chops1983

Thanks very much for the replies guys. The idea is to engrave the finer details in and then fill with black. Once that is done i also want to engrave some colours for his hood and neck drape thing. I will take a photo of what im copying so you can get a better idea. I understand the epoxies now though. Will use fine sawdust from the fretboard for the filler, although i really only have one spot on all those inlays that i took abit too much. I must have scribed it wrong, when i was routing i followed the line and then popped the piece in and theres a gap. Whoops. Im really happy though for a first effort. Will take some pics today! Cheers Chad.

Thanks spoke. Do you know what the coloured powder is called or is it just chalk?

Hey guys, Ive done a search but to no avail. Im just wondering what type and brand of epoxy do you use for gluing and filling shell inlays? I have Selleys super strength 2 part epoxy and came up with good results in a headstock im inlaying, but now need to glue shell into a ebony fretboard. By filling i mean for engraving etc. Ive read you just mix ebony dust into the epoxy to turn it black. What about coloured epoxy like reds, blues? Can you mix dye into the epoxy? Any help would be great. Thanks Chad. P.S Here is the headstock. And the fretboard inlays.

It all comes down to cost. Im just finishing an inlay on a guitar for my wife and from start to finish as this is my first real inlay its probably taken me like 6 days. This is all good as im building any guitar for myself or my wife with love, but there is no way you would do this for a public job. Unless you could charge for it, but then how do you put a price on it?and at what cost? I think this machine is great for private or commercial use it just comes down to cost. Can you afford to get doug to make an inlay for you on your own job or will you just do it by hand in the shed. Im keeping cost down by doing it myself(just don't factor in the hours)as this is my hobby. Which ive enjoyed, but i will never sell this guitar! Too much work. Nice vid Doug. Hope it becomes a great income flow for your buisness! Chad.

Looks great Andy! Top Job

Im not great either but when i wired up mine the volume and tone turned clockwise for up and the gain the opposite direction. I just swapped the wire that was on lug 3 to lug 1 and left the sweeper. Fixed this problem. Is that what your asking?

I quite like it actually. Don't know why, i usually like bigger headstocks. Maybe cause its abit different.

No real work of late so ive been playing with some shell and made the inlays for the headstock and fingerboard. Ive spent quite alot of time on these so far as i don't have a jewellers saw but only a set of small files. Headstock route and inlays and finished product I tried to get a good front on pic but the dang camera just would not focus. But angle it and it focuses. Well kinda, i think its the glare. You will notice in the bottom corner of the C the shell has hit a layer and there is a blemish. Im bummed about it really but ive run out of shell so theres not much i can do but live with it. The shell was free by the way! Lucky last shots for today is a couple teasers of the fretboard inlays. If you have read from the beginning of the thread the build is for my wife and she loves ancient egypt. So....... closeup I started working on the big inlay in the middle yesterday an finished it this morning. Its abalone and maple. Ive never done anything like this before so if this is not a good combo please let me know. I just liked the maple for the skin tones. I figure i will have to finish the maple aswell. Maybe a couple of coats of sanding sealer? Started the small fingerboard hieroglyphics this arvo, just about finished with them and then i can start to slot the fretboard and rout those suckers in. Hopefully i can pull it off. Wish me luck! Nice piece of ebony hey? Cheers Chad.

Im thinking for your situation and if it was me that you should angle your neck pocket. Why? Because with out a neck angle the amount of neck showing around your pocket will be too much. Not necessarily a problem but not aesthetically pleasing. The easiest way to do it is to draw your depth line right around your guitar. You can either draw this or route for your binding. Now that you have this height you should be able to work out how deep the neck pocket needs to be routed so you come to your finished fingerboard height. To find the neck angle check out Perry's tutorial in the solid body tutorial section on the main page and to find your finished fingerboard height.If in doubt draw it out!haha just made that up. I have done and would route the neck pocket before the carve but you really need to know all your depths and angles. Thats if the carve is round, i can't really tell from your photo. Alternatively check out the photos on this build of Perry's focusing on the carving photo's and the way he works his neck angle for routing the pocket.Flame build I hope Perry doesn't mind me posting this but as this is on his site im sure abit of free advertising won't hurt Bear in mind he is using a wraparound tune o matic bridge so the neck angle will be different. Hope some of this has helped Chad.

