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Is this Bubinga?


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2 hours ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

It does help :) Thanks for taking the time there, much appreciated! Funnily enough I made a bit of a mess of a template recently and had to patch it all up. As an aside I have been using very cheap router bits, I have noticed that many think this is not the way to go and that the cheap ones are generally junk. Is this because the cut is not as smooth? Or do they break?

Potentially both.  The Axcaliber ones from Axminster are a reasonable price and good quality and Wealdon are also good.

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2 hours ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

It does help :) Thanks for taking the time there, much appreciated! Funnily enough I made a bit of a mess of a template recently and had to patch it all up. As an aside I have been using very cheap router bits, I have noticed that many think this is not the way to go and that the cheap ones are generally junk. Is this because the cut is not as smooth? Or do they break?

I've heard of them breaking, but mostly it is that they dull quickly and start burning wood.

SR

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  • 2 weeks later...

But of an update, I’m down to 7.7 pounds at the moment...still in the process of routing out the back but not far off being finished on that front.  Anyway here’s a pic, will add more as I progress. Haven’t done recesses etc yet and still in the roughed out stage. I’ve bought a Bubinga neck blank and also a Wenge one. Will use which ever one turns out the best! The pictures show a roughed out stage too hah...any untidiness evident in the photo is because I massacred the template recently and had to patch it up. 

By the way, thanks everyone for all of the help with the Les Paul build! It really didn’t turn out as I had hoped but I have viewed the experience as part of a learning curve.

59FA1E69-62D7-45ED-942D-F6E6A38808FA.jpeg

E2C6F48B-B545-4598-8DA3-755FB5C3F611.jpegI like both with the scratchplate and without...marginally more with. It’s a bit six and two threes though! 

Edited by ShatnersBassoon
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1 hour ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that Padauk looks very similiar? It also apparently has the bright orange sawdust that I have noticed during this build.

Actually....looking at those white stripes...hmmm....looks like padauk to me too.  Not sure why I didn't take note of those before...

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17 hours ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that Padauk looks very similiar? It also apparently has the bright orange sawdust that I have noticed during this build.

That's the first thing I thought when first looking at that initial picture as well. And bright orange sawdust does give it away. Bubinga's dust is more brown. Likewise your report of easyish sanding points more towards padauk than bubinga as well. Padauk is heavy enough, but a bit lighter than bubinga and hard but again not as hard as bubinga. It is a great guitar wood, but unfortunately will turn to brown over time.

SR

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4 hours ago, ScottR said:

That's the first thing I thought when first looking at that initial picture as well. And bright orange sawdust does give it away. Bubinga's dust is more brown. Likewise your report of easyish sanding points more towards padauk than bubinga as well. Padauk is heavy enough, but a bit lighter than bubinga and hard but again not as hard as bubinga. It is a great guitar wood, but unfortunately will turn to brown over time.

SR

I suppose time will tell! Just a thought but...  https://www.osmouk.com/sitechaptern.cfm?bookid=Products&chapter=82&page=262

Could this be a consideration? 

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2 hours ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

I suppose time will tell! Just a thought but...  https://www.osmouk.com/sitechaptern.cfm?bookid=Products&chapter=82&page=262

Could this be a consideration? 

Possibly. UV light and oxidation are generally the two main causes. That may limit your ability to put any additional finish over it though.

SR

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Slight quandary, the fingerboard radius is going to be 16. I’m not sure what radius the saddles are on the bridge that I bought but I suspect it is designed for the standard Telecaster radius...will this be an issue? Will it defeat the purpose of the 16 radius? I got this by the way - 

https://www.amazon.ca/Wilkinson-WTB-Electric-Guitar-Bridge/dp/B06XDRHYVW

Edited by ShatnersBassoon
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On 10/24/2018 at 9:05 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

Hi again

There are all sorts of clever methods for cutting hatch recesses that you will see the amazing folks on the forum use - especially those where the chambers incorporate the fixing lugs.  My problem is that they generally involve templates and every time I seem to use a router and a template I seem to end up with a disaster.  So I personally go for a simple but safer method of just using a rebate router bit:

_MG_6713.thumb.JPG.be1244144bacae55d5cffcf06cc00beb.JPG

Basically you lower the cutting edge from the base of the router to determine the recess depth and choose the size of guide bearing to determine the width.

