Bizman62 Posted January 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2023 Oh happy day! The Christmas hiatus is over and after an hour's chatting and some coffee I managed to make some progress! First, the neck was uniformly thick so I had to figure out how to make it thinner at the headstock end. The big belt sander and a scraper did the trick, a sanding beam helped in getting it straight. Scraping was so much fun I just had to shape the neck a bit more... I also made a headstock veneer that matches with the body. The live edge will be saved as much as possible. And no, it's not bookmatched although it almost looks like it was. Just some board I found in my yard, a bit spalted etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 looks like you put a hellish good burnish on that scraper... what do you use to burnish? I've been reading about it and some guys say just use anything round and hard while some swear by the specific purpose burnishers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 15, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 Thanks! Aside from what I learned back at school i.e. squaring the edge against a single cut file I've also studied various videos for a method that works for me. Simply put, I start by un-burring the edge with a couple of strokes along the slab side, all edges. If needed, I then run the edge perpendicular along a file to square it, Unburring again with an easy hand. Then I clamp the scraper to a vise and burnish the edges to a slight angle. As you said, anything round and hard works. I've been using a screwdriver. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 7 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: Thanks! Aside from what I learned back at school i.e. squaring the edge against a single cut file I've also studied various videos for a method that works for me. Simply put, I start by un-burring the edge with a couple of strokes along the slab side, all edges. If needed, I then run the edge perpendicular along a file to square it, Unburring again with an easy hand. Then I clamp the scraper to a vise and burnish the edges to a slight angle. As you said, anything round and hard works. I've been using a screwdriver. right on. seems like a good method. will give that a go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 Pretty much the way I do it too. Although a few years ago I bought a Veritas variable burnisher which is handy for getting consistent edges. Goes from 0-15 degree angle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 1 hour ago, henrim said: Pretty much the way I do it too. Although a few years ago I bought a Veritas variable burnisher which is handy for getting consistent edges. Goes from 0-15 degree angle. i was actually looking at the "butterfly burnisher" which is only like $15 and there's a lot of buzz about them... but I like the idea of having less specialized tools - especially with so many folks getting good results from just a nail set or as biz is using... just a screwdriver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 5 hours ago, mistermikev said: just a screwdriver! Just make sure you use one that is hard enough. If the scraper scratches the screwdriver it is not hard enough and you won’t get very even burr. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 16, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 53 minutes ago, henrim said: Just make sure you use one that is hard enough. If the scraper scratches the screwdriver it is not hard enough and you won’t get very even burr. Good point. I've seen that happen too. The one I've been using at the shop is hard - so hard and brittle that the tip (Phillips) has lost half of the wings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2023 Another Saturday, mostly spent for pondering. I wasn't happy with the headstock veneer I made last week, it just didn't have the right vibe. Further, a splinter came off when bandsawing the shape - super glue fixed that but it left a suspicion about durability. Not to mention that the wing pieces weren't in the right place for the natural edge... So I started fumbling through my pile of various offcuts but the walnut looked dull despite matching with the center stripe, the jatoba also looked boring and out of place as there was nothing that looked like it. Finally I went to the scrap bins and lo and behold there was this piece of birch that looked like having some flames hiding under the dust. I took it to the planer and wow! I managed to resaw the piece into four, sharing with the guy who helped me find that very piece. There's some worm holes but that makes it even more suitable for this build. I think the new veneer is a much better choice, what do you think? