Christine Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 Yesterday I worked on the Rosewood fretboard, got it inlaid. Turned out that the new binding cutter I bought wouldn't do the fretboard because the bearing was too far down from the cutters so today I just cut both on the router table and stuck the bindings on with CA. I started with a thick gel type with a slow setting time so I could get the inner edge of the mitre exactly in the right place then used a thin CA to do the rest, horrible stuff, gets everywhere, made a right mess of my finger nails After that I scraped the bindings flush and sanded the faces through to 3000 grit which looks very good. The Mother of Pearl is stunning and no filler used at all, feeling a little smug about that LOL I finished off the day by putting a thin coat of Lemon oil on the faces, will give a couple more before fretting them 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 Lovely work!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 6 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said: Lovely work!! Thank you, I'm really pleased with how they've turned out, if the rest of the build goes the same way I'll be quite relieved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 1 hour ago, Jabba_the_gut said: Lovely work!! +1 they look superb! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 Excellent! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 So today's thrilling update, I know you're not sleeping nights wondering what will happen next First job this morning was to drill the switch and control pot holes, I did this perpendicular to the surface rather than to the back so the knobs don't look pink torpedo eyed. I looked at some Les Paul guitars in PMT Cardiff last weekend to see how they were drilled, strangely some were vertical and some where in line with the contours, it was the ones high on the wall that were angled so in hindsight they would have been customs as they cost an arm and a leg.. Next was to sand the body contours and make them look less like I attacked them with an axe, after that I did the sides and the back but only to 80 grit until the binding is in and all other work done then I'll take it down to 240 or 320 grit depending on how it looks. No need to go further than that on wood, the marks will never show even at 240 with clear lacquer, the problem with going finer is that the grits start removing soft wood rather than the harder and ripples start to appear, it's quite hard to stop that and to be honest there isn't any real advantage to do so on your average timber like Oak, Mahogany, Ash etc. The last job of the day was to check the necks for flat and yes they were, excellent news so a couple of wipes with the plane and then I sanded the headstock and glued the headstock veneers on, after an hour in clamps I trimmed the veneer flush and being the daft bat I am I stuck the bits together to have a first look at what they were going to look like. I won't comment on that, make your own mind up. The top of the neck body isn't flush thith the top of the body yet, I need to trim the bottom of the tenon but I'm leaving that until shaping time 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 Deary me, these are shaping up to be something wonderful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 I always liked what Aria Pro II did with their take on the single-cut solid electric guitar in the late 70s, where the knobs were recessed into the carve of the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 7 minutes ago, BigRedX said: I always liked what Aria Pro II did with their take on the single-cut solid electric guitar in the late 70s, where the knobs were recessed into the carve of the top. I did consider it but it's not for me personally, I haven't seen the Aria but I did see another a while ago like that and it was an elegant solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 So unlike me it's time for a preview of what's coming up, the headstock design. After some discussion with my friends we shortlisted down to two designs from which I chose the one below. I have always made my basses under the name "Dragon" because I'm Welsh but I was told it made them sound like a cheap Chinese copy of a BC Rich made for school kids to pretend to play metal in their bedrooms, so maybe a rebranding to the Welsh word for Dragon which is "Ddraig". Either that or at the American Luthier Bruce Johnson's suggestion I rename to "Daft Bat" which is a strong possibility. The design will be a Welsh dragon in white Mother of Pearl with the brand name Ddraig either in Paua or Abalone. I haven't got any Paua yet but I've ordered some and should be with me by the end of the week with luck. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 38 minutes ago, Christine said: So unlike me it's time for a preview of what's coming up, the headstock design. After some discussion with my friends we shortlisted down to two designs from which I chose the one below. I have always made my basses under the name "Dragon" because I'm Welsh but I was told it made them sound like a cheap Chinese copy of a BC Rich made for school kids to pretend to play metal in their bedrooms, so maybe a rebranding to the Welsh word for Dragon which is "Ddraig". Either that or at the American Luthier Bruce Johnson's suggestion I rename to "Daft Bat" which is a strong possibility. The design will be a Welsh dragon in white Mother of Pearl with the brand name Ddraig either in Paua or Abalone. I haven't got any Paua yet but I've ordered some and should be with me by the end of the week with luck. I kinda agree that putting 'dragon' does make them sound cheap which they certainly aren't! but 'Ddraig' is a very nice touch, just my opinion but I think I would rotate the dragon 90°so it matches the 'Ddraig' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 12 minutes ago, Jimothey said: I kinda agree that putting 'dragon' does make them sound cheap which they certainly aren't! but 'Ddraig' is a very nice touch, just my opinion but I think I would rotate the dragon 90°so it matches the 'Ddraig' I agree too - too many memories of a dragon 64 for it to sound good And yes, I vote for a dragon parallel with the nut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 The design is staying as it is 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 Do you cut your own inlays? If not I can heartily recommend Small Wonder Music. He did an excellent job on mine and very reasonably priced I thought for the work involved 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 26, 2018 Author Share Posted June 26, 2018 6 hours ago, Norris said: Do you cut your own inlays? If not I can heartily recommend