Then - as long as the top 10mm of the chamber you've cut is smooth and the shape you want - the rebate will faithfully follow that line:

 _MG_0257.thumb.JPG.a935beb6e44a4ed92ccacfbd7cd6f9cc.JPG

Because the bearing effectively keeps the router captive inside the chamber, as long as the router base isn't lifted off the edge of the chamber, it can't really go anywhere.

For this example above, I used a larger bearing to produce a narrower rebate, but they can be as wide or narrow as you like.

Hope that helps

Andy

The nomenclature surrounding rebate bits is confusing me, what would you recommend for a something that produces a ledge of a few mm? Are the bearings interchangeable on these bits? I guess in that case I could get almost any and just change the bearing to suit?

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1 hour ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

The nomenclature surrounding rebate bits is confusing me, what would you recommend for a something that produces a ledge of a few mm? Are the bearings interchangeable on these bits? I guess in that case I could get almost any and just change the bearing to suit?

The width of rebate you need, doing it this way, sort of depends on how you are planning to fix the cover.  Nowadays, I go for a small rebate and then add some supports to fix my magnets into:

_MG_4893.thumb.JPG.a8b64a9cd41e8c08535cc5a59df0fa77.JPG 

But you could go for a wider rebate and then just fix the magnets or screws into the rebate itself...

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12 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The width of rebate you need, doing it this way, sort of depends on how you are planning to fix the cover.  Nowadays, I go for a small rebate and then add some supports to fix my magnets into:

_MG_4893.thumb.JPG.a8b64a9cd41e8c08535cc5a59df0fa77.JPG 

But you could go for a wider rebate and then just fix the magnets or screws into the rebate itself...

My intent has simply been to just glue the panels in there, although I did think of the magnet way. Infact I may do it that way come to think of it. I didn't think of adding the supports, seems a hassle free way of doing it. Hmmm

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  • 3 weeks later...

Also, bubinga doesn't splinter when routing in my experience. 

 

I have zero experience with paduak though. The images I've seen seen to show an overlapping grain that looks like it would be prone to splintering,  though that may not be the case, as again I haven't had first hand experience with it.

 

Also, the piece in the photo above was 3" by 28" by 24" iirc when I bought it and shipping listed it as almost 50 pounds. When lying flat on the floor it was very tough to get my fingers under to pick it up. This guitar is 1 3/8" thick, is a much smaller version of an explorer,  and even with the holes still weighs nearly 10 pounds. Sorry, it's a bit dusty.

15433361765358557133333342939407.jpg

Edited by westhemann
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4 hours ago, westhemann said:

I have zero experience with paduak though. The images I've seen seen to show an overlapping grain that looks like it would be prone to splintering,  though that may not be the case, as again I haven't had first hand experience with it

Padauk is indeed prone to splintering.

SR

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/27/2018 at 9:09 PM, ScottR said:

Padauk is indeed prone to splintering.

SR

I didn't have this problem when routing the body, although I am convinced that it is Padauk now (part of the edge of the wood that was cut from the blank has turned brown, and to me it looks identical to the Padauk that I saw in a recent woodworking show). Obviously given you guys experience I certainly don't doubt that it is prone, maybe I just got lucky in that regard. I certainly wouldn't call it easy to work with though! The stuff I have is very hard and seems to take an age to cut through. Part of me likes that though, it makes for less sudden mistakes. As a slight aside the wood I have had most problems with is Ovangkol, lots of tear outs (I believe the problem with it is interlocked grain?).

Edited by ShatnersBassoon
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