A walnut/fir Tele and mahogany/maple Wolfgang

[I_build_my_own]

Really enjoying this thread. Read pretty much all thru the wolf build.
Thanks for taking the time to post your process. Fascinating.

Dude. You are one skilled mofo. That's easily the best wolfgang I've ever seen. ( and I'm not a big fan of the shape, in general )
Your attention to detail is superb. Love those inlays. Perfect. 3/16" is a great choice. Someday, I want to learn to do inlays.
Will probably start with simple dot replacement. ( I bought the SM router base years ago ... someday ... )
I just started working on a kit guitar and I'm into it. So much fun.

Back to your build: The neck is great. Bone nuts are my choice, also. I can't play a guitar w/trem so I love that fixed bridge.
The only thing I would've done different is speed knobs. I can't get over them. First guitar had 'em and I still love them.

Looking forward to see how the tele goes. ( Floppy disks FTW! ... LOL )

Thanks Stringsthings for the kind words. Appreciate it.

 

[I_build_my_own]

Hmm a
Laserengraver3dprintermaschinen. .. .
Now I want to see this written on the machine .

I don’t think i have water slide decal paper that is big enough for this word

 

[stringsthings]

Just went over your progress on the tele. Seems like things are going smoothly.
Again, I really like how you're doing the dot inlays from shells. A little bit of abalone
just screams class to me. You don't have to go all zemaitis to have a great looking guitar.
And I think that PRS just did dragon's as a way of seeing how much inlay they could fit on a guitar.
That's not a guitar that's meant to be played. It's a wall-hanger. Which kind of defeats the purpose.

I mean, what's a guitar for if it can't be played? All that being said, if I had the $/space, I'd probably have a nice
collection of guitars that I wouldn't play. .... so go figure ...

It's nice that you're a builder that appreciates good old fashioned wood for guitars.

 

[I_build_my_own]

11 months later, after quite some distractions... one round of SM ebony grain filling. Never tried this water based stuff. John Nicolas borrowed me his jar for a try out. A fraction of a spoon mixed with a few drops of water.

Before the mess

After the mess.. massaged it in with an old credit card.

And some sanding... and Leo approves

 

[Engraver-60]

Beautiful.

 

[I_build_my_own]

Beautiful.

Thank you!

 

[John Nicholas]

11 months later, after quite some distractions... one round of SM ebony grain filling. Never tried this water based stuff. John Nicolas borrowed me his jar for a try out. A fraction of a spoon mixed with a few drops of water.

View attachment 616581

Before the mess
View attachment 616580

After the mess.. massaged it in with an old credit card.

View attachment 616582

And some sanding... and Leo approves

View attachment 616583

I still think the cat did all the work!!

It does look really nice though!!

 

[nickhofen]

I think Stew Mac ebony filling did a good job on the cat (Leo).
The guitar body looks good!
(The cat's body also!)

 

[darkforce]

Looks very nice. How easy does this sand back? I used some wood paste on ash a while ago and that was a real pain to sand back. It ended up a bit to viscous and left quite a rough surface to start from.

 

[I_build_my_own]

Looks very nice. How easy does this sand back? I used some wood paste on ash a while ago and that was a real pain to sand back. It ended up a bit to viscous and left quite a rough surface to start from.

This water based stuff seem pretty easy to sand as compared to oil based ones. In the past i used some oilbased home-depot grain filler that was like liqud bubble gum to put on. And nearly impossible to sand where it was put on too thick.

This waterbased stuff doesn't seem to stick too much to the surface. While it is easy sands, I instantly locked it into the pores with some clear coat.

For you question how does it sand back: it almost feels like sanding a piece of chalk ( the ones that kids use to color your drive way and street). It is only bit more sticky than that. I hit it with 600 sand paper

 

[oldrebel]

That looks great!!

 

[I_build_my_own]

Didn’t really like to see on the sides that the body is from several pieces. Also in the 2nd picture you can see a “plug” where the grain isn’t exactly matching. That plug is covering up one of for ever oozing spots that douglas fir tends to have. Took the air brush and carefully stained the sides much darker, and feathered a transition over the radius.

Before

And after:

The line where the 2 pieces meet has been drowned (almost)

And the back is still natural showing the nice fir grain.

 

[nickhofen]

Nice? I like the contrast between the binding and the stain you add.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Didn’t really like to see on the sides that the body is from several pieces. Also in the 2nd picture you can see a “plug” where the grain isn’t exactly matching. That plug is covering up one of for ever oozing spots that douglas fir tends to have. Took the air brush and carefully stained the sides much darker, and feathered a transition over the radius.

~snip~

And the back is still natural showing the nice fir grain.

That was an excellent way to handle this and the body looks outstanding!

 

[I_build_my_own]

thanks Nick and Jim. I was pleasantly surprised how good it worked out with the air brush.

 

[John Nicholas]

Didn’t really like to see on the sides that the body is from several pieces. Also in the 2nd picture you can see a “plug” where the grain isn’t exactly matching. That plug is covering up one of for ever oozing spots that douglas fir tends to have. Took the air brush and carefully stained the sides much darker, and feathered a transition over the radius.

Before
View attachment 626651 View attachment 626652

And after:
View attachment 626654
View attachment 626655

The line where the 2 pieces meet has been drowned (almost)
View attachment 626664 View attachment 626665

And the back is still natural showing the nice fir grain.

While this looks great in photos, it's absolutely amazing in person!! Great job Helmut!

 

[R. Stratenstein]

Nicely done, Helmut. You turned a liability into a good-looking asset. Coloring and shading is just right to camouflage the grain mismatch, but preserves just enough of the pattern to look great.

 

[I_build_my_own]

While this looks great in photos, it's absolutely amazing in person!! Great job Helmut!

Thanks John

 

[I_build_my_own]

Nicely done, Helmut. You turned a liability into a good-looking asset. Coloring and shading is just right to camouflage the grain mismatch, but preserves just enough of the pattern to look great.

Thanks!

Wait who is this...

OMG look who surfaced from under a rock. Rick is this really you? Done with the home projects?

 

[Barncaster]

And the abuse starts...