ADFinlayson Posted January 29, 2020 Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 Now that I'm getting towards the end of the woodworking on the single cut and the bass build (I can't spray any finish on them as it's too cold and wet), I thought I'd make a start on a couple of others in the queue that way I can focus on finishing when the weather is up to it later in the year. David (or @Urumiko) is a fellow member and he's having a custom 24 style build - eastern european flame maple for the neck and top, african mahogany body and indian ebony fretboard and peg head, wraparound bridge 2 knobs and a toggle. I roughed the neck out a few weeks ago - it's cut from a 2" thick blank so I wanted to let it sit a good while before doing anything serious, we had a chat about carbon fibre but decided not to bother as it's pretty much quarter sawn and it hasn't moved at all. So recent progress, I've planed a 13º angle into the headstock, glued on the ebony veneer, made a flat spot for the nut to sit on and the routed the truss rod channels. Then determined to try new things, I glued in a filler strip above the truss rod - the idea is not to conceal it but just to put some pressure on the middle of the rod so there is no opportunity for it to move around. I'm pretty sure this is standard procedure for a lot of builders. I'll plane the excess off then get the neck shape roughed in then leave it for a bit. I suppose really I should have roughed out the shape and left the neck to settle before doing this job, but if there are any problems, I doubt it would be a big deal to remove the strip and truss rod again. Hopefully it wont come to that. I used my little trim router (the one I got for my mini router table) with it's fence to cut the truss rod channel this time. Actually it did the job perfectly and I'm thinking I might get another one to just leave with the 1/4" bit in so I don't have to faff around setting up every time I do this job. With the neck out of the way I got on to the top - it's from the same supplier as the neck and also pretty much quarter sawn so hopefully figure-wise it should look fairly similar. I got a few of these tops back in October and there has been a slight movement since then, so I put the underside of both piece through the drop sander to get the backs flat before jointing the edges perpendicular to the underside with the no7. That way I can have a flat glueing surface on the bottom and a good joint between them, not worried about the warpyness in the top as it's going to be carved anyway. Having the drum sander has saved me so much time at the early stages of builds, I must have got all of the above done in just a couple of hours if we're not counting drying time. On to Matt's tele - He's got a one piece flamed walnut body, a flamed maple neck (from same place as above) but with a reverse vintage strat headstock, indian ebony fretboard, a humbucker in the neck and an angled mini humbucker thing in the bridge - one of these tele style bridge where the pickup is mounted in the bridge but he specifically wanted a bridge where he can intonate each string, not just in pairs. Can you tell yet that I know sod all about teles? Anyway, the walnut body is stunning but it weighs a shed load. I suggested we chamber it and stick a flame top on it but he's very keen on having walnut on the top, which meant that this poor sod spend 3 hours skimming off the top. so it can be chambered and glued back on. Have a look at the bit of walnut, it looks quarter sawn to me, I wanted to get it fairly close to the final shape so I was hand sawing less wood, but keep as many straight sides as possible so I could go round it with my kerfing plane, and it laughed at my band saw anyway so I had to rough out the shape with a hand saw. Then came the really shit job.. Both insides are facing out and it's clamped with spacers. I've had the wood since the summer and when I pronged the outside with my moisture meter at the weekend it read 8%, but after resawing the inside measured 13% so I'm going to leave it like this for the forseable and start work on the neck, but he want's a walnut skunk stripe so I will be taking my time and doing a bit of research. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 29, 2020 Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 awe snap 'tele' got me in here but then no tele... REFUND! jk. looks like some cook wood there. looking fwd to i. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 4 minutes ago, mistermikev said: awe snap 'tele' got me in here but then no tele... REFUND! jk. looks like some cook wood there. looking fwd to i. Have you been drinking Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 29, 2020 Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 20 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: Have you been drinking Mike? I wish... what is the meaning of this title? David's PRS and Matt's Tele also above... I meant 'cool wood'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 9 hours ago, mistermikev said: I wish... what is the meaning of this title? David's PRS and Matt's Tele also above... I meant 'cool wood'... I'm documenting two builds in the one thread as it's just easier for me to do that, hopefully it won't be to awkward to follow as both builds are quite different. I knew what you meant, just wondered if you followed in my footsteps and had a Tuesday night JD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 29, 2020 Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 oh, right on... so one IS going to be a tele - looking fwd to seeing your take on that format. wish i could drink unfortunately that is a real no/no for diabetics so it's pretty rare for me. I guess finishing a build has put me in an extra humorous mood so... lets blame it on that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 The little filler strip actually worked really well, truss rod is in solid and not moving, so I planed it flush this evening and got the headstock and neck taper roughed out. Put the top through the sander to get bottom flat after gluing and so I could inspect the joint, the top face wasn't actually that far out so I put that through too. Then I used a cabinet scraper to get the sander marks off the underside. Bit cold out in the garage tonight so I'll leave it until it's warmer over night before I glue it to the body blank. