ShatnersBassoon

Thanks Bizman! I will crack on.

Indeed Scott! It’s amazing how inspiring it is to work from beautiful materials from the outset. 

I was going to post this in my current build thread but thought it might be bad manners to clutter up the thread with deviations

So the piece of wenge that I want to use has been roughly cut to shape and the truss rod route has been done. Only issue is that it bows up slightly (maybe 0.25 mm) in the centre of the blank. It’s super dry by the way and has been left in a drawer for a few years. 

I seem to have lots of problems sanding wenge, so is it feasible at all to just carry on with the neck build and rely on the tension of the strings to straighten it? It’s going to be quite a thin neck when it’s complete so just running through options. Cheers everyone!

Actually...just thought about fret levelling issues. Problematic!

Slightly tempted to use a carbon fibre neck I made a while back, only issue is that it’s a longer scale length (around 24.5 iirc), so is a question on whether it would work with the small body. 6 in line headstock too, so aesthetics to bare in mind too. ...decisions decisions

The wood has settled in perfectly now. Did a bit of work this weekend. Drew up a plan and I found out that the design did not quite work visually with a standard hard tail design and also didn’t give me masses of room for adjustment, based on the small scale length I’m using (23.5). I also figured that due to the short scale length I may as well make the body more parlour sized. Will be sanding a gradient in the forearm section so that it goes down to the walnut underneath. Will probably finesse the shape slightly as I’m working on it.

Not glued up yet, just roughly lining things up so I have a general idea. 

49 minutes ago, henrim said:

Actually two pieces but I was going to get away with it  

Shows that you have done a nice job with the join

Lovely bit of wood you have for the body here. Should be killer!

Oh man...your builds never fail to impress. If you aren’t taking loads of commissions then you should be!

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

That looks great. And yeah, padauk is very.......orange!

SR

With me the problem is the more to do with the fact that it’s really messy to work with. Unless everything is really well sealed then it just bleeds out everywhere. Heavy too. I actually really like the look of it, but there are better options I think.  

Just out of interest Henrim, how long had you stored it before it warped? 

I don’t think they are warped, but it’s great to know this information as a pre empting kind of thing. Thanks Henrim 

It’s only 7mm thick, so maybe if it did cup slightly it would stay on the top anyway with the titebond holding it? Or am I being a bit silly? I will go ahead with your suggestion anyway

22 minutes ago, henrim said:

That is some wild looking wood! Is that top flat? It looks like there is huge impact craters on it If it’s flat that is an amazing 3D effect. If it’s not that’s cool too. Either way it will be a nice fit with the body shape!

Yes, it’s flat Needs a bit of time to acclimatise mind you. I think the cold journey to my house during the delivery has messed about with the moisture content slightly. Hopefully it will be within the right levels over the next couple of weeks. 

Now THAT is interesting! Like a relic and not a relic at the same time

Anyways...pretty cool.

Was messing around with ideas a couple of years back. Been wanting to attempt something that is more my own body design. Current plan is to extend the bout on the bass side so that it looks more balanced. It will also be a single pickup design and unlike  the guitar it is inspired by (you can probably guess) it’s going to have a headstock. Going to try and use what I already have...so it’s going to be either 3x3 or 6 inline.

Got some really cool spalted beech for the top. 

Suggestions welcome of course!  Noticed if you click on the image it’s better quality, worth doing so so that you get a better view of that wood

My friend picked up the completed lapsteel a few days ago. He’s very happy with it, which makes me happy.  Im not in a rush to use Padauk again though! 

Lovely sculpting!

Had a rethink and came to the conclusion that the gold wood effect was a bit loud. I was also having a bit of a problem with the epoxy. So I have dialled it back a bit! Friend has a much loved dog, so decided to include him in the proceedings.

Changed the plan for the fingerboard too. Switched to the Padauk. 

The certano bridge and bender is looking rather snazzy. Good stuff. 

Congratulations Zen! Another superb looking guitar.

May as well put this one up again. It’s a guitar I built for my nephew a few years ago.

Here’s the specs

Louiscaster-

9 inch radius

25.5 scale length

Evo Gold frets

Artec Hot Rails pickup

Norway Maple body 

Flamed maple neck and fretboard

Build thread is here 

Good luck everybody! Great entries as usual! Click on the photos for the higher quality versions, it seems to be compressing the previews. 

Very tidy! That headstock design is pretty much what I have planned too. It just seems a better idea to tune from the top with a lapsteel, although I’m sure there are differing opinions. 

The piece of oak needed jazzing up a little so I attempted to recreate a kind of figured timber look with some gold mica powder and epoxy. Had to manipulate it a little as it was drying to get the grain lines. Anyway, reasonably pleased with it! It does look rather ‘loud’ for want of a better word, so I might try putting a ‘burst’ on it with some spray paint. 

Interesting! I wonder if that was part of the issue Mike? Maybe I didn’t use the right tools. It’s weird because that neck was straight…and like a week/few days later it had a 0.25mm up bow in it.

5 hours ago, mistermikev said:

corian... I knew it the minute I laid eyes on it.  I built solid surface coutertops for a year or two when I was younger.  is very interesting material because it's hard as a rock but if you heat it in an oven you can bend it all over the place.  have often thought of doing inlay with the stuff... but it comes in half inch sheets and you really don't see it thinner than that.  Not sure cutting it with a bandsaw would go over well... esp for the blade.  should make for a very interesting fretboard.  good to see you back at it sir.  cheers

It cut surprisingly easy, considering it’s hardness. It’s properties are interesting! One thing I have noticed with Corian is that it actually isn’t particularly stable. Whatever bends form in it don’t tend to spring back like they would with wood. I tried making a neck with it, it failed…even with a bit of carbon fibre behind it it warped. It’s a cool material but not really the best choice for anything structural in my opinion. It’s also rather heavy!

Soo…another build! A friend of mine has asked me to build him a lapsteel. He played the carbon fibre build I did a year back and really liked it. As he’s fairly new to lapsteel I have done some research and decided on a 24 scale, with parallel strings. 

He has bought a few things for the build including 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/45369548-combo-palm-bender-roller-bridge-r-r-b-1?utm_campaign=INTL-GB-Shop_unpaid&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google

And some Warman FireBuckers. These are  firebird style pickups, with a blade design so should work nicely with the wide string spacing. That’s my thinking anyway. Also no pole pieces to worry about being misaligned!

I have a piece of oak that will work nicely for this build. So far I have slotted a piece of corian to use as the fingerboard. I’m filling the slots with some black mica powder and CA glue. The board will be recessed in to the wood. 

Anyway…this should be interesting! On a slightly different note, Lapsteel players don’t get enough love, there’s some serious musicians out there