Project: Aquilae 50 (Strandberg influence)

[JouniK]

15 hours ago, mistermikev said:

looks great with that color on it.  Not being critical, and perhaps it's the pics.. but is that neck sitting reverse angled in the pocket?  I know sometimes perspective gets warbled looking at pics on here... but couldn't help but notice. 

edit- I think it's just the shadow at the bottom making it look like that to me.  ROCK ON. 

Now that you mention it really seems like that way in the pic...and hold it in my hand there is slight positive angle in there, but could be that the neck is not bolted in and neck is not dead straight. I have to bolt the neck in and adjust the truss rod and check that again. I do not know where that have changed cause I planed the whole blank and the template was level to it when I routed the pocket. Did I sand the body unevenly?  Oh gosh. Fingers crossed.

Edited December 31, 2019 by JouniK

[mistermikev]

Just now, JouniK said:

No that you mention it really seems like that way in the pic...and hold it in my hand there is slight positive angle in there, but could be that the neck is not bolted in and neck is not dead straight. I have to bolt the neck in and adjust the truss rod and check that again. I do not know where that have changed cause I planed the whole blank and the template was level to it when I routed the pocket. Did I sand the body unevenly?  Oh gosh. Fingers crossed.

well... catching it now you have lots of options to correct so... perhaps for once my musings actually had a positive impact!  cheers

[JouniK]

19 hours ago, mistermikev said:

catching it now you have lots of options to correct

What do think would be the best way? Should I file/sand the neck pocket at an angle to correct this? I thought finishing the body so I can mount the bridge in place and then with a string or a thread check the current situation and matching angle?

Watched this today and seems a good and feasable way. Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/J_3t6rMpd38

[mistermikev]

4 hours ago, JouniK said:

What do think would be the best way? Should I file/sand the neck pocket at an angle to correct this? I thought finishing the body so I can mount the bridge in place and then with a string or a thread check the current situation and matching angle?

Watched this today and seems a good and feasable way. Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/J_3t6rMpd38

well... I would find which part is out of spec... is the actual pocket wrong, or is the heel of the neck wrong?

whichever part I'd measure how far it is off and mark that as a line to correct to.

I'm not big on using hand tools to fix things because I just think it's harder to be consistent... but plenty of folks make that work for them.

if pocket - I would use my router plane.  If I didn't have that I'd just put a piece of mdf on the top of the guitar and use a shim to get the right angle. 

if the neck heel... again I'd just use my router plane but I've seen a guy take a vise, put the neck in it with just a smidg sitting proud of it and use a belt sander... the vice preventing the belt sander from going lower than the plane you want. 

[JouniK]

Wiped on some finishing. After 3 coats of Crimson Guitars Penetrating Oil mixed with traditional resin oil mix(natural resins+boiled linseed oil,tung oil,mineral spirits). I ended up thinning the mix a bit more with mineral spirits cause the resin oil was quite thick mix.

Next some wet sanding and another coat. After that I will be checking the neck angle again when I get the bridge mounted. And if it is off I will be shimming it or file the neck pocket to get it corrected. Depending on how high can the saddle height adjustment screws go.

[ShatnersBassoon]

On 1/23/2020 at 3:58 PM, JouniK said:

Wiped on some finishing. After 3 coats of Crimson Guitars Penetrating Oil mixed with traditional resin oil mix(natural resins+boiled linseed oil,tung oil,mineral spirits). I ended up thinning the mix a bit more with mineral spirits cause the resin oil was quite thick mix.

Next some wet sanding and another coat. After that I will be checking the neck angle again when I get the bridge mounted. And if it is off I will be shimming it or file the neck pocket to get it corrected. Depending on how high can the saddle height adjustment screws go.

Jeebus! That’s looking lovely! The stain really brings out the character of the wood, it pops really nicely. I’m actually staining my headless black and the stain is from Crimson. 

[mistermikev]

+1 lovely finish.

[JouniK]

Body finish has now been curing about 2 weeks now. Ended up putting total of 6 coats. It is curing nicely but still some thinner fumes coming out. But not so much anymore. I have to smell really close to get any. While body curing I have been sanding and finishing pickup rings and back plate. Messing with epoxy to get a smooth and durable surface. Trial and error.  

