It's been a loooong time since I've done an update, and as I've got a couple on builds on the go, I figured I had better post some catch-ups on this one before I start posting about the others. Word of warning, it's probably going to be a lot of posts.
But first, a public service announcement:
Concrete floors are the natural enemy of precision downcut router bits. Don't let your bits become a statistic, if you're going to fumble them do it over something soft
In an entirely unrelated matter…
For Sale:
1 x Precision Downcut Router Bit*. Never been used and only dropped once.
For reasons that will become clear in later posts, I decided to use black MOP on this build, so that meant replacing the fretboard dots too. Basically, I'm still working on the principal that, wherever possible, anything that I may/will want to do on another build I will try it on this build first.
The stock black plastic dots on the fretboard were a little ragged with some filler around the holes, and the holes themselves seemed an odd size, larger than 6mm but smaller than 1/4" (and they seemed to vary a bit too). I decided to use 1/4" black MOP dots, as I hoped that would allow me to clean up the holes a bit. First step was selecting a set of 10 dots that were as close to identical as possible… not as easy as you think because the colour can vary a huge amount and the way they look varies with light, viewing angle, rotation etc. Basically, I wanted them to all look pretty similar when viewing the neck from any given angle. Once I had picked my set of 10 (with a couple of back-ups just in case) I stuck them to some masking tape to keep them in order and aligned.
The next step was to get the accursed plastic dots out as cleanly as possible. I used a 3mm Brad Point drill bit to drill the centre of the plastic dot, stopping just as the bit got to the bottom of the plastic. Then, using the shaft end of another 3mm bit, I inserted into the hole and gently wiggled it until I heard and felt the glue start to break. Once the glue gives way the dot should come out on the end of the drill bit. A couple of times the dots fractured, so I had to resort to an awl to lever out the fragments and scrap out glue remnants. Be careful not to dent/scratch/tear the fretboard.
Repeat for all the dots and soon you'll have a plastic-free fretboard!
Unfortunately, the depths of the dots holes were way too deep and irregular, varying from 2mm to 3.5+mm, for my 1.5mm thick MOP so I was going to have to do some fill work. I decided to use some Maple veneer to partially fill the holes, rather than just bulk them out with filler or glue. Then I glued the Maple discs into the deep holes with StewMac thick super glue, and just used thin layer of super glue in the shallow holes (like the two 12th fret dots).
The holes were now pretty much the right depth, but were still a little undersize and irregular for 1/4" dots. I was worried about tear-out, so did all the sizing by hand using a 1/4" router bit, a broken 1/4" HSS bit (I ground down the point so it was almost flat), and a 5mm bit wrapped with sandpaper. I also stuck a spare 1/4" dot to the shaft end of a 6mm bit so that I could test the fit without having the damn dots get accidentally stuck in the fretboard.
The holes didn't clean up as nicely as I had hoped, but it was good enough, so I glued the dots in with more StewMac thick super glue so they sat just proud of the fretboard.
So, the dots were now in but were slightly raised and still had square edges and needed to be shaped and smoothed to match the 12" radius fretboard. I used some sandpaper on a flexible strip of ply to rough down the dots and then a taped up razor blade to scrap them down to level.
To get the radius correct and smooth the dots I cut down a 4" StewMac 12" radius block into a couple of thinner blocks and then made a super thin one from some 3-ply with a super glue hardened edge.
And, after much careful sanding through various grits we have a set of black MOP dots.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my father passed away in April and as this was the only guitar he ever got to see me building I wanted to add something to the headstock as a memorial. My original idea was to use MOP for a logo/initials and then engrave some other text and fill it with clear epoxy dyed black. Initial tests with the epoxy were promising, although it showed I would need to practice my engraving. The epoxy filled the lettering well, as long as I over-filled as the epoxy contracts and 'dips' as it hardens. Wudtone seemed to work ok over it too. This pic is of a very quick and rough engraving test, epoxy left to set overnight, then sanded and some Goldenrod wiped over with a cotton Q-tip.
However, after discussions with DB he had some concerns about the epoxy's longevity, so I was 'persuaded' to try plastic instead. The plastic was easy to cut, but had a bad habit of heating up from even the slowest sawing motion, and the fine lettering would start to bend and wobble… making accuracy an issue. I gave it a couple of tries, but just wasn't happy with the results (upper part of pic below). Instead, I decided to switch to Paua shell and see how that went.
The hardness of the Paua was what I needed to get the fine lettering I wanted, so I finally got something close to what I was aiming for:
My father was known within the family simply as 'G', short for Graham, and he had his own unique way of doing things. Once he set his mind on something, he would do it his way… usually against good advice and better judgement. The results, good or bad, would inevitably be referred to as yet another 'G special'. Well, much of this build has been against good advice and better judgement, and a lot of it has been done my way rather than the right way too. So, as a tribute to my father's obvious influence and as this is the only build he got to see me working on, it's only fitting that the guitar be named the 'G - special'. The 'SP' is just my initials.
