ZekeB Posted May 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 Thanks mike. I think your right about trying to stare at it too long. I tend to take forever with the cad, design, and building as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 48 minutes ago, ZekeB said: Thanks mike. I think your right about trying to stare at it too long. I tend to take forever with the cad, design, and building as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted May 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2019 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: Lol sorry was referring to doubting the original decisions we make after looking at it for so long. That being said I'm going to stick with the first one. The art deco theme seems to be leading this design. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted May 4, 2019 Report Share Posted May 4, 2019 16 minutes ago, ZekeB said: Lol sorry was referring to doubting the original decisions we make after looking at it for so long. That being said I'm going to stick with the first one. The art deco theme seems to be leading this design. no I got it... I posted that icon to show I was deep in thought pondering upon it w you! it IS the "thinking face". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted May 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2019 haha, gotcha. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted May 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 On 5/3/2019 at 5:22 AM, ADFinlayson said: Ivory binding gets my vote, anything too elaborate detracts from the fretboard. What's the rationale behind 23 frets? Its 22 frets. I think the scale of the frets is wrong on the image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted May 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 About 8 hours into inlay work so far. Here's the rough cut of the signature for the pickguard. Ribbon is done as well. Finish the fretboard inlay tomorrow. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted May 10, 2019 Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 Just amazing! When I was young I had seen inlays like that only on factory made instruments and in my naïveness thought that it's about some fancy industrial high technology machinery that can automatically cut the inlay pieces and carve the cavities in mere minutes - something that might not even have been possible back then! Oh and how I hated that saw in my early teens! We used omnidirectional blades for cutting acrylics and I never learned to cut straight or even stay outside the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted May 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 Rough cut and sand done. Time to start fine tuning 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted May 10, 2019 Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 Looks awesome, sorry if you’ve posted before and I’ve missed it, what material are you inlaying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted May 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 4 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: Looks awesome, sorry if you’ve posted before and I’ve missed it, what material are you inlaying? Oh no worries. Materials are gold, black, and white mother of pearl. Also have bloody basin jasper. Their covered with the templates but they will show up when I clean and sand them off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 3 hours ago, ZekeB said: Oh no worries. Materials are gold, black, and white mother of pearl. Also have bloody basin jasper. Their covered with the templates but they will show up when I clean and sand them off. That will look bloody marvellous 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Finally back to working on this. Got my fretboard routed and fitted. Going to expirement with dye and ebony mixtures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Cleaned the inlays a little 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 4 hours ago, ZekeB said: Cleaned the inlays a little i literally can't tell if that's just sitting on top, or is actually inlaid. if inlaid - you did a great job! if not: get to work! really looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Thanks Mike. Yeah its inlaid. Left it a little proud to sand down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 18 minutes ago, ZekeB said: Thanks Mike. Yeah its inlaid. Left it a little proud to sand down well the job was so good I can't even tell. that must have been a TON of work. this is something I need to improve on so tell me how you did it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Thanks again, Mike. For what its worth, here's my inlay procedure. Started with a printout of the inlay. I made the lines .010" on the print so it would be on the line of the cut. I glued those on to the material and that helps with sanding and holding things together if the material is brittle like the jasper. If you use brittle material go thicker. On the jasper its 1..5 mm and the MOP is 1mm. They messed up my order and the black was .5mm so I routed at different depths for those. I used two blades one fine and one course. Fine for soft material, course for the harder stuff. After everything was cut I laid down some painters tape on the fret board and got another print of the template and cut out the shapes with a razor. I taped when it was positioned and started fitting the pieces in and gluing them into place. When set, I removed the template and scored the pieces. I scored the wood. Removed the material and tape and I scored again deeper so it'll come off when you get near with the router bit. I used chalk to brighten up the lines. From there I have a 3/32" and 1/32" bit that are spiral down cutting bits. the 3/32" bit works well keeping the material out but the 1/32" is honestly still a little messy. This is where the scoring will help a lot. You don't want to go deeper than the width of the bit. If you do your more prone to breaking it. You'll also be able to work clean if you do multiple passes. If I can't see the edge of the side where I scored it I just get near it and leave it alone. When the initial route is down I use thee types of razors. One with a sharp tip, hook, and rounded. My rule of thump is to try not to pull.the razors. You'll end up scoring going places you don't want to go. If the edge is scored well i'll use the rounded one to stab and turn to break it free and you'll have a nice clean accurate edge. For the really sharp corners I'll use the hook and very carefully stab the corners while pressing down. I then try my pieces, re-score if needed and they'll fit eventually. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 That was very straightforward. No fancy this and that, just the basic tools everyone can afford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 Here's the results from the ebony dust mixture vs black dye mixture. The larger piece is the dust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 (edited) Talking about invisible vs. nicely blending. Edited June 8, 2019 by Bizman62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 3 hours ago, ZekeB said: Thanks again, Mike. For what its worth, here's my inlay procedure. Started with a printout of the inlay. I made the lines .010" on the print so it would be on the line of the cut. I glued those on to the material and that helps with sanding and holding things together if the material is brittle like the jasper. If you use brittle material go thicker. On the jasper its 1..5 mm and the MOP is 1mm. They messed up my order and the black was .5mm so I routed at different depths for those. I used two blades one fine and one course. Fine for soft material, course for the harder stuff. After everything was cut I laid down some painters tape on the fret board and got another print of the template and cut out the shapes with a razor. I taped when it was positioned and started fitting the pieces in and gluing them into place. When set, I removed the template and scored the pieces. I scored the wood. Removed the material and tape and I scored again deeper so it'll come off when you get near with the router bit. I used chalk to brighten up the lines. From there I have a 3/32" and 1/32" bit that are spiral down cutting bits. the 3/32" bit works well keeping the material out but the 1/32" is honestly still a little messy. This is where the scoring will help a lot. You don't want to go deeper than the width of the bit. If you do your more prone to breaking it. You'll also be able to work clean if you do multiple passes. If I can't see the edge of the side where I scored it I just get near it and leave it alone. When the initial route is down I use thee types of razors. One with a sharp tip, hook, and rounded. My rule of thump is to try not to pull.the razors. You'll end up scoring going places you don't want to go. If the edge is scored well i'll use the rounded one to stab and turn to break it free and you'll have a nice clean accurate edge. For the really sharp corners I'll use the hook and very carefully stab the corners while pressing down. I then try my pieces, re-score if needed and they'll fit eventually. some good tips there - thank you for that. specifically, sounds like you put tape/paper on the fretboard, and glued your inlay to it? good trick. I've got an upcoming inlay that will put me to the test and I've picked up a number of dif sized bits from harbor freight. Plan on building an led base for my tile base/dremel. hoping that will help (can't see squat as it is!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 Here she is. Got a few cracks as I set some but moving forward. On to the pickguard. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 Awesome bit of inlay that, fair play. if you decide to do any finer details on the bird, hint of feathers, eyes etc. You can scratch it into the mop with a sharp tool (I found the point of a marking knife worked best) and either rub dye into it, or dust and glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted June 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I think I'll do that to add the eyes and beak at least. You recommend any specific combination for the dye? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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