Eude throws down the gauntlet

[eude]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The slurry and buffing later in the finish process will enhance the figuring but yes, it is essentially a tight-grained richly coloured wood.  When I put the coats on, which is closer to how it will look at the end of the process, it looks good enough to eat

Please don't eat it

[Andyjr1515]

Just now, eude said:

Please don't eat it

OK...

...well maybe just a nibble.  Never seen a cutaway with teethmarks?  Trust me, they'll all want one before long... 

[Andyjr1515]

OK.  I'm feeling very pleased with myself, surprised and, well, maybe just a little bit smug? 

Having done my pondering, I came to the conclusion that a hardwood biscuit at the heel was, from a strength of the neck joint point of view, the most effective way of preventing the front edge of the neck lifting or distorting from the neck pocket.

But, looking at every tool I had, I couldn't think for my life how on earth I could cut a 3mm slot, accurately following the angle cut into the neck joint, and in EXACTLY the same position on both sides.  In fact, I couldn't see - because of the 50mm tenon on the neck, how I could cut a slot at all!!

Now, those who have a Dremel.  You know that flexi-drive they give you with the Dremel kit that you think, 'wow, that's cool' then NEVER use...

...well, if you take a scalpel and a bl**dy great big file to it you get this! :

 

Ok - it's not pretty, but it's actually flat.

So...if you lie that on the angled face of the neck tenon, and move it from side to side while routing into the heel, you can get this:

And that slot - about 10mm deep - parallel to the tenon face which has the neck angle routed into it.

So if you push a length of 3mm ebony into it:

...and then say a little prayer, then it should be parallel to the angled face:

Which surprised and delighted me in equal measure 

So then, if you clamp the flat face of the Dremel now onto the workbench:

...and then put the body flat on the workbench, and adjust the height by putting a couple of sheets of veneer and a sheet of cartridge paper to get the height exactly right, then offer the body up to the Dremel, you can cut another slot like this:

Then, saying another little prayer, slide the neck tenon into the neck pocket and get a joint like THIS!!!

And that was straight off - dry fit and no fettling.  Before I drill the holes for the machine screws, I'll close the vertical joint nice and tight with a bit of judicious sanding - but even that is easier now there's the tab holding it in the correct position in the other plane.

The shock of this working has left me so exhausted I'm going for a 36 hour lie down - but now I know what I'll be doing at the weekend

 

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Andyjr1515

[eude]

I had no idea what you where talking about when you mentioned biscuits, but had hoped it would take your mind off eating the bass's body.

That looks brilliant though mate!

Eude

[TheGreek]

😂😂

[Si600]

21 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

OK...

...well maybe just a nibble.  Never seen a cutaway with teethmarks?  Trust me, they'll all want one before long... 

Not with teeth marks, but the Herman Li signature Ibanez has finger grooves on the top horn.

[Andyjr1515]

15 minutes ago, Si600 said:

Not with teeth marks, but the Herman Li signature Ibanez has finger grooves on the top horn.

Well, other than my teeth marks are narrower than that, that's EXACTLY what @eude 's looks like now!

I think he'll be pleased...

[eude]

6 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well, other than my teeth marks are narrower than that, that's EXACTLY what @eude 's looks like now!

I think he'll be pleased...

Oh dear...

[Andyjr1515]

So, could I wait 36 hours?  Could I b***ery 

Thing is, one of the remaining major co*k up potentials is fitting the machine screws.  It has to be right because there's no wiggle room with machine screws.  The inserts have to be absolutely in the right position and absolutely vertical.  So rather than worry about it, it was better to just do it.

First I dowelled the previous holes - they were originally drilled to 5mm and the machine screws are 4mm and they weren't quite in line with where the neck is now going to be:

Then remeasured and drilled the holes for the stainless machined ferrules:

 

Next, drilled the 4mm holes, using my mini press drill to keep it all vertical:

Used the point of the wood drill to mark the exact centres on the assembled neck though the body, used some packers to make sure I was square to the mating face incorporating the neck angle, drilled a 6mm hole and fitted the machine screw inserts:

Then moment of truth - would it all line up and would the machine screws fit (trust me, they usually don't!).  Another 'knock me down with a feather' moment:

 

And THAT means I can look to fit the fretboard very soon and start the neck and heel carve!

[eude]

Wow @Andyjr1515, another cracking effort, you sound as excited as I am too!

