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Maybe 6" Q-tips would help.
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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1690acf07c.jpg
I need to go from the big pool to the oval with the output jack, and from the big pool back to the pocket on the rear to ground the bridge and claw. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f2a22e1d7b.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d5133e2609.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3819d688c5.jpg The pots: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1d14b4ae86.jpg I had to Un solder the output jack so I can run the wires through the holes I just drilled. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d4aea85428.jpg I made sure to mark the black wire post with a sharpie https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...60cdf70b0e.jpg And then put it back on the board it came on until it gets installed. I can't remember if I ordered a jack face plate. |
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Do ya have a ballpark idea of time invested so far? |
Nope! Nor money spent. I said I would do that, but I was lying.
Shame. I'd be mildly interested to know. Actually, most of the equipment is going to serve for years to come, so adding up what's actually going to be part of the guitar isn't going to be all that much. If I had to guess on time spent hands on I'd say 30-40 hours. But waaay more than that spent watching videos and reading forums in preparation. I wonder, if I had everything I need in parts, and not counting time for glue and paint/stain to dry, if I could do one in a week. Speaking of paint....I'm going to paint it at some point. The wood isn't pretty enough to stain it. I've been thinking turquoise the whole time, but haven't bought the paint yet. |
See, if you assign the cost of all that equipment to the guitar, it will be a very expensive guitar. But then all that equipment is a windfall. It's like it's free or something.
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And I probably wouldn't have bought the tools and machines if I weren't building a guitar. So, I should sell the guitar for the cost of its actual parts, and claim the cost of the equipment as a loss on my taxes. Genius!
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Sorry, unless you incorporate, last year's tax reform took that option away.
Not that you could have claimed more than what you sold the guitar for, as long as it was over 2% of your AGI, under the old rules. |
Thanks, Captain Obvious. I'll just cancel the meeting I had scheduled with my accountant.
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Heh, your post reminded me that TurboTax always asked about "hobby income", and I got curious what it entailed. I was a bit surprised to learn that the deduction had been eliminated recently. I wonder if TurboTax is going to remove that question...
The second sentence started more flippant, but got super-lawyery through several edits, as I realized several times that I had misinterpretd the link... |
Well, my fret install lesson got canceled today. I had a feeling. He's having some relationship issues and is too upset to think straight, hasn't slept etc. I know what that's like, so I'm bummed, but I feel for him. We'll try for Weds.
So I've got some free time. Remember how I forgot to use a clamping caul on the fret board? I had an idea for how to make one. It needs to be roughly neck length and width. That's easy. What's tricky is getting the inverted radius on one surface. I was using the table saw to rip and cut the 2x4 to size, and thought.... What if I put the blade way down to where only 1/8"or so is cutting, and ran the board across sideways? I do enjoy misusing tools, and if I can hold it in a straight line as I work it across.... So, I have those rail clamps from routing the truss rod slot. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2983b6b173.jpg Lining it up was tricky https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f588f56a6e.jpg I used a very thin slice of 2x4 from a previous cut to find where the blade stopped cutting, and to protect the clamp. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...672b8a2628.jpg I ran it through, spun it around and ran it through again. Came out better than I thought it would. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5d37b2305f.jpg And happens to be just about 7.25" radius https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f863a83bab.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...959e26cf6d.jpg |
Wood burning kit to label it
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...94c0776120.jpg And tried n true oil to seal it. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...dba80c0989.jpg I could sell these. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...304821d737.jpg Oh, and last night I made a thing to hold the frets while I work https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7d00a37bb8.jpg |
Very good thinking. :thumb:
Also a reminder the blade doesn't discriminate against body parts coming at it from any angle. |
Measure twice, cut once, think of three ways you could cut your finger off before you start.
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Never jack off a chainsaw.
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So I'm here at Pete's right now. Got here about noon. As soon as he saw my neck, the plan for today changed.
"looks like a wood shop neck" Huh. "ok, grab that vise and change it to that one. Now put your neck in right there by the heel. Don't go past that line. Take the neck at the 1st fret down to. 98" and like 1.1" at the 12th." https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f43c8fc914.jpg Check! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...facf7355ba.jpg And Check! " ok, now take that rasp and cut it down flat in between" https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...60a3e0b19b.jpg Also check! "draw the center line again and scribble with a pencil all over the area between it and half way to the fret board" https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eace06ce04.jpg Ok https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...93790e4a54.jpg Now what? "Round it over" https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8dd59f12be.jpg Did that. |
And more fine shaping after that. I keep getting interrupted by his other customers coming and going, but having a lot of fun. On to fretting finally now... I cut off lengths of fret for the odd number frets and set them in the porcupine I made. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ca4588608b.jpg Then use these pliers to over radius them. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...084fe0a9c6.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...149348f102.jpg So they are curved just a bit more than the fret board. We had some killer BBQ for lunch https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9ed4b8175d.jpg |
That's so cool that you can do that there.
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What did you have?
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It is So cool. And I'm welcome back anytime.!
