SpondonBassed Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 That view down the neck from the end of the headstock is lovely. You know your curves young man. I like how neat your wiring is too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said: Pre the extra fettling and using heavy solid brass knobs (I'm on the lookout for some nice wooden ones)... Turn your own out of offcuts. On my Nozcaster I cut the head of a coach bolt then screwed it into an offcut, fixed it into my pillar drill, then went at it with shinto rasp followed by various grades of sanding stick. By clamping an engineering set square to the base plate you can get quite a consistent radius 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 (edited) Doh! Double post due to page split Edited January 19, 2018 by Norris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 3 minutes ago, Norris said: Turn your own out of offcuts. On my Nozcaster I cut the head of a coach bolt then screwed it into an offcut, fixed it into my pillar drill, then went at it with shinto rasp followed by various grades of sanding stick. By clamping an engineering set square to the base plate you can get quite a consistent radius 'Nozcaster' Priceless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 52 minutes ago, Norris said: Turn your own out of offcuts. On my Nozcaster I cut the head of a coach bolt then screwed it into an offcut, fixed it into my pillar drill, then went at it with shinto rasp followed by various grades of sanding stick. By clamping an engineering set square to the base plate you can get quite a consistent radius Hmmm...that's a thought. Never thought of using the pillar drill.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Nice work Andy, hope that after all the great instruments you've built for other people you're happy with the one you've built for yourself... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 1 hour ago, TheGreek said: Nice work Andy, hope that after all the great instruments you've built for other people you're happy with the one you've built for yourself... I'm VERY pleased with it, Mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 4 hours ago, SpondonBassed said: 'Nozcaster' Priceless Slight threadjack for conrext (and a little bit of showing off!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: Hmmm...that's a thought. Never thought of using the pillar drill.... I went very steady with it though. It's not designed for lateral forces. Here's the offcut to give you an idea how I mounted it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 17 minutes ago, Norris said: I went very steady with it though. It's not designed for lateral forces. Here's the offcut to give you an idea how I mounted it... And how did you fix them to the shaft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 36 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: And how did you fix them to the shaft? The pots had splined shafts, so I just drilled a hole in the middle and carefully pushed them on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 (edited) What I ought to add is that the knobs are ash capped in flamed maple like the body, so there was a glue-up step too It's all detailed in my lengthy PG thread Edited January 19, 2018 by Norris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardH Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 (edited) Here's a little video of a chap making knobs using a drill press. He finishes them on a lathe, but as he says in the video, you could do it just as easily on the drill press. I would love to be able to source metal inserts to go into the knob to make them a "safer" fit on the spline, but Noick of a hardwood knob pushed onto a splined pot shaft sounds like a good next best option. Edited January 20, 2018 by RichardH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 15 hours ago, Norris said: What I ought to add is that the knobs are ash capped in flamed maple like the body, so there was a glue-up step too It's all detailed in my lengthy PG thread That'd be one of your PG Tips then...? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said: That'd be one of your PG Tips then...? "Tis another forum dedicated to guitar building that Andy and I frequent, but I don't want to detract from this fabulous forum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 3 hours ago, RichardH said: Here's a little video of a chap making knobs using a drill press. He finishes them on a lathe, but as he says in the video, you could do it just as easily on the drill press. I would love to be able to source metal inserts to go into the knob to make them a "safer" fit on the spline, but Noick of a hardwood knob pushed onto a splined pot shaft sounds like a good next best option. Great - thanks for that I'm going to have a go. The brass knobs currently on the volumes and planned for the tone - although OK looks-wise - add about 3oz. When I'm trying to get closer to 5.5lbs rather than 6, those oz make a difference. It really does need a lathe but I am well impressed with @Norris 's results on a drill press. I will, however, try for grub-screw inserts if possible with my rudimentary equipment (and that, of course, will add some weight). In for a penny and in for a pound - I'm going to see if I can get a MoP swift on the top too. Yes - I know. Madness 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 Putting crazy thoughts of knobs to one side, today - being drizzly and miserable - is tweaking and set up day The first and most important is getting the neck profile to just how I like it. Many other builders think I am completely bonkers, but I do this 'live' with the guitar fully strung up, ready to play. It's simple and it's quick - in fact I've done this in the past while the new owner of one of my builds has been sitting there having a cup of coffee! Basically, I : Put a large plastic bag around the guitar body Hold it cello style, but back to front - ie with the back of the guitar facing the audience and the headstock digging into my chest Take my trusted and humble cabinet scraper Scrape it gently to shape, using full sweeps heel to volute, feeling for any facets left by uneven cuts Check progress frequently by popping it back to playing position and playing a few of my regular riffs Once happy, double check for lumps or facets Sand Slurry-and-buff with Tru-oil or Osmo Here it is at the early scraper stage: Whole process takes less than an hour - plus a bit of resting period (for Osmo) for the slurry and buffed finish to harden. And so I now have a neck I'm REALLY happy with and can play comfortably - even with my arthritic hands. Basically, I've taken it from 'C' to very soft 'V'. That takes some of the haunches away and makes it easier to wrap my thumb around (it is an electric, after all, so lazy playing is de rigueur ) while not losing the depth, more comfortable with the barre chords. Next is tidying up some of the squiffy ferrules, put some slightly longer pickup screws (gold ones) in, sort the nut height and do a basic set up of relief, action and intonation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_derby Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 It's looking beautiful Andy. