komodo

Had minor sand through on the back in a clear ash area. I guess it wasn’t done. Laying on more clear THICK AF today. Hard and fast, just the way I like my nitro, wood, rock and metal, cars, women, coffee, beer, inlays, bourbon, anime, cats, Zoom backgrounds, viruses, and PPE. Bring it on MFer!

Orville was managed by Gibson.

I agree! The color and grain of the yew take the SG to a different level. We should probably get another thread going about epoxy stuff so we don’t derail this build.

This is all very interesting. Normally, I use Titebond for everything because it's ridiculously strong and reversible. I'd never consider using epoxy for a fret board because I'd like the ability to take it off, and like your idea of a separating layer. All that said, with my current neck being cocobolo, epoxy is the adhesive of choice for the scarf. And, with the current fret board having an inlay from the depths of hell . . .I REALLY need that fret board to be removable if needed. Isn't epoxy removable with heat? Acetone?

Yeah, I thought I had slight excess on the tail end as well as the headstock. Ended up being 1/2" short on the headstock face on the pointy bit, and maybe 1/8"-1/4" on one corner of the necks butt end (the necks butt ends at an angle, and will be recessed underneath the neck pup). The butt can have a graft that's hidden. I'm considering ways to do a small graft on the headtock tip that is part of the contour or design. Next step is routing truss channel. It's a spoke wheel and the butt end which I've never done before - so considering ways I can muck that up as well. In other news - tiny sand through on the back of the Black Queen. It's in an unstained clear ash area, so I'm just going to give the whole thing some overall heavy coats. Then hang while I get back to the cthulhu inlay.

That's going to look amazing all bound up and connecting with the fret board.

I just read what I wrote and it hardly makes sense. The board was a fixed length. Normally, I would make one scarf cut with a tablesaw, flip it over and glue it down to make the neck. Here, because of the compound scarf, I cut off what I needed for the head then ripped that to thickness (the yellow area). The red area is tossed. Then the neck went into the scarf jig and cut the compound angle. The head was then glued on, and the final cut (blue line) got rid of the waste. That cut extends the neck face up to the nut. The two little blue lines show where the nut would be, and how far the head plate had to be to keep the neck thickness. I thought I had a final head stock face length calculated, but was still short. The compound scarf complicated everything. If the board had been longer, there would’ve been no issue.

Compound scarf complete. I measured and planned and measured and planned and STILL almost messed it up. This all came from one cocobolo board. It looked and measured like it was enough, and I have a full scale plan. Once you make the scarf cut to take the headstock area, that’s it. So I measured that a ton to account for the amount of surface area added to the neck and taken from the headstock face. I thought I had extra on the headstock and neck butt end, but ended up JUST enough and slightly short on the headstock. Maybe 1/2”. I can either change the headstock shape slightly or graft on a tiny piece (probably do this), but holy cow. Cocobolo is Dalbergia retusa, a true rosewood. The dust is not forgiving, 100% mask, 100% of the time. Even then, people work it for years, and all of the sudden - BAM - sensitivity to it. I’ve used it for years and I’m good so far! There won’t be tons of it to even use any more.

Killer job on the inlay and the carve! One way to tackle the "radius before or after" question is to radius about halfway, do the inlay, then finish the radius. As @Andyjr1515 points out, imperfection in the bottom of the excavation are filled and leveled with the sanding dust / adhesive mixture. The real considerations are the thickness of your material, and how large any single piece is that spans the width of the board. You just want to preserve shell thickness when radiusing. In the case of the inlay I'm current doing, I radiused fully first as the radius on an 8 string board is only 16-20". Also, while complex, most of the pieces are actually lengthwise on the board, and the shell is pretty thick at .060" or more.

its impossible not to swing when its teed up so well. Back to the original thoughts - metal detector. No sense in that kinda risk.

I'm curious as to your process, esp since it looks your are very proficient in Illustrator. I'm a graphic designer by day and use the full Adobe suite, so using Illustrator is the easiest tool at hand. Usually I'll start with source images I've found, as straight on angle as possible. I'll set up a fretboard using Fretfind, then put the vector into Illustrator. Also, I'll try to get as many measurements as possible. Then, it's just a matter of doing the contours and scaling everything to match the image, and lots of tweaking. Here's a good resource: https://www.electricherald.com/guitar-templates/

I bet it’s hard to get a really good hit off that.

Made a little ramp jig to do a multiscale compound scarf. The ramps are 10 degrees, and the treble side is raised up 1/4” higher which makes the scarf follow the angle of the nut. It got rough on the end as I didn’t take into consideration that as you go deeper, the sled starts farther back. Because the whole jig wasn’t long enough, the sled dropped off at the end cut. Easy clean up, then I’ll glue the head plate on with West Systems. I head scratched over clamping, decided a couple screws into the waste wood on the sides was solid and easy.

Ooooh I've been eyeing that exact Gretsch recently as inspiration for a build based on some P90s I have. Such a kickass guitar.

@marcelguitars Thanks! It's gonna be awhile, lol. I'm pretty sure I've taken a picture each session and posted it. The first day I did three larger ones, the next I think I did some straighter ones but then a curly one or two also. If I have more time, or am doing straight ones I can do quite a bit. There isn't a ton left to do, but they are fussier and will take the small blades - which means slower and more blade breaking. I'm glad I saved them for now though, as I'm in a groove. But my thoughts are flooded with "now I have to excavate the board" ACK!

Awesome! The pickup build is perfect. I didn't realize the covers where chromed in the earlier pics. What other pickups are you thinking of building?

The nautili are perfect. Anyone whos ever drawn those curves knows the hardest part to get right is that last tiny bit at the end. You nailed it. I see you have one of those U shaped voids just like the Black Queen has in the same exact spot. What you you do for fill?

That’s glorious! It’s great to see how you are using the machining to take everything next level. Can you cut pearl with the cnc? Seems like holding the material would be a hurdle.

Love everything about this build. The Rick and those multi-tiered pick guards has always fascinated me, What will you do to the tailpiece and toasters for finishing?

I quite enjoy it. Tomorrow my shipment of new blades should arrive, all Swiss, roundback Grobet. This should increase production by 582%. I'll probably saw right through all of the pearl, glue down another set and do a second Cthulhu, then continue on through the bench and most of my tool tabletops, through the wall into the living room, up the stairs, out the roof and into the woods. The trees will keep me busy for awhile.

Cthulhu drew first blood. Actually it may be the first time ever cutting pearl. Cutting is really not that hard. Today was the first day I felt a little intimidation realizing that I’m gonna have to get this into the board.

Sanded more, leveled out way more. Probably good where it is with only a few shiny spots.