Bjorn.LaSanche

Great work. I love taking my 6 to this level. Only to come back the following day to small areas of flash rust.  Oiling them enough to not rust leave too much oil to contaminate the wood.  I read somewhere to use mineral spirits on the metal when using them as that won’t leave the type of deposits other oils will on wood.  
 

finding and acquiring old planes is a fun step back in history. Here is one of the sites I use to era date my planes with. 
https://virginiatoolworks.com/2015/02/16/stanley-trademark-stamps/

Just curious but did you guys set the flake after applying it?  Almost everyone I’ve seen apply flake the step after is to lay the flake down with air. Apparently it’s not supposed to stand like metallic base in a candy type finish.  
just asking because I am prepping a guys bass to do a Murdered Candy finish on it here soon.  
Murdered Candy- Black base, red flake, red candy over flake to fill/depth, candy black over the red to hide the red.  Finish looks black til light hits it obliquely, then the red candy/flake pops out.  It’s a cool finish but hopefully it’ll look good on this bass. 

Thanks for the Timbermate suggestion.  Love the stuff.  I’m in a quandary about the Timbermate color to choose for my current build.  The wood is Padauk and Bloodwood and would like to choose a color that will make the grain pop as this will be mainly a clear only finish.  
 

Drak, are you thinking about Solarez?  That’s a product I’ve been interested in trying for nothing else but it supposed UV protection. 

Glad he finally stopped drinking so heavily.  His melodic note choices have always been a favorite of mine. 

Learn to sight read and wish I never learned how  to read tablature. 
 

Come across the Nashville numbering system 30 years ago. 
 

Started my own band sooner than I did.  

I’ve been researching this for the typical reasons, but I think I have found the solution. 
The Tone Stone.

https://floydrose.com/collections/upgrades/products/frostb?variant=29837586514

also with using the routing dimensions given at the FR website I should work fine.  The spring cavity appears to be 16mm deep.  Pickup cavity estimating 19mm(.75”) deep leaves you with approx 4mm between the spring and pickup cavities. Not a great amount, but truss Rod cavities have less meat on the bottom of those and the back of the neck at times.  Should be doable if you are careful.  I’m also talking of an inset tremolo.  If you’re really nervous, you can order smaller springs that have the same elastic qualities normal tremolo springs do just made from different metal and physically smaller (this is where my head is on the issue). 
 

What do you cats think?  Im thinking on sort of splitting the difference and using  shallower pickup cavities and smaller springs.  I haven’t gone that far into the research on the springs yet but was informed by an engineer friend the spring route is a feasible work around. 

I did the same thing on my V build. I wound up using strips of silk from an old tie I never wear and fiberglass resin to patch over the area. I used three layers of resin soaked silk. The first about 3/4” larger than the damaged area. With the next two overlapping the previous.  Then I painted on more resin over than and when dry samded it back down level.   The neck has been under tension with strings for a few months with no issue.  I got the idea from a video by the GuitarDoctor off YouTube. I used silk instead of what he used as the tensile strength of silk is vastly superior to any other fabric while remaining very thin.  The downside is that you have to pint over the repair to hide it. 

I like the idea, but the wire on the guitar is too thin.  You would need some overly long screws attaching it to the body to make it fairly stable as the wire doesn’t have the mass to hold the guitar over time (the wire will bend out of shape.). Increase the wire to around half the thickness of the clip and it’ll be solid. 

Not to necropost, but using necromansy on this post, regarding the blog section, is there a way to set that module inside the users profile so if they decide to use it it won’t fragment the board further?  Not sure how modular and the ease of module’s implementation on the forum is. 

I really thought I had started a build log here for this.  
I have had the bug for a long time and I knew that just jumping in with both feet would have resulted in something that would have turned me off completely   My nature is to read read read then multiply that 100 times until I can see myself walking through the complete process flawlessly in my head  This way, if things go awry, I’ll already understand how to solve the error so having to ask questions in a last ditch effort.

That isn’t to say this was a flawless build  I had some difficulties and the final product isn’t perfect  one big problem was the result of an issue I had with the plans I had posted about before, and another was the way I set the neck angle  Another annoying but had to live with it was the use of Katalox for the headstock face  Let’s say I’ll never use that wood again   Otherwise it was a very enjoyable build using non-standard wood which turned out super stable and thinking I have a great economical alternative to typical woods used to build guitars. 
 

I am not 100% complete, but am at the punch list stage if you understand the terminology. Essentially what’s left are minor cosmetic details. 
 

I’ve posted the three most recent photos, ill post build photos once I can sort them into their own folder on my end for ease of acquisition.  

