Mojotron's FORMER Build Challenge Thread

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by acalan

nice Mojo You take us through steps nicely.I can follow your thread Thanks

Your welcome!!

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by oigun

I feel quite small comparising my jig to yours...

It's not the jig that's important - it's what what you can do with it.

[RocknDrTom]

With all those necks, I thought you were going to do a Tele version of this:


...or this:

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by RocknDrTom

With all those necks, I thought you were going to do a Tele version of this:
...

Interesting, I've not actually played even a double neck.

Yikes, those guitars are out there... I can't imagine tuning those things!

['59_Standard]

Mike, which of the glues, for you, is better for using with the ROSS - the Elmers or the Super 77.

I know Gil uses a glue stick for his templates but he uses that with a drill press and that ROSS oscillates and can pull the paper off. Someone recommended something else a while back for use with the ROSS and it escapes my mind.

[alscort93]

Originally Posted by '59_Standard

Mike, which of the glues, for you, is better for using with the ROSS - the Elmers or the Super 77.

I know Gil uses a glue stick for his templates but he uses that with a drill press and that ROSS oscillates and can pull the paper off. Someone recommended something else a while back for use with the ROSS and it escapes my mind.

I used Duro All-Purpose Spray Adhesive, and it worked great.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by '59_Standard

Mike, which of the glues, for you, is better for using with the ROSS - the Elmers or the Super 77.

I know Gil uses a glue stick for his templates but he uses that with a drill press and that ROSS oscillates and can pull the paper off. Someone recommended something else a while back for use with the ROSS and it escapes my mind.

I was pretty excited when I started using Super 77, before that I had used the elmers spray and patched things with titebond. Super 77 keeps the paper down on the template at the edges better than anything I have used.

I wish I could remember the forum member who suggested cutting all of the template lines/edges with a razor knife - that is a really nice technique to use with a ROSS. When you see the paper strip away while sanding you know that you have hit the line and to stop in that spot.

So, the best combo I have used is Super 77 (spraying only the paper - not the template) and cutting all of the lines that are being sanded to with a razor knife; while keeping a rag damp with mineral spirits so that you can get it off your fingers while smoothing out the template. Using Super 77 on both the template and the paper is pretty messy.

The only problem with Super 77 is that you only have about 5 seconds of working time once the paper hits the MDF - which is more than enough time to adjust big/square pieces of paper. I just use Elmers spray for anything that is small or may need to be straightened or adjusted carefully.

Others might have found better adhesives/techniques, but this works best for what I've done so far.

['59_Standard]

Thanks alscort, and Mike.

[Mojotron]

OK - first neck with the new channel jig - should have done some checking first.



I used one of the prototype necks. This is not that bad - nice straight channel - but the front of the channel is about 1/16th off.



That is not a problem - I would likely be the only one to know that.

But then, I drilled the rod access hole:



The hole was just the right depth, but was about 1/32nd off in the other direction.



That's not too bad - still OK, hardly noticeable - and after all this is a prototype. I have made a few necks that were worse that worked really well.

So then, I drill the 3/16" hole to the channel and I came up shallow.



I'll have to fix that - so I plugged it with a 3/16" dowel.



And, I got to tuning my jig.



Found the problems. And, fixed that too.

59_Standard and GregB pointed me toward what GregB did on his jig and I integrated that idea into mine.

[Guitarnut]

It won't be noticable at all...unless your fretboard has a center line on it when you're done.

Looking great!

Peace,
Mark

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by Guitarnut

It won't be noticable at all...unless your fretboard has a center line on it when you're done.

Looking great!

Peace,
Mark

Thanks!

Ya, I know - I fixed the jig and moved on.

['59_Standard]

Mike, you could have made life a whole lot easier by erasing the pencil line and moving it over a 16th........then it'd be in line with the hole... (Joke!)

There's some great learning tips in this thread. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to explain your method(s).

[Mojotron]

Once I got done tweaking everything, I tested on some of the old practice neck I had laying around.




Now, back to the real necks:



Just about as good as it gets!

I looked as GregB's neck jig and used a similar approach - taking the block that I used to clamp onto the neck and got it to work on my neck jig.



Did it work??



