ScottR

Congrats John!

SR

That's absolutely gorgeous Drak.

When I saw the first picture (prior to scrolling forward)I asked myself did add some more tint coats....but the next shots answered that.

Your timeline in this thread indicates you shot this 5-6 months ago. How long did you let it cure before leveling? What do you consider the minimum cure time for the conditions you work in?

SR

Given that mesquite isn't oily like ebony nor rosewood, though its hardness lies somewhere in between the two, how would you go about finishing this wood when used as a fretboard? Just a little bit of oil or should I spray a thin coat of lacquer like a maple fretboard? Please advise.

I've got a couple of (non-guitar) pieces carved from mesquite that are finished in Danish oil. They look the same now--10 years later as they did when I first finished them. IMO mesquite is plenty hard and tough enough to go with an oil finish. A couple of guys have been talking up teak oil lately....

SR

MAN! That thing is beautiful.

Riffle....can you hear the gears turning in my head??

LOL Too funny.

Yeah, I heard them. They're grinding a bit....some sort of lube might be in order.

And Micter, he is right.....this is very nice indeed.

SR

When I was young I was using super glue on a model car and I had an itch behind my ear.Needless to say I got some stuck behind my ear and I barely got my finger off before it set..

(happens very quickly as you know)

So I promptly forgot about it until some time later (A year or two maybe)I was (ahem) "experimenting with a possibly mind altering substance" and for some reason I brushed the back of my ear,and in the "state" I was in that patch of smoothness stood out and caught my interest,so of course when I realized what it was I had to pick at it until I got it off...it was very flexible,like skin...

I have attempted using epoxy as a finish...no good..it feels horrible against your skin...

I just realized what you said here....I think. Dude, did you really have have some CA stuck to the back of your ear.....for a year or two?

I guess that's not exactly a high traffic area.

SR

That is interesting and I agree it's not what I'd expect. I've spilled drops, large drops on my jeans and they remain rock hard and inflexible even today 5 or 6 years later. You'd think it would be useful as body armor. I also spilled a lot on another pair- a patch several inches in diameter. I had to get out of those fast-that stuff is hot hot hot. Later though I used some superglue remover on them. It's basically acetone I think. Of course I could not get it all out, but what remained was in the fibers, no longer on the surface. That area remained stiffer than the rest of the denim, but quite flexible and it never cracked or broke either. Strange stuff.

SR

Trust me CA is not a finish. I would go a more traditional route.

Everything else is awesome. Nice detailing of the process of filling the pores.

I am seriously tempted to finish a body with CA.

Not this body. This is getting nitro. Maybe one down the road...maybe not.

You sound like you've had an experience with the stuff.

SR

I think the colors are nice.

You are the Master of Understatement. It´s amazing how the walnut came alive after your working on it. For me, this guitar is a prime example of the beauty in a singlecut design away from the typical LP. On one hand, it´s great to see this project coming into fruition, but I´ll miss your weekly updates. I guess you´ll just have to carve something else, or build another guitar just to make us all happy.

Haha. Thanks Joe. I think there's still a few weekly updates coming yet. I still am planning an inlay on the back and then I have to fill the back--the sides are in progress right now. Then we'll spray and then we'll wait......

I think I'll fill some of that blank time with a test finishing a scrap of that burl myrtle Hook posted totally with CA.

When this is done...I think I may just play it for a while.

After that more carving. I've got a dozen or more logs drying in the garage that want to be something. Walnut, Ash, Osage Orange, Mulberry, Peach and Silver Maple if I remember correctly. I don't plan on getting bored any time soon.

SR

Are you ultimately going to decide on a set of pups and mount to a pick guard or is this always going to be a test bed?

SR

Did you do anything to pore fill that Claro walnut? I can't tell from these shots.

SR

Pores successfully filled and leveled, it looks like this.

I am seriously tempted to finish a body with CA. I have filled large areas in other projects and know for a fact that it will polish like glass. And it is rock hard. Probably too hard and brittle for a neck though. I bet it would crack with much flexing. I see I finally caught my toes in a shot.

