CD1221 Posted February 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 I performed some surgery today. used the dremel and a scalpal to cut out new inlay slots. and then glued the new mop in. I think I did a better job this time. next up is to sand it back, polish the board and get the neck ready. I changed my mind about doing a bookmatched headstock plate using the sassafras. I tried a few different sections and it doesn't look right. I am still going with a plate, to cover the scarf join, but I will be using a section of blackwood from the back instead. when sanded the blackwood is showing a bit of flame, so fingers crossed it comes up good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 spent some time sanding back the glue today to reveal this: The part on the left at the bottom has not polished up shiny like the rest, no idea why. I am not going to try and replace it though....there isn't enough mop left in the other sections. Overall, I am happy with the repair job. It isn't perfect, but I can live with it. Here is a shot of the full board, I just need to give it a bit more of a polish with the steel wool to remove the last of the rub marks from the fret saw guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted February 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2011 This weekend I put some blackwood through the thicknesser and made the headstock plate and drilled/filed the access hole for the truss rod adjustment. that sucked. fFiling holes on extreme angles in hardwood sucks. The end result is pretty good though, so I think I might not even make a cover now. Will see how it looks when it is finished. I also trimmed the fretboard down a little, installed the truss rod and glued the fretboard on. I used a little trick from a mate: I found some 1mm x 12mm brad nails, and put one in my hand drill. I used this as a drill bit to put two small holes in the neck blank at each end, under where the fretboard goes - close to the truss channel. I then hammered two nails into those holes and nipped the head off the nail so that only a few mm stuck up. Then I positioned the fretboard over the top and pressed hard. that left little indentations in the back of the fretboard. I used those as guides and drilled *shallow* holes again using the nail as a drill bit. When I applied the glue and added the clamps - no movement at all! bloody brilliant. I wish I had taken photos - I was so focussed on not screwing it up that I forgot. Clamped fretboard and glued headstock plate: I am nervous about one thing: I had some light cardboard I was going to put under the sanding caul to protect the fretboard...... and I forgot..... fingers crossed the caul was clean underneath and I haven't just smashed some dents into the board.... will find out tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted February 13, 2011 Report Share Posted February 13, 2011 Nice work CD,always a few hiccups in a first build. Im loving all the aussie timbers you got going. Where about's in oz are you mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 thanks chops! I am in Newie. unclamped, my fears were unfounded. no caul marks and the thing looks great. I did forget to clean up the glue prior to adding all those clamps, so there will be a bit of work to tidy it up. Next I need to remove some material off the sides before I tackle the fretwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Major update today. Last weekend I spent some time cutting the sides down and started to trim the headstock to shape. On Tuesday I went to my mate's place and installed the frets. Was really worried about this step, but I am really, really happy with the way it turned out. I also finished the rough shaping of the headstock. The frets made the semi-dodgy shell not as noticeable and finally some daylight shots. shiny, shiny Just need to finish the headstock and start on the neck shaping now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 MOCKUP !!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy g Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 That is cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Not a lot of taper on that neck. Was that planned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 hey RAD, the nut width is quite wide - 50mm. I think that combined with the slightly longer scale length make it less tapered. I drew the whole thing out full scale (including the bridge and string spacing at the bridge) so as far as I know everything is correct. I had a small amount of spare time today, so I sanded the headstock back to correct thickness and started on the headstock side of the volute. then I drilled the tuner holes. I used a brad point drill bit and drilled through just enough to pierce the back and then flipped it over and drilled through, to minimise blowout. then I drilled the locator pin holes and hey presto, the tuners fit: that's all for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 hey RAD, the nut width is quite wide - 50mm. I think that combined with the slightly longer scale length make it less tapered. I drew the whole thing out full scale (including the bridge and string spacing at the bridge) so as far as I know everything is correct. That is what I like to hear (the drawn out part). As long as it was intentional. I like the way this one is shaping up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Some success and also failure. With much stress, I routed the neck pocket and neck pickup. No bridge pickup routing just yet - I need to redo the template, it ended up too big. The pickup routing turned out really good, but I had some dramas with the neck. Somehow I ended up with some gaps either side of the neck, when the template itself was nice and tight. I had the template double-taped down....who knows. I also had a brain collapse and somehow ended up routing the pocket too deep. My initial measurements were too high - I had the neck in place and positioned the bridge to check - was probably 5 mm too high. I routed down what I thought was 3mm, but ended up losing too much and now the bottom of the fretboard is level with the body. I will either glue a thin piece of blackwood on the heel to lift it back up, or maybe shim the neck slightly to give me the correct bridge height again. No idea what the hell happened there. Dramas aside, I am pretty amped about how it is coming together: In playing position, it sits beautifully, and the upper fret access is insanely good. Easily the best on any guitar I have played, save for a V of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I also had a brain collapse and somehow ended up routing the pocket too deep. ........ Not "too deep"... you made it "open-option" Now you have all sorts of options on how to make it work out, a few of which you've already planned for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Hey CD, The builds looking great mate, just remember to be patient. Now that your getting close to the construction side of the build ending, it's real easy to get excited and make a silly mistake. I know from experience. Double sided tape is great for holding templates for routing, but for something like a neck pocket, I personally make the template big enough so it can be clamped to the body, that way you can feel confident that the rout will turn out perfect and the pocket and neck will have a snug fit. I find even with a lot of double sided tape the template still can move, only slightly but enough to make a gap. Looking forward to seeing this one at the finishing line! Chad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted March 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 It has been a while, but I finally found an afternoon spare to get this thing back on track. I re-did the humbucker template, because the first one was too big. taped and clamped this time around and had success: then I drilled the cable tunnel for the neck pickup. with the scary stuff out of the way, I drilled the holes for the bridge, pickup cables, strings, ferrules and neck screws. Also flipped it over and routed the control cavity. A minor slip up there, my trusty assistant took one of the clamps off in between vacuuming out the cavity route and I didn't notice until I started routing again.....so the cavity has a little dig in at the bottom. I can cover it thought, so no great loss. I also did a small recess for the panel mount output jack. so here, finally is a pic with most of the important body bits in place. I also drilled the neck screw holes in the neck heel, so the next step is to do the neck carve and some body contours, stuff I can do at home. Really excited about this bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted March 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 body contours complete. next step: neck carve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 I did the neck carving today. Roughed it out with the end of the belt sander to get the right thickness and approximate contour, then moved to hand sanding. lots of hand sanding. after an hour, there were still easily felt edges where the different angles had been sanded in and I was starting to get a bit disheartened. I pushed through and after about 2 hours (!) I ended up with exactly what I was after, a nice meaty C shape with shallow shoulders. Really bloody excited now. 23mm at the 1st fret, 25mm at the 12th. After hitting it with some 180 grit, there was some subtle flame showing. Here is a wet shot that sort of captures it. tasty. Now I just need to do the control cover routing and the hole for the bridge earthing wire. progress, progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiscabob Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Really coming along nicely, seeing all these seven strings is really making me want to build one for myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted April 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 Side Dots ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted April 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 minor update. I have fabricated the control cavity cover and volume knob - cavity cover is blackwood, volume knob is made from the fretboard offcuts. I have also done most of the basic body and neck sanding and started work on the nut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 Looks like a reasonably chunky neck profile which I bet will sound great. How have the profile depths stacked up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted April 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 Hey Prostheta, it is around 23mm at 1st fret, 25mm at the 12th. slightly assymetrical - shallower shoulders on the higher pitch strings, slightly meatier on the bass side. I can still get my thumb over the top though, so it doesn't feel as thick as it is. really happy with the profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted April 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Update time! Recovered from yesterday's mishap involving drop-testing the body onto concrete. Tip for the day: don't do that. It sucks. Today I made the nut and did a dry-fit hardware test. Everything fits like it was meant to be there and the thing feels awesome. Really stoked. Happy with the tuner placement and string pull lines. next up - finishing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted April 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 I have to re-do the nut because I stuffed it. I was trying to get the height of the plain strings down I took too much off. Graphtec blanks sand VERY quickly. then I went to my second blank (good to have spares) and did a crap job. then I went to my third bloank (really good to have spares) and cut 8 string slots ! then I realised I had no more nut blanks....... Also thinking about the finishing now. I obviously am going to clear coat this one (spray can). The pore filling has got me confused though. I am trying 3 alternatives to see what works best for me - Timbermate grain filler Shellac egg white + sanding dust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.