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted January 21, 2023 Report Share Posted January 21, 2023 It's funny how that happens! The birch definitely looks like a stronger choice and has more character 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 28, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2023 Minor progress again today. Started by experimenting with the offcut of the new headstock veneer. First I just tried some of my own mix of poly, BLO and turps to see how the flame reacts. Not bad! Then on the other side applied the steelwool diluted to vinegar (iron(III) acetate), sanded back. After it had dried I applied the same BLO mix. The shade was very similar to the weathered pine but it looked dirty and lost some of the chatoyance so I sanded it all clean again. While thinking about the shade I prepared the veneer and glued it in place. While waiting for the glue to dry I scraped the offcut clean and sanded it up to 400 grit to see if it made any difference to the belt sander of ~100. Reapplied the ferric acetate and sanded it back with 400 only, and oiled it. Much better! BTW the lines on the headstock aren't seams. they're glue residue from masking tape. A quick mockup: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted January 28, 2023 Report Share Posted January 28, 2023 Looking good! 400 or more is a good idea if you don’t want much penetration. I sand to 180 when I want solid black. I may go up to 240 in places if I feel so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 4, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2023 Saturday again... During last week a thought popped into my mind: Instead of applying ferric acetate all over the headstock and body, I'd try to make a burst with it. That should reveal more of the beautiful figuration on the headstock veneer and also look less dirty. So I played with the offcut a bit more. I also managed to drill the tuner holes, thickness the headstock and carve the volute. And teach a fellow builder how to sharpen his scrapers. You should have seen the happy face when he made shavings on the ball chute of a LP top... The template must have been a bit off-center or the headstock wasn't fully symmetrical. Also the headstock plate was a bit uneven which is why the seam is slanted. Who cares! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGTay Posted February 4, 2023 Report Share Posted February 4, 2023 Looking really good, the figure in the headstock has popped out nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 11, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 Not much done today other than sanding, sanding, sanding... I figured it was time to radius the fretboard so I borrowed the radiused beam and equipped it with a fresh piece of used belt sander belt of 100 grit. After getting the radius right I then switched to finer grits and a handheld flat block, from 220 to 6000. I believe that's delicate enough for missing the frets with the hammer... And at that stage I realized that I had forgot all about fret markers! So, as this build is all about recycling I took some offcuts to the pillar drill with a 10 mm plug bit. What do you think? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted February 11, 2023 Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 3 hours ago, Bizman62 said: What do you think? Interesting figures. To me 10mm round plugs are on the large side. But it’s a stylistic choice that depends on many factors. Hard to say without seeing the whole guitar with body and hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 11, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 49 minutes ago, henrim said: To me 10mm round plugs are on the large side. I agree, then again the buttons on my previous one were the same size. Not to mention that the squares or trapezes commonly used are much larger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted February 11, 2023 Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 19 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: I agree, then again the buttons on my previous one were the same size. Right, then you know you like them that size! What I’m trying to say is in my opinion the markers are sorta icing on the cake. A detail that I couldn’t decide before seeing the whole guitar. One guitar may call for huge plugs while an other one would be better with tiny ones. 25 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: Not to mention that the squares or trapezes commonly used are much larger! Personally I have never been a big fan of the big squares either. I have had guitars with them but that is something I wouldn’t do myself. Well, I don’t put any markers on my necks. A choice I believe not everyone agrees on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 11, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 1 hour ago, henrim said: I don’t put any markers on my necks. A choice I believe not everyone agrees on. We discussed that today, a fellow builder said that for him side dots would suffice. For me not that much, these eyes aren't what they used to be and using reading glasses to see the side dots would be ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted February 12, 2023 Report Share Posted February 12, 2023 7 hours ago, Bizman62 said: We discussed that today, a fellow builder said that for him side dots would suffice. For me not that much, these eyes aren't what they used to be and using reading glasses to see the side dots would be ridiculous. i used to think they were essential for me (face markers)... but I've noticed more and more that all I ever look at is the side dots. a few of the recent builds I did were w/o side dots and I was surprised how it was so noticeable. that said... I play classical from time to time and my classical has no dots nor fret markers... usually takes a little practice for big leaps but somehow I manage... I use the force hehe. both are sure convenient! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 13, 2023 Report Share Posted February 13, 2023 it's quite nice building a guitar without inlays from time to time, certainly saves a bit of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2023 The saga continues... At the beginning of the week as I was fetching firewood from our shed I saw a wide lump of birch, something that was left a bit wider since it was too hard to chop. I took the piece indoors and today I cut some thinner pieces out of it with the bandsaw, planing from one side before each cut. Two thicker and two thinner pieces, bookmatchable. Stacked them for future use. Do I need to explain the reason? I then took a pencil and a ruler to find the center of certain frets and marked each cross with an awl. I carefully aligned the dimples as the human eye would too easily notice if they were off. Well... There's that little nipple at the end of the fretboard and for some odd reason the last four fret markers aren't in line with that... Oh well... Notice the high-tech supporting jig! Masking tape and super glue under the heel and just tape wrapped around the headstock. Glued the dots in with Titebond and after paring them flush with a wide chisel I took a radius block and started sanding the shiny fingerboard again. When the dots were leveled I soaked them with some super glue to make them harder - the nogal and cherry are quite soft and the maple could also gather dirt without extra protection. After not too long a sanding session it was shiny again. Actually I spread some of my own blend of BLO and poly between 220 and 400 for some pore filling. Was it necessary, I don't know, but at least it protects the surface. Up to 6000 and the sheen is back. Side dots caused some pondering. Finally I decided to use the 3 mm copper pipe that had come by accident instead of brass - the Chinese don't know their pot metals! 2 mm black plastic will fill the centers after the glue has dried. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 Sooo... The glue had settled down during the week so I could drill the tubes open and fill with black plastic. A few strokes with a file leveled them nicely. The roughened feeler gauge is a good tool for opening fret slots clogged with sanding dust and BLO mix. Actually I did that twice as I noticed that the dots were sitting below the surface. Funny, they sure can't have shrunk during the week as all of the neck has been stored at loft of the workshop since last fall and all parts of it have been indoors for several years. I wonder if the glue wasn't dry enough when I leveled the dots. Anyhow, took the radius block and sanded through grits from 220 to 6000, applying some BLO-mix a couple of times in between for pore filling. Finally it was time to do some banging! Although the 0.5 mm feeler gauge ran effortlessly through the slots it might have been a tad too wide as some of the frets felt loose when filing the edges. Or the wood has dried some more, the slots were cut several years ago and the fingerboards have been sitting in the closet of the workshop since then. The fretwire and the board are of the very same batch I've used for my four previous builds so there's no change in materials or cutting tools. Oh well, some more banging and plenty of super glue wicked at the ends most likely took care of that. The fret ends are only roughly leveled, the neck also requires a lot of shaping. But it's starting to look like a neck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted February 25, 2023 Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 4 hours ago, Bizman62 said: OMFG I HATE THIS SO MUCH!!!!!!!! All the lines going in so many different directions is just so damn WRONG. This would drive me absolutely insane. But ya can't please everyone. Folks tend to hate the Corvus, which I have an unreasoning love for. what are ya gonna do, right? With that being said, the craftsmanship is, as always, top notch. I like the curved point at the bottom of the f/b. So anyway, I don't feel like looking back through the build. Is the neck maple with walnut & cherry, then a black palm fretboard and dots made from the cutoff of the back of the neck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 11 hours ago, avengers63 said: Is the neck maple with walnut & cherry, then a black palm fretboard and dots made from the cutoff of the back of the neck? The neck is maple with nogal (peruvian walnut) and cherry and the dots are indeed from the cutoff of the neck. Actually the neck is made of two almost similar necks, the other one lacking the center stripe. The entire build is based on scrap pieces. Offcuts from two neck-thrus, random findings from the bins of the workshop, donated hardware etc. The body is reclaimed from a house that used to stand on my mother-in-law's yard, that very piece then found a new life as part of our front stairs and after that it supported piles of firewood during the outside drying process. A Scrapcaster... Regarding the dots, you also may have noticed there's no two similarly cut ones. Randomness was the plan right from the start when I got the idea of using the plug drill on the offcut. The backplate which I have no idea about yet will definitely follow the grain direction, though. And... I belong to the group who don't like the Corvus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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