Andyjr1515

Waiting patiently

Great minds think alike... Although I've used standard MoP, this is what I remade last night: I've also made some more to replace the brass knobs on my own build

There are a number of builders on this forum, @Bastav , who are my inspiration and act as my aspiration to improve certain aspects of my own building. To do carves like this without a single lump or bump evident is what I presently strive for. I haven't got there yet and will look at these photos as a reminder of how close I'm getting - or, looking at them here, how far I am away.

Actually, re-engaging brain - this is a 2+2? If so, the angle over the nut should be sufficient anyway without a tree. The angle of the G and D should, theoretically, be the same as over the E and A on a typical Fender headstock, which don't need a tree...

Well, in theory, a well glued titebond joint is as stong as solid wood. However, that does assume a perfect joint, well clamped during gluing. The thinner headstock (15mm ish) leaves a significantly shorter scarf length than the more usual neck position so I'm not sure. It should be fine.....but It's a lot of trouble to go to, though. What's the issue with a Fender type tree?

I'm rubbish at scarf joints so can't offer any advice, other than I can't see why it wouldn't work. As you say, you would need to veneer or put a headstock plate on to hide the join. I look forward to seeing how this develops

Actually....nah - the MoP dots are too big, now I've looked at how they look on the guitar. So...hmmmm....smaller dots...swifts... Who knows. Only thing that's certain is that there's more workshop time coming up

I thought of adding some inlayed swifts instead of the dots but then figured life is too short...

I haven't bought the pots for this build yet so could use either. For split splined shafts, I use the old trick of screwing the grub screw into the slot of the split shaft which I always personally reckon is more secure than on a solid shaft because, as well as the splines splaying firmly against the sides of the collet, the split also 'grabs' the grub screw itself which then rarely loosens

I followed up @RichardH 's supplier leads from the previous build thread (Thonk is SUCH a great name for a company) and some of @Norris and other kind folks' suggestions and have made myself some knobs! Got the inserts from Thonk and a cheapo diamond hole/plug cutter from ebay: Then, after a few trial runs to work out the best sequence, started with a 9.5mm hole in some scrap oak: Then used a Forstner for the nut relief in the bottom: Then the plug cutter: And added the screw access hole before filing out the bore to a very slight interference push fit for the insert: Then took some macassar offcut and drilled a 6mm hole: Then plug-cut that: Then glued the two together, added a MoP dot, and rounded the sharp edges: Well pleased! Thanks for the tips and encouragement, folks. They are a fraction of the weight of the normal powder-coated brass ones I usually fit. When I get a moment, I'll make some more and replace the three on my own build

Not really necessary IMHO - certainly, 5mm for the back of the pickups is plenty. It's also quite rare for the back to hit anything that would be capable of doing that kind of damage. No, the care taken was more to make use I didn't inadvertently break through with the router or drill - which with my measuring skills is a much higher risk! With the control chamber, there is a theoretical risk - and you do see from time to time guitars and basses that have fallen on their fronts and the knobs have punched a hole through into the control chamber. But again, by and large, it's a fairly low risk. When you think about it, acoustic guitars have a side and back thickness of around 1.7mm and tops typically at 2.5 - 2.9mm and, certainly in my young days in the pubs of Wolverhampton, they used to survive being used as clubs to fight off angry skinheads fairly well. Used to play havoc with the tuning, mind....

That's looking really nice

The pickup chambers need some care. There will be less than 5mm thickness under the chamber so precise measurement and cutting is essential. Many of you know that I hate routers and I hate using routers. But for a flat-bottomed deep chamber, it's almost unavoidable. So personally, I use the router for the least number of operations. I start with defining the depth and corners with a drill: Then make a relatively shallow hog-out with a forstner bit: I then straighten the cuts around the outline with a sharp chisel down to the depth of the amboyna top. And only then do I use a bearing router. I use a very short one so I can safely tidy the sides of the existing shallow chamber before I start cutting the chamber bottom. So again, I basically use the top as my template - I know that is not the usual way but all I can say is that it works for me and I've massively reduced pickup routing c**k ups since I started doing it like this Then, using the bearing trimmer against the tidied up chamber sides, I just deepen a couple of mm a time to the required depth. And here we have the chambers with the sub-5mm thick bottoms: And the inevitable mock-up. I may well use black pickup rings on the finished article - but I happened to have these gold ones in the spares box so they will have to do for the mock up: As always, folks, thanks for looking and for the ever encouraging feedback.

