Starting a new build (After a brief pause)

[Dward13]

To continue the side note project:

Remembered a nice chunk of birdseye to make a fingerboard to match the neck.

Routed out for inlays, simple rectangles, all the same size, crotch walnut.

Installed the StewMac "Hot Rod" truss rod, glued and clamped the neck/fingerboard.

[mistermikev]

On 3/29/2022 at 1:09 PM, curtisa said:

You'll get better results if the clamping beams are gently curved rather than being straight. The threaded rods will put the most pressure on the edges, but if the initial contact point of the beams is in the middle of the faces being clamped, the clamping pressure will be more evenly distributed across the full length of the beam as the threaded rods are tightened up.

tis a very good tip.  I haven't had much opportunity to glue flat... and if I did I would have leaned towards steel square stock... but now I'll have to second guess myself there thanks to your tip.  

[mistermikev]

On 3/30/2022 at 5:55 AM, Dward13 said:

Bizman62,

Found a good idea in a YouTube post.

A frame with car jacks to add pressure in the center.

MIght try combining this with my clamps.

 

hey, I recognize that avatar... might even be a member here but is def a prime member over at proj elec guitar on facebook.  is a good idea if you have a couple of car jacks lying round.  

[Dward13]

Back to the main project.

Pulled the trigger on gluing up the top/body.

Used hex head lag screws for my center hold downs.

That way I could torque them down good and have a better chance of getting back out.

Whole process worked well, did a couple practice runs first to get everything setup right.

Was worried that applying that much glue would take too long, but it went quicker then expected.

Used a daub it on with a sponge technique.

[Dward13]

Center screws came right out, no problem.

Cleaned up the outline on the disk and spindle sanders.

(Just got one of those abrasive cleaning sticks, those things are fantastic.)

Hit the top and back with a 1/4" round over bit.

Routed out the neck pocket.

Neck fits perfect and is dead on straight with the center line of the body.

[nakedzen]

Great to hear it worked out right! I think I first stole that from Maximum Guitarworks video, started using it since.

[Dward13]

Nakedzen,

Really is an effective method.

I use a neck-through compromise design by using a hard maple "backbone" so it really gives the screws something to dig into and thus get some good pressure.

As a side note: Was watching the "Eddie the Eagle" movie and the scene with Matti Nykänen, Matti turns to Eddie and says "If I didn't jump, I would drink and have sex all the time".  After your comment before, I finally understand the joke. 

[Bizman62]

21 hours ago, Dward13 said:

Was worried that applying that much glue would take too long, but it went quicker then expected.

Used a daub it on with a sponge technique.

For large surfaces a small paint roller of foam can be fast but as you may have experienced with the sponge it may suck lots of expensive glue. And you should keep it sunk in water to keep it from drying. Not too effective for occasinal building!  A rubber roller would also work. But the most inexpensive tool is a glue spreader made out of a(n old) credit card! A plain card will work but for more consistent results you can take a small triangular file and cut one edge to a saw blade. Doesn't take too long for a row of 1 mm deep slots. When you spread the glue with that saw toothed edge you'll get nice aligned small beads of glue that will spread evenly under pressure.

The project looks good so far, seeing the neck in place gives the illusion that it's almost finished! But... what's that model? Is it a TelePaul Jr? Just goes to show that there's not too many shapes that both look good and fit the human body well!

[Dward13]

I thought about getting a roller, but I've already got the sponges and have had good luck using them for other projects.

I just use the sponges made for washing dishes, with the scrubber pad on one side, they're cheap and I just cut them in 1/4s.

They don't soak up glue and I just toss them out when done.

(Remember I drew this up 15+ years ago) The model is: I studied pictures of guitars to zero in on elements I liked, then just fired up my trusty 1-piece Macintosh i-Mac G3*, opened an AppleWorks drawing and played with the Bezier tool until I got an outline I liked.

At the time I was thinking a glued in neck and didn't really think about the fact that with a bolt in neck there needed to be enough room for the screws.

Thus, the neck ended up overlapping the body more with less upper register access than I wanted.

If I do a next one, I'll add more room for the neck pocket.

I'm hoping that the shorter neck length with help with the balance, the last one I did was really neck heavy.

*There's a good line in the "Steve Jobs" movie when his daughter sees the first i-Mac. (It's like Judy Jetson’s Easy Bake Oven)

[Dward13]

Fabricated a guide for my StewMac Dremel base.

Cut out the access panel with a 1mm spiral bit.

Now I can wrap it with a veneer and have a matching panel.

Opening let me see the good joint and squeeze out in the center section.

[Dward13]

For the outline of the access panel I made a copy from 1/2 in. scrap to use as a mold and cut a 1/2 x 1mm strip from some white mahogany.

I tried a maple strip first, but couldn't get it to bend without splitting.

I soaked the strip in boiling hot water for 1/2 hour or so then using a small iron made for applying model airplane covering wrapped it around the mold heating the strip as I went to get it to bend.

Once it dried I used a very old school model airplane building technique.

I applied glue to both the panel door and the outline strip and let it dry.

Now, I wrapped the strip around the panel door and held it in place in the mold.

Using the heating iron I would heat a small area of the edge strip until the glue melted between the two and then hold them in place and let the area cool.

Working my way around the outline until the entire perimeter was bonded.

Now just sand down the extra material.

Size came out just about right with little sanding needed.

 

 

[Dward13]

A couple more steps today.

Drilled out for the neck screws.

Aligned and mounted the Schaller Non-tremelo bridge.

Routed out for the Seymour Duncan P90 pickup.

Knobs are just some old unfinished wood ones, just sitting there.

Any advice on knob placement?

