Walnut, semi-hollow, Les Paul type thingy

[honza992]

@Christine would you be able to give me some advice on binding the headstock?  My first attempt was ok, but I'm hoping I can do better so I routed it off for another go.  

Here it is...

The binding is rocklite ebano with an extra 0.5mm strip of maple veneer on the inside.  On the body I glued them at the same time using titebond. It was fine, if very fiddly.  

What would be your advice about how to bind it and in what order would you glue the pieces on?  Would you try and do it all in one go, or glue some first and let it dry so that one half of each mitre joint has got something solid to push up against, if that makes sense.   Would you do mitre joints for all of them, or butt joints at the end of the curves?

Also, would you try and glue in the maple veneer seperate first?

Thanks so much. 

[Christine]

If it were me I would build up the binding first, making a former for the bent bits.

Start at the top, cut the mitre on one first, a small disc sander is ideal for making tiny adjustments as you can keep the angles perfect. Once you have the mitre on one side of the top binding do the other in the same way until the insides of both mitres meets with the outside corners of the routing, glue that in place with something like a slow drying superglue (or thin fast drying if you hold it in place and let capillary action take it in).

Then do the two sides, getting the mitres with the top perfect first, then do the bottom ones, glue those before fiddling with the curved bits

[honza992]

5 hours ago, Christine said:

If it were me I would build up the binding first, making a former for the bent bits.

Start at the top, cut the mitre on one first, a small disc sander is ideal for making tiny adjustments as you can keep the angles perfect. Once you have the mitre on one side of the top binding do the other in the same way until the insides of both mitres meets with the outside corners of the routing, glue that in place with something like a slow drying superglue (or thin fast drying if you hold it in place and let capillary action take it in).

Then do the two sides, getting the mitres with the top perfect first, then do the bottom ones, glue those before fiddling with the curved bits

Thats great, thanks Christine.  I'll have another go tomorrow. 

[honza992]

Phew, the headstock binding is done.  It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy.  I also routed the truss rod access cover.  Still a bit of tidying up to do, but I think it's time (finally) to glue on the fretboard.....

[Andyjr1515]

Looks good from over here

[Jabba_the_gut]

Very nice!

[Christine]

It's just crying out for some mother of pearl in that headstock

[honza992]

38 minutes ago, Christine said:

It's just crying out for some mother of pearl in that headstock

Ha ha, yes I know what you mean....It'll have MOP fret dots.....but hmmmm.....I was going to do a gold transfer logo but maybe there's room for some MOP as well...Now you've got me thinking.....

[Christine]

Whatever you use it will have to be quite small, MOP will be a challenge but streets ahead of a sticker. I'm away for two or three weeks now, I'll be waiting with bated breath to see the outcome of your thinking

[Unknown_User]

The amount of fine detail in and around that headstock is ridiculous.  It looks brilliant!

[honza992]

OK I'm finally back in the workshop after some time in Italy trying to find somewhere to live, and some time in a police cell courtesy of Extinction Rebellion. 

I've finally got round to gluing on the fretboard.  I've started using these spring clamps more and more.  They seem to offer plenty of clamping force when used en masse, but are much quicker and easier to use than G or F clamps, generally less sliding around etc.  Because the 'jaws' are moveable you can also easily clamp a fretboard which has already been radiused without having to used a radiused caul.  Invisible glue lines are something I get a bit obsessive about (albeit on this build they'll be hidden by binding anyway) so was glad to see a very clean join once I trimmed the fretboard to size. 

[honza992]

I got quite a bit done on the neck today.  First up I glued in the MOP position markers.  Sounds easy but is actually tricky.  Getting them all centred and looking equally spaced between the fret slots takes some practice.  It's made more complicated by the fact that they also aren't accurately sized.  Some are well over 6mm...

Others less....

 

The smaller ones are spot on.  The biggers ones I put to one side.  The problem is that a 6mm drill bit isn't actually 6mm in diameter, it's more like 5.9.  So if you try and put a 6.1mm dot in a 5.9mm hole you run the risk of either it getting stuck and not all the way in, or cracking it.  If anyone knows why drill bits are consistently manufactured small than their nominal size, I'd be interested to know. 

