Urumiko

4 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

I can't imagine keeping a plane square planing an edge of a fretboard... not much area there. 

again, nice choice of background music.

I buy my fretboards cnc cut and radiused (yes I'm a cheater) so the back side has generally been pretty well prepped... but with ebony many recommend ruffing it up anyway, and also a wipe down with acetone as the natural oils might interfere with the glue bond.  for those reasons I usually hit it with a level w sandpaper on it and then acetone.  watching this, it hadn't occurred to me how much work I'm saving by buying those.  money well spent... but admittedly don't get the pride of diy on that.

anywho, just some thoughts.  good job on your video. 

Haha yes you have a point with the acetone, I need to put in an order for some. It's recommended for the palmwood also. And probably the wenge. I've come away from the shed with what looks like henna tattoos before.

Yes i really wanted to do everything on this build. I am very much in favour of CNC fretboards and inlays,

I think if i could get the right software I'd have quite a bit of fun programming inlays in, but also so i can cut fret slots that do not reach the edge of the board.

if i do manage to expand to a larger work space i'll be looking at  sticking linux on a crippled old laptop and getting a cnc at some point no doubt when they can be had for a price i can afford. I can still convince myself its DIY if i program the CNC =).

I note there is a CNC "tutorial" on this very site although it seems to leave out a lot of nescecary info and the more complete packages from cnc companies are still up in that semi pro price bracket at the moment.

Latest vid covering fretboard woes is up.

21 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

Show us a picture of the gap

Preview for you (raw footage some out of focus).
From what i can see the near side is actually perfectly acceptable to put binding over.

The far side looks a lot worse with a more consistent gap. I think this is because the bottom of the fretboard actually has a flight taper on that edge.

I could be entirely wrong but i was led to believe by a veteran  amp tech that you can sell on home brew electronics if you get them PAT tested.

I'm not sure how we got on to home wiring but changing ones own light fittings and switches etc is fairly common practice in the UK. Its nigh on impossible to prove who did what anyway.

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Give it a try, though. Even super glue will break

yeah it was just gorilla pva based glue i used. It wasn't the super glue i was worried about. it was the palm wood itself ripping huge chunks out.

that and my lack of skill at actually getting things flat.

I really am inclined to leave it if the bond is strong and cover the edge with binding.

I.m wondering if in future running my neck blank over the edge planer machine and putting my fret board through the planer thicknesser might help  

Hmm well.. I had a bit of an iffy day today. 
I planed a taper in to my fretboard. no issues there. Always a pleasure.

Then but before coming to glue i realised my board could rock back and forth.
I realised both my board and neck black were not perfectly flat,

I had a go at flattening them with my planes, but after gluing there's still a bit of a gap in places

Quite disheartening. I was leaning towards rebate routing and adding binding anyways so i think i'll pull it back.
But quite disheartening none the less. No point trying to take the board off to fix it. It will just destroy my blank.
I've seeped superglue in to the gaps for strength.

I've also noticed ive somehow ended up with a slight forward bow in my neck after clamping..
It never ends 

Well the tin plated steel doesnt seem to have any memory/springyness, its very maliabe.
Makbe i should use that.. It doesnt spring back in the same way an aluminium drinks can does say....

And come to think of it i could totally cut up fizzy drinks cans rather than buy aluminium sheet... lol

5 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

You still have the option of making the body thinner, with your router sled. You could get it down to a good weight given how hollow it is. I was thinking the other day, you mentioned your concern about the side being too thin - well just glue in some pieces along the sides to give more of a glueing surface, think of how an acoustic is constructed. 

hmmm.. yes, I know. To be honest im kind of ok with the thickness asthetically,
I'm almost to the point where i can get a neck pocket cut and will have the basic neck shape.
I feel like when i get to the point where the neck is test fited in the body i can reasess.

I can guarentee though that the wenge will tear out/have slivers fly off at the edges where the grain runs paralel with the edge.

.......Come to think of it i do now own a planer thicknesser machine dont i

The back is thick enough that i could put it through that, though i think id need some kind of prescription sedative to remain calm attempting that...

