Build Update #17

I have 3 weeks off for break to refinish this guitar. Here's what I've done so far:





The guitar before refinishing. I had a couple of problems with this:
-The lacquer finish was very thin so it chipped and blemished easily. by blemish, i mean that with the slightest tap with any metal object leaves a white mark under the lacquer.
-The electronics short i mentioned earlier.
-The 'Bauer' logo started raising out of its cutout. This was due, most likely, to the dye i put in the epoxy, which forced it to never cure rock hard by the time I put the lacquer on.
-The exposed grain showing through the lacquer.
-When inserting the electronics, the lacquer got chipped in a number of places.


I had to resand the entire headstock due the to raised logo. I stopped here because i thought, if this was done properly, a pattern like this wouldn't look too bad.


All the lacquer was sanded off of the headstock along with the outer layer of dyed maple. The MOP logo was sanded flush. I will redye the maple before reshooting lacquer.


I started sanding down the body's lacquer. I focused on spots where the grain was highly visible. There was a lot of white blemishes around the output jack where the 1/4" jack bumped into the lacquer, so i sanded completely back to the wood.


The back got the same treatment. One thing i noticed while sanding down was some of the deeper pores were being filled with white powdered lacquer. I wiped most of it out with a naphtha damp cloth, but some still remains. I think leaving this in the grain will aid the refinish because once i spray a thinned coat of lacquer, the lacquer will melt the powder clear and fill the grain.


Here is the electronics taken back out and put into the pattern. Obviously i needed to redesign this to prevent shorts.


This design will allow the whole system to be slipped in in a straight line, one pot at a time. I snatched some new in-line capacitors with a lower tolerance to replace the cheap ones used before. I tested the circuit on both pickups. I also practiced slipping the electronics through the f-hole.


As for refinishing, I got a harbor freight spray gun and a quart of behlen's stringed instrument lacquer. My hopes are that, with this setup, i can lay down a thick layer of lacquer per coat. After the first couple of coats, i will sand the lacquer down until all of the grain is gone. After this, i can shoot the remaining coats and proceed with wet sand, buff, and shine.


In other news, i got a wood moisture meter and checked the didgeridoo branch i set aside from the first post on this blog. It is between 14-18% MC. By next summer, it should be within the seasoned range (roughly 10-12%), and i can split, hollow, and shape.

Had a great semester at PSU, and i'm looking forward to this break. Hopefully i get everything finished that i want by the end of my break. Expect an update sometime after christmas.

Happy Holidays
-Andrew

Build Update #16

I've been keeping track of my blog 's statistics and realized that there are over 200 views a week. It's been a while so here's an update for you all (no pictures, sorry).

I still haven't addressed the electronics short. It was a pain to get in the guitar, and it will be a pain to get out. I probably won't fix this anytime soon, for reasons i will discuss.

The big problem with the build now, is the finish. I admit I wasn't careful and rushed the finish in the end. A lot of grain is showing through the lacquer and, because it isn't even, it looks bad. I gave the back of the guitar a once-over with 400 grit dry (to remove major orange peel), 400 grit wet, then 600 grit wet. I gave everything a quick hand buff with a rag and got it nice and smooth. It looks nice in some areas, but the stubborn grain won't go away, and in some spots, it was bad enough where water from the sandpaper seeped into the pores of the wood and cracked the finish. I somewhat expected this to happen and was surprisingly not too pissed about the whole ordeal. I planned from the minute I shot the last few coats of lacquer that I would need to refinish it. This is how i believe the refinish process will go for me:

-Since i used lacquer, any future coats should bond well to the existing.
-A liberal sanding will take the lacquer back down to almost the wood (or even the wood itself), depending on how bad the pores are showing.
-If any pores are still existing, a thin, 'localized', coat of thinned epoxy will refill the minute grain leftover.
-A final prep sand and the new lacquer coats can go on.

I figure until that time, i can handle the current state of the electronics. I would have to take out the electronics now, fix them, put them back in, take them back out again when i refinish, then reinstall. Instead, I can take them out to refinish, fix them, refinish the guitar, and reinstall.

