Silent Guitar Scratch build ideas

[stan]

At that price it might be worth getting a set and trying them yourself - if they perform and you like them, then they are good

[Simon Barden]

A quick web search seemed to consider them quite bright, but OK for the price.

[Zandit75]

At that price it might be worth getting a set and trying them yourself - if they perform and you like them, then they are good

Yep, spoken like a true salesman!!
But you're right. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

A quick web search seemed to consider them quite bright, but OK for the price.

I don't have any issue with that, I like a brightness to my acoustic strings. A lot of my songs are played fingerstyle with just the pads of my fingers. I tried using medium strings there once,and it ruined the sound for me!

[Zandit75]

It's been a long time between updates, but until today, there has been no work done on the Silent guitar.
It's not much of an update either, but a definitely a step out of my comfort zone.
The neck pocket has been trimmed out, but still needs some fine tuning before the neck will even go into the slot. I'm getting a Dremel router base to finish things up so I have a flat bottom to the pocket, and a nice clean edge.

Unfortunately Pine is a bugger of a material to use a chisel on, as it sometimes tears away especially when going across the grain.
Hopefully the dremel will tidy things up a little. It may not be a visible thing when the neck is on, but I'll know it's there!

[robin]

Even slow progress is good progress Zandy. Still looking good mate.

I know what you mean about pine tearing when chiselling across the grain. I have sharpened my chisels to the best of my ability and I still can't get a clean cut without tearing. Probably says more about my chisel sharpening ability than anything else.

And I get what you mean about not being able to see it. Some of my builds have been a litany of mistakes that hopefully no one else notices. But I do.

But hopefully we all improve as we go along.

[FrankenWashie]

I know what you mean about chisel sharpening Robin, I ended up getting the dirts with my manual efforts and buying a Veritas guide. All of a sudden my chisel work and plane draws got a whole lot easier.
What sort of chisels are you using Zandit?
Did you rough out first or just straight into it? I found the more you can take out with a power drill helps with the finished article when you shape out with (sharp) chisels.

[Zandit75]

Thanks guys, glad to know I'm not the only one!
Frankie, I only have one chisel, and it's not very wide, perhaps 15mm at the most.
I drilled about 20x10mm holes first before using the chisel, but I also used my panel saw to cut inside the outer edges before drilling.
I'll use my dremel to get to the final depth, and then start cleaning up the sides to get the neck to fit. Right now, it's not wide enough to get the neck in. It's not much remove, so slow and steady wins the race!

[FrankenWashie]

Thanks guys, glad to know I'm not the only one!
Frankie, I only have one chisel, and it's not very wide, perhaps 15mm at the most.
I drilled about 20x10mm holes first before using the chisel, but I also used my panel saw to cut inside the outer edges before drilling.
I'll use my dremel to get to the final depth, and then start cleaning up the sides to get the neck to fit. Right now, it's not wide enough to get the neck in. It's not much remove, so slow and steady wins the race!

Yeah good plan. I have some japanese back saws that go well doing that sort of thing. Self adhesive 80 grit on squared up hardwood also does well for little "adjustments" on pocket fits.

[Zandit75]

Excellent suggestion Frankie, thanks for that!

[Zandit75]

Progress has not been enough to update for some time, thanks to illness, I've been out of action for about 8 weeks. Still well enough to force myself to go to work, but by the time I get home, I was in no condition to have a crack out in the freezing cold shed. I finally got to spend some time out there on Sunday afternoon and got the rough shape of the headstock done. There's still some final adjusting to do to the overall shape, but the heavy work has been done.
Since I don't have a vice of any description, most of this has been done just from me holding the neck in place and filing away the excess after using the jigsaw.
Unfortunately this has caused some impressions marking the laminates on the front and back. They should steam out with no issues.