Small Wonder Music. He did an excellent job on mine and very reasonably priced I thought for the work involved I'll cut my own for the headstock, I find it therapeutic strangely but I bought the fretboard inlays as a set from Rothko and Frost. I had not heard of Small Wonder, looks very good, I have bookmarked them, it may be more cost effective to use them if I start making more as it isn't a quick process, thank you for that link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 It's where my luthier guru gets his from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 13 hours ago, Christine said: First job this morning was to drill the switch and control pot holes, I did this perpendicular to the surface rather than to the back so the knobs don't look pink torpedo eyed. I looked at some Les Paul guitars in PMT Cardiff last weekend to see how they were drilled, strangely some were vertical and some where in line with the contours, it was the ones high on the wall that were angled so in hindsight they would have been customs as they cost an arm and a leg.. Next was to sand the body contours and make them look less like I attacked them with an axe, after that I did the sides and the back but only to 80 grit until the binding is in and all other work done then I'll take it down to 240 or 320 grit depending on how it looks. No need to go further than that on wood, the marks will never show even at 240 with clear lacquer, the problem with going finer is that the grits start removing soft wood rather than the harder and ripples start to appear, it's quite hard to stop that and to be honest there isn't any real advantage to do so on your average timber like Oak, Mahogany, Ash etc. I spot faced the top on my Pit Bull to get all of the control spindles parallel to each other and to conceal the nuts where they would otherwise show beneath the skirts of the control knobs. The "floor" of the control cavity was flat and I found it easier to leave it that way than trying to match the top's contour. I wondered how it would be to have the each of the spindles perpendicular to where they are located on the curve of the top. On mine the curve isn't so pronounced and would not be worth the extra work but I reckon it's going to look great on yours. I've learned a great deal from you on this topic. What you say about grit sizes above is really helpful. I always wondered why my sanding technique started off looking good but then went backwards with the finer grits. Cool headstock. It's the bits. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardH Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 11 hours ago, Christine said: The design is staying as it is I agree - it will be the right way round when the basses are being played, which surely is when it it meant to be seen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 27, 2018 Author Share Posted June 27, 2018 Well for north Wales the weather has been hot these last few weeks but the last two have been baking, I had the day off yesterday but decided to try working outside today and enjoy the sun. It started out lovely but eventually it got too hot and I ended up with a towel draped over my head trying to keep the sun off, I had a magnifying visor on so I couldn't wear a hat. I got some done and now I'm inside cooling off. I set up a makeshift bench outside, literally a saw horse and a metalworking vice clamped to it to hold my saw table. then I took my designs for the headstock inlays and, well confession first, I nearly flamingo'd up (like a pink torpedo up only bigger!) with the name as my written Welsh isn't that good but basically "the dragon" is "Y Ddraig" and plain "Dragon" is "Draig" so disaster averted. So I took my design and with a sharp scalpel cut out some of the sections and glued them with Titebond to a Mother of Pearl blank then cut them out, each time I cut a piece I turned it upside down and glued it to a mirror image of the design so it can then be transferred to the headstock. I'm sure you all get the drift and after 4 hours sawing and filing I ended up with one dragon ready for inlaying into a headstock. Not sure if I want to do the other tomorrow or do one of the Draig inlays for which I have some lovely dark green Abalone 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Wow ... that's some inlay! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 1 hour ago, Christine said: Well for north Wales the weather has been hot these last few weeks but the last two have been baking, I had the day off yesterday but decided to try working outside today and enjoy the sun. It started out lovely but eventually it got too hot and I ended up with a towel draped over my head trying to keep the sun off, I had a magnifying visor on so I couldn't wear a hat. I got some done and now I'm inside cooling off. I set up a makeshift bench outside, literally a saw horse and a metalworking vice clamped to it to hold my saw table. then I took my designs for the headstock inlays and, well confession first, I nearly flamingo'd up (like a pink torpedo up only bigger!) with the name as my written Welsh isn't that good but basically "the dragon" is "Y Ddraig" and plain "Dragon" is "Draig" so disaster averted. So I took my design and with a sharp scalpel cut out some of the sections and glued them with Titebond to a Mother of Pearl blank then cut them out, each time I cut a piece I turned it upside down and glued it to a mirror image of the design so it can then be transferred to the headstock. I'm sure you all get the drift and after 4 hours sawing and filing I ended up with one dragon ready for inlaying into a headstock. Not sure if I want to do the other tomorrow or do one of the Draig inlays for which I have some lovely dark green Abalone That's come out great! , did you just use a coping saw or did you use a scrollsaw aswell? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 27, 2018 Author Share Posted June 27, 2018 7 minutes ago, Jimothey said: That's come out great! , did you just use a coping saw or did you use a scrollsaw aswell? Just the jewellers saw and some needle files and a lot of bad language as I got overheated at the end 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 27, 2018 Author Share Posted June 27, 2018 11 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: Wow ... that's some inlay! Thanks Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Lovely. I want to get myself inlaid when I'm old enough. Tattoos are old hat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 As good looking as any boutique basses out there, IMO. Wish i had 50% of your skills Christine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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