Andyjr1515

Bit of practice and a bit of luck, to be honest. For the bottom pieces I run my thumb round the sheet still with it's backing on around the outside of the chamber to allow me to form an impression of the shape and cut it. I do a trial fit with the backing still on and then peel the backing off to try to line it up in the chamber in the same way as best as I can (although, as you have found, once you take the backing off it has a mind of its own). Once in guestimated position, I then smooth it to stick it to the wood from the middle outwards. For the sides - especially this one where I have a 'hanging rebate' giving an overhang - I've done it in a series of relatively narrow vertical strips which overlap. Because they are narrow, it's easier to line up the bottom edge, smooth the back face right into the overhang corner, round the bottom of the overhang and round to the edge, and finally to the top of the rebate where it will make contact with the hatch. I then cut the excess with a single edged razor blade. It has to be said that, for this job, a sharp single-edged razor blade is your friend When it's all done, I'll be wiping a trace of solder over the joints of the various pieces to make sure there's earth continuity (checked with a multi-meter).

Control chamber and hatch shielded. Pickup chamber this evening

On recent builds, for earthing the bridge I've started using a strip of the self-stick copper foil that I also use for the chambers: The solder joint sits inside the entry scoop and so you don't have the worry of the wires lifting the bridge or eventually sinking into the finish and breaking contact: And we have a fitted and earthed bridge : As the copper foil is out of the drawer, next job may as well be shielding the chambers.

So, and I say this with due modesty, back to me me ME ! So what was the rookie error? 1st Tip: whenever you have a channel in timbers that are going to be glued together, then always insert an old E string (or B is even better) through the channel while the glue is still wet 2nd Tip: always remember 1st tip My additional problem was that I was aware that the hole for the bridge wire (for reasons I can't remember) wasn't completely straight so I couldn't just drill from the top until it cleared it. My additional additional problem was that I'd hampered the access to the hole from the control chamber with the rebate offcut I'd just fitted. With the deft whack of the mallet on the tight-radius curved chisel, this was the first part of the corrective action: Then, with the drill at the very end of the chuck jaws, and keeping a VERY close eye on how close the rotating chuck was to that newly finished tru-oil, I started drilling from both sides towards the middle, frequently checking the angles and progress with a sharp prodder. Eventually, the prodder hit something soft and a decent push meant the two holes had at last met A bass string threaded through confirmed it: So back on track. I'll sort the earth out and fit the bridge next

No criticism at all, Alan - the thread went 'off-piste' a few posts earlier and that was the diversion I was referring to And diversions are not a problem to me at all....11 pages of build thread probably proves that most of the diversions are my own But yes - I will post how I solved the rookie 'glue in the hole' issue...once I've worked out how to

Well, an interesting, if slightly odd, diversion to the build thread. But any diversion that gets @skelf (who's work I find awe-inspiring and bass-builder-inspiring in equal measure) posting on one of my threads is always very welcome Anyway, we'll be getting back to the boring old stuff like my-bridge-earth-wire-hole-blocked-by-glue very soon

Usually just a wipe with dampened cloth and buff up with a clean lint-free one (the white polishing cloths you can get quite cheaply in Halfords are ideal. It dries pretty hard over the first 2-3 weeks and is more resilient than you would imagine. That said, it is nowhere near as scratch resistant as, say, an industrial poly but is much, much easier to do an invisible mend in the event of a mishap that you don't want to flaunt as 'mojo' . Tru-oil applied this way naturally drops a touch from the high gloss over the first 12 months but will then keep that level of shine for years. Auto-polishing isn't really recommended because any cutting polish can take the thin gloss coat away and reveal the previous flattened, duller, regions. If I was selling one and wanted it to sparkle, personally I would just use a decent quality auto or furniture non-spray wax - I've used Meguiers Carnuba Wax, natural Bri-wax and Lord Sheraton's Furniture wax successfully in the past. But for my own instruments, I always think that the slight off-peak gloss it naturally drops to actually adds to the look of the instrument.

Thanks More specifically, swifts. Good that they look like birds

And so with the finish just about where I want it, the myriad of final assembly tasks begins. The idea for using Tru-oil is to do something similar to @Jus Lukin 's headless build - have enough gloss to show off the wood figuring but still have enough grain showing through to retain the organic feel of some lovely timbers. This is pretty much there - below, you can see the gloss on the main reflecting surface but, if you look at the edges of the reflection see the shimmer where the oil has sunk into the grain? It's pretty much like that over the complete top and more-so for the 'strident' grain of the oak at the back : The first part of the assembly is fitting the tuners, because I need those to line up the bridge. Here they are fully fitted with the truss rod cover just placed on at the moment (magnets will be fitted in the next couple of days). The nut, also, isn't yet fitted and finished and nor are the fretboard or frets: In that it is easier to reposition two bridge screws rather than four, I fit two of them first and check the alignment of the two outer strings all the way down the fretboard: Yup - straight. So tomorrow I'll sort the bridge earth, drill the other two holes and fully fit the bridge. Then next will come the cavity shielding and fitting the electrics.

And neck done. While @Matt P 's final whisper coats of Tru-oil were drying I go back to this. The brass nut needed slimming down and thinning down: Then the fret recrowning and polishing: And finally a last tidy up of the rosewood: So all ready to return to @AndyTravis

Today is all about the last flattening, now the main coats are relatively hard and cured, to remove any dust buggies, runs or roughness followed by a few whisper coats to re-establish the shine. Because of the drying time that usually lasts a couple of days. So, if all goes to plan, final assembly and start of set up should start middle of this week

Very nice of you to say so, but I think I am also firmly in the decent amateur camp also And a jolly good camp it is, judging on how your own and everyone else's projects here are developing!

To inset the jackplate I first attached it and then scribed round the outside and marked the jack centre-point: Next, I tapped some curved incisions around the marked periphery with a couple of sizes of chisel and mallet: Then drilled the 20mm hole with a forstner and started very carefully chiselling a 1.5mm depth within the marked periphery. It takes care and very sharp chisels. The mallet is essential. I still managed to take a chip out around the hole but happily nowhere that mattered (phew): And done:

Well, they do say the the only good router's a captive router

And yes, the hatch all-in-all has probably taken more time than the neck carve did...but it is, nevertheless, probably the best hatch I've done to date . Now complete with the all-essential fingernail cutaway: Trussrod cover and jack plate next

Because it is going to be important that the purfling is fit well round the rebate, I've decided to use the 'iron on' method I use for veneer and bindings. This is what I will use: A thin coat of PVA round the rebate, a thin coat round the outside of the bent purfling, then let it dry. Then use the travel iron to 'weld' the two pieces together, a few cm at a time and then holding it tightly into the recess while it cools: Then a trim of the excess with a single edged razor and we basically have the binding fitted other than a coat of tru-oil to blend it in: The hatch needs a bit more sanding for smooth edges and a to give a bit more clearance and also I need to create a fingernail recess so that Matt can get it off once the magnets are in (the hatch here is sitting a bit proud because it's tight and I don't want it to get stuck!), but this is broadly the idea :

That pickguard is just right! It's looking splendid

I agree. It adds a major touch of class

And out comes the acoustic guitar sides bending iron. Note the positioning of the waste bin - it saves time when you are throwing all the snapped ones away But it's a lot easier bending purfling than acoustic side sets ... I reckon this is going to work OK. I'll tidy up the sides of the rebate to get smooth continuous curves so there are going to be no gaps and then get it trimmed to length and glued.

Strictly speaking - and important if you are discussing with other luthiers - it's a "purpleheart-stringers-bound-between-oak-and-maple" joint Also known as ein "lilaHerz Stringer zwischen Eiche und Ahorn gebunden" gelenk in Germany, @Si600 ?

So what I will have a go at is bending this type of b/w/b purfling (generally used for detail features on acoustic edge binding and rosette holes) to go all the way round the edge of the recess. This should give a passing nod to the same b/w/b of the fretboard/neck demarcation line: It will need bending over my acoustic side bending iron first. While I'm fiddling with that, I'll carry on doing the final sand and putting the additional tru-oil coats on the hatch itself.

For the rebate that the magnets will fit into, I've cut a couple of pieces of the offcut from the walnut top: Not the prettiest, but it should be functional (and it's hidden ) I have a decision on whether to add a binding to close the gap a touch, but this is basically how the grain will match so I am glad I did it this way: Tomorrow will be the trussrod cover

For levelling, these are the main things I use. First I adjust the truss rod (it works!) to flatten the neck and then use the Crimson rocker (you can use a snipped credit card but I find this durable and better in avoiding mis-readings) at 4 points along each triplet of frets and note the high spots for each of the frets up the board. The levelling beam is just a length of aluminium box section with emery cloth stuck to one side. It acts as my straight edge as well as sanding beam. It's always gratifying when the sanding beam filings correspond with the previously measured high spots! I then use the two diamond sharpening stones for more localised work - if you have one or two particularly high high-spots, you can end up inadvertently sanding frets that don't need it while you are taking down those particular high spots. It's better to file the high spot down and then level out the minor variances. Double checked with the rocker and next job is recrowning the tops of the frets that have been affected.

And I think the finish for the body and neck may be there. Still got to do the headstock plate but that is a straightforward job. What I'm trying to do is achieve a 'light gloss' with the tru-oil. That is, enough thickness to get the figuring really popping but letting it sink in some of the grain to retain the organic feel of the wood. On the neck, a classic Tru-oil slurry and buff silky satin. Here's where I've got to:

Tang slots filled and fret ends rounded. Just the levelling, recrowning, polishing and final tidying up left to do