Lyn #14 - Solid-body Acoustic

[RedneckRampage]

You guys are insiring man! I must say that the bug thoroughly bit me and I have been caught more than once shopping for some nice-to-have tools who knows where it'll end if at all!!

[robin]

So, time for another quick update.

I have been spending heaps of hours on the guitar but with little to show for it. I am now at that stage where the little jobs are taking just as much time as the major ones did.

The Binding. Nothing much to share here except that I used a Gel CA glue to attach the binding to the body of the guitar. I have no experience with binding but I found that the Gel CA did not soak immediately into the wood as opposed to normal CA glue, and gave me a lot more working time to position the binding.

I double checked everything first before cutting the binding but still managed to make a mistake at the point of the lower horn and had to fashion a bit of a repair job. I was so dirty on myself that I forgot (or was too embarrassed) to take a photo. Lol.

But we learn by doing, so hopefully I won’t be making that mistake again.

First job of the repair was to glue in a sliver of cream binding to fill the gap. The plan was to “melt” some binding for the repair. But I had bought some cheap binding from China and found out that although the black binding melts in contact with Acetone the cream would not. So the repair was not going to be a seamless join, but it was the best I could do.


Then I filed and shaped the excess and cut a groove in the existing binding to take a small section of black. Unfortunately the chisel did not give me the “surgical” accuracy I was hoping for.


Then I glued in a small section of black binding and filed it down. It’s hard to tell from this shot but the repair is passable at best, but does not stand up to close scrutiny. But considering how it looked before the repair I can live with it.

[robin]

Next job was to drill the string-through holes. I am finding that although I am using good quality bits I am getting a fair amount of tear out. I think that using a hand drill tends to tear the wood rather than cut it. But I am not too concerned as the tear outs on the top will be covered by the bridge and at the back the string ferrules will cover most of the mess.


Then on to drilling out the recesses for the neck screw ferrules.


The last job I did was to glue in some Neodymium magnets for the pre-amp cover. Just a note of caution to anybody doing the same. CHECK THE POLARITY OF THE MAGNETS before you glue them in place. This is what could happen if you don’t…. the cover is literally balancing on the magnets repelling each other, and it is impossible to close.

Luckily I did one final check of the magnets before super-gluing them in place. Whew!! Lol.

I am now almost at the stage where I will start the final sanding. Several hours of joy ahead of me.

Cheers
rob

[wokkaboy]

wow the binding looks great Westie07, and how cool is that a hovering control cover haha you should have reversed the other side to try and get a hover board effect haha
This is really coming along well mate, what colour stain are you doing ?

[gavinturner]

Looking amazing Rob! Love the binding. She's really taking shape now.

cheers,
Gav.

[robin]

@Woks
Thanks Warren, but I think I'll give the hoverboard cover a miss.

Colours? I am thinking of keeping her a very traditional looking acoustic, so a natural top and probably a dark (maybe walnut) stain for the the back and sides. I spent so many hours on the binding I want to show it off as much as possible. lol.

@Gav
Thanks for the encouragement Gav. Doing the binding channel by hand will never be as neat as a router, but I have tried to fix my mistakes with Timbermate so hopefully it will look OK when finished.

Cheers guys
rob

[wokkaboy]

good work Westie07, natural top and walnut back/sides will look very cool. Are you using a PBG neck and will it be a tele headstock shape ?

[robin]

@Woks
Dang, I've got to keep up to date reading these forums otherwise they tend to get away from you.

Yep Warren, it's a PBG neck. I'm trying to keep an acoustic guitar vibe going with this one so opted for a traditional 3x3 headstock. All going well I will be staining the neck, back and sides tomorrow so should have some piccies up soon.

rob

[wokkaboy]

excellent Westie, sounds like a cool plan.
Don't stress about taking your time to reply mate, only log on when you feel like it.
If I had a hands on job my posts would be lucky to be 1000 total ! hahah

speaking of you are only 21 posts off 4 figures mate !

[dingobass]

Next job was to drill the string-through holes. I am finding that although I am using good quality bits I am getting a fair amount of tear out. I think that using a hand drill tends to tear the wood rather than cut it. But I am not too concerned as the tear outs on the top will be covered by the bridge and at the back the string ferrules will cover most of the mess.


Then on to drilling out the recesses for the neck screw ferrules.


The last job I did was to glue in some Neodymium magnets for the pre-amp cover. Just a note of caution to anybody doing the same. CHECK THE POLARITY OF THE MAGNETS before you glue them in place. This is what could happen if you don’t…. the cover is literally balancing on the magnets repelling each other, and it is impossible to close.

Luckily I did one final check of the magnets before super-gluing them in place. Whew!! Lol.

I am now almost at the stage where I will start the final sanding. Several hours of joy ahead of me.

Cheers
rob

Now theres a neat trick.... levitating control covers!
Must add that to my list of ideas stolen from Robin