The back carve is pretty close to being done and the neck carve is also starting to get there. I've also recessed the control chamber enough to be able to cut the hatch shape, although - depending on how deep the electrics are - either the recess still has to be deepened or the hatch itself thinned a couple of mm. The swifts are also fitted in the headstock plate... ...and so, in terms of the front, probably the next job is fitting the bridge so that I can properly line up the pickup chambers before forstner roughing and then chiselling them out.

I'm probably about half way through the neck and back carve. As I've mentioned before, I finish the neck profile off once the guitar is finished and fully strung up - yes, I know. I'm weird like that - but there's still a bit of bulk to take off to get to my preferred softish 'V' profile. After just a few minutes with a spokeshave, most of the carve has been done using micro plane blades, just held in gloved hands like a scraper. The towelling underneath is to stop any dints on the top - you can see it's been used for many times for past staining jobs. Based on the fact that a number of my staining jobs are red ink, it has the unfortunate look of the results of a serious router/finger incident! At this stage, I tend to do a lot of air-guitar playing I've got some more bulk to take out at the heel / body transition, but the thumb anchor points and 24th fret access feel fine so far. You can see why I took impressions earlier of where the hidden weight relief chambers are! Breaking through at this stage of the process would definitely spoil my day Total weight so far is spot on 4lbs - about 4oz lighter than my previous build. Having a bash at making my own wood knobs - which will save 2-3oz over the brass ones I previously used, a final 5 1/2 lbs weight should be within reach

Well, the tweaked cut outs and top are almost done. There might be a bit more to tweak once the back is done to get the feel and fret access just right, but this is getting close. Those of you who have seen my other builds will know that I generally pop an early coat of tru-oil on - regardless of what I will eventually finish it with - to help show up the lumps and bumps:

Next jobs are finalising the main carves Basically: tweaking the outline a tad finish off the top doing the back carving the neck The outline tweak is to compensate for the fact that, in changing from the maple to the macassar, I added two more frets to 24th. As such, I will deepen the cutouts a touch: Lots of chippings and sawdust coming up!

Now the fretboard is fixed, I can get on and finish the body carve

I will be putting the same demarcation feature under the headstock plate so I cut some offcuts of the maple and ebony veneers: Then glued and firmly clamped under a decently thick block of sapele: Then the final few jobs on the fretboard before fitting. Added the side dots and filled the fret slots with epoxy mixed with macassar dust: The headstock plate was clamped while being glued on using acoustic guitar bobbin clamps, but the fretboard needed something a little more substantial!

The veneers are dry and trimmed. Quite pleased with the result:

I'll do the rest of the body carve once the fretboard is on. The two jobs to do before I can do that is to fit the truss rod and to add the demarcation lines to the mating edge of the fretboard. Although for the maple board I was going for a bound fretboard using a binding already incorporating the feature lines: ...for the macassar, I've decided to go unbound. Hence, I need to create the demarcation lines with veneer. I've glued a maple veneer to the bottom of the macassar and then a black veneer to the bottom of that. To make sure it's flat, I've clamped the fretboard tightly over the veneers using radius blocks as cauls and the whole caboodle sitting on a very flat and sturdy plank:

OK - this is one of those times when I say 'why haven't I ALWAYS done it this way round????' I have to say, I found inserting the frets, trimming the fret ends, filing the fret ends and the bevels SO much easier done before gluing the fretboard onto the neck. I had a prejudice against doing it that way round, but I think I've just done a flip! I worked on this off and on over the day. Still not glued onto the neck but looking pretty good, even close up, in terms of straightness of sides and seating of the frets:

Each of the last few builds I've done the fretwork in different ways. This one is no exception. Having had some challenges in aspects of all of the other methods I've used, I thought I'd have a go at fretting before fitting the board to the neck. Also, for this one, I've decided to skip the bound board. My method of actually installing the frets is the same, though. I run a tiny bead of titebond along the tang, then hammer, then immediately clamp using the radius block as the shaped caul: One new thing for me is that I've bought a pair of fret tang nippers - very pleased with those so far...

That really is beautiful work, @Bastav . Lovely.

For the maple fretboard I was going to use some NZ Paua to get the contrast, but for the macassar I think MoP would work better. I cut out a couple of swifts for the 12th and routed the shapes with the dremel precision base: Then glued them in with epoxy mixed with fretboard sanding dust and added the MoP dots for the other positions: Then a quick sand with the radius block: