Christine

Yes, the neck blank was about 48mm thick but the body set back at 4.3 degrees needs to be 44mm thick to the wedge I sawed off the top to create the neck angle was glued back on underneath.

Hey! I'm retired!!

Please forgive the ostentatious title, some of you will remember a discussion a while ago regarding tool sharpening and my insistence that sharpening jigs are not needed; well I was asked to write this about how edge tools are sharpened in a professional cabinet making shop. Now please don't try and compare how a jobbing chippy sharpens his or her tools on site that is a different story but cabinetry and Luthiery have a similar need for tools that are precisely sharp as opposed to being sharp enough. I will honestly say the one machine/power tool I would not do without is a wet grinder, I would rather rip boards up with a ripsaw and plane them flat and to size by hand than do without that and have done in the past. Why you may ask? Well when you are trying to do fine work in wood the single most important thing you need is control and with cutting tools the only way you can get that control is with very sharp tools, not almost sharp or even sharp enough, to get precise cuts first time and every time they need to be sharper than that razor you shave with each morning and kept that way. It is a job that can be tedious if you let it be, the trick is to let it not be and to do that it needs to be quick and easy then it can be seen as a way of releiving your mind from the concentration levels of doing careful work for long periods. Lets have a look at my sharpening area What you see is a wetstone grinder, a tub of water and two Japanese water stones which a are wedged into wooden blocks to keep them from sliding in use; they are then kept in the tub of water when not being used. Above these I have a variety of gadgets that are associated with sharpening various tools but there is only one of note, the grinding angle gauge The wetstone grinder is used to give a hollow grind to the edge on a the cutting tool at a set angle which is determined by a little gauge. Mine is a 25 degree gauge which is a good all round angle for many tools giving a nice balance between durability and sharpness. The blade is clamped into a sliding carriage at the correct angle like this Then it is simply a matter of switching on and moving the blade from side to side until you have a fully ground hollow edge that is square. I've tried to illustrate that with these photos as best I can You can just make it out but notice that ragged burr on the edge. All we have done is to prepare our blade for the real sharpening: In days gone by various types of oilstones were the way to go, when I was an apprentice I had a prized set of Arkansas stones but things thankfully have moved on some since then, we have the waterstones, diamond impregnated tiles, ceramic stones.... My own favourites are the waterstones and I'll explain why. Waterstones are a man made brick for want of a better term, made of precisely graded grits, they are bound together quite loosely so they actually wear quite quickly in comparison to other types but that to me is an advantage. When you sharpen a tool you abbraide it's surface so tiny particles are removed, these can become embedded quite firmly in the stone and cause something called glazing which reduces it's efficiency. Waterstones on the other hand break up very slowly so the particles are freed stopping that glazing. The downside of that of course is that the stone can quickly wear out of true, thankfully it is so easy to flatten unlike the old Arkansas stones that needed taking to a stone mason. To flatten a waterstone just get a strip of 80 grit sandpaper taped to a flat surface and give the stone half a dozen rubs on that and the job is done, easy. Another great advantage is that water is used a s a lubricant so rather than having oily hands after sharpening they are merely wet and the stones can just be put back in the tub with not further cleaning or drying needed. I have two stones, the large red one which is a 1000 grit stone and the yellow one which is a 6000 grit, I use one at a time, they are both out above just for illustration. I don't have photos of the actual procedure but it is easy to understand. To start sharpening you stand in front of the stone (1000 grit), one foot in front of the other (important). You take the blade in both hands with some fingers from each hand on top of the blade to give it full support. Place the blade on the stone and feel for that hollow grind, there is a point where it sits flat and stable. Now you can either sharpen at that or as I do lift the blade a tiny amount so I only grind the front edge. Lock your elbows tight into your rib cage to lock your arms rigid, then rock backwards using your legs, so weight shifting from the front foot to the back foot, that stops the blade rocking. Do that four times and you should be left with a tiny shiny flat across the whole front edge of your blade. If you look closely mine isn't even, my stone needs flattening (OOPS!) but looking closely notice the burr Change the stone to the 6000 grit and do the same again, remember this must only be done backwards never forwards, the stones are too soft. So four times then flip the blade over and place it flat on the stone, slide the blade over the stone backwards four times. Repeat that two or three more times until when you examine the edge there is absolutely no sign of any burr and the back face should be almost a mirror finish. That should give you a wholly flat edge, for a bench plane you may want to give that edge a slight curve, to do this I use an extra pass over the 6000 stone with pressure on one outside edge then the other and that will be enough to give you a nice edge for a plane And that is it, just give the blade a quick dry on a towel along with your hands and back to work but be careful, that blade will be sharp and i mean sharp. The grinding procedure isn't done every time, just when the sharpening procedure starts taking longer as the flats get bigger; typically I sharpen four times then regrind. Even with regrinding a single blade can be processed within a couple of minutes. I keep four to six plane blades above my bench and sharpen all of them at once, that way I am less likely to be tempted to use a dulling iron when it is so easy to quickly change and it is quicker to sharpen six once then one six times. I hope you can see the logic in that method, every cabinet shop I have been into uses that exact method so I assume that it is probably the best and easiest way of doing it, being quick and easy you are more likely to want to do it and the more likely your work will improve. One last thing and this is actually the very first thing with any flat blade. The back face of a cutting tool needs to be flat, when you buy it it won't be, not even close. The first job with any new chisel or plane blade is to flatten it; how depends on how bad it is. Sometimes 10 minutes on a 1000 grit stone will do it flattening the stone a couple of times, if it is really bad then some 80 grit carborundum powder and a piece of glass it the way to go. Once it's flat then it will stay flat as long as you keep your stones flat but that back face MUST be flat to get the best out of your tools. Very briefly the reason why: A chisel is used mostly but supporting the back edge on work that has previously been cut, either to the side or behind the cutting edge. The back of the chisel is used as a rest and as a guide for progression, if your blade isn't flat then it will either dig in (blade concave) or ride up (blade convex) and that will never ever let you produce good work. Plane blades Other than you wont be able to sharpen properly a bade that is hollow along it's length one of the most important pasts of a bench plane is the cap iron, unless that is in intimate contact with the blade face it will clog up and even with the sharpest blade in the world that plane will not work or certainly won't be capable of quality work but more on that again.