This top will have some dark areas in it and the overall look will be dark. But for the naysayers here are a couple of shots with half of it wiped with mineral spirits.

The area that looks like a highlight or reflected light is actually the part that has not been wiped with mineral spirits. I think the colors are nice.

SR

After wiping in the CA

Leveling after the first application of CA.

After a few applications and levelings you have to decide if you are done. If any pores still exist, they will fill with sanding dust and look like this. This needs another application.

By this point the dust is CA which does not seem to affect the clarity at all.

SR

Thank you immortalx.

So far I have not had any rousing successes at pore filling.I have tried Z-Poxy, CA, and lacquer and sand back, which is ultimately what I end up doing no matter how I started. This week I did some test fills on scrap claro walnut and mahogany and liked the results. They were the pieces skullsessions referred to. It was a technique I have sued on a small scale to gap fill and decided to try as a pore filling method. I sanded the surface with 400 grit and let that very fine sanding dust stay in the pores and on the surface. Then I added some thin CA and wiped it in. I initially used a rag to wipe it in which gets it down in the pores nicely and does not leave any excess on the surface. You have to work fast to keep it off your fingers though. I moved on to Drak's preferred method of sponge brushes. They get hard fast and leave more ridges, but your fingers don't get stuck. After filling and wiping I sanded again with 400 and repeated. Then, since the walnut has large pores I did the same thing with medium CA. This took longer to sand back level. Two more sessions with the thin CA and it was done.

The Claro Walnut has large pores

Sanded with 400 leaving the dust in the pores and on the surface.

Adding thin CA.

SR

The answer sort of depends on what type of equipment you have access to...but you did ask what was the "best" way, so here goes one opinion anyway.

Pick the clearest section of the plank and cut an 18" to 22" section out of it depending on the size of the body you want. Cut the long sides parallel to each other and then plane the four sides true. You now have a blank thick enough for two 1 piece bodies. You'll need to cut that 4" thickness into two 2" thick planks. That takes a pretty big saw so another option is to rip the 16" width (or whatever width it has now become) into two 8" wide planks. These can now be bookmatched into two bodies. The worm holes shouldn't cause any structural harm. I'd just consider them a visual feature which can be finished as is or filled in any number of ways for visual effect.

And your English is pretty darn good!

Good luck and show us how this comes out.

SR

Thats the way it should be done. hats off to you man, thats gorgeous

What he said.

Impressive dye job on the headstock too.

Very well done.

SR

Stress tests went well on the T-88. I was impressed as I tweaked the trussrod heavily and flexed the neck while it was clamped to the bench. The stress I put on it far exceeds what would happen on a given day in the life of a neck.

I am doing one more test board before gluing this one up. This time I taped the neck sides and spent the extra time to clean up the run out. Having the longer open time is a pleasure. Clean up isn't bad... I wear nitrite gloves whenever I am using glue anyway so it is no more messy than titebond. It drips less than titebond. Actually it doesn't drip at all in these temperatures, however we will see come summer.

Those links won't let us in....and they're rather cheeky about it.

SR

Wez, thanks for posting that- it's beautiful. It's nice to see some of your work around here again.

And for the record, I'm not the least bit worried about how dark it will be. I know exactly what it will look like and I love it. Heck, I bought that top on purpose!

Drak, thanks for your kind words. I had not considered bleaching the top, but it's got so many colors in it I don't think I want to. I appreciate you posting that piece too. I don't think I've seen you post one of that style since I've been here.

And yeah, that porn looks familiar. I do remember you saying you were going to have to find some Myrtle burl and do a build with it. I don't suppose we'll be seeing this anytime soon?

How's it look with the outside edges in the middle? I was looking for something like that when I was designing this one---that or claro walnut. Oregon Wildwood had some nice pieces as always, but they were too dang thin for the carving I wanted to do. Northwestern Timber had plenty of thicker pieces, but no cool burl. So claro it was.

If dark guitars were ugly, nobody would paint them black.

