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charisjapan

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Everything posted by charisjapan

  1. Been chewing on this all day ... couldn't imagine a need or desire for thicker headstocks. This one looks so much nicer and the rather short-post Hipshots now are more than just nubs. Then, it hit me! Recessed bushings is a good idea!! Too late for this one, but will surely consider next guitar . Might even bevel my Mt. Fuji headstock to give a bit more 3-D . The other "thick headstock" idea that hit me was for bass guitars. Why'n the world are the Hipshot Ultralight posts so long?! With the slots, there's little reason to wrap so many winds, but unless you put 4 or so winds around the post, the break angle at the nut is about 0-degrees. My Chinaberry bass has a 14mm headstock, and the Hipshot tuners are 25mm from the back of the tuner body to the post notch, meaning the face of the headstock must be at least 11mm drop from the nut seat and a full wind of string on the post just to get 1-degree of break angle. I am now designing a short-scale multiscale bass (of course a Mt. Fuji!), and thinking how to get a nice shape without being too chunky. Add in the multiscale nut angle, and the nightmare begins. Thanks for the food for thought!
  2. Precisely! That and ... This guitar build and the previous Chinaberry Bass are prototypes ... I want to learn how to do most things right for the sake of the next builds. It’s true, with the oil-finished Padauk, you’d never know it wasn’t flat. But future builds will probably have gloss finish, so I felt it would be good to learn how to flatten it .
  3. Gaah! Thought the headstock was perfect, and the back was, but the face was almost 1mm thicker in the middle! I flattened the back perfectly in relation to the heel, and measured the edge all the way around, but didn't check the center portion. This must've happened way back when shaping the neck ... and never confirmed. It looked fine. Well, it's fine, now.
  4. Just sprayed the third coat of rattle can urethane, and liking the color. I dry-sanded after the first coat almost down to the wood ... in fact, down to the wood in a few places where I'd missed some scratches. After the second coat, wet-sanded lightly with #800, then #1500. After drying, the third coat still shows a bit of grain, and I'm hoping that 4th and 5th coats will fill, certainly 6th will be smooth at this rate. These are pretty thin coats, but this stuff self-levels quite nicely ... even the Padauk is barely showing grain.
  5. Caution! The following post contains slapdash methods. View at your own risk. The headstock was too thick. I could string the Hipshot locking tuners, but just barely. I wanted to take down the back 1mm, and considered my router planning box, getting the Stew-Mac drill press planer, etc. ... but today saw my little router sitting there and just set a 12mm bit to .9mm and "went to town." Two minutes later routing done, grabbed a#100 then #320 then #800 Scotch pad, and Voila! Paper-toweled Odie's Oil over the whole neck, and will spend a couple days to put probably 5 applications. Headstock is dead-on thicknessed ... probably better than it was before.
  6. Time to attack the neck.First thing, write down measurements! My plan was twofold: slim down and soften the nut-to-5th "V" and soften the edges of the 7th-to-12th "C" profile. Since I knew pretty much what I wanted, I just went at it with a card scraper until I was near my goal, then fine-tune with the cloth-backed sandpaper sheets taken off the Velcro sanding blocks. I like the well-used sheets, as they can be used like "shining shoes" . I use them at a 45-degree angle and can get a broad surface that flows with the shape of the neck. I gotta say that this is the first time I have felt comfortable shaping a neck! I have shaped several, but mostly for repair jobs that got immediately flipped ... MIJ Squiers to US customers was quite the rage for a while! This time it was a guitar I was familiar with, and I knew all the foibles and strengths. I was felt satisfied in less than an hour that I had achieved the goal. Yay!
  7. HAHAHA! It's great to know great actors and great lines! You may be right about the "sinkholes" in this Limba . The Chinaberry is a lot like Limba (but harder), and I never bothered to fill the grain. Three coats and there are very fine sink lines. I "think" 4 coats would do the trick, but may go ahead and use a brush-on 2-part water-based urethane as a grain filler. (Man, that is a LOT of hyphens!) I used that on a Padauk key-hanger and small shelf for my daughter, and it is perfectly smooth after a year in Hawaii. Honestly, I'm not that adverse to some open grain, and not really needing a glass finish for this particular build ... but may do it anyway to get experience for the next bass build!
  8. Weather report yesterday morning ..."Rainy season will start in the next few days, expected to last 40 days (and 40 nights, I suppose)." So I thought, "Shoot!" ... as in spray paint . I was pretty satisfied with the bevels, and tried about a dozen different pore stains, grain fillers, clear tints on little cutoffs, but nothing spoke to me. I took a good look at my Chinaberry bass, which is just a clear urethane rattle can (Washin Paint's clear has a touch of amber), and thought I'd give it a shot. (pun intended). No filler, I will just sand this down to wood and then put two more coats. MY previous experience has been very good ... it cures pretty fast, it's durable, it sands well, it self-levels pretty good, and it's easy. "And I even like the color!" (that's movie quote, btw)
  9. As @Prosthetasaid, putting a bevel on a body that's already got a 3/8" (9.5mm) roundover does not match. Thanks for making me see that, my friend! So took the 26-degree bevel all the way around the body, and will keep the top bevel edge reasonably sharp. I'm hoping this will define the "shape-within-a-shape" while letting the different grain between the top and the bevel give a subtle contrast. The sides (i.e. the 64 degree bevel), however, will get a softer edge ... something like a 1/4" (6mm) roundover. Hoping this will work out! Also flared the cutout behind the string ferrules ... I didn't like the "trough" effect, though it's still a trough! Got a lot of sanding to do, but have to take it easy ... right arm not 100% yet.
