curtisa Posted June 3, 2020 Report Share Posted June 3, 2020 I consider it the Jazz approach to luthiery. Jazz musicians don't steal ideas from each other - they 'pay homage'. I did have pics of my 'homage' to the mutliscale fret slotter in one of my previous build threads, but I see they were nuked by Photobucket. I'll see if I have offline copies floating around.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 3, 2020 Report Share Posted June 3, 2020 Maybe we should get our heads together and do a distilled version of this idea. Anyway. Enough of OT'ing Lumberjack's thread I guess! ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumberjack Posted June 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2020 No worries at all @Prostheta and @curtisa, and funny you should link that original jig, cause that's the same jig I got my idea from! Granted mine looks like it was made by a mentally unstable kindergartner compared to both the original and Prostheta's jig, but if I end up making more multiscales I'll make something more substantial. @Prostheta thanks for weighing in on the scarf joint - do you mean using a hand plane (or the stone+sandpaper method) after the initial cut to true up the faces before gluing? I've set up a 90 degree table abutting my belt sander which is flat and wide enough to take a 3" board and have been using that to true up the faces, which works fairly well. I've run into inconsistent results with multiple passes on the table saw though, and once tried to cut through with one pass and like you said got way too much burning to make that a viable solution. Do you still cut scarf joints with the table saw and get the faces flush afterward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted June 4, 2020 Report Share Posted June 4, 2020 At the expense of OT-ing the thread once more (which I'm sure you'll forgive - it's Jazz, isn't it? ), here's my re-interpretation of the any-angle fret slotting jig from the archives: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 4, 2020 Report Share Posted June 4, 2020 When you first posted that I thought what a cool jig for the purpose, but I totally missed the magnets. Brilliant- no matter where it came from! SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 About the ebony - just like you, I’d never heard of figured/flamed ebony. With my current build I also had a piece of Gaboon that looked plain until planed and it revealed tons of curl. After a net search I found that curl is actually common and finding plain, jet black pieces is even harder. No matter, it’s awesome.! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumberjack Posted August 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 Getting back to work on this one and did a bit of inlay cutting today. I spent quite a while working on those little abalone crescent moons, but I wasn’t able to get them consistently shaped and thicknessed, so I don’t think they’ll stay. Still up in the air on what will go into the board other than the 12th-fret quilted maple bit. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 4, 2020 Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 Damn cool. Reminds me of how marquetry packs are cut! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumberjack Posted August 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 10 hours ago, Prostheta said: Damn cool. Reminds me of how marquetry packs are cut! Thanks, and definitely agree about the marquetry! I don’t know why people don’t use wood as an inlay material on guitars more commonly, seems like a no brained to me if you’ve got some curly/quilted maple scrap lying around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 4, 2020 Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 Agreed. I stash so much waste that it's almost as much of a problem as actually wasting it! I did a fair bit of marquetry during study, and it was educational getting a feel of how to work packs of veneer manually and then getting them to fit. Sand shading felt like cheating! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 4, 2020 Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 love the inlay work and figured ebony??? I need to change my pants. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted August 4, 2020 Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 4 hours ago, Lumberjack said: Thanks, and definitely agree about the marquetry! I don’t know why people don’t use wood as an inlay material on guitars more commonly, seems like a no brained to me if you’ve got some curly/quilted maple scrap lying around. I did all the inlay work on my first 5 builds with wood, the rationale was free inlay material and no big deal if I screwed up, Ebony dust in maple inlays can be a PITA though, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Worse yet, Padauk dust and oil in Maple! Scraping helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Those comments remind me of the summer I spent helping someone redo a Victorian house. For months, all I did was strip milk paint from woodwork. Windows, stair railings, fireplace, doorways. It gets really deep into the pores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Milk and chalk paint is pretty good stuff though if you like that sort of finish. Yeah, it is pretty annoying to strip out of open grained woods. Ash and Oak are particularly nightmarish in that respect. Hey, I get the feeling that @Lumberjack might kick our arses out of the thread if we derail much more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumberjack Posted August 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2020 Derail away lads! I always learn something from the conversations that happen on this forum. Yes the dust does get in there, but I’ve had good luck cleaning it up in the past, and after all it’s just the 12th fret inlay that will need it, plus it’s going to be dyed a color anyways. And yes @mistermikev it’s curly ebony - bought a $20 fingerboard blank and was surprised to find the figure hiding under the bandsaw marks! Got some routing and a tiny bit of contour carving done today. This is my first multiscale and even though I knew it was coming, the pickup cavities at different angles from eachother still freaks me out! Simple, clean cavity. Roasted curly maple cover from the same piece of wood as the neck. