2.5itim

I agree with Scott, something that's not that deep I would just go at it with sand paper.

It's kind of hard to tell the depth of that boo boo on the horn, doesn't look to deep. but id probably suggest trying to smooth it out and tie it in with a rasp and files.

Awesome, thank you sir! I plan to go buy a 2x6 and cut a couple mortises in it and cut one with hipshots drawing and one with the wilkinson and see which one comes out right.

Curtisa, the wilkinson print that you posted looks a lot more like what I came up with in my second set of pictures. If you notice on your print of the top route the scale line is in between the cavity and stud holes where the hipshot print says the front of the cavity is on the scale line. You wouldn't happen to know the distance from the scale line to the front of the cavity for the wilkinson do you? I don't see it on that print.

With going by there drawing the front of the cavity should be 3/8" forward from the pics I just posted and the mounting posts should be 3/8" forward so there's quite a bit of difference and I'm just not sure what to do lol.

I just don't see how it's possible to have the front of the cavity on the scale line, because then the trem block would be against the back of the cavity with the high e saddle on the scale line. If the trem block was closer to the front of the tremolo I would understand but it isn't. With my tremolo where I want it I drew a line around it and drew circles where the holes are on the tremolo, I then lined up those holes to the ones on the trem block and then put my template on with the trem block in the center of it and drew a circle for where my template is at. This looks to me how this should be set out but it isn't anywhere near the measurements that hipshot gives so idk!

I'm trying to figure out my bridge placement and make up my templates for the tremolo and there is no way this drawing that hipshot has for there cavities can be right. It says the front of the cavity should be on the scale length line if I do that then the tremolo will have to be against the back wall to get the high e saddle on my 25" scale length line, then it says for the mounting post holes the center of the hole should be .490 from the scale length line, with my bridge against the back wall to get my saddle on the scale line the mounting spot on the bridge wouldn't be anywhere close to touching the post. If anyone has any insight here I'm all ears. First pic is a screen shot of there drawing, second pic is my scale line, 3rd pic is my template with the front wall on the scale length line, 4th pic is where my bridge need to be to have the high e saddle on scale line with the post where it says it should be drilled. You can see how far away the bridge is from the mount.

I agree with pros, from what I've learned since I have started par tacking in this madness is mistakes are bound to happen but there is almost always a way to fix the mistake. If you take a look at my third build thread I have had quite a few screw ups on that body and it sometimes means changing your end goal of what you want but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in my case so far! Just don't be scared, take it slow and be careful and I'm sure that you will be fine.

Scott, they really were the most fun! I find the gouge to be a very relaxing and fun tool to use.

Haha no I'll buy him a good beer in this case!

Thanks guys I really appreciate it!! Pros, scott really did get me on the right track! I think that I owe him a beer next time I'm down his way, i plan on hand delivering this guitar to the owner once it's finished and he lives in Baytown which I think is in his neck of the woods so I may try and get Scott a beer while I'm down there. Haha

I was thinking the same thing Andy, I have been nitroing all of my walnut, I really need to try a truoil slurry at some point.

I think there's something wrong with my camera, in the 4th pic it almost looks like I have kea grass lol.

I will Scott, thanks for your help! Is 3/16" a normal size for binding? I really wanted this to be a big faux binding to kind of set it apart so it kind of sucks but lesson learned for next time. Anyways, I went and bought a #9 pfeil gouge and got the horns finished up. I can finally say I feel accomplished with this top, man I'm super happy with the way it's turning out!! Heres some pics.

Don't be worried about routers, I use them all the time and can't say that I've ever had tear out. Just pay attention to your cutting direction and depth of your cut and you will be fine.

I agree pros, I had no sense of accomplishment in this and I feel like I robbed myself of that by doing it this way instead of using carving tools, I think that Scott is on the right track with only using the grinder as a stock removal tool and doing the actual work that you see in the finished product by hand. Scott, as for cambering back to get the 1/4", that is a really great idea! I will have to look it over when I get home, I think that I made the edges of the top so flat for the "recurve" look that I would have to put to much angle there and it would just look weird but I will look it over.

Oh yeah it's definitely fast and as long as you go slow it seems to be pretty controllable. It is super dusty I've got one hell of a mess waiting on me to clean up today. I would like to do the bowl type carve in the lower horn like prs does, only way I can see achieving that is with a gouge so I still need to go pick one of those up. Pros, it is hard to know when to stop with it, while trying to smooth it all out I ended up going a bit past my mark on the side of the body, i wanted a 1/4" faux binding there and it ended up being 1/8" I don't think this will look good as a faux binding so I'm thinking I'm going to have to dye it like the top.

That's what she said?!?

Well I still have lots of hand work to do but I feel like this is a good start!

Somebody talk me out of this!!! I have been watching numerous videos on carving a top with a 4" angle grinder and 80 grit flap disk. I did a test on some scraps and really it didn't turn out to bad, so with that being said should I take a grinder to a $300 piece of wood? Lol i am pretty dang good with a grinder and I think I can manage this

I agree pros, personally I am the kind of person that wants to know every single thing about what it is I'm working with. When I started metal working many moons ago my "master" I guess you would call him gave me 2 books, one really old machinist handbook and one really old structural engineering handbook, they have came in handy thru my career and I even still find myself looking at them for different types of things. I will probably be buried with them lol. As for where and how this clamp broke, take a look at the pictures above, all of that pressure that you are applying is being forced into that little 1/8" X 1" x 1"? spot where the clamp itself pushes against on the bar. It's just a bad design of you ask me.

I'm really surprised that they would even consider making a clamp bar out of aluminum, I have seen some aluminum take quite the abuse but with something like this kind of pressure these are seeing it's just a poor choice on there part. I would definitely spend the extra $4 and get the steel ones. I mean all of my clamps are steel, and I can still put enough force on them to get them to bend. Aluminum just doesn't have the tensile strength to take this much pressure unless it's 7075-t6 which I'm sure by the price of the clamp that it is not, my guess is it would be 6061 at best which means it has a 40,000psi tops and it being square tubing instead of solid isn't helping in this case, if we were talking about steel on the low end before forging we are already looking at 58,000-65,000psi before forging so it may be much more than that. Sorry for the long rant but in short, I would go with the steel for a couple dollars more.

I couldn't think of any reason there would be a gap there other than the screws not being tight, there's something in the pocket keeping it from going all the way down or the screws are to long and bottomed out. The last one is probably unlikely since with a little force you would be able to send those wood screws straight thru the fretboard (disclaimer: don't do this). When you unstrung it is the neck wobbly/unstable? If I was you I would have that neck off and see if there's anything in the pocket keeping it from going down any farther.

Haha I see that now! Lol

In my opinion abm is one of the top bridge manufacturers today and they even offer aluminum as a option, so I guess we will just see how everything goes thru trial. 6061 is only slightly harder than brass and brass is very often used by quality companies so I think that it should be just fine. I think one of my favorites out of the materials I will be trying is going to be bell bronze, it's much harder than aluminum and brass and is used to make bells so we know it's gonna sing.