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New build, makin' it up as I go....


ScottR

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This one is going to make Carl crazy.:D

I don't know what this is going to look like. Okay, I have a vague idea....I've got a nice piece of myrtle burl coming for the top,

And I know what my necks look like, so I'm starting by making a neck.I've made several necks out of one piece jatoba and several multi-ply necks. I like the look, feel and liveliness of the jatoba necks best. Thirteen or 14 years ago I stocked up on some crate timer that granite slabs from Brazil came in. They were jatoba that had obviously been logged and cut up wet and put to use as crates for the granite slabs to be shipped overseas in.They are thoroughly dried now but are very rough cut and twisted. I used the straightest pieces on earlier necks. What I've got left could be used as one piece necks, but won't give me as much headstock angle as I like so I'm going to glue a couple together and take advantage of the grain direction while I'm at it.

I also decided to get me a nice low angle plane and surface these by hand. I'm not in any hurry.....<_<

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Cleaning up the gluing surface.

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You've got to love the thin curls of slice wood from a sharp plane.

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Reward at the end of the first day.

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SR

Edited by ScottR
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Got both faces done and then glued them up.

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Out of the clamps and beginning to square up. This is actually the bottom and will all be cut away.....but I still need a flat surface for stability on the saw.

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You can see how rough cut this timber is.

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The top is flat. This jatoba is highly figured so there was a lot of chipping and tear out that will still need to be sanded clean.

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SR

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1 hour ago, curtisa said:

Nothing like keeping us guessing, Scott.

How myrtle is this myrtle of yours? A different version/misnomer of the stuff that grows down here, I assume?

http://nwtimber.net/shop-all-wood-types.html?limit=72&species=94

This stuff.

It grows in California and Oregon, so probably not quite the same as yours.

1 hour ago, KnightroExpress said:

Sweet, can't wait to see what happens!

Me either.:D

SR

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1 hour ago, ScottR said:

This stuff.

It grows in California and Oregon, so probably not quite the same as yours.

Quite different, by the looks of it. Guess that comes from us living in a place where the native trees were named after what they looked like back home in Mother England, rather than their actual botannical genus. We've got "Oaks", "Myrtles", "Pines", "Maples" and "Blackwoods" here too, but they bear no relation with the trees they were originally named after.

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9 hours ago, curtisa said:

Quite different, by the looks of it. Guess that comes from us living in a place where the native trees were named after what they looked like back home in Mother England, rather than their actual botannical genus. We've got "Oaks", "Myrtles", "Pines", "Maples" and "Blackwoods" here too, but they bear no relation with the trees they were originally named after.

I've noticed that. 

I've also noticed that many of them have much nicer timber than what they were named for. I wonder if that comes from growing upside down?:P

SR

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After a whole lot of time making little jatoba curly-cues, I swept up 10 gallons or so. They ought to make pretty decent fire starters. The ultimate goal of that was to get the neck blank square enough to cut the headstock angle and start sanding that flat enough for a glue up of the fretboard and headstock plate.

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Which I did.

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Over here I have about a hundred and forty dollars worth of Gaboon ebony partially sliced and diced for fretboards and a headstock plate. Whoever named crude oil black gold never ran across black ebony....

Also I have a couple of planks of Keruing, which is also known as Apitong, I have since learned. I know nothing about it, and it looks like it is going to be boring as hell to look at. But when I picked up that plank (which has since been cut in half), I knocked against the pallet rack and that thing rang like a big bronze tubular bell. Very clear and loud....so I figured it was telling me to take it home and turn it into a guitar.

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I bookmatched a headstock plate.

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And used my bandsaw table and fence and some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper to true up the gluing surfaces.

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To glue it up I clamp one side to a piece of acrylic, add glue and press the two halves together by hand. Then I lightly clamp the other half to the acrylic. Then with the bar clamps squeeze them together.

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SR

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I didn't get a lot done this week as I was out traveling the latter half of the week. I had to go to a trade show in Vegas........I know, rough job, but someone's got to do it.:P And I had several events scheduled this weekend, so time was limited.

I did get a few things accomplished though. Like planing the fretboard to an even thickness and cutting the fret slots.

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And routing a truss rod slot. I went all rookie on that and got some excess routing done at both ends. No harm done and nothing will be seen.....but I don't like the fact much that they are there.

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And my myrtle burl arrived. I wiped on some mineral spirits for a nice show. This is how it looked in bright sunlight.

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And this is in the shade. This is going to be a nice one piece top.

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There will almost be enough left for a second top.

SR

 

 

 

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Looks like a bunch of wood pictures right now Scott. That and a nice plane. :-D

I'm sure you'll pull a guitar up and out of that lot though. You hunt in the wood, whereas I tell it what I want done. Artistry vs. wood management by perkele (basically, stand and swear at it until it does what is required).

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Basically a bunch of wood pictures is what it is at this point. The nice plane did take timbers that look like just came out of an old saw mill and turn them into wood pictures.

I do hunt for what's in the wood.....but I often try to talk it into doing what I want. You have to be get it to buy into your vision, so it won't rebel.

SR

Oh and don't forget the beer. That was a really good beer I had that day.:)

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1 hour ago, Norris said:

A chap at my class the other night said something along the lines of: the wood contains a guitar, all you've got to do is sand its way out to freedom :)

Exactly. I often say that about carving. Question: How did you carve that gnome out of that walnut log? Answer: You simply cut away everything that is not a gnome.:)

SR

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