charisjapan

4 hours ago, GuitarGuy said:

Pickup will be just a basic humbucker with a volume/tone combo. I kept it simple for ease of building. If it works I may do a more elaborate round 2.

Chrome would be awesome BUT in order to get something chromed the parts need to be near mirror finished to look decent. Im going to try to get a good finish before powder coating but its not detrimental. There is so many nooks and crannys its going to be a job in itself to get it presentable.

Yeah ... I knew that answer to that.  I had a chromed Japanese road racer (bicycle) with chromoly tubes and really fancy lugs, and saw what the builder had to do to prep the frame ... crazy!  

While I could imagine chrome, I would not want to be the one to prepare for it!  I am certain your powder coat will turn out beautiful, and look forward to it. 

Humbucker should be nice. Certainly any kind of hum reduction will help, as the entire guitar is grounded.  Don't use this guitar with a vintage amp!!!!!! 

Ready to string!

I masked the neck pocket, but didn't want the paint to "wall up" so left a few millimeters, which cleaned up nicely with a card scraper.  Neck fit in nicely, tight, but not "force-it" tight. Zero movement even without bolts, but decide to use them anyway .

Really happy with the look of beveled Limba! 

Control cavity done, and everything works ... like a jazz bass.

Here's a couple shots of the jack inside and out.  I admit that if this ever fails, it'll be a bear to replace.  But not impossible, and I deem how it looks worth it! 

Some Project!! 

i read the thread, but must’ve missed what the pickup layout will be ... ?  While this is a massive Faraday Cage , I would imagine single coils might need some serious shielding.  

I know you said purple, but chromed would be fantastic!

looking forward to how you wind this up ( pun very much intended)

@gpcustomguitars,

Aha!  I see what you're saying, and it sounds like it would work great on resizing, tapering, or sharpening a constant-size dowel.  How could that work with a knob, especially a bell? 

48 minutes ago, gpcustomguitars said:

Here it is - I used something simpler to make some rods for the side dots on a recent fretless build. Can't tell what would the possible problems be without actually trying it out (which I probably will, I'm starting to twitch already ).

I guess that the material shoudn't be cut cross-grained.

Hope this helps!

Goran

I just made an electrosocket-like plug out of Padauk for my Limba Redux, and. I can tell you that it’s not easy to get a truly round whatever.  The grain, no matter how subtle, fights to make an irregular whatever.  Now, I admit that my drill press is a cheapo, but as @Prostheta mentioned, they don’t do well with side loads.  For my plug to be round, I spun it against my belt sander while eyeballing, then chucked it into the drill press for final size and polish.  One way I found to use a drill press effectively was by using a drum sander in a hand drill against the whatever.  It’s a bit hard to make two matching items ... but I suppose possible.  At least this way there is minimal side-load on the press.  Some day I’ll buy a lathe.

I just could not keep my mitts off! 

Too much temptation, even though I knew that I should wait another few days.  So far, no damage.  As I had resigned myself, this may have a slightly relic finish ... i.e. a bit of grain sinkage. Actually, I find myself not bothered by that!  Someday I'll make an uber-shiny guitar, but this being Limba, I can't see the point of a mirror finish. AND, the Odie's Oil neck and headstock are super-grainy ...

Is that enough rationalization?  I could probably come up with a few more excuses for NOT GRAIN FILLING, but this should suffice.

Cut out a little template to prewire the electronics.

Two Volume and a Master Tone in a jazz bass no-switch layout.  I may add push-pull switches after I hear the guitar ... On/Off for pickups, phase reversal, tone cap selector, coil splitting, partial tap, bright switch, no-load ...

Found a couple new toys to shine up my toys!

The little boxes contain precut #1000 and #1500 wet-sanding sheets ... with a matching little rubber block, perfect for details and complicated inner and outer arcs. I know it would be cheaper to just cut up my own, but these are cut perfectly, with no harsh edges that you sometimes get with scissors or cutter knives.

Next are these little “toothbrush” sanding film tools ... the finest is #6000, or 2 microns. Haven't used them yet, but someday!

