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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2020 16:44:42 GMT -6
Having some problems in finding fret wire for this project. Stew Mac Is a little over the top and the stuff on eBay is sold in short lengths and cannot find the wire I like to use. I like the medium/medium wire. Does anyone have any I could buy off of?
I don't want to pay Stew Mac prices.
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 24, 2020 19:19:31 GMT -6
Coming along nicely Eddie. I like the shorter horn as well.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2020 14:44:38 GMT -6
I did some things today. I am drawing out the neck diagram. I also did some work on the fret board.
here is the drawing of the neck. Still working on it.
Here I cutting the fret slots. I had to go buy a miter box. Not the best for doing this kind of thing. But it works. I have this long ruler that I use to get the spacing for the 25" scale. What I did was I turned the ruler over and I marked the spacing by lining the ruler up with the frets on one of my other guitars. I check it 3 to 4 times to make sure I had them all in the right place. I then had to use a block of wood to get the fret board up high enough so that I could cut the slots. All I did was get the slots started.
Once done with the miter box I then set up the fret saw with it gauge set to the depth needed. Then I saw again to get the slot ot the depth. Please note that I will end up doing this again later on in the build. I still need to put the 12" radius on the fret board. So once that is done I'll have to resaw the slots again.
I will wait until the fret board is glued on flat before I radius the fret board.
The key on using a fret saw is to pull it one way. Do not go back and forth. I see people all the time going back and forth. Not a good idea. The fret saw can jump out of the slot causing problem on the fret board. Or if it jumps out you will get another line started or widen the slot to where the fret wire wont grab. Then you will have to fill in the slot and do it again.
The saw you see in the picture is the one I got when I did that refret.
Doing this build has really made do some thinking again. Been thinking 2 to 3 steps ahead. Some of the things I am thinking of... Is how am I going to pull some things off? I really miss my band saw right about now. LOL! I know no one with one that I can use. So I am going to have to come up with a way to cut wood off for the neck. The body won't be a problem. My main concern is the peg head angle. I might have to make some sort of a jig so I can cut the angle with my router. As far as the back of the neck, I will have to see if can cut some of the wood off with my jig saw. Once the fret board is on, I can use it as my template to cut the sides of the neck.
I still need to square up the neck blank. So, after doing that will tell me a lot of what I can do or no, as far as the thickness of the finished wood will be.
Well back to the drawing board. LOL! Need to think more on the peg head. I am also thinking on if I want to put the neck at an angle or straight. I need to still order the frets and I need to decide on what kind of bridge I want to use. That too will help me decide on neck angle or not.
EB
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Post by antares on Oct 25, 2020 16:45:29 GMT -6
I find it inspirational how you approach these "problems" Eddie. Dane will confirm that I'm always up front with my reticence in working with wood, yet you pull off things better than I would with less than ideal facilities. The hint about only cutting on the pull stroke with the fret saw is a good example. Actually, that reminds me of those fantastic Japanese saws that are designed for pull cuts only. I think I do have some fret wire here Eddie, but I can't remember where it is, what profile it is nor even what I bought it for. I do recall it was supplied in short lengths pre-radiused- presumably to get it in a Jiffy bag or something. I think it's stainless-steel so probably not the first choice of most folk?
e&oe ...
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Post by dnic on Oct 26, 2020 7:47:52 GMT -6
Boy Eddie! Now that's bear bones fret cutting right there. I see you at least still have a radius block. The first guitar I made I had to make the radius block. You will overcome I'm sure of it!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2020 16:13:30 GMT -6
Should known something had to come up! The body blank cupped on me. So I had to cut it in half again and re glue.
I am truing to show how bad off it was. But the picture doesn't look all that bad. So you will have to take my word, it was bad.
I cut in half and used my joiner to square this up.
here it is again drying for over night. I just checked it and this time it seem to be doing better. I did a different arrangement on the clamps.
