High End Build - this one is gonna take a while

[avengers63]

Nothing really to report. I'm finalizing the shape of the headstock and getting ready to rough-cut the back of the neck & headstock.

In other news....

 

I finally got one of the pickups I've always wanted. It's going into the bridge of a Jackson V I got several months ago as an upgrade project. Next week I'll be getting a D-Activator X for the neck. I'll post some before & after of the whole thing when it's all done.

[henrim]

10 hours ago, avengers63 said:

I finally got one of the pickups I've always wanted.

Good choice  Funny it says F-spaced on the box.

[avengers63]

1 hour ago, henrim said:

Good choice  Funny it says F-spaced on the box.

I was questioning that also. It's a bar - universal spacing. Maybe they just got tired of all the questions of "Is it F-spaced" from those who don't know and it's just easier to put the sticker on it.

[Prostheta]

It does seem redundant, however there may be implications when it comes to fitting pickup rings, covers or routs? It still doesn't make sense to me as off the top of my head I don't remember there being any external dimensional changes such as those....just appropriate string spread coverage.

It's probably something non-meaningful. Maybe we should ponder something else?

[avengers63]

9 hours ago, Prostheta said:

It's probably something non-meaningful. Maybe we should ponder something else?

NO! We must obsess over the minutia of every piece of inconsequential, trivial, guitar oddity. You silly, silly man - get with the program.

 

[avengers63]

This seems to have become me "what's going on" thread as well as a build thread. Worse things have happened.

It's been too cold to do anything outside. Next week it's supposed to start warming up. I'm not coming home from work and then working in a 35 degree garage.

I got those 2 DiMarzios installed. The X2N is exactly what it's supposed to be - an insanely hot bridge pickup. I mainly use an Orang Tiny Terror. It doesn't clean up well, but I can coax a nice clean sound with the gain <25%. With the X2N, it hits the tube so hard it will not play clean... period. The amp wants to overdrive anyway, but it's just crazy that it can't play clean with he pup.

I'm insanely happy with the D-Activator-X neck. The bass..... dude! It chugs like an absolute monster. After playing them, I'm more excited about the DAX than the X2N.

Lastly, I bought myself some veneer

The 1st close up is the laurel, the next is the madrone. As you can see from the invoice, I'll be able to get 3 tops from the laurel, 4 from the madrone, and 6 from the quilted maple. Now, the odds of me actually making another 13 guitars is relatively low. But still...

The laurel was selected for two reasons. 1: LOOK AT IT! Holy crap, will you just LOOK at it? 2: I'm planning on making a guitar from the Rickenbacker 4000 bass shape. It's monstrously wide for a guitar. The laurel is wide & long enough to be a top, along with enough cutoff to cover the headstock & cavity cover. The madrone was just plain too cheap to pass up.

If you're interested, this is the site I used: https://www.veneersupplies.com/

 

[Professor Woozle]

23 hours ago, avengers63 said:

. I mainly use an Orang Tiny Terror. It doesn't clean up well, but I can coax a nice clean sound with the gain <25%. With the X2N, it hits the tube so hard it will not play clean... period. The amp wants to overdrive anyway, but it's just crazy that it can't play clean with he pup.

My practice amp is an Orange Micro Terror, and I have the same problem with my beloved Shadow P2 - the active EQ5 pickup in the old girl has so much punch, it's difficult to get the tube not to overdrive!

[Bizman62]

The burl looks scary! Like serious burn or scald, the stuff that's seen in movies after an explosion. Eddie the Head is children's stuff compared to that!

[avengers63]

10 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The burl looks scary! Like serious burn or scald, the stuff that's seen in movies after an explosion. Eddie the Head is children's stuff compared to that!

Isn't it just amazing! And all 7 sheets were only about $27. I'm looking forward to playing with colored dyes on some cutoff scrap and seeing what kind of sandback effects can be discovered, just like we do with quilted maple.

 

In other news, the actual build resumes.

It ain't much to start with, but ya gotta start somewhere. 

As the whole thing has a consistent line down the edge of the fretboard, it only made sense to lay out that line first. Thank God for a t-square or things like this would be a lot harder than they need to be. As the line is consistent throughout the pattern, I'm gonna route the line down the length of both sides first, then fill in all the leafy details.

[avengers63]

Little by little. I can only put in MAYBE an hour after work, and then only if there's nothing else pressing that needs my attention. But any progress is still progress.

Also, I bought 10 BF of 8/4 poplar. Folks like to shit on poplar as a tone wood. I find it a fairly neutral tone. It isn't terribly attractive, but that shouldn't be the determining factor. It's inexpensive, works very well, and takes dye, stain, and paint like a champ. For me, the only drawback is that the dust gives me dry heaves.

