Finished Pics! Piccolo turns nasty - Dark Side build Number Two

[TheGreek]

I think this would look really nice with that piece of quilted Ebony you have - IMO it would compliment the light body beautifully...

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1504877869' post='3367987']
I think this would look really nice with that piece of quilted Ebony you have - IMO it would compliment the light body beautifully...
[/quote]
The quilted ebony is designated for Tim's - and as I think I've got the only piece in the world, don't suppose I'll get any more

But I'm a happy enough chappy - I think, with the way the camphor will darken, this will look pretty good with the snakewood

[Joebethell]

That top is stunning I know you have a fingerboard selected but I think a birds eye or flamed maple would contrast really well.
If it plays like the little beast I played at at the bash this will be very very hard to put down.

[Andyjr1515]

While I ponder over the fitting of Tim's Hannes bridge on the Alembisque build and while I still have the appropriate equipment out, I cut out the control chamber of the Andyjr1515 lightweight and glued the back wings on.

Looks the same, but with 2 less loose parts, it's easier to move around!





This is the top just loosely laid on. The cable runs need to be routed and the demarcation veneer added before I glue the top on:

[Andyjr1515]

It's a bit easier to show how the back will be carved out now the wings are glued. Ignore the bottom dotted line...it will be the added top that follows this radius.

[Andyjr1515]

Wiped the two builds over with a damp cloth and put them side by side. I think they're going to look good when they've been carved and finished properly...

[Andyjr1515]

I'm still sorting the final preparation and checks before gluing Tim's fretboard on the sister build so, while the clamps are still free I finished the prep-work for gluing the top to this. Basically, routing the cable run, routing the back of the 'f-hole' chamber, darkening the inside of the chamber:


And then glued, ready for bearing flush-bit trimming. Again, I'm a bit weird in that I will use the top as my routing template. Generally NOT recommended but (usually) works for me:

[Andyjr1515]

While I've been waiting for Tim's Alembicesque's gloss finish to dry, I've done a little more on this.

Pickup chambers cut out, back trimmed, carve started, edges rough-rounded and first tru-oil slurry fill done:

 

Next big job is probably fret-slotting the snakewood board...  I'l do that when I've made a bit more progress on @scrumpymike 's Rascal conversion

[Andyjr1515]

Well, now Mike's Rascal is finished, this is the next one to get out of the way.

Bringing it up to date with the stuff I've been able to do in spells that Mike's was waiting for drying time or bits to arrive, I made myself a fretboard radiusing jig to save myself going completely mad (I hate radiusing fretboards!!!!)

I modified a design I saw on a Google images search:

After a bit of tweaking, it worked well

Then the fret-slotting:

 

I've decided I like bound fretboards, so added a couple of strips of acoustic guitar binding with a b/w/b maple feature line:

I have to say (special note here to @Jabba_the_gut ) this was, for me, MUCH easier than trying to get a flat multi-layer veneer all the way up the fretboard!

Then came the swifts - note the swift-shaped rub marks from the Dremel precision router base :

Which got me the fretboard ready to fit:

 

And that gets me up to date up to this morning - I'll add the photos of this morning's progress shortly

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

So - this morning saw me checking the flatness of the neck top and chiselling out the top where the fretboard will sit in:

 

Then, remember the mantra - YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY CLAMPS :

 

And that got me to here:

 

And this @Jabba_the_gut , if it's of any interest, is how the binding worked out.  Don't know why I didn't think of it before! :

 

[Jimothey]

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well, now Mike's Rascal is finished, this is the next one to get out of the way.

Bringing it up to date with the stuff I've been able to do in spells that Mike's was waiting for drying time or bits to arrive, I made myself a fretboard radiusing jig to save myself going completely mad (I hate radiusing fretboards!!!!)

I modified a design I saw on a Google images search:

After a bit of tweaking, it worked well

Then the fret-slotting:

 

I've decided I like bound fretboards, so added a couple of strips of acoustic guitar binding with a b/w/b maple feature line:

I have to say (special note here to @Jabba_the_gut ) this was, for me, MUCH easier than trying to get a flat multi-layer veneer all the way up the fretboard!

Then came the swifts - note the swift-shaped rub marks from the Dremel precision router base :

Which got me the fretboard ready to fit:

 

And that gets me up to date up to this morning - I'll add the photos of this morning's progress shortly

 

 

 

 

Nice jig!! Have you made it so you can do different radii? 

[Andyjr1515]

Yes,  @Jimothey  I'll do a separate thread if anyone's interested.  At the moment, I've done templates for 10" and 12" radius, but it would be easy enough to add more.

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes,  @Jimothey  I'll do a separate thread if anyone's interested.  At the moment, I've done templates for 10" and 12" radius, but it would be easy enough to add more.

Yes please!

[Jimothey]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Yes please!

Definitely 

[Jabba_the_gut]

On 03/01/2018 at 13:51, Andyjr1515 said:

So - this morning saw me checking the flatness of the neck top and chiselling out the top where the fretboard will sit in:

 

Then, remember the mantra - YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY CLAMPS :

 

And that got me to here:

 

And this @Jabba_the_gut , if it's of any interest, is how the binding worked out.  Don't know why I didn't think of it before! :

 

Looks nice and easier!! Will look into that binding - cheers

[Andyjr1515]

Frets are in and body carve pretty much there.  Current weight stands at 4lbs 10oz

 

Next job is neck carve...

