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Did a lot of sawing and routing yesterday...


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Should've worn a mask. Need a roto-rooter for my lungs today. That Cuban mahogany is dense as hell! Got 5 chambers roughed out with the 2 big ones to go and also got the neck rout 95% done for the mid-body. I'll just use a follower (bearing) router for the padauk section when it gets glued on. Hope to have the chambers roughed by the end of the day today and hopefully the mahogany section overall ready for the padauk by the end of the weekend.

Also, got the primary fill coat on the padauk headstock. Has an interesting effect the way I did it... Basically, I think it is ready for sealing and I think I will go with the hard tung-oil Tim has if that is all right with him. The feel of it is so much nicer than laquer or varnish even though it will need maintenance. The body will have the nitrocellulose finish for more durability... Progress-a-happenin'! Boggs

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I'll get 'em when I can... I have the neck at home and I do not have a digital camera and I drove the motorcycle to work, so I could not bring it to get any pictures here. I'll try to get where I am on the 2" slab of mahogany with the maple veneer on each side with the rough cuts at lunch today or at the end of the day. How's that? Best I can do... Boggs

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Brown lung?

Here are some pics of progress on the maple veneered mahogany first cut rough chambering... The second shot with flash shows the maple veneer reflectivity better. The little jigsaw worked its A$$ off!!! Remember, padauk will go on top and in back of the guitar bound to the maple and edges rounded so the mahogany will frame the maple which will in turn frame the padauk.

mahoganybody1.jpg

mahoganybody2.jpg

mahoganybody3.jpg

mahoganybody4.jpg

mahoganybody5.jpg

Boggs

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Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars

That jigsaw done paid it's rent :D

And for using a jigsaw without templates that I can see, that is very nice looking. Very nice

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Thanks. It was freehand just following the outline. Now, I will attach a small drum sanding tool to the router and clean it up a touch. I will then finish the neck pocket fit and then I can work on the outside shaping... :DB) . My hands are getting so heavily muscled again that I won't be able to play it by the time I'm done... :D Boggs

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Good start Boggs. I gave my jigsaw a good workout yesterday too! I cut the sides of my neck blank and formed the headstock. I first routed channels along each side so I'd have a nice straight line to follow w/ the jigsaw. I cut about 1/16" outside each line and not really worried about how straight the faces the sides are, they will be carved down anyway. Gonna be a classic Gibson style headstock but a little chunkier, only 5 1/4" long as opposed to the usual 7". I should just manage to fit the Grover tuners on without interfering with each other. A little over 1 1/8" spacing between the tuner pegs. And you are right about the dust. I blew my nose this morning and DID NOT see any forgotten works by Michelangelo in the kleenex. :D

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You could have sculpted my kleenex with a chainsaw... :D I was just thinking that it is a good thing I didn't title this thread, "Snorted some great Cuban last night..." Might have been taken the wrong way! B) Boggs

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Thanks. It was freehand just following the outline. Now, I will attach a small drum sanding tool to the router and clean it up a touch. I will then finish the neck pocket fit and then I can work on the outside shaping... :D  B) . My hands are getting so heavily muscled again that I won't be able to play it by the time I'm done...  :D  Boggs

Is this a dedicated accessary for routers? I've not seen anything like it, and the idea gives me the chronic heedbie-jeebies. Routers run at far too high a speed to sand effectively without burning, and using any tool not specifically manufactured for that kind of speed it dangerous. I wouldn't even consider it, unless you're prepared to risk serious injury to you, your work, or your router.

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I thought I'd give it a try with a small diameter drum on a scrap piece with a light touch and it is still too fast. Just did it the old-fashioned way instead chucking it in a hand drill... Not the perfect solution, but it is the inside chambering anyway so it is not as though it will be seen. Boggs

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I thought I'd give it a try with a small diameter drum on a scrap piece with a light touch and it is still too fast. Just did it the old-fashioned way instead chucking it in a hand drill... Not the perfect solution, but it is the inside chambering anyway so it is not as though it will be seen. Boggs

Kind of to be expected, given the relative speeds of routers and power drills. Apart from the problems of poor performance I also be *very* wary of running anything other than a router bit in a router. The amount of damage you could do (quite possibly to yourself) if a drill bit or the like sheared off from a router doesn't bear thinking about.

BTW, forgot to mention before - looking good!

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Back when I was making a few thin templates, it occured to me that it would be perhaps possible to build a guitar like this without a router. With a drill and a simple jig saw, you could carve out the spaces needed for the pickups, for the neck pocket and for the controls. Then just glue the sections together for a body blank that needs only the outer shape to be cut and sanded.

Perhaps not the best way to build a guitar, but it may be worth a little experimentation.

Good work Boggs!

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Thanks! For the record, I did the test with the small diameter drum tool in the router in a closely encapsulated hole and very thick piece in case of the very thing you were concerned about would happen. I did not leave it turned on for long at all. Thank you all for your concern. Boggs

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The neck fits the routed pocket beautifully! :D Next, I will work on finishing the neck and Monday or Tuesday I may actually have access to a huge industrial band saw to do the outside shape cuts! That'll be a bit easier on my hands which are so swollen from all the work that I don't think I could play a single string at this point... Haven't been able to pick up a guitar to play for a couple of weeks now. That's the bad part of this project... Takes every bit of what little time I had before to play to build the guitar... Boggs

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