Following the results from the Paua shell test, I decided to switch to black MOP as I thought that would suit the BMW/Goldenrod combo of the body better (and why I used black MOP dots in the earlier post). So, it was time to cut some black MOP.
I've found that one of the toughest things about cutting shell is keeping the dust clear of the pattern, so here's my simple solution (I later added some clear hose to the funnel). Note: always wear a dust mask when cutting, shaping, sanding MOP.
First step is to print out the pattern on paper and then super glue it directly onto the MOP (it'll get sanded off later). Then drill some starter holes for the enclosed areas, so the saw blade can be connected through them. A jeweller's saw with fine blades (and plenty of spares), some candle wax to lube the blade from time to time, and a slotted board to do the downstroke cutting on.
And here's the end result, I left the 'dash' attached between the G and special so that I wouldn't lose it and I could cut it to a larger or smaller length when it came time to fit it.
The next step was to actually get the inlay into the headstock, which meant fine detail routing… and this is what really worried me. I did a lot of tests on scrap wood to both practice and find a technique that would give the results I wanted. I tried tracing the outline of the inlay, but it wasn't precise enough. I tried using the same printed paper pattern that I used to cut the inlay, but even when I glued the pattern down the paper would tend to tear up with the router and it wasn't a perfect match for the hand-cut variation for my inlay pieces. In the end, what I did was to scan my inlay then tweaked it in photoshop, making it all black with a sharp edge and then giving it a 6 pixel red outline. This meant I now had an exact pattern for my inlay and the red border allowed me to rout away the black areas without straying 'outside the lines'. To fix the tearing issue I found that by stretching the pattern on a frame and then 'plasticising' it by painting both sides of the paper with a thick coat of StewMac brush-on super glue and leaving to dry overnight, it would now cut cleanly without curling or tearing even while routing the finest detail lettering.
I remember Gav showing how he used whiteout when tracing patterns onto headstocks in one of his inlay posts, so I wondered if I could use that same trick… but with super glue! It turns out you can. I worked out where I wanted my inlay on the headstock, painted that area with whiteout, gave it 30mins to dry, and then used StewMac brush-on super glue to glue my 'plasticised' pattern onto the whiteout. The whiteout sticks pretty well to the headstock and the glue sticks well to the dry whiteout, without penetrating through to the wood underneath. Perfect!
Once the glue was dry I attacked it with my Dremel with a precision router attachment and a 1/32" downcut router bit… very nervous as I didn't want to stuff it up, not only the shape but also the depth of the rout. Fortunately, it turned out pretty well with all the little tags for the 'e' and 'c' and centres of the 'p' and 'a' staying intact. I then spent considerable time trying to fine tune the fit with a fine craft knife/scalpel.
In the end, I found that the all those little tags and centres of letters were a bit of a hassle as I was working to get a good fit with the inlay, and they soon started to bend and break as I was trimming them down. Finally, I decided to cut the tags and centres out as they were either going to break or get covered in glue and end up being more trouble than removing them. Of course, this now meant I would be using some filler.
Getting the fit right wasn't easy and I ended up taking more material away than I wanted in a couple of spots, but it wasn't too bad for a first attempt. I peeled off what was left of my 'plasticised' pattern and used StewMac thick super glue to glue in the inlay. A little super glue welled up the side of the inlay slightly in a couple of small spots, which was not what I wanted, but it was hard to judge exactly how much was required. Same as with the MOP dots, I wanted the inlay to sit slightly proud of the wood, so I'd routed it just deep enough so that the top of the MOP was a hair's breadth higher than the layer of whiteout. I intentionally left the whiteout on, particularly for the next step… filling in and around the inlay.
I had previously done some tests on headstock offcuts to see what type of filler would match the Maple best around inlay when using Wudtone. I tried some different Timbermate tints, both with and without added sawdust, but the results weren't what I wanted. I also did some tests with Titebond mixed with Maple sawdust, and that had the most promising results… but it really depended on getting the glue/sawdust ratio just right, mixing it just right and applying it just right, to get anything even close to satisfactory. Too much sawdust and it would be crumbly and not stick, too little and it would be too gluey. And, sometimes it would take too much Wudtone colour, other times not enough. So, even though I decided to go with the Titebond/sawdust option, I was pretty anxious. The pic below shows roughly the ratio I ended up using, but I think I added another drop of glue during the mixing.
All the sawdust makes it start to set very quickly, so I had to hurry and pack it, stuff it, jam it, into all the cracks and gaps as fast as possible. Also, the glue contracts as it sets so you need to overfill/slather/paste the mix on to ensure so that it doesn't 'dip' below your desired level (I went a bit overboard here, but better safe than sorry).
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