In the meantime, I can finish up the nut, find and install a pickguard, and buy and install the strap bolts. I will probably get to going over the whole thing lightly with 600 wet grit sandpaper to make it more comfortable to the skin (the orange peel on the lacquer is quite irritating).

I am currently analyzing a talkbox amplifier circuit that i'm interested in, so expect some future updates related to that.

My roommate is a sneaky bastard and captured this video of me messing with my cheap amp's distortion. Crazy heavy metal.


-Rock and Roll

Look.

Build Update #15

Moved into the apartment at Penn State Erie. I sprayed my last coat on Friday, and left Saturday morning. To transport the guitar for the 2 hour drive meant hanging the guitar, as it was in the booth, on the clothes hanger hook in the minivan. I kept an eye on it during the ride to make sure it didn't swing around too much. I kept it hung in the closet for 4 days until i thought it was cured enough to sit in the guitar stand. Humidity hasn't dropped below 60 since i got here, so it may take some extra time to cure.



The guitar in its stand. The tuners were popped in for shits and giggles. I cut the string slots shallow in the bone nut using homemade feeler gauge saws. I think that, if you prepare and use the saws properly, they can work just as well as expensive nut files. I used a dremel to cut the teeth in the gauges, alternating the angle of the cut. I essentially aimed to replicate the alternating angled teeth on a standard saw. Before cutting these teeth, however, I round the edge of the gauge using some sandpaper, so the cut in the nut will have a round bottom, instead of a square one. The slots will be cut starting with a thin gauge saw and then continuing upward in thickness until reaching the final gauge. The nut will be completed once the finish is cured.



The headstock turned out very purty. The 'orange peel' shown on the finish (in the reflection) will go away during final sanding and buffing.



The epoxy grain filler i used was a pain to remove and in some spots i was a little too zealous on sanding it back to the wood. Some grain, especially around the pickup cavities, has shown through the finish. Speaking of finish... I used one can of sanding sealer (5 coats), and 3 cans of lacquer (5 very thin coats, followed by 10 wet coats [only 8 on the neck]). Some of the grain should disappear during final sanding.

I set my date for final sanding/buffing on Sept. 17th. So my next update will most likely be then.

-Andrew

Build Update #14

A lot has been done, but for now, little can be shown for it.




Taking some advice from strangers on the internet, i used epoxy to fill the grain. This image gives a good representation of the purpose of filling wood grain. Epoxy was applied to the right via a razor blade and allowed to cure. The layer of epoxy was sanded completely away until i got back to the wood. It was shot with 2 coats of sanding sealer and a topcoat of lacquer. No furthur modification was made to the wood up to this picture. As you can see, a well defined cut-off point is shown signifying where i did and did not grain fill. To achieve a 'smooth as glass' finish, the grain must be filled. As a side note, this process is needed only for porous woods like mahogany, walnut, and ash.




I began by applying Loctite 60 minute extra time epoxy to the back and let it cure. Unfortunately, after 3 days, it was still as tacky as when i applied it. So my advice to others would be to never use the Loctite 60 minute stuff unless you have a week or two to burn waiting for it to cure until sandable. I triple checked the two part mix and was certain i didn't just mix it wrong. Also, it's less viscous than the 5 minute version, so it soaks pretty far into the wood. I spent a whole day removed the tacky goop that I didn't even hesitate to smear all over the back of my guitar. I switched back to the 5 minute Loctite and things went much more smoothly, with the surface ready to sand in 5 or so hours. I proceeded to apply the epoxy to the remainder of the guitar in small batches using a Dollar General gift card.



I should mention i gave the wood a good sanding beforehand with 100, 150, 220, and 400 grit sandpapers. Followed by a judicious wiping with naphtha. This same process was repeated after sanding the epoxy back down with a random orbital sander.



