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steve1556

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Everything posted by steve1556

  1. That body is looking absolutely fantastic, can't wait to see the end result.
  2. Started shaping the arm rest today, never knew that using a rasp was such hard work! Going to see Steel Panther on Saturday so was rocking out to them while in the garage, it made the time go quick! I found the cheap rasp set that I bought isn't very good and ended up just using the Shinto rasp (that thing removes a lot of wood quickly!).I found that it kept digging into my hand so I wrapped the end in a paper towel and it was fine. I used a metal ruler and it's as flat as I'm going to get it, and tomorrow or Wednesday I'm going to use a sander on it, blend the arm rest into the top and do a round over edge on the side. Hopefully that won't take too long and it will give me enough time to start on the belly carve as well. The work bench had a screw come loose which made one of the board holders loose and everytime I put the screw it and got it as tight as I could, it gave way again within a few minutes. Had to get a new work bench, it was the bargain price of £13.50, but it delayed the work which I got it and built it. Getting ready to start getting rid of the excess wood. These Shinto rasps are seriously good. Making a start. A bit more. By this point I had to wrap the end a bit. New bench! Nearly! More or less there. Using a small metal ruler I went hunting for the bumps. I found the first one within a few seconds (there was many more!). End result. Needs a good sanding, then blending and the round over edge being filed in. Really pleased with how today went, it was my first time using a rasp. It's made me realise just how much work I've got when the time comes to shape the neck though!
  3. Great news! I put one of the new bulbs in the lamp earlier (a 240W eco one) and it's fantastic. Ir really lights up the garage and it's so much easier to see what I'm doing, on the plus side within a few minutes it really took the chill off the air and after a while started warming the garage up nicely. If I got a non eco bulb it would be chucking out a lot more heat, so I'll see how it goes in mid winter. Got some more work done on the body, but my boss has asked if I can help out this afternoon so had to cut short my time in the garage. Hopefully I won't be called out for my main job tomorrow (I'm on call so fingers crossed) then I can get some more bits done on the body. I managed to get the pickup cavities nicely routed, not sure how or if I'll get the control cavity nicely done or not. I experimented with the round over bits on some scrap wood and decided that the 3/8" bit gave the nicest curve, so got the front and back on the body done. I saw on a video that you don't go too close to the neck pocket and finish that bit off by hand. I also think that the cheap set of rasp files that I got aren't that good, I'll give them another go tomorrow though. With shaping the arm rest, I've seen a few ways of doing it, but would you guys use a belt sander or do it by hand using a rasp? Hoping to get that bit done tomorrow. In the pictures, you can see where I went too deep into the body with the band saw when trying to cut relief cuts. Won't be making that mistake next time. This one is on the top horn. These are on the bottom of the body. There is a very small flat bit where the blade of the band saw was knackered, but I've got a new blade for next time i use it. Inside the horns. Using the round over bit. The look is harsher in the pictures for some reason, but I plan on rubbing them gently with sandpaper at a later date. Got the line drawn on for the arm rest. Hoping to get it shaped tomorrow.
  4. I tried using double sided tape ages ago (it was a cheap one off eBay, think it came from China) when i was building a pedal and it left a mess all over the painted enclosure, when I run out of masking tape I'll look into getting some better quality double sided tape and trying that. I am finding the masking tape and super glue method works well though. Managed to get a little bit done today, I picked up some new work lights and test mounted one to the rafters and the cable ties are holding up well and seem very secure. I've also used cable ties to hold the extension plug and mostly finished running the wire for that. I'm not going to tie up the cable for the work light until I've tested it though, and I also need to remove a couple of bits on the rafters so the area around the light is clear. I didn't realise that the lights didn't include bulbs as my smaller light included one. Going to grab some bulbs when I goto work later and I'll test it tomorrow along with hopefully getting the front cavities routed out nicely. Going to get 2 different wattage of bulbs to see which one is best (and chucks out the most heat), as when the sun isn't out it's starting to get a bit nippy in the garage. I know this isn't an update to the guitar build as such, but it will massively increase the lighting in the garage which will help now that it's getting dark earlier. Added 2 more cable ties to it now and trimmed off the excess.
