Andyjr1515

Excellent tip in terms of using an old plane with the perspex block for flat sanding...which I find a real challenge.  I have an old plane in the cupboard - consider the idea stolen! 

It's looking good

Only just caught up with this - it is absolutely splendid!  Love the concept and the progress in equal measure 

2 hours ago, ScottR said:

Having the new owner be happy with it is the best!

Racking up another GOTM ain't bad either, well done Andy.

SR

Indeed.  Thanks, @ScottR 

Looking good!  And impressive that you are tackling three at once!!

I gave up trying to do more than one at a time...I found that I started getting mixed up to as to what needed doing to what!  Mind you, your brain is probably younger and more efficient than mine! 

10 hours ago, mistermikev said:

I think it may have been @Andyjr1515 who first impressed upon me the idea that removing thickness will remove more weight than thinline...

The old man, nudged by a *ping* and the now inevitable full bladder, stirs from his daytime slumber.... "What?       Who?      WHAT THE FLIP IS THAT BRIGHT LIGHT OVER THERE??  The Son??  The SON??   I don't HAVE A Son!!  Well,  I don't think I have a son??             Oh...the SUN.  Hmmm...well...hmmm maybe... 

OK, first of all I would join the others in being in awe (as also in your previous posts @Stu. ) of your precision, mix of skills and results.  A slow build admittedly  - but some great techniques, skills and results on show.

As to your concerns - well, I think we have all fallen in love and out of love - and often back in love - with our builds.  Personally, there is always a point in my own builds where I think, 'this just isn't working!' - every single one of them.

Clearly, it's your build and aimed at meeting your vision and no-one else's.

But, for what it's worth, it looks great to me - and there is nothing I personally see so far that isn't fixable.

Before I move onto options for removing weight, I'm not quite sure I understand yet what your concern about the walnut demarcation line is.  If you are wanting an even width, say 5mm, demarcation stripe all around the edge of the spalted top, then yes of course, you have a challenge.  The visible thickness of the demarcation depends on the angle of cut and the angle of cut depends on the carve shape so, unless the carve angle is the same all the way round, then that visible thickness will vary.  This is a 2.5mm veneer layer:

So yes, the visible width varies, but it is a continuous and smooth transition. 

Oh - and that smoothness of width curve, to be honest, only finally comes good at the final sanding stages, sanding around the periphery before the final 'remove the sanding lines' sanding along the main grain direction.

The above picture also shows one way of getting a HUGE amount of weight out - as @mistermikev says - removing thickness where thickness is not necessary.  This is MUCH more effective than chambering.  

I did a whole series of builds exploring weight reduction and trying to answer the often asked question 'why are electric guitars and basses SO heavy?'

- the body has to be thick enough to accommodate the electrics, the pickup depth and the neck pocket.  Every other bit of thickness is optional!

So all of my builds nowadays have, as a minimum, an immense amount of material taken out out the centre-back.  This is the above build end on:

The thickening at either side is for two reasons:

- to be able to accommodate the pot depth at the control panel area

- so that it looks and feels 'conventional' to a guitar player.  Ultra thin guitars, to many players, 'don't quite feel right'

In that particular build, my lightest yet at 5 1/4lbs playing weight (and the body wood is English Oak!!), there is a little bit of chambering but basically just to create the faux thinline look - the chambering does very little for the weight reduction.  The bulk of that (forgive the pun) is the reduction in back thickness.

It looks like a standard full-scale electric, it plays like a full scale electric, it's made of oak and maple with a pretty heavy top wood too, it weighs 5 1/4lbs:

You could take an enormous amount of weight out of the back of yours without affecting the front at all and without needing to cover up any chambers.

Well, as I get closer to the bucket, the list gets shorter 

I will tinker with guitars and basses until my hands (or mental faculties!) stop letting me, but - having recently finished one must-do, which was the 'essence of Firebird' designed and built for my son-in-law and that I was delighted won this month's GOTM - I have two similar must-do's left:

- a conventional electric but spec'd like a made-to-measure suit for Matt Marriott, a UK pro-player who has been a friend and great support for a number of years.  The spec is agreed and wood should be being shaved in the coming month

- a Guilele/Guitalele sized acoustic for my two young grandchildren for them to learn play if they want to, or leave on top of a cupboard if they don't

I like the look of that both sides...but yes, the back is a little bit special

9 minutes ago, Professor Woozle said:

Out in the wilderness between Bakewell and Buxton - nice scenery but there's usually an all-pervading smell of "cow residue", shall we say; you get used to it...

Lovely part of the world.  I know it well 

Sorry to hear about your wife's challenges!  Glad she's OK.  

