Finished Pics! Swift Lite 2 (sorry, another electric)

[TheGreek]

All together now...." You can never have too many clamps.."

[Andyjr1515]

Next jobs are finalising the main carves


Basically:

• tweaking the outline a tad
• finish off the top
• doing the back
• carving the neck

The outline tweak is to compensate for the fact that, in changing from the maple to the macassar, I added two more frets to 24th.  As such, I will deepen the cutouts a touch:

 

Lots of chippings and sawdust coming up! 

[SpondonBassed]

Pa Clampett

Because you can never Clampett enough.

 

[Andyjr1515]

Well, the tweaked cut outs and top are almost done.  There might be a bit more to tweak once the back is done to get the feel and fret access just right, but this is getting close.

Those of you who have seen my other builds will know that I generally pop an early coat of tru-oil on - regardless of what I will eventually finish it with - to help show up the lumps and bumps:

[Andyjr1515]

I'm probably about half way through the neck and back carve.

As I've mentioned before, I finish the neck profile off once the guitar is finished and fully strung up - yes, I know.  I'm weird like that - but there's still a bit of bulk to take off to get to my preferred softish 'V' profile.

After just a few minutes with a spokeshave, most of the carve has been done using micro plane blades, just held in gloved hands like a scraper.  The towelling underneath is to stop any dints on the top - you can see it's been used for many times for past staining jobs.  Based on the fact that a number of my staining jobs are red ink, it has the unfortunate look of the results of a serious router/finger incident!





At this stage, I tend to do a lot of air-guitar playing  

I've got some more bulk to take out at the heel / body transition, but the thumb anchor points and 24th fret access feel fine so far.  You can see why I took impressions earlier of where the hidden weight relief chambers are!  Breaking through at this stage of the process would definitely spoil my day 


Total weight so far is spot on 4lbs - about 4oz lighter than my previous build.  Having a bash at making my own wood knobs - which will save 2-3oz over the brass ones I previously used, a final 5 1/2 lbs weight should be within reach

[TheGreek]

I think that these are the first photos of the back we've seen.

Looks nice already...can't wait to see what it looks like with it's coat on

[Andyjr1515]

The back carve is pretty close to being done and the neck carve is also starting to get there.  I've also recessed the control chamber enough to be able to cut the hatch shape, although - depending on how deep the electrics are - either the recess still has to be deepened or the hatch itself thinned a couple of mm.


The swifts are also fitted in the headstock plate...


 ...and so, in terms of the front, probably the next job is fitting the bridge so that I can properly line up the pickup chambers before forstner roughing and then chiselling them out.

[Andyjr1515]

The pickup chambers need some care.  There will be less than 5mm thickness under the chamber so precise measurement and cutting is essential.

Many of you know that I hate routers and I hate using routers.  But for a flat-bottomed deep chamber, it's almost unavoidable.  So personally, I use the router for the least number of operations.

I start with defining the depth and corners with a drill:


Then make a relatively shallow hog-out with a forstner bit:


I then straighten the cuts around the outline with a sharp chisel down to the depth of the amboyna top.

And only then do I use a bearing router.  I use a very short one so I can safely tidy the sides of the existing shallow chamber before I start cutting the chamber bottom.  So again, I basically use the top as my template - I know that is not the usual way but all I can say is that it works for me and I've massively reduced pickup routing c**k ups since I started doing it like this  

Then, using the bearing trimmer against the tidied up chamber sides, I just deepen a couple of mm a time to the required depth.

And here we have the chambers with the sub-5mm thick bottoms:


And the inevitable mock-up.  I may well use black pickup rings on the finished article - but I happened to have these gold ones in the spares box so they will have to do for the mock up:




As always, folks, thanks for looking and for the ever encouraging feedback. 

[SpondonBassed]

Do you consider reinforcing the thin timber behind the pups with a stiff adhesive foil or even a thin gauge piece of stainless steel in case an impact on the back might split it?  Similarly with the control chamber?

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said:

Do you consider reinforcing the thin timber behind the pups with a stiff adhesive foil or even a thin gauge piece of stainless steel in case an impact on the back might split it?  Similarly with the control chamber?

Not really necessary IMHO - certainly, 5mm for the back of the pickups is plenty.  It's also quite rare for the back to hit anything that would be capable of doing that kind of damage.  No, the care taken was more to make use I didn't inadvertently break through with the router or drill - which with my measuring skills is a much higher risk!  

With the control chamber, there is a theoretical risk - and you do see from time to time guitars and basses that have fallen on their fronts and the knobs have punched a hole through into the control chamber.  But again, by and large, it's a fairly low risk. 

When you think about it, acoustic guitars have a side and back thickness of around 1.7mm and tops typically at 2.5 - 2.9mm and, certainly in my young days in the pubs of Wolverhampton, they used to survive being used as clubs to fight off angry skinheads fairly well.  Used to play havoc with the tuning, mind....

[SpondonBassed]

15 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Not really necessary IMHO - certainly, 5mm for the back of the pickups is plenty.  It's also quite rare for the back to hit anything that would be capable of doing that kind of damage.  No, the care taken was more to make use I didn't inadvertently break through with the router or drill - which with my measuring skills is a much higher risk!  

With the control chamber, there is a theoretical risk - and you do see from time to time guitars and basses that have fallen on their fronts and the knobs have punched a hole through into the control chamber.  But again, by and large, it's a fairly low risk. 

When you think about it, acoustic guitars have a side and back thickness of around 1.7mm and tops typically at 2.5 - 2.9mm...