  5. Had a parcel arrive today, and it was one of the top woods! It's the spalted ambrosia maple, ordered it from an American company on eBay and in the postage section it said there is no import duty on it through the eBay shipping program, but with past experiences of ordering from across the pond I was still expecting the invoice for import tax to come, but nothing arrived! Yay! I know wood should be left to acclimatise so that was my main reason for ordering it now, plus the fact it was a really good price. Going to leave it on top of my wardrobe for now I reckon it will look stunning under a stain.. Went shopping for the garage today because the lighting isn't that good. Currently I've got a 100W bulb and a halogen work light lighting up my work area, so I plan on placing a couple of halogen work/flood lights on the rafters of the garage which will provide a massive amount of light. The added advantage is that the halogen lights will keep the garage warm in winter, or at least take the chill off the air. However, the lights don't have any cables from them so it means having to wire up a cable and plug, so I may change them to ones that already include it. The plan is to run the extension cable into the rafters, then run the lights from there, and there shouldn't be any risk of a fire from them or anything as the rafters are all open into the roofing area. While I was there I saw a set of rasps, so decided to pick them up as they were on offer and cheap. Finished the routing in the front, now I've done the trem cavity to what I think is the right depth (need to check that next time I'm out there), I'm going to tidy up the pickup cavities. I finished routing the rest of the trem hole, had to use a different bit as the router bits didn't reach the bottom of the guitar body. Masking tape/super glue trick was used again for attaching the rear template. Took the drill with Forstner bits to the trem cavity. However, I've decided the bigger bit is crap to use with a hand drill (hence the mess). Next time I'll use the smaller bits as they are easier to control. Tried to take out a little bit more excess with a mallet and a chisel. After routing, I'm very very very pleased with how the cavity turned out to the point where I gave myself a little pat on the back. The bit where the trem block goes got a little bit ruined on the edge because of a drill bit (trying to remove a little bit more excess for the router). I have a question, the hole where the trem block goes, I've got the router bit as far down the cavity as I can get it, and there is roughly 15mm left until I I reach the top. Is that too much wood to leave and should I find a way of trying to remove more, or leave it and it will be fine? Not sure if I'm going to get any done tomorrow as my boss for my 2nd job is really busy so I think I may be working all day because of it. If I get any free time then I'll start routing the front cavities so they look neater.
  6. Cheers for the advice! I was worried about using the router to do too much stock removal (over an inch was needed to be removed in the control cavity) so I took the drill press and forstner bits to it again. I also removed more from the Pickup cavities just to make sure they would be OK. I tried my hand drill but it was useless so I treated myself to a new one! Found out my old one has 12.1nm of torque, this one has 47.9nm of torque. It just went through the wood like it was warm butter. New drill, Stanley Fatmax. After routing the cavities (gone as deep as I can in the control cavity now and mostly done the pickup cavities. I either need to remove the template or get a longer router bit for the required depth, and just got to start routing the bridge cavity now. Feels great to be able to get working on this again, especially as I find it really relaxing for some reason.
  7. Looking absolutely fantastic! I'm with you in saying that Gary Moore is my favourite guitarist as well, he was the guy that made me want to learn guitar all those years ago. That top on the guitar is absolutely stunning.
  8. Finally managed to find some time to work on the guitar build! I used the forstner bits to clear out the bulk of the cavities and just started routing the control cavity, although I'm pretty sure it may need to be slightly deeper. I'm going to order the pickup selector switch today to see if it's deep enough or not. It took a bit longer then planned, as my new drill (a cheap £30 18V cordless one) isn't powerful enough to dig the forstner bit into the wood (surprise surprise), and the last time I used my stepdads new drill it decided to chuck loads of smoke out of the motor. I've only got a small drill press so the bit wouldn't reach deep enough into the body for the majority of the cavities, although for the ones it could reach it made very easy work of it (may look at getting a bigger drill press now sometime in the future). Actually, looking at the picture of the depth of the control cavity, I'm convinced it needs to be deeper. I'm about to head into the garage to do some more work on it. I've also ordered 2 new guitar tops for future builds, absolutely no idea what I'm going to use them for, but both came up on eBay really cheap so I thought that I would grab them. The walnut is 10mm thick so will make a lovely top, and the spalted ambrosia maple should look stunning when it's stained.