Eude

[Andyjr1515]

Carbon rods in place and the truss-rod fitted:

 

...and a quick check it's all in the right place and at the correct angles!

...which happily it is.

Sequence now is: headstock plate and wings; headstock profile shape; glue fretboard; thickness and carve neck.  And, of course, still a lot to do beyond that!

[eude]

Man alive that looks good!

[Andyjr1515]

We're going for a passing nod of respect to the Carl Thompson headstock vibe:

- which means two slivers of wings that will sit under a headstock plate. 

I'll do something along the lines of the recent acoustic build of a thin strip of the walnut central stripe and the outer wood outside that (in that case maple and in this case mahogany).

And the wings mahogany / walnut sandwich is gluing as I type

 

[Christine]

45 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

We're going for a passing nod of respect to the Carl Thompson headstock vibe:

- which means two slivers of wings that will sit under a headstock plate. 

I'll do something along the lines of the recent acoustic build of a thin strip of the walnut central stripe and the outer wood outside that (in that case maple and in this case mahogany).

And the wings mahogany / walnut sandwich is gluing as I type

 

Pretty tuners, what are they?

[Andyjr1515]

4 hours ago, Christine said:

Pretty tuners, what are they?

These are the ones on my recent acoustic build.  It is a mixed set of the new lightweight ones that Axesrus have had specially made for them.  They are a nice design and work well.  The previous build to the acoustic was for my sister-in-law and she wanted a black and gold mix so I had a set of gold and black spare parts left over which I thought may as well go into my 'bitsa' acoustic build

[Andyjr1515]

@eude and I have opted for a bookmatched katalox headstock plate and a flurry of screaming AJR swifts.

The plate will end up the same colour as the body once it's sanded and finished but this is broadly how it will look:

This was also a good test of how well my little bandsaw can cut the katalox into a 2mm slice.  Worked well which means that I can do the same for a contrasting katalox cover for the control chamber at the back (with magnets for easy access).  I have an offcut of katalox which is JUST big enough (phew!)

 

[eude]

51 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

@eude and I have opted for a bookmatched katalox headstock plate and a flurry of screaming AJR swifts.

The plate will end up the same colour as the body once it's sanded and finished but this is broadly how it will look:

This was also a good test of how well my little bandsaw can cut the katalox into a 2mm slice.  Worked well which means that I can do the same for a contrasting katalox cover for the control chamber at the back (with magnets for easy access).  I have an offcut of katalox which is JUST big enough (phew!)

 

That just balances visually so well!

[Andyjr1515]

The katalox headstock halves are now thicknessed and joined.  

I will leave the overhang until it's ready to fit - overhangs are useful for clamping, etc!

It will be tomorrow before I get to it, but for the swifts logo I'm going to try something a little bit different.  No matter if it ends up as a fail - it will be fully reversible 

My plan is to get this and the fretboard fitted and the neck carve started before the weekend...then I reckon we are getting close to the 'final furlong'    Fingers crossed. 

[eude]

Nice homage to Mr CT there. Looking great @Andyjr1515!

Eude

[Andyjr1515]

@eude and I had a discussion about the swifts logos.  Yes, they could be the normal Mother of Pearl - but I floated whether it was worth me trying ebony for a change.

We both decided that it could look really cool to have the coordinated contrast - and that, if it proved just too difficult, we could always revert to MoP.

Was cutting the ebony easier than MoP?  Actually no - MoP doesn't have grain so small features are never going to be 'cross grain' and snap (they do snap, but not that often).  But, after 2-3 fails, I ended up with 3 that were good enough to scribe around before routing:

 

Then mixed some katalox dust with epoxy to glue them and gap fill at the same time.  Sanded and a quick coat of tru-oil gave me this:

 

Well, I think that adds a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you? 

 

[Stylon Pilson]

14 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well, I think that adds a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you?

I don't know. I don't know what that is.

S.P.

[eude]

25 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well, I think that adds a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you? 

Certamente!

That looks great @Andyjr1515, definitely the right decision.

Eude

[RichardH]

Pah.... you could have edge bound the swifts at the very least....

 

 

 

 

JOKING!! They look great.

[Guest Marcoelwray]

La classe, beau travail l'ami !

[Andyjr1515]

Just now, Marcoelwray said:

La classe, beau travail l'ami !

Merci beaucoup!  

(Just getting all the non-english words I know out before the rest of the EU casts us out into the North Sea and stop talking to us!)