FS-1 build

[Dedman]

Cheers Deddy, by "one day" does that mean you have one on the way and will most likely have it finished before I even get the neck glued in on this one?

Grant

na, 2 others on the way and a bunch of parts, other wise I would have LOL

[neverwas]

Been trying to make some progress with this one, more adventures in inlay making.
Scanned and printed the sketch, cut out and glued to the pieces of white MoP shell.

Used a 2mm drill bit so could get the jewellers saw blade in to cut the inner shapes.

You may notice I managed to break off the pointy bit of the back of the B, oops, call it a design change.

Took three goes at cutting the separate flourish thing, not entirely happy but not willing to waste any more shell on it, should look OK from across the room.

In case you're wondering how much space gets taken up making such a small item


If that wasn't fun enough, now have to cut recesses for the 1.3mm thick inlay pieces, may take a while.

Grant

[DarkMark]

I believe it is not uncommon to break the MOP. It can be glued back together and fit in the recess. After I discovered about this I had a close look at the inlay of my Ibanez headstock and discovered that is exactly what they had done (never noticed before).

[neverwas]

Yes DM, if the pieces were fully shaped and ready to go, then glueing together would be the way to go. My sawing wasn't as neat as would have liked, so filing a thin piece that's been glued together, it would most likely come apart again and the air would've turned more blue than usual.

[phrozin]

Then sprayed another 4 coats of clear, may need to do more but will wait and see.
Attachment 26929Attachment 26930
Attachment 26931
Trying to come up with something to do for an inlay on the recessed part of the headstock, this is the current idea. It will be white MOP on a black background.
Attachment 26932

Grant

Beautiful job, lovely finish that took some work

[neverwas]

Thanks phrozin, still got more work to do, will get there one day.

So, had a go at cutting the recesses for the inlay pieces and all did not go well, thinking the B should stand for butcherous. Did the B first, broke off the small part that would go inside the upper loop of the letter, then did the flourish recess and as I was getting close to the right depth the piece of maple between the two cut outs broke off. Red mist descended, many many bad words said.
The raggedy mess, since cleaned up, should title this 'what an inlay cavity should not look like'.

Shell pieces in place

Used white glue to hold the inlays in place and then mixed maple sawdust with titebond to fill around the pieces (pays to keep any offcuts from headstock or body shaping, may come in handy for jobs like this). Because I'd done such a poor job, took two goes to fill the gaps.

Sanded smooth, the white flecks are shell dust which should clean out. Now to sand the rest of the neck, round over some edges where needed and get ready for stain. If the glue fill doesn't take stain too well can paint that section, it was always intended to be black.


Grant

[trv]

Nice work on the custom inlay, that looks so good!

[Simon Barden]

Congratulations on attempting the inlay. The glued wood bits won't take the stain - not without it being very noticeable at the very least - so I'd progress straight to the paint for that area.

[DarkMark]

Bugger! Good fix though. Nice design.

[neverwas]

Thanks all.

Got the neck sanded to 240 grit all over and taped up ready for staining.

Following the same process as the body, black stain first then multiple coats of orange mix which pulls some of the black off onto the cotton swabs as you go. Can't really tell if it's the same as the body, but while it's damp it looks about right.

The glue fill around the inlay did take the black stain but as Simon predicted it is quite noticeable at certain angles, so will have to paint that section after all.

How the grain on the back of the neck looks, had pics of the edge of headstock but they're a bit blurry, looks similar to the edge of the body. Now just need a warm day to get some clear on to seal it.

Grant