Finished Pics! Trini Lopez Semi Tribute

[Andyjr1515]

14 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

Looking very glassy, I take it there is a bird to go on the headstock? 

Hmmm...maybe not on this one.  I have the Steinberg banjo tuners going on - which will be a diagonal line along pretty much the whole length and my gut feel, at least at the moment, is that it won't need anything else.

[Andyjr1515]

And so to the headstock plate. 

Before gluing, a vital thing not to be missed - cutting the access to the trussrod:

The cunning plan is to use the cut out above as the cover, fitted flush with magnets:

There will be a shallow scoop at the apex as a finger-nail access (this will be a snug fit!)

And no, you can't have too many clamps!

 

The plate is presently oversize at the edges and will be sanded flush with the headstock once the glue has fully cured.

[curtisa]

8 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

That statement must have one of those uniquely Tasmanian traditional references in it 

I'd like to claim it as one of mine, but it's actually a Monty Python reference.

 

8 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes indeed.  To use a less unique Anglo Saxon traditional reference, I'm going to wing it   

Tru-oil slurry and buff.  This will darken the timbers and bring out enough of the figuring of the walnut and will end up a very similar satin sheen and feel to the untreated ebony.

You say 'winging it'. I say 'keepin' it jazz, man'. 

I'd heartily recommend testing it first if you can. I've had dark bits of timber with darker features in the grain pattern just turn ugly shades of brown with the application of danish oil, which was extremely disappointing at the time. I'd hate for that exemplary piece of ebony to go the same way.

I suppose in the sprit of winging it, if you make a mistake once, it's a mistake. If you make the same mistake twice, it's jazz.

Repetition legitimises.

*sigh* I miss my Titanic...

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, curtisa said:

I'd heartily recommend testing it first if you can. I've had dark bits of timber with darker features in the grain pattern just turn ugly shades of brown with the application of danish oil, which was extremely disappointing at the time. I'd hate for that exemplary piece of ebony to go the same way.

Ah - I understand  Fear not.

The plan is to just sand and buff the ebony.  No oil or other finish.   The tru-oil bit is just the walnut and neck

[Andyjr1515]

Steinberger holes drilled - so time for a gratuitous mock-up 

When sanded and buffed, the fretboard and headstock plate will polish up to the same sort of satin finish as the ebony on the body. 

The remaining visible neck laminates will darken with the application of the Tru-oil but will buff up to a similar sheen. They don't do the Steinbergers in nickel but I think they are far enough away from the main body.

Only a few jobs left on the basic build and then I can move onto the final sanding and finishing

 

 

[ScottR]

Looking gorgeous Andy! That giant trapeze/tremolo actually enhances the look. that was not necessarily a given with such a big piece of hardware.

SR

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, ScottR said:

Looking gorgeous Andy! That giant trapeze/tremolo actually enhances the look. that was not necessarily a given with such a big piece of hardware.

SR

I'm pleased with it.  I've just applied the first coat of oil to the centre section which has toned down the 'Black Forest Gateau' look and I reckon it's starting to look pretty good.  That said, it is definitely on the brazen hussey end of the scale

 

[mistermikev]

On 12/2/2021 at 8:03 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

Steinberger holes drilled - so time for a gratuitous mock-up 

When sanded and buffed, the fretboard and headstock plate will polish up to the same sort of satin finish as the ebony on the body. 

The remaining visible neck laminates will darken with the application of the Tru-oil but will buff up to a similar sheen. They don't do the Steinbergers in nickel but I think they are far enough away from the main body.

Only a few jobs left on the basic build and then I can move onto the final sanding and finishing

 

 

wow, that wood just really popped for me with the sanding.  really looks great with that satin sheen on it.  so... with ebony... no concerns about it drying out over time esp with those very sharp f holes?  Not meaning to second guess or criticize... just wondering if you did anything that you aren't mentioning to the wood to seal it.  Really looks lovely and on the off chance I can ever afford an ebony top I'd like to know!  did you seal the inside/back of it? 

[Andyjr1515]

9 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

wow, that wood just really popped for me with the sanding.  really looks great with that satin sheen on it.  so... with ebony... no concerns about it drying out over time esp with those very sharp f holes?  Not meaning to second guess or criticize... just wondering if you did anything that you aren't mentioning to the wood to seal it.  Really looks lovely and on the off chance I can ever afford an ebony top I'd like to know!  did you seal the inside/back of it? 

Thanks, Mike 

No - decent ebony doesn't need any treatment at all - think violin fretboards/(older) piano keys.  And it will polish up to quite a gloss if you want it to - don't I remember you, @ScottR , showing that on one of your fretboards?

