demonx

I should point out that I will not be updating this thead any longer.

If a mod could please unpin and let it wither awway, that'd be great.

All new updates will be posted here:

Few more updates.

Justin's heel carved, now in need of sanding:



Working on the back covers of the "Space Scene" guitar:



Side dot instal:



Justin's frets are in:



50 Shades of Luthery! - Kade's SS6 about to get it's radius:



Kade's frets are in, this guitar was fretted to the tunes of Slayer!!

The butt pic. See how the book matched Ash creates a V at the center line:



The back: Maple neck meets Ash body after a bit of assistance from a rasp and sandpaper:



Figured Qld Maple neck hot off the press:



CNC action shot - Michaels SS6:




Michael's SS6, hardware test fit:



Kade's Space Scene inlay:



It's been a while since I got to tinker with this Acoustic project that I'm building for myself. Making this bridge is the only progress I've made as I've been busy with customer builds



Anyone who follows my facebooko page has seen the computer mockups I did last year of the New neck slot layout, well here it is in the flesh, two carbon fibre rods and a stainless steel 2 way truss rod. Michael's SS6 is about to get the neck and board mated as one!

Routing the Truss Rod and Carbon fiber Rod slots.



Bit more progress on Kade's SS6:



Also getting a Blackwood top ready for Michael's SS6:

This is going to be fun to watch. I gotta find some popcorn.

SR

Thanks for following, I appreciate it.

Yesterday my new jointer arrived so I'll be able to move on with the neck progress for these two builds

The new jointer is a updated version of my old one I sold at xmas, however this has a helical (spiral) cutter head. All I can say is, spiral cutters, where have you been my whole life! So much win with this upgrade. Not only is it smoother to pass timber over, it's much, much quieter and such a nice clean cut. Definitely worth spending the extra dollars.

I'd say all the hard hours you put into the CNC learning curve are paying off.

SR

The hard/long hours have only just begun, I'm just scratching at the surface!

Certainly a tough pick this month.

They're all fairly equal as far as not one of them standing right out (thats a compliment to all three), so I went for what cought my eye the most and Ginner got my vote.

Another build I have in the workshop at the moment is a SS6 for Kade.

This one features a full fingerboard space scene which has inlaid Rosewood, Cocobolo, Bocote, Black Limba, Paua shell, Black Mother Of Pearl, Gold MOP, White MOP, Abalone and Malachite.

Here is a progress shot, but there is still a lot more work until this board is finished.



The body of Kade's SS6 has an African Walnut top, Flamed Maple center, African Mahogany and American Ash body with Indian Rosewood stringers.

Action shot:



Fresh off the mill, lots more handwork to be done:

Hey guys, Allan Searls here from Searls Guitars.

If you're not familiar with my work, I'm based in Victoria Australia and build electric guitars. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be adding Acoustics to the lineup as well.

You can see some previous years build pics at: www.facebook.com/searlsguitars

Rather than babble on, I'll just post some pics, I'm sure you'd prefer that anyway.

First up is a SS6 I'm building for a gent named Michael. It's the second "Searls Guitars" SS6 for Michael and on this one he's requested a bit more of a personal touch in the form of a 12th fret inlay, his name in Eldar Futhar Runes.

This fingerboard is Queens Ebony with a Gidgee inset, then inlaid with Brass, Malachite and Mother of Pearl.



There is also a matching Truss rod cover with Malachite inlay. The cover itself is made from Queens Ebony to match the fingerboard. You can see it sitting on the rear cavity cover which is made from Australian Blackwood.



I'll post more pics of this guitar as the build progresses.

I also have a design that looks very similar, but, this is one of those designs I don't think anyone can "claim" ownership unless it's an exact rip.

I know I based my horns off of a 1961 Rickenbacker 4001 and then changed the body a bit and changed the arcs of the horns ect to personalise it. So knowing this type of design has been kicking around for 54 years, I don't think anyone here can claim it as original!

Be careful with the beeswax polish.

I use s beeswax/canaubra blend which is made here in Australia on my Fingerboards. It my favorite Polish for that purpose.

I bought a different beeswax/canaubra blend to use and it's horrible and made a big mess. They're not all created equal.

The one I like is an off white yellows color, the horrible one was whiter.

Do tests first on scrap or you may regret it!

A bit more progress on the space scene. I'm waiting on Mother of Pearl to arrive before I can finish it up.

This one is mostly wrapped up:

Moving onto the next one:

Another step closer with the Brass in. Tomorrow will see two more colors sanded as today I did the Mother of Pearl and the Malichite.

There are several binding jigs built for acoustics that will do this.

