Fascinating and inspirational, Dan. Bookmarked.
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Fascinating and inspirational, Dan. Bookmarked.
I've been meaning to get a demo vid of this last one, but I've been slack and haven't got around to it yet.
The guitar itself is playing nicely and keeping tune well now after a good setup after it had settled into itself.
I've got a few more builds underway at the moment. A while back I brought some plans from ALS, one I've been exited to start is a Baritone Jaguar. When I saw they had these plans I had to grab them.
Another plus is that DingoBass has already made one of these and documented it all in his build diary, Cheers DB.
Mine will be a bit different than DB's. Mainly due to budget, I'm just using what I have laying around for the most part.
This will also be my first "crack" at a neck. No pun intended, well maybe. I haven't documented it like I did with my last build, I haven't gone crazy with the photos.
At the moment I have the body pretty much finished and sanded ready to start pore filling. And the neck is roughed in, fretboard attached and ready for fret dots and then frets to be installed.
Here's some pics. Can anyone guess what the timbers I'm using are?
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that looks amazing Dan, the body looks alot like the ash bodies, presume fingerboard is maple ?
Is this entire build from scratch including the fingerboard (fret slots, shaping etc) ? The headstock looks great too. You kept this build quiet, its come along way
Where did you source the timbers ?
Hey woks, yep it's all from scratch. Fingerboard and all. I have just used some scrap I had for the neck. And the body wood came from the local hardware.
I won't give it away just yet, but let's just say there not your usual tonewoods.
And I've been busy wit all the normal Christmas/ New Years stuff that I haven't had much time for the forum. Things are back to normal now.
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that gave it away Dan (body wood from a hardware), the body is pine I'd guess, its a bit to light in colour for ash.
Looks fantastic, I'm keen to start building necks so would love to see more detail in the build (if you took photos) would be keen to see how you did it.
Presume you made templates for the routing cavities. Great job for your 2nd scratch build !
Ok, I used a length of cedar decking, 140mm x 40mm. For the body.
And a length of Tassie oak for the neck.
With the plans I had, I went to a printer and made some copies to use for templates. I stuck them to some 12mm mdf with contact adheisieve.. Then just cut them out from there.
I have the two templates for the body. One for the body shape and control cavity recess. And the second that has the plan on it, is for the neck pocket, pups, and main control cavity.
I've done some more sanding on the neck, down to 220 grit.
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You might be wondering what that truss rod is that I'm using. All the suppliers were closed over Xmas, so I had to make my own. Don't know how well it will work, but the ideas there.
I just used some 10mm Ali channel, a square nut, a coupler and a Allen socket screw. And 1/4 inch threaded rod.
Something like this, I put some heat shrink over the rod the stop any rattles and make a snug fit.
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nice matey. really nice
Looking good :)
Be interested to see how the Tassie Oak performs for the neck...
Hell yeah! Beautiful work Dan. That is going to be a gorgeous instrument.
Yeah, I'm not sure how the Tassie oak will go. I've never heard of it being used for necks before. It is a quite stable timber, so hopefully it can stand up to the string tension of a bear intone scale.Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from dingobass on January 15, 2014, 23:01
Looking good :)
Be interested to see how the Tassie Oak performs for the neck...
When I started the neck I never had any intention of actually using it on an instrument. I was just testing my teqnique with the angle grinder. But it came ot nicely so I thought I would knock out a body for it. And see how the Tassie oak does work for the neck.
As for the cedar, while it looks great it is extreamly soft. When working with cedar it's advisable to wear dark glasses, because, just look at it the wrong way and it will scratch and dent. Lol.
Again I'm not too sure how the cedar will go. It's easy to work being as soft as it is, though it does tear quite easily if tools are not razor sharp, and extra care needs to be taken to not scratch the delicate surface.
And I'd say it's going to pick up dents and such very easily once it is finished. I'm not sure what finish I will use yet, it's going to be something that leaves a hard durable surface though.
Great to see some experimentation,innovation & ingenuity.
Judging by the quality of your work, things should turn out really well.
Be interesting to see how these woods look when you apply the finishes.
And making your own truss rod? just brilliant.
you may have to use a catalysis clear finish (2pac) to give the cedar a more resilient finish... just a thought
Back to the naughty room, AJ..... :)
Actually, just kidding... at the expense of tone.. you may have to resort to a hard 2 pack finish.... Shove over a bit AJ, i am joining you in the naughty room......
DB welcome to the naughty room - fancy some Tru Oil? We have litres of it apparently ;).
Are you drinking the stuff? That explains things........Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Brendan on January 16, 2014, 22:46
DB welcome to the naughty room - fancy some Tru Oil? We have litres of it apparently ;).
Oh no! DB, you have crossed over to the dark side!Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from dingobass on January 16, 2014, 20:59
Actually, just kidding... at the expense of tone.. you may have to resort to a hard 2 pack finish.... Shove over a bit AJ, i am joining you in the naughty room......
...or is it because your wi-fi is broken in your man-cave?
No - think he got distracted by the cricket in the naughty room - sorry Bass Guy!
