avengers63 Posted December 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 No pics of how things went with the neck replacement. I glued up a new ash/cherry/maple/cherry/ash blank, got it to size, and glued it in. I used epoxy instead of titebond to fill in any gaps that were leftover. I also took the opportunity to make it a drop-down headstock instead of scarfed. It's what I wanted originally, but I dorked up the blank the 1st time. After it was all said and done and the neck/headstock roughed into shape, I decided that I didn't like the way the color was going. It was getting too dark... not turquoise anymore and starting to obscure the quilt. So off it came! The pics are with the sealer coat of w/b lacquer. I had to apply both the dye and the lacquer around the edge with a small artist brush. I have a bit of cleanup to do, but it isn't horrible. A 1/2-hour with a scraper should take care of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian d Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 You've really hit the mark with the dye job on the quilt. With the "pop" and depth of the quilt and the colour it reminds me of the ripples in a swimming pool just after an attractive bikini-clad lass dives in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 just after an attractive bikini-clad lass dives in. surely that needs to give john inspiration for an inlay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 just after an attractive bikini-clad lass dives in. surely that needs to give john inspiration for an inlay It really should. Maybe some day.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Mother of god. That's beautiful for a flat guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Danke You should look up some of the builds from Drak. He's our resident master for coloring the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 You're welcome. Will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted January 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I got a couple of coats of w/b lacquer on the top - enough to not worry about dorking up the dye, but not enough to polish. Then the pup routes got re-opened. The heel got roughed out and the fretboard glued on today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 That's going to look sexy when it's finished! I've got a soft spot for turquoise type trans quilt finishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted February 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Getting it all oiled up. This is linseed oil application #3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 That wood is literally making my mouth water. It's... so... beautiful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 May I ask why you used linseed oil? That aside, looks pretty good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) It may just be me, but I don't see any predrilled holes for strap pins, pickup rings, control cavity covers or jack plates... Please correct me if I'm wrong. [edit] nevermind I just took another peek through the rest of the thread, and I totally see mounting holes in the pickup cavity for the surface mounts, and predrilled holes for the bridge assembly. I was just scared because that finish is looking very nice. Edited February 15, 2012 by FireFly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 It may just be me, but I don't see any predrilled holes for strap pins, pickup rings, control cavity covers or jack plates... Please correct me if I'm wrong. its not always worth doing anyway. i dont drill any of those holes beforehand as its easier to finish and polish a piece of wood with as few holes as possible iirc it was Drak who advocated taking it further and sometimes didnt even do pickup routes before finishing if you do pre-drill all holes you need to be aware that they will need redrilling after to remove finish build up, and they can also cause problems during wet sanding/buffing if water gets in the hole and swells that area causing you to sand/buff straight through the finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 May I ask why you used linseed oil? It's the best means to an end. I don't really like a finished neck. I've done them in the past, and I'm doing one on another build, but they're not my favorite. As a result, I oil almost all of my necks. Since this is a neck-through and there isn't a defined line between the neck & body, I decided to oil the entire body. Artistically, it'll give further definition between the glossy, finished top and the flat, natural back. I specifically use linseed oil because it's the only true oil that cures. Just about everything else on the market listed as oil, tung oil being the most popular, aren't really oil at all but some kind of wipe-on varnish. So 1) I know exactly what I'm getting, and 2) since it cures, you can build up a small barrier with repeated applications. Granted, that barrier ain't much, but it's better than nothing. I strongly recommend Bob Flexner's book on wood finishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 It may just be me, but I don't see any predrilled holes for strap pins, pickup rings, control cavity covers or jack plates... Please correct me if I'm wrong. [edit] nevermind I just took another peek through the rest of the thread, and I totally see mounting holes in the pickup cavity for the surface mounts, and predrilled holes for the bridge assembly. I was just scared because that finish is looking very nice. its not always worth doing anyway. i dont drill any of those holes beforehand as its easier to finish and polish a piece of wood with as few holes as possible if you do pre-drill all holes you need to be aware that they will need redrilling after to remove finish build up, and they can also cause problems during wet sanding/buffing if water gets in the hole and swells that area causing you to sand/buff straight through the finish I never do those little holes anymore for the reasons Wez stated. As for the bridge holes, they were all filled in with epoxy when I put the new neck blank in. It's just as well because I didn't really like the bridge I was using anyway. I'm pretty sure I'll be using a Kahler flat-mount I got ahold of. Whatever I use will cover up the old holes anyway, so I'm not worried about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted March 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 updates coming soon...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted March 9, 2012 Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 if you do pre-drill all holes you need to be aware that they will need redrilling after to remove finish build up, and they can also cause problems during wet sanding/buffing if water gets in the hole and swells that area causing you to sand/buff straight through the finish +1 Excellent advice. updates coming soon...... I have been waiting forever on a review of those pups... hurry already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted March 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 I have been waiting forever on a review of those pups... hurry already. You don't trust your own evaluations when you tested them? So here we are. It's all buffed out and ready for assembly. Except that the hardtail bridge I have on hand is junk and I'm not putting it on there, and the Kahler hardtail I picked up is too tall (I'm NOT recessing it at this point!). I'll be placing an order with RAD pretty soon, so I'll have a bridge soon enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 I FINALLY got this thing wired up and tested out. The first free-way switch I put in was junk. I posted a negative review on Stew-Mac's site.... and they emailed me wanting to send me two more. Talk about over-the-top customer service! The new switch actually worked, so I was able to get it up and running. For the guitar itself, the neck needs to be shaved down a bit: it's too "square" to be really comfortable to play. I'm not a big fan of the strat-like shpaes because of the upper horn against my body, so the shape here isn't ideal for me. BUT, it really needs the upper horn for balance, which it does wonderfully. Not as perfect as the headless V, but a really close second. The minimal weight is a wonderful thing as well. Brett's pups are pretty dang nice. I really put him to task on these, wanting surface mount HBs with a hot vintage sound. Personally, I still think he could have taken them thinner, but these worked out great. I have the free-way switch wired up HB on one side and s/c on the other. The s/c side sounds exactly like you'd expect tapped HBs to sound - no big surprise there. The HB side had something interesting going on though. When the bridge is on by itself as a HB, it sounds very tinny like it's out of phase. It really cuts through everything, sometimes in a not-so-good way. IDK if it's the pup or the wiring. Everything looks to be right and I'm getting the right sounds with no buzz, so I'm not going to mess with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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