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Norris

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Everything posted by Norris

  1. Welcome Andy - and hijack away I'm hoping to get the loan of a daylight simulation lamp soon, so I'll be able to start a controlled fade test on my sample. I'm contemplating using conductive paint to shield the lower chamber. Any recommendations?
  2. I intend to cover half of the sample with a cut down credit card, gaffa-taped in place, so it won't let any light through. That means the "control" area will undergo the same climatic conditions as the "test" area apart from the light exposure. The advantage of using a ready mixed ink is that I can quickly create a "brand new" sample to compare it to, to allow for any oxidation effects over the duration of the test.
  3. Last night we got the lacquer out. The main object was to coat the dyed inner chamber. When I rubbed it back I exposed some of the grain. Now that it's got a couple of coats of lacquer it looks almost like raw meat - the beating heart of the guitar . Purely by accident, but I like the effect. But I also sprayed my test piece, and am really pleased. I really hope that it stays this vibrant. It really shimmers in the light. I'll set this piece up as a fade test - I'll be a few weeks working on the body: carving, sanding, etc. That should give it plenty of time. Hopefully I'll be able to get it under a sunlight simulation lamp for a couple of weeks at least (it's a bit dark & gloomy here in the UK this time of year). I also routed the truss rod channel in the neck, scraped in a curve (separate fretboard -> top-mounted truss rod), and then rough cut it on the bandsaw. I didn't bother with photos of that .
  4. I've just found this page: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/250572-all-diamine-inks-mini-fade-test/ It looks like some of the inks are more prone to fading than others. I think I'll set up a proper test on the colours I've chosen to see how well they hold when on wood (bearing in mind that the above page was a 3-day, paper-based test). If it doesn't work out, then I'll just have to use conventional dyes .
  5. I've spoken at length with a chap who has used ink on several occasions before, and he assures me it does not fade - evens reds, which are more prone to it. I'll set up a fade test, but won't have a huge amount of time for it to sit there before I'll want to get some colour on the body. I'll certainly let everyone know how it goes, because if ink turns out to be suitable you have a ready made palette of colours to choose from - and it's quite cheap.
  6. I managed to find time to play around with the ink dye. First I got the wood sanded down to 600 wet & dry, then applied a thin coat with a monofibre cloth. Then I gave one of the pieces a sand back And just to see what would happen, used some red on top... I'll give that another sand back & re-coat it blue. I'll see how the purple blends in, but I'll probably just use a single coat of blue. It could be an interesting effect for the more heavily grained ash back though . I'll also give them a few coats of lacquer, then set them up on the window sill part masked, to see how stable the pigments are and whether it fades at all. I also coated the top chamber with just the red & sanded back a bit to expose the grain. You'll barely be able to see this anyway. The ink isn't that bad to work with. I left it for 24 hours to dry out between any coats or sanding. It goes on quite thickly, despite being very liquid, meaning there is some room for sanding back. The top chamber above took me about an hour to sand back, going through grits 80, 120 & 320 - but then it's a little fiddly to get in there. Note to self: wear gloves next time when sanding back dye, it takes a lot of scrubbing off your hands!
  7. The guitar looks fantastic. I love the way you have rolled of the end of the fretboard behind the nut.
  8. Life has really been getting in the way so far this week. There hasn't been a moment when I've had both the time & energy to make any progress (a rather bad support callout for work helped. Having only 2 hours of sleep in a night takes a few days to get over these days). Anyway, the postman has delivered shiny things... After scouring the Internet I found them at a very reasonable price. I hope they sound as nice as some of the reviews I've read
  9. Thank you very much for your kind words. I'm taking my time and trying to do a decent job of it. I've got a lot to live up to given the standard of the builders here on PG, and am taking inspiration and learning a huge amount from every build update and finished guitar.
