The Wenge/Elm Build

[Silky999]

A bit more progress on this one today, with equal parts satisfaction and quiet concern.

 

The roasted maple neck has had a test fit into the wenge & elm body (dry fit only). Alignment and scale are behaving themselves, centreline is where it should be, and for once nothing has tried to fight back. Always suspicious when that happens.

 

I’ve also been polishing the gloss poly finish, which has reached the stage where it looks finished enough to give you false confidence, but still has plenty of opportunities left to catch you out.

 

This build was started before I’d properly refined my build process, so there are still a couple of jobs left that now feel… character-building. Chief among them is drilling the bridge earth hole, which is one of those operations where you stare at the body for ten minutes, measure it again, stare some more, and then wonder why you ever thought this was a good idea.

 

Still, progress is progress. Next update will either involve a neat earth wire… or a lesson learned.

 

It would be rude not to mention that a worrying amount of today’s progress was made possible by my Narex chisels, which continue to justify their place on the bench every single time I pick them up. Sharp, predictable, and refreshingly uninterested in drama, they’re basically the opposite of most of my builds. Clean cuts, no tearing, no surprises — just quietly getting on with the job while I mutter “that’s lovely” to myself like a man who’s spent far too long in a workshop.