The next problem is one I should have thought about before it happened, but I'm pretty ditzy most of the time.  The fretboard get thinner as you reach the end of the neck because it's radiused and tapered.  When I cut the slot for the binding by the time I reached the end of the neck it was almost 7mm deep, a good 1mm deeper than the binding. So I had to make an extra tall piece of binding by gluing two pieces together.  It worked out pretty invisibly, but next time I need to remember to cut the binding slot so that it's a consistent depth.  This is what I mean:

I did the binding mitres on my belt sander then glued them to the fretboard using CA glue.  I haven't used this technique before, but I think it worked well.  Basically you tape the binding in place then use water-thin CA glue with a mini pipette to wick the glue down into the join.  It has the advantage that you can dry cut all the mitres etc and get everything just right, tape it all into place then casually apply the glue.  It's certainly a stress free technique.  I'd thought about using it for the body, but I was a bit nervous about the CA glue getting into the veneer and causing blotchness under the finishing.  Given how easy it was though, next time I may use it for the body as well.  Here I'm wicking the glue in:

The great thing about CA glue is that it takes almost no time to cure so I started to trim it back flush with a scraper.  Nice shavings!

Tomorrow I'll get it all scraped back flush, and hopefully finish sanding the fretboard. 


 

[SpondonBassed]

1 minute ago, honza992 said:

If anyone knows why drill bits are consistently manufactured small than their nominal size, I'd be interested to know. 

Drill bits do not make a perfectly round hole despite appearances.  That's what reamers are for.  The drill bit's nominal size is for a hole finished with a reamer.  The drill bit's actual size allows for a little inaccuracy in the hole that can then be cut to size, if required, with a reamer.

[honza992]

Just now, SpondonBassed said:

Drill bits do not make a perfectly round hole despite appearances.  That's what reamers are for.  The drill bit's nominal size is for a hole finished with a reamer.  The drill bit's actual size allows for a little inaccuracy in the hole that can then be cut to size, if required, with a reamer.

Thanks for that.  I understand for metalwork that might make sense, but for woodwork?!?  Does anyone routinely ream holes in wood?  Frankly it's bloody annoying.  Ferrules are another pain.  I use them on all my builds with neck bolts.  But they are 6mm wide.  And drill bits 5.9....  It would make more sense if you could choose either to buy drill bits that were actually the size they say they are, or smaller ones designed for use with a reamer.  Ah well, first world problem I realise.....

[Owen]

On 16/10/2019 at 21:46, honza992 said:

 

Note to self - "buy more clamps'.

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, owen said:

Note to self - "buy more clamps'.

Sweet baby Jesus and the saints, that’s some good clampin’.

[Rikki_Sixx]

This has been brilliant to follow, really interesting! I love a good, in-depth build diary with tons of info and decent pictures. This is already shaping up to be a stunner, can't wait to see more

[honza992]

A bit more progress on the neck today.  I scraped and sanded the sides flush, then sanded the fretboard to within an inch of its life.  I'm pretty pleased with how it's turn out (ignore the messy looking end of the neck, that will get routed away to make room for the pickup):

Monday is time for EVO Gold.  Can't wait!!

Edited October 18, 2019 by honza992

[honza992]

@Pea Turgh Enough lines???😂😂

[Jabba_the_gut]

That is really lovely - the binding really sets it off  Very nice job indeed.

Just a shame it has the wrong number of strings.....😉

[Pea Turgh]

13 minutes ago, honza992 said:

@Pea Turgh Enough lines???😂😂

Freakin’ awesome!!!

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, Pea Turgh said:

Freakin’ awesome!!!

Absolutely ^^^ this.

[honza992]

Thanks everyone.  This is definitely a step up in my building.  It's much more complex than a straight neck Fender, but so far I've really enjoyed it.  And putting lines everywhere has taken forever, but I just can't help myself😁

Very quick question for @Christine if you're around. I know in your glorious twins thread one of them had a Rocklite ebano fretboard.  Did you finish it, or leave it unfinished? If finished, what with?  I'm a bit unsure cos on this one the FB and headstock are ebano, so I'm not sure how weird it would look if one was finished and one wasn't.  As usual, thanks for your invaluable input👏

[SpondonBassed]

46 minutes ago, honza992 said:

@Pea Turgh Enough lines???😂😂

I can't wait to see how your scarf joint demarcation looks after the neck carve.

[honza992]

2 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

I can't wait to see how your scarf joint demarcation looks after the neck carve.

Me too!  Volute as well, mind you😁