What next?

[Bizman62]

After having finished the new top for the classical guitar I had some minor issues about how to spend my time at the workshop - one can only drink so much coffee after all...

So I took an offcut of a neck in order to try to make a neck out of it as you never can have too many necks ready to be installed on a body!

I had also already planed the warped cheap neck blanks square. They became too thin to be used as one piece necks but cutting half length wise and adding some strips they're plenty good for multi-laminate necks.

I also remembered that I have been donated the pickguard of a Strat (maybe Tokai) with the mid and bridge pickups. Hmm... Something inexpensive was starting to brew in my brain. So I fumbled through our yard and found a piece of old wood from under our house. That piece was originally salvaged from a small house at my mother-in-law's and was then reused as part of our outdoor stairs and after that to raise our firewood off the ground. Perfect! A barncaster of sorts seems to be my current project!

 

[Bizman62]

Oh well, somehow I forgot to take pictures....

Anyhow, as the boards were a bit warped so the centre seam wasn't level I decided to plane the body board. As the boards were also cupped the edge is still a bit grey but there won't be much of the original surface left. But there's some pretty cracks and colouring so I guess it will still show the age and abuse of the wood. I also have plans to re-weather the wood:

[henrim]

Steelwool and vinegar? Or something else?

[Bizman62]

Steelwool and vinegar indeed.

When it's time, I'll also have to brew some black tea as the pine may not otherwise get the right shade.

 

[henrim]

Pine doesn’t have much tannins in it. Probably comes out ugly brown without adding some. Tea may well be the recipe. I have used tannin powder ground from various high-tannin content woods. It’s a bit hit and miss game. Same recipe with same wood may not always produce same shade. I believe shade changes with the age of the solution. And how much iron there is. And how pure the solution is or how strong the vinegar is. I try to wash oils from the steel wool throughly before immersing it in to vinegar. I have used plain soap and degreaser without noticing any difference. I haven’t done without washing as I don’t want oil residues in to the mix. Once accidentally mixed a batch without washing and it worked fine on a test piece but still didn’t want to use it. 

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, henrim said:

Pine doesn’t have much tannins in it. Probably comes out ugly brown without adding some. Tea may well be the recipe.

That's what I've read and seen pictures about. Applying tea and letting it dry is a recipe I've seen in several sources.

[Bizman62]

Despite having had ten different Scotch whiskies last night I managed to get into the workshop only one hour late. And I even made some progress!

Routing the truss rod channel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almos a perfect fit, just a tad loose. One funny thing with that rod compared to those I've previously used is that the round rod is much narrower than the flat upper one. Most likely it's plenty strong enough and lightweight which is a good thing, but one should use a conical router bit which we don't have.

Also managed to measure and shape the fretboard. I'll use that for a routing template for the neck, something I haven't done for my previous builds. Supposedly that should keep the sides straight, with the drawing method there's been bumps and gaps which have been a PITA to straighten! Notice that I used masking tape to emphasize the pencil lines, that's why there's two layers of tape on the upper edge. One is for the centerline, the other for the side. Cut with a bandsaw leaving a thin margin which I then smoothened against the big belt sander.

 

[Bizman62]

Speaking about truss rods, I learned a new thing when a fellow builder asked for my advice. His problem was that the nut end of the rod didn't want to stay in the slot. Some of you may remember me having a similar issue with my last build where I had to patch the neck as the channel was carved too deep for the adjuster.

Remembering my mishap I gave the issue another thought and laid the truss rod face down on the planer table - and found out that the rod was under tension. So simple, so obvious when you think about it. But so easy to forget that a two way rod may not be straight to start with. Which reminds me that I didn't check the rod above!!!

So, note to self and a reminder to every one of you readers, always double check the straightness off your truss rod before carving the slot any deeper!

[Professor Woozle]

20 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Despite having had ten different Scotch whiskies last night I managed to get into the workshop only one hour late.

Can you remember what they were?

[Bizman62]

59 minutes ago, Professor Woozle said:

Can you remember what they were?

No, but I have them listed and rated in my e-mail. The previous 288 ones with comments and points are already on a PDF file. 15 years, six men blind tasting a few times a year.

[Professor Woozle]

Far more organised than me, then - I have leaflets from the annual tasting event I've been going to for years with scribbles on, which get less readable the later in the day they were written! I've never really gone in for blind tastings, other than playing "guess what it is" with supermarket own-label single malts...

[Bizman62]

Well, the other five in our group are more or less University people which may explain their love in organised statistics. One of our group gathers our notes and edits them to a cumulative PDF. I've tried to make notes of what I've tasted by myself, there's a short .txt file on my desktop...

As for blind tasting, that was actually my idea. In all simplicity we have small glass pitchers labeled by our names, filled in another room so that others can't see the bottle. After some sniffing, sipping, evaluating and guessing the secret is then revealed. The whiskies vary from supermarket own-labels and other obscurities (brought by me) to self-bottled souvenirs from a Scotch distillery. Unfortunately our supermarkets don't sell strong alcohol but my daughter brought me some Lidl and Aldi single malts when she studied in London. The plan was to get such a rarity after every semester, three times a year, but then Covid happened and she studied online from here half of the time - and paid the expensive rent for her empty room in London!

