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toddler68

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Posts posted by toddler68

  1. This is my third build, and has been a long time in the making – roughly six years. It is a double-neck version of my second build and is also a commission. I am a hobby builder with a small basement shop, but I recently acquired a CNC router which I hope shortens my build time :-)

    Specs:

    Body/necks: laminated mahogany/purpleheart/walnut, matching truss rod covers

    3/4” flame maple top dyed “Midnight Grape” with faux binding 

    Rosewood fretboards, 12” radius, jumbo frets, abalone & MOP “flying dot” inlays

    Recessed TOM bridge with string through, 12-string stoptail/string-through combo

    Sperzel tuners (yes, 18 of them)

    Flame maple/purpleheart pickup rings, tone/volume and pickup selector knobs

    Matched mahogany backplate and switch covers

    Gibson Burstbucker 2’s and 3’s

    Recessed jack 

    Hand-rubbed nitro finish

    Weighs in at 12.6 lbs  

     

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  2. On January 1, 2016 at 10:16 AM, komodo said:

    WOW!
    How's the space between the two headstocks for tuning? I've seen double necks that are parallel, and some that are angled out a little maybe for headstock access or balance?

    Headstock spacing leaves  just enough clearance for tuning either neck. The necks are actually angled out slightly... 2 degrees maybe?

  3. That looks pretty good.......but if it were me I'd hit it at least one more time with your main color dye to try to get a bit more depth and richness.

    Unless this is exactly what you are going for of course, then well done!

    SR

    Damn, I knew you were going to say that! To be honest, I'm reluctant to do any more dyeing directly on the wood. The concentration was off on my first attempt and ended up being wayyyyyy too dark; I had to sand most of it back off (then re-bleach the wood and re-tape my faux binding :angry:) Now I have anxiety every time I get close to it with dye. I also stuck with the alcohol dye; because I'm mixing blue and red, I wasn't sure I could get the same purple hue if I used a different type. I did try mixing water with the powdered dye which I don't recommend... it just clumped up and got foamy. Maybe if I mix water with my alcohol solution?

    At any rate, unless the client wants me to revisit the color, I'm leaving it as-is. I suppose I'd feel more comfortable bursting the edges slightly darker with tinted lacquer; maybe I'll run that by him if he's not happy with it.

  4. You do not need to raise the grain with water to dye it. You may wish to do so and sand back the raised grain prior to dyeing so the grain won't raise again....or at least as much. I prefer to mix my sand back black with the primary color rather than straight black. For instance, if you are going with blue, create a very dark blue or blue tinted black for your sand back color or for red, make a very dark red or red tinted black for the sand back color. Doing this will give your guitar a cleaner color than straight black will, which can give a muddy look to some colors. Straight black does work and is used often.....I just like the cleaner colors you get from the way I described.

    Otherwise you are good to go. Of course, it is always good to practice on scrap.

    Enjoy it, dying figured maple is fun!

    SR

    Thanks for the reply, Scott. I've only used the dye with denatured alcohol so I guess I'll have to take my best shot at using water. And I'll definitely try your trick of mixing my base color with the black. I did some initial trials on the scrap which I'll post soon.

  5. Here's the location for the jack

    43E25C09-B49B-42BD-A307-6C7CC91E9B0C_zps

    Top bleached a time or two...

    12A5FF2C-F922-4AD8-94E4-2D66E7313980_zps

    I'm trying another stain test... I could really use some advice on this because the whole stain black - sand back technique is confusing me. I didn't have to deal with this on the previous guitar; it was a burl and didn't need anything to "accentuate" the grain. I'm also dealing with faux binding again so I need to understand what my sanding/sealing/dying plan should be.

    So after doing some initial snooping around in the finishing tutorial area, here are my assumptions regarding the process:

    1. Sand top to ~400 grit

    2. Mask edge for faux binding and seal with several coats of lacquer

    3. Dampen top with water to raise grain and let dry

    4. Apply black stain to top and let dry

    5. Sand top again to knock off high spots which will lighten black dye, being careful not to sand off lacquer which is sealing binding.

    6. Apply color stain to taste

    7. Seal top with lacquer

    Have I missed anything or made any incorrect assumptions?

  6. I had a mid-April goal to complete this, but it will more likely stretch into May or early June. Anyway, here we go...

