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Post by dnic on Dec 23, 2021 19:28:46 GMT -6
Take your time Eddie. Yep look around enjoy the process, it is supposed to fun, righ? Wish I could take my own advice.
I have two jobs I wanted done before Christmas break. Oh well it will have to 2022.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2021 6:20:48 GMT -6
I hope you all had a great Christmas!
Well, on Christmas Eve. I did start out to do some work on this build. But things went south in a fast way.
I did a dry test of all the boards for the neck and everything looked to be alright. So, I put the glue on the wood and started clamping it up. Nothing and I do mean nothing went right. There were gaps that I could not close up. For one I just didn't have enough clamps to help out with the problem.
So I wound up pulling it all apart and having to wipe off all that glue with a wet rag. I did get two pieces glued together. But, it's all been sitting since the 24th.
Today, I am going to go buy some more clamps. Later on today or tomorrow I'll try again. Seems everything is trying to keep me form building this guitar.
I don't know what happened to the glue up. The only thing I can think of, is when I put the glue onto the wood it must have made the wood swell up and not what to line up. It was perfect in the dry test. I now have to resand the wood again. My stripes are starting to get pretty thin. I only hope there will be some kind of stripping left on it.
But some more back story; I was cutting the wood up for the neck blank. And like I said I was having s lot of problems with the extension cord popping the breaker that is on the cord. So I would have to turn off the saw and reset the breaker. That would happen every 4 to 5" and the boards are 42" long. Yep it was frustrating. Before you say anything. My table saw cord will not reach the wall plug without the extension cord. I only have one wall plug on the patio.
So, while fighting that I had a scary thing happen! I has something like a kick back on the last piece I was cutting. Right at the end of the cut the wood slammed into the saw and jammed between the blade and the table. The bad thing was it slapped me on the hand hard! I thought that I had cut my hand or fingers. But, I hand not! WOW! After that, I stopped everything and went in a sat down before I went on to see if anything happened to the end of that wood. It did make a small crack in it, but I was able to glue it up. I have not other choice but to use it. I have no more wood I can use for the neck through.
I don't know why I am being plagued with so many problems of late. It has been a big struggle in trying to do anything. It's not only the building of this guitar, but in other things as well. I take my time and do everything like I always do. But, nothing seems to be working out right. I don't know if it's because of my condition and I think I am doing things right or what it is! But it sure has me thinking if I should keep on keeping on with any of my projects.
I am going to finish this build one way or another. But, these set backs are sure getting to me. I thought I would share about this to let people know that not everything goes well. Kind of like life it self. You go a long and everything is going so well, then all of a sudden something happens to disrupt that smooth sailing.
Trying to look at this as a rough patch and that I will get through it. But, dang it sure can frustrate a person! EB
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Post by antares on Dec 27, 2021 9:29:38 GMT -6
I think you may have had too much adhesive there Eddie? It doesn't matter how many clamps you have, the viscosity of the adhesive will resist squeeze out to a satisfactory joint. Try using a "comb" and REALLY spread out the adhesive thin. By and large, 0.005" is a good generalisation for an adhesive layer thickness to aim for, but how can that bd maintained? We had 5 thou' deep parallel serrations inside our extruded aluminium alloy cappings to ensure a minimum of 5 thou' adhesive. Combing will allow the adhesive to squeeze out and fill up the voids between the wavy comb lines of adhesive? It's only a thought. I used to make my own "combs" by chain drilling 1/16" holes in some thin stainless-steel sheet and shearing off through the holes, but later the company started to buy purpose made plastic combs for us.
Dane will be alert to the bit I left out ;<D
でつ e&oe ...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2021 6:37:06 GMT -6
I think you may have had too much adhesive there Eddie? It doesn't matter how many clamps you have, the viscosity of the adhesive will resist squeeze out to a satisfactory joint. Try using a "comb" and REALLY spread out the adhesive thin. By and large, 0.005" is a good generalisation for an adhesive layer thickness to aim for, but how can that bd maintained? We had 5 thou' deep parallel serrations inside our extruded aluminium alloy cappings to ensure a minimum of 5 thou' adhesive. Combing will allow the adhesive to squeeze out and fill up the voids between the wavy comb lines of adhesive? It's only a thought. I used to make my own "combs" by chain drilling 1/16" holes in some thin stainless-steel sheet and shearing off through the holes, but later the company started to buy purpose made plastic combs for us. Dane will be alert to the bit I left out ;<D でつ e&oe ...A lot of times I use my fingers to spread the glue on. But this time I use a small ( weeny) roller. It looked thin to me. In fact I thought it was to thin. But went with it any ways. I never had this problem before. I will trying again today. I may try and glue it up a piece at a time this time and not all 5 pieces of wood all at once. It will take longer to glue up, but that might be the trick.