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 Got the body glued together on the Imrie's build, you may notice it's rather chunky at the moment, the plan is to go for a nice deep carve so the cap is currently about 20mm. The mahog blank is also very thick because I'm planning to slice a control cover off the back off it before getting it to final thickness. I also roughed out both pieces to 1/4" over size before glueing up - a few reassons: 1. I like to rough out the shape prior to glueing so my clamps can reach further in and give me more even clamping pressure. 2. I'm planning to go at the back with a saw to cut the control cover and don't want to run the risk of damaging the sides 3. I've realised that glueing up when at final dimensions usually results in glue getting into the sides of the maple and it's a pain to get it out. Sanded the back after the glue was dry. check out this mahog, it's only a cheap "B grade" piece, I guess due to the knot, but look at the figure and the chatoyance, nicest bit I've used so far. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 The most stunning figuration and chatoyance seem to be caused by the knots so let's be thankful to those who put a lower price for knotted wood! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 7 hours ago, Bizman62 said: The most stunning figuration and chatoyance seem to be caused by the knots Knots and crotches....which are really just knots that escaped and grew up. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 12 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: you may notice it's rather chunky at the moment, the plan is to go for a nice deep carve so the cap is currently about 20mm. Man after my own heart. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urumiko Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 Today I learned the word..chatoyance lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 8 hours ago, Urumiko said: Today I learned the word..chatoyance Welcome to the "Learned a New Word in PG" club! I learned that very same word some months ago, might have been used by @ScottR when I had to google for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 I've seen a little bit of movement on the two pieces of tele body since I cut them last week, so still not touching that. Some more progress on the prs build though. I used my monster surfacing bit to remove a load of excess material, this was a lot quicker than I thought and I didn't even need a router sled. I just stopped when the area for the router to sit on got too small, then I used the flush trim sawn to remove what will be the control cover. Then routed the body to final dims, the method of glueing up oversized then routing to final dimensions seems to yield far better results than My previous method, the joint between body and top is by far my best yet. Though I did also put both pieces through the sander one last time and used a freshly sharpened scraper to remove sanding streaks prior to glueing which is bound to have had a positive impact. Then routed the rebate I used to carve to for my faux binding. The grain is strong on this one. Then catastrophe struck.!I was routing the last pot recess and the router bit decided to eat more than it's quoter of maple. So I did some carving to help me assess the damage, fortunately the cap is thick and getting quite a deep carve so it looks like I can carve through the problem and figure out how to redo the recess again later. I'm going to come up with a new method of doing these recesses. Got the fretboard thicknessed down to 5.5mm then cut sides off to make binding strips. Fretboard glued on and trimmed flush, I'm waiting for a new radian rebate cutter to arrive before I can cut the binding rebate. But no rush because as I was finishing this job, the motor in the new Katsu trim router decided to burn out on second use, so that's going back to amazon for a new one - Annoying, I want to get something else that isn't shite, trouble is I've now got a katsu table insert for it and I don't know what else will fit in the insert. Hoping to get some more carving on the top done this week, maybe drill tuner holes and start work on the tele neck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 wow, that is some beauty ebony. is it dyed or naturally that black? if dyed... what did you use? love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 55 minutes ago, mistermikev said: wow, that is some beauty ebony. is it dyed or naturally that black? if dyed... what did you use? love it. This is Indian ebony, which in my experience is consistently much darker than African and has a much more uniform grain structure, no light streaks or flaming. It is however, marginally softer than African or Macassar, which I've only determined by how it is to saw slots in comparison. Here is a job lot of Indian fretboards and head plates I got recently. The board on the far left is what's on Imrie's neck, it's obviously lighter due to oxidisation because it went jet black again as soon as it went through the sander, same with the peg head veneers. The fretboard on Ollie's V is also Indian ebony but has remained black, so I'm assuming that keeping it well oiled will prevent it from lightening up again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 good to know. have not tried indian but it is now on my list. thanks for that (or curse you for that... one more thing on my 'must try' list!