2010 TDPRI $210 Challenge - TeleSitar

[RocknDrTom]

thanks for checking it out Barkley! I'm now stuck about 400 miles away from it for a week. Just hope there's enough time to complete the project!

[Pellwell]

No matter what, you GOT TO finish this project! I imagine there are tons of us here that would love some sound clips later on ;)

[RocknDrTom]

Thanks for the kind words Pellwell - I intend to do that.
Before I left for NJ for the week, I wanted to get a little bit more done - so I tinted the neck with an amber stain. The stain is alcohol based. I mixed the powder with rubbing alcohol, since it's a lot cheaper than the recommended denatured alcohol, and basically works the same way. Once it dried, I gave it the first coat of TRU OIL finish.

[RocknDrTom]

I'm fighting a nasty cold/sinus infection thingy, which I must have picked up on my trip to NJ, and so I'm doing the garlic overload treatment. I feel too awful to do anything, but I must press on.

Another coat or 2 of Tru Oil:

Probably a few more coats needed. I use that bent up coat hanger to hang it on a nail in the rafters while I wait for it to dry.

Next I removed all the clamps and took the fat body to the bandsaw to trim the edges.


Lacking a good edge sander, I'll be rasping and filing the sides until they're where I want them.

[RocknDrTom]

I know the next step in the body is to begin smoothing out the edges, which I have to do with hand tools. But I also knew that I have limited time, and hadn't begun the neck for the sympathetic strings. I sat at the computer and drew up a bunch of lines - 12 to be exact to represent the strings. I could calculate their spacing more accurately on the PC, and determine the shape and size I'd need for this neck. I didn't take a picture of my computer screen though. Just imagine a bright white monitor with 12 evenly spaced lines and that's the image.

After I got the exact measurements, I found a scrap maple board in the wood pile, and cut it to length. I then wanted to see how all the parts looked together, so I laid it out. The "real" neck for this project is hanging to dry after being oiled, so I used a surrogate guitar neck, and also a surrogate pickguard.

One of my original thoughts was to make the sympathetic neck have the same general shaped headstock as the main neck, only stretched. Looking at it in this picture, I decided to keep the edge straight, so that it does not get in the way of my thumb at all when playing.

The sympathetic strings will be attached to the neck with zither pins. I bought a bag of 100 zither pins back in the '80's - I'm guessing (at the most) $10.00. If my math is right, this comes to about 10 cents per pin, or $1.20 for 12. Here I laid them out on the neck to check distances between them.


Seeing that everything was looking good so far, I went back to the table saw and cut the angle in the maple. I also found a scrap piece of mahogany, and cut it for the "fingerboard" area. This will not have frets; I just wanted to add it for strength, and so that it would blend in better with the main guitar's fingerboard. Many years ago, I worked for a lumber supply/hardware store, and this piece of mahogany came from the slats on an oversized skid. I planed it down when I worked there, and got a section to work that didn't have existing nail holes.


And finally, I glued and clamped both pieces together. Since this is not a playing neck (no frets) and about 2/3 the size of a normal guitar neck, I didn't feel the need to add a truss rod. All 12 strings will have low tension and be very light guage, so even if the neck warps a little bit, it won't matter.

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by RocknDrTom

I feel too awful to do anything, but I must press on.

Yes, you must! This is certainly one of the most intriguing builds I've encountered. I can't wait for more...

[RocknDrTom]

Now is the time to sweat. Since I lack a good spindle sander, I have to rasp, file and hand sand/shape most of the sides of the body. I can use the orbital sander on some sections, but I gotta put some sweat equity into this now.

So we begin with rasping the body:


And rasping the bottom edge of the sympathetic neck:


here I'm using a scraper. Sorry it's a blurry picture, but it's a nice curl of wood I'm shaving off with it.


***Did anyone notice that the camera is focusing on everything BUT the project? I took a break and put new batteries in it.***

The forstner drill bit moves a lot of wood from the neck cavities - and oh it makes the workshop smell great. I suppose I could make pot pourri with these shavings. For now, it just makes the room smell better than the doggie poo in the trash can behind me. Cedar is such a good wood for repelling insects. I hope it does the same for internal bugs, I still am fighting this cold/sinusinfection.

[RocknDrTom]

In our last episode, we had cedar chips all over from drilling. This removes a lot of wood quickly and makes for less work for the router. Here's a pic of the body after I routed out all of the cavities:


After 2 cups of coffee, I was fully alert to do the calculations. I taped up the neck so I had a "drawing surface", measured, and marked where all of the strings lined up, and marked the locations for the individual brass nuts (12) and zither pins.


Once exact locations were known, I could begin drilling. I used the drill press for this, so I could get identical depths to all top holes.


All top holes drilled. That was easy.


Drilling the zither pin holes was a little more challenging. I was working with an angle, and each depth had to be 3/4 inch, so I had to set the drill stop for each hole.


Here's the sympathetic neck with all holes drilled.


Next, each string will have its own nut. I want them to be uniform height, so I begin measurements. I set the drill bit in one of the top holes and mark it with masking tap at the height I would like.


Pull the drill bit out of the hole and measure it again, and I have my full length needed for the string nuts.


