Tales from my workbench

[JGale]

"Hugh Mungus"

[slingblader]

24 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

“Slingblade”

 

21 minutes ago, BubbaVO said:

Exactly my thoughts

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that I might run into problems trying to use that.

[Steve Haynie]

You might be able to purchase the rights to use the Scharter and Fackyo trademarks.  The founder has been liquidating and will no longer be producing instruments.

[bry4321]

What’s the deal with the bag/umbilical cord thing? (I know nothing but this is cool to see progress.)

[Biz Prof]

4 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

You might be able to purchase the rights to use the Scharter and Fackyo trademarks.  The founder has been liquidating and will no longer be producing instruments.

He's also slightly less cantankerous than Roger Waters, but don't tell him that. 😉 

[slingblader]

5 hours ago, bry4321 said:

What’s the deal with the bag/umbilical cord thing? (I know nothing but this is cool to see progress.)

Sorry, I should have said. That's a vacuum bag. I use it when gluing up odd shaped pieces. It's perfect for curved laminations like this or any guitar top for that matter. It puts a tremendous amount of force on the pieces and the tops generally come out completely gap free.

[slingblader]

Here's some work that I completed for the neck.

I got the truss rod installed.

I marked, slotted and radiused the fretboard. 

That's gonna be a pretty sweet looking board.

I attached my neck outline template and tapered the neck.

I wanted to use threaded inserts for the neck bolts, so I decided to try something a little different. I made up a couple of brass bars, then threaded the bolt holes (3 per bar). The holes in between are to relieve a little weight. The advantage of a bar is that there is no way it can loosen and spin. Of course, these do add weight. Next time, I'll just use a short bar for each bolt to save the weight. 

More soon.

[slingblader]

Here's the latest progress on the multiscale build

Marked the headstock outline and glued on some ears. 

I cut off excess body material on the band saw, attached my body template and routed the body perimeter to shape. 

Here you can see there isn't a lot that the maple top missed. I need to make this bout around 1/8" smaller, the binding channel will remove the rest.

Once the ears were dry, I rough cut the headstock shape and started to lay out the nut and headstock overlay. 

Here I have the headstock laminate clamped in place and I'm filing the edge that will mate with the nut. The file has safe edges so that I don't maul the fretboard surface.

A nice fit. 

Headstock laminate is attached with hot hide glue and clamped mercilessly.

More soon.

[slingblader]

Here is the body after I sanded enough off of this bout to allow the binding rabbet to cover. I didn't have to remove much.

I wanted to thin the body and get it back to 1 3/8", so I scribe a reference line around the body perimeter toward the back edge. 

This allowed me to flip the body over (the center is flat) and run the body through the drum sander to bring the thickness down. That worked great.

Next, I needed to get the binding rabbet routed. I do own the SM router binding jig thingy.  You can see the body hitting the outer edge of the jig and the router bit doesn't reach the body edge. 

So, I glued up a couple 1/4" pieces of plywood and made an extension. It was fairly rigid and it allowed the router to reach into the cutaway. 
 

This is part way through the process, you can see how close it comes to bottoming out on near the "slope"

Well, it turned out pretty good. It still needs some handwork to square up the cuts at the steepest elevation changes, but that's to be expected. 

Binding this thing could be interesting!

[slingblader]

Up next is the binding. This build is going to be bound with the same scheme as a Gibson "Custom"... which means 6 alternating colors of .020" followed by a .060" piece around the outside. The fretboard gets 1 layer, while the headstock has 4 .020" stripes with a .060" piece around the outside. Normally, the Gibson version ends up with white on the outside, this build will have black on the outside. 

To make this somewhat easier, I bought some pre-assembled pieces for LMII. I bought some .020 B/W and some .020 B/W/B/W. I started with the B/W, since it is more flexible. 

I had assumed that this binding was ABS, but unfortunately it is PVC. In tests, I could only get Bind-All adhesive to make this stuff stick. Even CA wouldn't adhere it for some reason, even after scuffing it with sandpaper. 

Here is the inside B/W layer going on.

Here is the 2nd layer going on (B/W/B/W).

Second layer complete. I was surprised that I got it to wrap pretty nicely around the horn. That thing ended up waaay more pointy than I had anticipated from my drawing.

And here is the outer .060" black piece going on. This binding is ABS and I'm just weld-bonding it with acetone. 

And here it is completed. Can't wait to clean it up.

More soon.

[cmatthes]

Love that part!

[slingblader]

6 hours ago, cmatthes said:

Love that part!

Thanks, Chris!

[slingblader]

I was able to get the binding scraped on the body. 

That came out pretty nice. 

I made some progress on the neck, specifically the headstock. This is one of those things where I didn't have a good plan for order of operations. It turned out OK, but it makes me wish I had a CNC machine if only to make templates.

I started things off by routing the outside perimeter. It's about halfway complete here. 

Next, I needed to route a step for my signature "winglets". Normally, I slope the winglets, but because the center section of this headstock will have binding installed, I decided to just do a straight step instead of a slope. The winglets will receive a thin piece of accent wood on top... most likely ebony, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Here is where things get squirrely. There is no practical way to use my normal binding channel bit to put in the binding channel. This is due to the winglets being in the way of the bearing screw on the router bit. In hindsight, I should have left the winglets off, routed the channel, etc., then glued the winglets on after the fact. 

Oh well, as it turned out, I was able to make a third template .140" smaller than the original. But it wasn't perfect... so I had to eyeball the placement because I had no real landmarks. I tried to use tuner pilot holes, but due to the compound angle, it didn't line up. So, I lined it up the best that I could and routed it. 

