Davecam48's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[DeepSouth]

Wow - more coolness! The neck joint is almost like the tail of an aircraft - very creative!

[trev333]

good going, Dave... thumbs up...

my internet was down all last week...grrrr....
I have a few build threads to catch up on.....looks like it's been busy all round...

[Davecam48]

Hi All this post is not related to the build at all, but I would like to give Stewart McDonald a huge wrap for their service and integrity in their chosen field.

About the middle of February I ordered some gear from them aimed at this challenge and 5 weeks later it had not arrived. I had all the usual emails from SM and I had a postal date etc but did not order express post having had orders from them previously in about 2 weeks.

The great customer service people at SM instantly offered to replace it and send express, which they did and it arrived here today, 4.5 days after postage.

What a good organisation to deal with! I don't buy a lot of stuff but what I buy from now on will be from them.

[Davecam48]

Today's efforts were all about the neck, so I cut my steel bar and rounded the ends and made it a perfect fit into the previously cut slot. Too perfect as it turned out! Tapped in two indexing pins and marked the fret board on them, got out the epoxy glue and a gazillion clamps and some old sanding radius blocks and proceded to mix the epoxy.

A fairly good amount went into the slot as usual and a very good coverage over the rest of the board. Banged in the steel bar and slapped on the fret board and located the front index pin, couldn't find the back one!

Lift up the FB and the damn steel bar had lifted out of it's slot by about 1/16" and refused to go down. Wipe furiously with rag, removed as much as I could, tried to get the bar out.....too tight.....said stuff it ....back to Plan A .....500 clamps and clamped it up! Two cups of coffee and a trip to town later tried to undo the clamps to inspect the stuff up.

Must have been feeling good when I clamped her up because I could not undo the little sods. Pair of multi-grips, the book of 10,000 swear words, and a lot of grunting later had her undone.

Didn't look too bad perhaps saveable anyway so proceded to glue on the H/S veneer. No pix of panic stations but two exciting shots of clamping up the veneer. Hell I can't wait to see this post myself!

[DeepSouth]

Glad it worked out in the end. You'll have a handshake like a steel vice (or vise if you are an American ) after all that clamp tightening and undoing.

Looking forward to seeing it all out of the clamps.

[Davecam48]

It's been a couple of days so I thought I'd better submit a bit of "stuff"

Not happy with this neck, far too many mistakes and botch ups but don't have the heart to start a new one. If it falls to bits down the track I'd make a new one but for now have to see if it goes.

So today sort of half finish shaping the back of the neck, sorry no exciting pix of sandpaper etc. then proceeded to sand down the headstock insert a bit and smooth off to about 320 grit the fret board and the back of the neck.
Probably forgot to mention that I slotted the FB late yesterday as well.
As is my wont, I like to Tru-Oil the fret board (rest of the neck as well) but the fret slots always get full of cr@p especially I suppose because I like to put the first 2 coats of TU on with a scrap of 320/400 paper so an idea I've been thinking about for the next time which is this time now??? I thought to myself, myself I said " Let's put something in the slots to stop all the cr@p getting stuck in there! " Myself said " what should I use? " and I said to me what have we got that's long and skinny.

At this point I pause because I just had a mental picture of Kwerk smiling, licking his lips and fingers poised over the keyboard to write a scathingly brilliant reply, especially after he saw pix no. 2 where it says 15lb extra limp
I hereby warn the afore-mentioned Kwerk, that my story about him, the sheep and the midget shall remain our secret ........unless!!

So I wrapped the fishing line through the slots and wacked on 2 coats of TO waited 5 minutes and wiped it off. Tomorrow we'll see if the fishing line worked or not!

Forgot to mention that it is having a zero fret as well as a kangaroo!

[RogerC]

Good tip with the fishing line. I don't see a reason why it won't work.

[rcole_sooner]

I love the kangaroo. Nice personal touch.

[DeepSouth]

I really don't see how the fishing line is going to catch the Kangaroo

[paulmarr]

Are you carving the nut out of roo bone?

[crazydave911]

Hydraulics is a bitc* ain't it?

FWIW, I keep the cut-offs of my rod/bars for just this reason. I put the natural up-bow of the rod in the middle (all steel bars have one ), lay one of the cut-offs in the middle, then clamp it. Over the next couple of hours, the excess glue will force it's way to the top and set. Then, when you glue the fretboard it will be against something solid, not a floating steel monster. The excess glue in this case, forces the rod UP. Ask me how I learned this


Dave

[adirondak5]

Cool kangaroo .

