komodo

I'm going with non sealed for the Black Queen starfield. We'll see how it holds up over time. I've seen some surgical stainless tubing of this size that wouldn't have the same sparkle, but may have nearly the same end effect.

Those are sweet side dots Carl, exactly what I was intending to do but having trouble sourcing. Are yours solid silver?

Yes yes, that neck. What was your process to achieve that? Wow. And those SOOOOOPER clean lines of gloss top and natural wood edge. waaaat?!

They just sit there and GLOW like gems. Wow!

Guys. Look: Crazing, cracks, whatever. Drops of Cellusolve onto the area. If crazing is very fine, you can open it up with an Xacto. @Prostheta is right, it’s the slowest curing solvent and will basically turn the nitro into jelly. After a day or two the area solidifies and you can do drop fills which melt into the rest. Sand to fine grits and you won’t know it was there. This pictured area is gone now. Not hidden, gone. I’ve had some new crazing appear but it’s not in the original places. Nitro must be shrinking and cracking? As mentioned, there are a couple tiny spots where the solvent made the dye layer spread and darken some, but they are very small spots.

@mistermikev I’ve made a few posts in my Black Queen build as well as @Crusader s build where we both had some checking issues. I procured some Cellusolve and it IS the best way. I tried thinner, acetone, etcetc to no avail. It’s best to open up the cracks a little, but you can also but a few drops on it and just wait. It’ll get really soft, almost liquidy, then you can carefully move it around a little to make sure the solvent fully saturates. It’s hard to describe. You let it dry for a couple days, drop fill with straight nitro, Scrape down (razor with tape wraps, ala Erlewine trick), then sand and polish. Black Queen has been plagued with crazing and I’ve repaired all to about 99%. There are a couple tiny areas where solvent darkened the dye but it saved the top.

I’m using those exact pickups for my 8-string build that is in process.

I'm sure you have seen already, but if not check out some of Rick Toone's guitars. Can't wait to see some sharp edges cutting wood to make this!

I love that top and back! The back is super cool.

Carl, those are super tight. Excellent work. Makes mine look like murder scene.

Yeah, I had conceived a version way back. Totally different body design (which later became a bass), but the octopus / cthulhu inlay was always there. I've had mockups printed out and stapled to my shop wall for years. Whenever I spoke of it, I'd say that the inlay would "probably take me all winter". It was far less dramatic.

Re: Shou sugi ban - I'll see if I can find my test pieces. It was all excellent until I noticed that some areas where I had already been were still smoldering. Mostly the edges where the insides of the pores were burning. There were huge chunks just missing all of the sudden.

I'm bad writing and even worse speaking. When I speak, I have to be very careful of who I'm speaking to because it tends to be full download. All to often I see the glassy eyes and instantly know I've lost them. Not everyone cares about the specific type of ebony, which yeast I used and what it's idiosyncrasies are, or all the crap I built over the weekend even though they asked.

Steel wool was cleaned, just detergent though, and was planning on at least coffee filters. I’ve done cabinets before and they are an impressive ebony color, but not jet black. I’ll do some tests with this tea and see just how black it gets. The Shou sugi ban was rich black, but burned way to easy up into the pores. Worst case I’ll shoot it black. Probably cans of spray paint.

When I had the neck pocket routed incorrectly, and then set it in my lap to feel its geometry for the first time, I thought "wow the neck feels wide, the first fret is way out there, and damn I can reach the 24th fret SOOOO easy!" Then I realized I'd F'd it up, which was an easy fix. Now, when you set it in the lap, it's UH-MAZING. The neck does not feel that wide (strange how the length changed that), the whole thing just feels like one unit. The upper access is still there, and is exactly just enough to comfortably play the 24th. I'll remind everyone over and over that this was a Tosin Abasi / Ibanez design, interpreted by Vikk as a double-cut for Tosin Abasi. I'd LOVE to take credit for it, it's really nice. I'm excited about the finish, I blather on so much I'm not sure if I've shared it or not. Ash doesn't have a lot of tannin, so I'll be doing a couple washes of quebracho bark tea. Then hit it with a rust solution (vinegar and steel wool) that will ebonize it as it reacts with the tannins. Then a simple hardwax oil buffed finish. EASY.

Thanks all. All is right again. @ADFinlayson thats why I was so mad. This one was perfect! I’ve been looking up to the peak of a mountain for this whole build. Only just now, with the neck in place and a lap test done - am I realizing what I’m holding. Starting to get VERY excited for this one as a player.

Did the stupidest thing. I’ve been under insane work stress, and battling ulcer etc. In a rare free moment I figured I’d get the neck in the right spot with center lone laser aligned with body. Affixed straight boards with double stick and clamps for my tapered neck pocket router guides. Then, I’m all set with nitpicky crap, next day I can just route. Did that, and had the best neck pocket I’ve ever done. Perfect. Tried a “lap test” for geometry and feel and thought “wow! feels long and wide” Then snapped pics which I was looking at later.....hmmm, why do I have that piece of wood there, and......uh...... wait a sec....... So, in my hyper focus, I had lined up the angled end of the fretboard with the angled pickup cavity. Sooooo worried about centerline and placement. Angled neck is at BACK of pup cavity, fret board is flush with cavity. LOL And, now the pocket is too wide. After one or two bricks were shat, I went to the shop and shoved the neck to the back of the pup cavity, and luckily we are talking a veeery thin shim on the small side. So, glued that and just need some minor fitting. Neck will be bolted with 5-6 inserts and body will be black. Nothing to see here.

In all my years of guitar worship, I’ve never been versed in the cult of Rickenbacker, nor have seen the witchcraft that is that headstock. It’s a tuner orgy. Amazing. Fun build!

Caul?

Just need your address now, so I can ship my polishing projects to you.

About the ebony - just like you, I’d never heard of figured/flamed ebony. With my current build I also had a piece of Gaboon that looked plain until planed and it revealed tons of curl. After a net search I found that curl is actually common and finding plain, jet black pieces is even harder. No matter, it’s awesome.!

(snicker) I think it's 90 here today.

Thats what I did with the metal tele build, wrapped in plastic and stuck it in the deep freeze for a couple days. When i took it out, I hit it with a air dryer and big crazing appeared. They were so fine, you couldn't feel them. I've read about how they can seal themselves, so when you are trying to get them for effect, it's annoying. In this case, I believe @Crusader and my Black Queen had similar issues. His had the added temperature differences, but both of ours had heavy spraying with too thick of undercoats, and probably uneven curing stresses. I can say that with mine, I could definitely feel the crazing, and more appeared as I sanded the top. Mine was also only on the top, which makes me wonder about wood moisture? Blush eraser, thinner, nor a thinner/acetone mixture did little when applied to the crazing, even after excavating them wider. Just before I stripped it to wood and re-dyed and re-sprayed, I procured some Cellusolve as recommended by Frank Ford in the Frets article on fixing crazing, and to my surprise it actually worked. There was quite a bit of drop filling and leveling after, and it's not 100%, but probably 98-99%. High fives to @Crusader for the patience and resolve for that redo.

Watching this one closely. I also have the anxiety of cavity first, as well as cutting without hands directly on the cutter controlling it. That said, I've used pantographs in other situations and understand it's accuracies. In my inlay, it became about the size and complexities (and resulting problems like blowouts). My accuracy slowly went downhill, and my eye focused on getting it in without catastrophic failures.

The purple one. I don't like anything purple and that thing is calling me. Sublime is right.