[Bizman62]

On 3/19/2023 at 9:29 PM, avengers63 said:

ya gotta start somewhere.

And when you start you can't stop until it's finished?

 

6 hours ago, avengers63 said:

Folks like to shit on poplar as a tone wood.

I love my poplar guitar, it weighs nothing so it's easy to grab no matter how tired you are. The only thing I didn't like was how it didn't want to be carved. It requires razor sharp tools, otherwise you'll be pushing fibres back and forth.

[avengers63]

5 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The only thing I didn't like was how it didn't want to be carved. It requires razor sharp tools, otherwise you'll be pushing fibres back and forth.

That goes along with "right tool for the job". Poplar may blow for carving, but it's fantastic for your basic slab or beveled edge body that's getting painted. I haven't fully decided if it's gonna be used for a Jackson Kelly or a guitar version of a Rickenbacker 4000

[avengers63]

 

I got the f/b routed to the 9th fret. There's starting to be a lot of loose pieces sitting just waiting to be scattered to the winds. With a plausible possibility of catastrophe looking in the near future, I thought it best to start epoxying them into place so as to avoid an avoidable bout of losing my religion.

This is going to be so badass when it's all done! 

[avengers63]

 

More ugly bits. But it's so much better than losing pieces.

[avengers63]

2-piece spanish cedar neck blank for a drop headstock. The original piece of SC was just a little too narrow for a 1-piece blank, but was the perfect length. I figured it'd look better re-gluing it as a 2-piece rather than putting a mall extension on the end of the headstock. I can use it for either the pointy headstock or the banana. As you might guess, the pointy headstock has now chipped out on the ends twice, so leaving notes for myself is always a good idea.

I've been wanting a spanish cedar neck for a while. It sounds so good for classical guitars that it just HAS to be good as an electric neck. I'm anticipating a warm tone, somewhere in the walnut-mahogany-limba range. I actually want a SC body, but I can't find it locally in 6/4 stock. 

As I post these two pictures, I realize you can't see hardly anything of the actual neck blank. Seems like an obvious error in hindsight.

 

[avengers63]

So I got a hellofalot done today, though it's only related to the build. I had previously discussed in this thread the possible merits of using a gigantic table roundover bit to shape the back of the neck. As it was done here, it only seems right to show y'all what I've done here as well.

I made a jig so that I can SAFELY use the giant roundover bit  The base is a 12" wide piece of 3/4" plywood. There is a riser/platform of sorts for the neck to be clamped to via 3 toggle clamps. The main piece is tapered to the same shape as the neck itself. The neck then sits on it flush so that the bearing can go below the neck and still have something to ride against. The bottom of the router has a 1/4" sheet of 12"x12" plexiglass screwed to it,  It will run along 2  tails that run along either side of the neck, ensuring both safe operation and consistent depth. The whole thing only cost me about $40 out of pocket

 

To do a test run, I found a piece of yellow pine that was about as flatsawn as you can ever hope for to use as a guinne pig. Since it's flat sawn, you know what I'm thinking, 'cuz you're thinking it too. So I routed a truss rod channel, albeit a tad off center, and roughed out a pointy RIN neck blank.

 

The test run went as it should have, pointing out a couple of improvements to be made in the design.. I marked a line across the plexiglass and cut it off close to flush with the edge of the router base. I did it at an angle intentionally. This left the handles square with the jug for proper control, and left the widest part of the plexi to have as much available to run the rails as possible. Seeing the results on the heel area of the tester, I marked a line on the rails for the now flat back of the plexi to stop. This will give me about 1" of space to transition the neck into the heel, which I have measured out to the standard 3".

 

 

 

Years ago, I had bought a neck on eBay, The f/b has since come unglued, but i still have it lying around. I basically never throe anything away. Just holding it on the pine test neck...... This thing feels REALLY good. It feels a hellofalot better than it should, considering I've done -zero- additional shaping to it whatsoever, This is stupid and a table roundover bit should NOT have worked so well. 

I was so pleased with the results, I went ahead and did one of the  necks I've been fiddling around with.

 

Yes, there's still a lot to do with files, rasps, and sanding. But it doesn't seem right that it should be this easy. It feels like cheating a little bit. This is a SERIOUS game changer for me. It's kind of ironic. When I first started this over 15 years ago, I was just terrified to make a neck for fear of screwing it up (which is absurdly easy to do) and make the whole thing unplayable.

[Crusader]

2 hours ago, avengers63 said:

...... This thing feels REALLY good. It feels a hellofalot better than it should, considering I've done -zero- additional shaping to it whatsoever, This is stupid and a table roundover bit should NOT have worked so well

Yes I think the same thing, I do all this extra shaping to get a 50's Les Paul profile but I often think "why don't I just leave it?"

By the way what size is the router bit?

