Setch

It's been a long time since I've logged on or posted here, or done much in the way of instrument building (real life - what a PITA) but I wanted to draw members' attention to the current situation with Amy Hopkins, who is facing significant medical bills, following open heart surgery for a congenital heart defect.

http://www.indiegogo.com/AmyHheart

Amy is a long time contributer and volunteer on the MIMF, a talented lutheir and instrument repairer, and a lovely human being, who has given freely of her own time, money and extensive skill set to help those in need. Right now she could really do with recouping a little of the positive karma she is owed.

Doubtless those users who are already MIMF members will have heard of this and given what they can afford to help Amy out, so apologies if this all old news to you, but if not, please consider giving as much or as little as you can afford to help Amy at a very difficult time. Every penny helps her focus on her health and recovery, instead of having to hustle to pay the bills.

Contributions can be made via Indiegogo, or directly to Clint Searcy's payal account (searcysw@gmail.com) if you want to avoid the Indiegogo comission.

Thanks in advance for anything you can give, and for taking the time to read this.

Wes, that is looking superb - I love your treatment of the heel. That said, the gap in the top would bug me, I'd be very tempted to inlay a line of veneer to match the back, or mask and spray a pinstripe of black lacquer, which will be indistinguishable from an inlay. If you go the latter route you can always spray it after a few coats of clear, and it will be totally reversible if it doesn't work.

PS: The comments about clean work are spot on - this has looked surgical throughout - good stuff!

Superb work So far BD - I've been away from PG for ages,(not done much guitar work recently) but this thread has sucked me back in. The headplate looks great, I was concerned the clear would show up differences between the stained wood and the black filler, but it has popped it and unified it beautifully.

Are you asking about trimming the binding nibs, or remving the tang from the fret so it can overlap the binding? If it's the former, just prep the board as normal, with a radius block and straight levelling block, and you'll remove the nibs automatically.

Sweet!

Define warped.

Post pics.

Anything else will be entirely pointless to discuss.

EDIT - OOPS - Where were those pics before...

That looks like quite severe bellying. Take a look inside and see if any of the braces have separated from the top, and consider taking it to a pro if anything has come loose. There are many things you can try to repair it, but apart from humidifying it a bit (see the link the previous poster added) there's not a lot I'd recommend to an inexperienced person.

Beautiful inside and out - I look forwards to seeing more!

On an Epi it's 100% not nitro. You can drop fill that with CA glue, then carefully scrape flat and polish. Alternatively you can leave it alone. I recommended the second approach by a country mile.

The easiest way is to stand with the guitar in playing position with your speaker cabinet behind you and to your left, play like you're really getting into it, then go in for a solo up on the high frets and turn sharply to your left and bend your knees a little. The neck should come clean off if you did it right.

Different joint, more surface area, and usually no void at the end of the tenon to allow steam to reach all faces of the joint. Also, unlike a dovetail, a straight mortice and tenon won't become loose as you pull it up, because it isn't tapered, and it will have a large, inaccessible area at the base of the joint which is glued, unlike a dovetail or mortice and tenon on an acoustic.

In short, you need the fretboard off to have a decent chance of removing the neck cleanly and without damage.

You won't find any plans - Ric are very active in defending their trademarks, and will send cease and desist letters to anyone who offers plans for anything even heavily Ric influenced.

You'll have to make your own plans, based on photos or examining the real thing.

Looks like a bang on job DJ - nicely done.

They must be one of the easiest shapes to cut yourself - no corners, and easy to route too!

Imade one from glass filled nylon, simply because I had some available. UHMW or a decent dense hardwood would work OK too. The slot needs to be 1/8" wide to accept the insert, the rest of the dimensions can be adapted to fit your specific needs.

+2

A conventional dowel will strip out quite easily, since you'll be screwing into endgrain. Like Wez sez. a plug cut dowel with the grain correctly oriented is the way to go.

Hah - I don't think I should be held up as an example of how to do it, I struggled like crazy, and ended up laminating the binding out of veneer...!

David Myka, on the other hand, clearly has it down cold, as I'm sure Chris knows (how did that visit end up Chris - I lost the thread on the OLF?). Also, Mario Proulx has posted pics on the MIMF of maple bent around a 1/2" radius, so it can be done.

I recently got a 'lockjaw' at a DIY trade show (for use as manufactured, not to mod) and it's a very nifty tool. That said, I don't know if it's auto adjusting feature will lend itself to use as a fretpress. It is a joy to use as a regular set of molegrips.

You can fret on the guitar neck or off, either way works. If you fret off the guitar, I recommend sticking the fretboard to a dead flat, heavy, workboard.

Sorry - I really can't visualise what you've done - any chance of a picture?

Frank ford shows how he made one on his Frets site. I did the same - scribing the lines into a piece of perspex with a setsquare and digital caliper, getting 0.1mm wider each graduation.

My condolences Daniel, what a crappy time to be dealing with this. My thoughts are with you, and your family.

Chances are the original finish was amber coloured - the pale lines where you lost lacquer strongly suggest this, as does the pee-coloured slurry when wet sanding

However, you can't easily colour CA prior to drop filling, so that's why you need to stain/dye the light lines first. What you've got now looks pretty good, and you're unlikely to get an invisible repair on a poly finished instrument anyway. I'd call it done.

To buff out I use Meguiars scratch-X. You will need to sand to at least 1500 before buffing as the scratch X isn't abrasive enough to remove anything coarser than that without taking forever...

Ferrules will add weight - metal is much denser than even the heaviest woods or bone. You want to keep your bridge light, or it's like a boat anchor sitting in the centre of the soundboard. That's why you don't see many people using brass saddles, pins or bridge plates.

GOTM!

Nice!!