Mr Natural

Congrats!

headstock overlay glued on and mocked up. I lightly sanded that and its lightened up more than I like- it was sort of greyish green- hopefully will darken up with oil and poly and contrast a bit more against the maple. bridge shaped partially- mock up to see what it looks like. This isnt a bridge style K Lawrence uses- its actually a copy of a Rob Allen that I already had template made for- and I like the integration of the volume knob in the bridge. Keeping my fingers crossed there will be enough downward pressure on the saddle for the undersaddle pickup- being this isnt string thru body like the Rob Allen and 32" scale (less string tension)

nice couple of axes you got there man- very well done!

congrats on GOTM Scott.

looks great Andy- Pete is a lucky friend.

that is a bummer. One thing I have noticed with that method is its best to make the first few passes VERY shallow- so as to cut the surface of the wood ever so slightly- then maybe once two or three passes are done you can hog out more as you are deeper in the cut. it also helps to re-file the cutting end on the drill bit you are using- do you think maybe you tried to hog out too much on the top layer? also- the pattern template usually holds the wood "down" as the drill bit cuts- I noticed on the pic above- there is no tape underneath (or near) where the f holes are- perhaps the pattern template was lose under there(?) I hate this happened to you- I love that method and tout it all the time. This build is coming along nicely- even the couple of hickups which you have appeared to recovered from.

A wise man once said- patience is the main virtue of a good luthier. and its SO hard especially when you are nearing the end. looking good mr norris.

I have used this method of sanding in a radius for years- as @curtisasaid- "Use firm, even pressure and take care to not skew the block as you pass it up and down the fret board. It's easy to accidentally change the radius or sand one edge lower than the other if you're not paying attention" the best way to do this is to take measurements every 20 strokes or so. I measure the thickness of the board at both ends at each corner and middle, as well as the middle of the board (edges only) to make sure I am not putting a dip in the middle or at one of the ends. You can easily apply too much pressure on the sanding block just by the way you are standing over it. Also- to @Andyjr1515 point- adding the blocks at the end helps- or at least keeping in mind that if you stop the radius block over the end of the board (vs sanding with the complete length of the radius sanding block- you can easily (been there done it) sand a dip in the middle since the full length of the sanding block is sanding over the middle of the board- but if you stop short on the ends only a portion of the block is sanding the ends and you end up putting a dip in the middle. you do have to really watch the pressure you apply at the ends though- very easy to sand unevenly there. Take it slow- measure often- be mindful of the pressure you apply-and this will turn out top notch. the first board I ever did like this I screwed up as I just tried to muscle it vs being patient and taking it slow.

my shop as it sits right now- the ladder is part of the "spray tent" that I took down before sanding the hell out of some parts today. I usually have 2 more benches which are down stairs in our basement, good news is my daughter who is staying with us while her new home is built is about to move out in 3 weeks, which means I can keep one of the cars out of the garage and re-populate my shop with said benches in basement. Boxes along back wall are for packing up misc crap said daughter owns and brought with her. (there are 20 uhaul boxes behind the table saw)

you are a funny man Carl. The only problem is that if I really "feather" it properly and bring it to a point I can sand thru to the front. @Andyjr1515- thanks for the kind words- but I really learned something here- the cocobolo block I put on the neck blank was too long- I know now for next time I do a single cut with a neck like this.. Plus this heel carve is a lot steeper than what it appears a real Ken lawrence has- but considering my body blank is not full size- and my template started off as a 5 string- everything on this is "scrunched" got a new headstock overlay cut and shaped and glued after I found the original one I had done somehow became a glue tray (dont ask) got the bridge template glued to blanke and shaped via belt sander-I was going to route that but then thought of losing my fingers and thought better String anchor- also of cocobolo starting to take shape via belt sander. This will be attached via 2 screws into the butt end of the body and glue to boot.

I got 3 rounds of clear coats started Saturday but today it was cold and windy and rainy this morning so everything is up in a spare bedroom closet where Mrs. Natural can't smell the nitro gas off. I have since got sawdust everywhere in the garage so it will probably be next weekend before I clean it all out and set up the spray tent again. in the mean time- Instead of a boring paint drying pic- I was going thru pics and found this one I didnt post of build- so-past due.

starting to sand out the gouge marks from the chisel on the neck heel. I had a bit of a boo-boo- notice the cocobolo at upper left of picture- one of the chisels (or should I say "I") popped out that nice little chunk and left it perfectly squared off and perpendicular to the neck. That is going to be fun to fix/hide/mask. I dont want to sand too much there but will have to so it blends in. always something. I have a ton of sanding left here so maybe it will come out ok.

the evil twin is bad ass!

I like black hardware but this mix is cool. like @pan_kara said- the tuners would be cool in a mix as well.

truth be told- Poplar sands like a hot knife thru butter. you gotta watch it- with an orbital sander you can lose a 1/16th inch before you blink with 80 grit.

bit of rain today in Georgia, so the ritter copy went into a closet upstairs, I took down the "spray tent" and went to town on this heel with my black and decker 1/2" belt sander. It took this: down to this in about 20 minutes. at this point I am done with the sander as I have 60 grit on it and its a bit aggressive., switching to chisels and files from this point.I just wanted to get the bulk of that cocobolo down to shape.

second that- hope the little feller mends quickly. scary when they are hurt and cant tell you whats going on. Did you take art or sculpting in school? or just self taught?

I cut and then thinned out an old piece of cocobolo for the bridge. I will have a volume knob for the undersaddle pickup in the bridge itself where the circle is drawn.

the neglected work bench in front of where my wife parks in the garage. sad bodys from projects started long ago sit to the right- a p bass, a j bass, 2 strats, an Uli Jon Roth Sky guitar body- a bunch of crap on top- and the ken lawrence body I just started up again to the right. The other side of my garage is tented up as a "spray booth" at the moment. The site of my cheap ass band saw reminds me how I need real tools-maybe one day.

started carving the neck

so- I took a shot today and sprayed 2 coats of color. I basically misted the first coat and then a bit thicker 2 nd coat. I just sprayed 2nd coat on edges of body and about to spray body when I took this shot. You can sort of see the difference in build. I dont have proper spray equipment- I use a Preval sprayer. Using Seagrave laquer thinned with 15% thinner. keeping my fingers crossed I can be done with color after this and get on with the clear soon.

cocobolo "cats eye" attached to neck heel. Hen scratches to tell me where to carve and not to carve. I have never done a neck that was attached to the body this far up the neck before so this might be a learning lesson. The ugly filler strip from the truss rod incident this thing had reminds me I need to think about paint- grr. Notice the grain on the neck- there is a spot to the right that starts to run flat - its quarter sawn thru most of it but right at that spot it starts to run flat. glad its getting carved right there.

Looking good so far. I tried a 6 string multiscale bass once and first position was absolutely uncomfortable. I dont recall the scale length on that low b- but it had to be atleast 35 if not 36 and my short stubs were stretching to the max to reach that b string. It just seemed to put my hand in an unnatural position down on the low notes. maybe it needed "gettin used to". Maybe I just need longer fingers. I dont claim to know jack squat about multiscales- but this one actually looks comfortable in those lower positions.

I agree with your previous comment about the base of the stew mac dremel guide. I made my own base to use with my router table- dont laugh- its "ghetto" as hell as they say- but it works. screws into the base plate of my router table- the dremel stays stationary, move the body around and viola..

Dont you love when stuff works out according to plan? MT FUJI!!! coming along nicely CJ.