Finished Pics! SG-style in Yew

Andyjr1515

For the control chamber hatch, I take a sheet of paper and run my fingernail round the recess to make a template:



Then cut the shape out of the offcut slice I cut a while back a mm or less oversize.  And then just use a sanding block to gradually make my way round the recess until I get a clear but close fit:



As long as I can keep this flat - which means applying the finish to both sides each time - then this should hold well with magnets, and ditto the trussrod cover.

Fret ends rounded; headstock plate started being varnished.

I'm quite close to having few enough jobs left to be able to fit the list onto a piece of A4


 

MLten80

Haha

Genius/glaringly obvious idea on getting the template!
 I've got a back plate to redo after some iff routing, this idea has just solved it
 
Oh yeah, still looking great btw  

JGTay

Excellent work Andy, that yew grain is stunning and your finishing is spot on. Very impressed  

TTony

WezV said:

The book has pretty much been my Bible since I found it in 1998, so it's no surprise it came from there, and just developed into a more involved process as I did more.

I need to dig out and re-read that book.

I bought it way back in the day, read it, and most of it made little sense to my inexperienced (in all things woodworky) brain.

Maybe if I re-read it now, I'll understand a bit more!

greggreg66

This is looking amazing!

PeteC

I have the early edition - but was looking for the most recent edition and its crazy prices even to buy second hand.   If anyone's got a copy of the latest edition of Melvyn's book that they want to sell on then please pm me..

WezV

I think a 3rd edition is due soon

PeteC

I’ll look out for that too @WezV    Like the control hatch method @Andyjr1515  

Andyjr1515

PeteC said:

    Like the control hatch method @Andyjr1515  

I confess, I don't really know how other folks do them.  

Presumably cut the hatch first, then make an outline on a routing template?  

Trouble is, I have the major aversion to routing templates (it's an Andyjr1515 thing...) so I just find it easier to do it this way round.  I suspect most builders regard my method as pretty bonkers

Andyjr1515

I've updated the 'How I use Ronseal' thread with the next step, where needed, which is flattening.  Unlike nitro and other 'melting' finishes, with this kind of finish, you flatten before  the final coat not after.

I decided, once the varnish had fully shrunk after a week's curing, that it did need flattening and then a couple of final coats applying.  I won't repeat the detail, but this photo below is during the flattening with 1500 wet 'n dry used wet with a sanding block.  While I'm happy with ridges that are following the grain lines, I'm trying to get rid of the ridges that are from accumulated brush strokes and other lumps, bumps and dust buggies but taking care not to get back down to the timber:



I then give one or two thin gloss coats - here I generally thin the varnish around 5% to ensure that it flows and flattens.

This process often takes a few goes.  This is the first go - close but no cigar:

While it's a lot flatter than before and the lumps, bumps and dust buggies are sorted, the surface finish is a bit bobbly.  So it is just a case of letting it cure a day, then repeating with a very light flattening (usually 2000-2500 grit) and another go...and this whole process as often as needed. Here, patience is your friend - you are only affecting that final couple of coats, so at least one time it's going to be OK

This is better - much flatter than before and decent surface quality that will gloss up nicely with a light polishing in a week or so when it's fully hardened:



But it's already hard enough to be worked on, so I can now carry on and finish the build

Today's job is going to be fitting the magnets to the control chamber hatch that has also been varnished:


And then it's the other dozen or so finishing jobs, final polish and done   Probably by the end of the coming weekend.  

Must chase up Matt and see how he's getting on with pickups for it

andyp

It’s looking incredible! Wow. Great work.

JGTay

Excellent work, can't wait to see it with the hardware and strung up, hopefully with a video of it being played  

Andyjr1515

Thanks folks

Didn't get round to the hatch magnets yesterday.  Instead, I went for something much more scary!  Fitting the stoptail.

Now this really is a measure 15 times, drill once.  This - and the ToM bridge is even worse - has to be right.

I used my little drill press to drill the 11mm holes and then also used the drill press chuck to press them in:





I still have to drill the earth wire hole and fit the wire, so will be removing the lower bout insert soon (Tip about removing inserts/bushes, assuming they are open ended - get a bolt of the correct size, screw it in until it bottoms on the body wood at the bottom of the hole, use a spanner to carry on screwing and it will lift the insert gently out).

