Mojotron's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[Picton]

I like the aluminum spacer; it takes what was a mistake and turns it into a definite asset. Design-wise, it really ties in the truss rod plug liner from the other side of the headstock. I wouldn't have thought I'd like the aluminum features, but you've pulled everything off in a very classy way.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by emoney

Very cool idea for the tuner spacer.

Thanks, ya after thinking about it for a while, I just did not like the idea of adding wood as the neck is a single piece of Khaya and I want to keep the grain that's there.

Originally Posted by nosmo

That tuner spacer is brilliant! It looks neat and also lines up the tuners. I may have to steal that one for a future build.
...

Go for it - it really does make the whole job of getting the tuner holes and the alignment pins aligned pretty easy: I found that once I had the tuner holes done, I just took the Aluminum off of the neck, pressed the drill bit through the hole in the flat piece of Aluminum and then set a straight piece of molding for a fence; then clamped it all in position; then replaced the 25/64" bit with the #36 bit for the smaller hole and then I just had to get the offset right as the center was taken care of by the fence....

Originally Posted by Warnz

+1 on the skunk stripe, I love the blend of wood and metal particularly in architechture, it is a very cool look and works well here. Congrats :)

Thanks, I did not anticipate how complicated it makes the sanding since the Aluminum has to be filed and the Khaya will come off really fast with just a little sanding - but now that it's all done I'm really liking it and I'll do some more necks like this.

Ya - that spacer is really stiff, way stiffer than the wood I used - so that helps correct the extra flex that the headstock would have had too.

Originally Posted by Picton

I like the aluminum spacer; it takes what was a mistake and turns it into a definite asset. Design-wise, it really ties in the truss rod plug liner from the other side of the headstock. I wouldn't have thought I'd like the aluminum features, but you've pulled everything off in a very classy way.

Thanks!! I'm relieved that others like what I did there, it's pretty easy for me to like my own work because it represents what I thought was an interesting idea, when in reality maybe the execution may not be all that great... So, I really appreciate all the feedback!

It will great to finally get this bolted up to the body.

[Mojotron]

Tonight I swapped out the nickle Sperzels in the above pictures with some satin chrome tuners that I had on a different guitar. Then I finished drawing up a pickguard and cut it out to see how it might work with the body.




I did not get any work done on the bridge, I was trying to figure out if I was going to try to go with a 3 or a 6 saddle bridge - and if a 3 saddle bridge, should I go with the thin rod (3/16") or thick rod (3/8) for the saddles? Here's some pictures of the bridges I've done in the past, I can't quite decide...






Maybe I'm leaning towards the 3/8" rod...

Then, I got one more coat of AOF on the neck. I have another business trip this week, so I don't know if I'll make a lot of progress this week. But I think that's OK - the neck will completely dry in a few days and then the bridge and pickguard should go pretty quickly.

[flatfive]

Mojo, great solution to the headstock thickness problem -- it
ends up being a nice cosmetic element, too.

You mentioned ginger ale -- I've always found it funny that
you rarely see it around, but you can always get it on a
flight. Why?

[RogerC]

That pg is going to look great. Couple it with the aluminum, and you have a cool retro/futuristic look.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Mojo, great solution to the headstock thickness problem -- it
ends up being a nice cosmetic element, too.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by flatfive

You mentioned ginger ale -- I've always found it funny that
you rarely see it around, but you can always get it on a
flight. Why?

That's funny - I had the exact same thought about 10 years ago when I was doing a lot of traveling - they always have ginger ale on flights. Then I started drinking ginger ale - it was something different that did not have caffeine. Then I was hooked on the stuff Now, I wonder about cream soda

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by RogerC

That pg is going to look great. Couple it with the aluminum, and you have a cool retro/futuristic look.

Thanks - yep - I think that's really what a lot of the Fender-ish lines are about - they all kind of came out of a Jetson's episode.

[Mojotron]

Back home and still pluggin' away. I worked on the bridge.

Made some saddles. I thought I would try some different methods of making these: Here, instead of filing off the bottom, I kept the rod sections as big as possible to keep the mass of the saddle as high as possible.



Filed the sides.







I did some routing on the sides, but at the end of the day I did most of the shaping with files... Worked pretty well.







I think that's the best bridge I've made so far.

