What next?

[Andyjr1515]

That said, that last one looks much better than the previous ones and, to my eye, looks like there's a logical flow there 

[Bizman62]

As @Prostheta said in another thread

Quote

If you value your work and want everything to be the best, don't accept flaws and half-measures but take full ownership of them.

So I decided to attack this issue. I could have lived with the cracked seam but the misaligned stripes of the neck and backplate bugged me every time I saw them.

Thus I took the sharpest chisel I could find - no sharpeners there other than a grooved Tormek which is a good tool per se but not in the desired condition! Anyhow, I managed to cut the problem piece off and move the seam by a mm, double checking the straightness with a steel ruler.

Nobody seemed to know where the small clamps had gone, there used to be a dozen of about 10 cm long ones but after some reorganizing they seem to have vanished. I wouldn't be surprised if a member of another group had left them on their workpiece and took a break for the rest of the year. Arrrgh! Anyhow, this worked. The white mess on the block is due to it cracking which I fixed with Titebond which instead of trying to clamp it I secured with drops of super glue and accelerator at the ends,

Much happier now, a little sanding and reoiling and it will look similar to the other side!

While the glue was drying there was time to address the other alignment issue, the dreaded backplate. After several iterations I finally cut a slice of the same neck offcut as the backplate of the headstock and expanded it with the birch of the front of the headstock. It's aligned with the centerline, or will be when the shape is finished. I still wonder if the birch should be replaced with the darker wood to copy the backplate of the headstock. Opinions, please.

This was the last Saturday this semester, the saga will continue some time in January.

[henrim]

Yeah, the cover is better. I guess I would do a solid cover, but this has a connection to the neck.

Or. Since the cover is kidney shaped an intarsia of a kidney anatomy would be neat. Doesn’t necessarily need ureter line to the output jack.

[ScottR]

11 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Opinions, please.

This works for me.

SR

[Bizman62]

Yay! The Xmas hiatus is over! Measured, angled and double checked to find out where to cut to make the back plate line up with something. Also, don't you think a bevel at the edge of the cover hides nicely that it isn't a hermetic fit?

Adding some oil made it look much better! The birch almost got the same hue as the pine, at least in some parts.

There were scratches on the headstock veneer so it went through some scraping and sanding, and reoiling. The remains of the iron acetate handling became subtler which I like a lot. And a similar treatment for the back of the headstock.

Not much done or so it seems. But if there's a flaw in any detail it will bug you until it's fixed, don't you think? The cavity cover now is lined up with the centerline which also aligns it with the back spine of the neck and the back of the headstock. And I'm still not 100% positive that it's going to be the final iteration!

[RVA]

That is very thoughtful and detailed work. Looks great!

[Bizman62]

Tinkering with the details, had to fill a knot hole and a cracked knot. Fill, harden, scrape, rinse and repeat. There's still bumps and dings but as we're talking about wood that was used as step at our front door they sort of belong to the picture. I just had to fill those that would grab the clothing or scratch the skin when playing.

Went through it all with a 1000 grit pad and applied a couple of layers of my BLO-poly blend. It's got a nice sheen, I may or may not consider the finish done. As it only takes a few minutes to apply and then wipe the excess off after half an hour I may add a protective layer or two. Then again, having our living room smell like a paint booth wouldn't be comfortable and it could even pose a health issue.

 

[Bizman62]

Slowly but surely it's starting to get there. After once having seen someone inlay the jack plate it has  been a detail I prefer.

Not too long ago someone told having spread some DNA on his build. It took me a while to figure out that it wasn't of this ilk:

The old pine seemed to be quite brittle around the hole so some solidifier was needed

And voilà!

Next step was the trapeze which looked like something that has been slammed on without proper planning.

So I thought the same recipe would fix that.

No, that plan wasn't going to work so I took it to the belt sander. Some rounding  to blend the flat spot in is on the to do list. And maybe also inlaying the plate.