The best way of inserting the frets into the slots is with a press. I have a bit that fits into my drill press and holds these little brass cauls that have radiuses. Radii? Pete has a machine that does just that. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ea74d4c10d.jpg Oh, here's Pete: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...05d0daeaf6.jpg My neck is pretty chunky though, so I struggled with that. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...aa45b0de70.jpg I finished them the old fashioned way. Hammer time. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c075d25065.jpg Then trim the ends. Which is why we did every other. So you can get the clippers in there. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...418ac31365.jpg Voila https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...197e0aeb5d.jpg |
No, no voila, how are you going to finish the ends of the frets so they don't shred your hand, and not cut into the wood?
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I could live in that town. |
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I'll show you |
I dinged my fret board it seems.
Far edge near the fret on the left. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...df00b6c64b.jpg I know some magic though. And I have that new burn in kit. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...661f60d70d.jpg It's a little oven that you heat knives up in. I ordered 2 knives, but one was back ordered. Really? Cuz you heat one while you work with one. Wet the area around the dent, and let the water soak in a bit. Apply heat directly to the spot. I've seen guys use a soldering iron to do this, but you have to keep a wet cloth over the work with them. The knife is clean, and cooler so you don't have to worry about burning the wood unless you try to. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f729759e16.jpg The knife : https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...26a5515f51.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...63a3191a52.jpg After the heat gun, I touched it up with super fine sanding sticks. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0c3ac25849.jpg Pretty frigging gone. You can see a slight discoloration if you know where to look, but no dent at all. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...11ea9c3f64.jpg |
Steam is a powerful force.
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nicely done
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Wow, that's impressive.
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Sweet!
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Kinda/sorta similar to the way ya take a ding out of a cue stick.
Do a lot of bends right there, and you'll have the rest scraped away in no time. Good job. |
Yeah, I put a few more in this moring while inserting the rest of the frets. I had to stop with 3 to go cuz I needed a nap before work today. Plus, I'm having a hard time keeping it still. I've ordered a sand bag for this job, but that's not coming until Monday. I'll improvise something tonight to finish.
The sand bag deadens the hammer blow so the board doesn't bounce back. I think I have sand somewhere.... |
wow, cool.
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Tonight, I fixed 2 issues. First, the pick guard. Because of the problem I had with the neck length, the pick guard was too far up in relation to the neck pocket. So I had to trim that back.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...52c94853dc.jpg That was then https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4039d8b356.jpg This is now. Looks weird. But! Once the neck is on, I don't think it looks so weird. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...430e8f88ab.jpg |
Why skipping every other fret?
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So that when you trim the ends of the frets, the nippers fit in there. Thinking ahead. That's key. Benefiting from Pete's experience here.
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You just need a tightrope walker. ;)
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Oh. The other problem was that the control cavity was too shallow for the 3 Way pickup switch. This guitar is 1 3/4" thick. The switch is 1 3/8" tall.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...104b5f3b5a.jpg The ferris wheel looking thing in back. I had stopped at 7/8" deep for the cavities. So I got to try out my new plunge router. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5ab0ae30ae.jpg It has cool depth stop features, but no light. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4f12df798b.jpg I needed another half inch under where the switch goes. The pickups and knob pots should be ok. We'll see. But I only routed the area where the switch goes for now. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6fc73e187b.jpg Fits in there nice now. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9d93cc0eb7.jpg These controls are by a company called 920D. They recreate iconic sounds by artists. This one is the Jimi Hendrix 60's set up. His original sound as wired by so and so. They have a pencil drawing of the design, presumably drawn by the guy who set his guitars up back then. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8be07ee42d.jpg I can hear Jimi |
If you redesigned that wheel to mount horizontal so the guitar could be made thinner, you could become a legend in yet another field.
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I'm thinking maybe I'll chisel a slope off of the now high part of the control cavity instead of having that ledge there. I'm going to be lining that cavity with copper to insulate the cavity and that ledge would be tricky to do. Or maybe use the router with an angled cone type bit to get that nice and clean.....
