Andyjr1515

Very classy

Normal stuff with installing the swift - jewellers saw: Dremel with precision router base: Epoxy mixed with wood dust: The slightly ragged edges and black dots round the purfling will disappear with the final sanding, but this is broadly what it will look like:

Back to the acoustic. The purfling round the rosette is done. I will be inlaying a swift into the rosette over the next few days - this is just a paper template - and also scraping and sanding the purfling flush. Went a bit mad on the purfling this time

Yup - global warming... (actually, not so far off the truth - I reckon this year the number of swifts is 2/3rds lower than pretty much every of the past 35 years. Bit of a concern...) In terms of the one swift, I've replicated what Tom had on a couple of Ibanez's I did some work on a few years ago. Just picked up another one for the same treatment so, fear not, there will be plenty of swifts around at his place By the way, @TheGreek - recognise the headstock veneer?

Next is fitting the rosette to the top. To avoid measuring errors, I used the original cutout as a template for the Dremel radius cutter holes: Then, with lots of double checking, replicating the cuts - remembering to allow where applicable for the width of the cutter: I checked the fit of the two outer rings and then did a further series of cuts to hog out the middle bit and cleaned up with a chisel: Then glued and clamped: When that's dry, I will scrape level and then add some purfling strips. But first, I have to meet @wwcringe at Derby station to pass back a very nice Talman he asked me to soup up and tart up a bit

For the last dreadnought I did, I did an offset rosette which I wanted to try again. This was the last one: This time, I took a note of the measurements! You never know - there maybe a next time! I'd got three plates I could use, so cut out the shape and tried them to see which figuring worked best: Then out with the Dremel. This is about the only job I do with this accessory but by golly it's useful! Then it's a case of measuring correctly and remembering which hole you are supposed to be pivoting around! With luck, you end up with this: Which gives me the rosette. Of course - I've got to rout the same shape in the expensive top wood next...hmmm and that needs to be accurate!

This is a bit of a background job but I've made a little more progress. The top will be dished to a 25 foot radius - so I use a 25' radius dish as a former. The top struts, including the all-important X-brace, are cut out in profile and then the bottoms radiused to match their positions in the dish: Again, I will leave these flat-topped until they have been glued to the top, holding that in its 25' radius shape. Meanwhile, the AAA spruce top (lovely bit of wood from David Dyke) has been thicknessed down to 3.25mm and then is being glued between a trio of sash clamps, with the joint being held flat by a couple of flat cauls placed and clamped either side of the joint: When it is fully set, I will use a cabinet scraper to even the joint and to bring the final thickness of the whole sheet down to 3mm. The back, meanwhile, has had its centre cross-grain maple reinforcement added and is holding the 15 foot spherical radius nicely and is now ready for the final shaping of the struts: One thing on the back that has developed is a split along one of the grain lines. I've checked the sides (same wood) and they are OK, so I'll probably stitch it for good measure and just slurry-fill it when I do the finishing. Structurally, it can't go anywhere because of the bracing and the back doesn't really contribute to the tone of an acoustic so I don't think it will affect the performance. The alternative would be to scrap the back AND sides (they always come matched from the same piece of wood) and that would be a bit too OCD

Only just picked up on this. One other factor to check carefully, @Soledad , based on your original assertion that you didn't want any mods, are the pickup sizes and lug positioning. There is - as many of us here have found to our bafflement and frustration - no such thing as a standard size for Jazz pickups. Even Fenders own vary. And many pickup suppliers do not provide the dimensions - especially Fender. The key dimensions you HAVE to check against the stock pickups in the bass you have / get is length, width and distance of lug screw centres from the centre of each pickup. It's a bit of a pain...but nowhere near the pain of getting a set of replacement pickups expecting them to drop in and finding they don't

Oh wow! It's no consolation, but it is VERY rare for that to happen just with tensioning up. On the positive side, that is a very clean break. If you want to post the neck to me, more than happy to see if I can fix it...

Nice save....could have been awkward.

Yes - great job & good result!

Yes - anything that is carrying a signal that touches ground inadvertently will lose that signal.

I like that

Yes - I agree with that.

No problem. Andy

Hi I have fitted 4 string and 6 string versions of the Warwick two-part bridge on scratch built and part built bodies. 4 string version on my own bubinga fretless: And a six string version on @eude 's six string wonder: Whereabouts in the Midlands are you? I'm Derby. Happy to take a look or just talk you through it. Drop me a PM if you want to talk further.

