Searls Guitars Build Thread

[Prostheta]

Grain fillers themselves don't seem to be that good at holding onto water. Wood and applicators seem very welling to leach it out prematurely so perhaps a non-waterbased filler might lengthen the open working time. That said, that open time probably doesn't balance out against the time spend sanding back larger amounts of filler or the cost of using more of it.

You've just got to change that warmer day thing. Maybe make another trolley that you can use to do guerilla filling in the cold section of your location supermarket ;-)

[demonx]

I like your supermarket idea.

Could require some careful planning and synchronisation of multiple culprits!

[demonx]

#1 sitting in front of the heater drying the grain filler:




#1 in its first coat of oil:

I mixed the grain filler a lot darker on this one (3/4 Mahogany timber mate with about 1/4 Ebony timbermate) and rather than coming across a bit darker, more sinister grain as I was expecting, it turned out to look more "earthly". Go figure. Still looks great.

[bob123]

Is the contrast between the neck pieces due to the camera angle or is it that drastic? Just looks kinda out of place, like the one peice blends in too well with the body wing, so it looks off center for some reason.

[demonx]

The spc neck timber is at different directions to each other, so it reflects the light different. If you were to step to the right then one of the other ones would look the darkest.

The way I do three piece necks, the three pieces are cut from the same blank and the middle one gets flipped, so in this pic, the two outside ones are actually the same color and direction, its simply the way the light is reflecting and in the workshop lighting is a bit odd for photos

[demonx]

#4 was finish sanded today and got it's first coat of oil. Jayden chose not to have grain fill on this guitar. It looks virtually the same, the difference is when you play the guitar, grain fill is slightly smoother, whereas no grain fill you can feel the grain of the wood slightly more obviously in your hand, has a much more natural feeling. It's simply a personal preference thing, just like some people prefer a painted neck, some don't.

[demonx]

[sdshirtman]

Love the smooth neck transitions.

[demonx]

Thanks sdshirtman

[crazygtr]

Love the smooth neck transitions.

+1

[pauliemc]

+1 here too.

Was just thinkin its a very clean & subtle carve, looks very good. Frett access must be laughibly easy near the body

[demonx]

Lets just say you can use the top of the neck pickup as an extended fret if you want some really weird noises

[demonx]

This was a quick video update for the guys involved in this run of guitars:

http://youtu.be/j4mbgdCP6bI

Also trying to wrap up a few more builds which have been laying around before the year is out so that next year is started with a clear slate.

This is one which today I carved the neck, router a elec cavity and a heap of other odd jobs getting it ready to sell:

[demonx]

A bit of Wenge fingerboard porn from a board I fretted today.

It's horrible splintery stuff, but damn it can look good!

[ScottR]

I like that you did not use laminates for the headstock. I love the way the laminates on the neck disappear into the headstock scarf. You just don't see that every day.

SR

[demonx]

I do that on all my builds and have for years

[ScottR]

I can see why, it's a good look.

I was feeling rather unobservant, so I scanned back through all 27 pages and did in fact see a few more shots of that construction, but this one stands out as the most obvious without accents in the scarf itself. Tasty.

SR

[demonx]

All of the run are now in oil stage.

This is the new guy learning the finer points of applying a rubbed finish:

[RestorationAD]

Nice run.

I love the workshop.

[demonx]

Bit more work on the 7 string bolty - prepping for paint and airbrushing:

[demonx]

Another bolt on heel carved today, six stringer this time:

[demonx]

More oil, last lot this time.

Anyone who watched my videos would have seen me having to scrub the oil right back - simply put, I stuffed up.

I've never used Danish oil before that build, the earlier guitars I'd built were all covered on Linseed oil which you have to cake on a million coats for it to get anywhere and it never goes hard. The Danish oil is a Tung/Varnish mix and it's much thicker and does go hard, so on these guitars I've been spreading much much thinner coats and wont have to scrub it all back like in the video. A quick superfine scotchbrite and a run over with the polisher and they'll be good to go.

[demonx]

A quick video update that show "branding" isn't as quick and easy as it should be:

http://youtu.be/i63IwY9kgI8

Sam's guitar getting a fingerboard treatment:

Group shot after logo branding:

[westhemann]

It took me a lot of practice to get my branding even passable.I have started clamping guide blocks in the right position before getting the iron hot so that if I pull it off and it isn't deep enough I can put it right back in the exact spot and hit it again.

I have also gone too deep...that is a lot of sanding to fix

[westhemann]

One thing I also do is I turn the burner on my stove,set the iron on it,and remove the handle while it heats...then I screw the handle on once it is good and hot,brand,and then remove the handle again while it cools so it won't bind up in the threads.

Easier to manage when the handle isn't hot.I don't know if your handle comes off,but it looks like we have the same sort of threaded brass block.

You have probably noticed that denser woods take longer to burn.It's so worth the extra time though...saves me hours of tedious inlay work since I stopped inlaying the goat's head and started burning it.I like the look better,too.

Edited November 21, 2013 by westhemann