Today I worked on the headstocks. First job was to rip down the length of the neck blank to thin them down leaving a slightly thicker bit under the position of the nut for a volute. The offcuts from that was then planed down to 12mm. Then I marked the 14 degree angle from the back edge of the nut which is the intended position of the top of the mahogany part of the headstock, the black face goes on top again. I then marked the angle 12mm back from that, as in a parallel line to the top line 12mm away. I then cut just outside that line with the bandsaw and then planed the two pieces together to create the scarf joint. After that I glued them all together. Relatively straight forward day really

Today I have been wearing a woolly jumper and socks, where has summer gone?!?! I heard back from Thomann regarding the bridges I'd ordered that had become out of stock and it seems they have two and will have the third in this week so now I know 100% what bridge I'll be using I can work out the neck angle, seeing as it is the same bridge at the twins it will be 4.3 degrees, easy Now some of you may have noticed that my neck blanks were just 50mm thick and less after cleaning up the other day so not thick enough for a through neck at that angle, well done for spotting that LOL but the good news is that it has been planned that way. What I hear you cry! The idea is that I mark the body angle in relationship to the neck from the point where the fretboard meets the body, that gives me a nice wedge across the back of the neck that gets sawn off and yes you've got it, I glue that back on underneath and I have perfect colour match and grain very close too. There will be a small fingerprint of the lamination where that wedge ends once it's cleaned up but that's OK because it will be getting veneered, how could I of avoided that, by moving the fretboard further up the blank and making the offcut thicker and longer but I didn't really see the point of doing that this time. So marked up and then I had a good look at my bandsaw, made sure the table/blade were square to each other, made sure the guide bearings were properly adjusted then I cut them down the line. I planed the surfaces up and made sure they were square then glued the bit's up making sure the combined thickness was about 43.5mm which leaves me a little cleaning room before veneering which will bring them theoretically back up to 44mm but that won't actually be the case as there will be some shaping on the back eventually.