Nice build. I really like the zebrawood! Ive had a few run ins with tearout aswell and it sucks a**. The more bits the better(variety), always rout with the grain where you can and steady the feed rate is what ive learnt. No matter how careful you are something always tears.

Im not sure exactly how you want your carve to look but don't carve away any timber where your neck pocket is. Carve around the perimeter.

ITs all about learning Kid. It looks like a smurf! for the corners you could have used some rolled up sandpaper and sanded it flush.

Hey momo, Welcome to the forum. Nice guitar btw. Not a huge V fan myself but it does look pretty cool. Those frets are pretty interesting, might check out some more info about them. Would hate to do a refret though I can understand why some of the guys on here are abit harsh cause your a pretty full on dude. Its your job to be like that though. An unmotivated motivator wouldn't work now would it! Anyway i think you mean well and are pretty psyched with the project so goodluck with it. Cheers from OZ! Chad.

Mate im just glad i can see. Im hungover as hell!your probably right though. Btw great work metalhead!

I have to agree a little here. But its more of a slight purple for me. The lacquered pic has the blue left corner but the majority of it is a fine looking black. Nice!

Sounds like your living the dream darkly!!! Welcome to the forum.

Haha i like it! Some advice for ya kully. Jarrah and sheoak are heavy so make sure you hollow that puppy out. Here is a link to a guitar i built out of jarrah. Link It shows some good internal shots of how much i hollowed out. It weighs about 3.9kg finished, not heavy but not light either. Sounds great and is really good for rock and roll, i use it in our cover band for lots of KOL, foo fighters etc. Jarrah is a beautiful timber only native to the southwest of australia. Check out what wiki has to say. Link Check the second last line before "see also". Brady make world class snare drums out of the stuff so it must have some good tap tone You probably know alot more than me though. Hope this helps mate. Chad.

PM'd

Without!

Hey keegan, Do you have this in a pdf. I have been looking all over the net for the tremelo routing specifications and i cannot find them anywhere. Its driving me insane! You would think you could find the specification for this being the worlds most popular guitar. Any help would be so appreciated. Cheers Chad.

Looks cool and welcome to the forum. Looking forward to watching this one, i like the design.

Try cutting your intial cut on the bandsaw and then build one of these jigs Scarfing jig for your gluing face. Im asuming you have a router and that you could mount it in a bench though. I made one of these and it works great. Take your time and make sure your two sides are identical though otherwise it may not plane square. You can also use it for your headstock face.

cool thanks guys. So colourtone stains from stewmac are dye. Im wondering if the stuff i have are dyes or stains. I will go have a look. Ive previously just used coloured stains from a brand in oz called feast and watson. They do all types of timber finishings,stains,sealers,oils etc.

More work done today. Finished the carve and rough cut the neck, routed the headstock and drilled the tuner holes. Hopefully tomorrow i will true up the fretboard, get it slotted and start to work on the inlays. These first pics are with grain fill on the top. Gives the best view of the contours. Carve 1 Carve 2 Carve 3 Carve 4 The teaks grain patterns remind me of a tigers markings. Maybe ill play around with some stain, make up a bright orange and have a play on some scrap. Heres a question Is stain and dye the same thing? Had to take this photo. I don't know how you guys work but this is my workbench after a busy day. I clear it before i start the day but it ends up like this. There is method in my madness... I think. I also need some advice from anyone who can help. Once i have finished the inlay on the headstock and fretboard i will basically need to finish the body. What i want to know is do you guys route for your tremelo bridge before you get it or do you wait? and if you do where can i get the trem route dimensions for a hipshot trem? i want to finish this guitar before i go away in two months but im on a tight budget and shouldn't really spend any money on it.Any help would be great guys. Cheers Chad.

Top work metalhead. That is one clean looking build hey!