IB-5 FrankenLab Style

[wazkelly]

Just caught up this build now and love what you have done already.

Some seriously wicked Ash grain on display.

[FrankenWashie]

So this one kind of stalled for a very pertinent reason.

I am at the point where I need to radius the fretboard, but there’s a catch.

My standard 14”/16” 8” long radius block is plenty wide for a guitar, it’s about 3/8” too narrow for the heel end of the IB 5.

The simple solution would have been to go and find a wider one on line.
Those playing at home will know, that’s just not the FrankenLab way!
I’d seen a couple of guys making their own adjustable radius sanding blocks in Pinterest and on a couple of Facebook forums. So I figured why not?
$18.00 worth of hardware from BGSFOS and some scrap mahogany and five ply from the bits box and voila!

Trouble was I countersunk the screw heads too deep which created a weak point in the five ply at the screw heads, I’d also not bothered to glue, which would have spread the stresses along the rail, which ended up with the whole rail tearing off with three plies still in place.


I’d also made it a bit too wide at 205mm, which meant that the 3mm jaw and jaw bottle screws were at their functional limit trying to push out to a 14” radius. They were good up to 16” as was the rail connection, pushing them out to 14” was 1 radius too far.

So I grabbed some 4mm Bottle screws, ditched the recycled ply and subbed in some 1/4” MDF sheet stock.

I scored/slotted it as I’d done with the ply to allow it fo flex, doubled up on the screw count per rail and ran titebond down the inside of each rail to get a good bond and prevent the screws from becoming a stress point again.


Version 2.0



Bottle screws adjusted, glue bond holding nicely on the inside edge of the rails




14” radius achieved!



At both ends even!




Awaiting self stick sand paper shipment from the sandpaper man, to set it into action on the IB 5!



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[Bakersdozen]

This is true boss level frankenlab shizz going down. Love it dude!

[Simon Barden]

I expect Igor had to say something about you straying into his rebuilding territory!

Strictly, that's a bit less than 14" radius on the underside, nearer 13.75", as you have to take off the thickness of the MDF.

[FrankenWashie]

I expect Igor had to say something about you straying into his rebuilding territory!

Strictly, that's a bit less than 14" radius on the underside, nearer 13.75", as you have to take off the thickness of the MDF.

I’d realised that after I took the shots Simon but it was easier to take the shot that way, than to try and hold the gauge aligned to the correct side edge and take the photo.
Once I’ve got it set right and some time, I’ll make a set of plug gauges for the reverse radius to set it to.

But first I’ll need to build a proper router radiusing jig.....


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[Simon Barden]

I forgot to say a 'well done for being resourceful in the face of adversity' so, well done for being resourceful in the face of adversity.

You can of course, use that to sand a number of 'male' radius blocks of your chosen radius, which you can then use to make any number of 'female' radius blocks, which will be rather easier to use than the current set up.

[FrankenWashie]

You can of course, use that to sand a number of 'male' radius blocks of your chosen radius, which you can then use to make any number of 'female' radius blocks, which will be rather easier to use than the current set up.

if I change back out to the 3mm bottlescrews, I can adjust to a convex 14/16” radius and sand one directly, which it what I might try out first.

[Sonic Mountain]

Really neat idea.

[McCreed]

Very clever FW.
It looks like it could be kind of unweildly. Have you tried it out on some scrap?

[FrankenWashie]

Very clever FW.
It looks like it could be kind of unweildly. Have you tried it out on some scrap?

I haven’t got the sandpaper stock to press it into service as yet McCreed, will have a crack with some double stick tape at some stage this weekend.
its not terribly heavy, and the bottle screws provide a firm holding point. I was planning on mounting some rails either side of the neck to keep the whole thing straight on the fretboard.