Mr Natural

great job man. looking forward to the blonde.

excellent!!!

count to 10, or 1000 or a million- whatever it takes- walk away and come back with a clear mind. Finishing is the most PIA part of building imho (and that includes sanding)- but- the results will be worth it. That blue in the pic above is deep and rich- if you can get back there- terrific. if you get 90% back there- just as good- but- alas- the builder knows the issues and never sees past them. keep the faith man- seriously- dont touch it for how ever long it takes to "get over it". you will be glad you did- TRUST ME. if you are still pissed about it- dont touch that guitar. i did a white les paul a decade or so ago and sanded back that mo fo at least 3 times. I mean 10-12 coats of mcfaddens that had hardened. F me man- that sucked. but I had to come to terms with the fact that I was spraying with a preval sprayer- putting clear over WHITE - spraying in a garage that had its doors up and down every day. I had to deal with the fact that the finish was going to have a couple specs no matter what I did. once I got there- mentally- I mean- really- mentally-well- you know.

+1- that is probably impossible. plus- getting the shade of purple correct the first time is darn near nuts as depending on when you sand/how long you let the purpleheart sit- the purple can fade enough (or after sanding) become more brilliant and matching it - well- good luck.

so-my life gets in the way more often than I care for- but I finally managed to sneak some time in. first up- build the handle to the waist clamp screw-scraps of mahogany, pine dowel (or whatever wood), a left over bolt, nut and washers from a swing set I dismantled from our old house (15 years ago). handle done i bought this center finding ruler thingy years ago at a joanns fabrics whilst shopping with Mrs Natch. it was in the sewing/quilting whatever the hell its called area of that store. well worth the $5 it cost. drilled, chiseled out and then made sure the threaded rod coupler that sits in the upper part of the jig would allow the threaded rod to travel (mostly) perpendicular to the face of the plywood in which it sits. getting that "perpendicular" was pain in the arse. starting to finally look like a jig. and yes- the jig is a bit tall at the moment- by design. Once I have the waist caul complete I will know exactly how much to trim from the sides of the jig. If my "architectural" to scale design are off-and I cut too short- I would have to recut the sides- so-better to trim a few inches off each side vs wasting that much plywood

christies link. there are some really nice axes in there https://www.christies.com/salelanding/index.aspx?intsaleid=28021&lid=1&saletitle=&pg=all&action=paging&sid=d2ca06dc-b312-4f7d-90ce-c308e401c398

wow- even the fender "001" guitar is going. was surprised to see the "number" of black strats on the one wall. now- if he would auction his fuzz face from the meddle/live at pompeii era I would give me left- or right- nut. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB1INkjBxwE

woodporn

the bar sanders are still avail thru hobby stores. They are an excellent deal for the price compared to luthier shops- and I give them a shout out every time I use them. they have been in my garage for over 10 years now and have not strayed from true- still flat. i have the 11 and 21 inch bars. I will be using a silicon heat blanket. I am still shopping around for that and seeing if I can get a voltage controller (think router speed control unit) on the cheap as well.

Manny De Luna has found his way back home, overlooking the shop and bench#1 shout out to @ScottR for his mad carving skills. manny noticed a slight edge to one of the layers on the form. How this happened is beyond me- and Manny too. all the pieces were routed to the same template. The bottom is completely flat- the slides are aligned- and yet this tiny edge pops up - I am thinking maybe the glue squeeze out perhaps swelled the fiberboard here. No worries- a quick sanding with my Great planes bar sander and some 250 and all was well again.

I had attempted to find some plans online for a side bender to save me some time. I found a company called Georgia Luthier Supply online. Some different luthiers on youtube have even given these folks a shout out. So- went to their site- they even have a packaged hardware dealio for the jig- how convenient. I click on the link for the hardware- and it takes me to some Uke construction book or some shit- so- I think- broken link. I email them,.. twice. No reply. hmm. So- perhaps i dont send money electronically to these folks. YMMV- their site (sister blog site) has some fantastic information. I hate to bash- but- maybe they are not in business anymore- or-maybe they are not good with email- who knows- but- like I said- you cant answer my email- you aint gettin my stash beotcheee. So- time to ghetto this mo fo up. I first drew up some detailed, fine architectural plans to scale. The handle/screw is really what this thing centers around. Most jigs I have seen use this veneer press screw https://www.grizzly.com/products/Shop-Fox-Veneer-Press-Clamp/D2893 I can make that for a fraction of the price. Enter home depot shopping trip: 2 nuts at 50 cents each, one threaded rod coupler $1.98 and 12" threaded rod- $2.38 so lets call that $6 with tax- running total now $50. I will fashion a handle out of scraps of hardwood. notch out a seat for one of the nuts- this one going in the handle. I will use epoxy to bond the nut to the wood- and the threaded rod end to the nut. Got a chance to use my cheap ass edge tools. I have a blister in the palm of my hand..