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 On 1/29/2020 at 3:52 AM, ADFinlayson said: The only pointer I might add is to consider using Titebond Original over either II or III on the basis that those are designed for better performance over a range of moisture exposures. That is, wood moves more in relation to moisture and both II and III are engineered to be slightly more elastic and resistant to joint failure with the wood moving back and forth. Movement in a glue line is undesirable in an instrument and if it ever happens (generally we shouldn't) we'd see it more in glues designed for wetter end usages. For brevity I call Titebond II "outside, maybe under the porch where it's not going to get rained on" and Titebond III "in the rain, but not in the pond maybe". Moisture resistance is a good thing in those instances, however unless you're making a paddle banjo I'd recommend using the stiffer less flexible options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 Whut?! I just ran out of likes! Thanks for a thorough explanation of the three glues @Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 29 minutes ago, Prostheta said: The only pointer I might add is to consider using Titebond Original over either II or III on the basis that those are designed for better performance over a range of moisture exposures. That is, wood moves more in relation to moisture and both II and III are engineered to be slightly more elastic and resistant to joint failure with the wood moving back and forth. Movement in a glue line is undesirable in an instrument and if it ever happens (generally we shouldn't) we'd see it more in glues designed for wetter end usages. For brevity I call Titebond II "outside, maybe under the porch where it's not going to get rained on" and Titebond III "in the rain, but not in the pond maybe". Moisture resistance is a good thing in those instances, however unless you're making a paddle banjo I'd recommend using the stiffer less flexible options Thanks for the input, my rationale for using titebond 2 is that it has a higher mosture resistence than titebond original, I use titebond original for glueing on the fretboard and the neck joint, because I want those joints to be easy to unset if needed, but I don't want the headstock veneer or the body cap to be affected if I do either of those things. Enough steam to unset titebond original is not enough for 2 and 3, so I should be able to remove the neck without causing the seam on the maple cap to open or the veneer to come away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShatnersBassoon Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 I feel like I’m on a dating site with these builds...most photogenic . That’s some beautiful flame on the walnut for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 54 minutes ago, ShatnersBassoon said: I feel like I’m on a dating site with these builds...most photogenic . That’s some beautiful flame on the walnut for sure. I'm not into those dating sites where everyone has wood, but each to their own. Did you mistake Project Guitar with Project Grindr? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShatnersBassoon Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 4 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: I'm not into those dating sites where everyone has wood, but each to their own. Did you mistake Project Guitar with Project Grindr? Oh give a man. a break...That is some quality wood to be fair, that degree of Janka hardness can make a man insane! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 15 minutes ago, ShatnersBassoon said: Oh give a man. a break...That is some quality wood to be fair, that degree of Janka hardness can make a man insane! Uhuh I’ve still got blisters on my hand a week later. I need to get myself a decent saw that doesn’t have an awful rubber handle. It is a lovely piece of wood though, I’m not sure if the average Janka rating of Eastern European walnut, but it’s a damn site harder than any American black walnut I’ve used. I’ve got a similar neck blank too which must be up there with Ovangkol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 Drilled some tuner holes this evening and roughed in the headstock shape, the holes are only 8mm as I don't know what tuners he's having. I'll just ream up to the correct size when I have them. And trimmed off the end of the fretboard, managed to scuff the end slightly with the saw but fortunately this is well above where the radius will go so it will disappear. I also sanded the end of the tenon to the template. I discovered long ago that I don'y like routing the end grain on neck blanks, especially not on maple. I'm waiting on a new rebate cutter from radian tools to arrive, then I'll cut the binding channels and radius the fretboard. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.