Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I was dipping a few bodies today, a way I sometimes apply clear if Im doing a few flat bodies like strats or teles or the like. Everything was going groovy.

01) big tub nice & clean for dipping bodies - Check !

02) 10 litres of clear good to go - Check !

03) Bodies lined up, clean, hooks installed for hanging - Check !

04) Previously dipped bodies from this morning moved to drying rack - Check !

05) Camera laying in tub of clear - Check ! :facepalm: Wait, What ??

:blink: everything WAS going groovey. I didnt even realise Id knocked it off the bench, no idea how long it was in the paint, but im fairly sure its completly screwed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:blink: it still works !.

the finish just peeld away from most of it when it dried, Looks like it was too viscous to get into anything vital & it must not have been in the goop for very long. Cool :D

Anyway, I have 3 king Mojos under way.

A King Mojo is one of my tele models. I dont make many & hardly ever to order as I only do them when I am rebuilding / recycling a bench. I am replacing the bench at the end of the workshop where I work on my bikes. Its seen a lot of abuse, Oil, Paint, Petrol, degreaser, rust remover, electrical contact cleaner, gearbox fluid, you name it - its been spilled on this bench over the past 4-5 years. before that the timbers were part of a scaffold around an old church bell tower that was being restored. Up there in the rain snow & ice from 2001 till about 2009. So battered to hell is a nice description for the timbers here.

I stripped out the bench & am building / botching a new one from some scaffold board I have been using as part of the shop floor this past two years or so. (those are being replaced with some poplar & pine I got this week) Kinda why its so cramped in the shop just now & why I keep bumping into things - like the camera.

So over the past few days I have been going thru all of the blanks I made up from the church - bike pine. Or as I call them the "Gods Harley boards". Faced & glued a few up & then tested them to see if they would hold up to being a body. Drop them, stand on them. put them in a vice & try snap them in two, smack em with a mallet for good measure & if they survive they are good to go. If not - they heat the shop. I made 12, 6 failed the abuse test. But one of them was creaking & fighting so much that I decided to glue it along the rip & make it into a Mojo for myself. Duno why - but I just dont feel right about this one burning so Im saving it.

So. Piks.

This one wasnt glued when I took the pik.

01_zps46b915b0.jpg

This one was

02_zpsdec7aa67.jpg

This is a third blank after being rough cut on the band saw to the body profile.

03_zps151b165d.jpg

All of these blanks are cleared on the front to keep the years of dirt & use intact, then glued together & tested as per description above. If they are to be used they are cut into rough shapes with the fronts left in this terrible shape. The backs & sides get cleaned up to a helf decent standard, but not the usual pristene finish you would expect. They still have to look "iffy" so they are left a little rough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love these knots & cracks.

Before the clear is put onto these, all of the cracks are flooded with water thin CA. Same treatment for the knots. But this is only done AFTER the testing of the blank to see it it will fail.

04_zps9ae3c401.jpg

Bit of a closer look at the cracked & knotted face. as you can see from the edges, these are realy only superficial & dont go very deep.

05_zps44965517.jpg

the back of this one. similar treatment to the cracks & knots as the front. Except that this is planed to thickness first. Then CA is added & the whole lot is sanded to 320 grit.

06_zps0d8d768b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the one I have decided to spare the fire. This will be mine, but the others are to be sold on to whom ever wants them.

With 7 on the go, One for me & 2 sold to a customer - that leavs 4 to go to Evilbay & the guitar stores :D

Body with clear on the face, neck pocket made up, edges slightly rounded for an almost faux binding look.

07_zpsfadd90de.jpg

The nice big gouge out of where the fore arm bevel should do on a strat

09_zps1e7c6f2b.jpg

The big mangly hole & cracks in the bottom horn.

08_zpse89b96ed.jpg

This is the back of my Mojo. you can see the big evil scar along the entire lenght of the body at the top of the guitar. from just above the location of the hook its hanging from. It took a lot of effort to snap this, so I repaired it & will keep this one for myself. Personally I think it looks funky as hell :hyper

10_zpse72be15c.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last pik. Neck sitting in place with bridge plate.

11_zps2a65132d.jpg

So to sum up. My King Mojo's specs are as follows

It will have a genuine Fender hardtail with pressed steel saddels (part of the Mojo). removed from the prototype Black Lotus before it was sold a few years back (ptototype mojo)

What I call a Guinness neck - Wenge & ash. I rekon Wenge is kinda like a black ash. It kinda looks similar, blunts blades & sands similarly - its just dark. So Black ash with a white ash top = a Guinness neck, Also both are made in Dublin Ireland (Gaelic Mojo) I worked on the refit of James gate years back & Im building this guitar (more Mojo) & the last drink I had, about 2 years ago was a Guinness (Guinness mojo)

The last of my abalone dots for the fret markers. I had 5000 of these @ 10 dots a guitar = 500th abalone dot neck mojo

Also - the fret board is made from the only remaining piece of the Ash from building the wifes wedding strat - so thats cool - More mojo, In fact - one for the ladies - Romance Mojo Baby !!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool man, glad you like it.