[Bizman62]

Back to chickenfarming...

Today I gave a try to an idea I've got from Rosa String Works videos: Instead of drilling through the fretboard for position markers I drilled shallow holes into the neck, put a side dot marker in and cut it a bit proud. Then I laid the fretboard into place and hit it so that the fret markers made a mark. Hint: A piece of masking tape gives in much more than wood! Then I drilled small holes through the tape and voilà! Invisible position markers FTW!

Then I obviously glued the fretboard in place.

While the glue was drying I experimented with various methods to fill and solidify the cracks. It appeared that from what I had at hand super glue was the best alternative. As my old stock was starting to dry in the bottles - I could barely get the "thick" version out of the bottle - I used it liberally. A new batch is on the way and it should arrive next week.

For the first time ever I tried routing the neck on the table router using the fretboard as a template. That was scary as hell!!! But I still have all my fingers left.

[mistermikev]

On 11/13/2022 at 5:00 AM, Bizman62 said:

Oh well, somehow I forgot to take pictures....

Anyhow, as the boards were a bit warped so the centre seam wasn't level I decided to plane the body board. As the boards were also cupped the edge is still a bit grey but there won't be much of the original surface left. But there's some pretty cracks and colouring so I guess it will still show the age and abuse of the wood. I also have plans to re-weather the wood:

just in time for xmas... "oh tanin bow" or something.  should be a really cool finish.  looking fwd to seeing how that goes.

[Bizman62]

Thanks Mike, I just hope that the CA glue I spread today won't interfere with the vinegar.

[henrim]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Thanks Mike, I just hope that the CA glue I spread today won't interfere with the vinegar.

It’s unlikely that vinegar would do much to acrylic. Obviously acrylic doesn’t absorb vinegar either. So the color may not change in those areas. I guess vinegar may weaken bonding to wood if it penarates deep in the seam. 

[Bizman62]

17 minutes ago, henrim said:

Obviously acrylic doesn’t absorb vinegar either. So the color may not change in those areas. I guess vinegar may weaken bonding to wood if it penarates deep in the seam. 

I'm not too worried about the seam, the only thing I'm worried about is the CA glue filled cracks or rather their surroundings not taking the vinegar. Then again, spill marks and other CA soaked spots may add to the weathered looks so it may even be a good thing! Anyhow, I'm planning on planing the surface once more after all the crack filling is done.

[henrim]

18 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

I'm not too worried about the seam, the only thing I'm worried about is the CA glue filled cracks or rather their surroundings not taking the vinegar. Then again, spill marks and other CA soaked spots may add to the weathered looks so it may even be a good thing! Anyhow, I'm planning on planing the surface once more after all the crack filling is done.

I don’t think either that there is real problem with vinegar weakening the seam. It won’t penetrate that deep. And even if it did it would probably do nothing. Acrylic shouldn’t absorb vinegar so it’s highly unlikely that there would be change in those areas. But as you said it may be a good thing! Waiting to see the results!

[Bizman62]

Again, some progress made despite all procrastination... The super glue had filled the cracks nicely so I scraped the excess glue off and ran both sides through the thicknesser. There's a couple of spots at the edge that requre some filling but they can wait.

I finally figured out the way to temporarily fix the neck to the body so that I could build a routing template around the heel and as you see, it's the good old masking tape and super glue method. I also drew some guiding lines on the tape before gluing. Anyhow, the neck sat there properly enough.

And so it was time to build a one time routing template, more masking tape and super glue:

Et voilà! I'd call that tight enough:

I also had filtered the vinegar and experimented with it on various pieces of wood. At the same time I did some testing with the other finishing product I've been toying with.

[henrim]

That CA glue/masking tape trick is something I should remember to use every here and there. I have seen that used before but when it comes to temporarily fixing two pieces together I don't ever remember that option. Guess it comes from my habits in metal working where you bolt pieces tightly for machining or even tack weld them together to create a temporary bond. 

Edited December 5, 2022 by henrim

[Bizman62]

4 minutes ago, henrim said:

That CA glue/masking tape trick is something I should remember to use every here and there.

That's proved to be a good method, although a good double sided tape should to the trick as well.The problem of good and thin double sided tape is availability. The other issue with it is finding one with light enough adhesion. The tape I used there is from an older stock and the glue has already become more sticky than I'd prefer. Using it for thinning brittle veneers would be dicey as it might not come off. However with one-sided tape it's relatively easy to adjust the grip by using more or less force for burnishing.

[henrim]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

The problem of good and thin double sided tape is availability.

Yes, that's the thing. I'm afraid using double sided tapes because of creeping. The last roll I bought was good in that sense. At least with a larger surface like a fretboard which stayed solid on table top. Came off easily with a drop of xylene too. Better use xylene than acetone which makes a sticky mess. 

[Andyjr1515]

Looking good, @Bizman62

[mistermikev]

congrats on gotm biz!!

[Bizman62]

Thanks Mike!

Regarding this build, not much was done today. I continued filling the cracks, now that they were solidified down to the bottom I added some wood dust with super glue. I also managed to start shaping the neck despite the normal hassle and the extra task... And I guess I'll have to rethink the neck after the Christmas hiatus.