Orf With 'Is 'Ed!

[curtisa]

PlainJane is getting the negative version of the fretboard of PaleFace, so the inlays are being done in Cheesewood on a Mulga fretboard:

[curtisa]

After some careful shaping of the trussrod access I'm able to get the end of an allen key into each hole in the spoke wheel to turn it one fifth of a revolution each time. It would've been nice if these trussrods came with more holes in the wheel, allowing me to make a narrower adjuster notch, but for an experiment in new materials I can forgive its weaknesses:

[Prostheta]

You've really nailed that tiled approach to fingerboards. As an aside, when we shared the articles you wrote about CNC work on a small bed, so many people reacted badly to it. Well, the loud vocal anti-CNC ones anyway. I don't understand their ire....sharing information is a positive thing. You don't see cricketers complaining about footballers talking about their own game.

[ScottR]

Cheesewood and Mulga. Bagels and lox. Bangers and mash.

Which one doesn't sound like food?

SR

[Prostheta]

Graavilohi, man. Graaaaaaaaaavi.

[curtisa]

15 hours ago, Prostheta said:

You've really nailed that tiled approach to fingerboards. As an aside, when we shared the articles you wrote about CNC work on a small bed, so many people reacted badly to it. Well, the loud vocal anti-CNC ones anyway. I don't understand their ire....sharing information is a positive thing. You don't see cricketers complaining about footballers talking about their own game.

Which is a shame really. I'm hardly using the CNC to build a guitar like joining together a bunch of Lego blocks. It's really only another tool that I can use to help me do some smaller tasks to an accuracy that I can't achieve by hand. This machine isn't big or powerful enough to be anything more than a glorified engraver, and I have neither the funds nor the space to use a machine sized to do a whole instrument in one hit. I don't think there's any risk that I'll be removing all elements of hands-on building with this thing.

[curtisa]

11 hours ago, ScottR said:

Cheesewood and Mulga. Bagels and lox. Bangers and mash.

Which one doesn't sound like food?

Well, they're all tasty.

Or are they all Country and Western duos?

[curtisa]

7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Graavilohi,

I assume that's not some kind of merging of Gravox and Ravioli to create a dubious meal that you could find at a dodgy-looking Scottish Services alongside their deep-fried Mars Bars and Chips?

[Prostheta]

3 hours ago, curtisa said:

I assume that's not some kind of merging of Gravox and Ravioli to create a dubious meal that you could find at a dodgy-looking Scottish Services alongside their deep-fried Mars Bars and Chips?

Just the Finnish word for lox. I could explain the evolution of the word history....

 

CNC is just another tool. Like you say, it does precision tasks. There's always hand finessing required even on the most CNCed of workpieces. CNC just gives a broader palette to paint with.

[curtisa]

Still waiting for the bridge hardware to arrive, so I'll do what I can until they turn up.

Neck pocket. A little bit of tape either side of the jig ensures the neck is a tight fit once routed out:

 

Tightness check...pass:

 

Without the bridge hardware at hand I can't accurately position the bridge pickup route, but the neck pickup can be done.  A simple soapbar cavity is all that's required. The rectangle template is oversized by the radius of my template ring minus the radius of the router bit, so with a 1/4" diameter cutter fitted I get a rectangle with 1/8" radius corners - something that can't be achieved with the smallest bearing-follower bits I can get my hands on:

 

The Fishmans need some clearance underneath to allow for the connectors to fit in without bottoming-out in the cavity, so an extra ledge is required to be routed out. Using the 1/4" bit with the template ring still fitted I can use the edges of the pickup cavity as a guide and inset the secondary ledge. By taping some scraps of timber to the top and bottom edges of the cavity I can make the inset slightly deeper at these points to give the pickup mounting screws a bit more meat to bite into:

 

Wiring channel landed exactly where I hoped it would:

 

And the battery compartment just behind the treble cutaway:

[Prostheta]

I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts on the Fishmans.

[Prostheta]

The patent is interesting....

http://www.google.ch/patents/US8519251

[KnightroExpress]

I was able to hear them in person at NAMM last year. Techno-wizardry aside, they're just really great sounding pickups. I'm also curious to see how you like them.

