Prostheta Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Love that spalted top. Been hankering to pop some on a bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks.This spalt is just perfect for a body IMO.It's eaten just enough to lighten it up and bring it to about the consistency of alder or poplar without being weak or unstable.Hopefully the tone will lean more towards alder than poplar,but only plugging in will tell I flooded it with CA and have it sanded back to level and today is the day for the clear. I was trying out electronics yesterday to figure out what will fit in the thin body,and I was having a real "moment" when I figured out push/pull pots won't fit and neither will a 3 way(only about 3/4" room in the cavity),and I was about to just drill for mini switches(which I worry about for durability reasons) when I just decided to let it sit and sleep on it.Glad I did because last night I came up with a better solution IMO I'll just run a separate volume for each pickup...no switch at all.Volume closest to the bridge will be the bridge pickup since I use it the most.This way I can blend them together to hit that sweet spot for cleans or for a nice sweet lead tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 I plan to saw up some Koivu (downy Birch) for top billets, pop them into a plastic container with a load of collected wood fungus like brackets and feed it with a mixture of mulch, boiled yeast and leaves to see what I can produce. Dependant on availability I might even get to try this on some flamed black Alder but more than likely I will want to use this right off the bat of course :-) How deeply did the CA penetrate? I haven't used water thin for stabilising yet so I haven't got an idea on whether it works more as a surface treatment or is closer to acrylising than as not. I kind of have it in my head that the surface will "skin" up and harden, but could still be pushed deeper into the punkier unstabilised stuff underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks.This spalt is just perfect for a body IMO.It's eaten just enough to lighten it up and bring it to about the consistency of alder or poplar without being weak or unstable.Hopefully the tone will lean more towards alder than poplar,but only plugging in will tell I flooded it with CA and have it sanded back to level and today is the day for the clear. I was trying out electronics yesterday to figure out what will fit in the thin body,and I was having a real "moment" when I figured out push/pull pots won't fit and neither will a 3 way(only about 3/4" room in the cavity),and I was about to just drill for mini switches(which I worry about for durability reasons) when I just decided to let it sit and sleep on it.Glad I did because last night I came up with a better solution IMO I'll just run a separate volume for each pickup...no switch at all.Volume closest to the bridge will be the bridge pickup since I use it the most.This way I can blend them together to hit that sweet spot for cleans or for a nice sweet lead tone Not a bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 How deeply did the CA penetrate? I really couldn't say...it really seemed to flow deeply into the softer areas,and when you use that much CA at once it takes a few hours to harden,so I think it went pretty deep where it was supposed to.On the hard parts it really didn't flow in as much as far as I could see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 How deeply did the CA penetrate? I haven't used water thin for stabilising yet so I haven't got an idea on whether it works more as a surface treatment or is closer to acrylising than as not. I kind of have it in my head that the surface will "skin" up and harden, but could still be pushed deeper into the punkier unstabilised stuff underneath. I would think with out a vacuum you are not going to get full acrylic penetration but you can get close. When I worked on the last 2 spalt tops I was able to hit it once, let it harden, then hit it again. The more punky parts definitely drank more CA on the second pass while the harder sections it just sat on top. By the third coat I had built up a skin and the CA puddled... however when I carved the top I can tell you that the punky spots were solid for the full 3/8" depth of the top. Also filling all the cavities will pull CA in further as well. Look for end grain and soak it good. I showed a friend the same trick with oil the other day and he freaked. He had no idea that the pores in Limba run so long. After flooding several guitars with oil we were cleaning them up... one of them was still weeping. Of course we didn't want to sit around all day mopping up oil so I grabbed the air hose and blew in to the endgrain on the guitar near the rear strap button... oil spewed from the heel carve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Hahahaha! The same kind of thing applies to red Oak also....totally different to the European white Oaks. You can blow smoke from one end of a metre of stock to the other. You could sell this quality as a feature...."reality tubes". Where fine strings of finest reality are strung through the body to tie your instrument to the aether and transfer the maximum of tone to the really real world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Finish is on.Once this is cured I'll level it all,rub on a thin topcoat,and then rub it with steel wool when cured to get a natural looking matte finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 The latest.Ready for assembly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 The weird spot at the nut end of the fretboard Ebony cut to fit epoxy curing now.Nut will sit on the ebony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelvock Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 I bloody love spalted maple, I've got a couple of tops to use one day, not sure if it's a wise choice of wood for a first build though!? Really nice work so far, and I've not often seen solid spalted bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Thanks Truss rod cover made.I use that fiber board stuff for truss rod covers and cavity covers..can't think of the proper name right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 forbon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 No...phenolic...that's what I was thinking of.It's the paper based stuff,not the fiberglass based ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 http://www.sdplastics.com/phenolic.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiKro Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I think you need to send this POS Guitar of yours, to me Wes. I'll play(bang it around, and drop it now and then) it for a few years and pass it around to some of my friends and let them gig it some, so it has some character and then maybe it will be worth something. ROTLMAO!!!!!!!!!!! It's looking great Bud!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I figured while I was doing cavity covers I should do enough for all my projects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Running the bridge and ground Spread out the wires so the saddles sit flat I am really impressed with this bridge system...quality doesn't get any better than this.I don't think there is any type of guitar you could not build with this system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I love ABM hardware. It is always bomb proof. You should see the 2 post tremolo on my beater strat. It blows the wilkinsons away. I am using there 6 string bridges instead of hipshot when I can get them. Only problems are expense and supplies are always limited here in the US. ALLPARTS always runs out of my favorite things right when I need them most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I love the bridge grounding. It's so redneckshotgunandporch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Well how else would you do it ,smartypants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I'd do it a crazy hairbrained me-way which has no bearing on reality or practicality? Steel inserts and hex bolts with each recess having its own grounding wire, or a grounded set-in brass block threaded for hex bolts. I'd like to say that this is how I would do it, but you have to refer back to the first sentence. Ground one bridge and use a zero fret? Steel baseplate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I've not been drinking. Honest officer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I think a steel baseplate would look pretty redneck itself,don't you? But ground wire under the bridge is how most do it...good luck with all that other stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 The brass block is actually a really good idea.Same effect as the wire but much more complicated,but it would look cool...if you could see more than just a tiny bit of it between the saddles.. 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.