[Andyjr1515]

Setting in the plates like that makes such a difference.  Great stuff

 

[Andyjr1515]

I love the back of that headstock, by the way.  Some proper craftsmanship going on there 

[Bizman62]

And the eternal saga goes on slowly but not so surely. One step forward, two back or so it seems at times. Anyhoo...

In the previous episode I flattened the end for the trapeze. In the meantime the sharp edges were rounded so it was time to redo the inlaying. Scribing along the edges went fine and a 12 mm gouge was close enough to match the shape of the ears.

But the wood kept fighting me! The wood is soft and brittle and somehow I lost the line and the other end and while finessing the edge the carve got too wide. Even after rounding the edges with a piece of sandpaper and blending the colour with some more oil mix the difference was obvious.

So I did the Jazz fix: If you make a mistake, repeat it so it becomes a feature! Cutting the other side equally wide added the required symmetry and the result doesn't strike the eye as badly.

So finally now that that issue was fixed it was time to attack the other end. The headstock veneer was originally added to bring the nut high enough to bypass the end of the fretboard. But as the headstock is slanted the seating point had to be flattened. The file has a safe edge so it only took a few strokes. The bone is now plenty tall but I don't think I'll carve a groove for it, instead there'll be some smelly filing in the near future. I like the Chinese acoustic guitar bone nuts, they're inexpensive compared to raw bone and have precut string grooves. They're tall and thick so there's plenty of material for shaping them just right for any purpose.

And finally it was time to start thinking about the eletrickery. Originally I was going to put the switch between the pots but after some discussing with fellow builders I decided that a reverse Tele would be a better choice. So the last hole was widened and the switch is now in. Sort of.

I thought I had the pots for this one already packed in the workshop bag but I couldn't find them. But it seems that I'll have to do some more routing, the top of the cavity seems to be too thick. Not a biggie but it will nullify the tape job.

The pots are now packed into the bag so hopefully next week we'll start to finally get there!

 

[Bizman62]

Good planning to get the order of tasks right. Or then not... The top at the control cavity was too thick for the pots and switch so goodbye copper tape! No biggie, though, but I didn't have the tape roll with me so I couldn't install the electronics.

So instead I started working on the nut, filing the slots closer to the line and knocking off the sharp edges for improved comfort.

And after the first scratch on the headstock it occurred to my mind that some protection might be appropriate.

Finally I started installing the pickups, only to notice that my wiring channels weren't proper. So it took the loooong drill bit and started drilling through the control cavity towards the bridge pickup hole. Goes to show that when it rains it pours: The hole came close to the top inside the cavity and I could have lived with it but as the wood is old and brittle a chunk popped off. Super glue and padauk dust  but the chip didn't want to sit where it came off. And why padauk dust? Just because there was heaps of it inside the drum sander! Oh well, let's just say this fix adds to the rustic character of this project. But as the next in line of yesterday's tasks was heating up the sauna the temptation for making some firewood was present.

Why can't there be square edged drill bits for drilling vertically from a small hole??? Or rather flexible ones which you could feed in?

 

[Bizman62]

On with the show...

Taking another look now that the tape was gone it looked like there was a hole after all from the bridge pickup to the control cavity:

There seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel but no matter how I poked it with a piece of wire there was no breakthrough. So I took the looong drill bit and carefully started to drill backwards. I'm glad I took it slow as it appeared that the hole in the pickup cavity ended to the piece that broke off last week.

So, as there was a hole drilled from the jack to the pickup cavity I came up with the idea of enlarging the cavity sideways under the surface. We have scary router bits in the workshop! But it worked and revealed the channel.

Some chiseling to smoothen the edge, I wish there had been a curved gouge but the result is good enough as such.

But the bridge pickup wire still quite didn't reach the switch, an inch more and it would have been perfect. Straightening the twisted wire might have done the trick but I've learned that twisted wires may reduce buzz. What's your take on that, should I straighten the wires or solder an extra inch? Does twisting pickup wires change anything?

