Robbo's MB-1 build

[wokkaboy]

Hey Robbo,
yes when I start sanding a kit I use an orbital sander to get the bulk of the machine marks off, then go to a 240 grit and auto stores sell 320 grit papers. Then I move onto hand sanding as the ROS will leave some marks if it digs in on an angle. Keep the ROS flat as you can and lower speeds. If you have a vice to put the body in that's a plus as you should be operating the ROS with both hands

[Andy40]

I was going to say that Wokks goes the orbital sander.

I always sand by hand right the way through the grades......gives me time to talk to her.

[Kick]

I looked at the kit and there's no veneer on it so I would say it would be ok to use the ROS with 180 grit.

But I'm fairly new in this kit building so please wait for the veterans to respond

/edit: Wokka and Andy were faster than me

[Rockfactor]

I noticed a crack in the body (see pic) and want to repair it before I spend any time sanding it.

I was going to gently open the crack up and blow in some thinned down glue but it looks like the crack is a bit worse than I first thought (which doesn't concern me too much).

Should I drill and dowel the crack or is that just unnecessary work?

Any ideas appreciated.

Robbo

[wokkaboy]

Hey Robbo, I think if you can get some thin superglue in the crack it should be fine unless you plan to do a Jimi Hendrix at Monterey haha

[Simon Barden]

Just be careful with the thin superglue. It's has almost no surface tension, has very low viscosity and so runs everywhere, so I'd mask off all around the crack to minimise the sanding you'll need to do. Ideally you should get a needle-nose applicator for it so you can put it right in the crack.

Also if you are planning on staining the guitar, I'm pretty sure that the superglue won't take up any stain, so you really don't want to get it on the surface of the body.

Can you get a thin knife blade or a thin needle down the crack to see how deep it is? If its only a mm or so, then it's probably not worth worrying about and just fill it with timbermate. If it's deeper, then it will need some glue, but I'd also try to then clamp it as tight as possible to seal up the gap. This will tend to squeeze out any glue, so don't use too much and I'd probably use PVA rather than superglue as at least you can clean it off the surface with Goof-Off. I'd put cling-film between the body and the wood you'll use to help clamp it with so that the clamping wood doesn't get stuck as well!

[Rockfactor]

Thanks guys. The more I look at it (you can actually lift the top edge up a little bit) I suspect that the crack goes in pretty deep.

It's hard to explain but it looks like if you pried the edge of the crack up, it would come out as a wedge of timber.

I am going with a painted finish so i will try and get it glued up as best as I can.

I might even just put a few small dowels in to make sure the wedge of timber stays in place when I perform stage-diving heroics

Robbo

[Rockfactor]

Fixed the crack, basically drove a small screwdriver in to open up the gap, dropped in some CA glue and clamped her up. Good as gold, just need to fill the small hole from the screwdriver.

I've been doing some sanding and had a bit of a crack at a headstock design, considering my artistic talent is nought, I think it's a pretty good start.

1...



2... A bit of a nod to the mockingbird original



And number free...



The plan for tomorrow? Why more sanding of course

Robbo

[Rockfactor]

I've just noticed that the fold in the paper makes one and three look pointier on top than they are.

[Zandit75]

That's a neat trick for symmetrical designs Rock! Reminds me of something we used to do when drawing in primary school!
I'm not meaning that in a bad way either, it's amazing the little tricks we forget when we don't use them enough!