Can I just add the reason I marked and routed the blocks before radiusing was because the Mother of Pearl isn't flexible so I couldn't get it marked out accurately or seat it if I routed a curved bottom following the radius of the board. With wood or Celluloid that isn't an issue

And on a more sensible note: what a lovely looking bass

What if that wasn't a TV reflection and you've just caused @binky_bass a lot of upset? Very thoughtless if I may say

With an AA decal on the headstock too?

Well, after a full day cutting inlays I might be inclined to recommend decals!! God my fingers hurt. Short and sweet then, I resumed cutting dragons but found out that the rest of my mother of pearl was a lot thinner, yes I know I could step my routing but that is bound to end up in disaster so I have ordered a load more pearl from good old ebay, should be here in a couple of weeks ( I know!!) . After doing what I could I moved on the the letters using Abalone, I got all three done but as yet they are all loose and need sticking down onto paper for easy placement

Thank you This is very doable stuff, it just needs a little care, actually a lot of care but there isn't some magic skill everyone can do this, start off simple it is so satisfying to see these when you do them yourself and so much nicer than a decal

They are Mother of pearl, it's a slice of a shell, it's 1.5mm thick, which sounds thick but with such tiny pieces it gives some strength while your cutting it which is handy. A tip if your thinking of doing this, clean the floor meticulously before you start because tiny bits will flick off the end of the blade as you cut it free despite your best efforts to hold them down. Fitting them, marking is the important bit, I do it just like I do with the fretboard blocks: In the picture above where I am assembling the cut pieces, well they are actually being assembled upside down and superglued to the paper. When I'm ready I will cut very carefully around it with a new scalpel blade then stick some masking tape to the headstock and to the top of the mother of pearl bits. Then I will superglue the dragon masking tape to masking tape to the headstock. Then I can mark firstly very gentle then harder the outline of the dragon onto the headstock. Once that's done peel off the surrounding masking tape, that will show you if you have missed any bits, then with a sharp chisel pry the masking tape off the headstock and finally peel it off the dragon. I then rout out the outline with a 1mm router bit in a Dremel in a stand (I have a 0.5mm bit too but it plain intimidates me!!), I cut the line out so it actually disappears, yes that does leave a tiny gap. Then I remove the rest of the wood with a 3mm bit and clean any tight corners with the tip of a scalpel. Finally I have a bag of dust saved from sanding the fretboard, I mix some with a dollop of epoxy to make a thick but runny black mess and paint it into the hole in the headstock and fit the dragon. There is a little oozing of the black gloop through all the gaps but what I do then is dab what's left of the gloop onto targeted parts of the dragon to fill any potential voids. The next day I sand it down using a sanding block and examine for any voids and refill if need be. That is very easy on a black headstock, the filled gaps will be invisible once it's been finished but on a paler wood you need to take a lot of care to fit the parts very accurately so any gaps are merely hair lines, that is much more demanding but if you just take your time and think before cutting then it is just a matter of time and anyone can do it if they just think first. It's easier on a single piece inlay than a multi piece which may need to be fitted in stages like marquetry. Also with a lighter wood you still need a tiny gap around the inlay but as small and even as you can get it, you may still want to use black powder in your glue to emphasis the design but use masking tape around the hole to stop the gloop staining or getting into the grain of the wood. The top and bottom of it is that it's a fiddly job that will be no easier for me than it will for anyone else, the trick really is just to take your time and think about the repercussions of every cut if you're having difficulty fitting a corner in, as in if I cut that will it open up a gap somewhere else. My biggest tip would be as hinted above to start on black headstocks, they can hide many sins and you will soon gain confidence to have a go on other things and it really is a lot easier than all that may sound

Yes similar, I was aware of the design of that but it didn't influence mine or at least consciously All i've done is stretched the end of this one so I could fit the inlays into it safely

Just to my hand!!! so just behave you don't want a thump from that thing or it will knock your head off

I've just noticed how fat my hand looks in that photo What the ... was I holding?