Just ordered a small batch of Carnauba wax, Beeswax and fractionated Coconut Oil. Going to do my own mix and try that after all is done.

Edited February 17, 2020 by JouniK

[JayT]

On 12/23/2019 at 10:21 AM, JouniK said:

Started making my own pickup rings from my left over alder. Rough cut. These needs to be fine sanded and stained with black water based stain. Probably will cover these with finishing epoxy to make them more durable.

I can't wait to see how these turned out

[JayT]

double post

Edited February 18, 2020 by JayT
double post

[JouniK]

Loved those staining and oil finishing youtube videos so much so decided to merge and upload the videos I recorded during my finishing process. The session where I was doing the bursting was so long that my phone battery ran out of juice and I lost the whole video. But here is the rest of them.

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by JouniK

[JouniK]

Time has passed since the last update. At last the body seems to be hard enough for the final wet sand with 2000 grit and then waxing.

During the cure time I finished my pickup rings. First attempt was to stain those black and then coat of Z-Poxy finishing resin. Well those looked really nice but I did not get the resin to leave a smooth surface and had to sand those back and forth and everytime sanded through the epoxy somewhere. So I quit that approach and ended up using a Maston 100 (332) spray varnish for the finish on these. I decided that 1 coat is sufficient for me. I am now in a point I am giving up on the look I wanted to get this finished.

So ended up buying the spray varnish. I had no place warm enough to spray so decided to build my diy spray booth at the office buiding garage. Professional isn't it? 

 

[mistermikev]

wow, those look really great.  are they cnc or hand?

[JouniK]

18 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

are they cnc or hand

by hand ofc

[mistermikev]

wow, I would love to try that but it seems like a lot of work.  respect.

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

wow, I would love to try that but it seems like a lot of work

It's not. We're talking about pickup rings, not the pickup covers, remember?

Take two thin pieces, glue them with the grains crossing to prevent warping. Thickness to whatever you need. Drill holes into the inner corners with a bit matching the pickup. Connect the holes using a scroll saw. You can also make a template for routing if you wish. Shaping the outside can be done before or after cutting the inside. Anyhow, shaping such thin and narrow pieces doesn't require too much effort, it's more about accuracy - which is partially why I haven't finished the ones I've cut!

[mistermikev]

right... small = more difficult.  I can think of sev ways I'd cut it... including yours... but I suspect the difficult part is getting straight lines with a scroll saw, or not busing it with a router.

[Bizman62]

Straight lines by hand = take a steel ruler and an X-acto knife instead of a pencil. Use files to reach the knife drawn line after sawing a hair outside of it. That's basically how you do it. And of course you'll end up filing one stroke too much...

[mistermikev]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Straight lines by hand = take a steel ruler and an X-acto knife instead of a pencil. Use files to reach the knife drawn line after sawing a hair outside of it. That's basically how you do it. And of course you'll end up filing one stroke too much...

Oh, I think I could do it to twenty seven strokes too much. 

actually, thinking it would be a lot easier to sand a pickup ring flat... then glue veneer to the top of it.  that's probably in my future somewhere. 

I could see using a router on 3/4 stock and getting the shape right... then hot glue some popsicle sticks to the top, take a flex saw and cut the back off.  I bet that is something where I'd want to do 10 of them and probably 5 would make it thru the process.  something to think about anyway. 

edit: sorry for detail.  I'm done.

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, mistermikev said:

actually, thinking it would be a lot easier to sand a pickup ring flat... then glue veneer to the top of it

I've sanded all my glossy plastic pickup rings dull as well as the P90 covers. That alone can make a huge difference. A veneer on top souns like a good idea, I'll have to try it!

[JouniK]

Today painted pickup and control cavity with graphite shielding paint. Sealed the the control cavity shielding with spray varnish only leaving the recess, potentiometer/input jack washer and switch area raw.

