Andyjr1515

Wow!

Gosh.  That is utterly stupendous.  And battery just about to die or not, those are lovely photos of the finished beauty.

I love all of your builds, Scott -  but this has to be my favourite so far.

9 hours ago, sadclevelandsports said:

Just as an aside, this post was more for beginners like myself, I'm sure these mistakes seem completely inane all of you experienced builders.

Well, in my personal experience, experienced builders don't make any fewer or less silly mistakes...they just get better at fixing or hiding them...

Nothing too terrible in your thread (I've done much worse) - and I LOVE that top colour

11 hours ago, Professor Woozle said:

The other thing I'm looking into is bending the sides. I found I had a Murray McDonald tin case  from a long-since drunk Caol Ila, and an old garage  inspection lamp - marry the two up with a heat bulb and that will do the job. Or, it will when I've worked out a way to mount the tube on the lamp base as it has a rubber surround which won't take kindly to hot metal!

I'll be interested how you get on.  The only problem might be that the thin tin won't be able to retain much heat and the dampened wood will quickly cool it.  As such, you will be very dependent on how much heat the lamp is kicking out.   Good to see this progressing - the headstock plate will look fine

Oh - and they are very readily available in all sorts of sizes.  Just Google 'Mini/Miniature Thrust Bearings' 

The ball races Andre at Nova fits are shown here:

As I say - game changer...

On 10/29/2023 at 9:51 PM, henrim said:

Bridge kinda works, but as said the knobs can be a little stiff to turn

I'm way, way behind on this one, so apols for the delay.

Have you thought of mini ball-races between the knob and saddle-holder?

Andre Passini at Nova Guitar Parts uses them and they absolutely transform the ease of turning.  I have fitted a number of different headless systems over the years and this idea is the game changer without a doubt. 

I'll try to find a pic of the ball races from those fitted in one of my builds.

Yes - splendid!

Well, that should hold it 

All looking good from here!

Delicious!

13 hours ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

So…I seem to be getting a gloss now. But I think I might need to get some higher grits than 2500. Maybe I should get something like this? https://www.axminstertools.com/micro-mesh-soft-touch-pad-abrasives-211364?queryID=797b7e222982afa92a144bedc48ebc65
 

There’s some tiny scratches in there. Will try some machine buffing instead of just doing it by hand like I have been doing, and see how that goes, maybe that might get rid of the micro scratches. Failing that I will try getting the higher grit papers. 

The micro-mesh cloth is probably more useable than the pads - you can get mixed grade packs on ebay/amazon.  I usually go for the 3600 to 12000 packs.  I wouldn't be without them - one of the best abrasive developments I've ever come across.  The cloth versions (I use the 6" x 3" but other sizes are available) means you can used them with sanding blocks, cork blocks, radius blocks or just with your fingers.  They are fully washable, can be used wet or dry, last an absolute age and are the tops!

Many thanks @ScottR and @Bizman62 for the detailed 'how and why' run through of the process here.  Consider all techniques as stolen and expect my next build shinier

Seriously, this is great info, y'all

We've all done it, @henrim 

Still looking great. 

On 3/9/2024 at 8:52 PM, RVA said:

I am starting to think that a neck does not have enough surface area to provide a true sense of a quilt grain pattern.

Still very attractive, though.  Some of our builds are a bit like a Hollywood set - you look round the back and it's a bit dull   That's not going to be the case with this one!

3 hours ago, ScottR said:

Thanks.

And no, my midges are more party animals. They love taking swan dives into my beer glass, when I'm unwinding on the back patio.

SR

That said, better than a swan doing a midge dive into your beer.  Makes a right old mess... 

Gosh.  Midges or not, it's a corker!

I'm pleased this thread has re-surfaced, @curtisa.  I had forgotten just what challenges you were faced with and what a great job you did in innovating, improvising and enacting the solutions!  

Great work.

When you first posted that last iteration I thought, 'Yes.  That's it!'  And now you've added the epoxy, that looks super special!  Like that very much.

That's going to look great when it's finished.

Hi, well done and welcome 

Yes - I spotted your build diary a while ago on, was it a Telecaster forum?  If I remember correctly, this is the second version?  Worth posting some of that here?

Anyway, there are some really nice aesthetics in the design and the spray job of the finished job is excellent. 

I'm a bit late to the party on this one but yes - I also use a relatively narrow straight beam (1"/25mm).  It makes it easier to keep straight and, as I move progressively across the width of the fretboard,  I can keep tangential to the curve of the frets better.  The metal filings you can see as you are sanding also give a good gauge to any lines missed and the general progress towards flatness.

What I do do, however, is finish off with a standard radius block with some emery to smooth out any facets I may have left across the width of the frets.

Finally, I use the same radius block pushed across the frets (so doing 3-4 at a time) to get the starting sanded 'grain' direction on the frets the same as that of the subsequent re-crowning/polishing.

So good!

That's looking really good.  What a difference!

There's some really nice work going on here, @henrim