Jump to content
Entry in the May 2024 Guitar of the Month contest is now open ×

bokchoi77

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    59

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

 Content Type 

Everything posted by bokchoi77

  1. bokchoi77
    Me too, ever since The Dance came out! I reckon I'll shamelessly copy @Mr Natural 's radius jig. If it aint broke don't fix it!
  2. bokchoi77
    Thanks! I quite like the look considering I wasn't going for anything in particular. Cheers! Yeah you're right on the fungus but I'm pretty sure it all vanishes by the time it's all dried out. I've not heard any safety notifications about it but I tend to treat any and all wood dust as deadly - I'm also an asthmatic so I use a respirator and keep dust under control as much as possible. Apparently the Tasmanian Blackwood I'm working with on my other project is the worst - at least so I'm told. Best avoid breathing anything that isn't air I'd say.
  3. bokchoi77
    Getting closer to the finish line on this one, have coated with poly and buffed out the finish so it's getting nice and glassy (and slippery) The neck is coming along too, the Tas oak has darkened up quite a bit and looks pretty good with the rest of the wood I think. It certainly has some heft to it now when all bolted together but nothing too bad. I've turned some attention to the electronics, I think I'll run parallel switching on both humbuckers via push pull pots. Fancy!
  4. bokchoi77
    Hey, it's just some 5mm MDF and it's wildly inaccurate, I'm just using it for an angle gauge. You'd be much better off with one of the many other templates out there.
  5. bokchoi77
    Thanks guys I'm pretty interested to see how it turns out myself. Got a little bit done on the neck this weekend, got the scarf joint done and roughed out the headstock. It's been a neck focused weekend, with the telecaster neck in the finishing stages too.
  6. bokchoi77
    I hope so, it's a nice bit of wood! I've read your thread quite a few times as a guide! I've not found anyone else who's tried to build one. Thanks man, hopefully I can do it justice.
  7. bokchoi77
    So for my second full build I'm going for a replica of the Turner Model one, as played by Lindsey Buckingham! I've admired this one since "The Dance" first came out. I recall attempting to replicate the tone with my Samick Les Paul in the band I was in back in the day... I grabbed some Tas Blackwood for this one as I've read it goes close to Mahogany, and I'm liking using local timbers. A bit of work on the planer getting the wood flat and thickessed. For the neck I've laminated some merbau between Blackwood, Hopefully it'll work nicely... Glue up, some bandsawing then a relaxing time with the hand plane flattening it out.
  8. bokchoi77
    Fret dots arrived today so I got em installed and banged in the frets too. a couple of slightly high ones but overall pretty happy with it
  9. bokchoi77
    Small update, I've been refining the neck, I'm amazed at how well it seems to be coming along for a first go, The wood seems to be pretty forgiving. I've got the side dots installed and the holes drilled for the tuning heads, mostly been working out the high spots and the tool marks. I'm looking forward to fretting it when the marker dots arrive.... In other news, I wandered down to the local wood supplier and picked up some blackwood for the next build I have planned...
  10. bokchoi77
    Ahh cool, Blackmans Bay myself so not far apart really! should definitely try to catch up one of these days! Yeah I couldn't manage properly cold climates I don't think, I'd happily be on the Gold Coast right now!
  11. bokchoi77
    I like the look of the woods on this one, keen to see how it turns out. You could always make a ghetto axe out of the practice body rather than bin it!
  12. bokchoi77
    Loving this, the idea of CNC appeals to me, being a software dev in my day job. How is the weather where you are? It's freaking cold down here, by our standards, I literally snapped in half when out in the workshop earlier!
  13. bokchoi77
    Just a couple of mock up pics before I scurried inside out of the cold!
  14. bokchoi77
    I have indeed, that's where I got the Sassafras and the Myrtle for the body, they were in the wobbly board section, I've played things safe financially for my first attempt, but that said, I've found everything to be great to work with, a session with the planer thicknesser sorted out the warps on the boards too. Love that Shoestring build - I've read through it before, I suspect it was one of the sources for Tas Oak and Merbau sticking in my brain as OK. In other news I got into the carve today, I felt it went pretty well using the facet method... Still a bit of fine tuning to do but I'm pleased with how it's progressing for a first crack!