  9. Cheers buddy, it's just been a bit of a roller coaster lately. She is back in hospital now, and should hopefully be in a nursing home before the end of the week so she will be happier and it will be easier to see her. Did you stop yours for 2 months? I knew you stopped for a while but didn't realise that it was that long! I've been following your build report, looks like your making good progress with it now, and the scarf joint looks like it's coming along nicely. For the neck, I really like the Ibanez skinny necks, but being a first build, I'm going to be concentrating on trying to make the neck as best as I can and if it turns into a chunky neck it's fine as look as it's a good chunky neck. The plan is to practice carving the neck on the neck black that I ruined before trying to carve the actual neck. I think I've made an error as the fretboard is 6mm thich, I'm thinking it should only be 3-4mm thick. Going to do some research on it. Little update, today is my 15th day in a row working and with other things just haven't had time to do anything, and I've got 6 more to go before I get any days off. But I have ordered and received some new toys! I've just got 125mm wide, 25mm thick and 3 meter long boards of maple, sapele and black walnut, with the plan being to build 5 piece necks for my next guitar builds. While sitting at my nans I've had a lot of thinking/planning time and thought multi piece necks would look great. the plan is maple, sapele, black walnut, sapele, maple. The bits for the headless guitar (next build) have turned up, it's the Overload Of Music kit from eBay. Going to have the trem locked, and the 5th build will be another headless guitar with much better hardware. There is a DIY shop that is having a sale on their Guild power tools, budget tools but the router is excellent, so I got their 1700W miter saw, which will help to cut the neck and body woods as my jigsaw struggles with them. Depending how much I'm working tomorrow in my 2nd job, I'm hoping to start working on the body again, and finish drilling out the cavities ready for routing. If the weather is good and I've got time, I'm hoping to be able to route them out as well. Slightly off topic, but I've just seen this months thread for the BOTM competition, and I must say that you guys are knocking the ball out of the park with the builds! Absolutely stunning guitars yet again!
  10. There just isn't enough hours in a day to cram everything in! Found out the other day that my favourite auntie is terminally ill as well which doesn't help matters, but I've always found that running and cycling helps clear the mind and stress, but I'm currently injured so my physio has put me on very limited milage for both. The saying it never rains only pours comes to mind. On the plus side, I've ordered the bridge and head parts for the next build. Haven't found any plans for it, but seen pictures from kits so should be able to work something out from that. The parts are coming from China so will arrive anywhere between mid September to early October, and is the one branded Overlord that's found on eBay.
  11. Thanks for the information, really helps to explain what the router/bits go through. When I was using the router in the lower horn section, I was only taking very small amounts off to avoid any issues that may or may not have happened, and I also ran the router at the slowest speed setting. I'm still looking at investing in a router table though. I've also decided not to repair the template for two reasons, the first one being that the car filler will cost more then what creating a new template will cost, and the second is that I probably won't use it again. I'm not a big fan of scratch plates on guitars and if I choose to build another Strat, it won't have a scratch plate on it. Not much of an update I'm afraid, my job gets quite busy in summer and school holidays (which means an increase in hours) and my free time has been spent at my nans as she has started going downhill quite quickly with this cancer, so I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with her. A result of this is that the guitar build has had to take a back seat for a while. On the plus side and without trying to sound like I'm getting ahead of myself, I've decided my next build will be a headless guitar, mainly because I've got everything I need for it bar the hardware and pickups. I'm planning to get the hardware from one of the Chinese eBay sellers, as I'll only be needing the guitar for when I'm occasionally waiting around in my second job (I've taken one of my Ibanez guitars and it's just too big). I've had to order some new inlays as the ones I originally ordered were too small. I also didn't notice the strip for teh side dots fell on the floor so I ordered some more, both of which have arrived now. Not sure when I'll next get time to work on the build, but when I do, I'll get the inlay dots done and the cavities drilled out (if I get time I'll use the router to finish them off as well).
