Matt's WL-1 build

[wokkaboy]

ah ok cheers Simon, I thought it was other way around red top and black edges.

[Simon Barden]

It may have been once, but on the first of the recent pictures, it is now definitely black top and back, with red sides.

[mjg]

Yep, the colour design changed a bit over the last few months. It's going to be black on the front and back. Was originally the other way around. Hey, I'm still surprised that we picked a colour in the end. We started out with about 50 designs and the kid isn't known for his fast decision making.

The red on front and back is the overspray from doing the bevels.

And yes, I did run out of red. It was a smaller can, 140g, it was enough for me to do about 5 coats around the edges. Probably could have done the whole guitar with a few less coats.

[mjg]

Today I've been looking at the neck, while I wait for the body to dry a bit.

A few issues, which I think are pretty easy to fix.

1) Fret 24 is a bit buggered. Looks like when the fret marker got put in, they went a bit close to the fret, and there is a cave in between the fret marker and fret. So I'll have to fill that with some Timbermate I guess. The fret is also quite buckled at that side, possibly some of the wood from that cave-in has popped up the fret or something.

I've done a little work on it - tried reseating the end of the fret with a hammer, which has done part of the job. I've then filed it down a bit on that side, which is also helping. I'll have another go at it tomorrow once I've thought about it a bit more. I might try clamping between some wood to see if the fret can be pushed lower.

Pictures of the problem fret area:

[mjg]

And 'problem' 2 for the neck. I was checking the frets for level, and the whole neck seems to have quite a pronounced back bend. I know this will change once there are strings on it, pulling it back into level. But should I have the board more level to start with? Is it worth adjusting now, or wait til the strings are on?

A few pictures, held against some straight edges:

[wokkaboy]

Hey MJG, try putting a bit of thin superglue under the 24th fret where it's not seated and clamp it overnight.
The neck has way too much forward bow. Turn the truss rod anti clockwise while facing the adjustment socket. You need to get the neck flat for a fret level. When its stringed and tuned up you may need to make further adjustements

[mjg]

That thin superglue has so many uses. Put a bit into the gap, and clamped the fret down, it has come out looking pretty good. Thanks wokkaboy.

I gave the truss rod a 1/4 turn, that has taken out most of the bow. I'll adjust a tiny bit more tomorrow. Didn't want to overdo it.

The frets look pretty level now, I can see that I'll have to flatten probably the 12th and 5th by the look of it. They are a little higher than the rest. A job for another day.

Today I was working on building a router table, to make cutting the headstock easier. Using my massive plunge router on such a small piece isn't easy, hoping that converting it to a router table will give me a bit more control.

[mjg]

The trouble 24th fret has now been brought into line. I've given it a hammer, file, clamp, glue, sand and polish. Looking much better.



I've also done a bit of clamping on the 12th and 5th frets which had popped up quite a bit. Then had to do a little work on a few others, but in the end the frets are levelled. They still need a polish to remove the tarnish that has appeared on them from being in the garage for a few months. When I got the neck out of the box I thought they were gold frets. Yikes!

I've filled the hole near the 24th fret marker by mixing some black and brown Timbermate, which seems to match the colour quite well.

I've also got my router table to a point where I can use it. Still needs side walls and doors on the front, but it's functional. This was built with mainly recycled wood (I pulled apart an old workbench that was in the garage when we first bought the house 10 years ago, it's just been gathering junk on it since then). I did buy a new piece of MDF for the table top. Still need to fit the fence properly as well.



Used the new table to do up a few headstock ideas. The one on the right has been picked to advance to the next round. The pointy bits are a bit pointier on that one.

[stan]

Well done on the fret. Nice router table - is that a Ryobi with a half inch collet? Recently got one myself...

[FrankenWashie]

Nice work on the router table there Matt.