Made neck shim to correct slight angle deviance. About 0,6mm thick maple veneer was enough to correct it. Sanded the slope.. As this was only I had to do, filing the neck pocket was a bit too risky. Painted the exposed side of shim with black permanent marker to not show so obviously against black body..

 

Bridge placement measurements and drilling pilot holes for it. At first Aligning the bridge with threads I found that when tightening the neck it tend to go slightly off the center line. This threw off the pickup alignment. I was about to freak out. Found out that I had to slightly hold the neck in place hugging the longer side of the neck pocket when tightening the neck bolts. Thankfully this was solved so easily. Center line was now only about 1mm off. I can live with this. Atleast the neck and bridge are aligned and pickups are blades so no hassle about aligning the pole pieces

[JouniK]

Batch of DIY wax. First try was mix of beeswax, Carnauba and MCT oil (fractionated coconut oil). 1:5 ratio of wax and oil. Carnaba and beeswax ratio was 50-50. This mix left the varnished finish so oily so ended up discarding this.

Probably good for unfinished wood or shoe polish.

Found a traditional hard wax recipe. 1:2:3 ratio (carnauba,beeswax,low odor turpetine/mineral spirit).

Had to heat the wax jar with a hair dryer to soften the wax and wipe it on with a rag and turpentine. Wax added very moderate rate of shine on the satiny varnish finish a had. But probably added more protection.

Edited March 29, 2020 by JouniK

[Bizman62]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the oil-wax mixture. You told about the recipe some time ago and the coconut oil made me curious. I cooked a similar mixture to your second one using standard turpentine. What I found out was that keeping the lid on when mixing the turps to the hot wax created a lot less smelly vapours in the kitchen! Actually I had to add more turpentine since the first attempt became so hard the cake of wax cracked - but it was very easy to spread in the liquid form and it stayed running for quite a long time considering there was only about 15 grammes of Carnauba and some 35 gr. of beeswax plus an odd amount of turpentine. And it buffed shiny with a lambswool pad on the drill. But even more turps could have been used for a more creamy paste, like yours it doesn't want to come off the jar. Ben Crowe from Crimson Guitars once instructed using a heated rag for waxing, haven't tried that yet.

Just how odourless was that odourless turpentine you used?

[mistermikev]

On 3/8/2020 at 10:54 AM, JouniK said:

Today painted pickup and control cavity with graphite shielding paint. Sealed the the control cavity shielding with spray varnish only leaving the recess, potentiometer/input jack washer and switch area raw.

Made neck shim to correct slight angle deviance. About 0,6mm thick maple veneer was enough to correct it. Sanded the slope.. As this was only I had to do, filing the neck pocket was a bit too risky. Painted the exposed side of shim with black permanent marker to not show so obviously against black body..

 

Bridge placement measurements and drilling pilot holes for it. At first Aligning the bridge with threads I found that when tightening the neck it tend to go slightly off the center line. This threw off the pickup alignment. I was about to freak out. Found out that I had to slightly hold the neck in place hugging the longer side of the neck pocket when tightening the neck bolts. Thankfully this was solved so easily. Center line was now only about 1mm off. I can live with this. Atleast the neck and bridge are aligned and pickups are blades so no hassle about aligning the pole pieces

looks like a sunrise.  nice finish.

[JouniK]

Finally got sound out of this thing after little bit of struggle and troubleshooting with electronics...yeah it is a mess down there. Difference with normal pickups Fishman Fluences have 3 wires / pickup more to control the different voices and coil splits. To my surprise I got the wiring diagram correct the first time which I am pleased. Thanks @mistermikev for helping discussion on this. This was also the first time for me to execute and plan a whole wiring scheme.

The first plug-in was not successful. No sound what so ever. After troubleshooting with multimeter the reason was poorly clamped dupont connector on the battery wire. I settle upon using dupont connectors to help changes in the future if I want to change the wiring regarding the pickup voice select and switch positions.

Here are some pickup after all the setup done. String action set (Truss rod, nut filed, bridge saddle height) and intonated. Still some work to be made. Control cavity plate needs some work and a truss rod cover to be made. A waterslide logo design etc.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by JouniK