The Team will be complete.

[wazkelly]

Hi Ozzie, just caught up as I have been busy doing a few other things lately.

Yeah, tend to agree that the black bit didn't work out as planned and your standard nudie natural may be the way to go. If mine I would try and achieve a deep cherry red colour. Like your idea for doing something different on the scratch plate. If I ever get around to doing one of these my thoughts were to cut a scratch plate from humble thin plywood and stain that as top layer of ply is usually very light.

Mind you, if you did a twin of your T-Bird that would also look good too.

[ozzbike]

Hi Ozzie, just caught up as I have been busy doing a few other things lately.

Yeah, tend to agree that the black bit didn't work out as planned and your standard nudie natural may be the way to go. If mine I would try and achieve a deep cherry red colour. Like your idea for doing something different on the scratch plate. If I ever get around to doing one of these my thoughts were to cut a scratch plate from humble thin plywood and stain that as top layer of ply is usually very light.

Mind you, if you did a twin of your T-Bird that would also look good too.

Hmm...not the twin thing. I want to try something different.

Yet with that in mind.....my norm would be the naked natural thing.

But the RED intrigues me. I have the Red Mahogany prooftint from Feast Watson I have used on the neck and the back of the body on my EXA-4 kit.....under Tru Oil it is so deep and rich....crimson really.

And doing a single colour takes my ineptitude with stain out of the picture...with my poor efforts at bursting springing to mind.

Okay.....I will sand her back....sad though....hit her up with some more Tru Oil yesterday and the grain is jumping out....nice.

Refill with timbermate....and I will stick with the mahogany timbermate....not doing the black thing....I actually don't like it....sad for me really. Maybe walnut may be a compromise.

I actually saw a couple of videos on YouTube of people making stools with different styles, grains and colours of wood. The end results were just Tung oiled and looked amazing. I have since looked at a few videos on veneers.....gotta find a way of ensuring the evenness of the joining edges....and gotta get some more clamps....only have two.....and some MDF to use as clamping backing plates....CAWLS they call them.

My issue will be trying to get overall thickness within useable limits. The pickguard will be fine.....three/five ply will give me a similar depth to the plastic pickguard. Chamfer the edge.....use whatever in the plies underneath...and make my colour stuff in the top layer only. Then trim...sand lightly...chamfer with sanding.....and Tru Oil to a shine.

The headstock is my concern. If I go the flat headstock with shaped veneer over the top and then a truss rod cover over that I will have to watch the total height for string clearance. The images I have seen show the tuners not in the headstock trim....so the strings will have to maintain clearance over the veneer and truss rod cover.

Really need to see how thick these veneers are.

Now gotta plan a bookpress style clamping system.......Big Green Shed may have some ideas.....oh and have to find some greaseproof paper...hello Woolies.

Watch this space.

[ozzbike]

She has been sanded bare with 60 grit...cleaned up with 80 grit....smoothed with 120 grit....dusted with 180 grit. Now Mahogany timbermate and then 240 grit to follow.

[Andy40]

Look sometimes staring over is the best. its gotta be right by you

[FrankenWashie]

Look sometimes staring over is the best. its gotta be right by you

Damn straight.

[ozzbike]

Sanded the timber mate off....used the 30 degree day to dry it all out.

One big soak coat of Tru Oil last night.....one more this morning early....looking great.....may sneak another in tonight.

The body appears to be two piece....not centred. The bottom bouts are all one piece and there is a section of lovely tiger flame that goes from just under the raised section on the front of the body....down and around the edge and up to the opposite spot.

Looks so cool. I love how oils pull hidden grain....figure....out of wood.

Photos after a day driving the Uber car.

Quiet today.....all worried about the incoming cyclone....no sign on the Sunshine Coast as of 0935am.

[ozzbike]

Home now. Another coat on the body...that is 3 coats of Tru Oil again now.

[Fretworn]

Hmmmmmmm.......I just don't know. Love the flame the Tru Oil found near the controls on the front.

Looking awesome

[Andy40]

Yeah the flame in that mahogany!

[ozzbike]

Finally bit the bullet today. Going to have a go at shaping the headstock.

I have downloaded and resized and printed about 10 headstock templates.

The PBG paddle is not the right size to allow a proper full sized Firebird headstock shape. There is not enough wood below the High E string tuner hole, nor above the Low E string tuner hole.

The headstock appears to not be as long as the banjo style tuner headstock, and the tuner holes are too close to one edge to allow much room to cut and shape things.

1970’s style reverse headstock with side tuners do not appear to have the routed/contoured traditional headstock face I had envisaged. Rather, they are just flat with square edges.

1980’s ones have a mix of flat traditional shapes with a beveled edge.....and a flat headstock with a lot thinner routed/contoured shape in the middle of the face.

Okay...choices.

I think I will resize and reshape the headstock to give me room for the three or so layered veneer insert and truss rod cover to all be attached over a silky smooth sanded and filled natural finish mahogany headstock.

Fret saw and rasps here I come. Wish me luck.