First Scratch build.

[DanMade]

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.

[DanMade]

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.

[pablopepper]

Wow, I don't think I've ever been as impressed by fret markers. So subtle and pretty.

[DanMade]

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.

[stan]

lovely work Dan

[wokkaboy]

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

[DanMade]

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.

[DanMade]

And a couple more of the back.



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.

[AJ]

this just oozes quality Dan. To see it in a shop you would be needing a fairly large bank balance to own it matey!

[Brendan]

Looking great Dan. Beautiful job!