  10. I think the combination of my Jack plane & my sanding table will be sufficient for now. Any larger plane and I might get some balancing issues on my workmate . I really must get the garage cleaned out & get my (home-made) workbench in the middle of the room. I'm sure it would be a lot easier working then. Anyway, not really worth pictures, but hey - it's my first guitar and I'm having fun. I got the top piece rough cut last night and it's starting to look decidedly like a guitar. I also got the neck blank squared up ready to rout the truss rod channel and cut a 6mm strip for the fillet. This week's jobs are to order some pickups & prepare the top chamber ready for dyeing. I've now also got some maple offcuts for some dyeing/finishing tests. I've decided to go with a set of Fender Custom Shop '51 Nocaster pickups - they are fairly reasonably priced and get some great reviews.
  11. A couple of weeks ago I scored a Stanley Bailey No 5 Jack plane on ebay. The owner had reconditioned it, which meant it wasn't attractive to collectors, but lovely and clean for my needs ... actually using it. It cost around £30 (approx $45 USD) delivered. Anyway this weekend I got out my sharpening set - double sided stone, small bottle of oil & idler wheel clamp thingy, and am rather pleased that I put a darned good edge on it. It's very satisfying taking an inch wide ribbon of wood across the full length of the board, that is so thin it's almost transparent, with no snags or vibrations - just smooth, clean planing. Yay for me! Anyway, not much to update except that the back of my top piece is now very, very flat, especially after an hour or two on the sanding table, and is now ready for rough cutting into shape. I'll get that done on the bandsaw at class tonight. I then need to get the top chamber smoothed, dyed & laquered before I join the two pieces. I might also get a bit of a move on with the neck, which is still at the template stage..
  12. This is a real work of art considering the "jigsaw pieces" you started with, and it's really getting some character now that it's coming together. Lovely work
  13. I'm no expert (still doing my first build and not got onto fretting yet) but I think one option is to fill the existing fret slots with some matching veneer and then re-cut the slots - at least that's what @Melvyn Hiscock says in his book
  14. I'm going to dye the top chamber red so you can see it through the F hole (although mine won't be an F shape, or in the usual position ), so I'll do some better preparation. It should be a good early test of the ink dying in a place that doesn't matter so much too
  15. No, it's not cheap but I needed something to support the router base . I couldn't have used the 15mm edge on my thin template By the way, I forgot to mention it weighs in at 1152g - that's just over 2.5lbs in old money
  16. Chambers routed. I had a slight gouge where the router base slipped off the edge of the template, but it won't be seen.
  17. It's an old Black and Decker but then I probably didn't fit the most appropriate blade for the job either. As @ScottR says, it's useful for hacking out of a sheet, but far too unstable and wayward for much else
  18. I had a couple of days of holiday this week, so in between household DIY, visiting family (big month for birthdays) and cooking, I managed to get a bit of work done on the guitar. I flush trimmed the back piece with the router - luckily avoiding any tear-outs and minimal scorching. Then I spent a couple of hours on the fine grit sanding table. It's starting to get smooth on the back, and is close enough for the time being I broke my first template for the inner chambers - the jigsaw is now well out of the way on a shelf, it will not go near the guitar again! Then I made another template in 6mm MDF & used it to route a larger piece of 15mm MDF with plenty of overhang to support the router when I route the chambers. I asked my father-in-law if he had a pillar drill. Yes he has, but also has a spare one (honestly, who has a spare pillar drill?!). Anyway it's now on long term loan! (Mwahh-ha-ha he'll never see it again! ) So then on to removing a lot of the material to save my router bit It's a lot lighter already, but looks like the bees have just moved out . Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll get the router on it & get back to work on the top piece, which still needs a lot of flattening off.
  19. It was supplied by the chap who runs the guitar building classes. He's a luthier by trade, so buys a lot of wood and passes on his trade discounts to his "students". The ash is apparently English Light Ash, the same species as US swamp ash - so I'm told. I don't have individual prices for the wood, but the whole lot cost me around £130 (ash back, book-matched flamed maple top, maple neck blank & maple fretboard blank), which incidentally is about the same price as the brand new tobacco-burst Squier Affinity Strat I bought for my son a few weeks ago!
  20. You make it sound so easy. Stunning work
  21. Ha! I did wonder how I'd managed to cock it up. I'm sure it was correct when I posted it ... and probably explains why I couldn't edit my original post
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