The guy that baught the other two had a cool idea for one of his. A hardtail bridge like the one above - but with piezos. no other pickups. so all thats on the front of the guitar is a bridge & a vol knob. I taught I was cool runnin with just one humbucker, but he says

"F*@K THAT - I want no pickups visable at all !!"

I am soooooo stealing that idea from him once his are done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Last year I had an order for a crap load of hollow boxes (acoustics) At the end of it I decided to leav the anti Tesla briagde out of it for a while. So - to start this years builds off guess what I have a nice rush order for. 2 Hollow boxes :rolleyes:

Anyway excuse the iffy photo quality. this is one under way.

20140105_174053_zpsf27bdf01.jpg

20140105_174118_zps7c02f58e.jpg

20140105_174041_zps75eed970.jpg

There was still a lot to do in these. The edges needed to be cleaned up and then the kerfing went on & everything had to be levelled. The side braces had to be trimmed & the neck block trimmed back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jumped ahead & forgot piks. but what the hell.

The back is on & the neck is being tested for fit & alignment with the bridge. then the bridge can be assessed for height. then the neck & bridge can be glued into place.

20140124_204803_zps60f360e0.jpg

20140124_204655_zpscd562ec3.jpg

20140124_204628_zps26ab47d5.jpg

The final pieces of binding & the remainder of the neck heel will go on later this week, then finish sand & clear coat it.

In case anyone is interested the timbers are -

Zebrano back & sides.

Bearclaw spruce top.

Hard ash binding.

Wenge / Flamed maple bridge.

Ebony fret board,

Birds eye maple / Wenge / Ash 5 piece multi lam neck.

Abalone dot inlays.

Mahogany neck & tail block.

Mahogany Kerfing.

Walnut side braces.

Cedar soundboard bracing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is going to be a good looking box Paulie. I'm getting this tiny little itch to try an acoustic.....but it's pretty to easy to ignore and not scratch it so far. The process looks to bit a bit more rigid with boxes. I can change my mind about details pretty far into my electrics, but acoustics do not look to be particularly forgiving.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should give it a go scotty. Its interesting & a nice challenge.

If yer interested in working with timber its a must at some stage.

Even just making up the body mould can be a job in itself.

But if you have no access to a bandsaw the tops backs & sides can get kinda pricy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Its been a while since I put up anything.

I'll say! :D

Things must be howling at your shop. King Mojo looks like it would sound like Tennessee whiskey.

As far as the blinding whites go, are you doing any tweaking to the files after you load them into your computer? Reducing the contrast and/or the brightness a little will knock the edge off them.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey scotty.

Na, things are kind slow. been making binding & headstock facings, neck blanks & body blanks, cutting up bones to make nuts n saddles & inlay. some equipment maintenance on planes, planers, band saw, chisels etc etc. time consuming little jobs that are boring as hell but just need to get done you know.

between all that, the family commitments & one of my customers being a tool I just have had no time to be poking about on the forum.

Congrats on GOTM btw :rock

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

back in the shop today for the first time in 2 months. An unfortunate altercation between myself & a toyota camry didnt go so well & has had me out of action since early september :unsure: . pokin about the place, I cant beleive the amount of abandoned bodies & necks I have from builds that had changes too late in them to salvage the part. since im still a bit mashed up & not realy able to use my tools (you should have seen my attempt at plaining some cedar to make a body blank ) I rekon I should see what I can make up from the bits of guitar corpses I have here. some of which are actually fairly nice :rolleyes:

but fer now its time to clear out most of the junk to make way for my harley - who fared even worse than me in the drunk dipshit behind the wheel ordeal,

starting tomorrow i will be replacing the forks, risers, handle bars, tank, primary cover, derby cover, clutch lever (foot), foot rest, both rear shocks, swing arm bearings, rear fender & light nacel, rear wheel, motor mounts & rear indicators. lucky I have mates that are even bigger petrol heads than me who are chipping in to help me do it :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dude,I feel for you.I have had so many bike wrecks in the last couple of years that i just don't want to get back on one yet.The last one left me pretty sore.I left my bike over at a buddy's house(after getting it back on the road with a lot of new parts)a few months ago and I haven't missed it too much.TBH I don't know if I will ever be comfortable on it again.

Been toying with the idea of getting a Harley Switchback,but I feel like I just don't know if I should.My BMW will likely have to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...