I also got the neck blank squared up. I used my little joiner/planer. I got this years ago on CL. I got it for like $40.00 It has helped me make a lot of guitar over the years. You don't always have to buy new tools. The only thing wrong with this when I got it was that the blades were not adjusted right. So I think that it way it was for sale. The seller thoguht there was something wrong with it. LOL!
The truss rod came in today. So now I can plan out where things are going and what to do with the neck.
Doing some drawing on the neck. Trying to decide where the truss rod and peg head is going to go.
The heal.
Truss rod placement.
People are asking all the time... How do I get started making guitars. I know these days it easy to go on line and find videos on guitar making. But most are not clear as to what the are doing. And a lot of them wont show their mistakes and how to over come them. I had already made a few guitars before I got this book. I wish I would have had it from the beginning. It sure have made things a lot easier. This book is so full of info. A lot of info you would find on line. So my advice to anyone looking to build their own guitar from scratch should get a book like this one. It will save you a tone of headaches.
The truss rod in this build came form Bitterroot Guitars. I have been using their truss rods for a long, long time. I use to make my own. But it's so much easier to buy them already made. And these have never failed me. They were out of the ones I use most of the time. I buy 18" truss rod. This one is 17 1/4" Should be fine. This is a two way truss rod. I use to buy these in bulk. You get a better deal. But this time I only bought the one. Trying to keep some of the cost down on this build.
I will at the end tell how much I spent on this build. Including the tools and without the tools I bought to do this build. I bought simple tools and not expensive tools. Now I have to figure out how I am going to cut the neck profile and peg head... Hum...
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 26, 2020 19:40:49 GMT -6
That book it the greatest pre interwebs guitar building resource ever. Actually it's the greatest resource ever! So much conflicting info on line it's hard to know who's correct. That is of course unless you only watch my YT channel for your guitar info. I just got Melvyn's book on acoustic guitar building and am looking forward to doing video's on acoustic building. Of course the info will be good because I'll be repeating what Melvyn said.
I've purchased rods from bitteroot and some other odds and ends as well. I always forget to use my 15% off that they send with the previous order.
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Post by antares on Oct 27, 2020 3:00:12 GMT -6
Ah yes- Melvyn, he who shall not be named!
e&oe ...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2020 10:28:51 GMT -6
That book it the greatest pre interwebs guitar building resource ever. Actually it's the greatest resource ever! So much conflicting info on line it's hard to know who's correct. That is of course unless you only watch my YT channel for your guitar info. I just got Melvyn's book on acoustic guitar building and am looking forward to doing video's on acoustic building. Of course the info will be good because I'll be repeating what Melvyn said. I've purchased rods from bitteroot and some other odds and ends as well. I always forget to use my 15% off that they send with the previous order. I do the same thing on the discounts. LOL! But if you call your order in (if you are buying in bulk) They will give you a better price than on line. They one time gave me 10 rods at a really good price. They were ones that that called seconds. The only thing wrong with them was that some of the shrink wrap was torn. NO big deal to me.
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2020 10:34:17 GMT -6
Well, the body blank looks a lot better! It's almost flat. With a tiny bit of sanding I think it will be good to go.
Still trying to figure out how I am going to cut the neck out. (profile) I had a hand saw I was going to use. But now I can't find it. I'll keep looking of it.
I am also thinking of making a router table. I think I can build one cheaper than buy one. But that will have wait for a week or two. The wife got on to me for spending to much money this past week. LOL!
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2020 15:40:03 GMT -6
Today I cut the cardboard template out. I will use this template to make a template out of wood. That way I'll always have for another build later on, and It will come in handy for this build.
The nice thing about using cardboard for a template, you can use sand paper and a sanding sponge to sharpen up the edges.
I did an out line of the body on the body blank. Looks like I'll have plenty of wood for the body.
I haven't sanded the blank as of yet.
