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Trent Guitars - From the Workshop

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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    Solid couple days getting colour on the bodies,

    Will let them sit for a day, then flat off and add the clear coats


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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Great colours, pink and green looking mighty fine
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    Flatting off the colour coats today, ready for the clearcoating, then its back to necks!


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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Loving this thread
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    sev112 said:
    Loving this thread
    Glad youre enjoying it bud!
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  • hoopshoops Frets: 223
    Quality work and very interesting thread. Nice one!
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  • TeacherphilTeacherphil Frets: 128
    To be able to watch your guitar being built like this in a small batch is great. 6 very happy fretboarders.
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
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  • Rich31kRich31k Frets: 776
    That looks lovely 
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  • darcymdarcym Frets: 1297
    this is turning into another one of those threads which is a joy to watch people with talent demonstrate their talent as it moves towards something special, love some of the person touches on these models, there is a picture of the back of a finished neck earlier in the thread that just looks 'perfect' 
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    darcym said:
    this is turning into another one of those threads which is a joy to watch people with talent demonstrate their talent as it moves towards something special, love some of the person touches on these models, there is a picture of the back of a finished neck earlier in the thread that just looks 'perfect' 
    That's very kind of you to say, thank you!

    Another good day today, 

    First order of business was getting the fretboards radiused, I cut the fret slots with my jig and template routed to rough size over the weekend.

    I use radius blocks from StewMac - my most commonly used 12" being the alumnium version which is wonderful to use. It's safe to say that radiusing boards from flat is incredibly time consuming on tiring if you were to just use the sandpaper on the block - my choice is to rough radius it with my cabinet scraper. I've found the use of my normal low angle and standard angle planes I suffer from tearout with this Bolivian rosewood as the grain tends to run out onto the surface, so the most efficient way to deal with this is by using a scraper or in this case a cabinet scraper/scraper plane which attacks the surface as a much higher angle. The way these cut are by rolling a burr with a burnisher onto the blade rather than your typical bevelled edge. 



    Shavings off the scraper:





    So once roughing in the radius with the scraper, I finalise the shape with the sanding block:





    It's then a case of mating the fretboard to the neck blank, for alignment I use toothpicks that will be hidden in the fret slots. Some people use pins/brad nails but I would much rather it be a timber piece that I can saw through once I need to re-establish the fret slots





    And then after carefully applying the glue I apply a few clamps




    This time of year is great for glue ups if you want to work fast, means I can take the glue up out of clamps more quickly than in winter and get on with work, although I wont put any stress on a joint until the following day. I clean up the sides of the fretboard and flush it with a mixture of sanding blocks and scrapers. The last job of the day is to carefully mark out the nut slot width, saw to depth and restablish all fret slots.

    I use a 1/8" japanese chisel I picked up some years ago  as part of a job lot of old tools



    You can see the cut down cocktail stick there, that does end up hidden under the fret but when it comes to a refret I think someone will see that thought was taken when making it,




    Doing 4 of these in a day is solid work! Tomorrow comes inlays and frets being pressed in, I much prefer to press frets with an uncarved neck so I do that last.


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  • punchesjudypunchesjudy Frets: 1020
    Sorry about the 7.25 :D in all seriousness though, all of this stuff is looking great! 
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    Sorry about the 7.25 :D in all seriousness though, all of this stuff is looking great! 
    Luckily the method I use makes it not too bad! Glad youre enjoying it :-)
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  • TeyeplayerTeyeplayer Frets: 3137
    Wish I could have stretched to one of these, they look awesome! 
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    Wish I could have stretched to one of these, they look awesome! 
    Im planning on hanging around so I'll get you in the future ;-)
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  • TeyeplayerTeyeplayer Frets: 3137
    Wish I could have stretched to one of these, they look awesome! 
    Im planning on hanging around so I'll get you in the future ;-)
    :+1: 
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  • TrentGuitarsTrentGuitars Frets: 1717
    tFB Trader
    Another quality day of making necks,

    First thing first was to get the markers laid out, I've tried all kind of ways doing this. Templates.. calipers etc but the way to get the best result every time (for me anyway) is to the the crosses, first do the two ends and then strike a centreline, then you can do diagonals on the other fret markers and everything lines up a treat.



    The depth is then carefully set on the pillar drill and we go ahead and drill the lot. With wood thats liable to tear out to get the cleanest cut I make sure to set it at a fast speed and plunge at a slightly slower rate. Once that's done I go ahead and glue them in, I use the Starbond black superglue for this, it's really great especially with the whip tips from StewMac.



    Once set, I then flush them up with the appropriate radius blocks




    Now we transition back to my home workshop/set up bench for pressing in the frets away from the dusty chaos of my industrial unit. First step I have to bend the frets a hair more than they are supplied at for the 7.25" board, once that is done each fret is trimmed to length



    It's then a case of easing the fret slots with a couple of strokes from a triangular/saw file, this makes the frets easier to pull out at refret time.



    Then we move onto pressing the frets in. I first apply a small amount of glue with a cocktail stick to the fret tang, this is normal Titebond 1 and the idea is not so much to bond the fret and the board - but to take up any gaps in between the tangs to (supposedly) give you a more resonant join. They are then pressed in at my arbour press and the glue squeeze out is cleaned with a damp rag





    Once that's done (it takes a fair ol while!) we have a stack of 4 necks. Some of you eagled eyed viewers will spot we are missing no5. Four of these are customers guitars and the fifth is actually a freebie going out to a certain person at some point - I basically had a fretboard I wasnt happy with for no5, so I'm prioritising the paying customers and will come back to no5 next week.



    So now its a case of getting a cup of tea to give the glue a chance to sit for a little, then I trim all the ends flush with the board, use a file to get them roughly flat with it and then quickly just take the rough edges off to save shredding my hands before I do the real crown/dress/polish at the very end.



    And there we have it, four necks ready to go back to the workshop to be carved, headstocks thicknessed and all the rest!
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  • punchesjudypunchesjudy Frets: 1020
    So now I wanna know who the freebie is for. I have suspicions that are probably way wrong but yea..  

    Also good stuff as always. Once again sorry for the extra work ha. 
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27346
    Now, this is what I call lucky ...



    .... look at that ... the fret slots are just the right depth for the fret tangs!
    :D


    Great precision work Elliot.

    And thanks for taking the time to share the photos here.  Looking good.
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    The freebie is for the one of us that’s the most supportive of @TrentGuitars ’ posts ;)
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