[avengers63]

2 hours ago, Crusader said:

Yes I think the same thing, I do all this extra shaping to get a 50's Les Paul profile but I often think "why don't I just leave it?"

By the way what size is the router bit?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L3AY4DU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Crusader]

7 hours ago, avengers63 said:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L3AY4DU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Interesting, what I use is simply a 7/8" round bit which is good for the Nut end but I used to use a 1 inch bit which is good for the heel end. I had to be careful with that because it can leave the Nut end too "C" shaped

The trouble with a neck profile is they're usually a different diameter each end, like a compound fretboard

[avengers63]

I've been putting off doing the end cap for a while. I'm just not in any way comfortable with what needs to be done to do the job. BUT..... this is what I signed up for.

It's to be bound chechen to match the binding, so the firstthing I did was take a little cutoff piece from the side of the neck and plane it down as thin as the planer would go. THIS is why I tend to not throw away anything. Then I bound it.

 

Laying out where it goes. As this is basically freehand, I scored the lines pretty deep with an x-acto. From there, I routed out to the depth of the binding.

 

Despite trying to file it down, there's no plausible way for me to really get the cavity flat, so epoxy it is!

 

I gave it about an hour before trimming the ends. I won't even try to get it flush for a few days. The epoxy might be dry enough to not be workable and hold the piece in, but it's a far cry from being cured.

 

[avengers63]

So remember how I previously said that this thread has become my default "what's going on" thread? Well, we did a thing.....

 

My old bandsaw had some major issues. Despite living in the 19th largest market in the USA with a population over 3M, there is NOWHERE in the St Louis area to get a bandsaw repaired. Wifey insisted that I get this one. Seriously... she wouldn't let me even consider getting a lesser tool just to get me through. She even started to get a little mad at me for balking. She is better than I deserve, and I love her with my desperately.

Freight was $500. We live 235 miles, or 3:40 away from their main location in MO, It's just more cost effective to spend the day borrowing a pickup and driving there. So Saturday we made a day of it, drove there, spent $2700 on a kick-ass bandsaw, oscillating spindle sander, mobile cart, and a new table saw for her.

I'm REALLY excited to have a professional tool for a change. Were it not the most used saw in my garage, I doubt we'd have gone this direction. As it's a base around which all else rotates, it's important enough to go all out for.

Seriously.... I don't deserve this woman.

 

[ScottR]

I'm looking forward to a review on that bandsaw John.

I'm not sure any of us deserve our women, but ain't it nice when referring to them as our better half is a statement of fact instead of a cliche?

SR

 

[Prostheta]

I get that. Nina and myself both say that about each other but neither of us believe it. Between us we give each other the ground to walk on, somehow.

Your good lady is absolutely correct. Buy once, hurt once. Buy cheap, pay forever. Tools and machines below a constantly-rising point are rarely made to be serviceable or repairable these days, mostly I think as a consequence of artificial pressures thanks to cheap made-to-be-disposable warranty-free imports. That's a nice bandsaw! If you've not done so already, spend time balancing everything and hunting down every source of vibration. If possible, anchor it to the concrete with some fibre-reinforced rubber in compression to balance. If you can stand a coin on the table with the machine running, you're golden. This usually means fine-tuning your blade, especially around the weld. You probably already know this anyway.

The sander you have is exactly the same one as I have. A nice thing to add to it is a hole to fit a fence for thinning down the rear of headstocks on the left of the drum. I've considered making one using precision drawer slides so the headstock can be DSTed to a sliding fence, but not gotten around to that yet. The manual method is good enough given patience and thought on physical control of the workpiece.

[avengers63]

20 hours ago, ScottR said:

I'm looking forward to a review on that bandsaw John.

I'm not sure any of us deserve our women, but ain't it nice when referring to them as our better half is a statement of fact instead of a cliche?

SR

 

I haven't had much of an opportunity to play with it much. My personal big test will be how well it can resaw the lumber. My old one could do about 6.75", but the blade drift on the bottom side was horrible. With over 10 years of trying, I simply could NOT adjust it out. This one has a 12" resaw height, but we'll see what I can do in practice. If I can get 7" reliably, I'll be happy (that's what she said).

But I'll tell ya what already made me all giggidy......  It's 2HP. That's a powerful bandsaw. When I turn it on. it takes about 5 seconds to power up to full speed. The damn thing has to rev up! Tim Allen would be proud.

[Prostheta]

Again, I'm probably preaching to the converted here however it really does help to spend time tuning the blade, getting the wheels balanced and coplanar and aligning the bearings. Setup setup setup.

Here's a beast for you.

https://www.weinig.com/en/solid-wood/band-resaws/variosplit-900/variosplit-900.html

Now THAT is a resawing machine, even if it is on the side of line automation. Those can automatically throw out clean 3mm splits with no issues at all.