Andyjr1515

And here it is, trimmed and ready for putting in the inlays: As I was redoing the fretboard, I've added the extra couple of fret slots to 24. The body shape has been designed, on the other hand, for full access and thumb anchor point for bends up to the 22nd. When it's all glued up and I can air-guitar it, I'll decide whether to provide the extra cutout area to the 24th or whether that would spoil the look. I don't think Jane will be doing three-semitone bends on the 23rd and 24th so - for this one - it doesn't matter too much

I generally slot before I trim to final width - I've had the edges ping off in the past which is not great if it's already at final size! I've sorted the slotting routine with the G&W mitre box - it works quite well and quickly once you've got your head around what to clamp where to make sure nothing moves! I was pleased to see that there is now a set-up and user guide pdf on the G&W web site - although modesty would forbid me saying who wrote most of it And 1/2hr or so later it's all ready to trim to width: Looking at the weather, there'll be plenty of time to make a bit more progress tomorrow

Ref the spraying, I just don't have the facilities. It's only recently I've been able to sort something more practical than a Workmate on the back patio I've got a proper workbench in the cellar now but that's about it. Also, most of my builds are trans finishes or natural so I tend to use stains rather than paints. Ref grainfilling, I generally do the slurry and wipe/ buff approach - I've not been able to find a grain filler that goes on well, accepts stain and sands down easily. It must exist but I haven't found anything yet that beats slurrying the wood itself - especially since finding out that you can do that with stained wood. I quite like seeing some evidence of the grain with most of the woods I use. This one has the lot - stained with ink, slurry and wipe/buffed with tru-oil, Ronsealed wiped on. All done on a small table in the spare bedroom. Andyjr1515 nirvana! Apologies, @Geek99 for the slight de-rail

Sometimes more like this: I might not be much help on this one: I've done white and I've done bursts ....but I've never done a white burst! And I'm not entirely sure how I would go about it. And generally I don't spray. And I generally don't grain fill in the conventional manner. Basically - my approach tends towards the unconventional in a number of aspects and so I would probably start from a completely different place. There are some pointers I've gleaned from the various trials and tribulations I've had that might help, though. But I emphasise these are just what I've experienced...other people may have had more success than I did: I think linseed oil is a bit of a problem. Tru-oil - which many guitar makers use - is a polymerised linseed based product. Basically, it sets hard over time. I'm not sure that linseed oil by itself does. As such, there may be problems trying to overcoat linseed oil with many things - although perhaps OK with Tru-oil Personally, I steer clear of nitro-cellulose. You HAVE to wear a properly spec'd respirator - it is pretty evil stuff - but more than that, it is very, very particular to what it is sprayed on or what is sprayed on it. And it blooms in damp weather...and and and Yes - the spray cans from halfords, etc, will work fine and give you a huge choice of colours and a decent clear coat. Always start with a primer, though, if you are using solid colours. If you are spraying onto bare wood, use a clear sanding sealer. You still need to wear a respirator when you are spraying and follow all of the other precautions stated on the tins but functionally will work and, in my experience are less sensitive to humiditiy, etc.. They can nevertheless be still reactive with previous coats and other products. The folks above who say 'always test on some scrap' speak wise words You can produce very good results for many effects without having to spray... The good thing, though, is that generally at worst, you can fairly easily sand back to the wood and start again. Sorry I've not been more help on this one Andy

The good thing about the change of plan is that it gave me more practice with the home-made radiusing jig If I ever get round to building a version 2 there are a few improvements I would make but, to be honest, it seems to do the job. Here it is after one pass (cutting the radius and then indexing it forward 3mm or so each time): I'm pretty sure the lines on the righthand side is that the two radius ends of the jig a slightly out with each other, causing one corner of the router bit to dig in. You see the effect more here - but decent first pass rough radius? : After 15 mins or so with the radius block it was like this: I think this was the right decision

That's no problem at all. To be honest, if I had been making it for myself, I'd have gone for the maple. It matters not - I've got a good feeling about this build so I think it's going to please both me and Jane whatever

Certainly was the case with my yew 6 string above - but this one maybe a touch too much contrast? Anyway, at the end of the day, the future owner prefers the dark board. I'll use the maple fretboard next time I build one for myself

I sent Jane a copy of the above photo of the guitar and bass - and she prefers the dark fretboard of the Jag bass. So this is where I'll be heading: Thanks for the input, folks - always appreciated

Just the outline and cutaway stripes, but the darker fretboard would certainly tone with the wenge This is probably a better representation of the tone difference: ...and this is probably close to how they would compare in real life:

Yes - if I did the macassar, I would use an ebony binding with a maple feature stripe. This is sort of what I had in mind when I chose the maple: But the amboyna is going to be darker than the yew and hence me wondering if the contrast is a tad too much

OK - I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure Ignore the fact the the body carve isn't finished yet, but I'm thinking ahead. Bear in mind that the fretboard will tint down a touch, but this is presently the sort of look: Thing is, is the contrast good or bad Would it be better with a macassar ebony fretboard this kind of colour, or is that going too conventional?: What do you reckon?

