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1st build Walnut Multiscale 7 string


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2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

the darker woods like walnut, wenge etc is that they're a bit more forgiving on your glue joints.

Oh yeah? That may be true for staining but not when a yellow stripe of Titebond shines between two dark brown pieces! :angry:

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3 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

The good thing about the darker woods like walnut, wenge etc is that they're a bit more forgiving on your glue joints. tops like maple are impossible to stain well if you've got a gap that's full of glue. But I'm convinced that this top will look epic and I'm pretty jealous that I haven't got a bit of wood like that!

Here’s to hoping! 

I got that wood at Hunski hardwoods, they had a good selection of figured walnut. Not to expensive either.

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2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

have yet to do a multilam myself but there is def one in my future.  afa tops... I've had good luck cutting both sides at the sm time with a router... lot less work anyway.  not sure what one does with multilam.  run it through the planer?  I am not sure I would do that with figured wood.  I guess that leaves my router planer... would be a lot of work to plane down several boards for a multilam.  If it means hand sanding the whole way... I just as soon not do multilams!  I think I'm going to have to buy a jointer b4 I do that!

I think I need to make some sort of jig so I can use a router on the neck lams. 

Probably the next shop day needs to be spent making router jigs.

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1 hour ago, Lwguitar said:

I think I need to make some sort of jig so I can use a router on the neck lams. 

Probably the next shop day needs to be spent making router jigs.

just throwing this out there... I built my jig using steel rails and bolts/nuts from home depot + two layers of mdf.  The nice thing about this jig is you can adjust the height at the four corners... which makes it work to give you the taper on the back of the neck, or any other taper you need.  it also is nice for allowing you to do thinner or thicker jobs.  not all that hard to build either... drill four holes in steel rails, drill 4 holes at corners of a piece of mdf.  then I just built an mdf slat to go across it... two L rails to keep the router in place, and two pieces of mdf to keep the router on the steel rails.

lots of other good ideas and all have their benefits afa ease of setup, simplicity, complexity and usefulness so I'd suggest having a look at some threads to find the one that will work best for you.

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1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

just throwing this out there... I built my jig using steel rails and bolts/nuts from home depot + two layers of mdf.  The nice thing about this jig is you can adjust the height at the four corners... which makes it work to give you the taper on the back of the neck, or any other taper you need.  it also is nice for allowing you to do thinner or thicker jobs.  not all that hard to build either... drill four holes in steel rails, drill 4 holes at corners of a piece of mdf.  then I just built an mdf slat to go across it... two L rails to keep the router in place, and two pieces of mdf to keep the router on the steel rails.

lots of other good ideas and all have their benefits afa ease of setup, simplicity, complexity and usefulness so I'd suggest having a look at some threads to find the one that will work best for you.

Steel is good! This build is getting expensive though! For now I am going to have to stick to MDF. 

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4 hours ago, Lwguitar said:

905FDFFC-6043-4395-AD63-F89AB7F867A7.thumb.jpeg.8f73e5767c8195e5f83747c760efc0ff.jpegI’m actually planing on using a jig like this for leveling the top. @ADFinlayson

 

How did you enjoy using it?

It worked well although that particular wood does not like being worked much at all. I recommend getting yourself a good surfacing bit to do the job, it would take an extremely long time with a 1/2” plunge bit. The bit I used was from Radian tools and measures about 1 1/2” in diameter so can remove a lot of material laterally in a single pass. 

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1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said:

Looks like a good joint to me. I take it you're carving the top so all those saw marks should disappear? how thick is it currently? Lovely bit of wood that!

Yah, I’m gonna be attempting a carve. It’s currently 11/16 to 3/4 at most parts, if I cut it down to get rid of the saw marks it will be about 5/8. I hope that will be thick enough. I’m wanting to leave 3/16 around the edge in place of binding.

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I wouldn’t do any more thicknessing then, rough cut it and stick it to the body, then you will know what you’re working with in terms of depth and where you’re going to carve. I did the same thing when I bookmatched my own top on the neckthrough V, I tidied up all the saw marks with a plane then random orbital when it was close to size and there was a lot less work involved. 

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1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said:

I wouldn’t do any more thicknessing then, rough cut it and stick it to the body, then you will know what you’re working with in terms of depth and where you’re going to carve. I did the same thing when I bookmatched my own top on the neckthrough V, I tidied up all the saw marks with a plane then random orbital when it was close to size and there was a lot less work involved. 

