ScottR

Filling the grain on the back with dyed sanding sealer. Sanded back. SR

I know I've said it before but I really like the simplicity and flowing lines of this build. Did you pick up a couple of scuffs on the back from that case or are those just anomolies in the ash grain? And a question about your pup construction that will display my ignorance about that arcane art. Where do those little blocks of wood go? I'm not ready to go poking into my set that's waiting to get mounted. SR

Very clean carve--love the blackwood top. SR

It looks like he used a pattern following router bit and used the frets themselves as the pattern for the bulk of it. A razor or exacto was likely used to square up the corners where fret meets board. Elegantly simple solution. SR

Very nice Mark. Good to hear from you again too. SR

This is going to be sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing how close you get to your mock-up. History leads me to believe it will be damn close! SR

You've got some serious skills dude. SR

I have a 18" steel rod that fits tightly through the tuner holes. I tie a cord onto each end and hang it from a bicycle hook in the ceiling. It has never even pretended to slip or move in the past. But......I have snaded lacquer off the rod enough times now that it slides a little easier through the tuner holes. Combine that with the larger HS angle this one has and most importantly the fact that I did not tape the cord knots to the rod (I just needed to hang it for a half hour or so. I don't know what gave, and I'm greatful it landed on it's butt but lordy it was loud. It landed right where the two top halves and the two bottom halves(titebond) and the top to bottom join(T-88) all meet. All glue joints survived nicely. SR

That was a pretty hot stage. The red looks much better than my pictures too...... I will likely add some amber back in, and the first stage of the burst is to airbrush some black dye aound the edges of the front and back. That has to wait till the back and sides are grain filled. And the more I stare at the gouges, the more tempted I am to leave them as is....just clear it and let them be. I'm just not sure I'll like the light reflection off the edges if left that way. Dean, WM, Muzz, thanks guys. This thing is still throwing challenges at me every step of the way....like throwing itself off the hanger. Damn that was loud. Here's to keeping the demon caged up inside. SR

DOH! I should have stared at it longer. Today I see that what I thought was your caul was your neck and headstock viewed from the bottom. It is still true....they aer a nice neck and HS. SR

Nice save. From here it looks like a flawless repair. We would have never known..... SR

That's a nice bonus. SR

I really like the way this scarf and board looks. SR

Your clamping caul would make a nice looking headstock and board. SR

That was a pretty hot look, but it was just a middle step, maybe on the next one.... it kind of reminded me of a tiger striped thing Perry did a while back. This one is trying to be red. These test blanks still look like ass...but one of them has a couple of splits that I filled with z-poxy and then used the same to seal the top. Every test piece has needed a good sealing. The open pores in the quilt just suck the finish in and asks for more. The first few coats of clear look terrible because the dark areas just suck it all in. I'm going to have to seal the top with shellac and then fill the gashes with z-poxy....which will likely need to be spread over the whole top for consistency. SR

I sanded it back....hard. Another thing I learned from the tests is you don't need much from the first dark layer to give your colors depth. The back got a little closer to normal too. Just some hints of color. Then I laid in some amber. This is pretty cool as is. SR

Did you ever have one of those weeks where you worked your ass off and the only thing you've got to show for it is.....well......less ass? I cut the butt end of my maple billet into quarter inch slices so I could test various dye combinations. the stupid things were fuzzy as hell and took most of the weekof after work hours to get two ready for testing. And they did not come out purdy....but I did learn what I wanted to know. One thing I was looking at was how to grain fill the Spanish cedar. I had some water based sanding sealer that filled fairly quickly. Since it was water based it took some mahogany trans tint dye nicely. I also learned I did not need a dark black to start my quilted to sand back. I originally tested bordeaux, mahogany and black, and backed down to a less intense bordeaux and mahogany. I wanted the whole thing to have harmonies of similar colors so I dyed everything but the ebony. HOLY HELL WHAT HAVE I DONE! The thing looks like I'm trying to turn it into purple heart. Then I hung it up to dry while I worked on the test blocks and after about a half hour it fell down. I've hung four guitars on the same get-up and that has never happened before. It gave me a flat spot to fix. It surely could have been worse.....and it surely sounded worse when it hit the ground! SR

You've got some nice processes worked out Org. It is nice to see that these actually do get built with the same sweat and sawdust the rest of us mortals endure instead of just popping into existance complete and and ready for GOTM. ....Dude, I hope that didn't come out wrong. I am a true fan of your artful creations. SR

As do I. I think every one should. It reduces weight, makes it more comfortable, and looks cool. What's not to like? SR

Good luck with that Amigo. I've got a couple of friends that are going to be in Dublin this weekend. I told them to drink an Irish beer for me and to raise a toast to Paulie at Aolean Guitars When they get to the pub. Keep your ears open, they tend to get loud. SR

Oh no you didn't. I'm surprised at how close the cocobolo and the sapele are in color, and by how much I like that fact. It looks like one morphed into the other. SR

Do you still think the T-88 is to blame, or are you reserving judgemnent till you have more information? Some are going to call me crazy, but when my top got too hot and the epoxy began releasing, the top was actually warping a little and pulling up-- I spread it like you are and wicked in medium CA. Medium was slow enough to allow me to get enough in and fast enough that it didn't have to stay in the clamps for more than 30 minutes. It's been a year now and it's held up great so far. What is the open time on the west systems epoxy? SR

Nicely carved. You got some long curlies. SR

I like the matching curves at both ends of the neck, and the top is just cooool. SR

Thanks for posting those shots. That is exactly how I'm planning to burst mine--both dye in the wood and a tint in the lacquer. I have not tried that yet, so seeing a set of pics is very helpful. It came out nicely too. SR