thirdstone Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Got the top in today Now I can finally get some real work done on this sucker! Looking Good Algee I'll be tracking this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 Well it's been a while since i've done any real work on this. Unfortunatly, the maple top warped a bit (cupped in the middle basically, nature of the beast) so i've been trying to get it flat on the bottom. Before I attacked it with the plane, I tried a few things like wetting the other part of the cup and letting it sit a few days, wetting the top and clamping it to a 1" plywood board all with no real luck. So in the last week or so i've slowly started hand planing and sanding the back of it to atleast be able to get it glued onto the top (or ready to, gotta carve it still of course). After I get the bottom flat it's off to the planer to flatten the top of the top. Anyways, tomr. I plan to drill and route out the control cavity. I'm ordering a new neck blank for this project, i'm not wasting my time planing that neck flat. Pictures and such tomr! Peace, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2006 (edited) Just finished routing out the control cavity and the drilled out the jack today. Right now i'm working on the mortise and such. I'll have pictures when my mom brings home the camera. See ya, Chris Edited June 29, 2006 by AlGeeEater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2006 (edited) Meh, just took the picture. Held off on routing the mortise, still unsure of just how deep I want to route it now. Didn't get time to drill out for the output jack either. Plans for tomr: Toggle Switch area Wire routes Output jack Hopefully begin carving the top See ya, Chris Edited June 29, 2006 by AlGeeEater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 Got a bit done today in a few hours of work. Just gotta get back into the shop (i love food ) and clean up the chambers and also fix the wire route to the switch cavity. Might have the top on in the next few days. Still needs some flattening though before I glue it on. I also need to find a bucket with water for some weight to clamp it down with. I wish I had bigger C-clamps but it's fine. Chambers Swith cavity(Still need to fix the route to it) Better pic of the control cavity Peace guys, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 ... and here are the chambers all cleaned up. Not bad for some practice free-hand routing eh? Still need some sanding though! That's all for today. Tomr. I plan to route the neck pocket, mortise, whatever, and run the body/top through a thicknesser (hopefully). Ordered the new neck blank so I should get that soon and begin working on it. See ya, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 Freehand? looks pretty damn neat for freehand routing. You should see my freehand chambers They were hideous. Thankfully nobody ever will see them again, they're safely hidden inside the guitar. Your projects looking great so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Looking good man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Thanks guys! Here's the neck pocket I just finished up today. I could stretch it today and probaly glue the top on, but i'm not feeling like it and I know when to just quit. That's tomr's task Another angle Peace, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Algee, just wondering why you made the switch wire channel so wide? It looks like it runs through the neck pickup cavity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 (edited) Scott, I did everything based off the templates I got. I think it shifted over a little bit towards the treble side with my fence, but it's still about 3/4" wide (The plans for a 59' LP call for it to be 1/2" wide) while the templates are a bit over 3/4". In short I basically did to how the templates said do it. Does it matter if it goes into the pickup route though? I can't seeing it cause any real problems with that. Edit: It's actually pretty much on par with the templates except for the fact it shifted a bit towards the treble side. Edited June 29, 2006 by AlGeeEater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Also, just a question for you guys. The maple top I got cupped pretty badly (mainly because of me wetting the top) a few months ago. Since then i've hand planed it flat and now i'm ready to glue it up. It moved a little bit again, not too much and I could probaly flatten it out again by putting some force on it or clamping to my 1" plywood clamp thing. My question for you guys is can I safely glue the top on without trying to flatten it again? It's cupped probaly .010"-.005" in most places. Will the glue/clamps hold the top to the body without any problems? Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 It's normally a bad idea to force wood into submission with clamps and pray for the glue to hold, although I'm guilty of it as well. Try wetting the concave side just a little bit and perhaps putting weight on top of it with the convex side facing up. That might be all you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Alright, i'll try that and hopefully it works! I -really- wish I had access to a thickness sander/drum sander it would make flattening these tops so easy. Might have to consult my yellowpages for some cabinet makers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Is the wood actually dry and stable enough for you to glue it, though? Do you have access to a hygrometer or a kiln that could completely dry it out before you try gluing it up? Also, the wiring channel cuts into the neck pickup cavity a little on my '04 LP too. It's not really an issue because the pickup isn't mounted to the body or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 I don't have my smart hat on for converting inches to mm, but if you're talking less than 3mm of cupping, and you can push it flat with moderate clamping pressure, go ahead and glue it up. You're gluing it to a 1 3/4 slab of mahogany, and you've going to carve it to 1/4 at the edges anyway - if it can force a warp into your mahogany after that you're probably confusing mahogany and kitchen sponges Remember to take the direction of warping into acount when doing your glue up - ie: if the warp is highest in the centre, concentrate your clapms near the middle - the edges will be forced down by the cupping, and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Crafty, it's been kiln dried before I recieved it, and I haven't wet the top of the boards in about 3 months. It's perfectly dry and suitable for gluing. OK, good to hear about the channel then, whew. Setch, the boards are cupped about 0.26mm , so it's pretty safe to clamp it you think? OK, i'll prep the body and boards for sanding, and clamp the hell out of this. Ironically, where i'm using the bucket of water (or sand, not sure yet) is where the wood is cupped the most, so that'll flatten it out good me thinks. The edges are covered by my clamps so hopefully it will hold! Thanks guys, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarchump Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 0.26mm :| im surprised you really even noticed that! That must be an error or you have got damn good eyes and a damn level bench. The guitar is really comming along though good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 0.26mm :| im surprised you really even noticed that! That must be an error or you have got damn good eyes and a damn level bench. The guitar is really comming along though good work! I've gotten one of those Stew-Mac straight edges, they're GREAT! You can actually see slight fallaway on the left, but that's getting cut off so it's not important to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarchump Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 How thick is the top? Try clamping it to the body dry and see if it bends flat easily. If not you may wanna level it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted July 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 It's about 0.825" on the digital calipers, so about 53/64". Woulda been easier to say it's about 3/4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 This is why I try to resaw my tops as close to glue time as possiable. The easiest way to fix cupping is to avoid it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 This is why I try to resaw my tops as close to glue time as possiable. The easiest way to fix cupping is to avoid it. That's great if you are set up to do resawing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 This is why I try to resaw my tops as close to glue time as possiable. The easiest way to fix cupping is to avoid it. That's great if you are set up to do resawing I'm not. I just go get it done the day I need to glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 I just go get it done the day I need to glue. That's actually a good tip. I had my top resawn a few weeks back --mostly because it's hard to catch the guy in his shop, so I got lucky that day. Unfortunately I'd had the wood in the car for a couple of hours already --the wood got hot, it curled right away. And besides, as it is, I probably have at least a week, maybe two before I'm ready to glue it on. So I probably should have waited. But it's been under clamps between two flat boards for the past couple of weeks and it's perfectly flat now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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