  10. Not a great picture, but here's white gasoline wiped on to give a better representation of what it'll look like with finish.
  11. Spent a little time deepening the bevels to 26 degrees ... the body is nearly 50mm thick, so no problem with that at all. I even like the way the forearm bevel and tummy bevel come to about 20mm, which should look nice when I smooth the roundover. I'm keeping things sharp for now, until satisfied with the shape of the bevels. Next step is to flatten top and bottom, maybe just 1mm each side, then smooth everything and prep for finish.
  12. I agree that I needed something to clean up the shape of the "Padaukesocket" ... but why waste a perfect opportunity to make a one-off specialty tool for the job?! I had the original white wood spindle and a small cutoff from my drill press lathing, so just rounded it a bit and double-side taped some #180 paper and put it in a cordless drill. Looks better, methinks.
  13. charisjapan Silver Supporter Messages: 1,389 Likes Received: 1,370 Joined: Jul 10, 2011 New
  14. My SGJ is about 20 degrees, and yeah, pretty thin. I could probably go to 27 degrees without looking too steep. On the other hand, I don't want the "inner" shape to be much smaller than it is, so a shallower angle is out. One of the reasons I want to thickness the body is that I never really flattened the body at all ... just cut it out from the blank. The seller said it was drum sanded, but this chunk of wood has been worked, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's no longer flat. I don't have a drum sander (or access to one), and I'm not confident of my skill to flatten with a hand plane, so the router box is my only real option. The dish bit is very sharp, so tearout should not be a problem. The only problem is that Padauk bridge inlay sit up about 2mm, so can't sand the top flat anyway. I'll mess with it a bit more, and keep ya'll up to date!
  15. Today was the day!Just did a preliminary bevel using 25-degrees as my baseline. I have no idea what is considered a "good bevel angle," but this seems to have a nice feel. I used a Shinto Rasp first, then the SteMac Dragon, then a card scraper. (side note: after about 4 months of R&R, I'm pretty sure I will feel this in my forearms and shoulders tonight!) Also drilled for the third pot and the neck pickup rout. As expected, all that sawdust and shaving amounted to less than 100 grams. I will definitely explore the idea of shaving the top and back, hoping for another 50 grams ... the TV Jones pickup, Hipshot knob, and a push-pull pot will get me right back where I started .
  16. I found I like the Soft-V after I bought a Clapton Strat neck. In my case, it's because my barre finger is about 1/4" short and a bit mangled after an episode with a 12" radial arm saw . (something like, "I fought the saw, and the saw won.") The Chinaberry Bass Soft-V came out perfect, but on this Limba I was afraid to take off too much. Well, 6 months later, it's time to rectify that. And I agree, a Hard-V is too much of an anchor point ... It's what I am struggling with now. Since the Clapton neck is perfect for me, I'm going to take real careful measurements and try to get that.
  17. Here's a few pics to describe the redux plan:Bevels. Not sharp bevels, as there's already a 3/8" roundover the whole body. I'll rasp down bevels something like this, then smooth them to flow into the existing roundover. Not sure if I will do all the bevels shown, including the tummy cut, or not. You could chip in any thoughts, and all would be appreciated. Neck pickup. And associated third knob. The guitar sounds great now, a lot is happening with just volume and tone knobs, but ... I do sorely miss neck tones. Toyed with the idea of a Tele neck pickup, but since I already had this Brian Setzer pickup, the idea of a dual TV Jones set just looks right. From what I've read, it should sound pretty good, too .Neck carve. I am enjoying the multiscale, though there are a few times when the barre angle goes wrong. The nut and heel width are perfect, but my "V" carve is a bit too deep. I will shave to about 2mm thinner, and make the "V" softer. Almost all of this will happen between the 9th fret and the nut, as this neck is a "D" to "C" to "V" carve.Finish. The neck is perfect with Odie's Oil, not gonna change that. The Limba body, however, is gonna get something different. Not sure what, but while I love the feel of the natural wood (warm and smooth and "real"), the color is just not doing it for me. I might grain fill and spray a lightly tinted something (amber?) or maybe semi-opague (butterscotch?). Perhaps even a two-tone to accentuate the bevels? This is undecided, and my finish skills are pretty much nonexistent, so kinda limited. But I always willing to try something, and not shy about stripping the whole thing and doing it over.Thanks for reading this LONG explanation!