  12. That guitar looks fantastic, great job there! I've never been good at spraying lacquer so I've been looking at the Crimson stains and oils, how did you find using them?
  13. Love the headstock designs! Was it hard to get the wood curves matched properly after cutting them? Looking forward to seeing how this guitar develops.
  14. Yeah ivery got templates that are thicker thathe I'm using for the routing, but I damaged it. As it was only 1 side of the neck pocket that needed doing I decidedto use the original template for it. I'll either repair the damaged one for next time or make a new one. I've never been massively keen on scratch plates on guitars so I would like to make a strat without one someday soon. I couldn't agree more, but I I took as much wood off as I could, and then with the touted I was maybe moving 1mm of thickness on each pass. I used one of my new router bits (the cheap one) to minimise the cost of blunt blades. I have bought a sharpening plateam and lapping fluid a while ago for when the blades do become flat. The rest of the body (apart from inside the top horn) was cut extremely close to the line though. I kept the template attached while using the bandsaw and it worked well, and I'll do the same for when I cut the fretboard down. It's absolutely chucking it down today so I doubt anything will get done. However, I've just had an email from the courier company to say that my inlay stUffington shall be arriving today.
  15. Yeah, that's what I was trying to do. I've looked online and it seems that it's near impossible to do with Dropbox. I've just downloaded the Photobucket app to my phone so I can now upload files quicker (my 4G is much quicker then my home internet, and I like to use as much of my 50GB data limit as possible!). Thanks for trying to edit the links though. I normally use the work bench, but it's a bit low for me and it hurts my back bending over for too long so that's the reason why I chose to do it on my lap. I'm looking at rearranging the garage to use the laser cutter bench as my work area, or moving it all to my dads and setting up in his barn. Still undecided on what to do at the moment. Got some good progress done today, finished routing the body, but there are a few small errors. mostly where I went slightly too deep with the bandsaw, most of it should be hidden after I've done the sanding, The blade was near knackered and twisted on 1 bit of the body so it's slightly flat, but after sanding it should be near hidden. I started drilling the cavities out with a forstner bit, but I've found my drill doesn't have enough torque, and then the battery was going flat so I decided to call it a day. For the excess material in the lower horn, I attached the forstner bit in the drill press, then a series of smaller 9mm holes, followed by a chisel. Not the most elegant way of doing it, but it worked. Making a start on the lower horn. Halfway through the routing of it. Getting there slowly with the body. More or less done. Some of the small errors (the flattened bit and a bit where the bandsaw went slightly too deep. When doing the lower hurn cutout (I did that bit last), I messed up and had the guide bearing just about the template so had to use another template for this bit. The router cut slightly too deep into the body, but it will be on the neck cutout anyway so it doesn't matter too much. Damaged template (it was a stupid mistake where I wasn't thinking). I know I shouldn't have, but I used the original template for this small part. Little bit more damage, it should mostly sand out and it's also in the roundoff area. Using the masking tape/super glue trick again! Started the drilling with the forstner bits. I can't use my drill press for this bit as it's only a small hobby bench one and the body hits the support pole so the bit won't reach the cavities. That's all for today, feel like I'm making some good progress on this now. I've never expected the build to turn out perfect as it's my first one and first time using a router, but I'm very pleased with how it's turned out so far. I was hoping I would be able to finish it before the end of the month, and with my work schedule it's looking likely that I maybe able to, but I'm trying very hard to take my time and not rush it. I'm actually finding the wood working quite calming! I've got some bits I need to get done tomorrow so it maybe a few days before another update. Hoping my G&W order arrives tomorrow so I can work on the inlays over the weekend, if not they should be here on Monday, I've already got my jewelers saw ready!
