ShatnersBassoon

1 minute ago, henrim said:

Pine’s fine. Athough so soft that it’s impossible to do anything without some dings every here and there.

I would suggest a hard finish, if that is a concern anyway.

I believe some of the early Fender prototypes were pine. Cool start!

At some point I would like to make a lightweight electric carbon fiber guitar, using the fabric in a mold. Not the glued panel technique I currently use. For example a build like the Rubato Lassie. Although my current way of working with CF produces some cool results, I would like to do something more economical and streamlined.

In a slight quandary regarding the string gauge to choose for this guitar, being that it’s a 24 inch scale length. I know that technically you can get a lower action with heavier strings, but the lighter ones feel more slinky. I like ease of bending but I also don’t want a situation where the strings are rattling against the frets when I set it low. Hmm…maybe 10’s? I like 9’s on a 25.5 scale, or 8’s if I’m feeling adventurous…although the bass strings sometimes feel a little loose.

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I like that design very much - and the finish is going to be the icing on the cake!

It’s dealing with the drips in the epoxy that is becoming a bit of a chew! I will get there though

Might be slightly hard to make out on the photo…but I’ve been working on making the finish more of a ‘matte’ affair. I think it is looking a lot classier than the dipped in plastic look. Obviously, the bridge is off kilter…just placed it there for the photo

31 minutes ago, ScottR said:

There some pics of it in here.

SR

Gorgeous! I really like how you kept the natural shape of that burl piece. Your talent obviously isn’t limited to beautiful guitars

7 hours ago, ScottR said:

I recently did a table top with Total Boat. Your description fits that nicely as well.

SR

Wouldn’t mind seeing it! Admittedly epoxy lends itself a lot more to flat surfaces, like tables I do like the fact that if you get it right, you sometimes don’t even have to do sanding! 

10 hours ago, ScottR said:

That's an idea that's been tempting me as well.

What brand of epoxy did you use?

SR

I have no idea! I’ve been getting it from a friend of the family that works at a carbon fiber company. I get the leftovers

The best epoxy I have used though is Epodex. It’s more clear and you can get a glassy look really easily with it.

So….after lots of prep work I started putting a ‘finish on’. I say finish, I simply flooded it with epoxy Lots of titivating to do afterwards! The end result is quite amber, which wasn’t what I was going for…but fairly happy so far anyway.
 

As an aside, I learnt a new trick the other day. Used a razor blade instead of finishing off the sanding. Actually worked quite well! 

8 hours ago, curtisa said:

Might depend a bit on the particular epoxy expanding foam product you're looking at, but I'd be leery about how much strength is in such products. At the very least you're probably looking at some kind of neck-thru construction where the neck bears all the tension from the strings and mounting points for the bridge; the epoxy foam could only be used in non-load bearing structures of the guitar (the body wings).

The MSDS for the first product result I got in Google suggests that the most-dense foam variety (PD600) when set has a modulus of elasticity of 468N/mm2 and a shear strength of 13.4N/mm2, which works out to 0.468GPA and 0.0134GPA respectively. For comparison a piece of mahogany is around 8GPA MoE and 6GPA shear strength - about 20 times less bendy and 400 times less break-y. You couldn't embed a screw into the stuff and use it to mount a bridge, for example.

The other thing to consider is that the stuff gets HOT when curing. Epoxy is exothermic by nature, and the expanding stuff even more so. Datasheet shows temperatures of up to 180 degC depending on the casting thickness and expansion amount for several hours. That's a lot of heat to manage while it's curing. You have to work quickly too, as the datasheet suggests a working time of only 4 minutes once mixed up.

Not a completely mad idea, but one that would require pretty careful planning and thought to pull off successfully. 

Thanks Curtisa. Looks like the guitar builder Teuffel has employed this material in one of his builds. So it must be doable. As you say, would have to be on a non load/strain bearing area...this was one of my initial concerns. 

As usual I have been mulling over some crazy, possibly too off the wall ideas. 

I love the thought of using alternative materials. Wanted to utilise epoxy in a guitar body for quite some time but firstly it’s kind of been done to death now and secondly it’s extremely weighty.

Anyway, some internet detective work brought up a material known as epoxy expanding foam. I wonder if this could be utilised? Anyone familiar with this stuff? Is it overly spongy or relatively rigid? 

Probably a bonkers idea, as is normally the case in my quest to become a mad scientist

Well I play it for a while...and then invariably parts end up getting transplanted in to other builds. It’s a tough life of endless surgery with my guitars

My Tanglewood Java Parlor acoustic has been the only guitar that hasn’t been affected by this. But I can’t imagine cannibalising an acoustic

Brave stuff indeed working on that with hand tools. Looking great as always!

incidentally I’ve always fancied making an ebony neck, something rarely seen. Ebony just looks killer! 