  18. Thanks for the reply @Prostheta! Yeah, I forgot to add that this will not be sharp bevels a la SG, but smoothed to complement the original roundover. I was trying to imagine what the inner/outer shape would look like, then blend them. This 2X6 pine mockup already had the roundover, and so does the Limba 6, so I will just pencil a basic line on the top and sides, rasp down to my mark, then smooth by hand. Hope the aesthetics work on Limba! Indeed, medical issues are the pits! As a carpenter and biker, I've had "Hammer Elbow" and "Cycle Wrist" over the years ... but did not expect "Rasp Wrist" and "Plane Elbow!!" As to pain, it's there, but really don't like meds, so mostly sticking to plasters (pun intended) and topical stuff. The doctor ordered the cortisone shots, and I really don't want to go there again. ... I'll be back!
  19. We~~ell, it's been nearly a year since I called this build finished, and I have been enjoying the guitar a lot.But ...I really find I want more tonal variety from this guitar, as in a neck pickup. Pretty sure that with a neck pickup, there'd be little need for most of my other guitars. The contenders for that position are another TV Jones Brian Setzer Neck, or if not worried about "visual continuity," a noiseless tele pickup like the S-D STK-T1N. Both are available to me here ... in fact, I have both in hand, and whichever is not used here will go into the Chinaberry Six build for my daughter.(side note: still dealing with the right thumb/index finger/forearm troubles ... beyond the tendinitis and numbness, now have bursitis elbow ... like a ping-pong ball! but seems to be settling down, less pain, and no more cortisone shots )And ... while I am really digging the positioning of the guitar, the ergonomics are not "just right." With the low saddles and multiscale, my forearm was even more uncomfortable than just my health issues. As long as it's my guitar for me, thinking about putting a rasp to it. The bevels are kind of inspired by my '78 The Paul (and maybe a bit of strat!). I had made this body cutout of 2X6s, so gave it some color to exaggerate the bevels. This guitar is solid Limba, so won't be anything like this contrast, but wanted the overall silhouette and the inner shape to be complimentary.Please comment!
  20. Got to spend some time with the router box today. First I cut two 2X4s, checking for same dimensions and square, then clamped them between the rails. I first glued the connector blocks on the bottom, just to keep everything in place while I drilled and counter sunk the screws that mechanically hold the thing together. I know the glue won't stick to the anodized aluminum very well, but when something has to stay together, I often use glue and screws/bolts. So far, my stuff stays together for a long time. I will use a 30mm dish bit for planing bodies ... had good luck with that when shaping the necks on my previous builds. I made roller blocks by routing out a straight block of wood, to make sure the four rollers were positioned in the blocks correctly. I will glue these one next after fine-tuning, but did a mock-up to make sure it worked as it should. I will add anti-lift blocks under the slide to keep the carriage from jumping up while planing. The router base moves in the sled with .2mm play ... nice and tight, but no binding. In the video, it sounds really scratchy, but it's not really. I will clean everything up and add a coat of wax before using for sure! I'm also concerned about the router just sitting on top, so will probably make some kind of clamp to keep it from bucking ... maybe even use those two pine blocks. I know it seems a bit silly to make everything move so smoothly, then have to keep it from moving, but I've seen what a 30,000 rpm router can do! I gotta admit, it's been fun making this! Here's a short vid I made with the iPhone: Router Box Jig Mock-up
  21. While rehabilitatin' I have been putzing around the shop (but not cleaning it up ) making a body size router-planer box. I hope to get back to hand planning, but unless I can miraculously procure and find space for a flatness sander, this should get the job done. I am in the process of putting together the slide using nylon rollers for smooth operation (I hope). The holes are for M6 bolts to hold down shim plates and locator blocks.Will let you know if it works as expected.
  22. Three months later ... Well, the holidays were great, two waves of kids/grandkids visiting Japan, blah-blah. About two months ago went down to plane the bodies, and ... ARGGgHHhHH! Old tendinitis flared up (motorcycles for 45+ years, carpenter 35+ years, "Kamikaze" downhill racer 5+ years), so thought to give it a rest. But it just kept getting worse. Started at right thumb, numbness and pain, then inside right elbow, weakness and pain, now right index finger, all-of-the-above. Doctor gave me a corticosteroid/lidocaine shot in the thumb, thought it was getting better until last week ... but, NO! Yesterday got another shot in the elbow, drew several vials for rheumatism blood tests, took a gazillion X-rays, then pushed me into the "rehabilitation room" and hooked me up to "The Machine" from The Princess Bride. I go back next week for another round. SighI'll be back ...
  23. Thankee Very Much! Hope to get going on the next Chinaberry 6 and a Multiscale Short Scale Bass soon, but fighting pretty severe tendinitis in my right arm/hand. While I love using hand tools, I may have to use power router sled and box, and power sanders more. (sigh) (some may think it's weird, but I kinda like handplanes and sanding blocks) Cheers!
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