what plan B is. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 Excellent....those welcome words 'the carve begins'... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 5 hours ago, ScottR said: And I started the carve......this one is going to take a minute. Oh, you must be lightning fast! For me it would take a few years and my left hand fingers. Re image size: The built-in Snipping Tool can do a good job for reducing the file size of images. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027213/windows-10-open-snipping-tool-and-take-a-screenshot. I use it a lot for the quick sketch images. It now has a new name, Snip @ Sketch, plus a couple of new features: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-snip-sketch-take-screenshots-windows-10-october-2018-update If you need a more powerful tool for reducing the size of a larger batch of images, the Image Resizer by Brice Lambson is a must. It's based on the ancient XP Powertoy made by Microsoft and does a very good job: https://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 There may have been a bit of sarcasm leaking out of that take a minute comment....... I used to open with windows picture manager (or something named very similarly) That allowed me to crop, adjust brightness, midtones and contrast, tweak colors, and compress. Pretty much everything I needed and nothing more. What I have found so far does all of that, but compress. I will admit I have not put a lot of effort into searching for the "right " editor yet. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 Microsoft Office Picture Manager is part of my Office 2003 toolset. It may not work with Win10. Windows Live Essentials 2012 had a similar tool but it's no longer supported. It should still work, though, if you can find the installing media. Picasa had some nice tools as well, again no longer supported. I don't know how its successor works. The latest version was 3.9. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 carve is fascinating... will be lurching on this one for sure. I can't help but think that guitar looks really thick but that may just be the 'uncarved' nature of it. Have you weighed it? Is it heavy? Anywho... I LOVE where this is going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 Totally in awe of your carving skills @ScottR, inspiring work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 I can't be certain, @ScottR, but I think the site automatically reduces the sizes of the downloaded photos. Certainly, the ones I tend to load up are originally much bigger than they save as in the drag and drop facility. Maybe @curtisa can confirm? Mind you, Andrew's reaction might be, "So THAT'S why we keep running out of server space. B****y Andyjr1515!!!! It had to be him!!!!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: carve is fascinating... will be lurching on this one for sure. I can't help but think that guitar looks really thick but that may just be the 'uncarved' nature of it. Have you weighed it? Is it heavy? Anywho... I LOVE where this is going. You are correct, Mike that thing is thick, somewhere north of 3.5 inches. Just think of it as raw materials. Much of that is going away. And honestly it is surprisingly light....for it's size. I'd guess around 7 pounds right now, which is probably where it will end up after carving away a bunch of wood and then strapping on a bunch of metal and magnets. The limba is the lightest I've ever come across, easily half of what same size examples I've had in the past. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 52 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: Totally in awe of your carving skills @ScottR, inspiring work! Thanks Ash! This is for sure my most ambitious guitar carve to date. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 17 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: I think the site automatically reduces the sizes of the downloaded photos. I just noticed that an image I uploaded was physically smaller on the desktop than what it ended up to be in the post. Plus the images allow for changing the viewing size in the posts no matter what the file size is. The Image Resizer really is a nice tool for keeping the pictures posted below the limit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 20 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: I can't be certain, @ScottR, but I think the site automatically reduces the sizes of the downloaded photos. Certainly, the ones I tend to load up are originally much bigger than they save as in the drag and drop facility. Maybe @curtisa can confirm? Mind you, Andrew's reaction might be, "So THAT'S why we keep running out of server space. B****y Andyjr1515!!!! It had to be him!!!!" Yeah, I checked size after it was uploaded and it was essentially what it would have been if I had compressed it before hand. But the pics on my computer are still pretty dang big. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 1 hour ago, ScottR said: You are correct, Mike that thing is thick, somewhere north of 3.5 inches. Just think of it as raw materials. Much of that is going away. And honestly it is surprisingly light....for it's size. I'd guess around 7 pounds right now, which is probably where it will end up after carving away a bunch of wood and then strapping on a bunch of metal and magnets. The limba is the lightest I've ever come across, easily half of what same size examples I've had in the past. SR right on. why did you decide to go so thick? just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 49 minutes ago, mistermikev said: right on. why did you decide to go so thick? just curious. First, that was the size of the timber available, although I did cut a little off the top...with a flippin hand saw. And I love to do honkin deep carves and rarely have the raw materials available to do so. This time I do, and am relishing every minute of it. We'll see if I'm still relishing it when the top is done. That burl is bloody tough carving. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 5 minutes ago, ScottR said: First, that was the size of the timber available, although I did cut a little off the top...with a flippin hand saw. And I love to do honkin deep carves and rarely have the raw materials available to do so. This time I do, and am relishing every minute of it. We'll see if I'm still relishing it when the top is done. That burl is bloody tough carving. SR roger that. For the record I never questioned why the top was so thick... just the back. Could be pretty cool tho. Something about a thick guitar that is comfy... but not too thick (ie 295 thick!). rock on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 I like to have enough space in the control cavities to house the blade switch and still have room to carve the cavity cover. Once all the carving and contouring is done it won't look so thick. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted August 14, 2019 Report Share Posted August 14, 2019 Scott what do you use to dress your frets? They come out great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2019 11 hours ago, ZekeB said: Scott what do you use to dress your frets? They come out great. This time I used a new StewMac Z-file to crown and dress the ends. I also have a StewMac fret dressing file that gets use on the ends. While the fretboards is taped off, I use a micromessh foam pad to go through the sand paper grits and all the micromesh grits up to 12,000. it is turned on an angle so that the 90 degree angle of the edge stroke the frets going down the length of the fretboard and then turned and run up the length of the fretboard. You can bend the pad a bit to match the radius. and I always use a hard flat sanding block with each grit across the tops of the frets to keep them all on the same plane. That black will also get turned on edge and run at an angle up and down the edge of the fret board which helps round and polish the fret ends. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 Great looking wood @ScottR! do you notice a difference in working with burl as opposed to 'normal' wood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 2 hours ago, 10pizza said: Great looking wood @ScottR! do you notice a difference in working with burl as opposed to 'normal' wood? Well hello sir, long time no see. Last I remember you were setting yourself up for some child rearing. I hope that has gone well. This burl may be the trickiest stuff lve ever carved. The complete randomness of grain direction in each chip cut out makes each cut react differently. Extreme tool sharpness is the only way to keep some consistency in the cuts. It sure is fun, though! SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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