JGTay

Have done all the varnishing, also oiled the neck and fretboard over the past couple of weekends. Still needs a final buffing, but happy with how it is coming together. Back view first, with test fit of the tuners. And the front. Hardware roughly positioned. Next up for today was securing the pickup, no pics as it was a bit of a pain and just got on with it, went with magnets and a couple of panel pins with the heads snipped off to push it onto and keep it in place, didn't want screws showing but will have to see how it is when it is strung up. Next was positioning the individual bridge saddles, out with the string and marked it up. And then did a strip of copper underneath the saddles, attached to the earth wire and passed into the control cavity. Then screwed the saddles in place. It is great having a job again, but makes build progress very slow. Not getting any time in the evenings, so just weekends at the moment. Hopefully can get on with the controls next weekend.

Look forward to seeing this progressing through the stages. Should be a stunner going off your usual builds.

Before getting on with the varnishing today, I decided it was time to do the first weigh in... Obviously hardware still needs to go on, but very happy at 4.023lbs.

Thanks Bizman. Having never done a fretless before was a bit unsure of the best way to go.

Progress from last weekend and this weekend. Sanded up through the grades all over. Drilled for the controls and tested in place. And then got started on the first coats of varnish. The neck will be oiled once the varnishing is all finished. Not sure whether to do a finish on the fretboard to give it some protection?

Looking really good, the figure in the headstock has popped out nicely.

Congrats, very much deserved win.

It is surprisingly comfortable, the shape works really well and although I haven't weighed it yet, I know it is a lot lighter than the majority of my guitars. Have done a lot of sanding up through the grades today on the whole thing, managed to get up to 5000 grit, so only a couple of grades to go. No pics yet, but it is nice and shiny all over. Will see if I can do anything in the evenings this week, otherwise it'll have to wait until next weekend.

Been very busy since starting the new job, have settled in nicely and it is going very well. Not had much time to do anything on this, but a couple of weekends ago I managed to get started on the carving/shaping and then got a few hours today to do some sanding, not much progress really. Very happy with the shape now and the rounded edges make a huge difference. Hopefully I can get a bit more done tomorrow, will see how it goes.

Congrats!

Looking really good, glad there hasn't been a need for any more fires!

Congrats to both of you.

Managed to glue up the other piece of walnut last night. A shot of the edge, down to 27mm at the moment, so should be around the 26mm mark after sanding. It was out of the clamps this morning and on with the initial shaping. And after getting some shape to it, gave it a quick clean with white spirit to see how it looks. Then made a quick cover for the pickup, still needs shaping, but gives a general idea. May slim down the wings a bit yet, looks a bit fat in the bottom section. Will have to see how I get on this week and whether I can do any in the evenings.

A few more updates. Went for a job interview on Thursday and 15 minutes after getting home had a phone call offering me the job, so starting on Monday. So over the past couple of days I have been getting as much done as possible on the build, missed a few photos along the way but no big loss as it was just gluing on the wings. Decided to get the poplar wings in position first and then do the walnut top/bottom afterwards. I pre-cut the control cavity in the poplar before gluing and also did the same with the cavity cover in the walnut. This is after taking the clamps off from gluing the first piece of walnut in place and trimming the edges a bit, still lots of shaping to be done. Then did fingernail access for the cover. Next up was the walnut piece on the other wing. After the glue had dried did a bit of trimming. Put an extra piece of walnut on the inside of the cavity cover to give it some extra strength. Have also glued the front piece of walnut on and put an extra piece of walnut in the cavity to give the correct thickness, just need to tidy it up a bit. Haven't taken any pics of the front yet, had to finish up for the night and get something to eat. Will get the other piece glued on tomorrow and take some pics.

Damn, really sorry to hear this, it was looking really good. New neck time...

Have been working on the headstock shape and blending in the volute today. The front has a small reveal of the mahogany. Also done fingernail access for the truss rod cover, just need to put some magnets in to hold it in place. Very pleased with how it is coming along.

