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http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/160517 more/01 parrot vice.jpg
So... fretting finished, frets levelled and crowned, ends rounded (could do with a bit of finessing but not awful), frets polished to 2500 grit, fretboard edges rolled with a stanley knife blade as a scraper.
http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/160517 more/02 fretted.jpg
And therefore another quick mockup-check. I've also managed to improve the finish on the body with some 1200 grit pads. Much nicer now, it's more blue/green than black in person with a nice worn (but not relic) look.
http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/160517 more/03 mockup.jpg
http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/200517 scratchplate.jpg
Now I just need to get the CNC machine up and running and I can get this plate cut.
New PC can't run the CNC machine from its parallel port - there's an issue between the driver and 64-bit Windows 7, so I've moved a plan forward a bit and ordered a UC100 motion controller - basically it has a real-time microcontroller in a parallel plug, so you run USB from the PC and still get the ultra-tight timings needed to drive the servos. In the meantime I hooked up the old PC and got on with machining.
This is the DiBond straight off the machine:
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/280517 splate/01 off machine.jpg
I didn't use a thick enough spoil board, so couldn't cut the edge bevel, and the pickup rout needed finishing by hand, but otherwise not bad. Both solvable without throwing the plate away.
This is an edge view - it's possibly a bit thick, so I'm debating skimming the back off. Or I do have a bit of black pearloid I could use...
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/280517 splate/02 side view.jpg
So this is how it comes off the machine - the fuzziness is an artifact of not getting the router RPM and feed rate quite right - tricky to cut the aluminium cleanly without melting the plastic.
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/290517 splate/01 off machine.jpg
The fuzz is pretty soft though, so from this:
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/290517 splate/02 fuzzy.jpg
...it only takes scraping with a stanley knife blade to get to this:
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/290517 splate/03 scraped.jpg
Then up through five grades of sandpaper to get to this - not perfectly smooth, but it'll go well with the general look.
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/290517 splate/04 sanded.jpg
And in position - I've centre punched the screw holes ready to drill. Getting there.
http://monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/builds/SP4/290517 splate/05 on body.jpg
Bit worried about trimming the plate around the neck pocket still, and I think the neck pocket needs to go a bit deeper too. All doable though.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
I agree, I use the switch a lot more than the volume and tone, I quite like the angled ones though.
Unless anyone has a use for a Win98 PC in need of a hoovering-out?
Plan for this evening is to trim the neck pocket bit of the scratchplate with the bandsaw (and an unloved blade) and then do a to-fit trim of it using a router and a bearing-guided bit. Then I can deepen the neck pocket a bit (after careful measurement, of course) and get on with assembly.
I have decided on my next build; it is suitably over-ambitious.