Finished Pics. Back to the dark side - Trini deluxe tribute with added ebony

[Andyjr1515]

On 14/08/2021 at 10:52, Si600 said:

How do they work? The knurled thing is for tuning or the blob on top?

It needs a few photos, but essentially:

- the top wing nut is the string clamping nut

- the hole in the inner cylinder is where the string will go eventually

- turning the knob at the bottom anticlockwise raises that inner cylinder plus wing nut out of the tuner, until the string hole appears (around 10mm) 

- the string is threaded through the hole in the inner cylinder, pulled tight and firmly clamped by the wing nut

- turning the knob at the bottom clockwise pulls the cylinder back into the tuner body, taking both sides of the string with it.  In doing so, the pitch of the string rises.

- you can see in the photo of the strung up headstock that the inner cylinders with the wing nuts are at different heights.  This is because the different strings require different degrees of tension to get them to pitch with, in this case, the top E pulled the furthest down

 

They are remarkably easy to string up and extremely precise in their tuning.  Real 'blue-sky thinking' 

 

 

[MoonBassAlpha]

Never come across those before, but that's an elegant solution. Do they weigh more than equivalent standard ones?

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

Never come across those before, but that's an elegant solution. Do they weigh more than equivalent standard ones?

I can't really remember from the last ones I fitted, but I don't think so...

[MoonBassAlpha]

They'd be interesting mounted sideways on a slotted head too...

[Andyjr1515]

53 minutes ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

They'd be interesting mounted sideways on a slotted head too...

Hmmm...not sure how that would work.  Because the string goes through the middle of the cylinder, wouldn't all the strings behind the ones closest to the nut clash with their cylinders?

 

It would be fun trying though - but not on this build  

[Andyjr1515]

Bit more progress.

 

First, I made a mod to my thickness callipers.  They had flat pads and that made it pretty much impossible to check the thickness across the area of the back or sides because the slightest angle would open up the jaws and give a false reading.  I had a rummage in my 'general bits' box and found these caps from some old mirror fixing screws:

 

Out with the dremel to cut away the screw, in with the 30 minute epoxy and now the calipers work perfectly

 

And to thinning the back and sides from the supplied 3.5mm to the planned final thickness of 1.9mm.

 

I'm sure there are better ways but, in the absence of a sander thicknesser, this is the best way for me.  My little block plane:

 

Then, once it was within 0.1mm or so of the target, smoothed out with the Mirka:

 

Next was bending the first side and end:

 

 

And, after lots of checking, using the long reach clamps to force the back into the radius- dish shape to glue it and the similarly shaped braces.  Finally a reinforcement block for the florentine and we have a self-supporting curved back and the basic components done waiting for some kerfed (slotted) internal linings and the ebony top

 

 

And, as I'm waiting for the kerfed strip, no excuse, I suppose, for starting the whole process again for the other side 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

And some more wood has arrived.

 

First I added some kerfed linings to stiffen things up:

 

And then repeated everything described above to make the second back:

 

 

And so, although there are many tasks to be done before I glue them, it was time to rough-cut the tops.

I chalked the optimum (only) position for the tops using my modified mould as a guide:

 

This was the longest/widest piece of ebony I could find - not much leeway in any direction!  Now you can probably see why I need a visible through-neck

 

And cut, oversize, sitting on the backs:

 

Clearly, there will be the weight of the through neck length to add, but, with some overage and carvings still to take off, all 4 components - 2 tops and 2 backs - are sitting at 3 1/2lbs total.  Not bad.  A 'standard' solid body blank often gets up to 5lbs, so probably comparable even though it's a much larger body than standard  

 

[Andyjr1515]

And so I'll be moving into a 'planning before doing' phase over the next couple of weeks - not least because there are some grandparenting duties looming which means 'moving all your mess out of the way' 

But there's a lot to get right and it is worth the pondering without the temptation of cutting or gluing something before I'm sure!

This is where I'm at with the wings:

The ebony is around 6mm thick and will have a subtle top carve, following the same sort of curve as the back, a couple of diamond 'f' holes and some weight relief scoops in the underneath.  And some very careful routing for the switches.

 

Switches?

 

Yes - we're going Jaguar guitar switch system, back mounted.

 

"And so I'll be moving into a 'planning before doing' phase over the next couple of weeks" 

  

[SpondonBassed]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

"And so I'll be moving into a 'planning before doing' phase over the next couple of weeks"

 

During which you can recover from the  tongue lashing you're going to get for using the Mrs's clothes pegs.

