You guys are insiring man! I must say that the bug thoroughly bit me and I have been caught more than once shopping for some nice-to-have tools:D who knows where it'll end if at all!!:D
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You guys are insiring man! I must say that the bug thoroughly bit me and I have been caught more than once shopping for some nice-to-have tools:D who knows where it'll end if at all!!:D
So, time for another quick update.
I have been spending heaps of hours on the guitar but with little to show for it. I am now at that stage where the little jobs are taking just as much time as the major ones did.
The Binding. Nothing much to share here except that I used a Gel CA glue to attach the binding to the body of the guitar. I have no experience with binding but I found that the Gel CA did not soak immediately into the wood as opposed to normal CA glue, and gave me a lot more working time to position the binding.
I double checked everything first before cutting the binding but still managed to make a mistake at the point of the lower horn and had to fashion a bit of a repair job. I was so dirty on myself that I forgot (or was too embarrassed) to take a photo. Lol.
But we learn by doing, so hopefully I won’t be making that mistake again.
First job of the repair was to glue in a sliver of cream binding to fill the gap. The plan was to “melt” some binding for the repair. But I had bought some cheap binding from China and found out that although the black binding melts in contact with Acetone the cream would not. So the repair was not going to be a seamless join, but it was the best I could do.
Attachment 11835
Then I filed and shaped the excess and cut a groove in the existing binding to take a small section of black. Unfortunately the chisel did not give me the “surgical” accuracy I was hoping for.
Attachment 11836
Then I glued in a small section of black binding and filed it down. It’s hard to tell from this shot but the repair is passable at best, but does not stand up to close scrutiny. But considering how it looked before the repair I can live with it.
Attachment 11837
Next job was to drill the string-through holes. I am finding that although I am using good quality bits I am getting a fair amount of tear out. I think that using a hand drill tends to tear the wood rather than cut it. But I am not too concerned as the tear outs on the top will be covered by the bridge and at the back the string ferrules will cover most of the mess.
Attachment 11838
Then on to drilling out the recesses for the neck screw ferrules.
Attachment 11839
The last job I did was to glue in some Neodymium magnets for the pre-amp cover. Just a note of caution to anybody doing the same. CHECK THE POLARITY OF THE MAGNETS before you glue them in place. This is what could happen if you don’t…. the cover is literally balancing on the magnets repelling each other, and it is impossible to close.
Attachment 11840Attachment 11841
Luckily I did one final check of the magnets before super-gluing them in place. Whew!! Lol.
I am now almost at the stage where I will start the final sanding. Several hours of joy ahead of me.
Cheers
rob
wow the binding looks great Westie07, and how cool is that a hovering control cover haha you should have reversed the other side to try and get a hover board effect haha
This is really coming along well mate, what colour stain are you doing ?
Looking amazing Rob! Love the binding. She's really taking shape now.
cheers,
Gav.
@Woks
Thanks Warren, but I think I'll give the hoverboard cover a miss.;)
Colours? I am thinking of keeping her a very traditional looking acoustic, so a natural top and probably a dark (maybe walnut) stain for the the back and sides. I spent so many hours on the binding I want to show it off as much as possible. lol.
@Gav
Thanks for the encouragement Gav. Doing the binding channel by hand will never be as neat as a router, but I have tried to fix my mistakes with Timbermate so hopefully it will look OK when finished.
Cheers guys
rob
good work Westie07, natural top and walnut back/sides will look very cool. Are you using a PBG neck and will it be a tele headstock shape ?
@Woks
Dang, I've got to keep up to date reading these forums otherwise they tend to get away from you.
Yep Warren, it's a PBG neck. I'm trying to keep an acoustic guitar vibe going with this one so opted for a traditional 3x3 headstock. All going well I will be staining the neck, back and sides tomorrow so should have some piccies up soon.
rob
excellent Westie, sounds like a cool plan.
Don't stress about taking your time to reply mate, only log on when you feel like it.
