Dinky style guitar

[ADFinlayson]

Yep, any job that can be done with a hand is satisfying (to me anyway). No I leave the tape in place but I'll trim it with a scalpel against a ruler so it's vert close, just overlapping the edge of the channel, not that it really matters with such a large glueing surface as the body/top

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

I leave the tape in place

I've often thought about that, worrying about the wires sticking on the tape. The issue should be gone in a decade or two, but I'd like the channel be non-sticky a little sooner than that.

[ADFinlayson]

7 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

I've often thought about that, worrying about the wires sticking on the tape. The issue should be gone in a decade or two, but I'd like the channel be non-sticky a little sooner than that.

I use cheap crappy masking tape that doesn't stick to anything

[willliam_q]

Every clamp I possess

hopefully the glue up goes to plan, looking good so far

if you look closely I have an mdf clamping caul with cross slats on it to form to the contour of the arm carve.  This is because the contour is not a sharp flat carve but a gradual rounding over to aid clamping of the top.  

I got the idea from a motorcycle back protector that uses a similar concept.  

Edited December 24, 2019 by willliam_q

[Bizman62]

32 minutes ago, willliam_q said:

I got the idea from a motorcycle back protector that uses a similar concept

A great example of cross adapting

[willliam_q]

I’ve been down with flu and bedridden the last few days so no progress made

on a brighter note, these bad boys arrived today

 

I’ve bought them new but need to get them tested ASAP.  A while back I installed a brand new Seymour Duncan custom custom in my 5150 guitar but the pickup had been sitting for 2 years in its box.  Only one coil was working and of course neither the supplier nor the manufacturer were willing to help me by that stage.  Lesson learned!!

[willliam_q]

Neck fitted, but will need the rear of the body heel cut down a bit, I don’t like thick heels. 
 

also about 4-5 hours worth of template making to make up the Floyd Rose template system which will allow me to do all the Floyd Rose routs. 
 

thanks to this forum for the plans for these in the articles section... can’t remember who published them but they should come in very handy. 

[mistermikev]

looking great, nice work.

[willliam_q]

Routed out the Floyd cavities but I’m not particularly happy with my work.  I should have checked my templates better.  
 

the main Floyd recess leading edge is off by 1mm.  Not so bad on its own but one of my posts is 1mm or so out so both together compound the issue.  I think the post was drilled wrong as the drill press table was mucking about.  I’ve tightened it up now but should have done it before working on it!

so I think ill have to tidy up the leading edge but I wonder if I should dowel the post and re drill?

 

 

 

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, willliam_q said:

I wonder if I should dowel the post and re drill?

If the strings line up as they should and the Floyd sits firmly in its place, don't. Otherwise do.

[willliam_q]

Thanks yep Floyd sits good as is, i think I’ll just even out the leading edge of the recess and leave it at that.  It’s definitely  a learning experience and I just hope I can build more guitars to get better at it, although the wife is now preggers with our first so might only get one more guitar built before time is no longer my own!

[curtisa]

5 hours ago, willliam_q said:

thanks to this forum for the plans for these in the articles section... can’t remember who published them but they should come in very handy. 

That would be me. I thought those MDF cutouts looked familiar

 

1 hour ago, willliam_q said:

so I think ill have to tidy up the leading edge but I wonder if I should dowel the post and re drill?

If you're going to dowel and redrill the post you will need to use a crossgrain wood plug rather than a regular dowel. Dowel might be convenient to use, but because the grain direction in the dowel runs perpendicular in the plugged hole there won't be enough strength to withstand the combined pull of strings and springs on the trem post once its installed. Even if you dowel up the hole and redrill it perfectly, you'll find that the post will want to gradually lean over and oval-out the plugged hole.

You'll need to install some kind of wooden plug to fill the hole to match the grain direction. That'll require a plug cutter drill bit.

The other alternative is to route out the entire section of timber to cover one or both holes, insert a rectangle of timber to fill the void, and redrill the hole(s). If you intend to line the trem cavity in felt or paint it black it will be invisible.

Edit: or do as @Bizman62 suggests: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. A slightly leaning Floyd is only a problem if the cosmetics of it bothers you.

[willliam_q]

Thanks Curtisa, the templates did work very well, although the user could do with a bit more experience!

I think I’ll leave it more or less as is but might tidy up the leading edge to make it seem like a bit less of a lean, only issue is I’m not too happy with the gap between the Floyd and the recess edge...I’d have liked a tighter fit but will chalk this one down to experience.

 

im still very happy with how things are turning out overall 

[willliam_q]

Ahhhh sh

see a problem?  I didn’t have the template locked down enough and it moved!!!  I was planning on originally having direct mounted pickups but this might just have scuppered my plans.  
 

I’ll try to fix it but if it can be seen I’ll have to hide it as best as possible with a pickup ring or, whilst I wasn’t planning on a sunburst finish, I could potentially do something with colours to try to hide any repair also.  Really annoyed with myself.

I’ve chiselled it out to relatively straight lines and will have to make a repair patch out of off cuts.  Here’s hoping it turns out ok.