But I also didn't have enough clamps. I should have not tired to clamp it up. 42" is a long way to go. Back when I did a neck through I use to have a lot of clamps. I bought 10 more yesterday. That gives me about 20. So I will dry clamp it up again today to see what it looks like. If it looks good then I'll go from there.
I was looking at the wood yesterday. It look like I need to do some more sanding to get things to fit better. After wetting the wood and letting it dry things are now uneven again. So I'll be working on that today. It's 6:30am here right now. So, I can't even think about getting started yet. One of the reasons I don't like Condo living, I can't make a lot of noise before 10am. LOL!
EB
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Post by dnic on Dec 28, 2021 10:32:28 GMT -6
I like a strong straight surface or clamping cull to keep the whole mess straight during glue up. And of course you know more clamps won't make a bad joint glue up better.
Kick on table saws can be very messy. I once had a piece of wood kick back into my wife's car door out in the driveway. Dented the door Thankfully there wasn't a kid running by. Oh and consequently my finger hit the edge of the blade. Only meat damage.
Yes Steve, I think I know what you mean, LOL. I don't know if you all remember I use a notched trowel on glue ups quite often.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2021 11:31:56 GMT -6
OK I quit! Did some sanding and went to do a dry test. I look at everything and it all looks flat. But when I do a dry test, it still has gap/voids in the clamping. One of the boards has a huge bow in it. Not having a way to fix the board has frustrated me to no end! I give up. Not going to happen for this build at this time!
Done being frustrated and getting up set. Had a really bad day yesterday then I learned today that my COVID hospital stay is going to coast me a lot of money. Nope the insurance did not cover it all. Sorry guys! I am sick and tired of the way things are. I was going to use that money to buy me a thickness planer. That's not going to happen.
So I am going to hang everything up for now. I have more test that I have to pay for. Plus I still need to go see yet another doctor. These people all think that all of us on SSI have all the money and time in the world. It wont take much more for me to stop seeing doctors. I think a lot of them are in the money game not the healing game.
Seen to many doctors in my life to tell you that most of them are nothing but after the money not after in helping people. Yes I an really upset at the moment! NOthing is going well, and I am sick and tiered of it all right now!
I may end up making another body for this build and use the neck I have already made. But that will be sometime next year! Once I can get some things paid off!
EB
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Post by dnic on Dec 28, 2021 15:49:37 GMT -6
Terribly sorry to hear this Eddie. I can absolutely relate to the frustration with insurance costs and then all the extra costs. Literally can not afford to be healthy.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2021 18:52:52 GMT -6
OK, I went to true up the A-mahogany. I found yet another crack in the top wing. I through all that mahogany in my scrap pile. The crack in right in the middle of the wing.
I am so upset at the wood I bought form that wood store in FL. So, I am now down to this other wood that is super heavy. But I am going to use that for a new body. So, far so good! I had to put a middle strip of the birds eye maple in, to make it wide enough for the Eagle Blues leather.
It looks really good. I only hope nothing else happens. Now, this glued up without a hitch! Everything lined up like it supposed to. Everything is flat and I used 5 clamps for the glue up. All I have to do now is get the neck on straight. LOL!
I have doctor day tomorrow. I have to get an MRI of my head. Then off to the car doctor. HA! Yep more money. The MRI will also cost me.
So, I am getting ready to do my first neck reset on an acoustic guitar. I am thinking of making my own dry wand for heating up the neck joint. Stew Mac is so expensive. But I think I can make one for under 20 dollars US. I'll see if I can make one or not. I need to learn how to do neck resets. There are a lot of acoustic guitars around here in need of resets. I have been asked a bunch of times if I do resets. So, I think it's time to start doing them. Think I'll also make a jig to help remover them.
I have watched a lot of people remove necks without a jig. But to me it looks like it work better with a jig and more in control of what is going on. If I can learn how to this (and I should be able to) I figure I can pick up some work and support my hobby. There is a guy here that does them, but he is way expensive. I am not going to give them away, but I don't think I'll be all that out of the water. I'll see how it goes.
EB
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Post by antares on Dec 28, 2021 18:58:05 GMT -6
Eddie you ought to hunt down and watch Dane's neck reset series on YouTube (assuming you haven't done so thus far?) You feel as though you're in the room with him. I've not seen any videos that are any better.
でつ e&oe ...
