psikoT

Hi, thanks for the input.

Got one of those wetstone sharpening artifacts, already changed the angle to 25... that was quick, but getting a razor edge is not so easy. At the moment I have a mess of gouges and barely can use them, only a small one which is saving me the day. Ash is also a little bit more difficult to carve than alder, so I'm slowly getting the grips.

22 hours ago, Prostheta said:

40°? That's getting into lathe gouge territory isn't it?

I think they are for hand working, lathe gouges have a different shape. I'm not sure, I'll post a picture later on. Anyway, they are not in that territory anymore.   But agree, that obtuse angle is weird.

Thanks guys!

I've finished the electronics cavity and the cover, Not sure about it, the grain doesn't fit very well... 

So all the routing is done, I guess... at least for a while. I already passed the vacuum deeply and put a lot of crap away. Now is when the Zen starts.

I have to prepare the gouges. Quick honig to some of them and complete sharpening to others. I want to ask you guys, because I bought a cheap woodcarving set, they look nice for the price, nice steel and handles made of ash... but the problem is that the bevel has about 40 degrees (image on the right, sorry for bluriness) which is a pain in the ass to manage, compared with the 25 degrees of the common gouges (image on the left)...

should I change the angle to 25 degrees or is it too crazy? 

I have a router bit quite similar to that one you posted, but smaller... and without bearing, which makes it totally useless to me. Didn't check the bearings they have though.

Keeping my insane obsession for packing the router in its box and don't touch it anymore til the next season, I've proceed today with the pickup cavities. Oh man, that was a nasty chip storm, I really hate it. 

Just need to route the electronics cavity and we're done with the router. Actually, I've done already the inner part but stupid of me, I forgot to prepare the cover first, so I can not finish the outer part yet. Hope I can do it tomorrow.

That makes sense, very similar method I use to make the templates for the pickups,

That router bit looks very nice, didn't know they exist... ^^ thanks for the link, I really need some special bits, maybe for the next build. This time I'm gonna carve that by hand, I really enjoyed that step in my last build.

46 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Shame that you hate your router. I find them one of the most productive and flexible tools in the workshop. Great inventing new ways to screw things up with them.

I agree, it's my best tool, I couldn't make a guitar without it. I just hate the shavings rain every time I use it, too nasty for such tiny place. It's also very stressful, nothing compared with the peace and relax of working with hand tools.

Ok, I really need to finish all the routing soon, I'm tired of that ugly machine. Then I can focus on hand carving and also deep clean the working corner from dust and shaves. Every tool I take is full of crap right now.

Here doing some planning. This time I'm gonna make a more discrete carving in the heel. I also want to try some straight lines, in order to make it more "tech" you know...

I've routed the pre-carving in the top. I wanted to chek how that mahogany line looks. I think it will be a nice touch once it's carved, let's see...

That's all for today... as I said, I'm gonna route everything in the next days and sharpen some hand tools, so I can sit down in calm and chip that wood away.

I need metal music in the workshop.

1 hour ago, steve1556 said:

Was it hard to get the wood curves matched properly after cutting them?

I guess they're cut at the same time.

Thanks guys, glad you enjoy the project.  

Today I was drilling the neck joint, so now it's officially one piece. One of the holes got misplaced a couple of millimeters, I don't know how it happened. 

And still need to flat the back side of the body... but man, I feel so lazy.

There's still so much wood to put away... I got a lil bit crazy with the heel laminate but hey, better if there is more than less. 

And here an extra shot just for fun...   

Made a bit of progress here.

Neck pocket routed...

The fit is really tight...

The neck has some angle.

... and still need to finish the rounded corners.

This is getting shape nicely... and more to come.  

31 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I guess you mean rod? Yeah, they are pretty handy. I still have craploads after I spent €5 on a Travel Ker-Plunk game years ago. Yellow, blue, red, green....all cheaper than buying the "real" thing.

Yes, sorry... I couldn't find the word.

2€ in G&W and is the hell WHITE!...  and I have for 3 more guitars.  

