RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 In order to make Burl Maple bullet proof enough for a metal band I have to resort to crazy things. In the past I have used CA to fill voids and harden the soft spots. I always feel like it dulls the coloring though so we are going a different route. Enter System Three Mirror Coat epoxy. It is thin, soaks in, and cures hard as a rock with a very clear and shiny finish. We are not really using at a finish just stabilizing the wood. It does not bubble like normal epoxy when mixing so you don't need a vacuum to get it settled into voids. It doesn't yellow. And it is going to last a lot longer than CA. I coated the blank before machining. This gives the router a solid surface to cut and helped prevent the tear-out common in routing very soft woods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 As you can see R4-D5 is doing something. I call it R4-D5 because I never know when it is going to blow a motivator. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 Now we see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 I am working pretty fast on this bass and as a result pictures are sparse. Fretboard aligned and pinned. Again I say "Basses are big" and I needed new runners for clamping the fretboard on. If you remember I had to make a new body blank for this so here is the the new blank joined, glued and ready to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 After the fretboard is glued on I clean up the sides and heal by hand as it is safer than using the router. Headplate time. Wow I didn't take any other pictures. Slack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted May 14, 2013 Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 lookin good - as usual just a point of interest, how heavy is that wenge gitir ? as thin as your super strat models are id still rekon that thing weighs in at a fairly hefty lump. Id say its gona sound good, wenge tends to have a realy good tap tone too it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 14, 2013 Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 Sighting it, I would say it weighs the same as a "Mahogany SS" or an average-Strat. My ridiculously thin bass is deceptive and I reckon this might be also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 It is friggin heavy. I chambered it and it is still heavy. Rings like a bell when you hit it but weighs like a ton of bricks. I will weigh it this weekend before I carve it if I can. I am going to go very heavy on the carve on this one to try and get the final weight closer to what it should be. I knew it would be bad just didn't know it would be BAD. I think once I get it carved up it should be good though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 14, 2013 Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 I think everyone will experience the "too heavy" guitar at some point.I don't care how good it sounds if it's too heavy it will just sit on the wall and mock you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 I think everyone will experience the "too heavy" guitar at some point.I don't care how good it sounds if it's too heavy it will just sit on the wall and mock you... Yes I have 2 of those. I am hoping that the design of the S9 keeps it from being too heavy. This is a customer guitar for a touring band so I can't have it "hang and mock" There is a long way to go before panic. I think it will be heavy for an S9 but not for a regular 7 String. After the carve is done if it is still heavy I can still make the control cavity closer to normal sized.. (Mine are tiny) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 Since you tuners are always heavy, how does balance stack up on the super lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 Since you tuners are always heavy, how does balance stack up on the super lights? I use the Hipshot open back lockers and they are not that heavy. But I also have a minimal headstockthat helps offset any tuner weight. The exotic tops usually add enough weight to the 32mm thick body and the small control cavity adds weight. Add to that a top horn that is long enough to put the pivot point at the middle of the guitar and balance is usually fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 Another note on balance. I have to be careful with African mahogany bodies with a light top wood like Burl Maple or Buckeye Burl as sometimes they are not heavy enough. That is when soaking the porous tops in epoxy comes in handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 What, you decided a wenge fretboard would be overkill? Did I miss where you said you were building one almost totally from wenge or did you sneak that fact in on us? All those grain patterns are going to be sick. That mirror coat epoxy looks to have real potential, both as you are using it and as a finish. These three are going to be winners..... as usual. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 What, you decided a wenge fretboard would be overkill? Did I miss where you said you were building one almost totally from wenge or did you sneak that fact in on us? All those grain patterns are going to be sick. That mirror coat epoxy looks to have real potential, both as you are using it and as a finish. These three are going to be winners..... as usual. SR Yes I thought the Wenge fretboard would be too much... I am actually using the Honduran Rosewood to add some warmer voodoo to the already voodoo filled Wenge monster. Mirror Coat can be used as a finish. I am just not sure it is a route I would want to take. I am not sure how hard it would be to level and polish. \m/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 Looking great! I always enjoy seeing your progress pictures. Do you still sell templates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Looking great! I always enjoy seeing your progress pictures. Do you still sell templates? For you Luis I will. PM me if you need something in particular and I will let you know if I can help. If you need some really accurate vintage templates I am not going to be able to help unless you already have the DXF done. Remember my CNC can really only cut 24x24 size stuff. In other news I just bought a Jeep XJ and plan on taking a few weekends off from guitar building as soon as these 3 are done to take my girl 4x4ing. My hobby has been way too serious lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 It is friggin heavy. I chambered it and it is still heavy. Rings like a bell when you hit it but weighs like a ton of bricks. I will weigh it this weekend before I carve it if I can. I am going to go very heavy on the carve on this one to try and get the final weight closer to what it should be. I knew it would be bad just didn't know it would be BAD. I think once I get it carved up it should be good though. Yea. I figured it would be. I did one of my Black Lotus one piece gitirs from a big ole chunk of wenge last year. Ebony fret board. 2 humbuckers & a hardtail. Even with the insane amount of carving on a lotus it still weighed in at over 13 lbs. although, I put piezo pups in the bridge & holy crap did that thing sound sweet. Id say you will get some funky sounds from that, Just use a WIDE strap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 I dug out my Mahogany/Wenge 7-string from the case and four years down the line the Optima Gold strings are still bright and the SOUND. Wow. I forgot how awesome my seven sounded. Space on the guitar stand was duly vacated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 So I was sitting in the sauna at lunch... <-- Pro you can respect that. And I am trying to plan out the headless 7 string I am going to build using the new Hipshot 7 string headless unit I have laying on my desk. I keep having ideas about an aluminum headstock with locks for the strings instead of using the headpiece they sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 You gotcha, RAD. Just life. Agreed about a locking headstock unless the Hipshot unit secures the ball ends well. Not familiar with it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2013 I am going to post the rest of my updates at some point but for now I will sum up my friggin weekend with this.The smell of electrical fire sucks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted May 20, 2013 Report Share Posted May 20, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2013 Progress and RegressionI hate the smell of electrical smoke in the afternoon...Spindle failure on my CNC machine ruined an otherwise productive weekend. At the end of the day Sunday the Colt Router decided to blow up while I was cleaning up some other stuff. It smoked, stop turning, and the CNC kept moving. All this while working on a very important customer body. In its death throws ate the top horn of the body. If anyone remembers I had a disaster last year as well.The results were pretty bad. The smoke was bad. The dead Colt Palm Router was bad.I would add that luckily my CNC held up and did not break any motors.You can't see the smoke in the picture but it was billowing from the Colt before I could shut it all down.The damage is where the chips are on the horn. That hole section got eaten. About the size of a dime around.And the dead Colt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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