Andyjr1515

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1457606191' post='3000017'] That's logical, but it seems to me like buying a diamond anniversary present at the very first date..! 'Twould come in handy and save time later, too..! [/quote]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1457568019' post='2999824'] I admire the optimism shown by sticking the label inside the guitar before it's finished..! Added incentive, maybe, to take it easy and make no slip-ups, eh..? [/quote] Partly....but mainly because it's a lot easier to glue it accurately onto the back before you glue the back on

Now that's quite, quite weird, gelfin On with the build. The neck routing jig I mentioned earlier is a few ideas stolen from LMII and Robert O'Brien (whose 'Luthier Tips du Jour' videos are great) and a bit of lateral thinking relating to converting an old Black and Decker Workmate into a neck and body routing jig. Here it is in the body slot routing configuration: The jaws of the workmate, lined with cork, grip the heel end of the body. The rig will take mortice and tenon templates or dovetail templates. With a 5 minute changeover, I have an adjustable angle jig for routing the neck: Tonight I tried my first dovetail on some scrap. First attempt was a scrapper because I made a basic error with the dovetail slot. But second trial came out like this: While I could still remember how I did it, I did my very first 'real' neck dovetail: ...followed 1/2 hour later by my first real dovetail body slot: To my utter surprise, it fit! ...nice and tightly: ...and at the correct angle: ...and correctly aligned! ...all in all that's pretty much as good as it gets! Well, well chuffed

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1457275687' post='2996927'] Amazing! Guitar building truly is an art and a complete mystery to me. [/quote] Well, I thought that about acoustic builds until I was inspired by a build thread on another forum. When you get down to it, it's just a progression of acquired skills rather anything magical. It's a very well-trodden and you-tubed progress path too (thank goodness )

I'm not sure what you mean. The SD-2 Dual Overdrive doesn't take or need a card. There is the option to be able to use an optional foot pedal to switch between crunch and overdrive rather than bending down to turn the knob setting but I think that's about it. The PDF of the owners manual can be downloaded from Boss's Support page here http://www.bossus.com/support/manual_archive/

Spent the morning checking measurements and preparing everything for the "Very Scary Bit" - routing the neck tenon and body mortice slot! This one really will be a case of check, double check, triple check, quadruple check before anything is cut. Obviously, the neck will be 30mm shorter once the neck is slotted in, but it's beginning to look like a guitar....

Not trimmed yet, but all four bindings are now safely on: While the dining room paint was drying, I managed also to get out with my cheapo-cheapo band saw to cut the rough outline of the neck: I'll be using one of the offcuts on the left to stick on to extend the heel to its full depth. But that's it for today. Got some serious digging to do next...sadly, not the foundations for a workshop

Well done for spotting that one, Paul. I suspect - particularly it being a Yamaha - that it's absolutely lovely It certainly looks great - and no, never seen one of these before. Andy

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1456485991' post='2989469'] Wow, this is still inspiring, awe-inspiring and frightening, and I love it. I'll have to go to Wiktionary now, and find out about "purfling", "routing", "binding" and "guitar". Thanks again for keeping us updated. [/quote] Thanks, BassTractor! Now onto the back binding routing and the associated challenges For anyone who hasn't done an acoustic binding, let me explain. [list] [*]The back is dished much more than the top [*]The angle at the edge of the back isn't, however, equal all around the perimeter - think tangents...where the waist pinches in, you are closer to the centre of the dish and therefore the tangential angle is smaller than at the upper bout and that is smaller than at the angle at the lower bout. Basically it's all over the place... [*]So, if you have a relatively large router base , the rise of the back at this angle means that the router rises (the router has to be kept vertical to keep the bearing-guided cut even in width and straight-sided. [*]Because the angle varies round the perimeter, the router therefore rises different amounts and the cut depth of the binding also varies, that is the bottom of the cut becomes a wavy line, not a straight one. [*]But the bottom of the binding must be straight for aesthetics and because it wont bend in that plane...you would just get gaps [/list] The short version of the above is "Just trust me. It ain't gonna work!" I don't make enough acoustics to invest in the clever (but very cumbersome) Stewmac / LMI rigs. The precision base with the binding roller fitment won't work for the above reasons. So I thought I'd try out this from Stewmac: It's like a mini roller-guided Dremel precision base. It is better than the big one because the base is much smaller, therefore the angle of the back at the perimeter affects it less. It still affects it, but at a manageable level. In terms of the gadget, I'll give it 7 1/2 out of 10:[list] [*]It's a fiddle to set the right height [*]Keeping the router vertical while cutting has to be done purely by eye - not easy [*]You still get variation in cut depth, but it is a smoother transition [*]It did a MUCH better job than my precision base (which is what I used on my OM build) [/list] I also managed to bend the back binding strips. I use a bending iron and then clamp them into the mould, give them a last spray of water, then leave them overnight: Next job, in between decorating the dining room (I know - ridiculous - it was only done twenty three years ago!), is sticking them on.