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 6, 2020 Report Share Posted August 6, 2020 i like to think I get lucky scores all the time but man that's one lucky score. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 6, 2020 Report Share Posted August 6, 2020 I might be mistaken, but I think that curl in Ebony is normally interpreted as a fault. Obviously, if you dig it then that is what matters. From the standpoint of a sawyer or those managing stock sorting, it's a fault or at least a lesser grade. Curl causes higher incidence of tearout and grain issues as you'd expect, which is more problematic in fracture-prone woods. Last time I had curly Ebony, it mostly disappeared after polishing with a few splinters around the corners of fret slots and along the long edges. Guard up! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumberjack Posted August 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 17 hours ago, Prostheta said: I might be mistaken, but I think that curl in Ebony is normally interpreted as a fault. Obviously, if you dig it then that is what matters. From the standpoint of a sawyer or those managing stock sorting, it's a fault or at least a lesser grade. Curl causes higher incidence of tearout and grain issues as you'd expect, which is more problematic in fracture-prone woods. Last time I had curly Ebony, it mostly disappeared after polishing with a few splinters around the corners of fret slots and along the long edges. Guard up! Thanks for the heads up! I was surprised I didn’t get any tear out when I planed it actually. It chipped like crazy while I was working on the large inlay though... Speaking of which, doing this inlay was truly hellish - my tiny dremel bits were no match for this ebony, and after a bit of burning I gave up and switch to hand tools, itty bitty chisels, etc. As a result, it took me about ten million years to finish, and honestly was one of the messiest bits of work I’ve done in years. The ebony was chipping out everywhere and I’m just praying the “mix ebony dust with the epoxy you glue it in with” trick will save this one, cause it was definitely the most problematic inlay I’ve done in ages. Here it is gluing up along with the offset abalone dots I settled on. I’ll radius it tomorrow, here’s hoping it doesn’t turn out too wonky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted August 7, 2020 Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 Worth the effort, though @Lumberjack. The 'M' looks excellent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted August 7, 2020 Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 This is what my experience was like with the curly ebony. I've got small carbide end mill bits (1/16", 1/8") which cut well, but anytime there was a little corner or small freestanding area (think center of an 'O'), there was great danger of a chunks just flying off. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted August 7, 2020 Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 That inlay is looking good mate, will look fantastic once it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 7, 2020 Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 That's the problem exactly. I had a terrible time slotting the board, with chunks pushing and pulling out of the fret slot ends. It's the sort of stuff that makes you want to creep up to the final fretboard taper with a belt sander. Cutting tools are a liability. In fact, in my case I discovered the chipping after I'd tapered (you learn once through that) and ended up re-tapering with a sander, then binding using black ABS since my cutoffs were too small. I got lucky in that the ABS blended into the Ebony better than I could have expected. Still, it makes me think twice with materials that have short grain paths now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 7, 2020 Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 13 hours ago, Lumberjack said: Is that your own self-made inlay cutting jig on the right? That looks very nicely-made. I'm a big believer in putting as much work and care into jigs as the actual item. Firstly, it makes you think deeply about accuracy and suitability, plus you enjoy working on/with it. Lowering work frustration also lowers temptation to rush or cut corners, which is where the bad stuff lays. At least, that works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted August 7, 2020 Report Share Posted August 7, 2020 On 8/5/2020 at 11:19 PM, Prostheta said: I might be mistaken, but I think that curl in Ebony is normally interpreted as a fault. Obviously, if you dig it then that is what matters. From the standpoint of a sawyer or those managing stock sorting, it's a fault or at least a lesser grade. Curl causes higher incidence of tearout and grain issues as you'd expect, which is more problematic in fracture-prone woods. Last time I had curly Ebony, it mostly disappeared after polishing with a few splinters around the corners of fret slots and along the long edges. Guard up! interesting. to many cabinet makers... at least folks who are say - doing kitchen cabinets... curly maple is also a fault, because it won't match the rest of the cabinets. I think it's probably true about any figure in wood depending on the context. I can imagine it might be hard to work with... but isn't ALL the most beautiful wood hard to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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