  16. OK, pictures don't show up, only the links. The links work though, ideally I wanted the pictures embedded into the thead, going to have a play around with it and see what happens.
  17. Managed to get some more work done on it before I went to work earlier. I got the miter box fully set up, realigned the fretboard on the template, and cut the fret slots. I didn't set the miter box for the saw to go deep enough, so I ran the saw over them again after I removed it from the template to make the slots sligholy deeper. They still aren't deep enough for the frets, but I'll get them to three right depth after I've used the radius block. Work on the fretboard is now on hold until I get the inlays come through, hopefully by Friday so I can work on it over the weekend. Not sure if the 12th fret will be dots or a custom inlay, but I've ordered some celluloid sheets as well as dots just in case. I also ordered some black side dots, but my error was they are going into Bubinga wood, so I've had to order some white ones instead. I've got to go back out shortly, so I'm hoping to drill out the lower horn section that the router couldn't reach now, then finish up the routing of the outside of the body tomorrow. My Internet at home is really slow, so rather then transfer them to the laptop then upload them to Photobucket, I'm uploading them from my phone to Dropbox, and trying to link to them using the tablet. Hopefully the pictures show up OK. Setting up complete with morning coffee (strong, loads of milk and some sugar in case anyone wants to make me one!). https://www.dropbox.com/s/vkjb8fwuxdasrfp/20160817_091528.jpg Using the masking tape and super glue trick again. https://www.dropbox.com/s/00s6rnqhrwqrux7/20160817_092344.jpg All set up and ready to saw! https://www.dropbox.com/s/wdnhmzrapakxuwv/20160817_092542.jpg Pretty near perfect I think. https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7uywohqqzmbm6t/20160817_093630.jpg Since the first slot went well, onto the next one! https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tf8f3tcgp2c0s3/20160817_093809.jpg Decided sitting down would be easier to do it, especially as it was early morning and my legs were still asleep. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fu47tg2hsnmmhcw/20160817_094302.jpg I'm extremely happy with how this has turned out. Just waiting on the inlay material to arrive now. https://www.dropbox.com/s/2nll5f2p15fvfza/20160817_094920.jpg?raw=1
  18. Good news today! I emailed G&W about the miter box, received an email from them this morning explaining how to do it. I got so transfixed on the mounts that move up and down (they also move sideways a very small amount), that I completely missed the bolts that hold the sides on, and it turns out you move the sides closer or further away from each other. I've got at least 1 job to do tomorrow, may have a second or third, I'm not sure yet, but I would love to be able to have the fret board slotted tomorrow and to finish routing the body, so I'm going to get up early to do it. Curtisa - thanks for the information on that. I've seen videos and forum posts of it, but I never knew if there was a standard depth to route to, or if it was to your own standard, but I want to do the guitar as properly as possible. I've got all the pickup parts which I'll measure tomorrow and go from there. The neck is more or less at the right thickness, it just needs the fretboard attached to it. I've got several Strat trems already so I'm planning on using one of them for this build. I bought some MDF templates that have the neck and trem pockets already on them, so surely they would be ideally placed already? So today I made some good progress. My wood guy and I had a slight miscommunication and the body blank ended up being far too big. I'm still undecided on if I'm going to stain or paint the body, so at least I now have scrap pieces to try the different finishes on. During the body routing, something went wrong with the router bit, in that the screw that holds the bit that holds the bearing in place has gone missing. I've got a spare router bit so I'll either use that or use the bearing holding piece from it. I'm routing the body in small bits at a time (5-10cm) and it seems to be going really well. The blade on the bandsaw is now knackered so I need to get a now one ordered, which is the reason why all the material in the top horn cutaway isn't removed. The material in the lover horn cutaway can't be removed using the bandsaw as the top horn hits to post so the blade doesn't reach. I plan on drilling them out tomorrow (as my jigsaw is a cheap one and won't cut into the wood). Getting ready to stick the template down! I've decided to have a off center glue line because if I do stain the guitar, the top part will have some nice figuring. Masking tape down. Using the trick from Crimson Guitars or 2 lots of masking tape, super glue on one, super glue accelerator on the other. At this point the delivery driver arrived with my latest order, which is bits for my bike. Can't wait to get my bike back on the road as it's really nice to cycle on the canal tow paths at this time of year. If anyone uses a CX bike, I can't recommend Sammy Slick tyres enough! No pics from when I was using the bandsaw as I was trying to get back quickly, but here is the body after it's been done. I left the template attached and got as close to the template as possible. The quality of this pics aren't great, after the router bit issue I had to goto work for a few hours, so rushed this pictures in the garage when I got home.