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Post by dnic on Dec 28, 2021 21:08:05 GMT -6
Eddie I would definitely do some very old crapy guitars before I took on any paid jobs. Even if you have to get some garage sale wonders. I reset some really bad ones before I got to "real" guitars.Lots of doweled on necks out there even on name brand guitars. But I will say Martins are a breeze after some others I've dealt with. Be prepared for finish touch up no mater what. You probably won't get away clean. Also check out the foam hot wire cutters. They are a pretty cheap way to get the hot wire kind of neck removal set up. Also here is a link to a guy I watch on YT. He's using the foam cutter. He's very, very good at guitar repair and his videos are very well done. Enjoy. youtu.be/RrivKCtP9O0Thanks Steve for the recommendation. And yes Eddie please watch my vids as well. I have quite a few resets on my channel.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2021 6:44:20 GMT -6
Eddie I would definitely do some very old crapy guitars before I took on any paid jobs. Even if you have to get some garage sale wonders. I reset some really bad ones before I got to "real" guitars.Lots of doweled on necks out there even on name brand guitars. But I will say Martins are a breeze after some others I've dealt with. Be prepared for finish touch up no mater what. You probably won't get away clean. Also check out the foam hot wire cutters. They are a pretty cheap way to get the hot wire kind of neck removal set up. Also here is a link to a guy I watch on YT. He's using the foam cutter. He's very, very good at guitar repair and his videos are very well done. Enjoy. youtu.be/RrivKCtP9O0Thanks Steve for the recommendation. And yes Eddie please watch my vids as well. I have quite a few resets on my channel. Thanks for the link. I have been watching him for a long time now. He is one of the best on YT.
I have been looking at them foam cutters. I like the idea of them being smaller so that the fret wire can cover up the holes better. I also liked the idea of using two of them to get the neck to come loose.
I know like everything, there is a learning curve. But, I don't think it is rocket since. The biggest thing I see in all of the videos is taking your time and not rushing it. Yes I can see that some guitars out there will be a problem. But so can anything we do. Such as this build I am trying so hard to do.
So, anyways... I do have an acoustic that is mine that needs a neck rest and some other things done to it. Going to Hobby Lobby to get a couple of pallet Knifes. I may also look to see if they have any of the hot knives for cutting foam. I thought that the soldering iron ones would be more dependable. That is why I was thinking of making my own. So, I will see what I come up with. I can't see spending $70.00 or there about for the Stew Mac ones. For that I can buy a few of the foam cutters and have more than one.
But, thank you for the advice. I see acoustics all the time on the cheap around here. I may pick up a few. Fix them and give them away to someone that cant afford one. I may even give them to the high school here. They teach guitar here. So, that would be a good place to give them to. The acoustic guitars here are a big deal. They seem to be more popular than the electric. The market Place and CL are full of them. I have a hard time selling the ones I sell do to the cost. Most of the ones I see are $100.00 or less with cases. The ones I have for sale are $500 or more. Plus I only sell ones that look like new. I set them up and make them play better then new. But that's another story.
I have done as lot of finish repairs on as lot of guitars. So, I am sure I can handle most of that. I even refinished one acoustic guitar that came out great using my favorite tung oil finish. But that was a long time ago. I wonder now how it's holding up?
I did do two 12 string resets back in AZ. I did post the one. It was an old 70s CONN It was in really bad shape. But all I had to do one that one unbolt it. As far as getting the neck off that is. I had to rebuild the neck block in it. When done it had the lowest action of any 12 string guitar I had ever owned. It was so easy to play. That is what sold that guitar. I at times wish had never sold it. It also had the best sound of any 12 string to date I had ever heard. I keep looking for another one. But so far I have not seen another. They only made them for a short time in the 70s. The other one was a newer EPI. I lucked out on it. I only had to put a little heat on it with an iron and the neck came off without a hitch. I was able to reset the neck without a lot of problems. I think it came off so easy because it was one of the guitars left in a hot car in AZ. NOT A GOOD IDEA! LOL! That one I had to fix twice, because the guy that bought it did the same thing. He left it in the trunk of the car in the summer in AZ and the neck came unglued. What a mess... But I fixed a second time. I forgot about these two Acoustic 12 strings.
I feel I do have a little experience in how acoustic guitars are built. I have worked on a whole lot of them. But, I have only worked on the two resets that I had talked about. I don't know if I want to tackle someones high end acoustic guitars. But there are a lot of acoustic guitars around here that have sentimental value to them that people want fixed. I would like to be able to help save those guitars. I have this thing about seeing guitars that need help. I wish I could make all guitars playable. I cannot tell you how many times I go into a music store and try and play on a guitar for sale that is not playable or should be up for sale at any cost. That includes the expensive ones. I remember a $6,000 Taylor that the action was so high (if you take 3 quarters and stack them high, at the 12th fret) and they wanted $6,000 US for it! WOW! I have seen $100.00 guitars that were better off. Then to top it off the sales person tired to tell me that was normal for acoustic guitars to be that high. Another one of them things that make you go Hum...
