Popular Post hooglebug Posted June 9, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 its been an awful long time since I was on here and I have no idea why! for the last six months I've been working on this guitar. most of which was taken up by cutting out the tiny flowers - all 1300+ of them! I did this kind of thing before on an old shape and wanted to try it again, but make it better this time. today I carved the neck and all that's left is sanding and finishing pretty much. so anyway, some pictures. the front is carved (obviously) and the back is slightly curved from side to side - here with the branches on the top and laid out on the back heres the headstock mid binding - the branches go through the inner black and white - and then with the first bits of shell inlayed. and then headstock done this was the trickiest bit of the inlay - those pieces are tiny this is the back shoulder I didn't want to use any plastic parts (apart from the binding) so I tried to make a p90 cover out of maple - the holes ripped apart, so used a bit of ebano I got for the scratchplate on top instead, and im glad I did. I carried on the inly on the cover and plate graphtech got in touch with me (out of nowhere) and asked if I wanted a builders account, which was nice. so instead of the usual gotoh stuff, this one will have graphtech. and because of the builders account I thought hell why not, so its got a ghost bridge with acoustiphonic circuit too. here are the ratio tuners with the ugly (sorry) buttons. I've been so used to the gotoh 510's which are just sexy, so I got some wooden buttons and shaped them - you can see a botched attempt before I realised I could just print so outlines and stick them on instead of trying to draw around the buttons I had. like an idiot. and the ebony fits in really nicely with the p90 cover and plate - and jackplate/battery cover/circuit board holder. then I made some of those little clamps and got sticking it all together and here we are up to date. and in case you're wondering if you have to be a giant to pick it up - its hollow. I should probably have mentioned that bit. oh, and its about 60mm thick on the edge. the controls will be vol and tone for the p90, then a vol/push/pull for the ghost and a mini switch and here you can see that the inly from the front carries over onto the side and round onto the neck/heel. the sides and neck will be a dark colour so the branches will stand out more. as for the colour of all the sycamore - im thinking a sky blue from the top down, fading out towards the bottom with maybe some pink/purple in there too. I kinda want that look of those pinky purply clouds you get on an evening. I dont know. we'll see. oh, and for some reason theres no picture of the fretboard. but the inly from the headstock carries down onto it, and the inly on the body starts on the fretboard, and the markers are larger falling petals 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 Wow! You masochist! Amazing work though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 wow, creativity and craftsmanship combined. nice work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 That had to have been almost meditation. How did you manage to hang on to the flowers as they were cut? What a gorgeous instrument you've made there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 HOOGLE'S BACK! Good to see you again. And my God, what an ambitious and creative project you've come back with. My eyes would start twitching if I tried anything remotely like that. Absolutely exquisite work. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted June 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 2 hours ago, komodo said: That had to have been almost meditation. How did you manage to hang on to the flowers as they were cut? What a gorgeous instrument you've made there. i just tried really hard not to let go! plus my nails seem to grow rather quickly so I always had a bit of something to pinch onto them with. I dont know how many I dropped (a lot!), but I only lost a few 2 hours ago, ScottR said: HOOGLE'S BACK! Good to see you again. And my God, what an ambitious and creative project you've come back with. My eyes would start twitching if I tried anything remotely like that. Absolutely exquisite work. SR I could manage to cut about 40 before I started going a bit blurry. I limited myself so I didn't go blind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted June 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2018 well, a couple of months ago I woke up and my wrist was a bit sore for no reason. then over the next week or so it got steadily worse and worse until it hurt when I did any work. so I went to the doctor and its a tendon thing, so I got anti inflammatories, which did nothing. so I went back and got cortisone injections. that was two weeks ago, and again, it did nothing. then this morning, I was woken up by a massive gust of wind and in my half asleep state for some reason thought i'd felt the whole house leaning over, so went to look out of the window, and in doing so put my entire weight on my bad wrist. and now I cant do anything. I couldn't even hold a toothbrush or wash myself in the shower with it. I was going to have some lettuce in my sandwich, but I couldn't, because I couldn't hold a knife and put enough pressure on it to cut LETTUCE without being in agony. so it looks like tools are downed for the foreseeable future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted June 14, 2018 Report Share Posted June 14, 2018 man that sucks- hope you heal soon. you have come back with a quite a build-hope you are not out too long as I was watching this with extreme interest. take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 15, 2018 Report Share Posted June 15, 2018 That does suck. Take care of it. A little pampering never hurt anyone. