avengers63

I got a lot done today. I'm gonna give the neck the vintage amber treatment with some amber shellac. As for anything else, I'm at a standstill until I get the other one disassembled and the chrome molding bought.

Chris: The fine-tuning of the shape/contours is a work-in-progress. With the flat ends of the horns, the sharp bevels looks pretty darn good. The issues are 1) do I continue them around the rest of the body or not, and 2) how will it look with a Strat/Ibanez-like pickguard? We've seen on the SG that sharp bevels that aren't continued around the body look fine, so I think I'm good there. The p/g that extends to the perimeter of the bevel is the big question. Anyone want to Photoshop something for me? GuitarKid: I've heard of paulowina, but I have yet to come across any. I haven't even seen it available through the main two on-line lumber yards I use. Y'all know me though... I'm eager to use something different whenever I have the chance. Tim: You're right that this would be the PERFECT candidate for a neck-through. Unfortunately, the cedar isn't long enough for that. And, uh... whaddya mean "attach the neck that way"? Since I can't do the back-bolt, it's going to be set. I'm wanting to do something cool with the body. I definitely do NOT want to paint it, but I'm not sure how white limba will respond to dyes. There will be some experiments with color in the immediate future. As for the finish, I'm giving serious consideration to buffing the wood to 1000 grit or so, maybe even 4000, then oiling it. I really dig the natural waxy feel of limba, but it needs something to bring out the color. Some extended experiments with linseed oil are in order as well. For the headstock, I think something Parker Fly inspired is in order. For the fretboard, I'm currently thinking zebrawood with black blocks, or cherry with abalone dots. I haven't seen anyone use cherry for a f/b yet. It's certainly durable enough, so I can't imagine why not.

You're my hero.

I just finished this one up today. It's an ash base, sapele pinstripe, and canarywood top. The bass side of the body is chambered, and has a tele-shaped f-hole. It should look pretty tasty with the right pickguard.

I don't know what thread this stemmed from, but here I am in the beginning stages. The idea is to see how thin you can make a guitar and still be functional, good sounding, and good playing. R.A.D. is working on a surface-mount pickup, taking design inspiration from an old Teisco pup I sent him. The hardware will be mini-pots and a hard tail bridge. The piece of white limba I have for the body is EXACTLY 1" thick. It's just barely not wide enough to have a 1-piece body, so pieces from the blank will have to be glued onto the widest parts of it. I'm going with a traditional Strat-like shape. With the body being so thin and lightweight, I figure to need the strap anchor pretty far forward. Under normal circumstances, the 12th-15th fret is the target. As it stands right now, it might fall near the 11th. We'll just wait and see on that one. The neck will need to be pretty lightweight as well. I picked up a 2" thick piece of Spanish cedar. It's used in acoustics, so the strength should be fine. It's also stupid-light. The body blank uncut weighs about the same as the 2" thick piece of cedar. No neck dive on this one. I really wanted to do a back-bolt on this one, but it's just too thin. The surface mount pups would eliminate the normal routes taking away material for the bolts to go into. However, the body itself will be too thin. Oh well - a set neck it is. I'm wholly undecided on what to do to the body. Bevels would look great with the shape, but there's not much there to work with. Also, I might need to mount the pups in a pickguard, which would make the bevels look silly. I'll figure something out.

No pic, but I'm gluing the formica onto the top today.

That's your normal M.O. You've said many times that you like a lower output pup, more in the classic PAF style. IIRC, don't you like them in the 8K-10K range?

That about sums it up!

Good one Muzz. Given that the Rhoads ia basically a big slab with beveled edges - no roundovers, belly cuts, or anything else curvy like that - I decided to use a brush. I've ALWAYS been able to get extremely good results with a brush... until this one time. Application wise, brushing is a lot easier and faster than the Misto. Fret not. Misto will make more appearances in the future. As for this ax, I still haven't been able to get back to it. Too much going on this week. Between the Firebird, last night's dinner party, and today's having to get a tetanus shot because of the nail I stepped on last night, it's been pushed aside for now.

Almost there. We got a long way to go and a short time to get there.....

I like the German-style carve. I'm figuring to do something similar with an Airline copy someday.

What a silly question. Y'all would have known about it had I bought a spray setup.

.........aaaaaaaaaand the pup screws are too small for the holes in the wings. [smiley]facepalm[/smiley]

assembly & maybe the wiring today....

I'm going with a router with a straight bit of some sort.

looks to me like there's tape in the neck pocket and the end of the neck looks dry right on the edge of the pic Hooglebug is on the right track. The pocket wasn't sealed. The closest it got was a little paint around the top and some finish that "dripped" around the edge. I scraped most of it off before gluing. The oil on the neck most definitely did NOT extend all the way down the tenon. I only oiled it enough to overlap about 1/2" into the pocket so there would be no bare spots.

No, thankfully! I was trying leveling it by hand with 320 instead of 220 on the orbital sander. Clearly, it didn't work out anywhere near what I was looking for.

Now, on to the body.... Like I said - worst finish I've ever done. Ripply... like water. Just to stress the point, here's a couple of pics after "highlighting" toe tops of the ripples with 220 on an orbital sander. And here it is after getting the swirlies out with 320. Despite how it looks now, I applied no ore pressure than the weight of by hand. I feel fortunate that I managed to NOT sand through anywhere when taking the ripples out. I'm curious how much clear is left at this point. Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Tomorrow I'll get after it with some wet 400 & 600. If I'm feeling ambitious, I might even buff it all the way out. It all depends on how mich time I have between shifts.

Well, at least the neck turned out exactly like it was supposed to! A good soaking with linseed oil does wonders for the color and feel.

Unlike the purple Rhoads, the finish on this one buffed out just like it was supposed to. So here's the neck after a good soaking with linseed oil... ...and said neck being glued in. The pic is kinda washed out, but oh well.

I'm gonna try and sand back the finish from the front & back and hope I can minimize the amount of paint removed.

So you build the thickness of the headstock area, then cut it at an angle. I did that once, before I learned how to do a proper scarf. It was easy enough, but still pretty wasteful. As far as it's strength, I'd speculate that the built-up headstocks might be stronger than a one-piece. Like someone else said already, the glue joints are stronger than the surrounding wood. Bottom line here: "Dr. Who" is awesome, and there's nothing wrong with a well made scarf joint.

The finish ended up looking like crap. The paint and color is fantastic.... the clear coat is horrible. I need to look at it for a few days and think about it. I might end up having to sand back and start over.

I like the Fly shape, but I don't think it's particularly suited to natural wood. not that what I think matters........

I downloaded the entire thing last year. Everything. William Hartnell's 1st episode through the latest BBC versions. It's taking just forever to watch them all in order. I'm in the middle of the Tom Baker run right now. Romana just came in as the new companion.