22 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

BTW dude, on paper this guitar sounds stunning, I'm tempted to get some palmwood for a neck of my own.

haha thank you, yes it does but we all know what happens when people try and do everything on the first build
Does that mean you will be stealing my thinder? Palmwood build off in GOTM? lol
If either of you really wanted a look at the grain etc i could probably stick a small offcut sample in the post for you. Nothing big enough to use but it would give you a hands on idea of what it's like.

19 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The soft parts definitely seem to need something to make them as tough as the hard parts

YES. they do, You are right about the shards sticking in your hand when its rough, although when its sanded back its actually very smooth. Its naturally very oily too so it'll need attacked with thinners before gluing.

I've exmined a few threads relating to stablising spalted woods,
I reackon the brush on wood hardners designed to deal with rot would do the trick but they are acetone based and would prob wreak havoc with the final finish.

I did see someone suggest soaking in diluted sealer or PVA for a few hours then drying.. sounds interesting.

The best thing is probably just a nice thick poly dinish but sod that lol.

22 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

I've never seen any ebony fretboards with nitro over them before, could be cool

It will certainly be devsive, Its not to protect the wood, though protecting the inlay ill be an advantage. I just thnk a nice piano black/gloss type finish will work well with the contrasting colours and inlay a bit like this

22 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

it will probs need to be at least 2mm thick

I disagree on this point as if you think about it the metal will be maliable/bendy so can be cut flat then bent to the fretboard radius =). Im toying with the isea of using a franslucent material for the prism to be honest.

19 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The "tin" (zinc) is there to prevent rusting

No i dont think i mean galvenised with zinc. I mean actual tin. At least i think its a tin alloy.
I was recomended it for mocking up amplifier chasis as you can solder directly to it and it will stick. (solder soesnt stick to most metals easily).

17 hours ago, ScottR said:

I was going to recommend aluminum sheet as well.

Nice, Any idea what thickness would have the right consistency. i.e can be bent by hand but stiff enough that if pushed i could file it?

Im just curious. ive been learning to tweek and build valve amps for a while now, i keep thinking i need to join a forum to get help with thiso, I was just wondering if there are any techies on here.

I was also wondering if there would be much appetite for breaking the electronics section of the forum in to 3 sections, in guitar electronics, pedals and outboard effects, and amps?

i like ash's idea of crowning in to the nitro if its harder.

I've already fallen in to one classic pitfall of making my 1st guitar too heavy, im determined not to have a baseball bat for a neck

I should say I've never finished a guitar before.

I'm currently building a guitar with the folowing woods:

Wenge body sycamore cap (I intend to stain this with black/grey)
Palm wood neck, laminated with wenge and maple.
I intend to leave most of the woods their natural colour and finish in a gloss nitro.
I will have a multitude of inlays including on the front and rear of the body, some made from coloured wood some made from resin or mother of pearl.

Firstly, Should I be applying some kind of sanding sealer to my body? do i need a special one for use on dark woods? or is this incompatible with staining? thoild i do it before inlays?

Most importantly, the palm wood neck i fear wil be really prone to chunks of wood being chipped out on the headstock wings. The "pith" of the wood is quite soft and crumbly. Its quite likely to have small holes in it also. The wood can be sanded to a quite nice flat sheen, but im wondering if there is some kind of hardener/grain filler/resin that might be worth applying to reduce the chances of chipping without spoiling the natural/gloss finish?

Cheers

Dave.
 

I'd like to create the right hand portion of the below inlay from sheet metal but have no knowledge of what is liekly to corode, or what thickness will be workable etc. I'm looking for suggestions from those more experienced with metals than i.

I am on a really tight budget and I do already happen to have some sheets of thin tin plated steel lying arround. I am wondering if they would be suitable.

I am plannng on laquerig the fretboard with high gloss nitro.. I dont know if this would adhere to the metal ok?

I saw a crimson guitars video on this, where he said basically nitro over the whole fretboard, frets and all, then scalpel around the frets and the nitro peels right off. That's what I plan to do.