All Made in Japan!!

Just did ... Wow!

Once a year, my whole neighborhood is sakura ... probably six or seven different types all blossoming at different times, so more than a six week season.  

@hooglebug, your work is as good as any I have seen done by Hakone Zaiku artisans!  (and I've been visiting Hakone for nearly 50 years)  I also know what it's like to be laid up with problems that kept me out of the shop for months, in my case tedinitis and bursitis.  Hope you get the right advice ... and take it! I tried to bluff my way through it - like when I was younger - and made things worse.  Now, my doctor gave my nurse (Mrs. Charisjapan) strict orders, and I'm on the mend. 

Be well!!

Neck almost done.

1mm off the back, .5 to 1.5mm off the front, now a nice 13mm thickness, and the tuner posts are now about 2mm taller than the nubs they were. In relation to the nut, just 1mm higher, but plenty of break angle.  The edge is just a bit more slender, and I imagine the headstock weighs 10-12% less. I didn't experience neck dive per se, but definitely more head mass than my strat, so expecting a more balanced feel for this kind of guitar.

I shaved a good 1mm off the far half of the neck, so hoping it will give me a similar profile as the Clapton strat neck ... my favorite.  All the numbers are now nearly the same, but ya'll know that numbers don't necessarily = feel. 

High Hopes.  (yes, THAT song ... Gilmour's lap guitar sends me to other places)

(cue @Mr Natural ... )

@Prostheta, I envy a place that has any kind of 2K aerosol ... Just nothing like that available here. Nothing like that can be sent here, and can’t bring it on an airplane ... even in Hawaii, my usual port-of-call in the U.S., nothing like that is available.  I will just have to make do with what I have!  Fortunately, I know that this 1K urethane will become very hard and tough eventually.  I used it on the Chinaberry bass, just two coats, no sanding or polishing, and it’s hard as a rock, and resists buckle rash admirably.  This is the first time to try and be a bit more fancy.

Good luck with the aerosol being usable in a week.  That would be amazing!  The stuff I’m using now is okay for a week, but beyond that it’s in the bin.

3 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Shazbot. I was spraying aerosol 2K today after a couple of days of rain. It's not super humid, but closer to 50% than is preferred. The product I use can pop bubbles in the finish if it's too humid. It's funny stuff.

Haha about Shazbot, not your humidity situation! 

I am considering a water-based 2K urethane brush-on for the first coat of the next build on super-grainy Chinaberry. It's super-clear, self-leveling, and sands down well.  If it works well under this 1K spray, I may have a winner!  I used the 2K on a Padauk shelf for my daughter's house, and it was gorgeous, so hoping it will serve well on a guitar.

Wishing you a bubble-less finish! 

(is Finnish a bad pun? )

5 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I wouldn't push it too much. I think airflow is more important than pouring heat at it.

Yeah, that and that fact that I got overheated! 

Airflow it has now, and looking good.

edit: by airflow, I mean it's in the house now, with A.C. moving air around.  Mrs, Charisjapan has not complained about the smell, so that is absolute proof that it doesn't!! 

14 minutes ago, Mr Natural said:

CJ- what is your temp and humidity right now? its so hot and humid here if I were to finish i would need to add retarder to slow down the gassing off to avoid issues with moisture trapped in the finish. 

For the middle of June, we are having downright cold (18C/65F) temps and rain ... another typhoon nearby, but they keep missing Yokohama.  The past two weeks have been a muggy-warm/muggy cold dance.  

For a 1K lacquer/urethane, my rattle can spray is drying pretty fast, and clear as can be ... I was able to wet sand and hand polish the edges today with no issues.  The top is the thickest area ... I laid it on first then again last, and clamped it face up each coat ... so will give it some more time to be sure.  I will hold off a week before using my drill buffing wheel, as I don't want to risk heating it up.

As to off-gassing, I cranked up the A.C. in one room to 30C all day, which also dries the air, and can hardly smell anything when I walk I the room. I'm hoping my aggressive sanding between coats makes for a thin, well-cured finish.  and nanu nanu.

