CarlosN's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[R. Stratenstein]

Carlos, your build is really looking great. You've given me great confidence to attack, uh, I mean address the shaping of my neck back. Once I fix the front, anyway! Keep up the great work!

[CarlosN]

Wow, thank you very much. It was actually more fun and easier to consistently shape than I was thinking. I found the trick for me was to use the course rasp to even out all the high spots after the initial rough shaping is done. Give it a go, I an sure you will do great!

[Picton]

Nice neck; they always go faster than people think they will. This is shaping up to be a very cool build.

[Muzikp]

Awesome results Carlos now there's no stopping this hopeless guitar building addiction. Enjoy the ride.

[CarlosN]

With the template completed it was time to route the rear cavity for the electronics. I made an alum cover plate yesterday, and the template to match. I clamped the template on the body, but had to raise it another 5/8" with more MDF because I only have a 1" deep pattern router bit, the raised up template allowed me to route to the correct depth. It would up being just a hair high of flush, but i figure I can sand a little off the shoulder if its really bugging me. Cover plate fits nicely. (and the spruce body routes like butter).

[CarlosN]

Close up shot here showing the ample room for the electronics. Can also see one of the channels I previously cut for the wiring to the PUs.

[CarlosN]

Today I also made up a nice neck plate from some aluminum. This is some really nice material, it cuts, files and drills so nicely. Just a spot shy of 1/8" thick, I think I'll make my nut out of the same stock. (too cheap to buy a bone nut right now, especially if I can make one out of metal.)

[CarlosN]

Still a lot of work to do yet, but all the woodwork is now done. I bolted the body to the neck, and had a look. Its even pretty straight, or at least nothing a little push before the final torque on the neck bolts is applied. Happy with the progress. Its nice when things start looking like something real (and not just in my minds eye).

Looking at these pics, I am very happy. The damn thing is looking like a guitar! Thank you all so much for your help, really! Without you all and TDPRI I would have never ever have attempted this. Thank you,
Carl

[CarlosN]

Time to go pickup my finishing supplies from the post office and start experimenting to see whats going to look good.

[CarlosN]

Been working on the finish process - never finished a guitar before, or worked with the dyes and shellac, so slow progress here, but I have been busy.

I do not have spray equipment, and would rather not have to worry about breathing in any airborne chemicals from the result of spraying. That said, I did track down a Preval spray system, and tried that out, but I just could not get it to spray the perfect even coat without splotching or spraying too much and causing drips. I know this would eventually work with enough practice, but because the Preval uses consumable cartridges, and enough practice with that system means that I could probably buy a air compressor for the same price. Not really what I wanted to spend money on right now.

So the system I found to work best for me that gave the easiest and most repeatable results is to mix the aniline dye (using blue dye) with water, and wipe that onto the bare wood with a rag. I am going for a slight "burst" effect, so I wanted it lighter in the centre. I then coated it with shellac (real shellac orange flakes, cut with alcohol in a 2lb cut) again, using a rag to wipe on the shellac (found a piece of folded old blue-jean material stored in a jar when not in use worked the easiest for me). The pics show the first effort - not too bad, and you probably cannot see in the pics, but what the dye exposed on the bare wood was deep scratches left from heavy grade sandpaper. The dye soaked deeper into the scrathces, and too me, stuck out like a sore thumb. Again, you could not notice at 5 feet, but I would always notice this. Also, these pics are of the bare dye, without the shellac coats.

BTW, shellac and the dye will sand off, just keep changing the sandpaper sheets on the random orbit sander...

[Barncaster]

Wow Carlos!

I really like the blue. Herb is going to love this too.

Barncaster

[CarlosN]

After debating last night, I decided to sand off the shellac coats on the front and re-do the finish. I just had to get rid of the deep scratches. Lesson learned here, but a good lesson nonetheless.

After about an hour, I was down to the bare wood and deep scratch free - yeah!
I then wiped on more of the aniline/water dye, and then this pic is what I have right now with 2 heavy coats of shellac. I took a bunch of pics and they all look the same. In person (and I'll try to take more pics to show this) the shellac really does expose the grain and the interesting figuring of the wood. I am happy with this now, and can now add a few more coats of shellac, and then work on the back.

I bought a metallic gray/blue solid paint for the back (aresol car paint) and will spray that on. Another lesson learned is that the wood filler I used does not at all take up the water based dye, and so the back looks all pockmarked where I dabbed on filler here and there. That is why it will have a solid colour on the back. Good thing I did not need any of that filler on the front, or my system with the dye would not have worked.

[CarlosN]

Thank you Barncaster! I am really liking the effect I was able to achieve with my method. In person the top has a beautiful metallic shimmer to it and some interesting grain. This is not a highly figured maple that I grabbed from the lumberyard, the next build will use something more exotic. For a first build I am a happy camper.

(still trying to figure out how to radius the fretboard... I think I may just break down and make up a jig... sanding it down just does not seem right).

