Tales from my workbench

[gorch]

I‘d be so overwhelmed from my work and forgot to take pics. That‘s going to become a wonderful guitar.

[a.bandini]

I just showed all this to my wife, who kept exclaiming "Wow, he's an artist."  

I think she's right (at least on this point).  

Nice work!  

 

 

[slingblader]

On 3/3/2023 at 2:09 AM, gorch said:

I‘d be so overwhelmed from my work and forgot to take pics. That‘s going to become a wonderful guitar.

 

On 3/3/2023 at 6:39 PM, a.bandini said:

I just showed all this to my wife, who kept exclaiming "Wow, he's an artist."  

I think she's right (at least on this point).  

Nice work!  

 

 

Thanks, guys! I really hope it turns out well. I appreciate the encouragement!

[slingblader]

Yet more work on the neck....

I drew out the profile that I wanted, took some measurements and transferred them to the neck to start the carving process. 

Primary facets being carved here.

After more facet cutting and subsequent ensmoothening, the neck is roughly carved. 

Got the volute and heel transition going. 

Started to install frets. Using Jescar Evo 47104 fret wire. 

Punch 'em down. 

Fretting complete, now those need to be cleaned up!

More soon.

[Steve Haynie]

Not only do you create works of art, you create new words like "ensmoothening."

[slingblader]

3 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

Not only do you create works of art, you create new words like "ensmoothening."

Yeah, I didn't come up with that one, I heard it on YouTube or something. I thought it was hilarious, so I stole it.

[slingblader]

Today I got the fret ends filed flush. Next I installed 1/8" brass tube for fret markers.

I filed those down a bit, then glued in 3/32" MOP dots inside the brass tube and filed everything flush.

Also had enough time to bevel the fret ends.

Some filing and cleanup needed, but the fretwork is in the home stretch. 

More soon.

[slingblader]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, so here we go. 

I routed the pickup cavities. I used my little Bosch Colt for this. If you have a Colt, get the plunge base for it. It is absolutely the best upgrade. Oh, and get the overpriced dust collector adapter also. 

Remember that little notch for the truss rod spoke wheel? Yeah, that's gone.

Getting the nut fitted and roughly shaped.

Tuners mounted and rough string spacing marked.

Bridges mounted, strings strung and nut is in the process of being slotted.

I liked this angle, so I took a picture.

String slots cut, refining the nut shape in-situ.

Moved the nut over to the nut vise, finished the shaping and polishing there.

All polished up and installed.

So much work to go, but at least its a BSO (Bass shaped object).

More soon.

[specialk]

Very nice, my friend. Thanks for sharing.

[a.bandini]

Fantastic, and inspiring to watch the process!

 

[cmatthes]

👍

[gorch]

Wonderful! 

[slingblader]

I wasn't planning to show much of the final details or finish work, but to be honest, I'm literally waiting for paint to dry at this point. So while I'm drinking coffee on a Saturday morning, why not make a few posts to catch things up?

The finish that I have planned involves a transparent white finish on the guitar top that will allow the figure of the maple to show through. I used big leaf maple for the top, which is a lot darker than eastern maple and also has odd reddish brown staining and other defects, such as wormholes. 

I was afraid that the coloration of this maple would show through the white and impact the overall color, so I bleached the top. This is what it looked like afterward. You can see a sample of the original in the upper right.

To highlight the figure I'm dying the top black, then I'll do a hard sand-back afterward. Here is the dye going on.

Yeah, that's actually pretty cool.

One of these in black with a maple board would look pretty sweet.

Next up, I processed some ebony down to about 1/16" thick and carefully fitted it to the winglets on the headstock.

After gluing them in place, I scraped them flush.

And done. I don't want this to get too long, so I'll put more stuff in another post.

[slingblader]

On 3/16/2023 at 4:12 PM, specialk said:

Very nice, my friend. Thanks for sharing.

 

On 3/16/2023 at 8:24 PM, a.bandini said:

Fantastic, and inspiring to watch the process!

 

 

On 3/17/2023 at 1:54 AM, cmatthes said:

👍

 

On 3/17/2023 at 2:43 AM, gorch said:

Wonderful! 

 

Thanks guys.

[slingblader]

In the past, I've sprayed nitro lacquer for gloss finishes. Starting with this project, I decided I'd try my hand at automotive 2k urethanes. I went with the Tamco brand, because frankly they had a big sale back in November... so I pulled the trigger.

Part of the motivation for this is the quick drying times and very little wait time to cut and buff. This is especially important to me in the winter. My garage is heated with a largish electric heater and I can deal with a little higher electric bill for the few days it takes to shoot a 2k finish (even shorter with a simple clear finish). So, now I don't feel like I have to reserve gloss finishes for warm weather only.

With nitro, it would take weeks before the smell diminished enough to bring the parts in the house to finish drying. With 2k, the smell is nearly gone in a day. Additionally, if my thinking is correct, 2k requires far fewer coats as the clear that I'm using is 45% solids compared to less than half of that for nitro. (I could be off on that, but that's a ballpark estimate )

My spraying setups have been janky to varying degrees over the years, so I made a few changes this year. It's not a pro setup by any stretch, but much more efficient and not quite as janky. I bought one of the large Wagner spray tents, some flex duct and an inexpensive explosion-proof fan. 