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted June 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 my wrists still not right, but I just found some offcuts from ebony fretboards and theres enough (if I have a sliver of maple between them) to make three knobs. now I dont have a lathe, so it might be a bit trickier than it should be, but i'll give it a go. the only thing is, I want them to be push fit ones, so i'll have to find some old push fit knobs and cut the middle bits out and glue them in. unless anyone has another thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted June 21, 2018 Report Share Posted June 21, 2018 I made mine using a pillar drill, a set square clamped to the base plate as a guide, and an 80-grit sanding stick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 21, 2018 Report Share Posted June 21, 2018 Always a pleasure when you surface, Hoogle! I'm sure that @charisjapan will be fascinated by this build if he's not already seen it. Damn, that's a bummer about your wrist. As long as it's temporary and can be mended with time and patience, then it's cool. I remember seeing some sort of insert in eBay for knobs. I believe that they were for push-fit. I agree that using existing knobs is the best way forward. Just do a bit of work to ensure that they're concentric, so you might have to gut an old pot for the shaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 21, 2018 Report Share Posted June 21, 2018 Just did ... Wow! Once a year, my whole neighborhood is sakura ... probably six or seven different types all blossoming at different times, so more than a six week season. @hooglebug, your work is as good as any I have seen done by Hakone Zaiku artisans! (and I've been visiting Hakone for nearly 50 years) I also know what it's like to be laid up with problems that kept me out of the shop for months, in my case tedinitis and bursitis. Hope you get the right advice ... and take it! I tried to bluff my way through it - like when I was younger - and made things worse. Now, my doctor gave my nurse (Mrs. Charisjapan) strict orders, and I'm on the mend. Be well!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted June 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2018 9 minutes ago, charisjapan said: Just did ... Wow! Once a year, my whole neighborhood is sakura ... probably six or seven different types all blossoming at different times, so more than a six week season. @hooglebug, your work is as good as any I have seen done by Hakone Zaiku artisans! (and I've been visiting Hakone for nearly 50 years) I also know what it's like to be laid up with problems that kept me out of the shop for months, in my case tedinitis and bursitis. Hope you get the right advice ... and take it! I tried to bluff my way through it - like when I was younger - and made things worse. Now, my doctor gave my nurse (Mrs. Charisjapan) strict orders, and I'm on the mend. Be well!! thanks! i'd love to see that, i'm very jealous. as for my wrist, I've had everything done that they're willing to do. im pretty much just stuck doing very little and wearing a brave whenever I do do something and hope it clears up. 2 hours ago, Norris said: I made mine using a pillar drill, a set square clamped to the base plate as a guide, and an 80-grit sanding stick that would be the plan, only my drill press is broken, and im going for the bell type, rather than just a barrel shape, so it looks like i'm Dremel-ing away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 Hello! Beautiful detail work I saw a simple way to simulate a machinist lathe using a drill press and a table vise to hold the cutter, advancing the material onto the cutter by pressing down the drill press. Material held on the chuck, of course. Works fine for plexy. Since it is not an option, perhaps a simple round tennon-cutter jig would do? Material held in the hand drill, pushing into a sort of a pencil sharpener thingy, cutter being either a chisel or a spare plane knife or piece of steel. I'll try to post a drawing in a few minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 (edited) Here it is - I used something simpler to make some rods for the side dots on a recent fretless build. Can't tell what would the possible problems be without actually trying it out (which I probably will, I'm starting to twitch already ). I guess that the material shoudn't be cut cross-grained. Hope