1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

I absolutely LOVE cultural idiosyncrasies such as this. Same same applies for words that have no direct translation, highlighting how language is a rich but sometimes limited construct for defining and conveying human culture. A simple one that comes to mind here in Finland is the richness of silence within conversations. At least amongst adults anyway. People stay silent and think rather than just talk and hope that speech works at the speed of thought. It rarely does. Cultures more often than not don't feel comfortable with silent mid-conversation and people feel they need to speak to break a silence rather than contemplate what is being said. It was weird to me, but Finns rarely notice that this happens. To an English person (for example) it might be interpreted as an awkward silence, and the same happens when you send a text or an email. No "okay" to acknowledge receipt. Just silence until it's actioned. It's very weird.

...

7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Talking of which....

 

....aside from books reading from the back to the front, lathes seem to run clockwise! @ScottR

Haha!  Actually, far less than half of books are “backwards” anymore ... since Win95 and the Internet, most things are Western standard, unless it’s written to make a traditional statement or a few official documents.  The most interesting is taxicabs ... many have their company name written front-to-back, so right-to -left on the right side, and left-to-right on the left.  This is especially funny when they write English “IXAT” on the right side of the car ... continuity? 

I don’t use a lathe, but if “they” say that Japanese lacquerware has been around 9,000 years, then clockwise is the correct rotation! 

I am sorely tempted to finish a guitar in black and red urushi someday.

7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Not in the traditional sense, no. Modern usage of "lacquer" is pretty much any clear finish that dries through solvent evaporation. Language has just extended the usage to cover how the product has evolved and diversified. Unless we're being really strict about its usage (for example in Urushi lacquerware) I think we can call this lacquer.

Gotcha.  Much like we use “nisu” (varnish) for just about anything except “urushi.”     The other exception is  spray nitrocellulose lacquer, but that is becoming more and more rare as water-based paints are being aggressively marketed. 

Well, I had the body in an enclosed small room overnight, and the smell is pretty faint.  Maybe I can crank up the heater for a day to promote off-gassing? 

Thanks again!

I’m confused.  This stuff is supposed to be an oil-based urethane that cleans with paint thinner ... would it still be considered a lacquer?  It is definitely quicker drying than any nitrocellulose lacquer I’ve used, and the smell disappears much faster, but I’ll have to wait and see how long it takes to get hard enough polish correctly.

After the first coat, I sanded back almost to wood (and fully to wood in a few places), and the second coat nearly as much. The third and forth coats were dry-sanded pretty thoroughly with #400. So even though I’m on the fifth coat, it is pretty thin.  If after I let my buddy’s son build it and play it, I’m not satisfied, I’ll pull it apart again, give it a good coat, and wait a few weeks.  I want to get this squared away so I can get working on my daughter’s Chinaberry Six. 

Thanks guys for the input!  Will post my observations.

13 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

https://www.washin-paint.co.jp/product/type/oil-based/spray-varnish

Huh, so an oil-based lacquer. A 1k poly. I'd imagine that this is going to cure in the order of weeks rather than days since it lacks a catalyst in the mix (MSDS here) so I'd be very careful of things like laying it on towels and the like. I've had 1K pick up patterns from them when laying them down to wet sand, even after a couple of weeks. Can you still smell solvents from the guitar surface?

Indeed, it's a bit early to start polishing.  Actually, very little smell, and the thinner back already polished up pretty nicely.  The front is a bit thicker (and lacks any sunken grain! ), but is definitely still a bit soft. Not to worry, I still have it "on stick" and either hanging or clamped sideways.  When I did the fifth coat, it developed a run between the pickups (must've gotten a bit repetitive there), so I decided to clamp it face upwards.  Very happy to say the drip settled down quite nicely . Now that it is looking pretty good, will leave the finish be until the day before my buddy comes, but will finish wiring and a few more coats of Odie's Oil on the neck.  Fortunately, this guitar has been finished once, so setup should be pretty easy.  

Thanks for the heads up, my friend!  I had looked at the specs carefully, but this company claims you can mess with it the next day ... but they probably didn't imagine an inane luthier laying down five coats!