[henrim]

Unshielded cable pairs are twisted to prevent EMI. Twisting and proper routing can make a huge difference in tube amps. But there you have more concerns like keeping ac and dc wires separated. I don’t know how much difference there really is in pickup wiring. Anyway, I use mostly shielded cable but I do twist the pairs where I use plain wire.

[Bizman62]

Thanks. I wouldn't like to cut the cables right at the pickup and for some reason they aren't soldered to the eyelets. Instead the insulated wires seem to be partially wrapped to the coil under the tape and the eyelets act as cable clamps. That said, if I have to add length I might cut the wires at the bridge pickup, leaving some 10 cm of the original twisted wires.

[Bizman62]

I started by smoothing the top and bottom with the random orbital sander equipped with 400 grit Abranet. The reglued chip from a couple of weeks ago now is level with the rest but as some parts were now almost to bare wood I applied yet another coat of my oil mix. Having the guitar clamped to the workbench by the neck I then started to concentrate to fitting the electrickery while the oil was curing.

As I struggled with getting the pickup wires through the hole that quite didn't hit the bridge pickup cavity I took a long 8 mm bit to widen it through the jack hole. And of course the threading of the bit knocked off a few pieces - have I already said that the wood is brittle?

Of course most of the pieces were missing so I turned to my trusty old friend, the almighty TonePutty. Surprisingly it still is workable after a decade! Agreed, it was a bit grainy but still good enough for this purpose. The result is at least as strong as the original.

As mentioned last weekend the wires of the neck pickup were a tad too short so I soldered some extensions. Not the prettiest but it's hidden and not under stress so there's no risk of the tape peeling off or the joint breaking. And I also remembered the ground wire for the trapeze!

The pickups are now in place, spring loaded for height adjustability. And following the theme of reusing things both the black screws and the cables were salvaged from old computers. Even the lilac rag protecting the clamped neck has a history: I bought the sweatshirt from a last item bargain basket back in 1984 using my summer job earnings. The shoulder seams started to finally give up so wearing it made no longer sense. But even this won't be its final job, after it's too ragged to serve as protection or spreading oil it will help keeping me warm one last time in the fireplace. Talk about longevity!

 

 

[Bizman62]

Almost there!

As the only hardware in place was the pickups I decided to apply some of my beeswax-carnauba mix. Wax on, wax off...

Then it occurred to me that I should check the state of the frets and noticed that I hadn't levelled them yet. No matter how I turned the adjusting nut I couldn't keep the notched straightedge from rocking. So I put it against a ruler and noticed that the edge wasn't straight! Fortunately a fellow builder had a better one. There's some sticky sandpaper on my shopping list for the next time, the big jointer plane has a trued level table for straightening.

After having got the fingerboard straight it was time to apply marker on the frets and start sanding. A few frets were lower than the rest but not too many strokes were needed.

The metal filings brushed off easily enough but for crowning I found the slotted steel strip too clumsy so I taped the fretboard and reapplied the marker. After having narrowed the coloured lines with a smooth-edged triangular file - two pairs of +1.5 reading glasses made seeing the almost vanishing line easier! - I did the lazy man's rounding by rolling a piece of wet'n'dry to a flexible loop between my fingers and running it back and forth a few times.

And finally it was time to polish the frets with the nail buffer. For this the slotted steel worked but again I noticed that two pieces of tape worked even better. But there was no need to wrap the entire fretboard, two pieces jumped from fret to fret didn't loose their stickability nor did they wear through.

 

[henrim]

Good progress!

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

sticky sandpaper

That’s good if you have suitable grit available. I always use adhesive spray  for sandpapers. Both for permanent and temporary attachments. Just make sure what glue you use. Some of them can be used for re-pasting, while others are only for permanent bonds.