A mandolin has been on my own 'must do' list for years...oh, that and the cello, and the guilele, and the....

I watch with interest

3 hours ago, Professor Woozle said:

Well done , this one really has come out a beauty and I'm looking forward to what the ebony top will look like on my upcoming 8-string Rick.

Me too!  I'm looking forward to seeing that build develop

Whereabouts in the Peaks are you?

Excellent!  Can't wait 

4 hours ago, mistermikev said:

congrats on gotm!!  well earned.

Many thanks @mistermikev   

It's particularly pleasing as it was a special build for a special person.  That said, I think @Dward13 should resubmit his entry this month...it was a fabulous build!

Another excellent video @ADFinlayson .     Great stuff (and great result too!)

15 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Congrats for another GOTM! It wasn't easy to choose from the two laminated masterpieces both coming with a story.

I don't think the vote's quite closed yet!   Still time, yet - @Dward13's entry is an absolute beauty!

You are progressing well

On 6/22/2023 at 11:49 PM, Asdrael said:

My truss rod drops in smoothly and has the tiniest side wobble (I had to squint to see it move and I got 10/10 vision). However, the truss rod falls out when I flip the board upside down. Is this how it is supposed to be? Or should it be tighter?

That's fine.  Remember that when it is working, it will be pressing against the bottom of the slot and the bottom of the fretboard and so isn't going to go anywhere.  Some folks pop a couple of dots of silicone in the slot just before adding the fretboard to stop any rattle...but I don't and have never had a rattling trussrod yet.

There is, by the way, a set up tip - in the unlikely event that the neck relief is absolutely spot on with NO tension on the rod at all, then nevertheless tighten the trussrod nut until you just feel the tension on it - this will give it enough pressure to keep the rod jammed in the slot but without it being enough to bend the neck and alter the relief. 

Well - it was passed across to Alex yesterday and, I say with both pleasure and relief in equal measure, he's very happy with it 

He's going to get some recording done at their next band practice so I should have some sound clips available in the coming weeks.

And it's entered in June's Guitar of The Month.  Fingers crossed!  

Yup - that's pretty darned good...

Thanks, folks

Well, it's starting to get very, very close.  I'm certainly hoping that by the weekend Alex will be able to try it out for real, plugged in and all 

In the last day or so :

- Pickup rings have been positioned and fixed

- Hatch and trussrod cover magnets are in

- shielding done

- bridge earthed

- pots, jack plate and switch in place (not wired up yet)

- spacer/nut shaped ready for final slotting

- luminlay side dots fitted

- strap buttons fitted

And before you all shout - yes, the two test strings DO go over the four relevant pickup poles    

Here are a few 'present state of play' photos still fitted with the over-length test strings - the final set will be trimmed:

And so to the finishing.  The alder and maple will be the oft-discussed Tru-oil slurry and buff method.  But the ebony - I think it was @ScottR who did a great write up a while ago on sanding ebony up to a shine where it then needs no further treatment?  I had followed that method in the past for fretless fingerboards, etc, but never with a body top.  And what about the figured areas.  Would they be softer and react differently?  Well - got to be worth a try! 

The tru-oil method was my standard "two coats soaked in; slurry with 180 grit and wipe off two or three times; slurry with 400 grit and buff" method.

For the ebony, I started with 120 grit and progressed down the grades to 2500 grit and then swapped over to microweb, starting at 2600 and progressing up to 12000.  I used around 15 grades of grit altogether.  The result was remarkable:

The alder and neck are slurry and buffed and are therefore fully handle-able, but for good measure, I'll leave it overnight to fully harden before starting on the final stages (magnets, shielding, electrics installation, final fretdress, final assembly.  Should be all done pretty soon  

I've just found te time to catch up on this thread, @mistermikev.  Your CNC skills are impressive. That top carve is sublime

I strung it up for Alex to be able to play it over the knee and on the strap while I fettled the neck profile shape to his preference with a razor-plane blade and cabinet scraper.  A gooseneck scraper and also the wonderful Ibex mini plane were also used to start to take some bulk out of the back:

Don't let anyone tell you that the Ibex planes are toys!

I cut the rebate for the back hatch.

Now...I have said in the past that experience doesn't necessarily stop you making errors - but it does perhaps give you more options for putting those errors right. 

Case-in-point: 

- I used a router bit with a smaller bottom bearing to cut my rebate:

- I took a paper template to cut an alder hatch from some matching offcut:

- Ah...um...an alder hatch over the ebony stripe placed carefully between the wings and the neck blank...

- AHAA!!!!  Experience!!  Add an ebony stripe to the hatch and every one will think it was supposed to be like that