Davecam48's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[Davecam48]

The weather here has been miserable all day with light rain and wind and as I work in the open roller door of my sawdust factory because I have trouble under fluoros having done it for 40+ years (and now it just gives me eyestrain) I didn't achieve much today.

This afternoon only really made a centre reinforcing assembly out of the two remaining 35 x 19 x 800mm sticks I cut before, well didn't actually use all of the second one.


Hope I've got the lumps and gaps in the right places.

[DeepSouth]

Nice looking work Dave and loved seeing the kerfing jig. It did my head in trying to work out how it worked but I think I have it sussed out now :-) Kudos to the person who thought it up in the first place - was it you?

The top looks beautiful and the way you dressed up the Tassie Oak grain was also ingenious. The red gum detailing around the f hole also sets it off nicely. Did you say you are going to use Meranti - probably my least favourite wood - but whatever you do with it I'm sure it will be amazing.

[ModerneGuy]

Originally Posted by Davecam48

Tassie oak is actually quite a good timber to work with but it is just so damned plain so you have to dress it up a bit.

I've always thought it was a good timber/grain pattern to try a Epiphone style "fox" finish like on this Coronet finished in"silver fox" - you're half there it seems.

http://home.provide.net/~cfh/coronet.html (just scroll down a bit)

Really nice and original build. Cheers.

[Davecam48]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

Nice looking work Dave and loved seeing the kerfing jig. It did my head in trying to work out how it worked but I think I have it sussed out now :-) Kudos to the person who thought it up in the first place - was it you?

The top looks beautiful and the way you dressed up the Tassie Oak grain was also ingenious. The red gum detailing around the f hole also sets it off nicely. Did you say you are going to use Meranti - probably my least favourite wood - but whatever you do with it I'm sure it will be amazing.

I used to do kerfing on the table saw but the cuts tended to be too wide and you couldn't get to see the depth of the cut while you were doing it, so designed the other gadget for the bandsaw and you can get up close to each cut. Usually don't have a problem unless sawdust gets in between the slide on the mitre square and the stop block in the track that controls the depth of cut. Actually I did a "Skelecaster" tele out of Meranti and I loved it, came up better than I thought it would. Think there is a thread on it. The thing with "meranti" is I think it comes in as about 5 different species. The stuff I have is pink and tight grained, and I've used it before ok.
If you want a better look at the kerf thing let me know and I'll post some close-ups.

DC

[Davecam48]

Originally Posted by ModerneGuy

I've always thought it was a good timber/grain pattern to try a Epiphone style "fox" finish like on this Coronet finished in"silver fox" - you're half there it seems.

http://home.provide.net/~cfh/coronet.html (just scroll down a bit)

Really nice and original build. Cheers.

The grain on that Coronet is really busy isn't it? Tassie Oak is about all Bunnings sells here, no decent timber supplies anywhere close, so Tas Oak it is. It's strong and straight with a close grain and some pieces are beautiful and pink, and it's cheap.

[jkingma]

This is really cool Dave.

[Davecam48]

Originally Posted by jkingma

This is really cool Dave.

Hasn't got to the interesting bits yet John. Wish I could do them like you!

Dave

[Davecam48]

Hi all Well it's down to the body building part. Originally planned on using the everpopular Tassie Oak so cut and thicknessed some TO to 36mmX2mm and took to the hot pipe bender thing.
Let me tell you Tassie Oak bends like spring steel and tighter bends dont break but they sort of flake off the top surface.

So out with the Sassafrass block and cut and thicknessed to 36mmx 1.5mm.
With the sassafrass you just have to wave it over the mould and it just jumps into shape.

Clamped and leave alone overnight.

[Davecam48]

I bent the sides on my executive model wood bender thingy (photos attached) Didn't really get any pix of the process but when you are bending there's not much time for snaps.

This device changes each time it gets used and this version runs on a single rubber band!

[Davecam48]

Got out the big piece of meranti and cut a neck sized length and marked the shape and cut to 1.25" thickness. Marked out the neck shape and cut close to the line and level on the bearing guided bit on the router table.

This is a trial approach to how I build a neck usually by cutting off the "ears" around the headstock section you end up with a pointy bit of wood which hopefully will get better as we go along.

Anyway, mounted the blank on the multi jig and flattened both sides with the router level planer and cut the truss rod slot in the same operation.

Now off to get a hair cut!

[Nick JD]

Bending tassie oak is like bending mahogany - bloody tricky.

I find it's best to soak it for 10 minutes.

[Davecam48]

Did that but I got the feeling if I soaked it overnight it still wouldn't have bent. An overnight soak would have left it pure white I think by the amount of brown in the water after 30mins.

[DeepSouth]

I'm really enjoying seeing how things are coming along - very impressive. I also like how you take advantage of all those rubber bands on your jigs

[Davecam48]

Didn't you know the world is held together by rubber bands.

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by Davecam48

Didn't you know the world is held together by rubber bands.

That gives me an idea for next year's challenge - a rubber band tele: Now that would be really twangy

[Sharp5]

Nice Dave.

[RogerC]

2mm seems pretty thick to be bending. If you want sides that thick, I'd suggest doing a few thinner pieces and then laminating them.

[Davecam48]

The weather has been miserable again! Hard to work in the rain but did manage to get the neck mounted to a straight edge guide board and got out the old 13 degree scarf cutting device/jig/thingy and chop off his nose!

Usual stuff, stuck down that cut off piece to the top, and grind away on the belt sander and sort of flatten it out a bit. Boring old photos to follow, hopefully things wil be a bit more exciting in days to come.

[Davecam48]

Due to an extensive R & D program I have been undertaking for some time and at great expense to the management, I am now able to share some vital information regarding my patented " Harmonic Resonator Cavity" system.

The system of cavities consists of 6 precision milled mini containers not unlike little wooden buckets with a hole in the bottom. These are located beneath the bridge and there is one cavity allocated to each string, and of course the are the answer to all your resonance and harmonic distortion questions.
Carefully calibrated to the individual strings, they will prolong sustain to extremely long time periods, eliminate feedback and protect your guitar from harmonic distortion virus.

These HRC's of course have to be "forked" a process pioneered by Prof. Oigun of the Netherlands. Thank you Prof. Oigun.

[Davecam48]

Even though the weather is still cr@p, managed to get a start on gluing up the sides to the base, nothing really exciting. Spent most of the time making some little wooden clamping aids to hold it all in place while the Titebond does it's magic.