JGTay

Sanded flat and up through the grades so that I could get a proper look at it.

In natural light it looks much better. I can probably live with it, depending on how it is with a finish on top. I will stop letting it bug me for now. 

Thought I would show the volutes other function off.

Should be difficult to drop if handing it over to someone. 

20 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

If it bugs you after applying finish (that's when you'll really know if the halves shift light differently)

To be honest if it was for someone else there is no way I would be happy with it, but it is for personal use so I will see how it goes and as you say I could always make a feature of it or maybe do some art work over it. 

51 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

That's an awesome butt joint!

Thanks Bizman. It catches my eye everytime I look at it, but it is probably because I know it is there and so for me it is obvious. 

We are connecting on another level with this, maybe we should combine in staying on subject matter before we come unstuck. 

25 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

well it's never as bad as it seams!

I am trying hard not to latch-on to your pun... Abut it is difficult not to join in! 

22 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

you mean this join right here? 

That's the one. I am still flat sanding the front at the moment and the grain patterns are starting to look a bit better, there were a few dips around there that were putting my eye off. 

I am liking the dowelled neck, keeps everything perfectly lined up.

My daughter plays Ukes, has a collection of different ones, but she still wants me to make her an electric one at some point. 

I take it the 'Joker was here' is on the cavity cover? 

Looking good.

Look forward to seeing how this goes. I considered trying a resin body a while back, but was concerned with the weight and never got round to it. 

7 hours ago, mwez219 said:

Looking mighty fine to me

Thank you.

7 hours ago, mwez219 said:

I may try ordering some more timber and give it a go. Seeing your build has inspired me. 

Just make sure to get as much done as you can before joining the body wings. I usually cut out for the pickups as well to make things easier, but haven't this time as I don't have the pickups yet for dimensions. 

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

What join???

Thanks Bizman. I'm probably being too critical about it, my wife always tells me that if I don't point things out no one will notice.

Continued with the shaping today. Back and bottom edge first.

And then the horns. 

Next up was flattening the back. Still needs plenty more, but it is close to levelled off.

And then got started on levelling the front, before the wife said it was time to down tools.

Not quite level yet, but getting there. The join in the top wing is bugging me at the moment, had managed to do quite a good job with grain matching when it was joined, but after sanding the grain is looking different on both pieces. Hopefully it will look better again after it is fully level and has been sanded up through the grades.

10 hours ago, mistermikev said:

"I love it when a plan comes together".  

Have you been watching the A-Team?

18 hours ago, mwez219 said:

Interesting neck shape. Would love to see it being played.

It will change slightly when I do the heel, I always leave a bit of excess on the neck profile for the transition from body to neck. Once I get the body shaped and thickness done front and back I will move on to the heel. 

Body glue up day...

First masked off the lower end of the fretboard to prevent any squeeze out going on it and then put some pins into the wings and drilled locator holes into the the through neck.

Then glued and clamped the first piece.

Once it had dried I repeated the process with the second piece.

When it was ready it was out of the clamps and on with marking out the rough shape.

And then onto the carving stage.

And yes, I still need to clean up...

This is how far I got before close of play today.

Taking shape nicely.   

As mentioned earlier today, picked up the frets and got to work putting them in.

Wicked some CA into the ends before snipping to ensure no movement. You can see how low profile they are from this shot, 0.9mm high before fret levelling and crowning.

Snipped the edges as close to the fretboard as possible. 

After snipping both sides taped up the fretboard and marked the tops with a sharpie before levelling and crowning.

And after clean up and buffing/polishing removed the tape, very pleased with the result. 

Can get on with attaching the body wings tomorrow.  

3 hours ago, nakedzen said:

Very pretty!

Thanks nakedzen.

Picked up the fret wire, decided to go with stainless vintage low profile frets. Just in the process of putting them in. 

Congrats Mike.

Couldn't get any fret wire until Monday morning, thinking of going for medium jumbo stainless unless anyone says anything different for a bass...

Got on with buffing the fretboard ready for doing the frets.

Then squared up the edges of the body sections so they are ready for attaching after doing the frets.

Sanded the neck profile, back of the headstock and volute up through the grades. The join on the back of the headstock disappears when cleaned with Isopropyl and shows again when dry, so hopefully it shouldn't be too visible under the finish (not sure what finish yet!)

The volute is nearly equal on both sides, just a small amount to remove still on the right underside. Happy with the transition from the neck to volute now.

49 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Very cool project! 

 

Thanks Andy.

14 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

That's an interesting volute! It looks like there's enough space for all chord shapes despite the lip.

Thanks Bizman.

It works well, doesn't get in the way and I really like the shape. 

I have been working on a few different things today and jumped around between them as I went, so in no particular order...

The headstock shape is near enough finished.

And it is close to thickness all around.

The volute is close to finished.

Just need to take a bit more off the underside on the right.

And the neck profile is almost done. Will need a bit more work around the heel once the body is on.

Should be able to get on with cleaning up the fretboard and getting the frets in next. Need to go pickup some fret wire, just need to decide on size.

Liking that colour, looks more purple than black. Should look good with the finish done. 

After getting a couple of jobs done for family this morning, I managed to get some more time this afternoon on the neck.

Started getting some of the excess off the back and bringing in the shape of the heel and volute.

When it is getting close to the line I move on to a radius block to level it off and use a piece of wood clamped in the right position to keep it central down the length.

Still got plenty more sanding to do to level it off and need to work on the transitions between the heel and neck, as well as the volute and neck. The headstock still needs thinning out a bit as well, but I will do that once the volute has taken shape fully.

9 minutes ago, Professor Woozle said:

I'm slowly turning a rosewood table top piece into two guitar tops by that means

Ouch... Good luck with that, took me around 2 hours for each piece, my arm and shoulder were aching a bit last night.

Look forward to seeing the guitars you are making, the rosewood tops will be nice to see.