[Bizman62]

You know how it is when you're that close, you just can't keep your fingers off the almost finished build. Yesterday evening I thought I'd do the the electrickery but the solder wire didn't want to co-operate. I guess the 1 mm solder wire is a bit too thin for this purpose, you just can't get a drop big enough on the tip. Another funny thing with the new wire is that the fumes smell fishy! I mean, like baked sprats in a can - not actually unpleasant but strange in that context. Anyhow, I made a makeshift jig out of cardboard and started soldering the eyelets. The thin wire didn't want to fill them too quickly and when trying to push the wires through them the solder didn't want to re-melt. After melting the bottom of the switch I decided to go to the sauna and continue later. Today I started over and managed to ruin another switch.

Fortunately I tend to buy the inexpensive things in dozens so the third attempt succeeded. And it made a sound! But after having screwed the jack and backplate in place, there was no sound. Unscrewed the jack and noticed that the prong for the tip was bent, reshaping that didn't require any rocket scientist skills. But the sound still went on and off so unscrewing the back plate was next on the list. Oh yes, both the bridge pickup and the lead wire on the switch were loose as was one of the ground wires on the pot. This time I used my old solder wire which is a tad thicker. That melted to a nice shiny ball on the tip of the soldering iron which made it easy enough to quickly fix the issues.

One thing to ask: How on Earth do you manage to solder all the ground wires on a tiny spot on the pot?

I also found a pair of knobs left from my first build a decade ago, pieces of a branch of our plum tree. The holes aren't perfectly centered, at that time I didn't know how to find the center of a cylindrical object. But they fit the theme.

She's now alive! There's still things to do, the nut is way too high and the knobs require a finish on them. Next Saturday is Winter Holiday for schools so our course also has a day off. I may or may not do some kitchen table tinkering, let's see...

[henrim]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

can't get a drop big enough on the tip

Heat the spot to be soldered with the iron and add solder to the heated spot. Not to the tip of the soldering iron. 

Are you using leaded or lead-free solder? Lead-free may require considerably more heat than one containing lead. But that depends on the alloy.

I haven’t switched yet to lead-free because I still have a so much leaded solder stocked. But I guess I should do the switch before I ran out.

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

One thing to ask: How on Earth do you manage to solder all the ground wires on a tiny spot on the pot?

I generally don’t. On my own builds I rather ground the pots without soldering wires to the cases. If I do repair, I try to do potentiometer case soldering outside of the guitar, if possible. Sometimes it isn’t and I do know the pain.

[Bizman62]

50 minutes ago, henrim said:

Heat the spot to be soldered with the iron and add solder to the heated spot. Not to the tip of the soldering iron. 

Yes, I know that. That's how the bottom of the switches melted! But a drop on the tip helps spreading the heat to the object.

[henrim]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Yes, I know that. That's how the bottom of the switches melted! But a drop on the tip helps spreading the heat to the object.

Well, the tip needs to be tinned but I don’t know if excess solder helps in any situation. I don’t do that but, good if does.

Those switches were getting too much heat. That is for sure. Usually you put the wire in the lug, heat the spot and then add solder. You were pushing the wire in to the lug for some reason.

Was the melted lug making a connection when you soldered it? That could possibly explain where the heat was escaping. Anyway I don’t think you can easily avoid that with the common lug anyway.

[Bizman62]

11 minutes ago, henrim said:

Well, the tip needs to be tinned but I don’t know if excess solder helps in any situation. I don’t do that but, good if does.

That was taught to me by an electrician, works well especially if you have to desolder some components. The capacitors on PC motherboards can be quite stubborn and tightly fitted, some extra fresh solder on the tip sort of wraps the heat around the old joint.

[henrim]

All right, I can see the benefit in desoldering, although a desoldering tip would be my first choice in a tightly populated PCB, rather than adding more solder. But I guess there are times when that trick may come handy. Apparently your soldering method involves desoldering, which usually isn’t the case. So may be it is a good trick in that too.

[Bizman62]

16 minutes ago, henrim said:

Apparently your soldering method involves desoldering, which usually isn’t the case

Yes, I've learned to apply solder to the eyelets first and then melt the solder while pushing the wire through. There may be better methods, I must admit that my soldering sucks. To avoid cold joints I often seem to overheat the object like the abovementioned switches clearly show.