  15. bokchoi77
    Sure was, almost summer like! Still not enough hours in the day though... The neck is a Bunnings special, Tas Oak for the neck and Merbau for the fretboard. Oddly enough the local (Kingston) has both of these cut to really convenient sizes for necks on a pallet.... From what I've read these timbers should be OK, the merbau is certainly nice and hard.
  16. bokchoi77
    So I've basically just been layering up poly on the body, no interesting pics of that, but I did dip my toe into neck building - I Originally intended to go with the purchased neck on this one, but thought if I can even just copy that one for my first go, I can have a completely self built instrument. I messed about with a few jig ideas but this setup seemed to be simple and effective... All clamped up, next step will be the carve!
  17. bokchoi77
    Thanks Gents!
  18. bokchoi77
    Bit of progress on this one... I obtained a nice new toy for the workshop too. I've started the first coats of the finish, seems to be going on well.
  19. bokchoi77
    Thanks man, was more of a happy accident in a way. It seems pretty nice, I thought it was super heavy when I first slabbed it up but the routing etc has really lightened it up. The covers are just a clear plastic with a gold film of some kind, I'm tempted to go brass if they don't end up looking spot on.
  20. bokchoi77
    Thanks for the kind comments guys! Made some serious progress this weekend, and the body is ready for finishing work, all the routing is completed! I'm finding that no amount of measuring and checking will give satisfaction and sometimes you just have to jump in. Turned out well so far!
  21. bokchoi77
    So over the last week or so I've managed some shed time and tackled some of the jobs that were worrying me. Mainly fitting the neck (Not shown) drilling the string through and bridge mount holes and routing out the control cavity. I did have a template for the cover recess as well but I'm not happy with it, the shape isn't an exact match for the cover.... The ferrules still look a bit wonky in the picture because they weren't all the way in.
  22. bokchoi77
    Had a chance to hit the body with the grain filler over the weekend, sanded off and it's brought forward a bit more character in the wood. There's a little bit of blotchyness toward the middle where it'll need a bit more sanding but the pickups will also take some of that out. Second photo is just a light wipe with some water. I'm planning on a gloss clear finish for this one.
  23. bokchoi77
    Yeah you're not wrong, this bit was one of the better ones I've seen in terms of being rigid, I think the small 8mm diameter helped... in the end I had around 4mm deflection which isn't ideal but it worked out in the end! I definitely think planning ahead and routing out the channel prior to glueing up is the less stressful option. I used a spirit level on top of the drill, in retrospect I'd go back to my original method: You can see the nut and washer in the first pic joined with the purple string, you basically hang the washer on the shank of the bit and it'll try to wander up and down as you slant the bit etc, if you keep it in the same spot you'll have a level hole. I managed only 1-2mm deflection with this trick.
  24. bokchoi77
    Tackled a couple of jobs that have been worrying me today. As I didn't have a solid plan early on, I didn't route a channel for the pickup switch.... So the only way was the old massive auger bit through the body trick. After practicing a LOT on scrap I got the deflection down to 1-2mm, in practice it turned out a bit more than that, but it worked out fine. Prior to doing this, I drilled out the cavity for the switch so I'd have a nice big target to hit, no tear out which is great. I also got to steam out my first dent after a drill press table incident. Worked just like magic. I grabbed some Ebony grain filler today so I'll hit the body with a slurry and sand back to smooth everything off.
  25. bokchoi77
    Yeah thats a good tip! The whole thing needs a good deal of sanding correction around the edges so it should get covered off. It's essentially 100% learning process for me with this one, as I'm not really a wood worker either.
×
×
  • Create New...