Pest started it :(Quote:
Quote from Fretworn on January 17, 2014, 10:35
Are you drinking the stuff? That explains things........
hi dingobass, we may have to start time sharing the wifi now...lol
I heard that DB nicked the router from the naughty room. So I picked one up while I was out and about this morn.
Apparently it does everything, even Wi-Fi.
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COOL! lol
looks like it could mix drinks too...
nice one :)
I've had a play with the beast since. What a machine!
Being a cabinetmaker, I've used plenty of routers. I have to say this Triton blows all others away that I've tried, many that are close to triple the price point of the triton.
This ones the 2400w model, I picked it up from Mitre 10 mega for a steal at $330. Most places retail around $450. So when the salesman told me what his best price was I had to ask twice.
It's got a super smooth start up and a revolutionary rack and pinion plunge system, that feels kind of odd when you first use it. But once you get the feel for the wrist action required to use the new plunge system it is extemly functional and accurate.
Plus it can still function like a standard plunge system with the press of a button.
On top of all that it's also got some neat features for use in a router table. But I won't go into that now.
Now I've talked it up, I hope it doesn't pack it in in 6 months time.
Back to make some dust then.
BTW. Can any one recommend somewhere I might find a 1/2in. X 2in top and bottom bearing flush trim bit.
"It's got a super smooth start up and a revolutionary rack and pinion plunge system, that feels kind of odd when you first use it. But once you get the feel for the wrist action required to use the new plunge system it is extemly functional and accurate.
Plus it can still function like a standard plunge system with the press of a button."
I'm assuming this all means something to you woodworking types :?
Carbi bit in Melbourne, or all-tools.Quote:
/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from DanMade on January 19, 2014, 08:15
BTW. Can any one recommend somewhere I might find a 1/2in. X 2in top and bottom bearing flush trim bit.
I had a heart stopping moment yesterday. I hung the body from the roller door to get a shot of the finish in the sunlight. I got an amazing shot of the body glowing in the light. I looked down to check the picture and I see it out of the corner of my eye and hear a sound that's like fresh leather off willow. :x
The body I had ready to Polish was laying on the concrete in front of me. I didn't want to look. As I start to inspect the situation I'm totally bemused that there doesn't seem the be any damage, at all. :o
Checking it in the light I do find a mark. The body had fallen straight down and landed flat on the bottom edge. While it had no scratches or dents and no sign of any cracks, it had just compressed the fibres at the point of impact.
I used a nasty wipe on poly finish I had, mainly for its durability. Well it certainly passed the drop test. And the Cedar held up strong.
I still can't believe I got away with this one, but there's a lesson to be learnt somewhere in there.
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So, on with the neck.
I needed some fret dots, so I drilled some out of a chunk of mahogany with a 6mm plug cutter. Then ran it trough a saw to release the dots.
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A quick touch with some sandpaper and the dots are ready to install.
They are a snug fit so just a dob of glue and a light tap top seat idled the job.
Once dry, I sanded them flush and I'm ready for fretting.
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I haven't made a jig to roll the radius into the fretwire yet. I just bent it in by hand with some pliers, which was effective enough.
I used a touch of glue, and seated the frets with a block of wood and a hammer. Snip the ends off flush. And I can now start to workout my best option to file the fret ends flat. Will probably make a block with a file insert at an angle.
That's for another day though.
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Wow, I don't think I've ever been as impressed by fret markers. So subtle and pretty.
Thanks Pablo, comments like that make that the extra effort worth it.
Made some more progress today. I got the frets all leveled and dressed, final sanding of the neck and a sealer coat of shellac on.
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lovely work Dan
agreed, looking sensational Dan, your scratch neck looks better than a Pit Bull neck ! You are a very talented builder to get these results from is this only really your 2nd scratch build ?
Can't wait to see it complete and hear a sound demo
Well the finish has had some time to cure on the baritone and I've been able to finish things up and throw some strings on.
I ended up using a few different products on the neck.. First was 3-4 thin coats of shellac all over as a sealer. On the fretboard I used the wipe on poly that I did the body with. On the front and back of the headstock I used tru-oil and on the back of the neck I applied 3-4 coats of Scandinavian oil, for that bare timber feel.
Using the shellac as the base coat made it easy to apply the different mediums to each separate area and allow them to blend where needed.
I've still got a buzz on the 3rd string I need to find, but other than that it's sounding pretty good. Lots of sustain.
I'm still looking for the tuning it feels best in. I've never played a baritone before so I don't really have any thing to compare to. I've tried standard tunings in B,C and C#. I'm tempted to try some open tunings.
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And a couple more of the back.
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I'm happy with how it came out, it's not perfect, but I learned a lot of new techniques that I will use in the future to do things better.
Not bad though for under $30 worth of timber from the hardware. I really like the feel and sound of the cedar, but it was a bit of a pain to work with as it's so easy to scratch and mark the surface. Plus it will pick up knocks and bumps quite easily.
As for the Tassie oak. It's deffinatly stable enough and it feels and plays nicely. Still I would prefer maple or similar.
B.T.W. I also need a switch knob.
this just oozes quality Dan. To see it in a shop you would be needing a fairly large bank balance to own it matey!
Looking great Dan. Beautiful job!