Stu.

As much as I love your Explorer models, that SS is the star of your update. The new finish has changed the character completely!

I feel like open pored satin will do the wood more justice, but I like the idea of pretty shimmering with high gloss too. If I just continue adding thin coats in the same fashion, will it eventually fill the pores and build properly? The wenge should look great with either. I'm hoping the cream binding will aid the transition from pretty blue zebrano to dark, chocolatey wenge. Fingers crossed, as always!

I'll add a brown sunburst if you spell it "B L U E" Here are a couple of shots from the practice piece that I knocked up. It was sanded to 400 grit (or higher... I actually can't remember now) and it's had six very thin coals of Tru-Oil (wipe on a fine coat, leave for 20mins and wipe off excess, then allow two hours to dry - lightly buff with #0000 steel wool between coats). Is this the kind of finish you'd expect? I can start a new topic in the finishing subforum, if that's more appropriate. (Try to ignore the streak in the stain. I'd previously tested some Tru-Oil in the scrap and clearly didn't sand it out deep enough)

That's a very clean looking guitar. Congratulations not only on finishing it well, but having something that you can play and enjoy!

I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but your guitar reminds me of a Hamer Studio Custom. The main difference is that yours looks fantastic, especially with the combination of traditional inlays and a classy lemondrop finish. Great work!

I know it's a lot of wasted wood, but I didn't feel confident enough to trim it down I also still don't have a bandsaw, which would obviously make life a lot easier! The neck wood was actually made from scrap off the body blank, so I don't feel quite so bad about it. It also means that I have a massive, untouched neck blank for another guitar I use 3M disposable respirators. They should be sufficient, right?! I have noticed that wenge makes me sneeze like made if I'm not wearing a mask, even when I'm planing it.

Honeyburst is one of the prettiest and most underrated finishes around. You've got such a cheeky vintage vibe with that and cream binding.

Not only are these guitars fantastic, but the centre point jig for your drill press is genius. Few things are more upsetting than ferrules that are out of alignment. Is there a scientific reason behind the slightly slanted neck tenon?

Thank you for the kind words! The weather has been miserable and I've been ill, so progress has been slow recently Last week did see some neck and body carving action though: Fingers crossed!

The story behind this is awesome. It must feel excellent to be able to do this for your kid(s).

It's still looking very tidy... keep up the good work

It's looking awesome, as always! I'm looking forward to seeing that flame explode under some clear.

Cloud cover or not, it still looks incredible!

I don't know about the best place, but I bought my last bottle from eBay. Be careful with it though, because it's highly flammable, the vapours are unpleasant and it'll melt through anything plastic (including latex or nitrile gloves, albeit slowly).

I've never made my own multi-ply, but I'm under the impression that you should join it first with a wipe of acetone. My method at the moment is to cut the channel, then prepare the binding to fit the shape using a heat gun. Once I'm happy with the shape, I'll go ahead and glue it. Filament tape is nice and strong, but it leaves a lot of residue and doesn't have much stretch to it... so you can't always get it that tight... blue masking tape is more flexible, but the tack isn't very strong and the glue soaks in. The UHU Hart glue is pretty good in general. The only problem I've found is in dealing with any gaps - we're not talking about anything serious, just a fraction of a mm near a horn or whatever. Your main risk is the glue filling the gap completely and drying clear, so you can't fix it. If you're lucky, you'll have a tiny gap, which you can fill with some binding paste (put a few cuts of binding into a container with a little acetone, then scrape the melted paste off and touch-up). Doing the whole thing with binding paste from the start still gives a great result, with a little more time involved. Definitely route your channel before radiusing, then see how confident you feel about your fret slot depths. Binding first will make your taping a lot easier, but it limits your options for slotting deeper. Binding after allows you to monitor the depths, but having the binding taller than the board makes taping it perpendicular a bit harder. The more experienced and savvy guys might have some firmer advice though.

Here's how we're looking right now: I have a bit of contouring to do on the body, maybe a bevel or roundover too, and the jack socket hole... then I need to focus on the neck :\

You basically have the ultimate mancave!

This is what I'm talking about really. It's probably just my technique, but I feel like I don't have much control before it digs in and I end up sanding excessively to repair. It would be nice to have something to dial contours in a bit closer before sanding. It looks like the Continental range is Workshop Heaven's own, but I have no idea where or whoo they outsource to in Europe :\

I did exactly the same thing on my first real build, so I'm super wary now. I arrived at ~2° using some estimated measurements, then ended up needing to recess the bridge posts and most of the thumbwheels (thank goodness for the screw tops). You're already doing a lot better than I did! A ToM is definitely easier on the set-up than a hardtail or FR too. Keep at it!

You've got some great-looking wood there! It's also very wise to get everything drawn out before you start, so props on that too. Give me a shout if you need any other UK suppliers for tonewoods, hardware and other luthier wotsits. Are you going with a recessed bridge or a neck angle for this one?

Cripes, I've just taken a look at those Liogier ones... they look impressive, but the price tag will give me nightmares! Do you have any experience with or opinions on these ones? http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Continental_Hand_Stitched_Rasps.html

Do you guys have any experience with the Jackson JE1000?

Thanks man, I'll see what I can find. Do you use a fine cut rasp afterwards, or just go straight to sanding?

Are these Stewmac Dragon rasps really as good as people describe? I only had a cheap set of bastards and a Brahco second cut cabinet rasp at the moment - they're not that great, if we're being honest. Anyway, I've been looking at the Dragon ones, but I'm in England... so that means a bit more dollah and waiting time.

That Wookie guitar looks more like a Rorschach blot to me Whatever way you slice it though, it's gorgeous