Mockingbird

[westhemann]

I'll be honest..if it were me i would shave it down,plug the cavity hole with wood,and turn it onto exactly that white pic I posted first...but I think you would do it differently.

But something about a plain white guitar with black hardware is really sexy(yes I realize the pic has chrome hardware...but I would make it black with a streaky ebony board)

[avengers63]

Shaving it down is probably the best bet. I can't deny that the solid color 'Birds look pretty tasty. Then again, so do the quilted tops.

[avengers63]

After sleeping on it, I cut it in half and planed the whole thing down. Right now I'm putting some sapele on the halves to rebuild the thickness to 1 1/4". This pretty much locks in the idea of ebonizing the back as this will hide any glue lines.

I split a piece of the flamed maple. After planing it flat, I came up with a top just over 5/16".

If - and that's only if right now - I go with the flamed top, I'll still have a little bit of thickness to either give it the traditional 'Bird contours or go for the slightly rounded ones that Wes showed me.

Probably best to keep it simple.

On a different note, someone mentioned abandoning the purpleheart idea and going for a fancier f/b like cocobolo. It just so happens that I have a coco f/b that I've been saving for something special. I have a lot of other boards too, but I'm just sayin'. Wez reminding me that I love to monkey around with inlays got me lookng at DePaul's site for another idea to steal. Going with the traditional cloud inlays BCR uses....

I could easily do this in plain maple and yellowheart.

[westhemann]

Glad to hear it.

John,I make those corners with a sanding sponge.First I shape everything to sharp corners with a rasp(all of the contours you see there) and make sure to hold the rasp in a flat plane so that the end result is crisp,and then I sand everythng with a square block in straight lines until everything is super sharp,and the last step is a fine sanding sponge,only on the corners,and only lightly.The rounding takes no more than a couple of minutes.

[avengers63]

I make those corners with a sanding sponge.First I shape everything to sharp corners with a rasp(all of the contours you see there) and make sure to hold the rasp in a flat plane so that the end result is crisp,and then I sand everythng with a square block in straight lines until everything is super sharp,and the last step is a fine sanding sponge,only on the corners,and only lightly.The rounding takes no more than a couple of minutes.

That's almost exactly what I did on the Superthin. First, I used a 45-degree bevel bit to set the depth evenly around the body. Then, after penciling the inside line of the bevel, I worked it down with a rasp & file. It worked out pretty easily and with a uniform depth.

[westhemann]

I haven't used a router bit to set my bevels since I did that beast with the continuous 45....seems as if it doesn't flow as well that way to me.

[avengers63]

While the pieces are all being glued together, I did some practicing on some cutoff. It turned out decent.

[avengers63]

Not much to report here other than some thoughts and a decision.

The fretboard became a no-brainer. I landed some ebony factory seconds that have been slotted already. The only reason they're seconds is they're a bit streaky. A little linseed oil takes care of that, so the fretboard is now and forever ebony. And it'll be spectacular with the sun/moon/cloud inlays.

I've been thinking about the neck for a little bit. It needs to balance tonally and visually with the body. Sapele is very dark soncially, with the flamed maple pulling it up a bit. I couldn't have a dark sounding neck like mahogany, but I didn't want it as bright as maple for fear of overcompensating. Using Warmoth's neck tone guide as a reference point for the woods I have on hand, this leaves me with bubinga, bocote, chechen, and paduk. They're all in the 75% bright range, with maple being 100%.

Visually, the sapele is getting ebonized, so it's a neutral black, as is the fretboard. The flamed maple is getting the tiger-eye burst, so the main color is varying shades of orange. Not only that, it's a very active orange due to the flaming. I don't want the neck to compete visually with the body or fretboard, so I need it to be fairly plain. This rules out bocote.

The fretboard is 22 frets, 25.5" scale. I already know that the 'Bird is precariously balanced, so a heavy wood for the neck is just asking for trouble. This rules out bubinga.

Looking at the two remaining woods - chechen and paduk - I'm comparing the colors and weight. Overall, taking into consideration everything mentioned above, I have to go with paduk. It's lighter than the chechen, and will eventually turn into a dark burnt orange, which will compliment the top nicely.