Ah...vive la difference! Because to my eye, it is the asymmetry that throws my eye on the angled ones! In the absence of other symmetry, my eye looks to the lines parallel to the nut of the straight ones. Which is odd, because I never do symmetrical headstocks on my own builds and often angle the tuners. But there's something about this particular shape that throws it a bit. And by the way, @Christine , that is a truly splendid headstock job...

Yes, there are some excellent UK woods. Sycamore is related to maple and has very similar workability and look. English walnut can be spectacular and is good to work. Poplar is sometimes more plain, but burl poplar can be stunning. Yew has to be used with care - it is quite poisonous - but is a stunning looking wood. Elm - spalted or plain Oak tends to be very heavy and is very hard so probably best avoided. London Plane tree can be spectacular. I'm sure there are loads of others. Supply-wise, one of the main things is buying from someone who can be trusted to verify that the timber has been fully seasoned. Proper timber merchants or specialist instrument suppliers (although the latters can be very expensive, the wood tends to be in a more immediately usable form in terms sizes and finish) are usually the most reliable but will be more expensive. Or, as @Jabba_the_gut does, reclaimed wood takes for more careful searching but has got great merit...

I'm delighted, Mick It is a lovely bass. Thanks for letting me get my sticky paws on it

My understanding is that they generally work on a 'standard options' approach which their web site leads you through (and presumably you've already specified). So their web site (I have to say, one of the best of its kind) has for each design area, say neckpocket, all of the different shapes and hole options they offer as standard. But I suspect that they also do out and out 'non-standard' custom work. For this, most similar makers would require a specific drawing because they would use that to program their CNC machines. I gather you are asking about a variation of one of their standard options (that is, you want bushing drillings applied to one of their standard pocket and hole options?). In which case I suspect that there is just a bit of confusion their end of which category your request fits within. Why don't you give them a ring (they have a phone number on their website front page)? It's lot easier to avoid misinterpretation than emails and quickly get a common understanding of the requirement and solution. (I know, because I had a similar issue with some custom pickups from a well respected maker. 10 or so increasingly confusing, confused and fractious emails backwards and forwards was resolved in a 5 minute phone call - resulting in a splendid result from both our points of view )

Lovely job

The tops of most 'flat top' acoustic guitars are dished at around 25' radius. The backs vary, but are also dished usually to around 15' radius. So all of the braces have to be curved to suit, and then the back and top forced into shape while gluing those braces and thus hold the dish-shape. For this, you need a couple of radius dishes and - most of us use - a simple go-bar rig The radius dish I use is just a 20mm thick piece of MDF suitably scooped out. This is the 15' radius one for the back. The four maple back braces have been shaped to suit their relative positions on the disc and also shaped roughly parabolic, leaving the tops flat: The go-bar deck is just two stiff boards separated by threaded rods and wink nuts: Basically, a combination of dowel rods and fibreglass rods will be used to force everything into the dish. First I use the pretty stiff dowels to press the back fully into the dish: And now, progressively glue the braces into position, again using them to force the back sheet into the dish and therefore help it hold the curve when it's all dry: This is why I left the tops of the braces flat!

Ooooh - it's nice to see those again, @fleabag I'm afraid I'm a bit busied out at the moment, @ambient There are some decent commercial ones around, though. Personally, I actually like the tigerwood ones that @Chiliwailer linked to, and also the plainer ones next to them too

The kerfing is now fitted on the back and the top faces of the sides and the back has been cut to outline. This is with the back slightly dampened - this will be close to the final colour once the finish has been applied: Next job will be carving the back braces and gluing those onto the back in the 15' radius dish when I get a moment

This build is a bit of a background job. Just finished @TheGreek 's Nanyo save and just about to start some interesting stuff for @wwcringe but, while we are verifying the spec and ordering parts, etc, I've done a couple of small jobs on this. The head and tail blocks have been cut, the top kerfing has been glued and the back kerfing is in progress: The kerfing and blocks are set just proud of the sides so that they can be sanded at an angle to make the appropriate contact with the dished back and top when they get glued. My blank for the tailstock was a little short and so I will cap that with a piece of mahogany sheet to raise it a few mm to the correct height. I have 'tidied' my 25' radius dish and my Go-bar rig somewhere so will have to find those soon. In the meantime, Matt - the pro player I mentioned before - has agreed to my deal, that is, if this sounds as good as the one of mine he's been using on his videos (getting close to being uploaded), then I'll give him this one as a thanks for featuring my builds. And if it turns out that the one he's been using sounds better, then I'll reshape the neck to his preference and he can keep that one