The Deluxester Prototype - Sonic's foray into repeatable scratch builds

[FrankenWashie]

Really liking that headstock shape and the transition up to fretboard.

Is the cove bit used on the fretboard transition or are you doing that with a sanding drum or similar?

[Sonic Mountain]

Sorry, I meant round over bit. The transition I did with a file. Previously they've been way too steep so I'm trying to make it more F style on this one. It's not quite there yet, I'll probably use some sandpaper around a suitable diameter paint can to finish it off.

[dozymuppet]

Nice trick.

It's all looking good so far, despite the whoopsie.

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[Sonic Mountain]

Some small steps forward. Bit more refining of the body shape and a redo of the round over. Belly carve done, might make it a little deeper. The composite birch is actually quite nice to work with, its a little firmer than bass wood, but still very easy to work.

Some more work on the fretboard transition. Getting close to glueing it down. Should have planned the truss rod placement a bit better so I could finish with it installed but oh well.

Also started some experiments for fret dots. This is just glitter and superglue. Toying with doing a glitter finish on the MDF and using the same glitter in the fret dots.

[RocknRolf]

Nice updates Sonic,
I really like those glittery fret dots, they are like a funky nail polish
I have been looking into using powders and crushed mop's for inlays myself, so much cool stuff you can create.

How are you thinking of finishing the composite Birch? I can imagine they won't take the finish in a uniform way.

[Sonic Mountain]

Cheers, Rolf. It's not a bad proof of concept for the dots, but they look a little dark. I'm going to try with some white prismatic glitter and see how that looks.

I'm just going to use clear acrylic for the birch and spend a bit of time building up a good thickness to cut back flat. Very much a suck it and see approach .

[RocknRolf]

Cheers, Rolf. It's not a bad proof of concept for the dots, but they look a little dark. I'm going to try with some white prismatic glitter and see how that looks.

Have you thought about painting the inside of the hole white?

I'm just going to use clear acrylic for the birch and spend a bit of time building up a good thickness to cut back flat. Very much a suck it and see approach

That going to look pretty. Looking forward to the result!

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah I'm going to try putting a white undercoat in as well. I'm a bit worried about bleed into the wood fibers, but worth a try.

[DarkMark]

You also might want to give this a go. While the superglue is still wet sprinkle more glitter on top. It gets nice and sparkly (if that’s the effect you want) once sanded back. It’s also easier to sand as you’re not just cutting back super hard glue. If you over fill the hole with glitter and sand back I don’t think you’d need to paint the hole white. Your choice of glitter colour may change once the glue is added. Eg bright gold glitter turned rose gold colour in my experiments. Keep testing and keep up the good work.

[Sonic Mountain]

Fretboard is glued down. A few more experiments for fret dots. I chopped up an old Kilometric pen to make a circle, now toying with ideas for filling. If I go the same blue glitter on the body I'm thinking white circle with the same glitter might be cool.

Yeah adding some on top might be a good idea, I'm going to try giving a bit of a buff once theses current experiments are dry and see how it looks.