Well, I'll see how this goes over time. This acoustic I am getting ready to work on doesn't look like it's going to be all that easy to do. Like I said there is a lot going on with it. I may post about it once I get to it. I cannot believe how some manufactures build acoustic guitars. So many design mistakes in this acoustic. It's going to be a lot better once I am done with it. But it's not going to happen over night. EB
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2021 17:40:06 GMT -6
OK round 3! Ding DING!!!
The new body blink! The glue up went well!
Side one!
Side two!
Now that's a glue up! Nice and tight seams. I knew it wasn't me. I think that most of the wood I bought was still wet when I got it. Once I cut into it the moisture that was still in the middle of the wood reacted. It's the only thing I can come up with. So I'll end up using the birds eye for other things. Like binding on other guitars. That mahogany will be scrap. That crack has gotten even bigger and longer and runs all over the wood. I may use it here and there for stuff, but not for guitars.
So I lost a few hundred dollars in wood in just a couple of weeks. Not Fun! This week has been super hard week. Lost all that wood, medical stuff and the car we bought in July broke down the other day. My funds are gone! It will take me months to recover. OH well such is life I guess!
So I drew out the body onto the new body blank. I am making some slight changes to the design of the body. Nothing that anyone will even know, if I don't tell ya what they are. HE! HE!
Sometime during the day tomorrow, I am going to try and get the neck pocket routed. Going to do that before I cut the body out. I may even do the routs for the pickups before cutting. I haven't done it that way in a really long time. So, I think I'll do it this time around. This way the little hand router will have a lot of surface for routing. But then again I may get my big router out to do the neck pocket. It's a beast but I think it does a better job for the neck pocket.
If I get all the routing done and the sides of the body trued up. Then it will be close to putting the leather onto the body. I will need to rout in the binding channel before I can mount the leather.
the new body is super heavy! This is why I didn't want to use it at first. But it is awesome looking wood. I know what kind of wood it is, just can't spell it or say it right.
But it super dense and hard as a rock. A lot of people use it for fret boards. On the body I am now thinking of doing a tummy cut and a big control cavity. So, I can get rid of some of the weight. I had thought of drilling some holes in the body. But I don't want the leather to have divots or impressions from the holes. But, I'll have to keep on thinking on it. After all the leather is 3/16th inch thick.
Well, I hated to lose all that wood. Guess it wasn't meant to be. I'll know better next time I go to buy wood. I may invest on one of the meters that tells you how much water is in the wood.
OK, that's it for now.
EB
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2021 19:07:50 GMT -6
Looks like it's going to happen!
This time around I made a neck pocket jig. I am test fitting the jig here.
I used two sided tape to hold the jig in place. (so I thought!)
here I hogged out the pocket on my drill press. Always a good idea to get rid of some wood before routing.
while hogging out wood my template/jig moved on me. So I had to figure out a way to hold the jig in place. So I have these T-tracks so I used them to help hold the template in place. It worked out fine. I screwed them into place in spots that will not effect the body.
Here is the neck in place. Still need to go a little deeper. But it's close and looking good! I ran out of daylight today. So, I'll finish the depth sometime tomorrow.
Well alright, so far so good! I used my big router for this job. It did do a lot better job and I did it in 3 passes. Nice and clean cuts! I was worried about the body wood. It is super dense and hard as a rock. So, that is why I used the bigger router. It has a little more horse power than my hand held router. I may end up using the big router for the pickup routs and the control cavity. It will cut the wood I think better only because it's stronger. I may do some testing tomorrow and see what one I'll use.
Ok, this body needs to loos some weight. So, I talked it over with my son about what I will be doing. To see if will effect the leather or not. The leather is 3/16th" thick. So, what I am going to do is drill holes in the body that will be about the size of a pencil. It may take me 2 days to do it. But it will help in how heavy it is. My son agrees that, that small of a hole should not effect the leather. I was worried I would get divots. But he said that the size of holes I was wanting to use should not effect it. So, I'll be drilling holes once I get the pickup routes done.
I will also be putting a tummy cut on the back. That will help as well. The top will get some binding around it to help hide the edge of the leather. The binding will match the binding that is on the neck. At least that is what I am thinking for now. If I can pull it off I may try and do a double binding using the same wood binding on the neck and a some maple. the maple would be on the inside and the other wood on the outside. I seen a video that shows how to make bindings using razor blades as a scraper and pulling the wood thorough. I thought I may try it and see if it will work out for me.
That's it for today.
EB
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Post by dnic on Dec 30, 2021 21:13:21 GMT -6
Well Eddie, way to keep getting back on the horse. Looks good so far!
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Post by antares on Dec 31, 2021 12:01:23 GMT -6
I've seen that method being used to make bindings somewhere too Eddie. Fair play on your determination against set backs- it's inspirational.
でつ e&oe ...
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