If I had a hands on job my posts would be lucky to be 1000 total ! hahah
speaking of you are only 21 posts off 4 figures mate !
Now theres a neat trick.... levitating control covers!Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
Must add that to my list of ideas stolen from Robin :D
Yep, levitating control covers. Not my finest hour. lol.
I am only using magnets on one end of the cover this time. The problem is, to secure the cover I have doubled up on the magnets and the extra power of the magnets has pulled the one off the cover already. I have re-glued it with super glue again and I'll see how it goes.
Well, either by chance or good luck the output jack hole lined up with the routing I had done for the wiring. Yay.
Attachment 11975
Next was to fill all the cracks around the binding with Timbermate.
Attachment 11976
Then sand back..............again
Attachment 11977
Then I taped up the binding on the neck and the guitar and applied the stain.
Attachment 11980Attachment 11981Attachment 11982
So far so good.
Cheers
rob
I've just caught up with this thread Rob, looking awesome!
Rob, I just reread all of this, epic build regardless of the outcome, but I think you will end up with a great guitar.
You have done it the hard way with hand tools which simply means great skills. Nice build
I'm curious now, do you suppose that using Neodymium RE magnets near standard pickups would screw up the PUP's own magnetic fields? I was contemplating your cover closure idea for a trem cover, but any way i would mount it, the magnets would be directly behind a PUP in my current configuration. Time for some Mad Scientist action me thinks.....Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
@Andrew
Thanks mate.
@Stan
Thanks mate, not so much skills as lots of spare time. ;)
@Frankie
Hi Frankie, I used Neodymium magnets in one of my earlier Tele builds and they did not seem to make any difference. I got a Magnetometer App for my phone and tested the pickup cavities and there was no appreciable rise in magneto-stuff happening. But I doubt that it was very accurate.
I also did a Google search, and there are a lot of quality guitar makers now using magnets, so I figured I would give them a try.
Cheers
rob
Thanks for that Robin, I shall give it a bash on the FrankenWasjie ressurection!
Great job Rob. Look forward to hearing the combination of pickups
Thanks Kim.
But this guitar will only have the piezo pickup as I need to get my head around "blending" magnetic and piezo pickups. I believe that the impedance difference in each design means that "blending" is not as straight forward as it sounds. This is a proof of concept type of deal, so I need to know if the piezo will do what I want before I get too adventurous.
rob
Ooo how did I miss this? Great work Robin!
With the preamp for the piezo it should be able to match the impedance to that of the magnetics I think.
Thanks Simon.
I might have that impedance thing wrong. All I know is that when I started my google research I came across "blending" Piezos with Magnetics could be a bit of a problem. I saw several builds and some top end guitars like PRS that had extra circuitry to blend the pickups. So I shied away from that quick smart and decided to just try and make it work with a piezo.
The build is on hold just now as I used my last waterslide decal on it and it did not take and has lifted. So until I get that done I can't apply any more naughty oil. I don't have access to a laser printer so I am waiting for a good time to hit up my bro-in-law for a favour.
Cheers mate
rob
Coming along nicely Robin....
Cheers Andy, still a bit to do, but it will have to wait until I get some waterslides done.
rob
You got a laser printer? If you do but don't have any waterslide paper, I have some. Just let me know.
Thanks so much Andy, much appreciated.
I do have one last sheet of (laser) waterslide paper but unfortunately I don't have a laser printer. I have given the sheet to my bro-in-law who will print it out at his work and now just waiting on him to get it back to me.
I must admit to getting a bit impatient to start again so hopefully it won't be to much longer.
Cheers mate
rob
you will get there Westie, can you start work on the body while you wait more stain or clear coats ? You can always work on the neck except the headstock face waiting for the logo
Hey Warren, that's the thing. The waterside decal is going on the body and not the headstock. Lol. So I'm pretty much stuck until I get the decal off the bro.
ah ok Westie07, is there work on the neck you can do ?