A better look at the headstock design

Sorry I missed this, what do you need help with?

Sorry for the delay, I had no tear out at all but I used shallow passes. What I have done this time radiusing fretboards was to just sand them and to be honest I prefer that way as I seemed to have much more control over the process, it only took 10 - 15 minutes each. Anyway if your using a router run it down the length of the board not along it rather than across and you should be fine and do three shallow passes rather than one deep one. Stop just short of your goal then fit the mother of pearl and sand the lot down as one. It's easier to do than say

I fitted the side dots on the fretboards today, I remembered this time I also played around with the headstock design, basically it's the same as on the Twins but with an extra bit on the end with a Tbird feel to it. It's shorter, will be thinner, with the truss adjustment at the other end of the neck and Ultralites it should be less heavy than the Gibson. Also being the same basic design as the Twins the inlays will fit well too. On the subject of inlays, I made a start on the first dragon today too

I built another Thunderbird today

Today I worked on the other two fretboards, I'm using 8mm mother of pearl dots, this believe it or not is the very first time I have used them, how simple are they!! Drill and fit, sand and job done. I cut the boards to size and started to think about binding them, I bought a couple of rolls of plastic binding for them but decided to use Sycamore (very like Maple) instead, so I did and very nice it looks too. They've had a coat of Lemon oil and they'll get a couple more over the next few days. I also cleaned up the neck blanks, I think Cherry was a good choice, more subtle than the Gibson laminates

It's am amazing distraction to the problems of everyday life, sometimes it's just nice to get your head down and forget the rest of the world is there

It's been a full day but a fruitful one The Cherry constructional veneers were due to arrive this morning so I set out on a quest to get the necks glued. I planed, squared up and thicknessed the outer thick laminates, then thicknessed the inner Mahogany laminates. Just as I was finishing the veneers arrived I ordered enough for three necks but I was sent enough for seven, a bit of a misunderstanding somewhere, well they won't go to waste. I ripped those up into strips on the circular saw with an 80tpi blade. Then after lunch I used a bench plane to clean up all the glueing surfaces, if you remember from the Les Paul build I don't consider a surface straight from the planer to be suitable for glueing, that's just me perhaps, it is done daily by many woodworkers without issue. After that (yes I was tired!) I glued them up, I changed glues for this, let me explain why. Titebond although it is considered the industry standard and with good cause it has a very short open time before it becomes less than ideal. As I had twenty surfaces to glue up in one go I needed a glue with a long open time, I chose Cascamite, a Urea formaldehyde glue, it's a powdered glue you mix with water, it is a very ridgid glue which has less tendency to "slip" when set than aliphatics so you can argue it is better for laminated neck s but it will be no worse. It isn't an ideal glue for other aspects of luthery whilst it would be fantastic for glueing set necks you wouldn't want to use it because it is very very water resistant, you could never ever get it off again without a saw. So anyway, glue, clamps and three necks glued up The last picture is the aftermath of the day in the workshop, I am far too tired to sweep it up this evening, a job for the morning I think The difference in colour on the laminates is because some are planed and some sawn, they are all identical really Three necks glued Tomorrows first job!

Tonetech are selling it at a good price, cheaper than direct

Today I cut the fret slots on the three fretboards. I also inlaid the Rosewood blocks and fitted them, being wood they could be radiused the same time as the fretboard without worry. I've included a sequence photo of my marking procedure as a reminder but a full description can be found on the Les Paul Twins thread. After that I dimensioned the board and bound it. Once that was all dry I started to radius it, initially I was going to use my jig for the router but I was out of other things to do today so I thought I'd have a go with the radius sanding block. It took 15 minuted to shape but I actually preferred that method, I felt a lot more in control of the amount of wood removed and it was easy to keep putting the straight edge on to check it was flat. I don't think it was an awful lot quicker either. Anyway, it was sanded down to 320 grit and thoroughly cleaned before slapping a bit of Teak oil on it. I have tried to photograph the figuring of the Satinwood, it's very difficult but it is truly stunning in the flesh, you can see how it got it's name.