A few things coming together have led me to this ...
1. Some time off work - I’m actively *not* looking for work this side of Easter, so I have some time to play with.
2. The “what to do with partsas” thread (conclusion, evolve v1 into a better v2 into a better v3, etc).
3. Knowing that if I don’t publicly commit to doing something, I’ll waste the time off sitting on my arse.
Back in days gone by (the “Wez years”), we’d often do a forum challenge as a sort of shared encouragement and helpline. I don’t intend this thread as anything like that, but if anyone else wants to join in, that’s great too.
I’ve got 3 projects, in various stages of completion, and with various challenges to be resolved, that I want to get finished. And I want to get them finished to a standard that I’d be happy selling them - not that I intend to sell them, but that’s the yardstick I’m going to work to.
I’ll take plenty of photos and share warts’n’all here.
Comments
This is the first one. It’s moved on a bit since this photo - I spent hours and hours and hours staining it, and trying to oil it to a glossy finish. Failed. Also, the “cut out” bit around the bridge really didn’t work out as I hoped. TBH, it all looks a bit shite at the moment, which is a waste of nice Sapele neck and glued-in GSP neck.
So. To be sorted.
This is the second. I’m not even sure where it is right now, even less what’s wrong with it. But something went awry because it got put on the “later” pile and forgotten. It’s now later. At the very least, the stain on the top really doesn’t do justice to the 1 piece walnut top.
First job. Find it!
And that’s no3. Want to keep the Korina body uncapped if I can.
There’s more about that one here.
What's your current thinking of what you'll do with them?
(I'll take some pics of the current mess it's in before I start the recovery work).
So, my thinking is that I'll remove the current cap and start again. I also need to find a cap that's thin enough for the bridge, or - more likely - use a different bridge.
What started out as this ...
... became this after I'd buggered about with staining and oiling
OK, it's got extra dust over it in the pic above, but I really wasn't happy with the way that it had turned out, and particularly not happy with the recessed / inset bridge area. You can't see the imperfections in the pic, but as my new year's resolution is to only make stuff that I'd be happy selling, this one wouldn't make that grade.
The cap I'd used is really thin - probably 5mm.
I decided to remove the cap and recap it.
But to do that, I'd have to remove the bridge posts. And they are fixed in tighter than a tight thing that's been done up really - really - tight. They're not moving.
Or at least, they weren't.
As luck, and an untidy workshop, would have it, I found the template that I'd used to make the bridge recess.
Stick the template back in place, and use the router to remove the cap, and a few mm of the body too. I thought that perhaps exposing the top of the studs would free them enough to allow me to get them out.
It didn't, so deeper we go ...
And deeper again ...
deeper still, until ....
Now tidy everything up
Phase1, done.
Again, thanks to a bit of luck and the pile of offcuts in a corner of my (still untidy) workshop, here's an offcut from the original body blank.
And it's a piece of offcut that's big enough to cut out a plug to fill the hole created in Phase1.
It's not perfect, but it's a tight push fit, and no-one's going to see it. So that block will be glued into place shortly.
And that'll be Phase2 done.
The patient is ready ...
- Remove the existing cap and all trace of the stain/oil finish. As it's a thin cap, that means removing about 5mm off the top of the body.
- Stick the plug into place where the bridge recess was.
- Level the newly nude-d body
- Stick a new cap on it.
- Refinish it. More carefully this time.
I may well take the opportunity to adjust the configuration slightly.Rather than putting a wraparound bridge on it, I might use a hardtail instead. That means that I can use a thicker cap, and not have to worry about recesses to create enough bridge height adjustment leeway.
I might also move the control layout. It was originally intended as vol/vol/tone (the 3 in line holes) with the pickup selector down towards the end of the body.
On reflection, I don't like the pickup selector being so far away. I could either use vol/tone/selector in the 3-in-line positions, or put the selector switch elsewhere.
Plenty of time to decide on that as I need to sort out and joint a cap first.
Pete.
I've also recently had a few months off work that I took advantage of to do a lot of guitar building and related stuff, it's been the best time, make the most of it ! Only problem is you won't want to go back to work
I'm hoping that a RW neck I have here will fit the body ...
I didn't want to go back to work the last time, but we're nearing completion of a house renovation that has cost slightly more than we'd envisaged (where "slightly" is a six figure number), so I had little choice. Next time should be the last time though ...
This is how little I try to take off with each pass of the surfacing bit
I've removed perhaps 0.5mm of the cap. You can still see where the stain has seeped through into the next layer of the wood.
At that depth of cut, the bit just runs over the top of the body almost like it's polishing rather than cutting, so there's next to no resistance (and it takes no time).
A couple more passes ...
That was a nice piece of quilted maple!
How close to the end of the fretboard dare I go - bearing in mind that I'm just guiding the router freehand (backwards/forwards and side to side on the sled) ...
The optimist says "perfect". The pessimist says "that was a bit close for comfort".
Decided not to test my luck with the rest of it. I'll use a smaller bearing guided bit (using the fretboard as the template for the bearing) to do the rest of it!
A few more passes, and perhaps 15mins of routering and the job is done. You can still see my original markings on the top of the body, so I know that I've removed the cap and none of the actual body itself.
The surfacing bit leaves a pretty clean finish, but I'll still sand it before putting the new cap on
This is what I made ...
... a hoover full of sawdust!
New cap?
Not quite as nicely figured as the original one, but not at all bad, and the thickness should work with that (PRS SE) bridge;
That straight edge is resting on top of the frets, and gives about 2mm clearance over the top of the bridge (which is positioned at scale length). So, adding the string clearance over the frets as well, and allowing for losing a few fractions of mm when sanding the top, I reckon that should work without any daft recessing of the bridge into the cap.
But if it does flex, it's so little that it's not measurable - as long as I use it as I do, and don't put any downward pressure on the router - just use the jig to support the router going over the body.
I've got a sanding beam that's just about the width of the a guitar body (what a handy coincidence) that I'll use before I stick the new cap on it, which should help flatten out any non-flatness caused by flex.
It's been a handy little jig - been used a few times through the years!