westhemann Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 (edited) I was going to say Elmers Carpenters Glue is a good,easy to find cheap alternative that has been tested to death and always comes through.Good and reliable,like Titebond I. For some reason people tend to scoff at Elmer's...but it's the same thing with a "not as cool" name. I still find myself using T88 epoxy in most joints,even after I claimed I was going back to titebond...Mostly because I like it and I trust it...especially on fret boards(which tend to give me hell with wood glues because the water makes the wood try to curl away) I just used T88 for the first time on fret ends instead of CA.I love it because it seems to pull itself into the gap as it cures,and it is much more well behaved than CA,which always wants to go right where you don't want it to go. Edited December 3, 2013 by westhemann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 What's funny is I originally bought Titebond I, but everyone I talked to told me to use II... I will definitely follow your advice on this and I appreciate the help. With as many pieces of wood as that neck is made out of I may end up having a real problem with it eventually... BTW I'm a huge fan of using as many clamps as you can fit on a joint... I always think I need more though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 2 is really just made for outdoor stuff like picnic tables...And personally I don't see why you need that,since Epoxy is much more water resistant than TB2 is. Guitars are under constant pull from the strings,so creep in neck lams,neck heel joints and scarf joints can be a real issue.It will most likely never fall apart,but it doesn't take much shift to cause lines in your finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 I still find myself using T88 epoxy in most joints,even after I claimed I was going back to titebond...Mostly because I like it and I trust it...especially on fret boards(which tend to give me hell with wood glues because the water makes the wood try to curl away) I use Titebond I to join the halves of tops and bodies together, and T88 for everything else. I may try West Systems some day.....but I really like the T88. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Epoxy has its place. I use West Systems these days but I have a bigger budget than most. Still I think T-88 is the best of the bottle epoxies and fits most peoples budget. Epoxy is good for Fretboards and Set Neck/Body joints and recently I have used it for attaching exotic tops to mahogany/limba variants to keep water out of the equation. I think we all saw what happend with the 6 string bass build I did. Still used responsibly with tight joints Tightbond will always produce a near invisible joint stronger than the surrounding wood. Any yellow carpenters glue is usually sufficient. Even good white glue works great for Luthier work. Just remember to make sure your glue is fresh. Leaving Titebond I in a below freezing environment is not good for it. Also I try to buy smaller bottles that can be used in a few weeks time rather than have a large jug that hangs around for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Thanks, I appreciate all the glue talk guys it's very helpful. I always do all my gluing (and keep the glue) inside the house so it's always at room temp. I also read that it can go bad so I buy the smaller bottles of it when I know I'm going to be starting something. I really like the glue joints I've been getting with Titebond so I don't think I'll change that up at all, other than using Titebond I, plus it's always readily available to me. I haven't had any problems with wood curling or anything like. Are there specific woods that are affected more so than others? I haven't made anymore progress other than reducing the fretboard thickness by about 4mm. I'm trying to get the neck down to the chunkier Jem Dimensions and I've gone as far as I'm comfortable going with the back of the neck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 (edited) I haven't had any problems with wood curling or anything like. Are there specific woods that are affected more so than others? I don't know about that.it's the thickness that matters.Put a wood glue like titebond on a piece of veneer and you will see what I am talking about(just for example). I would say that at about 1/4" or less(roughly),wood starts to curl away from the glue.If you have enough clamps you can counter it,but it really sucks to lose a fretboard,so I prefer not to take any chances....so I use epoxy where I can. But that's just me.Others have plenty of great glue joints on fretboards with Titebond and similar.I just prefer my process be as idiot proof as possible so I can't pull a boner on it Edited December 4, 2013 by westhemann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2013 Thanks Wes, I see.... I haven't worked with any veneers yet. This is only my second top, but both of them are 1/2" thick. The fretboards I used were my first go at resawing with my new Woodslicer blade and I made them a little too thick so that could be why I haven't had any issues yet. How's the epoxy as far as removal goes? I noticed you said you were using them on frets. Does it loosen up with heat if you need to refret? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted December 4, 2013 Report Share Posted December 4, 2013 Epoxy and Titebond remove about the same. Heat makes them come loose. You can take a clothes iron and separate an epoxied fretboard just like one with titebond.The difference is water doesn't loosen epoxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2013 Back to work this week so it's been slow going on the projects... I got the volute carved out and the neck sanded down to its final shape today. Looks a little better now, but I think I'm going to put the points back on the bottom of the headstock tomorrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 It it were me I would go farther with the volute. Make it more of a diamond and less of a snake head shape. Or dish the back of the volute so it doesn't look so large. Clunky and volutes are not a good thing. It usually is better to go ahead and take more wood off than play it safe. Every time I have tried to play it safe it turned out clunky. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 I agree.You only need a small piece of wood back there to support the end of the truss rod.Extra wood that you don't need will only bother you down the line I found some pics that might help I prefer this style here personally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) Although if you inlaid some eyes and painted some reptile scales the snake head would become a cool feature instead of just "too much wood"...it looks like it is swallowing the headstock like a python swallowing a Goat or someting...If you could figure out how to give the impression of the headstock being some sort of animal a snake might swallow?Like a fish with it's head already in the snake's mouth?The Cottonmouth is common around here and eats fish as a main staple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_piscivorus I think that could be awesome and could become a signature of yours...Front looking like a headstock and back looking like a snake eaing a fish...you could even use the neck as the snakes body or something if you were good with airbrushing Edited December 8, 2013 by westhemann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) You guys are killing me! I might take some off the top of it to flatten it out a little bit, but I do like the look of it as is. The pictures make it look a lot bigger than it really is... It's also a really comfortable fit in my hand, so the snake head stays!!!! Now on to radiusing the board.... sanding Bubinga is usually fun... I have a pair of BKP Miracle Man raw nickle covered pickups and black Hipshot locking tuners on the way, and I think I'm going with a black Schaller TOM roller bridge string through setup as well... Looked at the Hannes bridge...maybe on the next one... Edited December 8, 2013 by Sancho Marino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 sanding Bubinga is usually fun... Been there.I have two guitars with Bubinga bodies,and one is a carved top.Sanding nightmare,but the finished product is always nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) sanding Bubinga is usually fun... Been there.I have two guitars with Bubinga bodies,and one is a carved top.Sanding nightmare,but the finished product is always nice Yeah it is a beautiful wood when finished up... The 2nd guitar I built has a one piece Bubinga back, the sanding was a little rough... The great thing about it is it doesn't rip very easily when you're routing it though... Edited December 8, 2013 by Sancho Marino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2013 Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 Yeah,I bought figured blanks(they were all the rage at the time) and they were $300 per.Set the router right down on the top and it didn't even scratch it. This is "pomelle" figuring And this is "waterfall" The Explorer started off as a different guitar altogether,but it was too heavy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 I really like the grain in that first guitar man...very cool... It is a really heavy wood I had take out a lot of wood for weight relief on that back. At first I thought the board was still wet or something, but it was at 8%. Just a dense heavy wood... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 If you'd like to learn how to carve a true diamond volute there, here's a how-to I did a while back. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 If you'd like to learn how to carve a true diamond volute there, here's a how-to I did a while back. Chris I appreciate the video, but I wasn't trying to copy something else I'd seen before. I was just going for something different than the norm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2013 (edited) So I changed my mind on the pickups and bridge ... got a new pair of Evo's and a Hipshot bridge for this one. I'm going to save the BKP's for my next build, a flame top LP.... I always wanted to try out some Evo's in Mahogany and I think the Zebra's will fit the woods better :mrgreen: Going to try to make a place to park the BKP's in with this... http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s454/ZR20091/J%20Custom%20Build/006_zps393432d2.jpg[/img Edited December 12, 2013 by Sancho Marino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 Trying to get all the inside work done that I can, with this cold outside garage work isn't as fun as it should be Got the inlays in and the neck polished up with a few coats of oil. The big ones are MOP and the little ones are Abalone.... Next up is banging in the frets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) I worked on this all day yesterday and got a lot done... Routed the neck pocket, pickups, and control cavity, drilled out my modded "Jem" hole, finished shaping the body, sanded to 320 and put a light coat of oil on to get an idea what she's going to look like.... Did a quick mock up to make sure everything fits right... I'm really liking the way it's turning out so far Edited December 17, 2013 by Sancho Marino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 That is looking pretty good. Should be an awesome guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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