Project: Earthstone

[mistermikev]

just trying to help... but if you are doing a channel... you could use a big square plexi base and that will deflect 99.5% of everything back into the channel.  just a thought.

[komodo]

I'd set it on a bench and run a file/sanding block up and down the side of the bench like a shooting board. You'd have total control on speed, and feed. 5-10 minutes and wearing magnifiers to make sure you just kiss the plate.

[Prostheta]

Already done. Router table, then filed to get rid of machining marks. 

[Prostheta]

Welp. With me now facing a lot of time on my hands (grr, layoffs) I suppose that I can progress some elements of this. Since I will have less time at work (occasional weekends I think) I'll make the decision to do the truss rod with an aluminium U-channel type. The neck blank has shifted very little since it was rough cut, perhaps a little surfacing needing doing to the top (less than half a mm) for better glueing but otherwise satisfactory.

Given reduced income for the foreseeable, it's going to be a challenge to afford the pickups, tuners and stop tail but then again the timescale makes this something for future generations to worry about. On with the wood butchery!

The plan over the next week or so is to rout a 10,5mm wide, 9mm deep channel for the truss rod, stopped at both ends. An 8mm bullnose bit will extend this channel out to the headstock for access. Being a 3x3 tuner arrangement, it should be possible to adjust the rod using a long Allen t-wrench rather than the common bent keys. That way the access can be kept minimal so as not to weaken the headstock structure.

I'll print out the headstock 1:1 on paper, glue this to a piece of plywood or whatever, then produce a symmetrical routing template by copy routing. Photos will be forthcoming. Once roughly laid out, I'll run the neck into work and bandsaw the excess material so the top profile and headstock can be routed.

How I'm going to manage the edge bloody binding bending on a bound bargain budget er, is beyond me.

[Bizman62]

Slightly on a tangent, but why is it so often called 3x3 tuner arrangement? 3x3=9 in my math book, yet there's only 6 tuners total. Is the "x" just a tilted "+"?

[Prostheta]

I think that it's just one of those things that are wrong in a literal sense, however through common usage as shorthand they stick in spite of that. 3+3 makes equal sense to me, and I'm sure that my usual pedantry doesn't quite go this far, yet.

It's funny how many things pass into common usage in spite of containing logical errors, or how incorrect practice becomes common practice when the method isn't broken down and validated. I had a scrape at work over applying ABS edge banding using D3 glue (water resistant PVAc emulsion, more or less Titebond II or similar) when I know that PVAc emulsions require two porous surfaces for adequate adhesion. No professional would use, or manufacturer would guarantee this. Having been done this way for a long time, the idea passed from common use into a state where it resembled working practice.

So yes, absolutely crazy, and I do think we should continually question what we regard as common fact in order to re-evaluate the quality of our thinking, knowledge and processing. It matters.

Except in this case, where it's fine.

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Slightly on a tangent, but why is it so often called 3x3 tuner arrangement? 3x3=9 in my math book, yet there's only 6 tuners total. Is the "x" just a tilted "+"?

And also I think because Ernie Ball has trade-marked the x+y designation (which as a commercial coup takes some beating). 

So if you describe an arrangement as 4+1, say, without acknowledging that such designation is the property of Ernie Ball Inc which of course I do whole heartedly and if I can just add, well, what a marvellous company they are and wow those products (think that should do it ) then you are open to receiving a cease and desist letter from their lawyers if not a hefty lawsuit.

[Prostheta]

REALLY?! That's a thing?! Then again, Larry DiMarzio trademarking "double cream" was enough of an overly broad and aggressive restriction on what should be a free artistic market....beh....

[Bizman62]

What? How is it possible to trademark something that's obvious? Actually one website told that 3+3 is a common way of describing that sort of tuner layout. I can understand that the commercial use of some less common layout can be trademarked but protecting the only logical way of describing it goes beyond my understanding! If that's legal I'd like to start filling scuba diving tanks with "Breathing Air (TM)" or bottling "Drinking Water (TM)".

"Double Cream"??? What does the dairy industry say, double cream is pretty much standardized there? That sounds triple cheesy!

 

[Prostheta]

It's a crazy world where there's enough to go around for all, yet nobody wants to share. BECAUSE IT'S MINE.

[mistermikev]

Just now, Prostheta said:

It's a crazy world where there's enough to go around for all, yet nobody wants to share. BECAUSE IT'S MINE.

at least in the US... you can trademark anything... but whether or not that trademark would hold in court is not reflective of the fact that you have a trademark.  People are silly... they think just because they were the first to think of something they should have exclusive right to it.  I doubt the dimarzio trademark of double cream would be upheld in court, but who wants to spend the money to fight it?  also... it's ALL MINE! 

[killemall8]

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Slightly on a tangent, but why is it so often called 3x3 tuner arrangement? 3x3=9 in my math book, yet there's only 6 tuners total. Is the "x" just a tilted "+"?

The "X" is "by" not a times. Like on a deer. A 3x3 is 3 points on each side. 3 by 3

[mistermikev]

27 minutes ago, killemall8 said:

The "X" is "by" not a times. Like on a deer. A 3x3 is 3 points on each side. 3 by 3

he makes a good point... in keeping with the hillbilly/hunter(my roots) theme... it's 4 by 4 not 4 x 4... even tho it's spelled 4x4, which makes even less sense because there are only 4 wheels but I guess 4 driven wheels so... I forget where this was going!

[Prostheta]

I threw together a quick setup for routing the truss rod. Very bunk, but effective.