this helps! Goran Edited June 22, 2018 by gpcustomguitars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 The problem is that most drill presses can't handle side load very well. At best it causes the chuck to drop out of the taper, at worst it ruins the concentricity of the drill by causing uneven wear in the bearings or other rotate-y bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 48 minutes ago, gpcustomguitars said: Here it is - I used something simpler to make some rods for the side dots on a recent fretless build. Can't tell what would the possible problems be without actually trying it out (which I probably will, I'm starting to twitch already ). I guess that the material shoudn't be cut cross-grained. Hope this helps! Goran I just made an electrosocket-like plug out of Padauk for my Limba Redux, and. I can tell you that it’s not easy to get a truly round whatever. The grain, no matter how subtle, fights to make an irregular whatever. Now, I admit that my drill press is a cheapo, but as @Prostheta mentioned, they don’t do well with side loads. For my plug to be round, I spun it against my belt sander while eyeballing, then chucked it into the drill press for final size and polish. One way I found to use a drill press effectively was by using a drum sander in a hand drill against the whatever. It’s a bit hard to make two matching items ... but I suppose possible. At least this way there is minimal side-load on the press. Some day I’ll buy a lathe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 What I had in mind was using a hand held drill. It would work like a pencil sharpener of sorts, similar tools are used in making of stick furniture for shaping the ends into tenons, can't remember the brand name, just that they go onto the drill, and the material is fixed, and here the material is on the drill, and the "sharpener" is held in a vice. I used the same method for making a simple rod using just a hand held drill: 1-IMG_20170901_184019 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170901_184118 by Goran P, on Flickr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 2 hours ago, gpcustomguitars said: Here it is - I used something simpler to make some rods for the side dots on a recent fretless build. Can't tell what would the possible problems be without actually trying it out (which I probably will, I'm starting to twitch already ). I guess that the material shoudn't be cut cross-grained. Hope this helps! Goran I've used similar sorts of ideas on the lathe to make dowel stock. They work pretty nicely, and I imagine that this approach would sidestep the issues around sideload with drill presses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 @gpcustomguitars, Aha! I see what you're saying, and it sounds like it would work great on resizing, tapering, or sharpening a constant-size dowel. How could that work with a knob, especially a bell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 Here's a more detailed drawing. I got the idea because the original tool is actually making tapered tenons, meaning the tenon flanges out from the constant size to full width of the material used. I'm not sure my quick geometry is completely correct for the cutter, as I'm writing from work, but I will try to do a mockup, using a piece of cardboard to determine the correct cutter shape. My first application worked fine when used at higher speeds, but that was thin plastic, so using lathe logic, larger diameter material=lower speed. I think this would work with some prep tinkering. So the knob would sort of plug the cutter when done. Drilling the hole trough in some 1" hardwood stock, reaming the first taper, and probably routing the last flange? A piece of mild steel would probably hold the edge long enough for a set of knobs/proof of concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 Found the tool that gave me the idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted June 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 well, I just glued some veneer to some ebony, cut a little slot in the veneer and glued a sliver of ebony binding into the slot for a marker, then cut some smaller circles and glued them on top and cut the knobs out so they look like liquorice allsorts. tomorrow i'll see if I can make a nice hole in the center to put the bits I've cut from some other knobs in so I can get them onto pots, and then at some point if my wrist can stand it i'll just try shaping them with a Dremel like I did the tuner buttons 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted June 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 I tried to drill the centre hole, or rather expand the centre hole that was already there from gluing them up (I used a toothpick to hold them in place), but for whatever reason it drilled off centre, so I had to Dremel it instead. I pushed a dowel in there to give me something to hold onto, clamped the Dremel with a little sanding drum in a bench, and started shaping. so heres the first one roughly shaped. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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