Just a little something I'm working on at the moment.

The customers name is Michael and he wanted his name in Runes on the 12th fret. Then it's simply framed with some basic Norse art that I'll inlay with Mother of Pearl, Malachite and Brass.

The last shot shows the detail cut, but it's filled with dust from when I sanded the radius.

Those contours are looking good. Is that a bullnose bit you are running? How many passes did it take to do the contours in the cutaways?

SR

If I was to change the diameter or radius of the but if have to work out the step all over, so that is only for this bit

The stewmac jig I reference to is not anything to do with the relief in this case, it's in order to get the fret level as precise as possible and keep the neck rigid whilst doing so.

It's not "hit and miss" when you've done it hundreds of times. It's the product of repitition and refinement to your technique. The refinement can be hit and miss and I suppose many "pro's" never refine as much as others. I'm always evolving myself. Always searching for a better way to do things and for now, the way I do it IS the best and most consistant way that I'm aware of.

Unless I'm reading you wrong, what you're suggesting is that there should be one and only one way. If that were the case, if you take that mindset further than there should only be one style of guitar, only one build method, only one choice. So my response is, there is ALWAYS more than one way and different methods work for different people.

If you want a "engineering/scientific" approach to fretwork, google Plek machining. However even a hundred thousand dollar Plek relies on the person who programs the settings, which comes back to what I've been saying all along, it's just that its a cnc machine doing the fretwork as opposed to the human touch.

Man, you've got such cool toys!

Great designs too, of course, but I love the way you utilize that CNC. Very jealous!

Thanks. I've worked VERY hard for them.

The CNC is out of action for a week or two as of yesterday. Had to send off one of the control cards for a different version. It kept crashing out the Mach software due to USB noise, so I'm getting it replaced with an Ethernet one. It really sucked being in the middle of a program and then it crashes. Reboot start again, reboot, start again, reboot start again. To cut that body and neck took me two full days, yet it's only about two and a bit hours of actual machine time. The rest of the time was spent dealing with the computer crashing. I can't wait for the new card to arrive!

Over the last week I've had a chance to run the last changes to the SS model on the CNC, heres a pic of the test cuts (in pine)

There was a whole list of changes I've made after watching the runs, mostly to make it more efficient. Then other things like allowing a bit more space in the pot holes and less in the switch hole etc.

Now I just need to test little details like the neck bolt ferrule recesses etcas demonstrated in the next screen cap.

What you are asking is for a black and white answer when it's a whole grey area.

The action/relief/backbow/whatever is personal preference. As long as there's no buzz and you feel comfortable fingering it, then it's correct.

Some people like high, some low, some in between. If you look at spec sheets for all the major companies the all have different standards. The backbow, or "arc" as you keep referring to is only one part of the equasion that I spoke of in my first post, again, it's personal preference.

I used to set up all my builds super low, which is how I used to play, yet nearly every time a customer picked up their guitar they asked for the action be be raised, so these days I set a medium action as standard and I've become to prefer it that way myself. Medium action is a bit more versatile genre wise.

As far as you're "throw a file over it" type levelling presumption (thats how I read it anyway) - you need to be super precise when fret levelling. Jigs to support the neck are essentail so there is zero movement. Not just a basic caul. Not just straighted out the truss rod. If the neck is not rigid then you'll file a banana into the frets and you'll never get a good action. Many "pro" luthiers still cannot get that right and most of the tutes on the net are not that great. I used to use home made timber jog and clamps, but these days I use the amuminium stewmac jig. It's great once you set it up right.

Welcome to PG forum!

The position of the curve is in relation to the truss rod length. The longer the truss rod, the further down the neck towards the nut the curve will appear. You dont want too short of a truss rod, the rod length should be chosen according to the scale length of the guitar.

You want some curve/backbow in the neck, not too much, but some. Enough to off relief so the strings can be fretted without buz, but not too much that the middle area of the neck is not in proportion height wise to the upper and lower areas.

When adjusting the action, I break it down to three areas, upper lower and middle. The bridge and truss rod have the most effect on all these areas, but the nut height should be the very first to be set. As far as setting up, if the nut height is correct from the beginning, then its simply bridge height and truss rod adjustment.

I set string height at the 12th fret by adjusting the bridge, then make the necessary adjustments to the truss rod, then correct the string height again and make any further adjustments until everything fits into my tollerance.

Nice build you've got going on.

The below pic shows the placement of the strap lock pins on a NT Explorer I built last year. There was no issue of balance, it was comfortable.

I've got a Triton router in a Triton table.

I don't recommend either!