I take a brass rod, measure it, hold it in the vise, and notch it with a file to help with the saw cut.


Then cut it with the hacksaw. This is a posed shot. I'm really left handed and cut with my left hand, but I couldn't hold the saw and work the camera properly.


Once I have 12 brass nuts cut, I use a file and clean up one end. This is so I have a good even surface for when I will be gluing them into the fingerboard.


If the weather holds out, I'm off to the barn to do some orbital sanding on the sympathetic neck and body next.

[RocknDrTom]

It warmed up nicely this afternoon, so with my face mask and parts, I headed to the workshop/barn. On the way to the barn, I saw the first snake of the season. So yes, it's warming up indeed. Must be alert at all times.

I used the orbital sander and started sanding the sides.

Some of the tight-curved sections I just can't get with this sander. I have another "time saver idea" for the sides though... But that's for another day.

Sanded the back:


and sanded the top:

I also sanded the sympathetic neck, but forgot to take a picture of that sanding process.

Once finished, I brought the pieces back to the house, and gave the neck a seal coat of shellac:


And also shellaced the body. I really like how it makes the wood stand out already.

[tuuur]

wow! That's coming along nicely! Keep up the good work!

[RocknDrTom]

Thanks Tuuur! I do hope I complete this in time - there's been a few set backs. :)

[RocknDrTom]

It was time to venture into unchartered waters. Today I did something that I've never done before. I like the look of the barnwood on the back, but if you look at the sides, you'll see many spots where the wood is missing, rotted away or just not there. Here's a small example of what I'm talking about.

If you look closely at some of the earlier photos, you'll see other areas. I just didn't like it and wanted to do something other than use wood filler. In the box where I keep my clamps, I found a strip of maple wood that's been sitting around for well over 30 years. No idea when or why I go it. It's stil very flexible and easy to cut. I'm going to use it on the sides!


I held the body in the vise, and began painting a thick coat of hide glue along the edge.


Then, I taped the wood to the body:


And kept going:


Until the wood was completely all the way around.


My fingers got too sticky in this process to grab the camera for "inbetween" consecutive shots. I had to clean up and wash my hands to take the final pictures here. Here's another view:


Now I wait for the hide glue to dry, and I'll add some binding to the edges on each side.

[CJFearn]

This is looking very nice! I can't wait to hear it! (Memories of Coral Electric Sitars are running through my head...)

[RocknDrTom]

Sunday's final act involved wet sanding, rubbing compound, and finally, waxing the main playing neck:

I like the Bowling Alley wax best because it's clear and I think a bit finer than regular butcher's block wax.

After waxing I hand buffed with rags to work up a nice shine (and a sweat):


Once that was completed, I set it aside, and started the first coat of tru oil on the sympathetic neck:


Overall, this was a very productive weekend.

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by CJFearn

This is looking very nice! I can't wait to hear it! (Memories of Coral Electric Sitars are running through my head...)

oh yes, I remember the Coral Sitars fondly. I hope this takes it one step further with a more accurate sound reproduction. Thanks for checking this thread out. :)

[RocknDrTom]

As a side note: I just found a picture on the internet of one of my first electric sitar builds. This is owned by Professor Steve Curtin (third instrument down):
http://curtin.emf.org/strings.htm

[RocknDrTom]

Lunchtime fun!
I removed the tape from the maple side trim. Just two areas left for maple. So I used the flush cutter saw to get a clean edge:


Next I cut a piece of maple to fit in this area:


Lined up the grain, and spread a layer of glue under the piece:


And taped it in place - repeating the steps for the other cap as well:

[RocknDrTom]

There was still too many surface cracks in the back of the body, so I used a spatula to press wood filler into the cracks.


I set the body aside, and started work on the sympathetic neck. After a few coats of TruOil, I wet sanded it, then buffed and waxed it.


I used the same drill bit (turned by hand) to clean out the gunk in each of the holes.


Then began tapping the brass bridges into each of the holes. I cleaned up each bridge with steel wool first.


Here's a view of all 12 brass bridges installed.


Next, I used a file to level the tops of all of the bridges. Note that this is a "posed" shot. The handle of the file would surely get in the way moving across all the bridges this way. I removed the handle to do the job correctly.


Lots of brass dust after leveling them all.


The brass bridges are not finished - they still need a string-groove notch in each one, but that's a job for later. Next it was time to install the zither tuning pins. I used the zither tuning tool to "screw" each pin into the holes


And all the tuning pins are installed.


I set the sympathetic neck aside, and went back to the body. The black binding just arrived, and now it's time to add it. I gather the supplies I need.


Here's a posed closeup using the dremel router cutting the channel for the binding. I held the body in the vice so I would have free hands to do this.


You can see in this photo that the tool just doesn't work in tight curved areas.


For these areas, I clean out the channel with an exacto knife.

[oramac7891]

Very nice, I think everyone will agree,, I can't want for more progress/pics!!!!!

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by oramac7891

Very nice, I think everyone will agree,, I can't want for more progress/pics!!!!!

oramac - I hope to provide more pics AND audio samples when I'm finished. Thanks for checking this out, and your kind words.