I'd put some pressure on you bro then
You are only 7 posts off 4 figure posts mate !
I've been following this build for some time, and it has finally hit me what you are building. This should basically come out like a solid body version of the Yamaha Silent Acoustic guitar range.
I've been eyeing these guitars off for years, and will eventually add one to my collection.
http://www.acousticcentre.com.au/pro...-silent-guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuDBq-yJi1w
Gee Zandit, if it sounds half as good as that and I could play half as good as he can I would be a very happy chappie. But I could live without the hairless cat lol. I really like the Yamaha's "Mic" setting, but I notice that the piezo by itself sounded quite harsh, but I am hoping that I can "warm" it up a bit with EQ.
Finally got some more waterslide decals done so I can get back to it next week. I have been suffering serious withdrawal symptoms the last 2 weeks.
Yeah, agreed, it's much better on a blend of SRT Mic and Piezo. I played one recently at The Acoustic Center plugged into a Fishman Artist Acoustic Amp, and it was such a beautiful sound.
It's also a very interesting guitar shape and style, and would be an excellent conversation starter!
Yep, those blended sounds are really nice. I can imagine how nice when put through the Fishman Amp.
I never go into guitar/music shops anymore but I must admit from just watching that video when my retirement plan kicks in (Lotto) I might get me one of them.
I first come across them about 15yrs ago. The 100 series was really nice, and I almost laid down the money right there and then, but I was travelling by plane back to Tassie, and was too scared it would get damaged in transit. I'm pretty sure no one in Tassie carries Yamaha guitars, so I will probably end up getting one from the Acoustic Center when they are on special. They have free shipping, and they cover any damages etc.
Great video Fret. I saw that in the list and meant to watch it the other night, but didn't get to it.
Hi Robin
Nice to see you working on another one. :)
I see you aquired the japanese rasp - how do you like it? I've used it on five cbg or "box guitar" necks so far and I'm loving it more with each build.
Gotta visit here more but I've been busy having a holiday...
Nice work as always Robin!
Thanks Arzi.
Loving the Japanese rasp. I'm right handed so the steadying hand (the left) gets rubbed a bit raw on occasions but the more I use it the more I am perfecting the technique. It can take off heaps of timber but doesn't gouge like an ordinary rasp. Best toy in my toybox.
I must admit I haven't touched my current build for about a month. I seem to have gone back into my doldrums and lost motivation and momentum once again. But its there waiting for me when I am ready.
Cheers mate
rob
That's the best way to be, I often have the time and have everything on hand to do something but just don't feel the mojo, so I leave it go rather than force myself and do a sub-standard job.
Well guys, I am finally getting back into this build after a break of too many months.
First thing was to start applying the Naughty Oil. Unfortunately the Oil is a bit old and past it’s prime and a little too thick so flow on nicely. I tried to thin it with both Shellite and White Spirit, but neither seem to make much of a difference. So I haven’t got the usual standard of finish on this one, but it’s a "proof of concept" project for me so I’m not too concerned how it’s finished. Plus as the body is pine I know that it will get marked and damaged during the assembly process. But if it just works I’ll be happy.
I’ve included a photo of how much (or little) Tru Oil I apply to the guitar for each coat. It works out that about 9 or 10 drops will do about half of one side of the guitar. Of course the original soak coat is laid on a bit thicker, but each subsequent coat is applied very thinly.
As per usual with my guitars I apply 20+ coats of TO. But because the TO was a bit thick I had to smooth off the final coats with some 2000 grit paper to get rid of the wipe marks and then finish off with Brasso. Here are some before and after shots with the Brasso.
The back after the 2000 grit sand.
Attachment 15404
The back after a good hand buffing with Brasso.
Attachment 15405
The side after the 2000 grit.
Attachment 15406
The side after the Brasso.
Attachment 15407
A bit of an “arty” shot of the back.
Attachment 15408
Actually the photos are very flattering, as the finish is not that good IRL.
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