I built a spray booth in my basement using a couple drop clothes (1 mil 10x20) from Home Depot. A couple sticks of poplar were wedged onto the ceiling to provide a frame. The resulting booth measures about 5'x7'. A 2'x2' fan exhausts the fumes via a make-shift duct out through an ajar garage door.



A copper wire was tied to the garage door tracks and threaded through the booth, providing a good spot to hang the guitar from. Shown is the guitar after 2 coats of sanding sealer.



Again.



An old tshirt was stuffed into the f-holes to stop any spray from getting into the guitar. I also drilled the electronics holes in, literally, 4 minutes. 'Measure twice, cut once' as everyone I know has told me. This time, i measured once, and cut once. I'm sure there shouldn't be any repercussions...



The amateur luthier standing next to his baby. Remember kids, safety first. Latex gloves, respirator, and goggles (they do nothing)**. The booth is also equipped with an $8 digital thermometer/humidostatometergrapher. Frequent checks throughout the day show good signs, with the temperature hovering between 75 and 83 degrees, with the humidity gracefully fluttering between 42 and 50 percent. Excellent, in my opinion, for spraying.


**The goggles, they do something. This is only a 15 year old reference to a popular television series, so please, wear goggles.



Tonight i will apply one more coat of sanding sealer and tomorrow begin with the topcoat applications. One thing i've learned with this whole build, is that if you plan on shaping a bone nut for the headstock, be aware of the location of any dogs within 100 feet or so. I took the nut to the belt sander (ouch) and walked inside, covered in bone dust, only to be chased and licked by our pet beagle. Absolutely terrifying.

Build Update #13

13 days left to work.



Here i've set the inlay into the recess using epoxy with a drop of black dye (Transtint).



I ran a straightedge along the fretboard binding down to where the tailpiece will be and marked a few lines (seen in red) for placing the tailpiece. I used a brad point bit from a 29 piece kit from harbor freight (i recommend getting these) to drill the holes for the bushings. The problem with drilling these is getting the the bit to drill perpendicular to the body, which is difficult due to the funky shape of the back of the guitar. I managed to drill the first hole in the drill press (using a level and some shims to level the guitar), but since there was a tiny tiny kink in the placement of the fretboard, the tailpiece centerline was off center by ~1/16". This small change in distance prohibited my drill press from reaching the second hole (it was so so so close) because the press only has a ~5" reach. So the second hole had to be drilled by hand, which was nerve racking and tedious. The hand drilled hole is less accurate and the bushing slips in and out with ease (not a good thing). This will be fixed with a few drops of glue once I finish the guitar.

I got a set of grover tuners off of ebay for $40. I used the headstock routing template to drill precise holes using a 3/8" brad point bit. The tuners won't fit in the wood completely, which is good.




I adhered the template to the headstock and, a mano, transferred the holes onto the headstock. A 1/8"-1/2" reamer from, again, harbor freight widened the back of the holes to fit the tuners in tight and level. Any imperfections in the drilling angle was fixed with the reamer.



All the tuners were fit and had their nuts tightened.. A temporary rosewood nut was manufactured from a rubbing i took from my Alvarez acoustic. I've tried, throughout this build, to match some essential measurements on this guitar, with my acoustic that i've been playing for 7 or so years. This includes the string spacing (shown) and the neck profile.




The nut was terribly made; the A, G, and B strings buzzed a lot, but it served its purpose. I don't have another electric guitar to compare the sound to, but i would assume it sounded great.




The middle strings were removed, leaving high E and low E. The bridge was perched upon a couple washers to simulate its final height. The strings held it down. At this point, i adjusted the high and low E intonation saddles to the middle and tilted the bridge until both E strings were intonated correctly (12th harmonic = 12th fret). This process was done by ear and with a tuner. Once i found the right placement for the bridge, i used a spare drill bit to transfer the placement to the body. I checked with calipers to make sure the distance between the marks were in accordance with the actual bridge.



Fortunately for the bridge posts, they were drilled nicely with the drill press. Both fit very snug. The strings were aligned down the entire fretboard, and the action was exactly were i'm used to with the bridge set all the way down.