My fave thing so far is that it looks from the pics like someones turned their dining room in to a workshop... wife be damned! lol...

oh.. thats handy... what a timesaver.. glad i finaly red this

Latest vid is up.

Its so excitng when you make those big cuts that get you 1 step closer to the final shape.

Cheers ash,

Only place i think i'll differ from that is i want to carve the neck before doing the inlay etc.. I dont want to waste my time on inlay only to trash the necl later ^_^.

THe thing im dreading most other than the palmwood tear out right now is just actually trying to get things mm accurate.
I keep trying to mark up the heel end to get it neck pocket ready and ending up 1mm out. not that it matters too much i guess.

Oh by the way. Your red guitar gt an "OOOOOHHHH thats prety from my other half". lol

On 5/13/2019 at 6:06 PM, Bizman62 said:

how about a lip at the end of the fretboard

Thanks mate. Yes these are all things im considering.

When i said fender style, i didnt mean fender style. I meant as you say a lip at the end. I've not seen this done before on a guitar though. Have you ever seen this on a production model?

Yes i am considering veneers, I'm guessing they also might afford me the luxury of possibly applying inlays to the veneer before sticking it on.

3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Hi again

First of all, compliments on the quality of your videos.

Andy

Thank you sir.. You are too kind.
I still see a lot wrong with them, and am always in fear they are a little slow paced but i guess they are a little better shot than some of the one's i've seen. I long for a camera that i can turn auto focus off on and hook the mic right in to the camera.

Id never thought of switching out my tuners.
This is them:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_parts_locking_tuners_3r_3l_chr.htm?ref=search_prv_8

I was already putting an order in with thomann so took the opertunity to save on shipping.

Its a fair point though that shorter pegs could be a rescue option if needed.

My initial impression after cutting the headstock was that ive managed to pull back a fair bit of thickness though assuming i don't bugger it all up when cutting the rear. And my happy accident has increased the angle of the string on the nut. :).
 

I wouldnt mind some opinions/advice on the order i should perform the rest of the tasks on the neck.
Bear in mind 2 things.
1. I can't cut streight freehand for toffee.
2. The palm wood presents some unique chalenges because it tears out so easily. It completeley rules out lateral rasping or routing final lines.

Suggested order
1: Cut front headstock angle (done)
2: Use fence on bandsaw to cut width of tenon up to the start of the neck.
3: Cut the end profile of the tenon.
4: Glue on the fretboard. (im thinking gluing on at this stage will help prevent tearout in the crucual areas at step 5.
5: Cut the widthways profile of the neck using a jig similar to the above video in the bandsaw.
6: Cut the rough rear headstock and neck profile.

7:rest the wood

8:sculpt the rear of the neck via sanding only

9:apply the neck break angle to the heel.

10:shape and drill headstock.

10:appy some form of chemical wood hardener or resin to the palm to try and avoid chipping? (suggestions)?

Latest vid is up.

Sadly it doesnt feature the health and safety warning i made as I was of the impression i could add this to all of my videos as an opening sequence via seperate upload. Apparently not. It will be on t'others going forward though.

9 hours ago, komodo said:

I hope I'm not coming across as a jerk, cause I'm not. Starting the router with the bit on the workpiece is just dangerous. If it were me, I'd actually edit that out of a video hosted on youtube. This isn't preachy or pedantic, there are people using YT vids as templates for how to work.

Clarksons voice is also in my head much of the day. It takes great energy to shift that to Morgan Freeman or Jeff Goldblum.

Not at all matey.

Can you advise specifically what i did that was unsafe and how you'd recommend i do it in future?

I've taken the point about making multiple shallower passes.

Are you suggesting that starting it up within the pre-drilled hole was a bad idea too in-case it moved and bit in? If you can be specific I'll see if i can trim it without re-uploading. Its a damn shame they took away the annotation feature really.

You've given me an idea actually.. I think you tube has the ability to insert "cards" at the beginning and end of videos.
I think it would allow me to stick a warning at the start of my previously uploaded and future  vids advising that i don't know what I'm dong etc. I have stated this before in past vids but it is prob worth mentioning in every video on principle.