Kwerk's 2011 TDPRI Build Challenge Thread

[Davecam48]

Man that is just beautiful!! I was just thinking that if you had those plates cut in coloured acryillic and sandwiched between clear top and backs then you have a virtually unlimited set of designs all original. What you are doing is fantastic but if they are all clear will they stand out, and will it look too busy? I think you might have to leave the cut edges unpolished to give each cut definition.

Just my 2cents worth! I think its a winner!


Dave

[Olav]

This is such a fun build to watch. I am digging the he.. (you know) out of the cog-idea. Tres industrial -even if you insist on labelling everythin agricultural.
The second neck attempt in my build turned out so dang agricultural I'm not even gonna post pics. I need a new TR routing jig and I'm looking at yours

[kwerk]

Ah, well you see, I found my tripod at the bottom of the storage room pile, and now I can't hide those edges behind camera shake..




Some good:




Some not good at all:




Some that I forgot about/didn't see in the 3mm pass:




And some that are just downright ornery:












But my future is clearer now

[kwerk]

Originally Posted by Davecam48

Man that is just beautiful!! I was just thinking that if you had those plates cut in coloured acryillic and sandwiched between clear top and backs then you have a virtually unlimited set of designs all original. What you are doing is fantastic but if they are all clear will they stand out, and will it look too busy? I think you might have to leave the cut edges unpolished to give each cut definition.

Just my 2cents worth! I think its a winner!


Dave

Yup, that's why I'm obsessing about a uniform router finish throughout. If I polished the edges, there's a chance the effect would become practically invisible. What I'm hoping for is for it to not really be noticeable from directly front on, but any movement from side to side will reveal the gears. I'm not all that keen on the coloured acrylic, but I'm thinking next time I might do one in smoky acrylic.. That should produce a nice layered effect that could be fun to play with.

I hope it does look busy though. That's really the general idea

[Davecam48]

How about some coloured LEDs inserted into the material? The opaque edges should light up the colours and make them stand out.
Years ago I was stupid enough to get into the restaurant business for 8 years or so and I made a lot of signs using different coloured back lights using plexi glass signs and some routed writing etc. Sadly everyone used to admire the signs from the outside.
RULE No 1......NO GARDENING!
RULES No 2-967.......Never never never never never go back into the food business!!!

[kwerk]

Originally Posted by Davecam48

How about some coloured LEDs inserted into the material? The opaque edges should light up the colours and make them stand out.
Years ago I was stupid enough to get into the restaurant business for 8 years or so and I made a lot of signs using different coloured back lights using plexi glass signs and some routed writing etc. Sadly everyone used to admire the signs from the outside.
RULE No 1......NO GARDENING!
RULES No 2-967.......Never never never never never go back into the food business!!!

Not a fan of the LED look, especially not coloured ones. If I was gonna do it, it would be plain white LEDs if anything. I don't want overly showy, I'm looking more for "elegant".

[Davecam48]

Originally Posted by kwerk

Not a fan of the LED look, especially not coloured ones. If I was gonna do it, it would be plain white LEDs if anything. I don't want overly showy, I'm looking more for "elegant".

Point taken I'm a bit the same. Guess I was thinking from a marketing point of view.

Great work.......greater concept!

[CJFearn]

Originally Posted by kwerk

Not a fan of the LED look, especially not coloured ones. If I was gonna do it, it would be plain white LEDs if anything. I don't want overly showy, I'm looking more for "elegant".

How about neon paint on the inside edges and ultraviolet leds?

This is looking more awesome by the minute! You're just brilliant Captain!

[kwerk]

CJ you are without doubt the most helpful man on this forum! That's some great advice! But... No!

[kwerk]

Originally Posted by Davecam48

Point taken I'm a bit the same. Guess I was thinking from a marketing point of view.

Great work.......greater concept!

Marketing? What is this 'marketing'?

[jpbturbo]

Originally Posted by kwerk

Marketing? What is this 'marketing'?

A byproduct of the pancake condiment industry.

[kwerk]

I knew it....