Yes! Drilling those holes is going to be a lot easier, and more consistent now!



I sharpened my chisels and drilled a hole for the anchor.



What I do is I drill the hole and just chisel out a line to connect the channel with the anchor hole.

And, I got all 3 necks done.

[Mojotron]

Finishing up the truss rods...

I did not show this before, but it's tough to thread straight while the die is moving around.... So what I do is I drill a 3/16" hole in a piece of the hardest wood I have to work with - in this case Ash - and hammer the 3/16" rod into the hole - it's a really tight fit.



Then, I carefully get the die started making sure that it's as even as can be.



Also, I'll rise the wood up off of the vise (which is holding the rod so that it will not move while the die is rotating) just enough so that when the wood hits the vise I have threaded as much of the rod as I needed.

So, to keep the die centered on the rod - making the set of threads in the middle of the rod where they are supposed to be, what the wood does is while I am rotating the die the block of wood will keep a lot of constant/steady friction/pressure on the under side of the die - this keeps even pressure on all parts of the under side of the die - keeping the die centered on the rod while threading.

Once the die pushes the wood 11/16" (for the anchor end) or closer to an inch (for the adjust end) the wood starts hitting the vice and you can't go any further.



And - there it is - those are about as straight of threads as you can get doing this by hand.




On the anchor, I file into the anchor a little so that when I smash the metal back into the anchor - the metal will not get too thin on the rod side to get weak.



Then I start with the hammer:



Until it's never coming apart!



There's some cutting to length that I did not show, but basically I make my necks so that the truss rod adjust screw will have .2" to .25" of thread in the screw before it hits the washer.

And, then all that's left to do is use some shrink wrap to keep the rod from vibrating while in the guitar as well as keeping glue off of the rod so that it does not bind to the walls of the truss channel.



And finally - there's the last of the 3 rods for this build.

[Mojotron]

Made some Madrona Skunk stripes.




I got a bunch of marble pieces from Habitat For Humanity's resale store - great place to pickup stuff like this - got a lot of great clamps too! Here I'm using Super-77 to glue some sand paper to on of the marble pieces - I'll use these a lot when I get back to the body.



The grinder makes it's entry into the thread!



That made quick work out of that!



All the necks are going to be ready for shaping tomorrow.

[Mojotron]

No pictures to show, I've mostly been doing some design and planning. The design stuff is focused on taking a neck that I wanted to copy and put it on the Bill Scheltema neck back shaping jig and make mods to the jig to be able to trace out the pucks for me. I'm pretty sure this plan will work.

Also, I'm going to do something interesting with body routing, I'll take pictures of that stuff tomorrow.

Also, I figured out the fret marker dilemma.

[Mojotron]

I need some advice on adhesives: I want to glue a bunch of brass and/or aluminum to my neck and then do the shaping. I know the router would be OK with that, but sanding brass or aluminum is going to generate a lot of heat which might delaminate the metal from the wood.

I figure that metal is going to get hotter than a hilltop BBQ on Mercury. I'm just guessing that my 5-minute epoxy is not up to the job. Any ideas on a good wood-metal adhesive that would be be heat tolerant?

['59_Standard]

Never used it but, does this tick the boxes?

Stabilit Express


Or....Bondit 45?

[Bolide]

If the fit is sufficiently tight, LocTite Red 271 threadlocker might do the trick.
We had to heat that stuff up to almost the flashpoint of wood, and still use a lot of power to undo it.

I don't know how loctite 620 would do with wood, but it claims like 3000# bond at 450 F. Looks promising. No experience, but looks like it is better suited for the purpose than the 271. But I can't imagine the 271 not being up to the task.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by Bolide

If the fit is sufficiently tight, LocTite Red 271 threadlocker might do the trick.
We had to heat that stuff up to almost the flashpoint of wood, and still use a lot of power to undo it.

I don't know how loctite 620 would do with wood, but it claims like 3000# bond at 450 F. Looks promising. No experience, but looks like it is better suited for the purpose than the 271. But I can't imagine the 271 not being up to the task.

I use that stuff on truss rods - had not thought about using it with metal to wood bonding. It's got a color to it - I was look something that would be transparent.