psikoT

Setting up the thickness in the back side... both headstock and neck have 16 mm. now...





Here you can guess how it will look... we're getting close to final shape.

Yeah, serendipity... it stays, so keep on working.

Headstock trimmed...



I had to use this crappy board for a template, there was no MDF in the shop...



That crack will go away after thickness properly...

Love the triple veneer in the headstock, any clue on how to keep clean the maple inside the ebony? Otherwise, it will get an aged look, which is also ok...

And that's all for now... I will try to make some progress this weekend, stay tuned! ^^

Hi,

epic fail which turned in a cool feature, I guess...

The bone had big pores and the epoxi has spread from the inner side, also the ebony dust got into them from the front side, so it's kinda mess but looks cool IMO...

I can repeat the process easily, but still deciding if keep it...

I must say that it was intended to be white as hell...

What to do... hmm

The raised eyes and the reflection off them is a nice bit of inspiration from nowhere....I have been wracking my brain trying to think of the word for that, but come up blank. Help!

You mean pareidolia, right?

I've found that if you use just a bit less catalyst/hardener than called for it will dry rock hard. That sounds counterintuitive to me, but when I posted that finding here a few years back, several members chimed in and confirmed that is indeed the way it works.

SR

That's interesting... I never reach the 50/50 with the hardener. Good to know.

Does that epoxy dry hard enough? The problem I've found with "glue" epoxies is that they retain a small degree of plasticity when cured. I guess that this is what makes them a good glue....not the best for a neck joint or whatever, but as a general purpose glue. Just curious about that....I've used black cyanoacrylate before which was designed for a different purpose to inlaying, but given the small amount of infill it needed it worked perfectly well as will this. I used a glue epoxy for a burl fill once - never again.

It needs time to cure, but in 72 h it's hard like a stone. I use it on repairs and inlays, never as glue. There's another one which dries in 5 minutes but it's a crap, I wouldn't recommend it.

Moving forward a little bit... inlaying the logo:

Epoxi is very expensive here and hard to find...

I've used it in my last two builds, be careful cause it bites the wood like butter. It can be used to remove some parts roughly, but the fine work has to be done by hand.

Some progress on this... the truss-rod access is already done.



And then, I've made the logo out of cow bone...

I've chosen with covers, just because I didn't like the base plate... nude pickups look more natural and fit better with that organic design.

They`re chrome, not gold... but yes, wooden covers would be great.

Which is best?

I would say with, but not really sure... hard to decide.

Great work!... and thanks for posting pictures of the process. The finish look great on all your builds, congratulations!

Some progress on this: fretboard bound.

Is that a proper shop I see? Or I am I miss remembering you not having a real shop.

No, it's just a crappy bench I've made with an old heavy desk and half cheap wardrobe... all in the living room.

I have to finish before the winter comes, cause is the only room with heating.

I remember balcony pictures.

SR

That was there in Spain, I really miss my balcony... But here I have more space to work, which is cooler I guess.

I've heard some Trussard and one can expect a more metallic sound from them, but there's not much difference from a tele made out of wood. At least from my ears. I must say that I can not hear those slight differences, so I choose wood regarding look and stability. The sound will be always good, because my guitars sound really good. Always. No matters the wood, hardware, pickups, strings... they simply sound very good.

Anyway, those slight differences between tonewoods are not going to make a better song. And since they are musical instruments, and the purpose is making music, who cares about the tone...

Man, 5 hours for 1 cut!!?? you sir, have some serious patience. I consider myself pretty patient but that is just absurd to me! I always love my bandsaw more and more every day.

Glad building still feels natural to you. I go a few weeks without working on guitars and i forget a lot of things.

That's not absurd, that's insane... I wish I could have those pretty cool machinery you guys have, but to make one guitar per year I think is not worth. I envy people who can build a batch of 5-10 guitars per year, that's kinda dreamy for me right now.

I can't imagine being that far removed from home.

I am glad you have gotten to a point where you can resume building though.

SR

One should go to other countries just for pleasure, not because the needs... I was waiting for two years to have a place where I can build guitars, otherwise my life wouldn't make any sense.

Fretboard slotted and trimmed, ready for double binding...

Now the maple is glueing, another ebony layer will be there afterwards.

Fantastic job!... Those tops look amazing, and the finish too... and so many controls, I love them.

I thought I had a penchant for doing things the long hard way, but your resawing methods and perseverance are awe inspiring! Very clever tool guides and work aids too.

SR

Glad you appreciate the hard work, that cut reached the limits of my patient. I seriously thought on going to a carpenter, which could make that cut in a minute, but since I don't know any carpenter here in Vienna, I was afraid about losing the whole day looking for someone who speak english and start kinda friendship or at least having some confidence... so finally decided to spend the time cutting rather than hunting. There in Spain it was easier, also had a car to transport wood stuff and so on, but here I feel a little bit alone and limited in these aspects.

Hi there,

after two years of inactivity, I'm back to woodworking. This time I've decided to make something simple, just to get the grips again, although I've noticed that's not necessary. This is like ride a bike, you learn but never forget.

So let's start... wood choice is:

- Alder body
- Flamed maple, mahogany and rock maple, 5 pieces laminated neck.
- Ebony fretboard



I also got some new tools...



I need to cut this rock maple blank in two parts, as it will be the core of the neck.



I've made a jig to keep the saw straight...



And it worked very well...



I also got a japanese saw, it works like a charm... but this cut took about 5 hours. It's called rock maple for a reason.



I feel like I've saved a lot of wood.



A router planner jig to set up the thickness...



And a flat sanding block I did from an old wardrobe... worked very well.











Then I drawn roughly the contour on the pieces...



And routed the front part



Here you go.



And here the mockup:









After sanding...



Truss-rod channel routed...



Fits nicely...



Glueing the ears to the headstock...





And the headstock first layer

I want to add two more veneers to the headstock in order to make a pseudo binding. I don't have much wood, so I need to bookmatch this remain from the neck...

And some binding for the fretboard...

Here the three veneers, now they are glueing.



And that's what I did so far... hope you like it.

Love those necks... I wish I could make them like that.

That's one badass top. Those voids would look super-insane if you filled them using this idea:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Glow-table/

That filler rocks!

The three holes are for screws...

If you change the neck, you must check the scale once again... probably you'll need to move the whole bridge. Also, it seems to be too high, so you probably will need to route the pocket again until you get the correct height.

If Satan had a guitar, would be this one... directly from the hell.