JouniK

Hello! A month has passed and slow progress since other little projects came along like enlarging our bed frame to accommodate larger futon. I went ahead and also booked myself to another folk high school "course" where I can work 7 hours straight (compared previously 2h/week) with better tools and facilities just to get this project finished some time in the future. Got some templates done using some scrap wood and the control and pickup cavities routed. Did those using 2 different routers but the same router bit (DeWalt and Festool). Liked the DeWalt one more. More stable and the controls were better. Then filling the voids of the poplar burl. Used black wood filler with a glue gun. Picked up this method from Crimson Guitars youtube channel. Not sure what is so special about this glue (https://woodrepair.com/KNOT-FILLER/WR1) but I guess it is made for wood knot filling specifically. Probably is a little harder than normal hot glues and sanding it might be better. Not sure since I have not used these before. Not cheap stuff and I only found one retailer from Finland (or in Europe) where I could order these. Then to the second best thing in guitar building after staining...shaping the body edges with files. These were just initial try outs. Time ran out today to get the whole body finished. Lets see what the final shape will look like.

New year, new progress. Body shape and headstock rough cut with bandsaw. I will be adding a poplar burl top to the headstock as well. Next sanding the body sides, routing control cavity to get a estimate on how the guitar will balance itself in playing positions with hardware on it.

Drawing and testing out the body shape to the top blank. Sawing the neck pocket and fitting the top to the body/neck. Project coming together slowly but surely. Doing this stuff on an apartment floor since other things taking all the time at the workshop the rest of the year...wife inventing stuff for me to do and fix.

Planing the "wings" to the same thickness as the body...or what is left of it and then glueing pieces together..

Woods for this build Cutting off the "wings/horns" whatever they are called. I cut the top horn with a bandsaw by hand finished the cut with a joiner. Used that as a support for cutting the bottom horn with a bandsaw as well. Was not able use the joiner for the second cut because the headstock is tilted and other dimension limitations. Finished the that join with a piece of planed scrap wood blank and sandpaper. I got them decent enough to be glued. Next thing was to figure out how can I get 6mm off from the top of the body. Ended up using a hand router and made up router sled from a scrap laminated kitchen cabinet wood found at the workshop. Attached body to the "router sled" with a tape and ca glue. Stuck so good that I had difficulties to get the guitar off. Since I did not have router bit with a guiding bearing I left about 1-2mm away from the neck just be on a safe side and removed the rest with a chisel. Body needs a bit sanding before glueing the new wood on top. I think I succeeded fairly well. Body is exactly the same thickness all across the blank.

They don't. That was my first question when the course started. Yeah. doing it with a router+bit with a top bearing and using a template will make cleaner result and faster. I think. Me trying to do those cavities with a chisel would end horribly...probably.

Yeah. It has a 26,5" scale lenght. Not bad at all. This school has definitely better than what I remember from the 90's of a another small town school. Good bandsaw, tablesaw, joiner+planer, hand router and random orbital sander,..and a teacher/supervisor with me to talk with problems with these machines. Everything what I need other than I need to probably buy myself a router bit (I do not personally own a router) just for making new pickup and control cavities since the selection there is very limited. And there are a few people using the same stuff all the time so a bit waiting as well. It is kind of a "folk high school" thing, "Kansalaisopisto" in finnish.

I cannot see that there is a gap or they are popping out or not but I tested with kind of a fret rocking tool that those 2 frets seem not to be level with the other ones around. I might try those methods once I get this project to that point.

Hi, have had my Chapman Guitars ML7S for good 8 years now and wanted to do some changes to it. Well it all started with a need to have some fret work done because 14 and 15th frets were buzzing across all the strings. Checked that those were popping out a bit. Guitar has stainless steel frets so I need to take it someone who has proper tools to do the work. That got me thinking that I could do some other things as well since the guitar has other issues as well. Nut replacement. White nut has changed colour and wanted to change it to a black Graph tech one. Bridge repositioning. I have had some weird buzz on the low B (7th string) at the saddle when I try to intonate it properly. Especially if I change tuning to drop A. I need to move the saddle all the way at the end over the string through hole and that probably causes some unproper tension/misalignment of the string to the saddle. I am trying to move the saddle a few millimeters further away and drill new stringthrough holes. There is about 5mm headroom still to have the high E string to intonate. Not sure why bridges are always placed so close to the neck so that saddles need to be pulled back so far that to have the strings intonate properly even at standard E tuning. Well probably so if someone uses other that 9s or 10s at the high E. Going to change the pickups to Fishman Moderns. After my first build with poplar burl top I had been thinking if I can have the same wood as a top on this guitar as well. I wasn't so interested on the color and body shape any more as well. So that led me to this project. So I am retopping, changing the body shape a bit, bridge repositioning and nut replacement. It is going to be scary but interesting project since I have not found from the internets that anyone has done something like this before. Plus I am doing this at a elementary school woodwork class room and equipment. Not saying it is bad at all but resources are a bit narrow and not so top notch. This was the color and body shape when I bought it. I has a full mahogany body, set neck (this brings a bit more challenge to this) and string through construction. A few years back I sanded the finish down and changed the color of it. So I am starting out with cutting the both "wings" off and routing out 6mm from the top of the body to make room for the new drop top. Yeah didn't want to do a thin veneer top since getting of the finish sanding would take ages, I do not have tools to glue the veneer so good that it would last and I also wanted to have some curve on the top. So I ended up buying 2-piece 7mm poplar burl wood for the top. I did not find any good sources of mahogany for the wings so I bought some Red Willow blanks. This would not matter so much because I was thinking of not have the back and sides as natural finish anymore so going to paint as gloss black. Wish me luck!