Sounds like a plan.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Family stuff has kept me busy so I haven’t been able to spend much time in the shop.

i did get the top sanded down to 220 and ready to glue.05024C06-AA00-40CF-912A-66A6547FA8A6.thumb.jpeg.d4b198442ce42495bbe1f3b289eaf16b.jpeg

I used double sided tape to hold the sandpaper to a stewmac beam.

Next step is taking my 1 7/8” body down to 1 1/5”. I plan on using a table saw to put in a kerf and then hand sawing the rest.8B27724E-88BD-4514-97BA-181A8146B48C.thumb.jpeg.68d7adeb3b57394e7c821d7d5e59be4d.jpeg

The bottom piece is the body blank. It is Makore with some figure.

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def some nice looking wood there.  I can't imagine hand sawing that much stock myself but then I try to avoid doing anything w hand tools - just not my bag.  turned out pretty good for you b4 so... sounds like you got this.  can't wait to see it done... also wood envy every time i see that walnut.

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18 hours ago, Lwguitar said:

Family stuff has kept me busy so I haven’t been able to spend much time in the shop.

i did get the top sanded down to 220 and ready to glue.

I used double sided tape to hold the sandpaper to a stewmac beam.

Next step is taking my 1 7/8” body down to 1 1/5”. I plan on using a table saw to put in a kerf and then hand sawing the rest.

The bottom piece is the body blank. It is Makore with some figure.

Table saw is a really good idea, I tend to bookmatch my timber with a kerfing plane then a hand saw but I'm seriously considering a table saw for this very reason, would take a lot of the hard work out if you can cut a few inches into each end first. I'm thinking that a good quality tall fence would be paramount though.

What is that top piece, is that more claro? It's gorgeous 

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2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

def some nice looking wood there.  I can't imagine hand sawing that much stock myself but then I try to avoid doing anything w hand tools - just not my bag.  turned out pretty good for you b4 so... sounds like you got this.  can't wait to see it done... also wood envy every time i see that walnut.

That’s where I’m different! I would rather spend an hour pushing a saw or sandpaper back and forth than spend an hour setting up a machine to do the same thing.

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1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said:

Table saw is a really good idea, I tend to bookmatch my timber with a kerfing plane then a hand saw but I'm seriously considering a table saw for this very reason, would take a lot of the hard work out if you can cut a few inches into each end first. I'm thinking that a good quality tall fence would be paramount though.

What is that top piece, is that more claro? It's gorgeous 

A good sharp reasonably narrow kerf blade is paramount.

tall fence not soo much.  your stock must be square and flat and the edges must be jointed to be exactly 90 degree's to one face.  then you have to ensure that same face is always against the fence. 

I use a 2" block of body scrap that has been jointed on one side to hold the stock against the fence.  then it's simply a matter of taking multiple small cuts and just pushing the stock through the blade. 

it works rather well....

The only actual difficult part is cutting out the center section without letting the saw blade wander and cut into the sides (ruining the bookmatch).

 

Edited by Jdogg
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1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said:

Table saw is a really good idea, I tend to bookmatch my timber with a kerfing plane then a hand saw but I'm seriously considering a table saw for this very reason, would take a lot of the hard work out if you can cut a few inches into each end first. I'm thinking that a good quality tall fence would be paramount though.

What is that top piece, is that more claro? It's gorgeous 

I took that photo a while ago, it’s the same piece I used for the top. It’s amazing how different it looks in different light!

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13 minutes ago, Jdogg said:

A good sharp reasonably narrow kerf blade is paramount.

tall fence not soo much.  your stock must be square and flat and the edges must be jointed to be exactly 90 degree's to one face.  then you have to ensure that same face is always against the fence. 

I use a 2" block of body scrap that has been jointed on one side to hold the stock against the fence.  then it's simply a matter of taking multiple small cuts and just pushing the stock through the blade. 

it works rather well....

The only actual difficult part is cutting out the center section without letting the saw blade wander and cut into the sides (ruining the bookmatch).

 

Thanks for the tip, the reason I thought a high fence would be important would be when cutting the ends of the board as it would be tall and narrow. Sawing the middle part out, I've found to be fairly easy to keep the saw true as long as all 4 edges have a kerf already cut into them. I guess I'm just going to have to get myself a table saw and have a go.

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50 minutes ago, Lwguitar said:

That’s where I’m different! I would rather spend an hour pushing a saw or sandpaper back and forth than spend an hour setting up a machine to do the same thing.

once it's build... I don't suppose anyone would know the difference of how it got cut, we all have to work to our strengths!  in your case def seems like you have an affinity for doing by hand so... good on ya.

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