It is hard work, though...

[mistermikev]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Thanks, Mike 

No - decent ebony doesn't need any treatment at all - think violin fretboards/(older) piano keys.  And it will polish up to quite a gloss if you want it to - don't I remember you, @ScottR , showing that on one of your fretboards?

It is hard work, though...

right on.  I know generally seasoned ebony afa fretboards is freq left unfinished but an ebony hollowbody is probably about as rare as dragonfly balls so.. can't say that has ever come up before.  is really just a lovely look.  gonna keep that in mind for if I ever win the lottery!!

[ScottR]

5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And it will polish up to quite a gloss if you want it to - don't I remember you, @ScottR , showing that on one of your fretboards?

Indeed you did. Pretty much all of them start quite glossy, and by the time I've pounded frets in, taped and untaped several times during fret leveling and dressing and guitar finishing....I've pretty much cured them of being so shiny and glossy.

SR

[Andyjr1515]

It's been a bit 'head down and battle on' with this one.

 

Added some luminlay side dots and top MoP dots to the fretboard:

 

 

Made some knobs:

 

Fixed the magnets to the control hatch and the flush-fit truss rod cover:

I'll be staining the spruce under the thumbnail cutaway so it blends in better:

Note the headstock swifts also added.  The positioning was thought up by Jack and his good lady.  I think it's great

 

And that's the basic build done

Still to do is the final finishing, the fret ends/levelling/etc and then just the installation of the hardware and electrics

 

And so, just a couple of gratuitous mockups and then, sometime back end of next week, I should be able to show the completed guitar.    Just hoping @mistermikev isn't just about to finish another one of his masterpieces for the December GOTM!!! 

 

Oh - and final projected weight?  8 1/4lbs (and 1 lb of that is the Maestro trem!!!)

 

 

[mistermikev]

2 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

It's been a bit 'head down and battle on' with this one.

 

Added some luminlay side dots and top MoP dots to the fretboard:

 

 

Made some knobs:

 

Fixed the magnets to the control hatch and the flush-fit truss rod cover:

I'll be staining the spruce under the thumbnail cutaway so it blends in better:

Note the headstock swifts also added.  The positioning was thought up by Jack and his good lady.  I think it's great

 

And that's the basic build done

Still to do is the final finishing, the fret ends/levelling/etc and then just the installation of the hardware and electrics

 

And so, just a couple of gratuitous mockups and then, sometime back end of next week, I should be able to show the completed guitar.    Just hoping @mistermikev isn't just about to finish another one of his masterpieces for the December GOTM!!! 

 

Oh - and final projected weight?  8 1/4lbs (and 1 lb of that is the Maestro trem!!!)

 

 

oh f, not if that thing is going in!  lol.  flipping lovely!!

[Andyjr1515]

17 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

oh f, not if that thing is going in!  lol.  flipping lovely!!

[Gogzs]

I had a feeling this would be done in December and I'd lose out to one more time haha... at least I know my gut feeling is still well calibrated and gives good estimates

It's really coming together awesomely. Headstock looks great, and the whole thing came to life with the hardware installed. Nice job man! 

[Bizman62]

This build made me view some Trini Lopez videos to find out what kind of music he made and how this guitar is related to him. Well, whaddayaknow, it appeared that I knew his music without having known the name of the performer. And I must say that you've managed to catch the vibe of his guitar and raised it to the next level!

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

This build made me view some Trini Lopez videos to find out what kind of music he made and how this guitar is related to him. Well, whaddayaknow, it appeared that I knew his music without having known the name of the performer. And I must say that you've managed to catch the vibe of his guitar and raised it to the next level!

The irony, of course, is that Trini Lopez's Gibson didn't actually have the florentine horns and nor did the Gibson Trini Lopez ES-335 that they marketed.  But then, they brought out the Trini Lopez Deluxe model that did  have the florentines - although I'm pretty sure that there's no evidence that Trini Lopez actually played one.  It is, to my eye at least, a very attractive feature.

[Bizman62]

Isn't this Trini Lopez playing a guitar with florentine horns? I have no idea about the brand or model but there's several videos from 1967-68 on YouTube with him playing that guitar.

[Andyjr1515]

56 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Isn't this Trini Lopez playing a guitar with florentine horns? I have no idea about the brand or model but there's several videos from 1967-68 on YouTube with him playing that guitar.

Ahah!  I stand corrected!

Thanks for tracking it down

[Andyjr1515]

Main job over the weekend was fret ends/level/recrown/polish.

