birch
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Everything posted by birch
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That's what I used to cut them out but I think I need a lot more practice. I broke 4 blades and I had to correct some mistakes with the files and sandpaper. The hardest part is yet to come, making the filler pieces from the black MOP fit the holes... ?
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Working on a headstock inlay in gold and black mother of pearl. So far I have found that nail files and needle files work well but I have yet to find a file small enough to get into those tight inside points.
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That too but there's a bit of grease or something too. Not sure where it came from...
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I tried the iron and wet rag method and worked carefully. It worked without any visible damage or warping to the neck. I made the replacement fretboard from flamed maple, which I think looks much better on this guitar than the Ebony board. the maple neck has gotten quite dirty from all the handling so I need to clean it before I varnish it. I'm thinking it would be a mistake to clean the raw maple with any kind of soap before I finish it with varnish. I was thinking some kind of solvent might be a better idea.
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Well, after quite a bit of work trying to do the fretboard inlay I had planned, I pretty much butchered my fretboard and I actually really don't like the inlay once I got it on there. So I'm thinking I want to remove the fretboard and start over with a new board. How do you remove a fret board without damaging or warping the neck? I used titebond 3 to glue it on.
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Mine stands out more and more the smoother it gets. Roughness seems to hide it quite a bit. Thanks
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I think it was harder to come up with an original headstock shape than the body shape.
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Well I started my first neck carve today and I couldn't be happier with how it's going so far. The neck profile templates I made are really only good for a reference. I started roughing out the first fret profile, thinking I would then do the 6th and 12th fret and then join them at the end. I don't care for that method personally. Next time I'll try roughing out the whole neck at once. I used a round and flat surform, a curved and flat rasp, scrapers and sanding blocks. I'm just waiting for the last coat of shellac to dry on the body before I put the neck in to figure out the heel shape. The flame figure in the maple is already showing up very nicely.
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Fingers! Why didn't I think of that? Thank you
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After a couple weeks away from my project I'm at the grain filling stage on the body. I had no problem spreading the grain filler evenly and smoothly on the flat sample piece but the complex curvature of the body is presenting a problem. The stiff grain spreader I have is useless for curves so I'm trying to find a flexible alternative that doesn't just pull the filler out of the grain. Rubber seems to pull it right out. What do you use for the tight and complex curves?
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Great information, I didn't know about the 7-10 day drying time in particular.
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I bought some dewaxed blonde flake intending to use just that but apparently it's near impossible to find denatured alcohol in BC. I ended up using isopropyl of unknown purity which took 5 days to dissolve the shellac and still left a thin gooey layer on the bottom of the jar. I have to find some denatured alcohol before I try mixing another batch. Someone told me it is sold as stove fuel in marine supply stores. I live quite close to the coast so I will look into that next time I'm in Vancouver. All the information i was able to find about Zinsser shellac was also anecdotal so it is something of an unknown commodity to me. The can says it can be topcoated with any clear so I'm guessing it's dewaxed...
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Goldtop Walnut Telecaster deluxe scratchbuild
birch replied to dawnofzion's topic in In Progress and Finished Work
Very nice. The walnut will look great with the gold. If Gibson made a Tele, I imagine it would look much like this. -
I did a first seal coat with Bullseye spray, using the spray to make sure I covered all areas. Following that, I had a 1 lb cut I mixed from flakes that I brushed and sanded starting on the upper bout around and including the f-hole. I didn't get much working time before it started to rope so I let it dry a while and flattened out the roped area before I tried it again. I got the same result the next time so I abandoned the process before I made too much of a mess and sprayed a last coat. It is noticeable that the grain is smoother where I sanded than the surrounding areas so I think the technique works. I think maybe I'm going too slow or applying too much shellac in an area at a time. I tried the same process on a flat test piece and the results were great. I should have tried a curvy test piece first.
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A couple more because the sunlight makes it glow
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Mixed results using shellac as a grain filler... It worked very well on my flat test piece but when I tried on the curvy top, I didn't get very good results so I left the last coat alone. I'm going to keep working on the technique...
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Having never used shellac before, I gather that it has a short working time. Is there a way to extend the working time or is it long enough for this if you work quickly? Also I believe shellac dissolves into the previous coat so do you need to leave a coat to cure for any amount of time before starting another coat or are you just working it continuously until you're done?
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Megabucker. Could be the next big thing:)
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That looks outstanding. I'm probably/maybe/definitely going to steal this idea
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Ah I see. So are you talking 400 grit sandpaper, or finer?
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Oh so many options... I'd like to try the method in the video if I can find a place to buy pumice. Denatured alcohol for the shellac is quite hard to obtain in Canada. The closest I could get was isopropyl of unknown purity so I'm testing that with the shellac right now. I have some clear wood filler but it's waterbased and I'm never sure about compatibility of using different base materials together. I'm going to have to do some testing.
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I'm not sure I understand. So you use the same method but sand through the wet shellac instead of tru oil and let the wood dust fill the pores?
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That looks great. So you spread the oil on and then sand through the wet oil to create the slurry, then let dry and sand flat? Does it take more than one application? I want to use shellac for this guitar simply because I read an article that found shellac kept the colour in paduk the longest as compared to other types of finish. I'll try your method in the future though.
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Sanded the body down to 360 grit and wetted it down to raise the grain 5 or 6 times. It looks fantastic wet. I'm hoping to shellac it tomorrow to seal it up while I decide whether to finish it with varnish or poly. I don't like lacquer at all and I'd prefer to spray so I'm leaning toward 2 part poly. I want to use the shellac as a grain filler by sanding back multiple coats but I have never used it before. Is it effective that way?
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Nice! It actually works really well on mine. I guess a long enough tenon must be the key.
