What's on your workbench today?

JohnnyThul · Oct 21, 2022

Finalized the pickup routings, after doweling the first holes I made for the bridge, just using the stewmac calculator....always measure yourself and trust noone, then measure two times more.
I then drilled the holes again, after I checked intonation with two strings temporarily attached on a wooden block. And I drilled them through the whole body to try the Ruokangas approach for fitting a non adjustable wraparound bridge.
Everything fits so far.

Now I need to think about the Potis and switches. basically I want a Les Paul switching with a 3 way toggle and the option of switching the singlecoil in and out. And I want to split the neck Humbucker.
So, I either will need a toggle and 2 mini switches, or a toggle and 2 blend pots, I think.
In the latter case I would only use a master volume and no tone control.

Burlington Dave · Oct 21, 2022

Ready for final clear coat then 3D features…

CustFan · Oct 21, 2022

Trawling FleaBay the other day I spotted a damaged Acoustic guitar that was up for auction with a 'Kingman' gig bag (typo – should have been Kinsman). I thought 'I need a gig bag for my Sigma dreadnought' that I'd bought last year so I took a look:

Oh dear, a broken headstock..... 'Manhattan' on the headstock – not a brand I'd ever heard of.

It was a good listing with plenty of detailed photos.

Maybe it had been sat on whilst in its gig bag!?
Usefully there was a picture of the label inside the guitar:

Importantly, the gig bag looked reasonable:

There were a couple of bids but it was still cheap so I thought I'd keep an eye on the listing.

An internet search on the model number returned no hits against the 'Manhattan' name, but did return a result for an apparently identical 'Stagg' branded acoustic. This had some specs indicating that the 'SD CED' part of the model meant it was a solid cedar top!

So I thought it was worth a punt.... and I won it for the princely sum of £17.51 (plus P&P).
It's now on my workbench undergoing repair.

I'll post more pictures as the repair progresses!

CustFan · Oct 22, 2022

I had some old Evostik wood glue in the garage (similar to Titebond, but here in the UK) and did a strength test to check it was good (as per a StewMac video I'd seen; sticking 2 pieces of wood together and then breaking – the wood failed and not the glue joint).

After ensuring the pieces mated as best could be expected and practising clamping the pieces, I brushed glue sparingly onto the mating faces, working it well into the grain:

I then carefully mated the two pieces and clamped, using suitable protection to avoid damaging the neck wood and fretboard / frets:

There was a sizeable quantity of glue expelled from the joint as the clamp was tightened which gave me good confidence that the pieces were mating well and that ultimately the repair should be good and strong.

The next step was to carefully wipe away the excess glue. I found that the thinnest part of the wood on the headstock piece could be held in place using a sprung-loaded Capo and a suitable piece of insulating plastic to prevent the Capo from adhering to the guitar:

It's now a case of waiting until the glue cures. I shall leave it clamped for at least 24 hours...... fingers crossed!

JohnnyThul · Oct 22, 2022

Had to make some new covers, because someone wrote on the old ones

Jim_in_PA · Oct 22, 2022

Major milestone with the new shop building...finally have electric service in and I called for inspections. Once that's all done, I can get to the "fun" work of making the interior habitable for its intended purpose over the next few months.

Laren · Oct 22, 2022

Some idiot thought this would look good. Yes, yes, it was me.

Just done in Photoshop.

Well I've got this far ..

It's coming along much better than I expected.

eallen · Oct 22, 2022

Ever walk out of a candy store with just 1 piece? Me neither at the wood candy store!

Northwest Lumber in Indy is my go to for 8/4×13" slabs of African mahogany but a 6' long subtle curl 8/4 x 13" cherry kept whispering my name! Broke my long streak of using only family farm milled domestics!

Eric

hopdybob · Oct 23, 2022

Laren said:
Some idiot thought this would look good. Yes, yes, it was me.

hey, no creative mind is an idiot

and when you can make what you think?
i am a bit jealous i think

rexhunta · Oct 23, 2022

On the big concrete workbench.

door sills and undercar sealer and it's ready for highfill. Glad I picked up a spare wet/dry vac and cheap ryobi orbital, helped a lot !