All sounds (clean and dirty) were from Neural DSP Archetype: Tosin Abasi VST/Standalone software. Downloaded a trial version of it to test. Great sounds pretty much right out of the box. Used Fishman Fluence pickups in a split coil position for cleans.

https://youtu.be/VRGOnifHDkU Little sound test for you guys

Name: Aquilae 50 Here are the specs: Shape: Headless 6-string. Heavily influenced by ergonomic design by Ola Strandberg (Boden model) Body woods: Poplar Burl -top (15mm, bookmatched 2 piece) + European Alder (2 piece) Scale: 25,5inch, 22 frets Neck: Bolt-On Flaxwood Hybrid with jumbo nickel frets (pre-manufactured without filled fretboard dots) (Wood fiber composite -material) Fretboard dot inlay color: Black, Side dots: Orange (luminous) Hipshot 6 String Guitar Headless Fixed -bridge (tuning machines) + traditional headpiece Pickups: Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi -set, DIY pickup rings Pickup Selector: 5-way Schaller Megaswitch 1 volume -pot

I planned on doing the logo to the control cavity cover but...yeah what can I say...not very good planning on doing a waterslide to a black background. Well I probably leave this as is and in some point in time do a another cavity cover or do something with veneers that have in storage.

Next up is designing the "logo" to go on top of the control cavity cover. Gonna be using SunnyScopa film-free waterslide paper.

No it is luxury item called Ikea Ivrig. Some whisky would not have been so bad idea while sewing...

Easter gave me time to do some sewing, glueing and drilling. Attaching the strap to the tip of the horn was successfull without cracks and splits. Thanks @Bizman62 and @mistermikev for advises. Drilled a looser pilot hole for the screw, first I did a dry install and used clamps to support the horn from the sides. Then soaked the screw hole with thin ca glue as much as I could. Let that dry over night and then fastened the screw and strap buckle. Used the longer and bigger screw that came with the DiMarzio strap. Success! No extra weight needed to correct the balance. No more neck dive. Also modified the DiMarzio strap shorter. Teared apart both ends of the strap also the buckle part. Used thick gel like ca glue and phenomenal sewing skills of mine Comparison with the original strap length. This removed also the issue where the wider part of the strap was resting on my collarbone.

Oh thanks.

Tested by attaching the strap at the tip of the horn with duct tape actually got this balanced just right. But the horn is quite pointy and narrow. I am afraid that it will crack/break at some point. Thinking of drilling a bit larger hole than needed and fill that with thin epoxy hoping that the epoxy will soak in and strenghten the wood fibers beneath. Then also doing a looser pilot hole for the screw.

Somehow with years of practice and prototyping. I never even thought about neck dive and strap buttons placement during design since I thought that removing tuners and most of the head will remove this problem. Their bodies are hollowed (mine was solid alder and poplar burl) and the forward side strap buttons I think always at the tip of the horn. I guess their necks are lighter than mine. Probably also lighter side wood because they strenghten their necks with carbon fiber. Bodens have also zero fret and no individual nut.

I experimented with some duct tape and figured that I would need approximately 550-500g more weight if placed it at the end of the strap. Then the neck would sit straight or a bit upwards. But first I will shorten the strap and sow some suede at the back to prevent sliding and then evaluate the situation again. Interesting ideas. Do you think that lowering the strap position along the red strip would help? I do not have tools for doing any metal work but piece of veneer plywood could work and attach it with screws. Have to think how that will look. Probably have to test more with duct tape (hopefully not ruin the finish with glue residue)

Total weight is 2.64kg. I am getting a bit of neck dive although no traditional headstock. Probably the flaxwood neck with hipshot headpiece is so heavy comparing to the body...or the strap screws are not at the optimal position. I did not want to sacrifice breaking the upper horn if I placed the strap screws at the tip of the horn so I placed it a little bit lower. I have to take a look at some counterweights to the control cavity or at the other end of the strap. Any suggestions? Apparently I also have to modify the dimarzio straps because apparently they are too long at the shortest setting for me and too "slippery". Did not think I have to learn to sew during this project.

I added the turpetine after the wax mix was liquid and off the stove. Lid on to cool down. It did have a smell to it. I have not smelled turpentines so much to compare but the Crimson Penetrating Finishing Oil did have very strong odor comparing to this. I guess they use normal normal mineral spirits/white spirit to thin the oil.

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.

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.

I also bought a set to be used as nut files after seeing a youtube video about alternative ways do nut slots.