New Build Day.. LP Liteish

[Rabs]

So I did another important step today.

And had another F up....   Arrggg... But nothing I couldnt recover from. Basically when I was doing the control cavity the template slipped cos I tried to clamp it just for that bit rather than stick the top down. One of the issues with using double sided tape is that its really hard to get off so I tried to skip it and paid the price,

Man, I guess this is what happens when you havent done this for a while. Just silly mistakes.. Small things you forget. So it seems I am having to learn a lot of those lessons again    Oh well, as I said, nothing too bad today..

So I trimmed the top and back down closer to the final shape as I do know you dont want to be taking off more than a few mm when you do routing around the edges. The wood can split so easy,

So here you can see where the template slipped up a bit..  But it wasnt going all the way through so on the other side it is how it should be but we do have a nice LP shape now

And on the back side which is obviously the side you will see its ok.. It just means I have a bit of an untidy inside of the cavity.. Not the worst thing ever. I should have just enough of a lip to do the cavity cover.

Then using the top template to show me where the bridge will be I added an extra wiring channel for the ground wire

Ohh and I broke the second back template trying to get it off again... Arrgggggg..   

BUT this does now mean its gluing time..  YAY

So, not a perfect day but we are moving forward now.. Tomorrow I will go and see the results and Tuesday im at the workshop again so hopefully I have gotten over this little hump now.

[Dub-T-123]

Do you have a drill press? You could stack the carve templates and drill through all of them at once and then the holes will all line up so you don’t need to battle the tape 

 

btw those Irwin quick clamps are the best I use those so much 

[Rabs]

1 minute ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Do you have a drill press? You could stack the carve templates and drill through all of them at once and then the holes will all line up so you don’t need to battle the tape 

 

btw those Irwin quick clamps are the best I use those so much 

I dont but they do at the workshop...

And yes the quick clamps are used all the time.. Its what I use to hold the template and usually it does the job but I should have known better.... And do now again I guess 🙂 

[Rabs]

Quickie update..   Body all nicely glued and mostly cleaned up..

For those not in the know we do that with a router bit that has a bearing. In this case one that runs along the bottom.

And all done... NOICEE

Its quite a nice maple cap actually. Shame that I will be painting over it.. My mum really liked it and was trying to convince me to NOT paint a solid colour.. But, nope we know the plans for this.

 

Workshop day tomorrow. I hope its not as busy there as t was last week.

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Rabs

[duane v]

Great work!!!!

[Rabs]

1 minute ago, duane v said:

Great work!!!!

Cheers.. But its about time too.. I should have been at this stage a couple of weeks ago.

But having the body cut out and the top and back glued has made me feel like im back on track again.... 

So the fun will continue tomorrow  🙂 

[duane v]

4 minutes ago, Rabs said:

Cheers.. But its about time too.. I should have been at this stage a couple of weeks ago.

But having the body cut out and the top and back glued has made me feel like im back on track again.... 

So the fun will continue tomorrow  🙂 

It always take longer than expected..... If you commissioned a luthier to do what you're doing it would be at least 6 months. 
 

I think you're making good progress 

[CROWB8]

[Rabs]

Hello..  Todays update.

Again. Man, I dont know what it is about that place but time just disappears in to nothing. I got there at 10 and left at 5:30.... And apart from getting lunch and a couple of trips to the DIY shop I really didnt stop. I guess it was because today I mainly concentrated on the fretboard which is fiddly.

But before that. I did the truss rod access hole.. Thankfully that and the truss rod channel are two things I can still do perfectly  🙂

There is a method for this cos you are drilling on an angle its not easy to go straight in without slipping, So you start off drilling down a few mm then you slowly angle the drill down till you are straight. 

I also finalised the position of the headstock on the veneer blank.

I think I made a bit of a mistake with this fibrous board. When I ordered it I was a bit obsessed about doing this properly and apparently its what Gibson used to use and you spray some solid black nitro over the top..  I could have got this on an ebony veneer but decided to go with this. I was also told it goes blacker when you add finish so I tried that too.. I cut a piece off the bottom.

So yeah. That definitely needs paint..  Which means I will have to mask the inlays which is a bit of a pain... But hey ho.

I also cleaned up my control cavity a bit.. Looks ok now

Cleaned up the side of the body with the drum sander.

And marked out the positions of the hardware and the carve templates

And now for todays main event.. INLAYS...

While it was a bit easier as I had clean out most of the middle.. Man, it was real fiddly. I had forgotten how fiddly it was getting the sides perfectly straight. I think each one took like 20-30 mins.. I did start speeding up towards the end when I had remembered the little tricks you use. But I guess that was gonna happen as its the first time I have done this in several years now.

Here you can see the fretboard on the neck. Theres 2mm each side for the binding and the neck is not quite to size yet. I will do that once the fretboard is on

So yeah.. It takes a while to make sure each side is clean and straight.. Messy

But you get there in the end

And all of them done and glued. Looks messy cos it has superglue all over it. And you always put some ebony dust around the edges just to make sure any small gaps are filled. 

Also ran out of glue and bought this stuff which was sold to me as superglue but is not one of those types that dry in minutes so I have to leave this to cure over night or I would have sanded this down at the end of the day.