[Andyjr1515]

With the neck timbers having arrived, they have now been joined up which means that most of the major structural components are ready for their respective further stages of work:

 

 

There are a myriad of small jobs on each, plus a few big and scary ones!

The first falls into the small jobs category - fitting the cutaway sides.

 

One is gluing:

 

 

 

While the other one is glued and the excess removed.  At some stage, the bottom edge will be routed for some maple binding to be fitted.  Now that will be scary...

 

 

[Geek99]

You’ll just do it perfectly … we know the drill 😛

[Andyjr1515]

Bit more progress on this. 

 

Before adding the tops, I have a few jobs to do.  One is cutting and binding the diamond f holes.

I used a scrollsaw to rough cut them and made a little sharp-angled sanding block to get them straight:

 

Then cut some maple binding strip to line them:

 

Life is too short to feed stuff through the f holes, especially as this is going to have Jaguar-type sliding switches and so I will have a small access hatch at the back to be able to feed stuff in and hold in place while screws, etc, are being tightened:

 

I thought I'd do something similar to the grain-matched hatch on Matt P's recent bass-build:

 

I started by cutting the hatch out using a Dremel, precision base and 1mm bit:

 

Then added a rebate at the back that will also hold the magnets:

 

Finally, lined the hole with some maple veneer (I did the iron-on trick as I do when I veneer guitar and bass bodies, ie: coat both parts with PVA wood glue; let dry; position and iron on inch at a time; hold until cool and glue grabs):

 

Finally, trimmed with a single-edged razor:

 

There will also be a 1.5mm pinstripe between the wings and the neck so hopefully it will all visually tie up together 

 

[benh]

Those f holes look amazing! 

[Si600]

Are they f holes if they're not f shaped? 🤔

[MoonBassAlpha]

11 minutes ago, Si600 said:

Are they f holes if they're not f shaped? 🤔

What if they were A- shaped? 😀

[TheGreek]

That's a nice fit...

 

[Hellzero]

4 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

What if they were A- shaped? 😀

You mean S-shaped ?

[MoonBassAlpha]

15 hours ago, Hellzero said:

You mean S-shaped ?

No, definitely talking a-holes! 😉

[PlungerModerno]

21 hours ago, TheGreek said:

That's a nice fit...

 

More even than a lot of panel gaps on showroom floors...

[Andyjr1515]

And a bit more progress.  This time it's all about getting ready for gluing the wings to the neck.

 

The back will have maple binding.  It's a lot easier to cut the slot for this before the sides are glued.  I used the great Radius Dish UK's binding cutting jig - with an added high-tech mod (rubber band) of my own.

 

Spent some time working out the neck and headstock angles and then cut the side profile on the band saw, including the curve at the back:

 

Starting to look like a guitar:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[SpondonBassed]

That's a striking combination of timbers without any finish.  It's going to be amazing with the finish applied.

[Pea Turgh]

The best set of go-faster stripes ever!

[Andyjr1515]

I still have stuff to sort before both tops can be fitted but, even if a switch needed fitting on the bass side, there is nothing I can't do with that one glued on...so that's what I've done.  And out comes the radius dish again to clamp against

 

After a few experiments with ebony offcut, I decided that the block plane was probably the safest and most effective way of carving the ebony:

 

 

 

But yes - it's a slow process.  Lots of 'walk away and come back to it'; lots of 'resharpen the blade comprehensively b******d by the b*****ing ebony' 

This, I reckon is about 1/3 of the way there.  By the way, I've dampened it to give a better idea of how the colours will coordinate on the finished guitar (not exclusively, but especially for Neil  )

I won't fit the bottom binding until the tops - particularly the edges - are done, otherwise there is a tendency to sand down at each stage until you realise you've run out of walnut!  

 

Fretboard blank is due later today! 

[Andyjr1515]

And - other than a bit of invisible fill of one of the knot holes (easy with ebony), the carve is pretty much done on the half fitted so far.

It's a very subtle curve but, certainly in real life, transforms it from the 'slab topped' look previously.  I'm happy with this.

 

I also drilled the bridge earth wire hole while I could see what I was doing.  Oh, and the ebony fretboard blank arrived this morning! 

[TheGreek]

When that has a satin finish....