henrim Posted March 3 Report Share Posted March 3 37 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: There may be better methods, I must admit that my soldering sucks. To avoid cold joints I suggest you try the way I described above. That way there is less risk of cold joints and excess heat. And you have better control over the amount of solder needed. And I believe it is easier too. Although, sometimes it is difficult to keep the wire in place. If it is a multi strand wire, you can twist it around the lug or if it is a single core you can usually bend it so that it stays put. Also a “helping hand” tool is useful in many situations. But it’s all details, when you are almost ready to string the guitar and rock on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 3 Author Report Share Posted March 3 It already is strung up but it still requires some adjusting and rechecking. And I already know what went wrong with the on-the-fly design and I also know how that could be fixed if need be. A neck reset isn't in my near future plans, though... And there'll be a next build... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 3 Author Report Share Posted March 3 2 hours ago, henrim said: Was the melted lug making a connection when you soldered it? That could possibly explain where the heat was escaping. I just noticed that question. The answer is no, it was seated on a piece of corrugated cardboard by the threads. That works as insulation rather than heat conductor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 17 Author Report Share Posted March 17 The final stages take forever! The nut was way too high so I filed the slots and did the 3rd fret pressing procedure to check the action. So of course the grooves unexpectedly became too deep and started grabbing. Guess which version of the files worked better! You guessed it, the €20 Temu set has the looks but the feeler gauge was both faster and smoother. Reshaping the nut was next on the list. Started with a file but in all honesty the sanding block with some 80 grit worked much faster. For the record the nut popped out during the slot filing process and knocked a chip off where there was the tiny drop of super glue. Despite having been sold as bone the chip that broke off didn't look 'organic' so I suppose it's bone dust and epoxy. Still much better than a hollow piece of plastic! And finally I spot leveled the ends of a couple frets. They were too easy to find, playing chromatically two adjacent frets produced the same note. Not a major issue, they were on the dusty side and only affected one string. Used the grooved cheap crowning file and finished with the nail buffing sponge. The action is now low without buzzing although the fret rocker clicks here and there, again in spots that only affect one string. Flying by the seat of my pants can cause unpredictable issues: Originally I was going to use a hardtail but then a fellow told that he has some trapezes from guitars he had modified which led me to make the scrapwood bridge. The height is right for a good angle but the string angle is too much on the shallow side for my liking. Most likely because of that the sound is metallic like a tin can and lacks the low end. Removing the neck and re-routing the neck pocket to an angle and adding height to the bridge would be the ultimate fix but I'd rather try something else. When discussing the matter with Veijo he first suggested screwing the trapeze down against the body but that would make changing strings a bit clumsy. Then he suggested reseating the end plate, even carving the top a bit. That might work, worth giving it a try next Saturday. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 Is this the final stage? Or will I reseat the neck at an angle, continuing this saga sometime in September? Time will tell... Having decided to follow Veijo's suggestion to lower the trapeze I started by carefully marking the bridge location for intonation and the area to be modified. The low angle plane seemed to be just right for the job but like all blade tools in the workshop it didn't chew material off, at least not in a manner I could control. A rough file didn't seem to work either, the oil treated pine is surprisingly hard to carve! So I taped a loose saw blade on the top for an angle guide and taped the end of the sanding block as well and it seemed to work better. Still not too happy. But then I remembered I had bought an Iwasaki rasp and that made things happen in the pace and accuracy I liked! After having finished the slope I then re-inlaid the trapeze endpiece and bent the bottom end of it to better match the roundover of the bottom of the body. A drop of oil blended the newly revealed surfaces to the existing finish. And as no guitar is finished until the strap buttons are installed I decided to get rid of the hook. Notice the real leather pad: Salvaged some leather from the trash bin of the workshop and punched a dozen of pads out of it. Has the angle changed at all, it's hard to tell. But now everything has been done at that end so if need be resetting the neck for a taller bridge is the only option left. The neck feels nice and nothing rattles or squeaks, not even when bending the dusty frets so guess that can be called a working guitar. And here's a final view of the entire instrument: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 It's been a rough road and you spent some time on it, so congrats for finishing a playable instrument! It is not quite my type of thing, but I do appreciate your use of reclaimed materials. I bet you can get some swampy blues going with it! Or that's the impression I get at least. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 6 hours ago, henrim said: I bet you can get some swampy blues going with it! Or that's the impression I get at least. Totally! That's exactly what that should be used for. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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