Andyjr1515

I've never seen that done before. If this site did 'Wow!' awards, I would award you one

Yes - it does, doesn't it. And it is such a small amount of curvature, you wouldn't think it would. With the standard disclaimer that there is still time to wreck it, I have a good feeling at how this might turn out

You are most kind. No - not even this one: It's because I'm not clever/skilled/equipped enough to spray nitro, etc and so do all my gloss-finishes with old-fashioned polyurethane varnish, either wiped on or brushed on. And the problem with that method is that the toughness and light diffraction properties come from the underlying, flattened, layers of varnish but the gloss itself comes from the very top last couple of coats. So if you try to buff, it quickly cuts through the gloss to the underlayers - which are matt from the flattening - and at best you get blotchy patches of satin finish and at worst you get contour lines like a topographical map

Thanks! Bit more progress - other than a bit of invisible fill of one of the knot holes (easy with ebony), the carve is pretty much done on the half fitted so far. It's a very subtle curve but, certainly in real life, transforms it from the previous 'slab topped' look. I'm happy with this. I also drilled the bridge earth wire hole while I could see what I was doing. Oh, and the ebony fretboard blank arrived this morning!

I can't advise on buffing, I'm afraid...none of my finishes are buffable - but just to say those 3 photos above are sparkly good. Lovely stuff.

Never an issue. One of the valuable things of these forums is that it gives you honest and objective feedback on stuff that sometimes the future owner is also thinking but doesn't like to say .

I still have stuff to sort before both tops can be fitted but, even if a switch needed fitting on the bass side, there is nothing I can't do with that one glued on...so that's what I've done. And out comes the radius dish again to clamp against After a few experiments with ebony offcut, I decided that the block plane was probably the safest and most effective way of carving the ebony: But yes - it's a slow process. Lots of 'walk away and come back to it'; lots of 'resharpen the blade comprehensively b******d by the b*****ing ebony' This, I reckon is about 1/3 of the way there. By the way, I've dampened it to give a better idea of how the colours will coordinate on the finished guitar ref @Charlie H 72 's post. Looks especially nice in real life I won't fit the bottom binding until the tops - particularly the edges - are done, otherwise there is a tendency to sand down at each stage until you realise you've run out of walnut! And the fretboard blank is due later today! Happy days!

It's looking very good, Ash. As @Bizman62 says, vacuum sanders are pretty good but it will still need careful and thorough vacuuming and sometimes some manual light sanding of the spruce round the edges with a small block and very fine (I use 320 grit non-coloured sandpaper) taking care not to catch the binding or creating an edge or dip in the spruce. I use a 2cm x 1cm rectangle of plywood with the sandpaper stuck on with double sided tape.

Thanks! The neck will darken once the finish is on and the lighter parts of the ebony bring out a little more orange. This is all raw sanded - no dampening or finish. I think it will be fine but there's plenty of time to experiment if it clashes at all.

It's going to have the Steinberger take on the old Banjo tuners too What could possibly go wrong?

Phenomenal work rate, Ash. It all looks jolly splendid!

Thanks, folks And it's a bit further on. I invested in a cheaper (affordable) competitor to the LMI binding cutting rig. The rubber band is one of my mods : I will cut the binding slot in the top when the ebony has been glued and carved. I've also cut the neck blank after much deliberation of measurements, angles, etc. I added a maple pinstripe to this too: And have done, of course, a gratuitous mock-up. Bear in mind that the top is still oversize (the chalk marks are the actual size): It's going to be pretty!

I may be mis-remembering this, but I think I've seen someone (I think it was one of those resin-encapsulated dandelion paper weights) use a blanket storage/skate board vacuum bag, simply with a simple cage round the object itself to prevent the bag vacuuming itself to the item. My recollection was that the air came out like a fizzy drink leaving an airless clear resin block. I don't think it needed a lot of time with the vacuum cleaner plugged in either.

Excellent stuff - you have some 'simple but effective' thinking all over the place.

^ What @Bizman62 said! Yes - you've got down to the 'harder than diamond' primer coat that many commercial makers use! It takes a considerable amount of sanding to get it all off if, as @Bizman62 says, you are planning to stain it or go for a clear or trans finish. And if you are planning either of those, then yes - it all has to come off. But yes - it does eventually come off. As also said above, you can usually get away with leaving it there if you are planning a solid colour as long as you prepare it and prime it adequately.

Impressive stuff, Ash. Andy

Oh WOW, Scott I mean, we've all done it but that doesn't make it easier. Impressive save, though

Bit more progress on this. Before adding the tops, I have a few jobs to do. One is cutting and binding the diamond f holes. I used a scrollsaw to rough cut them and made a little sharp-angled sanding block to get them straight: Then cut some maple binding strip to line them: Life is too short to feed stuff through the f holes, especially as this is going to have Jaguar-type sliding switches and so I will have a small access hatch at the back to be able to feed stuff in and hold in place while screws, etc, are being tightened: I thought I'd do something similar to the grain-matched hatch on the recent bass-build: I started by cutting the hatch out using a Dremel, precision base and 1mm bit: Then added a rebate at the back that will also hold the magnets: Finally, lined the hole with some maple veneer (I did the iron-on trick as I do when I veneer guitar and bass bodies, ie: coat both parts with PVA wood glue; let dry; position and iron on inch at a time; hold until cool and glue grabs): Finally, trimmed with a single-edged razor: There will also be a 1.5mm pinstripe between the wings and the neck so hopefully it will all visually tie up together

With most tuners, anything above 12mm thick is usually OK.

Good that things are back on the move. How thick is the headstock? Unlikely that you will have sanded it too thin just reducing the burst....

With the neck timbers having arrived, they have been joined up which means that most of the major structural components are now ready for their respective further stages of work: There are a myriad of small jobs on each, plus a few big and scary ones! The first falls into the small jobs category - fitting the cutaway sides. One is gluing: While the other one is glued and the excess removed. At some stage, the bottom edge will be routed for some maple binding to be fitted. Now that will be scary...

Interesting stuff, @Prostheta

Looks good from here! Excellent result if this is your first build. If, like with the rest of us, the bug has bitten, think just how good the 20th build is going to be!!!!

You should have renamed it "Ash's Acoustic Awe Fest" Very interested how this goes...

Nice jig. Consider the idea stolen