thank you both @RestorationAD and @komodo for sharing these communications. Stuff like this is valued communications among us stringed nerds. I still think a lot of the mojo of the original red special comes from the scale length, in conjunction with of course the player- and the pickups, and the switching- etc- but I always thought that rubbery awesomeness that happened when a power cord was struck had to due with the string tension/scale length. kinda like a ricky 4001 scale length- 34 is close- but just not like a 33 and change. or for that matter a 36" scale. you can hear that piano like sound when picked due to the string tension- and you can get an almost cello like thing going on with a fretless 36" scale in the (>12th fret) upper positions of course- ears, like opinions may vary. YMMV.

great work @ADFinlayson between you and @mistermikev you two are cranking out the axes.

great progress mike- you certainly have caught the build bug havent you.

RAD was contemplating gold hardware with that roasty toasty ash

nice work as always Scotty. She's a beaut- - but alas- something is different ..........something is, maybe, missing from previous ScottR works of art...... 3rd dot at 12th fret maybe?

congrats on GOTY!!!! two in a row dude. absolutely beautiful creation man- very well done Chris.

congrats on GOTM! well deserved.

been cold as hell here in georgia- this past week several hard freezes of 26 degrees or so- the trees are getting nipped after blooming earlier. too cold to work in the garage- but finally warmed up so I started glue up only to run out of glue. jeezus. i have to tell myself- slow and steady wins the race right? now to go buy some glue this weekend.

great job!. I didnt really like the look of the blank you purchased- but you have absolutely made it awesome. Well done.

and another observation- spray adhesive- I used 3M Super 77 (red can) for this- it held up well- but- like others I have tried- overspray stays tacky- forever. Anybody know of good spray adhesive that doesnt do that? I have tried locktite, various 3m products- and they all seem to do it- maybe its just something to live with. I just hate picking up a piece of that and having that tackiness there.

so- i have never used particle board before-ever. the attractive price point vs mdf and all grades of plywood- was fair warning that something might be an issue using it-nothing major- a couple observations- it sands smooth- but a routed edge- well- dont run your finger tips to check for smooth - splinters are a possibility on a routed edge cut well outside your line and then SAND up to it. notice in picture below- I am well outside the line- but chunks of the particle board came out along the edge- again- nothing major- I just didnt like it happening. despite the ghettoness of some of my jigs- I do like a straight fine edge line when making a template- those chips in the very top arent going to matter in the long run- but if this was 1/4 material I might say otherwise. body mold template cut, 1st copy made the template on top was sanded- the bottom routed- you can see the difference in appearance of the two- and why I probably picked up splinters from the routed edge. I checked that bit on a piece of maple- and it cut fine- so- I dont think it was a case of a router bit passed its prime.

thanks for sharing the tool tip Rad- one day I will get there with PUs. Those bass PUs are looking pretty bad arse. on a side note- you know that roasted ash and GOLD hardware go together right? (where is that rim shot emoji when you need it)

its been an absolute swamp here in Georgia this winter. the ground is like walking on a sponge- and trees are starting to uproot from winds. we have a forecast to have rain thru till March. unreal. I like to shoot lacquer if under 55%- and no rain in forecast for 24 hrs minimum. Even then- I shoot wicked thin coats. mist coats most would call them- thinned pretty heavily and no more than 2 or maybe three if its really dry. I hate having to sand back- and I have done it too many times where blush eraser didnt do the trick. i could probably do better if I invested in some decent spray equipment and not use Preval sprayers. regardless- its near impossible to get decent spraying weather here once mid June hits- and then thru until early september. the air is heavy wet down here during those months.

very cool of you scott. andy- that had to be gut wrenching to realize you had a boo boo and fixing it must have eaten away any profit+. props to you for sharing the story- i cant even imagine the shipping costs you just went thru-my heart goes out to you