I forgot that I had this. I made this back when all I had was a table saw. Yes I cut the wood you see in this on my table saw. I did use sandpaper that I had glued onto the table of the table saw to true up the wood for gluing. This was one of my first attempts to make a neck. But after sanding it flat on both sides it came out to thin. I keep thinking I might use it to make some sort of wooden box out of it. But mostly I keep around to show people what can be done with a table saw and some sand paper. This was also made for scrap wood I had gotten hold of at the time. I could add some wood to the part that the fret board would glued to. Hum... I wonder....
I'll be take a day or two off from building. We have another hurricane out in the golf. Supposed to here tonight or in the morning. CAT 1 So I will have to wait until things look safe.
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 11:44:51 GMT -6
During the storm yesterday. I decided to re draw the peg head. I want to keep with the Finder/Gibson them. So I did my own version of the open book design. I also change the look of where the copper will go it.
I am going to try and cut a logo out of copper. It will go under the open book design. I will see if I can pull that one off. LOL!
I hope I can get some sanding done today on the body blank. I may even try and cut the ruff shape in on the blank. Really depends on the weather here today. We mad through the hurricane, no damage this time.
My wife and I, have had just about enough of this. I wish I had the money to move again. But it's so expensive. Oh well, guess we will have to learn to live with it. We really do like where we live, but we don't like the storms!
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 14:44:35 GMT -6
Here is the body all sanded and marked out.
This is brand new sander I bought a few months ago. I got it for a home project and wound up not using it. So this is the first time I used the sander, LOL
Here is the blank all sanded and marked out. I used 100 grit sand paper. Mostly because it's what I had on hand. LOL! When ever doing a project, it is so important to mark out the center of what you are working on, before you go cutting the blank. The center line from here on out is what I'll be working from. I might try and get it cut out after dinner. I'll have to see how I'm feeling by then.
I was going to try and make a router table, but after looking in the wood, screws and so on, I found it may be cheaper to buy one. If I had my own shop again I would look into making one. I seen one on you tube yesterday I like a lot. It was a flip top work station. Pretty cool. He had his router on one side then flipped it over and had his spindle sander on the other side. How cool is that? That would be perfect for a small shop.
Still thinking about the neck and how I am going to profile it. I think I may have it worked out!
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 29, 2020 20:42:08 GMT -6
I don't think I would like the threat of storms like that. Of course I grew up in the LA area and there is the constant threat of earth quakes. Now I live quite literally at the base of a volcano. Although there would be a lot of warning before an actual eruption.
I have a flip set up I bought from an estate sale. It combines a 12" Dewalt planer and a Rockwell scroll saw. It's also on casters, makes it easy to drag around.
My router table has always been a hole in whatever saw table I have.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2020 11:24:15 GMT -6
I don't think I would like the threat of storms like that. Of course I grew up in the LA area and there is the constant threat of earth quakes. Now I live quite literally at the base of a volcano. Although there would be a lot of warning before an actual eruption. I have a flip set up I bought from an estate sale. It combines a 12" Dewalt planer and a Rockwell scroll saw. It's also on casters, makes it easy to drag around. My router table has always been a hole in whatever saw table I have. I grew up in Riverside CA. I do know about earth quakes. I was there in the 70s, when we had that big one and it took down overpasses and ripped houses apart. Scary!
It is hard to know what to do when something of nature hits. In FL there is not to many ways out. So if the tell people to evacuate, then it doesn't take long for the highways to come to a stand still for days. So a lot of time you are forced to stay put. They use to let people go to the schools if they were living in RVs or mobile homes. But this past year because of the COVID - 19, people had no where to go, if they could not stay with someone. I am surprised that no one got hurt from this one or the last one. Not fun!
Yes because of limited spacing I have here, I thought a flip table would be the way to go. I may have to make one. My past table saws I put a router base on them. To me it was so much better than a regular router table. Plus it didn't take up space.
It turned off cold here in the 50s today. Low 50s that is. Supposed to get colder as the week goes on. I am going to try and get some things done on my project. Nice thing about the colder weather is low humidity. So, I'll see how things go this week.
EB
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