I made a quick profile template for the back carve from the cover of an old A4 writing pad: Then got to work with my pull-shave. I agonised before I bought this a few years ago - I'd never seen anyone else use one - but am SO glad I did! It's proved useful for many tasks, but for this it's perfect: It really didn't take all that long to get to this stage: Then to the top carve. I will do this over a couple of days. I like to leave it part complete and come back to it afresh - otherwise you end up not being able to see the wood for the trees to use an appropriate phrase This is enough for the first stage of the top carve: Total weight at the moment is 3lbs 13oz with quite a bit of neck wood still to remove.

It's wenge again

With the top glued on, time to rout the excess oak. After too many scary moments with the router, I decided to do it very, very gradually. Ignore the bearing on this shot - it was the only 1/4" shank bit I had to covered the whole of the back panel depth in one go, so the bearing was running in fresh air. The key thing is that I used a series of guide rings, so that each cut was 1mm max: This meant no kicks or catches at all, even round the two horns! Hooray!!!!! After the last ring (16mm), it left an excess of 1mm that I then used a conventional top bearing bit to remove, over two runs to achieve the depth: And there we have it - basically trimmed: Oak might be a bit of a pig to work with, but there's going to be some interesting grain patterns on the finished guitar:

While I don't really trust my carving skills entirely, I DEFINITELY don't trust my router skills. I think the veneer scenario is perhaps a little to close to reality I'll start with the back, using a pull shave, micro-planes and curved scrapers and then go at the top with just micro-planes and scrapers...it's safer

Reference the sequence of glue / carve, I've decided to trust arithmetic and scale drawings Basically, as long as I carve the curves to this full-size template, I shouldn't break through. Here's hoping! And so out came the router. I've left extra thickness where I'm going to do any carving through the layers, scoops or strap button points: And then - an essential step for the final carve - a template of exactly where those chambers are. Like when I'm veneering, I just make an impression on sheets of paper. It does fine. And finally - what was that mantra about how many clamps you need, again?

From the look of the weather forecast, I'll have plenty of time over the next few days for guitar building! Just as well, really, because the next part is probably going to take the longest - carving the oak. I need to get all of the weight I'm intending to remove out of the oak before I put the top on. One of those tasks is easy - I must have been daydreaming when I cut the 'LP-Junior' style control chamber hole: Clearly, regardless of how little is going to fit into this chamber, the larger it is, the more weight will come out. So I will first cut the largest chamber cover I can from the amboyna (or maybe from the neck laminations) offcuts, and that will be the guide to the largest chamber hole I can cut. In the meantime, I will start on the concave carve at the back and the hidden lightening chambers in the oak . The finished cross section will be broadly like this: There's no best sequence of doing this - if I carve the back first, then holding everything steady while I try and rout and carve the chambers is tricky. But if I rout and cave the chambers first, I have to absolutely know that I'm not going to break through when I start carving the concave... I'll have a ponder on that little conumdrum... In the meantime, I've tapered and bound the fretboard and also rough tapered the neck: For the binding, as mentioned above I've tried the technique I used on my own Swift Lite of using an acoustic guitar edge binding to make it easier to produce a neat and un-wavy feature line. It's certainly MUCH easier that trying to glue flat sheets of maple and ebony veneer to the back of the fretboard! :

I like that battery holder, Jez. It looks simple but effective. The commercial offerings are often neither.

With the control chamber cut out, it was time to glue the back panels: It will need a final flattening before the top is glued on, but is pretty flat as glued: The back will be concave curved as with my own Swift Lite build - you can see how much will be removed from the inner areas of the panels here: Also tapered the fretboard. I'm going to try the trick of using fretboard binding with a feature stripe again. Here's the binding being glued. The vertical lump of ply is to stop the two cauls from collapsing inwards:

I use a veritas sharpening jig on a diamond steel, then two grades of japanese waterstone. Whenever I try and do things like that freehand, I end up with curves instead of flat faces

And onto the oak. I blunted all of my tools and saw blades today getting the joint faces of the oak panels ready for attachment and cutting the oversize outline. Man, it's tough stuff. And to think they used to build ships out of the stuff! : Long, long way to go on this - but it IS already starting to look like a guitar...

Seemed to spend a lot of today down the cellar with routers, band saw, scroll saw, etc, etc but relatively little to show for it! Most of the work has been getting the neck ready for adding the oak back wings but it's been more about squaring up and getting things flat and parallel rather than anything special to see. While I was down there, though, I did push my hobby-grade bandsaw to its limit to cut a slice of amboyna offcut for the headstock plate: ...and then get it on the scroll saw to give me the plate ready to glue. Also added the two small wings on the headstock to give me the required width: The other thing I've done is drawn the body section full size to work out the convex / concave curves top and back so tomorrow, should be able to cut the two oak panels....

Yes - a piccolo bass is generally pitched one octave higher than a standard bass, same pitch as an electric guitar. However, depending on the strings, pickups, etc, they have their own sound...definitely not electric guitar sounding.

I got it at the Wood Veneer Hub here If you open the drop down box, the 1.5 and 2mm stuff is listed under 'Constructional Veneers' For most, you need to call to see what stocks of what sizes they have and for them to find out if it can be cut or not, ref the transport.

I'll dig out the specific supplier in the morning, but basically if you google 'constructional veneer' you should get some leads. The constructional veneer is usually 2mm.