ScottR

Time to carve the neck. I'm still using my wicked rasp I made from a used bandsaw blade.

SR

All those tiny pieces......makes my eyeballs twitch.

SR

Holy crap, that's ambitious!

SR

You see many of those in Arizona?

sr

6 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

How on Earth can you keep all that shiny wood intact during the rest of the process??? I wouldn't dare sanding the headstock shiny as it would be filled with scratches and nicks during the neck carving process... Or maybe I just store my projects sloppily...

I have never. Ever, Not even once have a fretboard survive booger free after doing it this way. But I want to put the frets in while the neck is still flat. So the fretboard has to be as close to finished on the surface as I can before fretting.....because that's nearly impossible after fretting. And for me shaping the fret ends is part of the neck carving process and for me the neck profile begins at the rollover on the edge of the fretboard, not under it. Once the neck is shaped and the frets are dressed, I'll tape them off until the thing is assembled and the body is shaped. I'll do the finish sanding on the headstock, neck and body all at the same time, and uncover the fretboard to see what kind of boogers I have to fix.....

SR

22 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

wow, so many colors in the back of that headstock.  v cool.

Yeah, rosewood is wonderful stuff.

Did you ever pick up any of your local Arizona Rosewood?

SR

Then I fretted it with EVO. I haven't used anything other than SS for years. It was cool to be able to cut the frets with regular fret trimmers, but the stuff felt a little brittle compared to stainless.

This is something I should have gotten years ago!

I just barely started evening up the fret ends, and then called that a stopping point.

SR

This weekend I radiused the fretboard to 16", inset gold MOP fretmarkers and side markers made from those little bamboo skewer things.

SR

5 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

You make it look as easy and fast as the "spindle sander with a guiding block" method we mere mortals use!

Time lapse photography.....

SR

5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I can see the finished headstock already in my minds-eye and it will be knockout.   There is something quite special about that forward carve at the back of the headstock.

Thanks Andy. I rather like the way that S curve turned out.

SR

I don't want to play that thing...I WANT TO RIDE IT!!!!!

SR

Damn me Mike that looks amazing! I love all the contouring you did (of course). Really, really, really superlative job!

SR

Head stock plate.

Maybe with a little mineral spirits, just because figured maple is so much fun.

SR

Time to carve the headstock.

SR

6 hours ago, Akula said:

but this is looking rather tasty.

I totally agree.

SR

19 hours ago, killemall8 said:

The flame v had some super crazy grain and I'm contemplating leaving that dur job as the final color. 

Wow! I agree. That would be an awesome final color. Maybe add a very subtle burst?

SR

9 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Excellent tip in terms of using an old plane with the perspex block for flat sanding...which I find a real challenge.  I have an old plane in the cupboard - consider the idea stolen! 

Andy, that may be the most useful idea I've ever had. The weight makes hand pressure unnecessary....and reduces the temptation to add it anyway. Between that and the wide stable base, it reduces the occasions of rolling off the edges of the piece you're sanding. And those nice sharp edges are what make glue lines disappear.

SR

14 hours ago, killemall8 said:

I'll definitely start off more basic than a burl table with carved stand haha

Good call. I will admit that was one of my more ambitious endeavors.

SR

4 hours ago, killemall8 said:

Your carving skills and hand tool skills still blow my mind!
Ive been wanting to get into making things other than guitars as well. cant wait to see the rest of it scotty!

Thanks Luis!

You should try some side projects just for the variety. If nothing else it lights the fires for building more guitars while you're side-tracked. And with the crazy hig bar you've been setting with your guitars, your side projects are sure to be stunning.

SR

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

That's not a repair, that's a thing to stabilize the nut slot with a counteracting slice to prevent a potentially warping headplate from nudging the nut out of its place! Neatly done!

Yeah, that's right.....that's what it is all right.... sure!

I promise you one thing. It will be invisible before it's all said and done.

SR

I like to drill my tuner holes before thicknessing the headstock. That way I insure I don't get any tearout where the bit pops through. It's better than a backing board. Also important to make sure your bit is 90 degrees to the surface.

Then It's time to cut to shape,

SR

You know how the more you sand a bookmatch, the further away you get from the perfect match? Well it's kind of cool to see the reverse happen from the back side. After leveling the top of headstock plate, I flipped it and started planing from the back so as to preserve the bookmatched surface.  The thinner it got the more bookmatched it looked--from the back.

Always save the offcut from your headstock angle cut.....assuming you make them the way I do. Not that you should.....

Using the offcut, I can cut the proper angle for my nut slot.

Then I pegged it to hold it in the proper place, and again used the offcut as a caul to give me parallel clamping surfaces on the angled headstock.

And somehow I ballsed that up. Even using a nut blank as a spacer, something moved. It had to be during the clamping whilst locating the pins....that were there to keep this from happening!

So, now I get to do my first repair during this build. The little slice I cut off making the nut angle didn't get destroyed. I have to flip it over to keep the angle correct. Since it had been thinned down and was getting close to the bookmatched surface the grain on the back was pretty close to the same as the grain on the front. As I sand it thinner it will get even closer.

SR

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

So you only have to mark the location accurately with an awl and sit that notch on the pin? Sounds easy enough, although every time I try to align such notches I seem to find a hard spot that misplaces the pointy tool. Or maybe it's just the brad point drill bits having the brad off center???

You want the pin to be the same diameter as the hole/bit. Drill the top half of the holes using your bridge as the guide. Then without moving any of the setup drill the hole in spoil board clamped under the bit. Drop the pin in. Flip the guitar and set each string hole onto the pin and drill the bottom half of the hole. Be sure that the bit is 90 degrees to the surface of each face of the guitar..

SR

On 7/1/2023 at 6:11 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

Well - it was passed across to Alex yesterday and, I say with both pleasure and relief in equal measure, he's very happy with it 

He's going to get some recording done at their next band practice so I should have some sound clips available in the coming weeks.

And it's entered in June's Guitar of The Month.  Fingers crossed!  

Having the new owner be happy with it is the best!

Racking up another GOTM ain't bad either, well done Andy.

SR

The hollow body looks sweet! Those may be the cleanest f-holes I've ever seen.

SR

I sliced it in half and glued it up.

While the glue is drying , I traced the top on the body wood, cut it out, and leveled the gluing surface.

And then began leveling the gluing surface for the top as well.

SR