Deanoohhh, thanks man. On my very low tech scale this guitar currently weighs between 6 and 7 pounds. That was another reason for the large control cavity and the heavily contoured back. I'm hoping for mid 7s with hardware and finish.

SR

I like that.

A lot.

SR

it just occurred to me why you never sign with your initials

sr

I think I've finally seen your headstock clearly enough to understand what's going on in it.

Correct me if I've got this wrong. The business edge where the tuners mount is a uniform thickness along the edge till it is past the last tuner. Then it curves into a greater thickness and bevels back in that signature contoured shape you do. I was always under the impression that the back three tuners were on a different level than the first three and wondereded how you dealt with the issues that would create.

I've always been a fan of your headstocks....well, the entire builds actually.

SR

Hmmmmm beyonces aaassssssss

+1

You wanna grab me another while you're up?

SR

I would have to hand it to you for originality though.

after reviewing the above posts, I think my 'originality' trophy is in jeapordy!

It just goes to show how true the statement "there's only so many things you can do to a guitar's shape" is. Odd's are whatever we come up with design wise, someone somewhere has tried something eerily similar. That spalted maple geet you made last year does stand a chance of being one of a kind though!

SR

BTW, i still don't know if those black marks on the front are meant to be there. Is it fungus or something? Any ideas?

It could be a fungus; it's probably mineral stain, or it an area where the grain has folded a bit and exposed more pores or a combination. Was that visible in the raw surface of the wood and how far below the original surface is that area now--how much wood has been removed to get to the current surface? Sanding irregularities will show darker when finished too, there appeared to be a little of that on the insides of the horns.

Whatever it is, you did a very nice job on this. The final shapes and contours give no clue as to how much work you had to do to achieve those fine results. Well done.

SR

Tried some T-88 this weekend for fretboard attachment on a prototype build (sir not appearing in this thread). I might use it for neck pockets as well if I can keep it in the neck pocket.

On a neck any drips are not a big deal as I cut away the wood on the sides. On a neck pocket I will have to protect all the surrounding wood... a little epoxy will mess up the ability to stain an area. I am not sure that cleaning up with lacquer thinner will fix it either as the thinned epoxy will permeate the wood.

I always test on other guitars before running wide open on a customer guitar. So it might be a few days before I decide about how to glue the fretboard on this one. I think once the prototype is cleaned up and I can stress the joint a bit I will feel better about using it.

I'd be interested in your thoughts after working with this a bit and getting a chance to run some tests.

My thoughts after about a month's time since the first usage are that it is quite strong and easy to work with as long as your joinery skills are sound. On my fretboard attachment, both surfaces were perfectly flat, the glue up was perfect and it looks perfect with no lines what-so-ever. I have put it through typical neck flexing and seen no issues with the joint. I have not put a lot of truss rod pressure on it yet and don't plan to.

If your surfaces are not quite perfect, you will see a line. I haven't seen anything you wouldn't see with Titebond.

On the down side I have seen a couple of small gaps open on my top join that I will need to fix. The guitar went from a couple of days in the dark garage with normal (for Houston) humidity to about 5 hours in the direct sunlight and mid 80's temps. It is dark wood and it got hot. And it tried to cup....I guess. Anyway I noticed a couple of gaps to fix. What I don't know is how other glues would have held up under the same conditions.

So I'm curious as to what you think after using it and testing it....

SR

Holy crap, Scott!

This one's a beauty, for sure. I STILL think the top is too dark.

But the lines and overall shape of this one is killer. Pickups look sweet.

Pretty stealthy looking unit.

Mind you, none of the "problems" I've mentioned will stop me for one second lookin' cool as hell on stage with it. (hint...hint).

It's so cool to have a guy with skills like this just 10 minutes away.

It's okay if you still think it's too dark.....'cause it's mine!

You might very well want to borrow this one for a show or recording. Even though I haven't heard it yet, I know you don't have one that sounds like it in that collection of yours. A P-90 tone would go nicely with you guys' sound.

SR