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Walnut & White Limba Lpjr


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Until I get my new bandsaw & some good blades for it, there isn't going to be much progress on this one. All I've been able to do so far is make a couple of neck templates - one for this guitar and one for my niece's guitar.

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I did settle in on a fretboard: the other side of the Guyana Rosewood.

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everything together and ready to slot the fretboard

halfway through

done

That was harder than it needed to be. Apparently, Guyana Rosewood is hard as a rock.

It is that silly Stew Mac Saw. They knew it stunk and have replaced it with this!!!

Japanese_Fret_Saw

More like the LMI model. I would buy one but I just got the table saw blade.

BTW use the depth gauge to deepen the slots after you radius the fretboard.

Nice Work!

Edited by RestorationAD
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It is that silly Stew Mac Saw. They knew it stunk and have replaced it with this!!!

Japanese_Fret_Saw

More like the LMI model. I would buy one but I just got the table saw blade.

BTW use the depth gauge to deepen the slots after you radius the fretboard.

Nice Work!

It is. The auction came with the saw, miter box, and 25/25.5 template.

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Decided that since I have plug cutters and this will have dot inlays, there's no reason for me to buy dots for the neck.

I'll be using white limba for the dots. I just cut about 20 of them with the 1/4" cutter. It puts a slight taper onto it so it can have a really snug fit. Experimenting with a 1/4" & a 7/32 bit, the 1/4" hole lets the plug slide freely & a touch loosely while the 7/32 hole gets a very snug fit. A gentle tap or three with a hammer gets the plug almost flush.

No pics, but that's where I am.

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Sounds great and the scarf looks perfect. Just make sure if you aren't putting a finish on the fretboard that the limba dots won't get dirty. I don't know white limba personally, so I don't know how porous and how likely it would be to get dirty. Maybe using some hardwood's sapwood might be better? Not sure, just something to think about. Cool idea though!! Look forward to seeing it turn out. J

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I don't know white limba personally, so I don't know how porous and how likely it would be to get dirty.

That's a good point. Maybe I'll gently sand it flush, then use a toothpick to drop some poly just on the limba dots. It should soak in nicely and seal it up and maybe build up just a hint of protection. It should all even out during the radiusing. I could even use the dremel to make the dot just barely concave. Hmmmmm...

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Router table set up to cut truss rod channel. I'm officially pissing myself at this point because this is one of those "screw it up and you gotta start with a new blank" spots.

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Fortunately, it went off without a hitch. All I had to do was re-establish the center line about 1mm over from where it was originally.

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taper template traced and cut about 1/16" from the line

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headstock outline in place and then cut

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neck routed to the template

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headstock shaped at transition point

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fretboard routed to the template - just laying on the neck at this point

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After getting a bunch of your thoughts in this thread yesterday (thanks!), I decided to route the f/b to the template before gluing it on. The reasoning is that I can clamp the edges 100% square, thus allowing me to only worry about it sliding in one direction instead of all over the place. I'll probably do this later tonight.

Next is actually doing the dots. In my mind it'd be easier to do them now rather then when the f/b is glued on. Probably because since I'm using limba plugs and tapping them into place with a hammer, I'll be drilling all the way through the board.

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gathered everything ahead of time for a change

Now where is the fun in that? Half of the fun of neck and guitar building is running around the shop looking for parts while the glue is starting to dry! Well at least my wife thinks it's pretty damned funny watching me doing it.

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It came out of the clamps this morning. I hit the whole thing with chalk before I started to radius it. I figured "When the chalk is gone, it hit the radius and I can start advancing through the grits. It was a goof theory. Then I brushed away the dust.... and the chalk with it. So I scribbled all over it with a pencil. That worked a LOT better. I used a pencil before every grit up to 1200.

Here it is, radiused and ready for some MicroMesh lovin'.

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Outside pics before hitting it with MicroMesh. It's actually looking pretty good at this point, no?

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And after working my way through the pads to 12,000 grit.

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Dude... you can see the lawn across the street in the reflection. :D

Tomorrow I think I'll fret it. The reasoning I have for fretting before shaping the back is that it's better to have a flat surface to hammer on than a curved one on blocks. With everything I've read & seen, there's no reason the spokeshave should come anywhere NEAR the ends of the frets, so if I'm careful & take my time, there shouldn't be any issues.

Alright... you have until tomorrow morning to change my mind.

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Wouldn't the truss rod take care of that?

You'd hope so, but why chance it? You never know how much it will move, and it's always better to be on the safe side...

Alternately, wouldn't I be able to just level them after the back is carved?

Again you'd hope so, but that's extra work, and I try to level frets as little as possible to keep as much height as possible.

You'd just be saving yourself extra work/time/headaches if you waited.

my .02 :D

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I was meaning only level them once, after the back is done.

And I didn't want your $0.02 I wouldn't be asking for it.

Which I am. :D

Still, what he means is it will have moved a lot more, and whatever levelness you had when you fretted, is completely gone. There is no benefit to fretting prior to carving. What you should do carve the back, then re level the fretboard, then fret.

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