[metalmayhem]

Looking good Davecam48, can't wait to see the finished guitar.

[Davecam48]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

Hydraulics is a bitc* ain't it?

FWIW, I keep the cut-offs of my rod/bars for just this reason. I put the natural up-bow of the rod in the middle (all steel bars have one ), lay one of the cut-offs in the middle, then clamp it. Over the next couple of hours, the excess glue will force it's way to the top and set. Then, when you glue the fretboard it will be against something solid, not a floating steel monster. The excess glue in this case, forces the rod UP. Ask me how I learned this


Dave

Probably the same way as I did. Dave how's things going mate!

DC

[Guitar novice]

Dave.

Outstanding work. Great to see a fellow Aussie at full speed. Going to take me awhile to study some of these jigs. Can't wait till this is finished.

Cheers

[Davecam48]

Haven't posted anything for a few days, life gets in the way ocassionally.

Had a lot of problems with the neck and nearly gave up but need something to do so the insanity doesn't get too big a hold. Managed to wack is some frets and sort of shape the ends so they don't rip off the ends of the fingers too much, and drilled some tuner holes and final shape the back of the neck.
Normally this would all be done in one day or less but the motivation levels are really down at the moment. Put in the fret markers and side dots and put on the first coat of Tru-Oil on the back of the neck.

I think I've stuffed up the finish on the fret board, this is the first time I've done a fingerboard without Armorall and it looks way too soft and unmanagable for my liking.

Among you learned gentlemen and ladies which is the best method to refinish the fretboard with the frets in? By the way the fishing line trick was good and removed most of the waste but a higher breaking strain which better filled the slots would have been a lot better.

[kwerk]

Oh no, why did you make it a Qantas guitar? Now all it's parts will fall off when you least expect it!



BTW, shut up about the midget and the sheep. I told you I was drunk.

[Davecam48]

That's not what the midget said!

[DesmoDog]

Originally Posted by Davecam48

I think I've stuffed up the finish on the fret board, this is the first time I've done a fingerboard without Armorall and it looks way too soft and unmanagable for my liking.

Among you learned gentlemen and ladies which is the best method to refinish the fretboard with the frets in?

Armorall*? I detest that stuff with a passion, I hate how it looks, I hate how it feels, and don't get it anywhere near anything that you want to finish at a later date.

There are quite a few different fingerboard treatments out there that are meant to go on a fretted neck. I use, um, well, I've already forgotten what it is. Some sort of lemon oil mixture. On one piece maple necks the finish is typically sprayed on after fretting. However if you ever had Armorall anywhere near the neck then any type of lacquer finish is no longer an option.

*This assumes Armorall is the same in the US as it is in OZ... it's bad enough here that back in my car days I wouldn't buy a car that it had been used on. The feel of it is disgusting IMHO... but maybe that's just me.

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by DesmoDog

Armorall*? I detest that stuff with a passion, I hate how it looks, I hate how it feels, and don't get it anywhere near anything that you want to finish at a later date.

There are quite a few different fingerboard treatments out there that are meant to go on a fretted neck. I use, um, well, I've already forgotten what it is. Some sort of lemon oil mixture. On one piece maple necks the finish is typically sprayed on after fretting. However if you ever had Armorall anywhere near the neck then any type of lacquer finish is no longer an option.

*This assumes Armorall is the same in the US as it is in OZ... it's bad enough here that back in my car days I wouldn't buy a car that it had been used on. The feel of it is disgusting IMHO... but maybe that's just me.

I agree about Armorall not being good for fretboards but it's not helping Dave out much I'm afraid.

I had a bit of trouble interpreting what the problem with the neck is exactly. Is the Tru-oil finish too soft and hasn't hardened up?

I'm not sure what I'd do about that - I can only offer some general comments but I've never used Tru-oil so take my suggestions with a large grain of salt.

Can you use 000 or 0000 steel wool maybe with in conjunction with some carnauba wax or cabinet makers wax to matte the finish down and maybe take some of the softer stuff off the top. I use that approach with shellac finishes on furniture - but I understand Tru-oil is a different beast entirely.

The only other approach you could take potentially is stripping the finish with some acetone on a rag by all accounts. I'm not sure how that would go with oil you presumably have under the frets. Was the Tru-oil brand new? I'm wondering if it was old or had already been opened?

Here's hoping you can sort it out.

Best of luck

DS...