In terms of finding the insert hole from the control chamber with my earth-wire drill bit, I have a cunning plan.  Just got to remember what that might have been

But, challenges aside, it's starting to look like a guitar:


Now that I have the stoptail and tuners in place, I can pop a spare 6th and 1st string on and position the bridge to make sure that it is lined up with the fretboard.  Then the last really scary bit after checking the measurements, oh, probably 35 times? - drilling for the bridge inserts

the_jaffa

Andyjr1515 said:

Thanks folks

Didn't get round to the hatch magnets yesterday.  Instead, I went for something much more scary!  Fitting the stoptail.

Now this really is a measure 15 times, drill once.  This - and the ToM bridge is even worse - has to be right.

I used my little drill press to drill the 11mm holes and then also used the drill press chuck to press them in:





I still have to drill the earth wire hole and fit the wire, so will be removing the lower bout insert soon (Tip about removing inserts/bushes, assuming they are open ended - get a bolt of the correct size, screw it in until it bottoms on the body wood at the bottom of the hole, use a spanner to carry on screwing and it will lift the insert gently out).

In terms of finding the insert hole from the control chamber with my earth-wire drill bit, I have a cunning plan.  Just got to remember what that might have been

But, challenges aside, it's starting to look like a guitar:


Now that I have the stoptail and tuners in place, I can pop a spare 6th and 1st string on and position the bridge to make sure that it is lined up with the fretboard.  Then the last really scary bit after checking the measurements, oh, probably 35 times? - drilling for the bridge inserts

It was scary enough drilling for the bridge posts on my current Hofner project but I knew I’d be painting mine to cover it up. Don’t envy you doing it on such a beautiful piece of wood. 

TTony

Andyjr1515 said:

Now this really is a measure 15 times, drill once.  This - and the ToM bridge is even worse - has to be right.

And that's a useful tip - I'm going to try one next time (if I remember).

Measure, then drill.

I can see how that'd be a good idea.



The yew really looks stunning.    Somehow, putting the tailpiece on it makes it look like a guitar more than the shape, neck, and pickup cavities do.  

Andyjr1515

For the bridge, now I have the stop-tail in place, I can fit a couple of strings and get the bridge in exactly the right position both for string-to-fretboard-edge distance and, of course, intonation.

For the latter, I wind the top E string saddle fully forward and place that at the scale length and then wind the bottom E fully back and ensure that there are a couple of mm adjustment possible behind the 'normal' offset of around 5mm.  This way, if I have a cumulative build error of up to 1mm somewhere, it's still going to fully intonate.



And then same process - drill on the drill-press, press the inserts in and pop the bridge on the pegs to make sure it all fits as it should:



And finally, another mockup



Bit of decorating tomorrow, but might be able to either make a start on the fret levelling or maybe sort the control positions

Andyjr1515

I'll sand these fully flush when I tidy up the fretboard and give the neck its final oil and buff after fret levelling, but the mother of pearl fret side dots are in:




That's another one ticked off the list.  Just 11 things still to go
  

Andyjr1515

Another two jobs off the list - fret levelling/recrowning ; fretboard tidy-up.

And another shout here for Chris Alsop Guitars - after levelling with my 1m aluminium beam, I used one of his whole raft of really usable and practical tools - this fret recrowning file:



It is a good radiused diamond file housed in such a usable handle!  Easiest re-crown to date.


I did the normal marking the flats on the frets with a sharpie and then used Chris's file first on its own, then with 320 grit sandpaper wrapped over the file, then with 800 grit sandpaper, 

and finally with 3200; 6000 & 12000 microweb cloth, again using the file as a radiused sanding block:



Then used a single-edged razor as a scraper to tidy up the fretboard.


It's come up nice:


  

Andyjr1515

As @WezV mentioned earlier, the SG has quite a cramped controls cluster.  Some of that is the body shape, and some the fact that they have a top-mounted jack.

While I can't do anything about the body shape, I do have the advantage of going for an edge mounted jack.  

I'm sure there are lots of other ways of laying them out, but after lots of mockups, sticking the knobs and tip on with blu-tack, this one below passed my 'air guitar test' of ensuring I would never accidentally hit the switch while flailing my arms Pete Townsend style, but could still reach both or individual volumes quickly without hitting either the tones or the switch.  
I tried with the switch position a little further forward but came to the conclusion that it is safer from accidental adjustment here.  So it's still tight, but I think is going to work OK live:



Inside, I wanted to leave most of the chamber bottom thicker than the pot spindles to maximise the stability in that knotty area, so I just Forstner-cut some recesses for the pots and switch to allow good thread access the other side:


Once I've cut the jack hole, I'll tidy up the inside shape to make it look more like it was supposed to look like that
 

JGTay

Looking very nice Andy, should be very neat and tidy wiring having everything close together like that. Have done some of my wiring today, hiding cables on a hollow body is a pain.