    Of this year?

    It's awesome to see this thing going again! :hyper

    SR

    Well, I certainly earned that... :blush It's a running joke with some of my coworkers too.

    But, I'm glad to be back on the wagon... and hope to be a little more involved over the coming year.

  7. Yes, it's been a while... I have been on a guitar building hiatus for the past few years while I struggled with a nasty Craigslist addiction ^_^ So, I figured after 4 years it was probably time I checked back in on this project. I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked, but things seem to be coming along. I had a mid-April goal to complete this, but it will more likely stretch into May or early June. Anyway, here we go...

    Couple rear shots with cavity covers; one dry, one wet:

    0FFD505F-A424-4EB8-A6F9-6A5AA4C57D40_zps

    3FB83920-DD1D-407D-90D6-6FB39F68A50F_zps

    Knob and switch recesses

    1FC3917B-A60A-4971-AAA1-6E5168F4D3BD_zps

    B702C096-3A60-40F2-AC95-D5247EAC7484_zps

    Full frontal body so far

    B506735A-CEA1-4FFD-9620-7155E67EB0A9_zps

  8. so what's the weight currently?

    mine is 8lb without hardware, quite relieved its come out at that!

    I have been weighing hardware as well. the owner wanted chrome knobs till i pointed out that chrome knobs weight about 30g each and we need 8 of them. we went with ebony ones which are 5g each

    You know, I'm not sure what the weight is at the moment. I did borrow a bathroom scale from a neighbor at one point and if I remember correctly, it weighed in at around 12 pounds (including tuners, bridges, truss rods and any other hardware that I actually had at the time. Strings, pickups (4 of 'em, ugh), knobs, electronics... those will add a little more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get to 15 lbs. :D

  9. those headstock inlays(not to mention, the whole build), look AWESOME. love the interlocking thing. subtle and brilliant

    Thanks, Charlie. I have agonized over that thing for years. My wife couldn't even come up with a logo design that I liked and she is a graphic designer! I guess I'm just hard to please :D

    Anyway, I was always looking for some way to play off of the laminated stripes in the neck/headstock and I feel like I finally got there. Eventually, I went back and inlaid the headstock on the purple one I did a couple years ago. Looks nice - and finished!

  10. Very nice; I love the carve especially the way the horns are blended into it. I normally go for a more gradual slope on the lower bout, but this works well too. Do you normally set the top before glueing up the fret boards? It seems like that will make dressing the highest frets more difficult that it needs to be.

    SR

    Well, it seems I never do it the same way twice! I've done it both ways, but I'm just more comfortable working on the inlays with the fretboard off. Yeah, it might make the fretwork a little more difficult later, but I could always farm that out to somebody else :D

  11. looking good, But id chamber out more of it. Double necks can get realy heavy. I have one on the go just now & have almost hollowed out the whole top guitar because of previous experiance.

    Any idea of the weight of this one at the moment ?

    I was hoping someone would "weigh" in on this subject. I don't want it to be too heavy, but I still want there to be enough structure for sustain. Right now I think I've got it at close to 1" around the perimeter and about 3/8" thickness at the bottom of the cavities. Is there a rule of thumb as far as how much material thickness to leave? 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch?

    I'm also planning to rout matching shallow cavities into the topwood before I glue that on. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

    Hey, this is a beautiful project.

    I have not done a double neck. But on chambered guitars, my practice is to leave 3/8" minimum thickness at the sides (up to 1" where hardware is attached, like strap buttons), and leave 3/16" minimum thickness on the back. You could remove a lot more wood before you hit those numbers. You could also remove wood in the center between the two necks. You could hollow out the underside of the top; but if it is a flat, uncarved top on a chambered guitar, I make the top 3/16" to start with.

    No matter how much the body weighs, it still has to balance the necks. I'd rather have a heavy guitar than one with a neck that you have to hold up.

    Thanks for the advice, Ken. As is stands, I think I've managed to hit most of the thickness numbers you mentioned. For the time being, I'm leaving the chambers where they are until I can get her weighed. I need to borrow a bathroom scale from a neighbor because we are not allowed to have one in our house - wife's rule! My goal is for it not to be any heavier than the average unchambered LP (which is think is around 12 - 13 lbs.). I would prefer heavy rather than unbalanced and I think the client would agree.

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