  19. Agreed. I just didn't want to ruin another neck blank. Next time I'll mount the template then take it to the band saw and cut much closervices to the line. I finally got the new body blank today! The guy has jointed, glued and planned it for me which I wasn't expecting, so that's one less job to do. I want to get the cavities routed out tomorrow, but the plans I have don't say how deep any of the cavities should be, and I can find next to no information about it online. Can anyone point me in the right direction on it? Also, should I cut the cavities out then then the body, or the body then the cavities?
  20. I'll pop round to my friends house this afternoon on my way home and pick some up. I'll try and get it cut and glued in today. The last neck I cut was too close to the line, and I attached the template slightly off the centre line, meaning the router bit wouldn't cut the wood. I deliberately left loads of wood this time as it's the 2nd neck for this guitar now, however, next time I'll attached the template before running it through the bandsaw so I can get close the the line. To reduce the chance of any issues, I only took around 1mm of wood off at a time until the router bearing touched the template.
  21. I've just ordered some sheets from them. Ideally I needed 3 colours though so I think I may need to tweek my design a little bit. Now you've said it, it will be much easier to inlay before i radius, just because of the flat surface! I've just Googled a pantograph,as soon as I saw it I realised what it was, just never knew the name of them. Would love to see it all built and working when it's done! I managed to stick the fretboard to the scale template, although while writing this I think I've made an error and I'll check tomorrow on it. The error will be that I lined it up with the notches on the scale template and not have them offset as the locating pin isn't level with the saw slot. Had another play with the miter box, there is a good 2-3mm of play with the saw from left to right, no idea how to remedy it (both the saw and miter box are from G&W. Update pics, the neck is cut! My earlier fears of it not being straight are over, I checked it with the straight edge and it's perfect. From what I have researched, the router never leaves it 100% flat and needs sanding, which I'll do in the next few days. Starting the routing. Headstock started. Time to take the template off. And it's done! Hopefully the wind picks up to blow away all the left over bits.
  22. Yep, just about got all of them remaining after using the router today! I've got the neck routed using the template, it looks straight but doesn't feel too straight, not sure why. Haven't had a chance to check it with the straight edge yet as I've gotta pop out for a tiny bit, hopefully it just needs a little light sanding. I've been looking at a few router tables, not sure if they are any good though so I'll post links later tonight. You're right about the difference being massive with using the smaller bit, it took a lot longer but felt a lot easier! I think next time I'll do the truss rod cavity, then stick the template on top so I can cut it really close to the template on the band saw. I found the bit kept ripping up chunks of wood so I had to do several passes for each section making sure I only removed a small amount each time until the bearing touched the template. I didn't get any kicking or similar that I had with using the bigger bit which was a massive improvement. Curtisa - thanks for the info on that. The scrap neck wood is in my friends barn, would pine work alright as I currently have loads of that in the garage, if not I'll have to pop over to my friends house. I'll post the progress photos later tonight as I need to go out now, hoping that when I get back I'll get time to slot the frets. I tried setting up the fret slotting jig, but it seems that the saw blade is too thin and can move side to side between the rollers. Also, looking for inlay material, I'm thinking of using celluloid sheets, but the main ones I can find are 0.8mm thick which is surely too thin. Can't seem to find any that are 2-3mm think anywhere. Also, would I do the inlays before or after I radius the fretboard?