Yep, it worked. I had to massage a couple of areas, but it will be OK. 

First piece of binding going on. 

Outer layer has been applied here and trimming the miter. 

Mitered the other side and got it all glued up. There will be some trimming needed to bring the headstock flush in a couple of spots. 

I'm glad that's finished, that was a real pain. 

More soon.

[slingblader]

Got the binding scraped on the headstock today.

 

[a.bandini]

Fantastic, as always.   Very impressive; makes me envious.  No kidding - this is a pleasure to watch, and all I can do is admire.  

 

 

[hamerhead]

I love this. True artistry.

[Drew816]

The only thing that would be better, was if it was MINE!!!  😉

Love it, amazing as always.

[slingblader]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:06 PM, a.bandini said:

Fantastic, as always.   Very impressive; makes me envious.  No kidding - this is a pleasure to watch, and all I can do is admire.  

 

 

 

On 2/24/2023 at 10:36 AM, hamerhead said:

I love this. True artistry.

 

On 2/24/2023 at 2:27 PM, Drew816 said:

The only thing that would be better, was if it was MINE!!!  😉

Love it, amazing as always.

Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate it!

[slingblader]

Here are some more steps that I've completed recently.

I got the binding cleaned up at the transition area. I used a flush cut saw to trim off the excess binding. 

Then used files with safe edges to flatten and square everything.

All flush and ready to go.

I drew out the profile for the end of the neck. 

I cut that at the band saw, then sanded leaving it oversized.

I trimmed and sanded the fretboard down to match. 

Next, I needed to bring the fretboard size down on the 2 long edges and the end to leave room for binding. I decided that a hand plane was the safest way to accomplish that task. Due to the angled ends of the board, I had to get creative with work holding. 

And here it is with enough room for binding. I shaped the heel end of the fretboard on the sander.

[slingblader]

Necks are a lot of work. So many little steps, it just seems endless.

I marked, piloted and enlarged the bolt holes in the neck heel.

I snugged up all of the bots and dripped in some medium CA in the lightening holes to secure them in place while maintaining alignment.

Next up, I needed to get the actual neck heel shaped. Yes, I could have used that curved end, but that's a lot of work to get a pocket template created and fitted perfectly.

So, the design just keeps that original profile primarily for the fretboard and truss rod spoke wheel access, but the underside is shaped for easier routing and fit.

I attached my neck heel template and started taking small passes to remove the heel material. I used a 1/4" tall x 1/2" wide mortising bit for this.

After a few more passes, I'm left with this little shelf. There is still a little more material to remove as I'm using Fender style neck dimensions for the neck height and pocket depth. I just didn't want it to be too fragile before it was time to glue on the fretboard.

Here it is assembled. It was at this point that I decided to flip the truss rod over. The spoke wheel is not centered, so flipping it will put the wheel closer to the fretboard... which will make it much easier to adjust. Otherwise, the access is just too deep. The only drawback is that I have to remember that the adjustments will be reversed.

With all that in mind, it was time to cut the access hole for the spoke wheel adjustment. I masked off the fretboard on the top side, drilled a pilot hole, then roughly cut it out using a jewelers saw.

Note the poorly placed fretboard alignment pin. I wasn't too happy about that brain-dead move, but the pin has been relocated. In any case, it won't show unless the neck is removed.

I squared everything up with small files and lightly chamfered the edge of the opening. 

[a.bandini]

9 hours ago, slingblader said:

the poorly placed fretboard alignment pin.

It jumped out at me and asked I my wife:  "What was he thinking?"  

As I said earlier, all I can do is admire this.  Nice work. 

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by a.bandini

[slingblader]

3 hours ago, a.bandini said:

It jumped out at me and asked I my wife:  "What was he thinking?"  

As I said earlier, all I can do is admire this.  Nice work. 

 

The worst part is, I think I screwed up the one at the other end of the board, too! I feel like it's a little close to the edge, but we will find out when I start carving the neck!

[slingblader]

More neck related steps....

I created a neck pocket template and got it mounted to the body. 

I routed the pocket 5/8" deep. This still needs to be cleaned up.

With the neck in the pocket, you can see how the little shelf overhangs the body. I'll have to route relief for the spoke wheel on the truss rod in the top of the body.

I used a transfer punch to mark the neck bolt holes in the body. I drilled pilot holes, then used a forstner bit for the countersink area with room for the washer and bolt head. I could have gone a size smaller, but I wanted to allow plenty of room for finish build up. Of course those edges will need to be eased.

Neck bolts installed.

Here you can see that I'll need to take about 1/8" off the length of the bolts for safety. They are just a little proud of the brass bars. 

I had to lay the fretboard in place for a quick mock up. My wife commented.... "wow, that's different looking..." 

Yeah, it's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's gonna be neato.

More soon.

[slingblader]

Here's a little more work completed on the neck/body joint.

I trimmed down the bolts a bit so there's no chance of them hitting the fretboard.

I needed to route out the area for the truss rod spoke wheel. That little bit is just 3/16" in diameter. 

I just used the neck itself as the template.

The truss rod fits nicely now. 

And with the fretboard in place. The penciled in fret markers are just for reference, I'm not actually putting any markers on the face of the board.

[slingblader]

Surprise! More neck work.

Drilled some holes for the tuners. 

Heated up the glue pot and got the fretboard attached. 

I let that dry overnight, cleaned up the squeeze out with a wet paper towel and a scraper, then used acetone to weld the binding in place. 

After that dried overnight, I removed the tape and roughly scraped it flush. 

Looking the business, now.