[CarlosN]

Oh, and the top coat will be Target Systems EM7000 high build lacquer. After much internal debate, and some helpful advice from forum members, and some experimentation on test scraps I think I can get a nice coat of the WB lacquer on the whole body to finish it off. My test pieces are all brush-on, and I am able to sand out the ridges satisfactorily and buff. This lacquer does seem to build a thick coat fast, and hardens quickly for me. I have been warned about it having a blue haze when applied too thickly... I'm not worried about this on this project if it happens, but did not get a haze on my test pieces either. Fingers crossed!

It seems water based finishes are still in an infancy stage and the formulas seems to change pretty quickly. Im just happy that they seem to be "good enough" for me at this point, and can't wait till they get better. The EM7000 is very low tox, and applies easily, and thats what I was looking for... again, keeping my fingers crossed here.

[CarlosN]

For some reason, I was really hungup on this next part... radiusing the fretboard. I debated making jigs etc, but this is my first, and I really don't have a workshop to store all this stuff... so I went old school on it and just sanded the radius down checking my progress with straightedges and templates to make sure I did not get all wacky. And, it worked out fine (just took 100 times longer to do than with a jig - probably should have spent that time and made a router jig). I tend to over-think things... and keep forgetting that there are always 10 ways to do something.

With that done and straight, I cut the fret slots and drilled for the fret markers. I am using abalone dots here (decided to splurge). After hunting through all my drill bits I finally found the perfect one that was the perfect outside diameter of the dots. CA glued them in, man does that look ugly with the glue on!

Glad the CA glue sanded off the rosewood just fine. This was my first time sanding abalone too, and it seems to sand very easily.

[CarlosN]

A note on cutting the fret slots. I just copied the fret spacing that my tele has, marked that out on a ruler and transferred that onto the fretboard. I noticed that one of the templates floating around TDPRI for the fret markings is slightly different than what my tele is, the frets are just a tich more spaced between the 11 and 20 frets, about 1/4" off at the end of the fretboard. I went and copied my instrument that I know plays just fine (copied the exact scale length too just in case, which is 25.5" to the little 'e'). I don't know if my tele is off, or if the template is off, this is my first build. Wonder if anyone else has noticed this, or if I have somehow missed something.

My logic is that if I copy exactly the dimensions for fret spacing and scale length of my instrument that I know plays very well, I can't be far off.

[CarlosN]

And maybe a helpful hint for anyone installing fret marker dots with CA glue...

I am using the medium thickness CA glue, not the super watery stuff, and not the super heavy gel stuff.

With the first fret markers, I popped them into the holes first, and then applied the glue around the abalone, knowing that CA glue has good wicking abilities and sets very fast. I know from previous experience that some of the CA glue would have wicked into around the marker dot and will bond it into the hole. This method is probably satisfactory, the markers are not coming loose (yet).

With some of the later markers, seeing that I could position and hammer the dots into the holes faster than I was thinking I could, I put a dab of glue into the bottom of the hole, then pressed the dot in. I found I had to put some shop paper towel over the dot when I hammered them in because the CA glue was squirting out (dangerous if it got you in the eye!). This I would say would be the best method, much more glue holding the marker in place, and the medium thickness CA glue does allow enough working time to position and press the dot in place.

[CarlosN]

Originally Posted by CarlosN

oh, and "Go Canucks Go"

Carl

Hmmm, change that to:

"Golf, Canucks Golf..."

[rcole_sooner]

Originally Posted by CarlosN

A note on cutting the fret slots. I just copied the fret spacing that my tele has, marked that out on a ruler and transferred that onto the fretboard. I noticed that one of the templates floating around TDPRI for the fret markings is slightly different than what my tele is, the frets are just a tich more spaced between the 11 and 20 frets, about 1/4" off at the end of the fretboard. I went and copied my instrument that I know plays just fine (copied the exact scale length too just in case, which is 25.5" to the little 'e'). I don't know if my tele is off, or if the template is off, this is my first build. Wonder if anyone else has noticed this, or if I have somehow missed something.

My logic is that if I copy exactly the dimensions for fret spacing and scale length of my instrument that I know plays very well, I can't be far off.

That is exactly how I do mine. I still need a better miter box setup, to keep actual cuts square and on the mark, but the spacings have worked out great.

Your build is coming along great!

[CarlosN]

Installing the frets turns out to look harder than it actually is. Primary thing to be careful is with the hammer, and not to dent the fretboard with the blows. I did that a couple of times, but it looks like some water soaked into the dent pops them out satisfactorily.

Pics of the frets going in...

Also, from stained glass work I have this really neat cutting sniper. Its like a sidecutter for standard electrical work, but it creates a cut that is 90 degrees on one side. Using in stained glass work for cutting lead came at right angles. Turns out it cuts the fretwire just fine (not stainless steel FW mind you) and I was able to snip all the little ends off the frets in about a minute. This will require very little sanding to get nice and smooth. These pilers can be found in stained glass stores if interested (might be available elsewhere, but I haven't seen them anywhere else).