  23. Thanks for the info on the router bits. I ordered a shorted template one the other day, forgetting I already had one! The router bit I've already got is this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350972828880?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and it more or less matches the smaller one that you have linked to. When you said those router bits were pricey, I was expecting £50 each or something! The prices seem rather good, and when I need new ones (or if I don't get on with the current one) then I'll look at getting them. With regards to looking after the bits, I'm thinking of making a simple box for them, where the shank fits into a hole to them hold them in place. Maybe I'll get time when this guitar is finished to do that. My router doesn't fit into the router table, so I've fitted my friends one to it so I can route the neck, however, with regards to what you say above, I'm beginning to think that it's not the best option. I mean, the template will be on the table, and the neck on top of it. When the router bit starts cutting into the neck, the uncut excess will then overhang it and I won't be able to see how much material I'm removing on each pass. It's got me wondering if using the router by hand, with the template on the top would be better as I can see how much material I'm removing on each pass, but then I lose the stability of the table. When i did it the other day, the router seemed quite stable so I'm not sure what route to take. I'm about to goto bed as I'm doing a 40-50 mile bike ride with a few others from my running club early in the morning, so I've got until the afternoon to think about what will be my best option. Build update, the new neck blank arrived from G&W yesterday, so I marked everything out and routed the truss rod cavity. I think I may have gone too deep as there is a 1.5-2mm gap between the truss rod and the top of the cavity, will that be an issue or should I pad it out with some vaneer or similar to raise the truss rod level? Also, for the end of the truss rod, it's around 7-8mm, so the next time I do one I'll get a 8mm router bit for the end, as both times I've used a chisel to make the cavity slightly wider. My friend is on holiday so I said I would check in on his house while he is away, so while I was there I used his band saw to cut the neck blank. I made sure to leave around 5mm of excess wood around the neck to make sure i don;t have the same issue as before. When working in the garage I use my old running trainers, not the most stylish, but they still have some padding in them so are extremely comfy! Marking out he positions of the neck/truss rod All set up and ready to go! Nearly there! Mmm, maybe a bit too deep? Using the bandsaw! Neck roughed out, left a lot more excess wood this time, learning from mistakes!
  24. Yeah, I don't think my router bits are ideal for small amounts of cutting. I just ordered a new 11mm depth template bit after messing the neck up, then realised I've already got a 9.5mm template bit that I had ordered previously. Would you say that around 5-6mm on each pass is OK or too much? I see what your saying with using the router onto the work piece rather then the work piece on the router. In fact, it makes complete sense. I'm going to see if I can attach my router onto the router table (last time I tried I used my dads router and it didn't fit). I'll try at some point. I found when I use using my dads one it was quite top heavy and felt like it was trying to tip over a lot, but the new router seems to be a lot more stable and didn't have the issue, but I'm guessing the router table will solve that issue and several others. I've gone and inspected the neck closely and I know where the issue is now. I cut the neck out close to the line because I wanted to cause less work for the router bit, but when I attached the template it must have been no more than 2mm off the centre line which meant that the edge of the neck was behind the neck template. I've got another neck blank coming so I'll try again, making sure that I leave enough to use the router on if the template isn't 100% lined up.
  25. I'm about to start getting ready for bed as I've got to be up 5am for work, but thought I would post a quick update. I've glued the neck back together, i used one of those slit screwdriver nail removing head tools to spread the wood. shoved loads of glue into the splits then clamped them together. Good job I bought a load of clamps last week! I've also ordered another neck blank from G&W just in case. One thing I did notice was that one edge of the neck is perfectly straight as per the template, but the other side isn't. I'm stumped on why it's not straight as the bearing of the router bit was running along the edge of the template, which is straight. Got a couple of pics of it lined up against the straight edge bar.
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