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing it 'in action'. 😄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 25 minutes ago, Norris said: "Tis another forum dedicated to guitar building that Andy and I frequent, but I don't want to detract from this fabulous forum I know. You've mentioned before. I haven't visited it yet, sorry. I was just hoping to raise a titter at your expense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said: Great - thanks for that I'm going to have a go. The brass knobs currently on the volumes and planned for the tone - although OK looks-wise - add about 3oz. When I'm trying to get closer to 5.5lbs rather than 6, those oz make a difference. It really does need a lathe but I am well impressed with @Norris 's results on a drill press. I will, however, try for grub-screw inserts if possible with my rudimentary equipment (and that, of course, will add some weight). In for a penny and in for a pound - I'm going to see if I can get a MoP swift on the top too. Yes - I know. Madness May I suggest a broaching tool for forming internal splines without brutalising the job too much? A man of your calibre would find it easy to make one from an unwanted splined spindle of the same dimensions as the pot(s) you are making the knob for. You will be less susceptible to split knobs this way. (You boys at the back - STOP chortling. It gets smuttier later.) Assuming you make each knob as a capped hollow cylinder like @Norris's, in theory, this should work: Drill your wood cylinders to just clear the root diameter of the splines. Get an unwanted splined spindle made from mild steel as aluminium wont be tough enough. File the splines. You are aiming to make to make a taper from the end of the spindle to about 2mm short of where the splines run in to the plain portion of the spindle shaft. You want the pointy end to have a diameter just less than that of the spline roots and you want about 2mm of untouched spline going into the plain portion. Use a junior hacksaw to cut around the circumference of the spindle at 1 to 2mm intervals. It should end up looking like a thread tap. Meticulously remove burrs caused by the hacksaw. You must make each spline into a column of successively larger cutting teeth. If you keep your hacksaw cuts neat and perpendicular to the centreline of the spindle you should end up with a tool that can be used to nibble out bits of wood with an internal filing action. I'd suggest clamping the wood cylinder to your pedestal drill table. Mount your broaching tool in the chuck and use careful judgement of how much pressure you need to press down into the hole with and how far to go with each progressive stroke. Ultimately you should have perfectly formed splines and little internal stress within the remaining wood fibres. Alternatively, you could search the web for a proprietary broach for the purpose. Broaching Some Pictures of Shiny Bits of Tool Steel Some More Pictures of Expensive Cutting Tools PS: If you do the splines before you shape your wood it's easiest. Then the splines can help in that you can mount the splined wood blank on a splined mandrel (another unwanted spindle) in your chuck prior to shaping. Edited January 20, 2018 by SpondonBassed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 I just drilled a hole that was half way between the inner and outer dimensions of the splines and then pressed it on gently but firmly - once. And there they will stay. If they do come loose I'll wick some CA into the hole, let it dry and then refit them. The most robust way would probably to have a female splined insert to glue into the knob. There again you can over-think these things and it's not like I'm going to hang any weight off them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said: May I suggest a broaching tool for forming internal splines without brutalising the job too much? A man of your calibre would find it easy to make one from an unwanted splined spindle of the same dimensions as the pot(s) you are making the knob for. You will be less susceptible to split knobs this way. (You boys at the back - STOP chortling. It gets smuttier later.) Assuming you make each knob as a capped hollow cylinder like @Norris's, in theory, this should work: Drill your wood cylinders to just clear the root diameter of the splines. Get an unwanted splined spindle made from mild steel as aluminium wont be tough enough. File the splines. You are aiming to make to make a taper from the end of the spindle to about 2mm short of where the splines run in to the plain portion of the spindle shaft. You want the pointy end to have a diameter just less than that of the spline roots and you want about 2mm of untouched spline going into the plain portion. Use a junior hacksaw to cut around the circumference of the spindle at 1 to 2mm intervals. It should end up looking like a thread tap. Meticulously remove burrs caused by the hacksaw. You must make each spline into a column of successively larger cutting teeth. If you keep your hacksaw cuts neat and perpendicular to the centreline of the spindle you should end up with a tool that can be used to nibble out bits of wood with an internal filing action. I'd suggest clamping the wood cylinder to your pedestal drill table. Mount your broaching tool in the chuck and use careful judgement of how much pressure you need to press down into the hole with and how far to go with each progressive stroke. Ultimately you should have perfectly formed splines and little internal stress within the remaining wood fibres. Alternatively, you could search the web for a proprietary broach for the purpose. Broaching Some Pictures of Shiny Bits of Tool Steel Some More Pictures of Expensive Cutting Tools PS: If you do the splines before you shape your wood it's easiest. Then the splines can help in that you can mount the splined wood blank on a splined mandrel (another unwanted spindle) in your chuck prior to shaping. Yes - some good pointers here. One of the YouTube clips I looked at broached the spline - and similar, I think, to how @Norris did his. Plenty of time - I'll experiment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 24 minutes ago, Norris said: I just drilled a hole that was half way between the inner and outer dimensions of the splines and then pressed it on gently but firmly - once. And there they will stay. If they do come loose I'll wick some CA into the hole, let it dry and then refit them. The most robust way would probably to have a female splined insert to glue into the knob. There again you can over-think these things and it's not like I'm going to hang any weight off them Ah - should have read that first 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Here - have a close-up if you like 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 3 hours ago, Norris said: Here - have a close-up if you like They are indeed very smart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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