Paul Kelly. STA-1

[kells80aus]

Hi Pablo. No CNC here mate, this is hard yards.
First up is to use me mates thickness planner and bring the blank down to the right thickness.
Then I cut a template to the shape I want, then mark the blank up and jig saw it out.
Next is to actually screw the template onto the blank.
I put the screws in where the pickup hole would go.
I then run around the template with the router and cut shape the blank down to the design shape.
After this comes the neck pocket the pickup slots and the control slot.
Last but not least is routing the damned binding slot with my Dremel.
Once all that is done it's lots and lots and lots of sanding.
Then the task of getting the binding to sit nice.
I've learnt through trial and failure to put the binding on before you put any colour on, as you need to be able to scrape off any bulges in the binding.
It is something that is to hard to do if you already put colour on.
In the pic above these is no colour at all, but I had applied a lot of tongue oil to it before I cleaned up the binding, so the binding does rid a bit high i a couple of spots.

Cheers PK

[AJ]

I just realized,that you live in the neighborhood Paul.. (i'm in Hoppers)

[kells80aus]

Hi AJ, I suppose your related to Paul Johns around the corner here too. Just sent you a FB friend thingy. If you need a hand with any thing, give me a yell. I got a few specialist guitar tools. not a lot and no fretboard stuff. but I got plenty of the right router bits and a Stewmac, binding router tool for my dremel. In fact i got two. I wouldn't recoment the litle one though, it's a bit suject to hand wobble. Got an airbrush kit and dinky little compressor.
So if you want some help opening a beer then I am right here.

Cheers PK

[kells80aus]

Ok, I'm back from Singapore and my Cherry Red from Stewmac has arrived. I've applied two coats of spirit based colour. May need a couple more to get it real dark red. But I intend to give it a couple of coloured coats of shellac or Tung oil before finishing it with a Gloss coat. At this point all I have is PolyU/Varnish but am trying to find a local source of clear Laquer. When I opened my workshop on Saturday I found the Body had opened up along one of the joins, so I masked it up and drizzled superglue into the crack.
I found a couple of nice pickguards on eBay. one is a Cinamon ssh, the other was an Orange Marble. I bought the cinamon one, and if it doesn't suit I'll get the orange marble one, but it's from UK and 3 times the price of the cinamon one.

[kells80aus]

Things are not going well. Even after I repaired one crack in the body, that crack has opened up again and two more have appeared. Not 100% sure If I can fix this or not. Should I glue them up with tight bond, or should I bog them with wood filler....

[kells80aus]

next crack

[kells80aus]

Third Crack

[WeirdBits]

Ouch, looks like the recent heat has left its mark with each of the Ash joins opening from one end or the other. I think this requires the expert eyes of DB and Gav B for assessment.

[kells80aus]

I've massaged tight bond into the cracks, but the one at the top of the neck socket has a ridge. Still not sure if that will hold it. It's put paid to my translucent colour scheme. If it survives it will have to be a solid colour now.

[kells80aus]

OK. I've made a decision on this. I hate imperfection, so If no-one is able to Help, I will push on regardless. If the Body cracks further I'll replace it, and this one will end up as kindling. There are several options open for replaceing this body, so I will vigorously pursue them.

Cheers PK