2.5itim Posted May 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Curtisa, the wilkinson print that you posted looks a lot more like what I came up with in my second set of pictures. If you notice on your print of the top route the scale line is in between the cavity and stud holes where the hipshot print says the front of the cavity is on the scale line. You wouldn't happen to know the distance from the scale line to the front of the cavity for the wilkinson do you? I don't see it on that print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted May 28, 2016 Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 I'll check tomorrow morning when I'm back in the workshop. Those diagrams were drawn up based on some templates I made for a Wilkinson trem I installed a couple of years back. From memory it's not much. Maybe 3 or 4mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Awesome, thank you sir! I plan to go buy a 2x6 and cut a couple mortises in it and cut one with hipshots drawing and one with the wilkinson and see which one comes out right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted May 28, 2016 Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Good plan, that. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Ok so the hipshot print is definitely off, I'm really glad that I took the time to check the print to the guitar before just starting to cut. I wonder how many people have been screwed over by this. Anyways, I went to lowes today and bought a 2x6, cut my mortise in one end, inserted my neck, marked my scale line and cut the top routes and mounting holes to the exact measurements of the hipshot print. As you can see with the front of the cavity on the scale line and the mounting holes .490 from the front of the cavity, with my tremolo up against the mounting screws and the high e exactly where I want it on the bridge the edge of the saddle is waaayy past the scale line. In order to get the break point of the saddle on the scale line I have to max out the screw on the saddle as you can see in the forth pic. Now I have to figure out how to figure out where this is really suppose to go, which I'm not really sure how to do at this point Excuse all the tear out, I really hate pine lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 28, 2016 Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Sounds like you guys have this under control without me trying to figure it out. If there is genuinely some fundamental issue with Hipshot's dimensioning and placement recommendations, I'll open a discussion with them to resolve it. Things like this do no good for anyone, including Hipshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 I agree Carl, I am trying to work out where the placement actually needs to be and once I figured that out I figured I would try and contact them to let them know but I think you had told me in the past that you've talked with them quite a bit before so if you'd like to that is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 28, 2016 Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Not as much as you might think since they're busy guys. I do like to keep an open dialogue though, and things like this are where that is important. Noted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Ok, got this sorted out! So for anyone that needs this information in the future, the front of the cavity should be .250 from your scale length line and the center of the holes for the stud mounts should be .240 from the scale line. The scale line is almost directly in the middle of the front of the cavity and the center of the stud mounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 I had a little bit of tear out of the stud mounts and I nearly wanted to cry lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted May 28, 2016 Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Nice one, centurion, nice one. FWIW, the missing dimension on my drawing, the distance between the red "scale line" and the leading edge of the cavity opening is 7.75mm (0.305"), Although as you've probably already discovered the size and position of this opening will be determined by where the sustain block sits. I don't think the Wilkinson is quite as bulky as the Hipshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted May 28, 2016 Report Share Posted May 28, 2016 Whew hard part's over. Drilling bridge posts always makes me nervous. Glad you figured it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 Thanks for all your help curtisa, it's much appreciated. Simpleone89 yes it really had me on my toes, it's taken me quite a while to figure everything out but I'm glad it's good! i also got the rear cavities routed tonight, I plan to get the control cavities and the cover recesses cut tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 It's been a decently busy morning in the shop today, got the control cavity routed, the cover shelfs routed (had to get a little creative here), radiused the fretboard to 12", finish sanded the fretboard to 600 grit, drilled the tuner holes and test fit the tuners. For the cavity cover shelfs I didn't have a router bit short enough to cut it so I put a couple blocks of wood under my template and used my 1" depth bit. I probably should have just cut my template into a thicker piece of wood and used that as a template but this worked decently well. I need to recut my fret slots, and take my fret wire up to a shop in Tulsa to have the guy that radiuses my fretwire run it thru his bender. I kept all the rosewood dust from when I radiused the fretboard and I'm wanting to hide my fret ends with that, how does that work? Cut the tangs short so they don't go all the way to the edge of the fretboard, make a dust/ca glue mixture and push it into the slots, then just sand it down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 29, 2016 Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 Looking good, but that setup to do the cavity cover is precarious! I can't say that I haven't ever done that myself (many years ago) however. I wouldn't bother with glue and wood dust. Once the instrument is finished, get some a wax filler stick that matches the Rosewood best and fill up the fret ends that way. CA has a habit of wicking where you don't want it and leaves you with annoying cleanup work with acetone, which leads to its own problems.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 Haha yeah it could have gone horribly wrong but I just took it slow and kept a good hold, although I probably won't do it again. Hmm filler stick hadn't thought of that. Something like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 Also, I don't know what happened but after using my neck in all those test pieces to figure out the location of the tremolo I went to put the neck into the real pocket on the guitar and it was pretty loose again, I don't know what would have caused this but I went ahead and glued another piece of veneer to the other side and now the neck doesn't fit so I will be able to slowly sand the neck until I have the perfect fit, again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted May 29, 2016 Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 I did the CA glue and sanding dust to hide fret tangs on my current build. Tedious job but it turned out nice. And yes I had to deal with the glue running down fretboard so that wasn't pleasant. There might have been some movement in the wood resulting in it being looser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2016 I thought I remembered seeing that somewhere, I'll read thru that thread agin, thanks simpleone! I usually ca glue my fret ends when I do a fret job so I figured it wouldn't be much different than that except for cutting the tangs. I test dyed a few pieces today and I think I've got a winner, I'm gonna post the formula in here so I don't forget when it comes time to dye. 1/8tsp brown dye in 1/4 cup of water apply one coat, sand back 80-320, 3 coats of 1/8tsp Amber 3/8tsp yellow 1/4 cup of water, vinyl sealer, nitro lacquer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 30, 2016 Report Share Posted May 30, 2016 Myself, I'd repeat the test a couple more times trying to hit the same tones but using milder quantities of dye. Black and darker colours that leave a lot of contrast easy turn Maple "gritty" or a little dirty-looking. That's heavy contrast right there. It goes for the quick win and a heavy "pop" but tends to look a bit coarse on close inspection if you get what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2016 I do see what you're saying Carl, so should I dilute the darker colors or dilute the Amber/yellow mix. It had these darker specs in it that I don't like which is what I think you're talking about. I tried sanding back more on the darker color but then it just made the dark lines smaller than I liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2016 (edited) @komodo Carl, brought to my attention/reminded me of your "dragon" guitar. That is a very close finish to what I am trying to achieve here, would you mind walking me thru your steps and dye mixtures? This guitar imperticular. Edited May 30, 2016 by 2.5itim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 Not really a whole lot to show tonight but I have been trying a bunch of different finishes. I Re read komodo's build thread on the dragon today and kind of got the idea of what he did on his finish, while mine isn't looking quite like his I'm thinking I'm happy with this, I also tried a bunch of different finishes for the mahogany back and neck. I think we decided on the brown ignore the maple pieces in here that's not the best way be we are going with I also got the neck finish sanded and the belly cut carved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) Not really a whole lot to show tonight but I have been trying a bunch of different finishes. I Re read komodo's build thread on the dragon today and kind of got the idea of what he did on his finish, while mine isn't looking quite like his I'm thinking I'm happy with this, I also tried a bunch of different finishes for the mahogany back and neck. I think we decided on the brown ignore the maple pieces in here that's not the one we are going with I also got the neck finish sanded and the belly cut carved. Edited May 31, 2016 by 2.5itim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 This is the finish for the maple that I came up with after reading komodo's post, what I did was dye Amber, sand back, dye brown, sand back, dye Amber, dye Amber/yellow/red mixture. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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