Laren · Oct 23, 2022

One body blank ready. Now that could have come out much worse. I pretty happy with that.

tomasz · Oct 23, 2022

Rewiring an Ibanez Artcore semi hollow with some decent components. I'll test different cap values with this one, hence I've wired some wires for the caps, where I'll attach some alligator clips. Those will go away, once the right caps are selected. Another mod is a solderless terminal for an easy swap of pickups, without the need of taking out the harness. It will be possible to pull it out through the F-hole. The bridge ground wire will also be attached there.

Jim_in_PA · Oct 23, 2022

eallen said:
Ever walk out of a candy store with just 1 piece? Me neither at the wood candy store!

That's exactly why I avoid going to Hearne Hardwoods more than once or twice a year..."dangerous" to the wallet while wonderful for the lumber inventory.

I_build_my_own · Oct 23, 2022

JohnnyThul said:
Finalized the pickup routings, after doweling the first holes I made for the bridge, just using the stewmac calculator....always measure yourself and trust noone, then measure two times more.
I then drilled the holes again, after I checked intonation with two strings temporarily attached on a wooden block. And I drilled them through the whole body to try the Ruokangas approach for fitting a non adjustable wraparound bridge.
Everything fits so far.

Now I need to think about the Potis and switches. basically I want a Les Paul switching with a 3 way toggle and the option of switching the singlecoil in and out. And I want to split the neck Humbucker.
So, I either will need a toggle and 2 mini switches, or a toggle and 2 blend pots, I think.
In the latter case I would only use a master volume and no tone control.

View attachment 1042356 View attachment 1042357 View attachment 1042358

This is sweeeeet!

Chipss36 · Oct 23, 2022

On the bench, but also on hold, body finish will take another 4 months or so.

Jim_in_PA · Oct 23, 2022

I_make_my_own stopped over today to help me pull the Ethernet cable between the house and the new shop building in the extra conduit the electrician put in the trench for me. He's recently retired, so I need to keep him busy. LOL

But now I have reliable connectivity in the new building...

betocool · Oct 25, 2022

CustFan said:
I had some old Evostik wood glue in the garage (similar to Titebond, but here in the UK) and did a strength test to check it was good (as per a StewMac video I'd seen; sticking 2 pieces of wood together and then breaking – the wood failed and not the glue joint).

After ensuring the pieces mated as best could be expected and practising clamping the pieces, I brushed glue sparingly onto the mating faces, working it well into the grain:

View attachment 1042855

I then carefully mated the two pieces and clamped, using suitable protection to avoid damaging the neck wood and fretboard / frets:

View attachment 1042856

View attachment 1042857

View attachment 1042858

There was a sizeable quantity of glue expelled from the joint as the clamp was tightened which gave me good confidence that the pieces were mating well and that ultimately the repair should be good and strong.

The next step was to carefully wipe away the excess glue. I found that the thinnest part of the wood on the headstock piece could be held in place using a sprung-loaded Capo and a suitable piece of insulating plastic to prevent the Capo from adhering to the guitar:

View attachment 1042859

View attachment 1042860

View attachment 1042861

It's now a case of waiting until the glue cures. I shall leave it clamped for at least 24 hours...... fingers crossed!

I once fixed a 12-string for a friend that had broken similarly, in the same way. But I left it curing for a week before I touched it again.

I believe said guitar is still playing after over two years! You'll have no problems.

Cheers,

Alberto

Jim_in_PA · Oct 25, 2022

Impatience is on my "workbench" today...inspector had to beg off this morning as they got tied up. They wanted to reschedule for tomorrow morning but I have to take my older daughter to see a knee surgeon. So now the electrical and final inspection is Thursday at 09:00 when forum member I_make_my_own and I will be pouring the concrete pad outside of the "person door". We had hoped to get started with the electrical for machine circuits before that, but alas...

1bad914 · Oct 25, 2022

140 feet of quarter round trim. We had all the flooring on our main floor replaced, I am very particular about trim, I like tight joints, so I am doing it myself. Plus our entryway is a round room, (it’s a silo) they would have most likely not done that to my satisfaction.

Moodivarius · Oct 25, 2022

Nothing on my bench.
Too busy with work.

Last week was finishing off a buddy’s camp on Lake of The Woods. Trim and baseboard. Pine, flooring & kitchen we did earlier this summer.