Firstly, I fitted the adjustable edge guide to my palm router. The rout needed to be a bit over 10mm wide, so I fitted an 8mm cutter. The first cut was to establish the centre, so the wiggle room either side of 8mm allowed me to dial it in before locking down the edge guide. I then fitted the 8mm bullnose and ran out a channel dead centre out over the headstock and back into the main rod channel. After this was done, the 8mm cutter was refitted, the main slot cut to depth and then adjusted either side to produce a centralised slot.

I marked placements on the blank to set my stops. The back end of the blank was just a piece of tape whereas the mark for the front end was a line with an approach chevron. This helps you see when the stop line will emerge from underneath the base with each pass back to front.

 

No, no, this is actually tidy for me. The neck was clamped in the leg vise and the back end propped up over the back of a wooden cam clamp. Also, wear ear defenders. Hearing damage is no joke.

 

[10pizza]

nice setup, I'll have to do something similar soon!

 

[Prostheta]

Thanks man. It wasn't ideal by a long way, so take care if adapting this idea for your own ends. It worked in this case, but may not always for all. Judgement is required as always!

I'd been meaning to make some kind of setup for this task using either two adjustable edge guides to ride either side of the workpiece, or a base where the "fence jaws" can be adjusted inwards/outwards simultaneously whilst the router stays in one spot relative to the centre point, with some sort of adjustment for the router against that point. It's somewhat of an overblown idea given the number of end uses for guitar work, but for furniture making it would be ideal for loose tenon joinery and spline slotting. I might have to follow that up one day. The main issue with this setup was the router base falling over the headstock with very little base remaining to keep it flat to the neck. A larger base would be a simple fix for this.

Another alternative mode of use if needing a perfect centre rout would be two bearings set equidistant from the centre of the base, so you can rotate the base till both bearings contact and ride the outer edges, forcing the bit to the exact centre of the workpiece. Of course, this wouldn't give me easy options for offsetting to widen a cut and the bearings would shoot off the ends of the workpiece at the extremes.

[Prostheta]

*checks photo*

Phew, yes. It came out in the centre. That's me not checking my work again. A lack of sleep will do that.

2 hours ago, Prostheta said:

[killemall8]

love that clean access !

[10pizza]

On 12/14/2019 at 7:47 PM, Prostheta said:

Thanks man. If my reputation for glacial progress holds, you'll need superhuman patience!

just going back through this thread ; haha. Sounds familiar.

NIce build, looking forward to the result!

 

[Andyjr1515]

That looks splendid.  Such a clean cut.

[Prostheta]

Well well well. Looks like I've been a bit naughty and skipped several steps ahead without doing adequate photo work. Given the current situation of being laid off work, living on a budget and having limited access to shop machinery, meh....trying to advance what I can in as controlled a manner as possible. I quite easily flap and do things out of order when not 100% in control without full resources. Anyway. What did I last post....? Let me review so I can catch up properly....

[Prostheta]

Oh right, so just the truss rod slot. Okay.

Firstly, my main conundrum. This sort of sets the scene for how I'll be working from here, and maybe outline the thought process (or lack thereof). I have a lot of wood binding to bend, and I really should have invested in a proper bending iron by now. I might have to borrow one from a local school if that's an option. Alternatively, getting a length of steel pipe and a blowtorch. Those two might be a bit of a budget constraint in the face of making rent being my higher priority.

The work done that I haven't detailed yet was bandsawing the outline of the neck, shaping the headstock template, glueing the headplate and routing the headstock itself. That brought me to this point:

 

Thicknessing the headstock. This is by far the shonkiest way of doing this job, however given a stable fence, practice in keeping the bearing pressure on the headstock face in the centre rather than the ends (where it might tip out) and safe working against the  drum, it does fine work. Obviously for the photo, the drum was not engaged otherwise this ghetto thicknesser would turn into a ramshackle wood accelerator. I took off half a mm at a time so as not to present too much work to the machine at any one time and aimed for an overall thickness of 18mm. This is way more than most headstocks and more than most tuning machines can accommodate, requiring each bushing to be recessed. We'll get to that later. The final pass was a fine skim with a line drawn across the back of the blank to establish the stopping point. This large drum does a good job of producing a gradual curve into the volute.

I marked the taper of the neck from the fingerboard and copy routed using a plywood straightedge. I prefer this over working on (or off) the fingerboard itself for a number of reasons that make more sense in my head than they do written down. Mostly this is from plywood providing a larger bearing surface for the router base and also that I can extend the taper beyond the fingerboard back to the rear of the blank where it fits below the neck pickup rout. No sense in wasting that meat.

Fast forward to today, where I hunted forever for an M2,5 machine screw for my bearing guided binding cutter. It took me way too long to figure this one out. So, the WBW purfling is 1,0mm and the main Walnut binding 3,0mm. Viola, etc.

 

Oh yes, I'm a little less than 100% pleased with the truss rod access rout. Whilst it is perfectly functional and dialled in exactly, the cut chattered a little. Quite likely I'll make an Ebony or Rosewood truss rod cover that drops into there with magnets. A corresponding rounded length of (insert wood here) will fit into that access opening nicely. That burning is bugging me endlessly. Don't look at it.

[mistermikev]

love the headstock design

[komodo]

That's going to look amazing all bound up and connecting with the fret board.

[Bizman62]

Oh those tiny little everyday inventions that are simply ingenious, like the depth stop at the end of the headstock thicknessing guide.

I've done the same on the end roller of a big band sander, with a piece of 2x4 as a guide and the table jacked up to 90 degrees with whatever can be found in the scrapwood bin.