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If I tipped it on its side, bent the post, and cut a semi circle slot in a pick guard, I could put that up by my thumb in a place that makes it easier to switch it. If I was careful, I could even put it on the back of the neck up above the nut. I wonder if longer wires would create more feedback... |
Sand bags came and I finished the frets.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8156113b1c.jpg Finished installing them that is. I need to dress the fret ends then level and shape them. I just got this tape caddie and 3 rolls of stew Mac orange tape in 3 sizes. The blue is just regular painting tape. So I have 1/4" - 1" for taping the fret board between the frets. About 1/4 of the way through taping, I remembered a trick I saw. You run a strip of tape along the length of the neck so that the protective tape lies over it on the end. This aids in removal afterwards. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5b344372ed.jpg You can see about 6 frets up the tape ends are above the horizontal piece. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0f3663ee08.jpg All taped up: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8f15e15a97.jpg This is a fret dressing file https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eb586b8ce5.jpg You can see that the edges are smooth if you look close https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...95445b00de.jpg I'm not sure I did things in the right order here. What I'm doing is rounding over the ends of each fret so they aren't sharp on the ends where your fingers wrap around. Next time I think I'll go at the edges with a flat file to bring them flush with the edge of the neck before taping. It felt smooth when I was done but then when the tape came off, it's still a bit scratchy. I'm going to have to revisit that. Do it right, or do it twice. |
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2f83b0434a.jpgHere's why the edges of the file are smooth:
Here we are https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...718810c12e.jpg Now, hammering the frets in leaves some texture in the frets themselves. I guess this is why using the press is the preferred method. To shape the tops of the frets, I have this file: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e93d1006b6.jpg On this one, the flats are smooth but the edges have 2 different shaped files for contouring the fret tops. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...523ac987a6.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ae8d4c627f.jpg One flatter and wider. You run this over the frets to cut down to the lowest point left by the hammer blows. The steam trick won't work here, lol. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...039be50d70.jpg This took a while https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...46a9911218.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7b1a70e787.jpg |
Tape comes off
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...dd13061607.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...22f5f4b93c.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...346284091a.jpg Looks good... https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3f53d19f96.jpg Until you hold it just right under a light https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c87ccd0adb.jpg See how the reflection dips in places? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f96a181043.jpg That tells me I have work to do. About 2/3 of the way up especially |
Tape holder, files, sandbags... you're gonna need a bigger boat. :haha:
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Yeah, I'm already mentally eyeing the Harley side of the garage. Also thinking about a propane heater. My hands were numb last night.
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Cold hands are bad, they make mistakes, and worse they get hurt. :(
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This morning I got back after the fret ends. Filed each end of the 22 frets very carefully with the file, then sanded along the side of the neck using the 80 grit then 120 affixed to my leveling bar.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1b40772b5c.jpg That's the blue thing in the background Looks and feels much much better https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...44b57e71fc.jpg Then I recrowned the ends. That little arrow shape is what I'm after. Next I need to make sure the neck is flat. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6d5d254e4c.jpg This little LED light helps. These things are awesome. $10 for a six pack. They stick in anywhere. I've got 2 mounted under the head of the drill press, and keep one handy fit things like this. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cf077ed1a0.jpg Not flat : https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d3463c6699.jpg Twist the truss rod nut : https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3198312175.jpg Now it's flat https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bcf0d84ec4.jpg Next part is fun |
Gotta shelter yer Putt.
Beginning to see some of why they get $325 and up for fret replacement. |
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He's refering to my Harley. It's covered in saw dust.
Next thing was leveling frets. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9ef9172cfd.jpg Take a sharpie and color each fret. The metal thing is just me being careful. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e8f9e36208.jpg Now the leveling beam comes out. This is its intended use. It's one of the first tools I bought for this hobby, and I've misused it several times before now. To good results each. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c3647a27ae.jpg First couple passes are just to identify low frets. I had 3 particularly low frets. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d487b14fef.jpg These 3. #'s 8, 11 and 12. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...63df8407bf.jpg These two were borderline replacement low. In hindsight, it would have saved me a lot of time if I had just pulled them and replaced them. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9f07431ee6.jpg |
But I did eventually reach them. Left me with some wide flat frets in other places.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...dc6389dac9.jpg After the beam, I went with 220 grit on a 12" radius block, then 320 on a 16. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9142c0342c.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1390760463.jpg The 12th was, at the end, left a C hair low. But they're 99.4% level. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1ba9735d13.jpg That light line test went better. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...75e7b9a314.jpg Not perfect, but there's more to do yet. Similar technique to the leveling job here. Red marker on the fret... You can see how flat it got. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0ab895abe9.jpg I used the same files to shave the sides of the frets back and round them back to make the red line thin and in the middle. |
Just to give you an idea of how long that took, here's one of the 22.
It's a fret rocker, not a thread rocker There were 3 left. Then I polished them These are fret rubbers. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7bb456ec13.jpg Basically erasers with grit. 200 to 8000 https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9b47626814.jpg After sanding lightly with 320 and 400 paper, I went through each with half a dozen or so strokes. My belly will explain After they are nice and shiny, I applied a very modest amount of this stuff : https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4069d71b53.jpg Immediate improvement in appearance https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0257418218.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e0a469fb13.jpg And the light test? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6e561de725.jpg Laser straight https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c365286351.jpg |
I admire the precision man.
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It's really looking sweet.
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Very nice. I'd comment more, but I know absolutely nothing about guitars, except the big part is usually at the bottom.
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When you show it to people just accept the hosannas and accolades, don't try to explain the coulda, shoulda, wouldas, unless they've built one. :yesnod:
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It makes me think of all the shortcuts the manufacturers are taking. I could see automating some of this but certainly not all of it.
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Thanks! I need to poke the tuner peg holes in that and figure out the nut, then it's done!
Weds I'm going to get more into the body and hardware installation. Then figure out finish. This full time job shit is getting inconvenient. |
Very inconvenient. :lol2:
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Jobs are work.:bolt:
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