This is the glue

And then I also did the rosewood board for the walnut guitar

Did that whole board too..  Really looking forward to getting these sanded back down and see the glory..   Which hopefully I will do tomorrow.

Nice..

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Rabs

[CROWB8]

7 minutes ago, Rabs said:

So yeah. That defiantly needs paint..  Which means I will have to mask the inlays which is a bit of a pain

If I may, 

Sounds like a job for liquid mask. Thin down a wee bit with water if needed and apply with small brush. Peel off when done. Get it in little bottles from any hobby or DIY place.

Bit of experience from my modeling days when I had eyes that worked.

[Rabs]

Just now, CROWB8 said:

If I may, 

Sounds like a job for liquid mask. Thin down a wee bit with water if needed and apply with small brush. Peel off when done. Get it in little bottles from any hobby or DIY place.

Bit of experience from my modeling days when I had eyes that worked.

I will look that up.. Cheers 

[Rabs]

1 minute ago, CROWB8 said:

If I may, 

Sounds like a job for liquid mask. Thin down a wee bit with water if needed and apply with small brush. Peel off when done. Get it in little bottles from any hobby or DIY place.

Bit of experience from my modeling days when I had eyes that worked.

Actually my first thought..  Will it react with the nitro paint? Hmmm

[CROWB8]

Just now, Rabs said:

Actually my first thought..  Will it react with the nitro paint? Hmmm

No. Water base. Thin it down quite a bit and test. You'll find that it covers even when very thin. Acetone based paints would need a thick solution and need several mist coats from a propellant bottle. But what your using is fine.

[CROWB8]

Only take 15 min to set for testing should you choose. 

[CROWB8]

Oh, I wouldn't use that on an unsealed surface unless the paint has totally gassed out. By that I don't  mean cured. Needs to have gassed for weeks or more depending on medium. But on your Pearloid surfaces it won't darken them if that's your Q.

Edited April 25, 2023 by CROWB8

[CROWB8]

If it bleeds to the board (having thinned too much), let dry and trace edges with a blade. Then peel those away. 

You can leave thick and mound the stuff if needed. It's that forgiving. Easier to peel off in that instance. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by CROWB8

[Rabs]

6 minutes ago, CROWB8 said:

If it bleeds to the board (having thinned too much), let dry and trace edges with a blade. Then peel those away. 

You can leave thick and mound the stuff if needed. It's that forgiving. Easier to peel off in that instance. 

Cool.. Cheers.. I will have a look in to the various methods and see....

[duane v]

Fretboard work is so tedious, well it was for me when I was removing the fretboard dots, enlarging the fret dot bore for larger MOP dots. I used a thin glue with a wick from StewMac and it worked good, but some glue still migrated on the fretboard, so I has some cleanup work.

I used a drill press, but I only had circular dots to deal with. I couldn't imagine me dealing with rectangular shapes that require a router. 

[Rabs]

3 hours ago, duane v said:

Fretboard work is so tedious, well it was for me when I was removing the fretboard dots, enlarging the fret dot bore for larger MOP dots. I used a thin glue with a wick from StewMac and it worked good, but some glue still migrated on the fretboard, so I has some cleanup work.

I used a drill press, but I only had circular dots to deal with. I couldn't imagine me dealing with rectangular shapes that require a router. 

Yeah.. Dots for me are nothing.. Dont require any filling at all cos you get a perfect circle in the perfect size.  Extra glue on the board in not really a problem as I am going to radius the whole board soon anyway.

But yeah. Other shapes take some work..  If I had a smaller pointy router bit for my Dremel it would have been a bit easier. But its cleaning up the sides of the holes to make them exactly square which is fiddly..  But its done now  🙂  Of course I will have all the frets to do soon, But that doesnt bother me so much.

[Rabs]

Man this is an odd one...  When he uses the circular saw for the neck pocket I was thinking WTF!! I have never seen anyone do that, ever!!   But hey, if it works, it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR_ilx5Z6WQ

Edited April 26, 2023 by Rabs

[duane v]

17 minutes ago, Rabs said:

Man this is an odd one...  When he uses the circular saw for the neck pocket I was thinking WTF!! I have never seen anyone do that, ever!!   But hey, if it works, it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR_ilx5Z6WQ

I was even more shocked with how he attached the flamed paper thin veneer without destroying it. 

[Rabs]

3 minutes ago, duane v said:

I was even more shocked with how he attached the flamed paper thin veneer without destroying it. 

Did we see the same video.. I didnt see any veneer?

[duane v]

5 minutes ago, Rabs said:

Did we see the same video.. I didnt see any veneer?

 

 

[Rabs]

2 minutes ago, duane v said:

 

 

Ahh ok...  Yeah veneers can be a bit of a pain ( usually 0.6mm thick) but like everything it just takes some technique and a bit of experience. I used veneers on my first few builds rather than pay loads of money for posh wood that I may very well ruin..  I used bags of sand and weights to stick it down lol   a vacuum sealer thing is way easier.

[merciful-evans]

Rabs, thinking on from your mum's comment: I was little surprised you used a maple top since you're painting the body.