A lot of updates from the last few days. While levelling off the back of the neck on Thursday, I found a void in the beech towards the heel end, not sure how I missed it when putting together the neck laminates, it may have had filler over it which prevented discovery, but it wasn't a very nice discovery... Didn't take any pics, wasn't in the best of moods at that point. After getting over the initial thoughts of binning it and starting again (which was a serious consideration at first!) I tried doing a mix of wood glue and beech sawdust, which ended up drying an orangey colour, then tried CA glue with sawdust, but again it turned orange, not quite as bad, but not good enough. So final option was to chisel out a section 3mm deep and put in a new piece. Made the new piece very slightly bigger than the chiselled out section so that it had to be squeezed in place with clamps to fit, put a thin coat of wood glue in and then clamped it in place. After giving it time to dry removed the clamps and had a look. I then set to work levelling it off and bringing in the profile so that I could assess the repair. Still needs to be sanded up through the grades, but it has levelled off well. Can still see some glue where it squeezed out around the edges, hopefully when it has been fully sanded it won't be too obvious. Next on the list was the walnut caps on the headstock. Cut the headstock thickness to size and drilled out the tuner holes, then sanded the front to make sure it was level across the face and then after cutting the truss rod access in the walnut, glued and clamped it in place. After the glue had dried, it was out of the clamps, then on with shaping and re-drilling through the tuner holes from the back. Gave it a quick clean with white spirit to give an idea of the finished colour. Then moved onto the back. Did some work on the volute first to get the shape right, then levelled off the back face, cut the shape of the volute into the walnut, then glued and clamped it in place. After it was out of the clamps, it was shaped and the tuner holes re-drilled from the front. Quick clean up with white spirit again. And final pic of the day with the neck profile cleaned. All of it needs plenty of sanding through the grades and the heel transition needs to be sorted out, but overall I am pleased with the progress. Need to decide on final headstock shape yet, think it is close...

Thanks Mike.

That is stunning! Coming along very nicely.

Got on with sanding up through the grades on the radius this morning. Didn't take any pics at the time, but took some when I finished for the evening. The pics don't really do it justice, sanded up to 10,000 grit and it shines! The grain is fantastic. This afternoon I moved on to the neck profile and thinning out the back to the required thickness. Looking at around 18mm at the nut and 20mm at the heel... thin neck! Marked out and then on with the Shinto. Almost to the line. Just need to level it off and then I can start doing the rounding of the profile.

Couple of updates. Yesterday (before the football! ) I decided to get on with the fretboard radius so that I could see how the fret position markers looked, they didn't really work as I had hoped, they were kind of camouflaged against the grain of the fretboard unless you were directly in front of them. Good decision to do the radius before working on getting the sides levelled off, I have moved on to the second fret marker option of using aluminium sheet. This morning I measured up and found the best saw with the closest kerf to the sheet, did a test piece first, which worked really well and then set to work marking out then re-cutting the edge slots. Once they were all cut I then did the aluminium pieces to shape, flattened them out and then glued them in the slots. Once the glue had dried it was just a matter of levelling off the aluminium with the top and edge of the fretboard using a file and a quick sand and clean. Still need to level off both edges of the fretboard. Need to go over the radius again and take it up through the grades, but very pleased with how well the aluminium is looking.

A quick update of todays progress so far... Removed the clamps this morning and then got started with the Shinto rasp on the sides. Can see the fret position markers starting to show along the top edge. Still need to sand level on the sides, slowly getting there, but I wanted to get the new body shape sketched in to give an idea of how it would look and also get the pickup position somewhere close to final location. Hopefully you can make out the roughly shaped position of the pencil marks. Think it works...

When I woke up this morning and went out to the workshop/shed for my first coffee and cigarette, I sat looking at the truss rod raised out of the channel in the neck and made a mad spur of the moment decision to take a channel out of the bottom of the extremely hard fretboard. Measured up, 3mm channel needed and this will allow a bit more scope for neck thickness when it comes to shaping. I then decided to roughly cut the top edge of the fretboard close to size, leaving a few mm to be on the safe side. Then marked out for fret position markers along the top edge, cut them with the fret saw and then filled them with a beech sawdust and wood glue filler. Will see how they look after I start sanding the radius and if I am not happy with the result it will be the second option of using thin aluminium sheet. I have also decided to do the fretboard longer onto the body (28 frets) Leadwood is hard going, even with a freshly sharpened chisel... got there in the end, not the neatest job, but level all the way along and a nice tight fit on the truss rod, no gaps between the fretboard and neck. Next up was masking tape over the top of the truss rod and then trimmed to stop glue going in the channel. And then glued and clamped the fretboard in place. Really need to replace those smaller clamps, they are all bent out of shape after being over tightened too many times. I am going to make some adjustments to the body shape, bring the lower horn further back to allow for the extra fret positions and may adjust the top horn joining position for the aesthetics.

Started on the truss rod channel this afternoon. First job was getting it in the correct position and drawing round it. Then with a straight edge clamped in place along the lines, scored it with a Stanley knife. Then followed up with a chisel pressed in all the way around. And out with the freshly sharpened 6mm chisel to remove the wood. Tested the rod in place. Managed to get most of the way there, only a couple of mm to go, but had to down tools for the evening. Should be able to get it finished tomorrow and then I can look at getting the fretboard in place.

Really sorry to hear about your struggles, hope things are getting easier. Talking helps, friends and family are a great resource. Projects keep your mind busy. SAD lights help for the winter months, a couple in your workshop will help.