Once before had someone write me about placing the volume knobs so you can do swells?

[Dward13]

Have holes for pots and jack drilled so onto finishing.

Did a sand-moisten-repeat process with 220-400-600.

In keeping with the rest of the project I want to keep it simple so I'm going with basic Minwax products and a natural finish.

Will use the wipe on poly to bring out the grain and the polycrylic for a hard finish; I've had good luck with both.

I'll do 2-3 coats of the wipe on poly then sand with 600 and repeat if needed, then sand with 800 and synthetic steel wool before spraying the polycrylic.

I'll just thin the polyacrylic a little and blow it on with my airbrush, sanding and/or polishing between coats as needed.

I've found that I can get thinner coats with the airbrush with fewer problems; I tend to get in too much of a hurry when I'm finishing and get a runny mess.

Finishing is sort of my Kryptonite.

[Dward13]

Body has had 3 coats of wipe on poly and it's been hanging to dry for a couple days now.

Will hit it with synthetic steel wool and start spraying the polycrylic.

On the side project: The neck is starting to look and feel like a neck.

Will share my "poor mans" set of neck shaping tools:

2" strips of 36 grit sandpaper from rolls for my drum sander, glued 1-2-3 wide on flat boards.

The 1 wide to cut specific areas and the 2 & 3 wides to blend things together avoiding high and low spots.

Strips of 80 and 120 grit for smoothing laterally.

Sanding sleeves for my spindle sander for concave curves.

The combination file for smaller areas.

I got one of the razor files from StewMac, but didn't really like it for aggressive neck shaping.

Going across the grain it tends to dig in too much and bind up, works better with a light touch to smooth out sanding marks from the 36 grit.

[Dward13]

Installed the frets on the side neck project.

Did double check the depths of the slots after radius shaping and camphered the edges of the slots slightly.

Slots seemed a little tight so I added a couple drops of water to soften the wood.

Got then started in the slot with a few taps of the fret hammer, mainly in the center of the fret.

Had my StewMac caul in the drill press, one solid push would seat the fret.

Then clipped off the excess with my end cutters.

Didn't have the end cutters in the past, huge difference being able to clip the frets close to the neck.

 

[Dward13]

Starting with the nut:

Cut the slot making several passes with a dovetail saw using the radius block as a guide.

Trim the bottom flat with a small file.

Calculated the spacing between the strings was .276" so made a strip of mahogany to the dimension with the drum sander.

Cut the strip in pieces and staggered them to use as a guide.

Put a thin layer of acrylic paint on nut as a mask.

Used an x-acto knife to cut initial groves.

Now can follow those with my set of StewMac nut files.

(Ran into one major screw up. Look closely at the closeup of the neck in the previous post. Notice the 2nd fret is narrower than its neighbors. Apparently sometime in the 40+ years I've had the bag of Jim Dunlop frets I slipped in a couple others.  I did have some smaller ones from a previous project.  Luckily, I had the package from the frets and was able to order some of the same ones. Just didn't stop to think to double check that the frets were all the same. Duh!!!)

[Bizman62]

5 hours ago, Dward13 said:

Calculated the spacing between the strings was .276" so made a strip of mahogany to the dimension

So you're of the school of even distance between string centres instead of measuring from one string to another?

For those who don't know, there's two ways for spacing: Either divide the width of the nut to equal parts, in this case .276" (7mm) or add the thickness of the next string to the measurement. The former method will make the thicker string to be closer to each other whereas in the latter the space between strings is even. Which one is better is a matter of taste.

[Dward13]

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

So you're of the school of even distance between string centers instead of measuring from one string to another?

Didn't really think about it.

Just seemed that having the centers of the strings evenly spaced would be the correct way.

[Bizman62]

6 hours ago, Dward13 said:

Just seemed that having the centers of the strings evenly spaced would be the correct way

It's one of the two common ways. Totally acceptable.

[Dward13]

Fashioned a notched straight edge with an old aluminum yard stick and a rat tail file.

Neck actually seems to be nice and straight.

I took my time when using the radius block combining it with a long straight block.

A few passes with the radius block then a few with the straight one so I didn't get any high or low spots.

Then again, maybe I just got lucky this time.

In writing this I'm reminded how many times I had to correct my students: "Sorry kid, you use a strait edge if your navigating into the Mediterranean Sea."

[Dward13]

Got my polishing supplies in and took a wack at the finish.

Sort of has that far away look, close up it's awful, but with a little distance it at least highlights the flame and looks OK.

I'm too frustrated with it now to try and make it better, so I'll leave that much and work on the action etc.

Have it to the point were it looks done, but still need the wiring etc.

[Dward13]

Did the wiring, didn't cobble it up too bad.

Didn't mess with shielding yet, so far isn't very noisy.

Installed posts for access panel support and drilled, counter sunk and tapped for the screws.

It seems magnets are an accepted way to close panels now, but I'll stick with screws for now.

[Bizman62]

3 hours ago, Dward13 said:

It seems magnets are an accepted way to close panels now, but I'll stick with screws for now.

Neat screws can be as attractive as a clean surface. Those hex screws look like they won't deform as easily as Phillips heads which easily get a bit rough and pull threads off your pullover...

[Dward13]

Starting to pull wood for next project using the birdseye neck I've been working on.

Body: Figured Bubinga center with Mahogany wings and Wenge/Flame Maple accents.

Center section will be a little narrower than pictured here.

Quilt maple for top, will do some shaping on this one, most likely natural finish again.

Planning on 2 P-90 pickups and adding extension to neck pocket geometry.

[ScottR]

Excellent job on that cover! The whole thing is looking great.

SR