When you put it like that, it assures me that you've got it sussed, as it were.

I am thinking back to when I recessed the knobs on my kit so that the nuts holding the pots were concealed beneath the base of each knob.  I felt this was necessary because of the curved body.  There was an untidy look to the exposed nuts.

I had thinned down the floor of the control chamber already and I then had to do little passes with a Dremel grindstone mounted from the inside so that the back of the grindstone did the work on the outside while the spindle was guided by the hole for the pot from the inside.  Although I got away with it, the sound of thin timber just from running a finger tip across the front of the control chamber made me feel uneasy about exposure to knocks and bumps.

I've been told that I worry too much before so thanks for sharing your experience.

15 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

...acoustic guitars have a side and back thickness of around 1.7mm and tops typically at 2.5 - 2.9mm and, certainly in my young days in the pubs of Wolverhampton, they used to survive being used as clubs to fight off angry skinheads fairly well.  Used to play havoc with the tuning, mind....

Ah Wolverhampton.  Highly regarded as a cultural oasis of the Midlands with it's pubs and clubs.

So that's how you discovered the lost chord... by t w a t t i n g a disillusioned yoof across the back of the nut wiv a dreadnought.  Inventive.

Edited March 11, 2018 by SpondonBassed

[Andyjr1515]

I followed up @RichardH 's supplier leads from the previous build thread (Thonk is SUCH a great name for a company) and some of @Norris and other kind folks' suggestions and have made myself some knobs!

Got the inserts from Thonk and a cheapo diamond hole/plug cutter from ebay:

Then, after a few trial runs to work out the best sequence, started with a 9.5mm hole in some scrap oak:

Then used a Forstner for the nut relief in the bottom:

Then the plug cutter:

And added the screw access hole before filing out the bore to a very slight interference push fit for the insert:

 

Then took some macassar offcut and drilled a 6mm hole:

Then plug-cut that:

 

Then glued the two together, added a MoP dot, and rounded the sharp edges:

 

Well pleased!  Thanks for the tips and encouragement, folks.

 

They are a fraction of the weight of the normal powder-coated brass ones I usually fit.  When I get a moment, I'll make some more and replace the three on my own build

 

 

[SpondonBassed]

Knob on!  (As they say locally)

With an oil finish they are going to be like little jewels against the Amboyna top.  Would you accept a post as Basschat's full-time knob consultant?

[Jimothey]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I followed up @RichardH 's supplier leads from the previous build thread (Thonk is SUCH a great name for a company) and some of @Norris and other kind folks' suggestions and have made myself some knobs!

Got the inserts from Thonk and a cheapo diamond hole/plug cutter from ebay:

Then, after a few trial runs to work out the best sequence, started with a 9.5mm hole in some scrap oak:

Then used a Forstner for the nut relief in the bottom:

Then the plug cutter:

And added the screw access hole before filing out the bore to a very slight interference push fit for the insert:

 

Then took some macassar offcut and drilled a 6mm hole:

Then plug-cut that:

 

Then glued the two together, added a MoP dot, and rounded the sharp edges:

 

Well pleased!  Thanks for the tips and encouragement, folks.

 

They are a fraction of the weight of the normal powder-coated brass ones I usually fit.  When I get a moment, I'll make some more and replace the three on my own build

 

 

Very nice!!! TBH I’m not keen on the MoP inlay but each to their own 

[RichardH]

Excellent! Glad to have played a tiny part in helping this come to fruition. Can't remember what sort of shaft your pots have - splined?

[SpondonBassed]

2 minutes ago, RichardH said:

Excellent! Glad to have played a tiny part in helping this come to fruition. Can't remember what sort of shaft your pots have - splined?

It looks like Andy's got inserts that will work on split, splined or flattened spindles.

[RichardH]

From memory the inserts are smooth inside rather than splined, so I assume they are of a diameter that accepts all shaft types.

[Andyjr1515]

10 minutes ago, RichardH said:

From memory the inserts are smooth inside rather than splined, so I assume they are of a diameter that accepts all shaft types.

I haven't bought the pots for this build yet so could use either.  For split splined shafts, I use the old trick of screwing the grub screw into the slot of the split shaft which I always personally reckon is more secure than on a solid shaft because, as well as the splines splaying firmly against the sides of the collet, the split also 'grabs' the grub screw itself which then rarely loosens 

[Andyjr1515]

29 minutes ago, Jimothey said:

Very nice!!! TBH I’m not keen on the MoP inlay but each to their own 

I thought of adding some inlayed swifts instead of the dots but then figured life is too short...

[Jimothey]

2 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I thought of adding some inlayed swifts instead of the dots but then figured life is too short...

I thought you never take the easy option!!.....

[Norris]

They look more sophisticated knobs than mine. I thought I'd gone extravagant with flamed maple cap over grain-filled ash, but you've raised the bar now

[SpondonBassed]

One day, students of history will wonder how the great knob wars of the 21st century started...

[Andyjr1515]

58 minutes ago, Jimothey said:

I thought you never take the easy option!!.....

Actually....nah - the MoP dots are too big, now I've looked at how they look on the guitar. 

So...hmmmm....smaller dots...swifts...    Who knows.  Only thing that's certain is that there's more workshop time coming up

[Jimothey]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Only thing that's certain is that there's more workshop time coming up

Im sure you don’t really mind!! 

I think swifts on top and maybe some MoP filigree round the sides!! 

[TheGreek]

Leave it long enough and conversations always end up being about men and their knobs.....