[curtisa]

The sound samples I've heard are promising, so I'm looking forward to trying them out, especially the switchable voicing option.

[SIMpleONe89]

On 07/04/2016 at 4:27 PM, curtisa said:

Hi Curtisa, I bought these CF rods from the supplier you recommended. How should I align it? I can't tell from the pictures if you installed it like |  | where it's 6mm deep and 4mm wide, or -- -- where it's 6mm wide and 4mm deep. Does it make a difference how it's put in? Thanks.

[curtisa]

The wider dimension is vertical, so you'll need to find a 4mm diameter router bit to cut the channels. The channel needs to be exactly as deep as the rod so the top surface is flush.

Cut them down length with a hacksaw. The CF will ruin a regular handsaw, and replacement blades for hacksaws are cheap.

Round over the ends on sandpaper. Avoid the dust it generates, nasty stuff. Watch out that you don't spread the dust on any critical timber surfaces as it can be difficult to get the stains out.

Glue them into the channels with epoxy. The last thing you is for them to either rattle around inside the neck, or not actually couple to the timber and offer no support whatsoever.

[SIMpleONe89]

14 minutes ago, curtisa said:

The wider dimension is vertical, so you'll need to find a 4mm diameter router bit to cut the channels. The channel needs to be exactly as deep as the rod so the top surface is flush.

Cut them down length with a hacksaw. The CF will ruin a regular handsaw, and replacement blades for hacksaws are cheap.

Round over the ends on sandpaper. Avoid the dust it generates, nasty stuff. Watch out that you don't spread the dust on any critical timber surfaces as it can be difficult to get the stains out.

Glue them into the channels with epoxy. The last thing you is for them to either rattle around inside the neck, or not actually couple to the timber and offer no support whatsoever.

Thanks! That's great info. 

[curtisa]

Headless hardware arrived last week, so I can start making some more critical cuts.

These things are a work of art. The long turnaround time on them was well worth the wait.

But first I need a way of locating and fitting the saddle/tuners. So it was over to the CNC to whip up a jig to create a recess for each saddle to sit into. All it consists of is a plate with a window in the middle and a bunch of locating holes down either side:

A secondary plate goes over the top with a pair of pins that align with the corresponding holes underneath. The slot matches the template ring for the palm router, and when fitted with a 1/4" straight bit it creates a recess to match the base of each saddle:

Rinse and repeat by moving the top plate down to the next pair of holes. Each pair of holes is 10.5mm apart on the vertical axis to match the string spacing:

[Prostheta]

We should have a jig n' template buildoff....

[curtisa]

Will that be an event at the next Olympics?

[Prostheta]

We'd be disqualified for bringing beers to the event.

[KnightroExpress]

Man, I have to step my jig/template game up a notch or two....or five...

[Prostheta]

Yeah, the other one is taking the lead for Alpha Andrew.

[curtisa]

Just about ready to start carving and contouring:

 

Doesn't look like much now, but trust me, this will work out in the end:

 

The next real challenge is to deal with the best way of mounting the string locks on the headstock. The biggest issue is that the trussrod access is directly under the D-string lock, which doesn't leave much meat for the screw to hold on to and the screw itself is right over the top of the adjuster nut buried in the neck. Screwing directly to the headstock is obviously out of the question, so it was once more over to the CNC to come up with saome kind of adaptor plate. This was the first time I'd tried milling aluminium (or aluminum, depending on which side of the equator you prefer to reside) and it went surprisingly well. Just went slowly and kept a can of cutting spray nearby (as evidenced by the copious amounts of oily spray all over the spoil board. I don't reckon my guerilla machine shop skills are likely to scare anyone off, but for a first attempt I'm pleased with how it came out:

 

After freeing the plate from the waste, cleaning up the edges and tapping/countersinking the holes this is the result:

[Prostheta]

Aluminium is excellent for milling in these mini CNCs. Perhaps @2.5itim might be able to provide a little advice on immediate improvements, whether they be in the code or at the mill. The important thing is that it suits its purpose, and is as accurate as it is needed to be. Guerrilla or not, that's what works. As long as the chips don't start sticking to things, it should be as easy as hardwood. Probably easier since it doesn't chip or splinter!