[CraigB]

That bridge looks sweet. Are you gonna stay with the brushed look or polish it up? I think either will look killer, but I'll cast my vote for a shiny plate! Nice work

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by CraigB

That bridge looks sweet. Are you gonna stay with the brushed look or polish it up? I think either will look killer, but I'll cast my vote for a shiny plate! Nice work

Thanks. Ya, that Aluminum will shine up pretty well. I don't know yet - I have to see how much time I have. That is sanded to 600gt, I wanted to leave it there until I have everything assembled.

[R. Stratenstein]

Great idea on the headstock shim, it does really tie in with the aluminum skunk stripe, and now the bridge, too. It's going to look great.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by R. Stratenstein

Great idea on the headstock shim, it does really tie in with the aluminum skunk stripe, and now the bridge, too. It's going to look great.

Thanks - yep that's what I had in mind. I have 2 sets of tuners - Nickel and 'satin silver' so, I'll figure out which look the best in a couple of days when I start assembling things.

[RogerC]

Very nice bridge

[adirondak5]

Love the bridge , and the headstock/tuner shim , nice metal work

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by RogerC

Very nice bridge

Originally Posted by adirondak5

Love the bridge , and the headstock/tuner shim , nice metal work

Thanks Herb and Roger - I'll have to learn how to do nickel plating at some point, but I think Aluminum gets the job done and is super easy to work. I did a few bridges in Steel a couple years ago and it was much much harder.

[HiggyDude]

Originally Posted by Mojotron

Finishing the carving jig:
I got out a block of UHMW plastic to use for a guide



I'm not sure if there is a way to glue this to anything, so I screwed it on.



I found out that Durham's does not do so well on pointy corners like these - Durham's will chip...

I know - quite late to the party as usual. I saw 2 things in this post that I have dealt with. For the UHMW plastic I have used Titebond (original) - I have a workbench area for my drill press, ROSS etc. I put a piece of plywood under each bench tool and glued 2 pieces of UHMW plastic on each side to allow the tools to be easily slid on the bench when I need to move them out of the way. The benchtop is melamine. The glue has held for 2 years in a garage in AZ - thru 2 summers of 110 degree heat outside.

As for the Durhams chipping (same for Bondo) - when I use it I like to lay down some thin CA glue after the water putty or bondo has dried. The water putty and Bondo absorb the glue quite well. This does 2 things - helps harden the filler and make it easier to hold a shape (harder to sand but it won't chip or crack). I use the same CA trick on the sides of my MDF templates - helps prevents any nicks or dings from normal use. Stinks a lot - those fumes are nasty - but it works great.

BTW - awesome job on the neck and body. I love the added details of the aluminum - it really "snazzes up" the look. Great job.

[lookslikemeband]

Way cool idea to use that aluminum shim behind the tuners!!!

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by lookslikemeband

Way cool idea to use that aluminum shim behind the tuners!!!

Thanks! It's going to be interesting to see how things look assembled.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by HiggyDude

I know - quite late to the party as usual. I saw 2 things in this post that I have dealt with. For the UHMW plastic I have used Titebond (original) - I have a workbench area for my drill press, ROSS etc. I put a piece of plywood under each bench tool and glued 2 pieces of UHMW plastic on each side to allow the tools to be easily slid on the bench when I need to move them out of the way. The benchtop is melamine. The glue has held for 2 years in a garage in AZ - thru 2 summers of 110 degree heat outside.

Wow - I would have never guessed - I'll have to try it. Thanks!!

Originally Posted by HiggyDude

As for the Durhams chipping (same for Bondo) - when I use it I like to lay down some thin CA glue after the water putty or bondo has dried. The water putty and Bondo absorb the glue quite well. This does 2 things - helps harden the filler and make it easier to hold a shape (harder to sand but it won't chip or crack). I use the same CA trick on the sides of my MDF templates - helps prevents any nicks or dings from normal use. Stinks a lot - those fumes are nasty - but it works great.

That make a lot of sense. I used to use poly for the sides of templates and it only helped to seal things - CA is some tough stuff - I'll give that a shot.

Originally Posted by HiggyDude

BTW - awesome job on the neck and body. I love the added details of the aluminum - it really "snazzes up" the look. Great job.

Thanks - ya I like the look of rosewood strip/plug with a rosewood fretboard... but I think this Aluminum has really grown on me.. used it quite a bit on last year's challenge as well.

[Mojotron]

The tricky thing about making a custom pickguard is the layout of the controls and matching up with the pickup holes as well as the neck...

So what I do is I make a clear one first, that way I can layout everything and be able see where everything is below...



































I will love to get to the point where I can play it :)