Due to a measurement inaccuracy on my part, I’m going to have to recess the bridge into the face of the body. 
I am worried about height adjustment if the thumb wheels wind up being lower than the body face.  I was thinking about notching the wheel edges if they do have to be lower than the body face. I would notch the wheels so I could use a snap ring plier to turn the wheels.  
 

Does anyone have a different solution? 
If I have to route that much I’m wanting to keep the routing as tight as possible. So I’m not going to route area to stuff my fingers to move the height wheels. At that point it’s easier to reset the neck. Which might be the best course of action.  I’ve already painted the guitar but the lacquer is t that expensive to be cost prohibitive. It’s just something I’m not confident in doing without destroying the neck and body. 

Cocobolo isn't used as much due I believe to it's oil content.  It is a Rosewood though  it doesn't take glue well, but Systemthree G-2 is a long work time epoxy that would get you around that if you're wanting to use this wood

upon reflection, I was getting the spray pattern control and liquid amount control backwards.  This resulted in exactly your thought of paint going on too dry.  I bring this up as I did it again the other day testing a different media.  I think I'm going to have to put a piece of tape with a note on the cup for a while.  Using a hvlp gun sure beats rattle cans any day.  If nothing else but straight up comfort.  I have to wait another week or two for final sand and buffing as I tried last week, but I would get to a certain point and I could feel the finish move in a few areas under the sandpaper.  I stopped and doesn't appear to have done anything horrible.  I ll just focus on other aspects of the build I still need to finalize.  I have to remake the pick guard as It is too narrow in the control area.

Thanks for the tips and yes, you’re right. The lacquer was starting to dry before it hit the surface.  I’m still somewhat dialing in the gun.  I’ve increased the air pressure about 10 psi at the gun and reduced the spread some so it is rounder now. It’s allowing me to lay down a wet pass now.  It was one of those Aha moments. I’m used to spraying with a standard HVLP turbine system when I was doing apartment maintenance for a living. Using a compressor and hvlp gun is a little different as it has more controls to it. I also wasn’t shooting lacquer  

thank you for the tips regarding the temperature.  I’ve already run into having to deal with blushing as the final coat I applied Friday night blushed bad. Luckily the Mohawk distributor is open Saturdays and is five minutes from my house. I picked a can of their No Blush with Retarder and sprayed a light coat over the areas and then pushing was gone in five minutes. 
 

Have to say I am hooked on this line of product. I have had no difficulties with it at all.  The vinyl sanding sealer is inexpensive and way easy to work with, the metallic base is comparable to auto metallic base that runs $125/qt., the lacquer is really clean and almost doesn’t need strained. Woodcraft sells the lacquer normally for $23/qt. The distributor can get me gallons at $36 per but I have to buy a case at a time(4). Otherwise it’s $50/gal. The last item I need to try is the aerosol lacquer which I’ll need as I still have to finishing to do on the headstock face.  
 

ha I’m already itch to start my next build. Same model, different wood and will not make the errors I did last time. 
 

again, thank you Bizman62 and I did t mention it above but I wet sanded with 600 to knock down the main sharp points showing through. And once I wasn’t getting resistance moving the sand paper with 600 I cleaned the guitar off and ran another sanding session using 800. I always use a block except for edges. For those I fold the paper enough so it acts as it’s own block on a shape like this I’ll origami the paper into a 1” x 4”rectangle I bend in half and run it single direction applying only enough pressure at any time with finishes to move the paper.  That goes for dry sanding too.  Learned a long time ago sandpaper is designed to cut using only enough pressure to keep the paper on the surface and moving.  It works against the paper to apply pressure more Than that. 

I’m at the tail end of my clear coating. I probably have enough lacquer for maybe 4 more coats. I know when shooting metallics you bury the particles in your tone and clear coats. The thing is I am seeming to be growing particles.   The photo is the best I was able to take as they are hard to see unless right there.  It’s the little sharp points in the photo. It isn’t dust caught in the lacquer as I wipe wipe a tack cloth before each coat. If you look at them one direction they look like bad acne, look from a different direction they’re gone.   
 

ive read many threads online of people lightly sanding to knock stuff like this down before the final wet coats. Thing is, is this a wet or dry sand and what grit sand paper, and would you even suggest it?  I just don’t want to run out of lacquer and someone say you should have sanded those flat before your final coats type deal. First photo is what I’m talking about. Next photo just showing off

Here are some photos of a couple pint jobs I am working on at the moment. The first is one of a series of guitars that a local shop plans on offering for sale. They are themed after the store which has tat 1950s SciFi / Monster Schlock Slayer meets The Misfits meets Texas outlaw country type thing. These will be purple as this one is, green, blue, and orange. 
 