[mistermikev]

earlier today I saw a meme that said "woodworking is 33% planning, 33% execution, and 33% changing your plan to cover up the mistake you just made".  lord is that true for me.  anywho... I think it'll look fine but if it bothers you, you could put a cool square insert of some exotic wood in there around the entire pickup - call it a natural pickup ring.  you could put binding around the inside of the pickup cavity (been wanting to try this myself).  the important thing is to realize - it's never as bad as it seems (unless it's me... then it's way worse!)

 

ooh, just thought of another one... do up some waterslide with a decorative surround around the pickup. 

[Bizman62]

I'm with @mistermikev but with a smaller fix: Re-route the pickup cavities to have a shelf for a small cover of some exotic wood. If you want to direct mount the pickups, using magnets for attaching would help with any maintenance. You can also use screws and mount the pickups to the pieces like you would on rings.

[ScottR]

I've seen mistakes like this repaired invisibly in figured maple a couple of times. One was my own, so I know it can be done. The key is matching the grain and the figure--the figure being the more important of the two and of course a really good fit  to minimize any glue lines. Your cutting the opening into straight lines and a square corner made the fit easier, and also more important as the eye will pick up square corners and straight lines quicker than it would curves, particularly when surrounded by curvy grain and roundish figure.

The good news is it is quite small in comparison to the rest of the guitar and in a place that does not attract much attention or visual scrutiny. You can do this!

The guitar used as the background for the the forum is actually one of the other guitars that  had a successful repair of this nature.

Good luck.

SR

[willliam_q]

Thanks Scott.

ive already added a wedge to the neck pocket as it was slightly too wide and it’s seamless so if I can do something similar to that I’ll be happy.

[Lumberjack]

8 hours ago, willliam_q said:

ive already added a wedge to the neck pocket as it was slightly too wide and it’s seamless so if I can do something similar to that I’ll be happy.

I've definitely made this mistake before as well and had to recover in a similar fashion - wish you the best of luck repairing it, I know it can be done!  The build is coming along great by the way, that's an amazing job on joining the 5 peice neck with just hand tools  

[willliam_q]

Today I set out and drilled for the controls.  There’s going to be 2x volume knobs, a tone control and a 3 way pickup selector.  
 

control cavity routed and recessed for a cover, which I haven’t made yet.  I also routed out for a 9v battery box and squared off the corners with a chisel. Limba isn’t easy worked down across the grain, the fibres seem to be quite long in one  direction so the chisel pulls out strands of the wood when going in a direction it doesn’t like.
 

I wanted to recess the battery box but wasn’t sure how to get the curves just right.  I found that one of the bobbin on my bobbin sander was exactly the same radius as the battery box.  
 

I just pressed a piece of mdf up against it until it created the radius that I wanted.    You can see below how I made up the template.

and the battery box test fitted with a hole drilled to the control cavity for the wire.

I’m actually really happy with the recessed battery box, it seemed to come together really easily with results that I’m very happy with.

[Bizman62]

2 minutes ago, willliam_q said:

 I found that one of the bobbin on my bobbin sander was exactly the same radius as the battery box.  

Clever! Sometimes the answer to a problem is closer than you thought you'd have to look.

[willliam_q]

Rear round over done and neck heel cut away to make it shallower. 

 

limba seems to be very prone to splinters.  The router has taken a small chip off the corner, it’s not completely off so I’m able to glue it back in.

[willliam_q]

Sorted the pickup cavity although I’m not overly enamoured with the results.  it’s not terribly obvious, I have matched the flame, unless looking for it but I’m hoping a dark stain will hide it a bit more.

belly carve done as well.  I can’t see anything but if I concentrate hard I can feel the tiniest of divots in one or two places so will need a tiny bit of refining.  It seems to follow the growth rings/grain so not sure if there’s anything to worry about. 
 

Edited January 13, 2020 by willliam_q

[Bizman62]

That's a nicely done fix and most likely the pickup will cast a shadow to mask it even better.

The only way I can think of to make it even less visible would have required cutting the problem area off up to the cutaway as that would have sorted the upper end grain seam. Then again, getting such a longer piece match with the flames would have been more challenging. For an even more invisible patching the longitudinal seam could also have been cut to follow the grain pattern raising the level of difficulty to ridiculous heights...

This pondering was not to belittle your work by any means, only widening the scale of options for those who might struggle with similar issues. My fix for a similar dent caused by a loose router bit was grey epoxy putty! The choice was valid since it happened in the control cavity which was covered with copper tape. Yours was in a much more visible place.

I wonder if the seams could be masked by making them lighter. The dark lines may get even darker with the stain. The problem is that there's no white dye! Paint, crayons, pencils etc. all can repel stain so if you plan to follow this route some offcut experimenting is required.  

[mistermikev]

15 hours ago, willliam_q said:

Sorted the pickup cavity although I’m not overly enamoured with the results.  it’s not terribly obvious, I have matched the flame, unless looking for it but I’m hoping a dark stain will hide it a bit more.

belly carve done as well.  I can’t see anything but if I concentrate hard I can feel the tiniest of divots in one or two places so will need a tiny bit of refining.  It seems to follow the growth rings/grain so not sure if there’s anything to worry abou

can't hardly even make it out.  probably disappear pretty good with finish on.  nice recovery.