Side dots installed... I've used a 2mm diameter pvc stripe for the first time, which was a huge time saving compared with the bone solution I always used.

A lil bit of progress, just working in the volute and doing some general sanding before making the neck pocket... coming soon this weekend I guess. 

Oh, that's akward...

16 hours ago, a2k said:

5.  Start over with a new body

That sounds good to me.

Then I'll call it "The Brownie".

You need a bench or something...

19 hours ago, ScottR said:

Yeah, I know, but looking at it gives me ideas. The stepped side revealing the body wood with that stack of layers on top of it is an interesting look. Bevels and carves have been done to reveal layers, but doing it this way is something I haven't considered before. I know it's not your plan for this one, but somewhere down the road I think that look might end up in a guitar.

SR

There are so many options that I can't decide what to do now... the original plan was making a LP style carving, but a carve like in my last build would be pretty cool as well. Another option would be a round bevel... whatever I choose, it will be quite straight, I don't want to make an exagerated use of the veneer in the middle.

Sorry for the bunch of photos, I just want to show the sides from all angles. The robosander helped a lot, I don't know how I could live so much time without one.

Cheers!

1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

I buy mine within the EU from Neteberg.eu in Estonia. There's a lot of import crap there, however the Luna Tools router bits are actually very very good for the price. Definitely worthwhile considering.

Thanks for the link, if you say they are good, then it's worth the try.

14 minutes ago, ScottR said:

That last shot with the neck in place and the body partially routed to shape is an intriguing look.

Hmmmm.

SR

There's no trick in that partial routing, I just wanted to check the glue line or I couldn't sleep tonight. I'll flush the remain tomorrow.

But I want to make an experiment with the top carving, hope it works (spoiler  )...

The router bit is not the best in the world, I bought it quite cheap in ebay.

I don't expect to have a perfect routing, actually I never had a perfect contour right from the router. Hope the drum sander saves the day, otherwise I'll sand by hand, as I always did.

Couldn't wait to see the glue line, so I've routed the contour of the body.

Got zero gaps... this gonna be awesome.

I also got the neck ready to be attached to the body.

So this is the status so far. This is starting to look like a guitar.  

Cheers!

Looking forward... that looks like a factory.

35 minutes ago, steve1556 said:

Also, looking for inlay material, I'm thinking of using celluloid sheets, but the main ones I can find are 0.8mm thick which is surely too thin. Can't seem to find any that are 2-3mm think anywhere. Also, would I do the inlays before or after I radius the fretboard?

I got a sheet of perloid from G&W which is 3 mm thick.

Ok, so here it is an example of my way of thinking:

If I route the electronics cavity before glueing the top, that means I'm doing it before routing the contour of the body. If for some reason I don't get the body contour where it should be, I could get the electronics cavity misplaced some millimeters. However, if I route the body contour first, I can align the electronics cavity much more precisely.

Thanks guys!

Don't take me wrong, I spend a lot of time in the design stage and all the measurement is done in the computer with a high level of accuracy, the problem is that maths are not compatible with my jigsaw...   But I don't care, because all I need is the scale length, the width of the nut and few other measures. And for me, this is like a chain: one measure gives you the following one. So I can't jump to step 2 until I've finished the step 1.

Ok, so I have a 3 days weekend, which I'm gonna spend preparing the body. I have all the pieces cropped, just need shit loads of sanding to get them dead flat. I also have to rethickness the main piece. Still deciding if I should route the cavities for the wiring and electronics before glueing the top or do it in the traditional way, as it was a solid piece.

I also bought some additional clamps, so now I have 30 in total. I thing they are enough.

Have a nice weekend everybody!

Those who steal a robber have 100 years of forgiveness, cause I stolen it from Prostheta.

I can make a guitar, but I'm totally unable to make a decent jig...

Well, I did some progress, but couldn't take any interesting picture. I just want to show a small improvement I've added to the joint between the fretboard ant the headstock. I've recessed the tip in order to give more air to the strings coming from the nut, as my headstocks usually have little angle...