As I have no idea how that works I will stand here smiling and nodding :)
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As I have no idea how that works I will stand here smiling and nodding :)
It's not that complicated, it's just a slightly more accurate mitre box with a sliding bed to advance the fretboard between fret slots, the board is CA/masking tape secured to the bed centreline. The toggle clamps lock the whole assembly down while you cut.
It's a bit of a work in progress, but the first test cut seemed good. I'm going to prepare a pine test blank to do the fret measurement test and the fine tune on this cracked rosewood board, with some inlay work, prior to getting to grips with the final ebony board.
NSFW warning, the picture below shows a line of slots....
Attachment 13987
nice fret jig, Franken, simple and effective
Thanks Stan, I had been playing around with the idea. I decided to just do it. We'll see how it pans out.Quote:
Originally Posted by stan
cool fret slot jig Frankie, so it clamps the fingerboard down and you use the square edge to rest the saw against ?
Not yet :) the brown bar is a square rest for the saw and the long bars either side are squared to that to assist with marking up the fret board.Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
I've got a couple of small toggle clamps that will go either side of the saw rest to actually clamp the board and sliding bed down but I have yet to fit them. That test was done holding the board in place by hand. It actually worked pretty well but your hand is going to start aching if you've got a whole board to slot.
and sanding is done...down to an even 600 all over for undercoating. Been a bit slack with building, work etc etc. Back on deck with it now.
Attachment 14689 Attachment 14690
Will likely attack this with some light undercoating in the next week or so, but need to do a light wet sand on the EXA first, prior to another (the last) thin coat of Intensifier.
A question for the assembled luminaries, when you are finishing a neck, do the same rules about sanding finish apply as per the body blanks? Sand to 300-400 max and then treat or can you go smoother? I have gone to 400 and its coming up very nicely, i was of a mind to run it up to 1200 or higher to see what sort of a polish it can get less stinky chemicals.
Has anyone tried this?
I like more of a satin finish on a neck, so I sand to 1200, then a couple of light coats of Tru-oil. On the Telemaster build I did a light stain before the two/three coats of tru-oil. After the tru-oil cures I go back with 1200 to clear any "wipe" marks, then do a light rub back with 2000 to give it that silky feel.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Thanks Chuck, I've not used TO before and would probably shy away from it for fear of the wrath of DingoBass!
Ha! I know I'm skating in thin ice - at least I only use a couple of coats!!Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
IF you want colour to penetrate stop at 240 on necks as the rock maple is hard enough and any higher tends to polish and therefore repels stain. Once you have got some colour on and around about the desired shade suggest adding some top coats to lock it in and right at the end you can go nuts with 1500 or preferably 2000 wet sanded.
If you have already gone up to 1200 you may be destined for a natural looking neck.
Thanks Waz, it will be a natural neck anyway apart from the front of the headstock, so i might just polish away anyhow and leave it naked.
I see the naughty closet in your future!Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck
It's Grey!
Attachment 14994 Attachment 14995 Attachment 14997
I had some nozzle issues with the rattle can, so i had to let it dry and do a wet sand to knock that all back. Its gone through n a couple of spots but it is smooth now, just need to work on technique and remember not to spray in 30+ degrees.
I haven't even been in the shed for 4 days Washie, over 30 and so muggy you could carve the air. Considering my next job is headstock inlays I'm prepared to wait for a cooler day
Mate it's not so bad in The FrankenWashie lab, it's an under ground cellar, And the double brick an concrete keeps it more comfortable, still not ideal though. I imagine your shed on the Fabulous GC would be a fair bit warmer.
Okay, so we are now done with undercoats, and we have arrived at a suitably blank canvas.
Attachment 15506 Attachment 15507
We shall go shopping for some base colour to lay onto this one a little later in the week.
Nice, looks good. Don't fancy swapping this for my unsanded body, do you? 😀
Funnily enough, no. There's not a lot going to happen with this until after:
1, I get a raw lump of ebony turned into a fret board
2, said fretboard gets custom inlay job
3, said Fretboard gets frets
4, fretboard gets attached to neck
Once that happens I can get the neck primed inthe same manner as the body and the consider some colour
A nice subtle day-glo pink?
Fluorescent green.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
You could do an EVH-type striped finish, but in all-fluorescent colours.
Kermit the Frog Green or highlighter pen green?
Kawasaki's, VE Commodores & FG Falcons all came in a nice metallic shade of green or are you going for something with a bit more yellow in it?
I was taking the piss fellas, :p.
I'm still not 100% sure what colour it is going to end up just yet. I've an idea in mind, but I will see how it plays out before in testing first.