For levelling I use a  box section of aluminium with emery cloth double-side-taped to one side and use it as both the level gauge and leveller:

For the fret ends and recrowning, I find the Chris Alsop crowning files just right...clearly designed by someone who's done the job himself...

In this shot I'm just holding it for the camera - in use it fits nicely in your palm giving great control, but is short and so it much easier to use as you get to the over-body section than the longer types of files.

I rough crown it using the diamond edge itself and then run through 400/800 emery and then 4000/6000/8000/12000 micro-mesh cloths using the Chris Alsop file as the former:

And - you'll have to forgive the appalling winter/full cloud cover light - done:

For the back and sides, I've been doing the initial Tru-oil slurry and buff stages as I've been going along, which has given me the drying time while I've been able to be do other stuff on the finish list.  But on Sunday I was able to give it its final slurry with 2000 grit emery.  A break in the cloud gave me a rare bit of winter sunshine:

I've hand polished the fretboard and headstock ebony (again, using the micro-mesh, running progressively through the grades of 3200 to 12000) and will do a final buff later today.  For the main ebony panels, they need a final Mirka sand and then the same treatment.  All going well, both jobs will be able to be done by the close of play this evening.

I'm pretty sure that gets me to the stage of progressively positioning and fitting some of the hardware. 

[ADFinlayson]

Looking rather nice! 

[Andyjr1515]

And a little bit closer.

 

With a through-neck, there is a lot that has to be basically right so that everything lines up and the string geometry is in the right place.  And pretty much the only way of checking that in the end is to fit a set of strings to see if it does, indeed, line up.

So back on went the tuners and on went the vibrato working bits (I'll leave the nickel cover until I've finished messing about).  And, with a packer to lift the bridge temporarily to a clearance height, on went a 'sacrificial' set of strings (actually oddments of acoustic sets from my bits drawer).

And it lines up pretty well.

PHEW! 

 

I've also decided to put at least a gesture of protective finish onto the ebony.  Polished up, it is remarkably resistant to finger prints, etc.  But any water on it shows.  And what with Jack dripping sweat as he shreds through the scales...well, you get the picture

And so, to that end, the other thing I've done is prepare an offcut of the body ebony to the same sanding stage and tried one side with Lord Sheraton beeswax balsam and the other side with a decent food-grade mineral oil (preferred to, say, lemon oil, due to the lack of acidity and other additives).

Both work fine and give the same satin hue.  Both feel great.  So a bit of a toss of a coin, but I'm going with the mineral oil.  I'll apply it this evening and so tomorrow's photos should give a decent idea how it will turn out.

The other thing I can do with some strings on is work out - given the whammy bar - the accessibility of the knobs in the planned positions. 

 

Still stuff to do - but it is looking like a guitar now

[ScottR]

On 12/14/2021 at 10:01 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

the accessibility of the knobs in the planned positions.

Oh yeah......that's what's missing. No wonder it has that clean almost acoustic vibe going on.

And it still looks edible.

SR

[Andyjr1515]

Spent some time working out how to secure the pickups and achieve decent height adjustment.  I'm direct fixing them to the pocket bases with firm sponge underneath - a bit like bass guitar pickups tend to be done.

For the positioning of the bridge, I have strung it up with a 'proper' set of electric strings and packed up the top of the roller bridge to get it to the correct action height.  That way, I am able to position the optimum position and angle of the bridge, given the adjustment range of the saddles, giving plenty of further intonation adjustment for alternative string gauges or tunings.

With a 6mm bradpoint through the two bridge adjuster holes, I have then marked the centre point for the bushes drill holes (11mm...that's meant a 24hr hour Amazon jobee for an 11mm bradpoint which should arrive later today)

And while I'm waiting for the bradpoint for the bridge bushes, on to one of the other last scary bits - drilling holes in the top for the controls!

It will be fiddly enough as it is...but thank goodness for that hatch at the back!  

[Andyjr1515]

Dreadful light today so no good doing the 'finished pics' but, cosmetically, it's done.

Still got all the set up stuff to do and I need a tweak (or the OK to do it myself) from Marc at Mojo (an excellent 'boutique' pickup builder in the UK) to get the phasing right for the 'both' pickups (they are braided earth, single conductor and so not as simple as swopping the wires round...it needs one of the magnets flipping).  Individually, by the way, the pickups sound GREAT!!!  

So we'll have to wait for a 'not having to have all the house lights on in the middle of the day' break in the cloud before the arty farty shots but here's a couple of poor light shots to be going on with