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

That f-hole looks way better than I thought it would! And the size is just right - you may have read between the lines of my previous posts that I was suggesting a smaller hole to start with but now that it's done it clearly is the right choice. A real hole with a proportionally chunky block in the middle. That's definitely a functional feature, not decoration! There's some similarity with the Yamaha SLG200 silent guitars with the traditional outlines for ergonomics.

Well done!

Yes, I kind of contoured everything in to the hole...if that makes sense I like the arty vibe I got from doing that. 

Lots of sanding etc to go but made a nice bit of progress this weekend. Changed the shape on the top horn slightly and it’s a bit shorter now. Down to 5.5 lbs now with the hardware all on. Changing the pickup to a nice chrome covered one- an Irongear Blues Engine. Tempted to make this a direct mount...unfortunately I’ve already drilled the screw holes for the pickup ring but that’s not going to be hard to cover up! 

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

If you're worried about neck dive, the more I suggest doing it from the top in baby steps, considering both size and depth.

Yes, I may well play it safe. Just dying to get a finish on there! Can get frustrating at times because that’s generally the last step and lots of little things to do before hand

Incidentally I have some Polyvine Crystal Clear lacquer for the purpose. Will be brushing it on. I may try a foam brush for this. Apparently it’s pretty damn hard stuff. We will see. 

6 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

I think my mrs would want to know what was wrong with me if I didn't come in for dinner covered in sawdust. 

Just try not to make it Padauk...the ladies hate it

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Faux f-holes through the body would significantly reduce weight. The idea is not too much different to the monkey grip of the Jem...

That said, if you choose that route I suggest you to do it in steps, first cutting through the top only and then gradually working your way down through the darker base, evaluating in between steps. You might find an illusion of a bigger chamber and if that pleases you, slanting the cavity walls would both enhance the illusion and reduce weight.

Also, making a smaller f-hole on top and carving it wider on the back might be visually interesting.

If possible, use offcuts for testing!

A slight danger of neck dive coming up (the neck is on the heavy side) but I feel it’s worth the risk. After all, such aspects don’t bother me as much as some. Anyway...all the convincing I need! Cheers

Not a huge amount to report, although been doing more contouring and there will be more of that to come. 6.8 lbs with all the hardware on it. I really feel it may be missing that little something...what do you think of the idea of some faux ‘F’ holes which may go all the way through the wood? Rough idea below... 

15 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

have you had a good look at the top? over time the top can bugle around the bridge from string tension, also check if the bridge is lift off at all, both those things are common on old acoustics and will raise action and could also be down to a split or delaminated brace. You should take the strings off for a few days and see what the straightness of the neck is like, You could also see what happens when you go down a gauge or two, switch down from 12 or 13 to 10 or 11 is a big reduction in tension and thus height of the bridge relative to the fretboard. 

You could totally remove the fretboard and plane out a bit of the relief in the neck, I would be up for routing a truss rod channel too, that would definitely help to future proof it but you'd probably need to get the neck fairly flat before hand. The other common thing which I haven't had to do yet is a neck reset which usually involves shaving a bit off the bottom of the heel and shimming under the fretboard, providing you can safely remove it.

 I recommend checking out Ted Woodford on youtube, that dude is a wizard. https://www.youtube.com/@twoodfrd

 

Yes, definitely worth following that guy. He reminds me a bit of the guy from Highline Guitars. Goes in to lots of detail, which I like. Been watching him on and off for ages now but didn’t realise I wasn’t subscribed.

6 minutes ago, curtisa said:

Is the neck bowed or is the top collapsed? Both result in excessive action but require different approaches to correct.

The top looked ok but I will check again. It definitely has a massive amount of relief in the neck. I also noticed that the string height was a lot worse on the higher strings than the low. Right up to the nut area. To me this suggests that the neck may be twisted. Really hard to play at the moment! 

Pop a cap in ones proverbial posterior  

Just now, Bizman62 said:

Eagerly waiting for visual evidence known as photos!

I need a good belting to get my ass in to gear! Or arse to my British brethren  

36 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

That's a pretty instrument and as you said, why not make it playable again!

A fellow builder had a similar oldie, not expensive at the date of building, yet part of Finnish guitar building history. He ended up removing the original fretboard and straightening the warps - the neck was thick enough to allow the amount of scraping/planing required. Instead of a truss rod he added a couple of 3 mm thick carbon fibre rods.

If the original fretboard and frets are intact, reusing the original fretboard should not be a biggie.

And if the original neck is straight, the "lazy man's neck reset" by loosening the back down to the waist and then gluing it back so that a tiny lip protrudes might be an option. If there's binding on the bottom side, the difficulty level will raise exponentially.

I might replace the fretboard. It seems to be painted with a fairly poor quality black paint (maybe old nitro?) It’s rough to the touch and it’s flaking off in areas. Might be easier to replace it but would be nice to keep it original I suppose. And the guitar has a bit of a back story (from a semi famous family). Frets are very low  and tarnished green, but maybe there is still some life left in them. We will see!