Lookin sharp.



After touching up some bubbles in the inlay epoxy, i dyed the headstock black (Transtint). The flash brightened the grain a little i nthe picture, but it's completely black.


For the remainder of the weekend, i will give the guitar it's final shaping/sanding. The tops will be sanded perfectly round. I will make sure i wear gloves for this process, as i don't want any grease left on the wood for finishing. A makeshift spray booth complete with fan, dehumidifier, air filter will be built for spraying.

The electronics holes and whatnot will be drilled after the epoxy grain filler is applied.

-Drew

Build Update #12

School starts August 21st so i have to pick up the pace here and finish this guitar soon.




The frets are naked and need dressed. I cut a 35 degree slot in a scrap radius block and a file was held in place with a screw. This was used to bevel the sides of the frets.



I used a 12" long flat piece of metal with 400 grit sandpaper glued on it to level all the frets. High frets get more of a plateau than the lower frets. I sanded until all the frets were touched by the sandpaper.



The third to last fret has been covered in black sharpie. The second to last fret has been crowned. The fret was shaped from the sides until there is only a thin strip of black down the center (shown). The shaping was done with a small piece of 400 grit sandpaper.



After a quick wipe with 1500 grit sandpaper, the frets got buffed with the dremel.




The tape is removed and the resulting shine could be seen from space. Each fret got about 10 minutes of attention each (yes, it took almost 4 hours).




Hardware.




I received a 1# tub of hide glue from LMI. Here is my setup for heating the glue. The hide glue was soaked in water overnight, and was then placed into the double boiler and let hover at 140 degrees Phairenhight (60 Celsius) until it reached the viscosity needed. Shown is the double boiler, with the brush being boiled.





Plenty of glue was applied, and a single clamp was used to hold the neck in place until the glue dries overnight.




The guitar can now freely sit in the stand. I glued a piece of 1/16" maple veneer onto the headstock and trimmed it flush to the mahogany.




I used the Gibson logo along with other similar logos to create my own logo in MS paint. I think it turned out well.

I printed out the logo at different widths to see which one worked best. I chose the 1.6" wide logo, adhered it to the MOP blank, and proceeded to cut it out with a jewelers saw i got from LMI.




Here is the cut out logo on a scrap piece of maple with black dye added.




The logo was tacked down with super glue to the headstock.




A quick spray with black paint will transfer the logo's shape onto the maple.




I whipped up this router base for the dremel using some lexan, plywood, and some bolts. The MOP logo broke when i tried to remove it from the cut. Nothing some super glue can't fix.



Some spots went a little wild, but it all gets filled in with black glue anyway.




Here is was i've settled on for a finish. First fill the grain with 2 part epoxy (Loctite Extra time, with a drop of black dye for the mahogany filler. This will be done probably twice until the grain is completely filled. After this, the wood gets a thorough sanding back down to the grain. A few coats of sanding sealer will level off any imperfections that still may exist, leaving a flat surface for the topcoat. A quick sanding and the topcoats go on. I will use Behlen's Gloss Topcoat Lacquer and Sanding Sealer from Rockler. The picture above only shows 1 layer of epoxy filler w/o sanding, but it gives me a good representation of what the final grain should look like. The topcoat lacquer will 'cure' for about a month, when i will polish and buff it by hand. The buffing and polishing will occur when i'm up at school (hopefully).


For now, i will glue in the inlay, sand it flush, and dye the headstock veneer. Once my grover tuners arrive, i can drill the holes and install them. The bone nut needs shaped, and the bridge/tailpiece need installed. After this, it's all the finish and detail work.

-Andrew

Build Update #11

My gift to you is a smörgåsbord of fine craftsmanship and shiny chrome.