I spent a bit of time building a neck routing jig - more of that in a later post. In the meantime, I've started on the purfling and binding, starting with the edge routing: Then adding the 1mm wood black/white/black purfling. I use a very unconventional way of sticking these which will become clear when I move onto the binding. The purfling adds the finishing touch to an acoustic's binding: The binding I am using is rosewood with a black/white/black edge. My unconventional way of fixing wood bindings is that I IRON them on, in the same way that I do my veneering jobs. Not saying you should do this (I think I'm the only guy in the world that does) but it works for me. Basically, I paint a decent coat of good quality wood PVA glue onto the slot and the pre-bent binding (bent on the same hot pipe as the sides): Then I let it dry for 15- 20 minutes Then I position it and then iron it on, short section by short section, allowing each section to cool for 10 secs or so holding in place with a cloth before moving on: No more than 7 minutes from the point that the PVA had dried, the binding for that side is on ready for scraping or sanding: Not long now before I start on the neck in earnest.....

That's some very effective relicing, cameltoe. Love the look of the mock-up

Only just caught up with the latest on this. That is soooooo impressive, Jabba! Blast! That means I've got to raise my own game AGAIN!!! Those wretched Jabba's....can't hold the blighters down!!!!! OK - I'm going to add a sixteenth string on my 15 string travel hybrid acoustic ... no, maybe it'd better be seventeen.....

Very impressive stuff!

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1455717659' post='2981768'] Great to see this. Are you coming along to the Midlands Bass Bash with interesting instruments? [/quote] I was going to just bring my Bubinga fretless and the Squier veneered Jag basses. I won't bring this one, but I can bring the OM acoustic along and one of my 6-string electrics if anyone is interested (and promises not to exclude me from Basschat for bringing items from 'the dark side'...)

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1455717659' post='2981768'] Just how big is that cat? [/quote] Bloomin' huge! Got it from Dudley Zoo before they closed. They said it was fully grown but I'm not sure...it might be my imagination but it does seem to have got about 5' longer since we got her. A few of the neighbours have gone missing in the last couple of years and their families have blamed Tiddles! The cheek of it, I ask you....

[quote name='EmmettC' timestamp='1455639881' post='2980990'] This is a great read, I love the headstock on your other acoustic. [/quote] Thanks!

Clamps off, edges trimmed and a quick protective coat of varnish. This will all be sanded off when I do the finishing proper but, in the meantime, it protects particularly the top from dints from things like shavings, etc, when it's being manhandled for the binding, etc..: Next job on this is the purfling and binding which I haven't ordered yet. While I'm waiting, I'll start on the neck

I've done some further fine-tuning on the braces, with now a much richer resonance coming from the top. Also fitted the soundhole reinforcement and the bridge plate: Then finished off the back braces, central reinforcement strip and all-important label: And then, after checking and double checking and triple checking that I haven't forgotten to do something, glued the back on: If it's dry tomorrow, I'll trim the excess off and then start to do a bit on the neck blank. Thanks for the great feedback, folks Andy

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1455218841' post='2977224'] I guess there's less routing which looks fairly terrifying if you're not confident at it but more steps that need taking your time over and gear required. Still, nice work! [/quote] Yes - definitely more gear required...most of which you basically build yourself. I've just ordered the bits to make myself a routing jig for the neck joints on the body and neck - it will probably take me a week to build the jig and 20 minutes to rout the two pieces!

I like the look of that bridge, Bastav. I think this whole thing looks brilliant!

Oooohhh....that's really, really nice

That's coming up beautifully

[quote name='goblin' timestamp='1455277423' post='2977678'] Cheers guys There are various ways you can finish tru oil, I'm not fussed about going for the slurry and buff, given that the wood has been sanded to 2500 anyway, it wouldn't make much difference as the wood had a nice sheen to it before I'd even got anywhere near it with oil. Like anything, it has to be built up in coats, between 5 and 10 is ideal. The way I'll be doing the finish is a coat at a time with a very light rubbing with 0000 wire wool between coats to build it up, and this should give a rather nice sheen over the instrument, but not gloss. [/quote] No probs, Goblin - it's going to look superb whatever you do with it

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1455272709' post='2977618'] Sounds good. How do you do that? I'm guessing you simply put on a thin coat as I would normally with Linseed? I once saw a gloss Warwick for sale and I don't think the gloss was helpful to it selling. [/quote] It's a technique I have seen in a couple of the other forums. To be honest, I think it's how they use Tru-oil on gunstocks, which is where Tru-oil originated. It is VERY easy to do. You simply apply a dollop of tru-oil, then use c 1000 grit (or finer) wet and dry and use the tru-oil as the lubrication. This forms a very fine slurry that fills the minute voids and grain. You leave it 5 mins or so, and then wipe / buff it off. Do that 2-3 times and it's usually done. Then leave it overnight before final buff and, usually, it's ready to play! I do most of my necks that way - they end up silky smooth and very organic feeling - and, if it's natural wood, it's my preferred method for the bodies. These two were done like that - total finishing time was around 3 days from bare wood to being able to play it: Interestingly, I saw the bottom one in a gig last night. It's been heavily gigged (multiple times a week) for most of 2015 and it still looks like this...

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1455267396' post='2977564'] It's looking great, but doesn't Tru-oil give a high gloss finish? Have to say high gloss wouldn't be my choice for a Warwick, but each to their own. I'd use boiled linseed oil, which gives a satin sheen. I guess the advantage of Tru-oil is it's non permeable - in the same way as a varnish. [/quote] Not with the slurry and buff method, Grangur. Hence my question to Goblin. You can't easily use the slurry/buff method for a stained wood, but it is ideal for natural wood. It produces a silky smooth, satin finish that is fully protective but still feels like real wood. I think it would be perfect for this.