I simply placed the exhaust fan behind the tent and cut an undersized hole. When running, the tent sucks right to the inlet of the fan and exhausts right out of the window. This thing moves some serious air, so I actually open a window on the opposite side of the house and keep the door from the house to the garage open while I'm spraying. If I open a window in the garage, it drops the temperature too quickly. I also added an LED light hanging from the bug net at the opening, which works fantastic.

I also invested in the 3m PPS 2.0 system, which makes mixing, measuring and cleanup a snap.

So, back to the finishing process itself; I sanded back the dyed areas of maple. I actually sanded back farther than is pictured here, but my concerns were growing about the black not really staying black. It actually looks a little better in these pictures, but in person it is firmly in the blue-gray camp. 

I used Transtint black and had heard that it was not a true black, so maybe next time I'll use some Lockwood powder or maybe Fiebings. What is irritating is that I had BOTH of those options in the cabinet and completely forgot about this issue until the sand back. Ah well, moving on.

What was really shocking was after the sealer coats went on. Gadzooks, man, that's ugly! Or maybe it's cool, but to me it's pretty awful.  

I'm was hoping the white would neutralize some of that weirdness. I masked up the bindings and prepared to shoot. 

More soon.

[gorch]

The top is looking like a wild river. Fantastic.

[specialk]

6 hours ago, gorch said:

The top is looking like a wild river. Fantastic.

I was thinking mountain ranges. 

[slingblader]

Well, I actually brought this one across the finish line yesterday.  So, I'll make a couple of progress posts to document the last of the finishing, then get on with the final pictures.

I wanted transparent white over the maple parts, so I mixed up a little white into some intercoat clear.

Then shot a few misty coats until I got the coverage that I was looking for.

The rear of the body was shot with opaque white.

Next up, I mixed a tiny amount of gold interference pearl. This will show flashes of gold in the finish when viewed from an angle. The effect is pretty subtle, and even more so once the finish is top coated and smooth.

I'll carry on in another post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[slingblader]

The next day, I applied three coats of clear to everything.

Following that, I let it dry for about 2 days. Then level sanded and buffed. Final pics in the next post.

 

[slingblader]

And here it is completed. 

Recap of the specs:

• 36.25-34" scale
• Carved poplar body with quilted maple top and matching headstock
• 7 ply binding on the body, 5 ply binding on the headstock, single ply binding on the fretboard
• Maple, mahogany, bloodwood, poplar and ebony neck
• Dual action spoke wheel adjust truss rod
• Jescar Evo Gold frets
• Brass nut and gold hardware throughout
• Hipshot tuners
• Lace Alumitone pickups
• Audere 4 band preamp
• 2k urethane finish

I'm glad it's finished, and I think it came out pretty well. Both from a design and finish color perspective, it's not everyone's cup of tea, and I get that. Myself, I really like the design, but I probably won't do that finish combo again. The biggest reason that I went that direction is that piece of maple was a complete disaster... I think there were more than a dozen wormholes in it, along with mineral stains, etc., so I had to do something to cover it a little bit.

I'm very happy to report that it actually balances pretty well. Like any design similar to this, it isn't perfect, but I think because this one is pretty light, that helps. It came in at 7lb 10oz.

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by slingblader
Typo

[slingblader]

By the way, sorry that some of the pictures are not quite in focus. Every time that I use flake or pearl in a finish, it freaks out the auto-focus on my camera.

[G Man]

Absolutely beautiful!  You got my vote, as well as a bunch of others, over on TBF  At this rate you might be this year's winner, and it would be well deserved!

[slingblader]

4 minutes ago, G Man said:

Absolutely beautiful!  You got my vote, as well as a bunch of others, over on TBF  At this rate you might be this year's winner, and it would be well deserved!

Hey thanks! Didn't realize there were any/many members in common.

[veatch]

How does it sound?  With the longer scale length on the low string,  is it tuned lower, or standard E-A-D-G? (with the hipshot to take it to D...)

[slingblader]

11 minutes ago, veatch said:

How does it sound?  With the longer scale length on the low string,  is it tuned lower, or standard E-A-D-G? (with the hipshot to take it to D...)

It sounds very good. It is LOUD! This is the second time that I have used the Lace Alumitones and I really like them. The preamp is cool and I'm still getting used to it. I do like that it has two mid-frequency adjustments. 

Overall, this bass sounds very articulate and very precise, it's hard to describe it, but I think it can be attributed to the multi-scale aspect. The tighter E keeps things less flubby, especially when when drop tuned to D. 

Having said that, I have to renew my general distrust toward Rotosound, because yet again (and I know nobody here knows my history with this issue), but dammit, the E string is dead. In about 90% of the packs of Rotosound strings that I buy; one string, usually the A or the E is dead. So, that's it, I'm F'ing done with them for good.

This has literally been going on for me since the 1980's, and I have gone for years without buying them because of this. I love the sound of their strings, but as soon as I let my guard down, bam, they bite me again. Fuckers.

Anyway, I'll try to record a sound clip soon and get it posted.