Reg Maxwell

Hi Again, Thanks for the tips on the inserts/bushings. Half the battle is knowing what these components are all called so I can work the google I'll try to get veneers without backing in future. Sounds like they're easier to work with. Seems like most of the veneers you can get on ebay in the UK are the paper-backed worktop type jobbies, does anyone UK based have a particular supplier they can recommend? Bindings This actually went waay better than I expected. I got a router bit with a bearing on the top and replaced the bearing with a smaller one, making about a 1.4mm rebate bit. I bought some ABS plastic bindings off of ebay (6mm x 1.5mm), and applied them using a pipette full of acetone and a roll of masking tape. There were a few corners where I'd damaged the edge of the veneer so I dissolved some abs offcuts in acetone to make a sticky black sludge and used it as filler to go in behind the binding. It went on really well and actually hid the veneer fails pretty well. The problem I had with it was in the sanding back. Sanding the face of the veneer put scratches in the bindings and wore the corner round. even using really fine (600+) sandpaper left scratches in the bindings. I figured that, if you can see fine scratches in paint between coats, that probably the lacquer would fill in most of the scratches and it would look fine. unfortunately it would seem that the scratches in the bindings also had resulted in wood dust getting embedded in it so as you may be able to see from the last photo there are some cloudy grey scratches in the otherwise black binding. I guess cream bindings wouldn't show this up so bad So I'm thinking I've done all this in the wrong order. Like maybe I should have cut the binding slot first, then prepared the body ready for painting, including sanding sealer etc, then attached the binding last and levelled it with a cabinet scraper instead of sanding it. there are also issues with the join between the grey painted wood and the edge of the binding but I'll save that for my paintwork roundup. So, any top tips for my next attempt at adding bindings? Is there a particular process or nack for avoiding sanding marks in the binding? I think even if I put it on really late in the process there's still going to be trouble sanding back paintwork etc

couple of veneer pics. the one taken from the side should show up the ripple that has formed. Am I right in thinking the veneer has come away from the paper backing?

that limba looks fantastic!

Veneer Work This bit was, to my shame a mess. So the threaded bridge and tailpiece inserts were in the wood. I had no idea (and still don't know) if it's possible to safely remove them, so I attempted to veneer around them... I got a roll of paper backed veneer to use, and remember Bob saying that he always glued veneers face-down and sanded the paper off of the back. that seemed awkward to me given that the threaded inserts were still present, and a youtube veneer tutorial instructed that veneers be glued paper side down... So that's what I went with. Given that the face of the guitar still had a thick layer of whatever that nasty chippy resin/lacquer is they use on these cheap things I figured that PVA probably wouldn't stick too well as it had nothing to soak into, so I used areldite instead lol I cut a rough guitar shaped template out of mdf, and sliced off the arm rest so I could clamp most of the surface (I drilled out where the threaded inserts would line up to the template so there was pressure all around them) and clamped it all down for a couple of days. This actually has stuck on pretty well over most of it. The issues I've faced with this are mostly my own lack of care and attention, and the problems caused by those threaded inserts. I managed to cut a couple of chunks out of the veneer by not paying adequate attention when going round chopping the edges off with a stanley. Naturally having those threaded inserts in there prevented me from sanding the top properly either before painting it or during the coats of lacquer. As a result I've not been able to get a perfect finish, with the lacquer being a lot more orange-peely than I'd like. There are also visible surface imperfections still from inadequately filled grain. Also, possibly due to the veneer being cheap rubbish off eBay, possibly due to me gluing it paper side down, a couple of tiny ripples have appeared in the surface since gluing it. I suspect the veneer has delaminated off the paper slightly as I struggle to believe areldite would have lifted like that. So a couple of questions here really, 1) is it possible to safely remove the threaded inserts? If so is there a nack to doing it without smashing things to bits? 2) should I be veneering paper-side-down like the youtube tutorials say, or paper side up like good old Bob? 3) was areldite a bad idea? lol I've tried to add a couple more pictures here but I'm struggling to get the files to upload. I think I may have tried too many assorted photos. I'll upload a couple more when I figure out how And thanks so much for your replies already. I'm really grateful for the pointers. I like to have a go myself before I go asking loads of questions but I really appreciate the willingness to share advice.

cool thanks for the info. Cabinet scraper - that's what I used, just didn't know the name. I'll invest in a decent hand plane and do some practise carves. I think using a rasp for the bulk of the work suits me well, a plane sounds like a good option to smooth off from there thanks. I'll pop up some stuff on the veneer work a bit later on after work,

Carving This actually went pretty well. The chamfer on the front was painful to do... I stuck the guitar body in a vice and hacked it off with a saw... then with guide lines drawn on with a sharpie (this thing was already covered in thick lacquer, otherwise id have used pencil) I used a coarse then fine rasp to flatten it off, and finished up with one of those rectangular thick steel blades to scrape it flat. The curved cut out of the back was more difficult, again I drew guide lines with a sharpie and then just rasped away until it looked about right before going back to the blade to finish it up. Problem I encountered here was that some of the wooden strips were softer than others, and it was extremely difficult to get a consistent surface. I ended up using car filler primer (you know that manky gloopy yellow spraypaint) to actually get a flat surface. That's no cop if you want a clear finish. I guess this will be somewhat moot in a scratch build because I'll be in control of what piece of wood it's made of, but are their any products/techniques that can be recommended for getting a consistent surface after a carve?

Hi Guys, I've recently got back into the fun of woodworking and guitar making after nearly 15 years and would appreciate some pointers/advice from those who know what they're doing A bit of background, when I was a teenager just starting my A levels, I asked a very dear friend of my family, a superbly talented cabinet maker responsible for fit and finish for a luxury yacht company, if he'd mind giving me some pointers as I wanted to make a guitar. After several long afternoons spent together in his workshop, I had a totally unique guitar to learn to play on. Sadly about 18 months later we lost him to lung cancer and I didn't have the heart to carry on with further projects, it was hard to even pick up that guitar afterwards for a long time. I've very much wanted to make another custom guitar since then, and recently found out that one of my very good friends who has never been able to afford to have any kind of custom instrument has had a long-time desire for a very specific custom Strat. I have felt different recently about the whole woodworking thing and find now that playing that guitar and working on such projects actually brings back the fond memories in a good way and I'd really like to pay some of Bob's kindness forward and make that special Strat for my friend James. So, without any real clue what I was doing, I didn't want to jump straight in. I had the opportunity to rescue an abandoned 'refurb' job so got to work. Attached is a picture of the guitar as I received it, an Epiphone Les Paul Special II. Worth about £120 when new... It had most of the hardware removed (supplied separate in jam jar) and the front had been heavily sanded with 40 grit (including the inserts for the bridge and tail piece) I had a number of things I wanted to learn to do properly; 1) Carving. A good strat has a confortable cutout in the back and a chamfered endge on the front 2) veneer work 3) bindings 4) painting I'm still waiting for my new pickups to arrive but the guitar is otherwise mostly 'done' and I have had a few issues with those 4 things that I'd appreciate some advice on if thats OK I've also attached a picture of how the guitar looks now, in its almost finished state. I'll make a couple of replies to this thread for the issues I've faced, apologies if that's not the way you normally do things around here but I'm a newbie My goal, if I have some idea how to avoid the issues I've encountered on this build/refurb, is to have a solid basis for a scratch built Strat.