[Bolide]

Originally Posted by jpbturbo

A byproduct of the pancake condiment industry.

[kwerk]

When last photographed the neck it was just about to go into the clamps, and I mentioned a bit of a problem...

Pretty much the only part of the rough cut fretboard that actually concaved in managed to slip over the edge of the matai slightly I had miles of overlap to play with.. I must have bumped it as it was going into the sandwich, but I didn't notice til it had been clamped for about an hour.

Bugger.



I've decided to meet it halfway, by thinning the width down by about 1mm (0.5mm off either side), and filling the rest. It's on the underside of the neck so the fill shouldn't be too obvious. I'm just glad I hadn't cut the neck pocket in the templates, I'll be able to use the thinner neck to set up the routing template.


Repositioned neck template:





resulting first cut:





Forgot to take one of the trim, still a small indentation there but a combination of sanding and a little fill will take care of it.


The fretboard:









Not the prettiest fretboard ever, but it does kind of remind me of the Canterbury Plains on a nor'west day



So I've got one of these things. My non-Dremel tool fits it, but it's a bit of a piece of junk. The Dremel fitting is not much better, sadly, it certainly isn't any pretender to a Stewmac router base (one day ). One of the difficulties is its lack of precision, and I need to be as precise as I can with the inlay work. Time to see if this thing can be made to work a little better for my needs. A contributor to the lack of precision is the travel distance of the plunge. Because of those giant springs, it doesn't like to plunge smoothly at the best of times, and the height of the travel is about double that of my 3/8 router.




I take it to bits and grease some stuff up a bit:




Then I cut a couple of bits of tent pole (the tent is stuffed, by the way, it got all bent up by one of those Canterbury Plains nor'westers ) :




And I get travel limiters:



Travel is now down to about 1/2".


So next, inlays!




But more on that tomorrow (wish I had more time after work!!)

[CJFearn]

I love the inlays! All I can say is "Why didn't I think of that?".

[kwerk]

[kwerk]

Ok, confession time:




It's not that I don't love and have deep respect for TDPRI's smileys, but not on my fretboard ....there may have been a little photoshoppery going on in last night's update






... a little more in keeping with the body



Built a platform level with the fretboard and made a start.

I routed the tops and bottoms of the numerals, without too many problems. I used an engraving bit after finding it worked better on my test piece than my 1.5mm bit.






I then started on what I'd presume to be the easiest one, the big III, with the routs along the grain. I had everything fairly solidly set up, but the blade wandered on all three passes. Bugger.

Unfortunately I made a hash job of trying to fix it, even managing to destroy the only good lines I had



Not a good start.

But no going back, I'll keep going and see if I can figure something out before if I have to start again.



Onto the V. I decided to dispense with the along-the-grain routing and switch to blades instead. A much better result:




Then the VII.






....Then the XI. That's right, the 11 (as many of you will have already noticed )

Guess I should have brushed up on my Latin before I made the initial knife cuts
It's my new variation on the classic fret marker on the wrong fret move... I forgot to keep an eye on which way was up...

So here were my knife cuts after I corrected. I'd already been freaking out about the little triangles at the base of the X's before I inadvertently put a knife cut right thru em. Ok so, it's now probably gonna be a practice neck at worst. Barrel on, I say, let's see what happens next.



Cut very carefully, managed to keep both triangles intact, all I need to worry about is filling the knife cuts before I do the solder slam. Then, probably inevitable really, I blew the chips out of the grooves and out came half of one of the triangles...





Sigh.

I actually told myself as I was on my way home from work that I needed to have a break tonight. Been burning both ends of the candle, I wasn't gonna do anything at all. So, now I'm gonna take my own advice and sleep on it. I think it's all quite rescuable, but not tonight.

[Jupiter]

How about rectangular (or other-shaped) inlays of contrasting wood, with the numerals inlaid into that? Then if you botch the numeral, you just cut another little rectangle instead of messing up a whole fretboard/neck. :-)

[w3stie]

Amazing stuff kwerk. I have to see this guitar finished, challenge or not .

[Travst]

I love the Roman numerals. That's a very fine touch.