Junk mutt's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[junk mutt]

Ok, Count me in. I've sat on the sidelines long enough and read the challenges from the last couple of years so now is the time to get my feet wet.

No photos yet ( have to figure out how to post em first,) but I'm thinking an all mahogany build, we'll see.

Anyway good luck to all. !!!

[R. Stratenstein]

Originally Posted by junk mutt

Ok, Count me in. I've sat on the sidelines long enough and read the challenges from the last couple of years so now is the time to get my feet wet.

No photos yet ( have to figure out how to post em first,) but I'm thinking an all mahogany build, we'll see.

Anyway good luck to all. !!!

Come on in, Junk mutt, welcome to the fray. Best of luck!

[RogerC]

Good luck, JM! You're right, now's as good a time as any.

[junk mutt]

Okey doky, here's the timber, some nice sapele mahogany. I'm thinking i can see a tele jr of some sort.

[dazzypig]

The Sapele looks nice, making a wall cabinet out of it soon for college. Good luck with the build!

[junk mutt]

Thanks fellas, I,m looking forward to it.
Forgot to say that the fretboard will be Amazaque. Whats that? Never heard of it?
Me neither. but its been sitting in my little workshop for a year or more so now's the time to use it.

[crazydave911]

Welcome, and good luck!

Dave

[junk mutt]

Thanks Dave . Ok, lets get the ball rolling. Here is the obligatory glue up shot.

[junk mutt]

All glued up. The sides were jointed square before I applied glue, so hopefully it'll have an invisible joint, we'll see.


Neck blank on the jointer planer getting nice and flat. Planed it down to 3/4" ready for the 1/4" fretboard.

[junk mutt]

All the timber planed and ready for it to be cut into something resembling a telecaster tomorrow.
I'm a bit bothered that the neck blank is redder in colour than the body. I was going to leave it a natural mahogany but i may need to stain it red.
Oh well, lets see what tomorrow brings.
Mick

[junk mutt]

Cutting out the body, this is the first time I've used a starret blade , cuts really nice and easy. Could be this really light mahogany though.

[junk mutt]

The body, cut as close to the line as I feel comfortable with.
Found a nasty surprise waiting for me on the top horn,
Did the old sawdust and glue trick, hope it works.

[junk mutt]

Cutting out the neck blank.
Did I say I really like my new bandsaw blade?
I did get the truss rod slot routed but I forgot to take any pics of that, you all know how that work anyway.

[junk mutt]

I decided to do a light carve on the body, did a shallow forearm carve, tummy contour and a slight contour round the edges.


I wish I had'n't done the forearm contour now, it sort of looks lopsided, what do you think.



Oh well, never mind, I can't stick it back on so I'll just carry on and try and blend the lower bout in more so it looks more symetrical. A couple more pics.
Sorry about the bad quality, it very dusty in that little shed.

[junk mutt]

I started working on the mortice joint today too. Busy boy eh? I had a couple of days off work so I made the most of it.
Back in work tomorrow though
Anyway I made a bit of a goof cutting out the mortice. I hogged most of the material out with a forstner bit and decided, because the timbers so nice to work on, that I'd try and finish the job with a chisel.
All was going fine until I went outside the line and took a smidgen off more than I wanted to.
Heres the fix, a small piece of veneer glued to the inside of the pocket. Never mind, it wont be seen. Next time I'll use the router.


Got a nice tight fit once the glue dried.

[junk mutt]

I also began working on the fretboard. Told you I've been busy.
Its amazing how much you can do without the distraction of working for a living.


Drilling for the small MOP dots, I don't know what everyone else is like, but no matter how hard I try I always manage to get at least one out of line.



Here it is, all glued up with plenty of clamps.
I used a couple of old templates to stop the clamps from damaging the neck and fretboard.




Mick

[abracadabra]

wow, this build is humming along nicely.

[junk mutt]

Thanks Abracadabra, yeh its coming on, I don't really have a clear idea of what I want to do yet. I do know theres a wraparound bridge going on it.
Another pic of the carve.

[junk mutt]

Does anyone know why I'm getting such small pictures?
I downsized them to 900x600 pixels, is this too small? I'm using photobucket as a host.
Any help would be appreciated
thanks
Mick.

[abracadabra]

if you upload the full-size image to photobucket you should be able to post the link to them here.

just click on the image in the photo album and when the full-size image appears just click on the 'IMG code' box on the right. it'll say 'Copied' and then you can just paste the link here in a reply box.