I ran a fretting test on a dodge rosewood blank i had (Cracked down one edge, no good for anything remotely fretboardy) and I ended up with this:
Attachment 15562
My Fretting jig worked well but I need to work on the measuring (2, 6 and 14-16 are all a wee bit out) and depth control as there is some variable slot depth happening. I am tempted to Have my machine shop do an aluminium block fence which iI will then face with Merbau, leaving the top unencumbered so that the plastic depth stop on my Fret saw can be used.
I have another Rosewood board and an ebony blank that I'm not ready to hack to bits yet, and I will probably leave it be until I can sort out more accurate marking arrangements.
I also need to do some inlay testing and some other bits before I get to that though.
getting there now FW, looking good
What fretting jig are you using Frankie?
cheers,
Gav.
Hi Gav, it's a home made job I put together as I don't have the spare cash to buy something like the StewMac kit. Check post #40 earlier in this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by gavinturner
I'm tempted to add a vernier depth gauge to correct the measurement issue, but the cost of even an old school flat scale one means it would be cheaper to buy the Stewmac rig and templates!
Cheers Stan!Quote:
Originally Posted by stan
I have my colour combo sorted in mind now so we shall get some paint sorted and make some progress on the body finish while I tinker with Fretboard and inlays and neck finish.
Nice! I wont pretend to understand the vernier depth stuff, but it looks cool. I'm gearing up to do a scratchie some time soon so this is very very interesting for me.
cheers,
Gav.
This is all coming along really nicely Frankie. Love the fretting jig, doing it by hand is somehow therapeutic.
Can't wait for the colour reveal.
rob
Vernier Depth Gauge, Mitutoyo 527-104, 600mm scale:Quote:
Originally Posted by gavinturner
I'd site the cross bit as the datum for the sliding bed on my jig and the you can manually adjust to get what ever Fret Spacing you need.
But given what even a cheap vernier gauge costs ($500+), I'm just going to buy some of the precut templates from StewMac and adapt my jig to suit. Its either that or sack up and just spend the money on the full kit.
I'm playing around with making a laminated Bolt on neck at the moment. Its essentially three slices of 1" square Rock maple titebonded together. It has highlighted a few things in technique I need to address (Trying to manually rip saw lengthways down something as hard as maple, leaves you with a LOT of planning and sanding to do. You'd really want access to a good table or Band saw, with a true and stable fence, and maybe a Jointer.
I am going to ask Santa for a table saw. I'll let you know how I go.
Thanks Rob.Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
It is immensely satisfying to do things by hand, but lately (possibly because ambition and vision outmatch skill and knowledge) this hasn't yielded the kind of results I want (some wonky cuts and interesting post plane surfaces). I'm happy to stand there with a jackplane or smoothing plane and dress things down, but it would be reduced to just a cursory clean up if I had access to a good table saw!
I promise all shall be revealed in the fullness of time on the colour scheme.
okay in the flurry of pointless tongue in cheek posting i seem to have forgotten that these posts are supposed to be about building a guitar!
Thanks to the dud fretboard test with the rosewood stuffed blank, I was a little gushy about doing a second attempt on a serviceable fretboard for fear of stuffing it up.
Thankfully I found some premade pdf slotting templates that i was able to print out and apply like a cutting mask. So we ended up here:
Attachment 16355
My homemade Fretting jig was pressed into service again, I have, since first test, managed to add one of the two toggle clamps that are supposed to be on it. At some point (Probably the next fret board) I shall get around to adding the second one.
I measured up and marked each fret prior to the cutting through the mask with a marking knife. Each fret was cut in turn from 1 down to 24, then I stripped the mask and went back down the board to even up cut depths. I actually cut the nut indication line last as I wanted to verify the Nut to 1 distance. I had allowed for the wider locking nut in the over all scheme so this has worked out well.
I'm fairly happy with the results. Though it's hard to see in the picture all the lines on the template match the Slotted board. When I overlaid the old board the came off it, the two sets of slots corresponded exactly, so I am reasonably pleased with that outcome.
I've now got to revery to the dud test board, and work on inlay, and radius sanding. but prior to that I have to make up some radius gauges and determine what radius I want on this guitar. (I am going to try and match it to the FrankenWashie's board as I really love that neck).
Progress will be slow! But good things take time and time taken produces good things.
Looking good, Frankie. Almost tempting me to have a go at making my own neck. Almost.
I think I'll go and lie down for a bit until the feeling passes.
I'm with you Simon, a wise man knows his limits and having really battled to do inlays I know making a neck is just not going to happen. I tip my hat to those with the skills!
Honestly boys, its really not the black magic it seems. It just comes down to planning and accuracy. If you want to do it the easier way get a single piece blank and carve out a complete neck, similar to what Simon Tan did on his builds. I just chose to do a laminated scarf joint because I had half completed one in the original FrankenWashie build, but never got to finish it, I kinda wanted to close that loop.
I have already got a proper fret cutting saw and a fret clamping tool, it's just the other jigs and bits that put me off.