The following photos are of a guitar I’ve been sitting on for about 10 years. I picked it up for under $50 at a pawnshop. Found out that the body was split off center and almost all the way through. The result of a scorned woman because after I pulled off all the stickers  that were covering it there was some really nasty things carved into the finish.  Long story short, I like the early2000 era body of the nj warlocks. They were proper to the model. The headstock?  Why would anyone want the image of a scrotum cut out of the headstock?  Well first. This is how a blood splatter is supposed to be done.  When you think it’s right?  Add more, when it looks gnarly take it to disgusting.  Use a different paint than the base and clear so it makes the red bubble a little then let it sit for a month, then clear to cover. Let the red finish curing, level sand until it’s all somewhat smooth, then clear it til it’s smooth.  Which is what I’m doing now. 

Beautiful.  Just when I was about to make a comment that all you needed now was some sort of temple viper reference on the guitar you did that headstock mind blown!! Now with those Super 70's?  Please make a video of what she sounds like once done.  simply amazing.

No to Relic'ing .  If you're going to roast your wood, do it correctly and use the technique used for Yakisugi on the wood, bear in mind that it is not considered true Yakisugi unless it is Japanese Cypress and wood used for siding period.  Shou Sugi-ban is a bastardization of Japanese and Chinese words to describe the technique.  Which is just charring to a certain point and then extinguishing then oiling.  I includ torrified wood in this as well.  Do it the way the Japanese do on their siding or go home.  Especially if you are going to paint it after building it.  Please excuse the image below if looks bad  I am using a 4k monitor and its making all my photos look bad.  But this is one that I removed the finish and applied the Yakisugi charring procedure, brushed off while rinsing with water, then allowed to dry, then used teak oil until had a nice satin sheen.  Compared to what it looked like, the instrument now has character.  When the 1980's Ibanez poly dip coating was removed, the guitar sounded 100% different and for the better. It sings and sustains. Very boring previously.

@Drak,  Just to be completely on the same page on my end, if I have already used a grain filler, a Sanding Sealer is not necessary prior to primer(if the grain filler is applied correctly)? 

My plan was to use a high build sandable lacquer based primer, then base, color, clear coats.  I wasn't able to really find a proper guidance on this.  Intuition told me that a high build sandable primer essentially is the same thing as a sanding sealer at least vert similar by description.

Wenge is all it’s cracked up to be.  I was looking at a piece at my local supplier and as I was putting it back in the stack, it slid across my hand on the only darn unsurfaced section.  I didn’t feel it to about 30 minutes later.  Those fibers burn like hell. You also can hardly see them. I was able to remove about 10 with tweezers and the used a razor blade like a scraper for the rest.  Topical and injected Benedeyl helped the burning / itching but my palm blistered for a couple days after.  Careless mistake but I know now what that Hellwood can do. 

I am using carbon fiber rods in the neck of my current build. I had decided this build would be all native Texas woods.  I had settled on Mesquite originally for the body and pecan for the neck, but like most Texas pecan once it’s dry, it’s hard as hell, but tends to become brittle. The neck blank failed once cut and glued. The wood bowed twisted and split. So in a pinch I found a Mesquite mill about a half hour from my pad and went and picked out the choicest pieces of quartersawn boards they had.  If you’ve ever seen a live Mesquite tree, they tend to not ever look straight. They more than not take the shape of a tree shaped like it would survive a tornado (shaped like the tornado wind pattern in trying to say).  So stability was on my mind. They use it for flooring in old building here, so I used a carbon fiber rod on either side of the truss rod. With the truss rod in the center slack space, no twists or bows.  
 

as far as using it elsewhere? I’m not sure I would unless I was able to have someone make whatever I needed for me.  I have already gotten bit by the drop off when I shortened the rods for the neck   Ans one splintered. I’m still feeling some of the fiber in that splinter.  Feels like a burning needle sometimes. Otherwise it itches.  It goes along with a wenge gotcha a few days later on the other paw.  Y’all can have that wood but that’s another issue.  

I have a set of Schiller M6 90s in Ruthenium I am looking to trade straight up for set in Nickel or comparable nickel set. 
 

I bought them for a build that never materialized so they’ve sat in the drawer forever. Ruthenium is sort of like Cosmo Black/Black Nickel. These have never been installed and still in the Schaller box. 
prefer a straight up trade I’ll eat my post costs you do same unless you’re in Texas than I don’t mind meeting up and doing the deal over a meal and a beer or two.  If interested but don’t have Schallers to trade, any known branded sealed machine heads in Nickel will be fine. I’m not brand specific. 
 

im also willing to sell outright. Current US price for a 3+3 set in that finish is $157. I will let these go for $115 plus your shipping. If you’re wanting that color this is a deal as Ruthenium Schaller anything are made as they are ordered and you have to wait until they have enough orders to justify a run. I waited 2.5 years for these and I’ve had them a while. 

