ScottR Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Pros is my hero. His ability to post a massive thought dump is EPIC. I will drink to that. He is truly unparalleled. Tip one for me SR! With pleasure! Cool, now I've got valid reasons for two more drinks. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 the reason I started building guitars. Major manufacturers suck at it. Could not have put it better myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Top is cut and ready for sanding. Always take the bulk of the wood from the side away from the bookmatch when thickness sanding. This preserves the bookmatch. I will sand the bookmatch side in a light pass after it is joined. Fretboard needs to be thickness sanded as well. Usually 6mm is about right to start on wide boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Adding some wings to the neck blank so it is wide enough for the neck. Joined the top. The body is one piece Sapele so no need to do anything other than thickness sand it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Neck blank and templates. This is a work in progress so some things may be adjusted by hand. The tabs on the neck blank are for index pins on the CNC. It is really not as big as it looks... really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Hmmm… what the heck is he up to? I will let you know later. This is pretty random and is not part of any current builds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Time to get some wood together. While I really enjoy putting the woods together it can be tedious going through the piles of wood on the shelf to find the right pieces. It was a very tough choice between the fretboards. The losers. The winner. Fretboard on the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Now that I have a fretboard lets try and cut this pile up without wasting anything. It usually takes me a little while to get this part done. I try to not waste a single piece. The scrap from this build was a 2"x6" block. But I will use it to make control cavity covers… so it is not really scrap at all. With the new saw I get a top and a nice veneer for headstocks and such out of a 4/4 board. Nice to not waste anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 I am still torn about cleaning up glue… I know titebond doesn't really shrink but old habits die hard. With the body blank glued up time to get going on the neck blank. The CNC machine is turning out templates in the background... it is like there are 2 of us working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 I forgot how painful it is to work with Wenge. The splinters get infected so easily and it is a very splintery wood. By Sunday my hands were sore from handling it. Ok you guys sit and think about what you did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 For a guy that hates to waste anything, that sure is a nice piece of ziricote you've gunked up on that side project. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 For a guy that hates to waste anything, that sure is a nice piece of ziricote you've gunked up on that side project. SR Hey watch it. It isn't "gunked up" it is "special". I had a huge void in the middle of this beautiful piece of Ziricote (that happened to come from the seconds bin at my local wood store) and I hated to waste a potential fretboard on headplates and cavity covers... Also I never use ziricote for neck stringers because it is too unstable. Except for jewelry box this board was a loss. I will get the picture of what it looks like now together tonight and post it so you can see were I was headed with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 I like your idea of using a bunch of bench vises to spread the pressure while clamping! I was at a secondhand store recently and they had a bunch of old cast-iron book presses for sale that would have been big enough to serve as clamps for gluing tops onto bodies. Sadly they wanted in excess of $400 for each of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 You're right about wenge, you can't pick up a piece of the stuff without getting splinters. Last couple necks I've carved we're wenge and I have a habit of running my hand up and down the neck during the carving process to feel the progress. Ill leave the rest to your imagination. Filthy stuff. Raw it looks boring but clear coated it looks amazing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 I like your idea of using a bunch of bench vises to spread the pressure while clamping! I was at a secondhand store recently and they had a bunch of old cast-iron book presses for sale that would have been big enough to serve as clamps for gluing tops onto bodies. Sadly they wanted in excess of $400 for each of them.Man a cast iron book press would be perfect for gluing tops on...I have looked into the veneer presses from Shopfox but honestly can not pull myself to do spend the money on them.One thing I have worried about with the bench vises is them coming loose overnight. Sometimes on the cheap ones the acme lead screw will work loose over time. So far these have been pretty nice. I use a wrench handle to put just enough pressure that they are hard to open the next day.Vacuum clamping systems just seem to be messy and annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Short weekend to get things done. After gluing them up it is time to true them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Scarf time. Doing 2 at a time here to try and make some progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Pinning the scarf is the best way to keep it from creeping when you clamp it. You don't want the veneer squeezing out or the headstock turning under pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Clamps. I know you guys were wondering why I saved the cut off. Now you can see that I use it as a clamping caul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 So this one is glued up and now we have to true it again… I see a pattern here. After removing the excess with the bandsaw and a little time on the jointer we are really close. What I have learned is don't push it. The jointer is not your friend. It will destroy your work every chance it gets. Figured maple is always best finished up by hand. And try to keep the woops out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Ready for trussrod route. Bloodwood fretboard for this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Burl top for one of these, the pictures are of the dry top. Since it is burl I am not going to wet it just for pictures. We will just have to get a wet look at it later. Trust me it kills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Bass bodies are huge. all my tools are setup for regular guitars. I had to make some longer clamping cauls for this one. I cleaned up all the excess glue later just didn't take any pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Again since Bass guitars are huge none of my tools work on them. Since this thing doesn't fit on the CNC I had to go old school on it. Attaching a template, cut as close as I can with the bandsaw, then using the dreaded router table to clean it up. The heal still has to be trimmed down so that is why there are steps in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 And some headstock wings to end the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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