Edited January 5, 2018 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

On 04/01/2018 at 13:12, Jimothey said:

Definitely 

@BigRedX & @Jimothey - thread started on the radiussing rig here 

[Jimothey]

Just now, Andyjr1515 said:

@BigRedX & @Jimothey - thread started on the radiussing rig here 

Cheers mate I’ve just been looking at it 

[Andyjr1515]

When I build guitars and basses for other people, I get them to send me the profile measurements and shapes for their favourite neck.  While every guitar has its own feel, the objective is to at least create a familiarity in the playing of the new one.

With my creeping hand arthritis, this is particularly important for this guitar, which is being built for my own use, because I have guitars now that I can no longer play.  So out comes my most comfortable neck and my £2 Wilko carpenters profile gauge and a bit of old notepad cover and I have my profile templates :


Each to his own, but for neck carving, my preferred tools are spokeshave for rough bulk removal and the humble cabinet scraper for the main carve:


You can see the size of the shavings from the spokeshave - brutal stuff.  So that really is, for me, just about taking the corners off.

Many of the experienced builders use cabinet scrapers, but if you never have:

• Buy a set (a few £'s in Homebase, B&Q for starters)
• Learn how to re-burnish them (they will come already burnished for initial use)
• Try it!

They act like a mini plane.  These are the type of shavings from this morning:

They can remove wood remarkably quickly - but very, very controllably.  This avoids every neck-carver's nightmare - taking too much off!  You can literally creep up to your target shape and size.

Final tool I use, just for the awkward bits round the volute and neck/body join is a fine curved micro-plane blade (mine comes from Axminster).  Wearing gloves, I use the microplane two-handed, a bit like a scraper.  This gives me maximum control:


I will spend the rest of the day finishing this off, but between washing up the breakfast pots and coffee time - and including re-burnishing the cabinet scrapers - the neck went from a 3-4mm oversize rectangular block to this:

 

As always, thanks for looking

[Jimothey]

How do you find bending the scraper with your the arthritis in your hands? When I used to use them after about 10mins my right hand thumb used to lock up because I’ve got a form of arthritis in my right hand as well, so I started using a spokeshave scraper which made it a lot easier and a screw bent the blade for you. 

[Andyjr1515]

14 minutes ago, Jimothey said:

How do you find bending the scraper with your the arthritis in your hands? When I used to use them after about 10mins my right hand thumb used to lock up because I’ve got a form of arthritis in my right hand as well, so I started using a spokeshave scraper which made it a lot easier and a screw bent the blade for you. 

Actually, for a neck you generally don't need to bend it.  I certainly don't - just use it straight.

However, if I'm using the scrapers for flat surfaces I find them a bit more problematic for the same reason and tend to use a jack plane where I can.

I've never tried the (Veritas?) scraper holder - but it looks good and IIRC allows setting the curve with a thumbscrew like the old fashioned scraper-plane's (which are also worth having a look out for on ebay). 

[Jimothey]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Actually, for a neck you generally don't need to bend it.  I certainly don't - just use it straight.

However, if I'm using the scrapers for flat surfaces I find them a bit more problematic for the same reason and tend to use a jack plane where I can.

I've never tried the (Veritas?) scraper holder - but it looks good and IIRC allows setting the curve with a thumbscrew like the old fashioned scraper-plane's (which are also worth having a look out for on ebay). 

My one was a really old record one which I can’t find at the mo

The technique I got taught when I did French polishing was to bend the scraper when you are removing the shellac as it gives you more control so that’s naturally how I use it all the time

I found learning how to burnish the edge took to a little while to get right with cheaper scrapers so then I went and bought a crown scraper set and burnishing tool and then it was much easier except when trying to do the ‘goose neck’ which is still a nightmare to get right 

 

[Andyjr1515]

10 minutes ago, Jimothey said:

My one was a really old record one which I can’t find at the mo

The technique I got taught when I did French polishing was to bend the scraper when you are removing the shellac as it gives you more control so that’s naturally how I use it all the time

I found learning how to burnish the edge took to a little while to get right with cheaper scrapers so then I went and bought a crown scraper set and burnishing tool and then it was much easier except when trying to do the ‘goose neck’ which is still a nightmare to get right 

 

Yes - for flat surfaces you do need to bend them to create a smaller contact area for cutting.  Hence me having the same problem. 

With the convex curve of the neck, however, you naturally have a point contact so don't need to bend it.

And yes - goose neck's are b******s to re-burnish!

[Andyjr1515]

The nice thing about building a guitar for your own use is that you can experiment and test out concepts.

If you remember, the primary objective of this guitar was for it to be light, and yet look fairly conventional and play well.

Presently, it weighs 4lb 5oz which, for a 25" through-neck, isn't too bad.

The upper fret thumb transition at the heel is also better than many comparable designs, simply because of the slimness of the body.  But I'm hoping for a little bit more.

I want to take Tim's Alembic-esque back carve a touch further.  If you remember, Tim's is like this:

It aims to give clearance to the hypothenor (?) - the bit of your palm opposite your thumb joint...think old fashioned karate film clips - when your left hand is trying to reach the upper frets.

With this build, I'm going to go one stage further.  Do you remember on Mick's Psilos bass where I partially continued the fretboard radius into the top horn of the bass (always an issue with a single cut bass)?:


Well, I'm going to try to combine those two concepts by continuing the neck profile carve of the lower cutaway up to the 22nd fret itself:


This lower one will be quite deep at the neck.  The carve will be matched with a shallower version on the upper cutaway, for more visual rather then functional reasons:


I don't really have the perfect carving tools (or the talent!) to do this - and I'm hopeless at pre-imagining what the shapes will do all around -and so will take it very slowly.  Probably will take me the rest of the day.

One quite pretty BBQ log coming up! 

[TheGreek]

Hint of a Swift on the back???