The fretboard was given a blanket of blue tape to protect it during the final neck shaping. Here shown is the center of the neck profile with its final shape (almost). For this, i used a straightedge (xSpeedsquarex) to check for any rocking points. It was also helpful to check for any light shining through the speed-square against the neck. I adjusted my spokeshave so it would remove very little material. I started in the middle and worked my way to the sides, until it was perfectly straight. The profile was made perfectly round by taking a piece of 100 grit sandpaper, wrapping it around the neck, and doing what i call the 'shoe-shining' or the 'old-fashioned-vibrating-belt-machine' maneuver. After sanding, a small, unsanded stripe down the middle of the neck told me that there was a flat spot. I continued sanding until it disappeared completely. Later on, the heel of the neck got its final shape. I regret taking more photographs of the process, because once i felt comfortable with the process, i went at it for hours until it was finished.




Here, the pickup cavity template is taped into place. I used a 7/8" forstner bit to remove most of the material



Here's the result on the bridge pickup.



I used a 1/2" pattern flush bit to remove all the material, then switched to a 1/4" bit to sharpen the 'inner' corners. A 1/2" forstner was then used to hog out the mounting screw holes, which was cleaned up with the 1/4" router bit.



The neck tenon was trimmed to allow the pickup to fit into the cavity at its lowest possible setting. After the first 'step' of the tenon, as seen in the picture, i leveled it off flush with the walnut body.



I cut out two bits of mahogany and glued them underneath the fretboard. After the glue cured, i used tracing paper covered in charcoal to make a rubbing of where the little 'wings' needed to be shaved to sit flush against the walnut. The fretboard binding was sanded flat to remove any file/sanding marks. The marks on the pickup are sticker residue.



I ran into a big problem after i attached the fretboard and shaped the neck. If you recall from my previous post, i sanded the fretboard side of the neck after adjusting the truss rod. Apparently , i didn't sand it enough. There was still quite a bit of back bow to the neck after the fretboard was attached, and since i used titebond to glue it on, there wasn't a chance i could get it off cleanly. I even let the neck sit for 3 days after adjusting before sanding it flat. My solution to this was to loosen the truss rod 'slightly' (1/4 turn) and sand the fretboard perfectly flat. At most, i took off about 1/32" of rosewood near the center (this is only an estimate). I checked the 'flatness' with a long steel computer printer guide-rail i happen to have. The change in the fretboard thickness, to my relief (no pun intended, for those who catch it), is unnoticeable.
To prep the board for frets, i first used a triangular file to bevel the fret slots (google "bevel fret slot"). This prevents the rosewood from tearing out when the frets are pressed into place (or taken out later, if needed). I then rounded the fretboard binding until it was comfortable to the fingers. I gave the board a once-over with 1500 grit sandpaper and a blast of air before applying a large dose of Fret Doctor oil. It is essential for the fretboard to be well oiled to prevent it from drying out and getting damaged.



This really brings out the grain and darkens the wood.



Here is my fret press. It is just a sliver of a 12" sanding block with a cut screw set inside. I placed the screw into the chuck and unplugged the drill press (i had a feeling that out of habit i would turn the press on). The frets seated very easily, except for the higher frets which needed a little extra persuasion with a tack hammer, whose head was layered with 10 or so layers of masking tape. Some experienced luthiers may frown upon my process, but it worked quickly and left the fretboard/neck completely undamaged. Since this is a new fretboard with fresh slots, i didn't use any glue to seat the frets.




Using my homemade fret nippers, i trimmed the frets flush with the side.



I ordered the electronics (w/knobs), bridge, and tailpiece from gutiarfetish.com. While hardware was inexpensive, they certainly aren't cheap. The intonation saddles move smoothly w/o rattle. Then again, i have nothing to compare these with.


My next step is to dress the frets by leveling them, beveling them, and then crowning them. I ordered hide glue and a jewelers saw from LMII to help finish the neck w/inlays.

I felt slightly disappointed when i found out i spent about $500 on all the wood/hardware (i figured to be within $200-$300). I did some other calculations and discovered it would only cost another ~$300 to make another, for i have all the tools/ leftover wood.

I'll also have a homemade guitar to show off, that i didnt pay $3,000 for. Not to mention the knowledge that i've gained is priceless.

-Andrew