[avengers63]

in'it pur-tee

I think I got more than a little bit lucky snagging a piece with some sap wood in it. It should look great once it's carved.

[avengers63]

I finally got the body all re-glued and ready for the next step: neck pocket, pickup, and trem routing. Unfortunately, I have top have the neck a little more done before I can get there. The headstock wings are in the clamps. Tomorrow should see a faceplate. After that, some serious action can start.

[avengers63]

I managed to get the faceplate on tonight, as well as shim out the edges of the ebony fretboard, so tomorrow should be pretty action-filled for the neck.

I landed a cheap 3-pack of pre-slotted ebony fretboards @25.5", all 22 fret. The nut was too narrow though, so I have to add some width with another piece of ebony I ended up getting for FREE. All are a consistent near-black with slight brown streaks that disappear when wet, so the shims will be all-but-invisible.

The headplate ended up being walnut. It'll get dyed black, just like the sapele body base.

I'm considering adding cream binding to the headstock & fretboard. I'm not sure yet. The body will have a faux binding from the edges of the top. The maple top is getting dyed, but I can scrape the edges clean for a crisp faux binding look. Cream on the headstock & fretboard would blend in nicely, but I'm just not sure if I want to go that far yet.

[avengers63]

Beginning process of making the inlays.

One down! It's the back of the 1st fret inlay. It's flat & even, and so it looks much better than the front at this stage. They're coming in at 1/4", which is just a hair taller than the fretboard.

[avengers63]

No pics to post, but the inlays are made, headplate glued on, bound, and blackened, and the fretboard is in the clamps.

[Our Souls inc.]

coooool. waitin to see these inlays.

[avengers63]

this morning....

....this afternoon

I made a routing template for these out of hardboard, just like I did on the Deco LP. It's worth the extra effort now to have the unbelievably fast routing/fitting later. The inlays themselves were 5/16" thick - thicker than the fretboard - so I used the template as a height gauge and cut off the excess thickness with a flush-cur saw. They're all now +/- 1/8".

[Our Souls inc.]

How about making thick ones and slicing 'sets' out of the thick stock?

.........

would make it easy to grab a spare should something happen to one while fretting.....

[avengers63]

I was thinking about that when I was cutting the extra thickness off. A couple of these were made..... poorly, so it couldn't happen with these. I believe in the future, when I make a set, I'll make them a lot thicker so i can make more than one set at a time. Maybe make a couple extra bucks in the process.

[avengers63]

The body is all routed and beveled.

This afternoon I drilled the control holes and started the dyeing process.

[westhemann]

Looks much better.

[Prostheta]

It does Wes. Ditch that damn roundover bit before you use it again and I say something derogatory, John.

[avengers63]

It does Wes. Ditch that damn roundover bit before you use it again and I say something derogatory, John.

You'll be happy to know that I removed the roundover that was on the back. Some thickness got removed from the back while I was re-working it, so the roundover wasn't so round anymore. When looking at the way BCR does their bevels, I saw that they have a simple, shallow bevel all the way around the back of the body. So now, mine has a 45-degree bevel that's about 1/8"-3/16" deep. I gotta admit that it fits in a LOT better than a 1/4" roundover.

[FireFly]

BCRs always have a tendency to stab. It looks like you've eliminated this problem!

[Prostheta]

I love graduated bevels. The most simplistic being the Rhoads V. Mockingbirds and other crazy BCR shapes do have excellent complimentary bevelling which reduces their apparent size and what could be perceived as clunkiness. Roundovers serve to enhance "clubbiness" by extending otherwise delicate surface areas and extending them into large whopping marshmallow flumps. Flat-top versions of most BCR shapes look horrid in comparison. I think they took a great angle (no joke intended) on the whole bevelling idea and made it something very artistic.

As you were.

[avengers63]

Then get a load of this.....

one with flash, one without...

[avengers63]

With my brand new set of card scrapers (), the edge of the faux binding is now crisp and clean. While I was giving the back & sides a wipe down before lunch, I had a thought. I'm gonna try a hand-rubbed black burst over the back. The sides will be all black still. If for some reason I can't pull it off I'll just dye the back black like I originally planned.