Those look neat but I would like to see what it’s like in person before further comment. It you want to see some really interesting work like that check out Conklin guitars.  That guy is nuts. He has done several where the woods look like they are melting into each other.  

Conklin Guitars custom shop gallery

Adjustable circle marker tool

this is similar to what I picked up except there is no center section that opens and closes with mine. The whole thing expands and contracts. So you can use the inside or outside of it to be the circle. Mine uses the inside of the circle to determine the size. Mine is 2”-4”. It ran me $21 pls tax.  No name brand on it.  They had a bunch at the store.  I’ll get a name next time I’m there and post that in case anyone wants to pick one up.  I’m one of those that likes to manually do drawings when I know there are tools that make life easier(photoshop, vector art software, and cad).  A little bit about my mastery of photoshop.  The instructions to scale an image of a guitar that were on this site years back were step by step and moron proof. Well guess who disproved that?   There was one step. That I just could not figure out how to make it work.  I got so frustrated over it I stopped trying, printed out images, and took image measurements and scaled them up and redrew the instrument. To my mind it was easier to scale up measurements on a calculator and redraw the thing on paper.   Then again I repeatedly will take a harder route to get where I need to. Especially with construction.  But when I’m done, whatever I built will not break, come out of shape, and will last until the materials it’s made from disintegrates.  

15 hours ago, mistermikev said:

there's a guy named bartlett who does plans for 59 bursts... he does plans that are actual copies of 59 bursts - note for note, and then plans that are an 'average' of several 59 bursts.  He made these plans with access to multiple real 59 bursts.  I tell you this to illustrate that... there is enough variance there that if you compared one reproduction that was made from guitar x... and compared it to actual 59 burst y... you'd probably think "this thing is inaccurate as all get out".  folks debate the accuracy of gibsons historic guitars with great scrutiny on some of the les paul sites... but I think it's a bit unfair to gibson.  I've looked at enough pictures of real vintage sgs, and specifically the shape of the horns, to think that "anything goes" afa making an exact copy!!  add to that... that you would be making a copy of a guitar based on a guitar that already has finish on it, and has been finish sanded.  to me... worrying about the placement of the wire channel and how exact it is is futile!!  using honduran mahog and brazillian rosewood is admirable... but at the end of the day it's much more important that the guitar is built well, and plays well regardless of how accurate it is!

in answer to your orig question... take a straight on picture of your guitar... open it in photoshop or similar... make a known scale fretboard using fret2dfind, scale the picture up to match the fretboard, then take the circle tool in photoshop and expand/contract the circle until it matches.  that would tell you the exact radius of that guitar.  if you really want to be accurate, print it out at that point and compare it to the guitar and adjust accordingly.  sorry for the book.

 

I am coming to the same conclusion. That is why I am making a set myself that will be based off one 67, two mid 70’s models(to include the 70s headstock average from between both, my 2001 model and a 2011.  I will use an average in the technical drawing as well as a separate page that will give alternate measurements if any are wildly off or significant (ex. The 1970s rounded headstocks, if any of the round edges are different or wing angles greatly differ).  I’m not doing this for any form of cloning except two I am making for my own personal use.  As stated elsewhere one will be all Texas native wood, the other Bloodwood and Ebony.  If I did a V build for anyone else I already have personal sketches I’ve made that I think are updates on the body style.  Looking at some of the build threads on other sites, the replica obsession runs way too deep for comfort. Example is the neck and headstock construction. I’m a firm believer in laminate neck/headstock structural construction   A Gibson way to me is asking for trouble if the instrument ever falls. 
 

the guitar I’m planning for the Bloodwood build I am hoping to get creative and use something that is close to white as possible for the pickguard and have it inset into the body. I was thinking something along the lines of pink ivory, or enough white sections of an Ebony to construct one and have the entire piece being able to lift away from the guitar and any connecting wire that stays in the guitar use the same type of connectors that EMG use in their solderless stuff for those wires only.  
 

As for the easy way to determine a circle, I am probably the worlds worst photoshop user. Same thing for any cad type software. I picked up this thing today that is like a cross between a ruler and a compass. This art place in town sells them. Starting at 2” circles. You loosen two set screws and the circle expands up to a 2” larger size. The drawback is that there are no measurement notations on it. You still have to use something to figure that out.  A digital micrometer worked well.  (My guitar has a circle radius of R38.46mm/1.51” for the crotch curve.  Assuming the spec is around 1.5”.  
 

oh no worries about the book. I have tendency to be wordy in discussions like this myself because I don’t want to let anyone have to assume what I am talking about. I would rather take the time to fully explain my thoughts as well as read others thoughts in a discussion.  It’s a benefit to all who read and wanting to gain knowledge.