Eve: A Guitar 3 Years in the Making (kind of...) - Page 7

Metal_Webb · 02-07-2012, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackMastodon

This has been a messed up year for weather.

It's been messed up down here as well

It's meant to be summer but I think we've had about 3 days over 30C and it's been raining or overcast for most of it.
/OT

That green is the sex mate! Can't wait to see it completed.

BlackMastodon · 05-03-2012, 06:25 PM

Probably about time I update this, no? A little while ago I bought some new tools:

Rotary planer for drill press, not Wagner Safe-T planer from StewMac, apparently those don't exist anymore, but I did manage to find a similar one on eBay that works quite well so far:

Pretty clean. Going to use this to plane out the cavity covers some time soon.

Also bought these on sail from the magical internets:

Used the core box bit (round one on the far right) to do this on the back:

which will make it easier to grab the cavity covers.

So yesterday I grabbed my body and noticed quite a few terrible scratches in the green through natural light (finally sunny outside) sooooo I sanded it off yesterday and then redid the dying process today. Came out pretty decent I think, didn't lose anything as far as I can tell:

I had to fill the one bridge post (again

) because it was very much off so I will have to fix that up. I also drilled the holes for direct mounting the pickups (probably won't need the inserts, but I have some anyway if it all falls through) and the pilot holes for the trem claw as well as string tree on the headstock. Next up will be to redrill that bridge post, pop the bridge in and grab some kind of thread/string to line up the neck, drill the holes into the neck, and then make the cavity covers.

NOW, a question: when using the StewMac fast acting epoxy, should I mix the 2 components in a separate container and then dip the magnets in and put them in their slots? Or should I just pour each epoxy mix into the holes and drop the magnets in? Anyone have experience with this stuff? I think the hardener got reaaaaaaally thick too.

theo · 05-03-2012, 06:33 PM

YEAH! that stain looks great

BlackMastodon · 05-03-2012, 06:42 PM

Thank you

Only thing I'm a bit worried about is that some of the figure on the butt end of the maple (behind the bridge) seems to have gone away. Hopefully it will look OK once it's finished.

scherzo1928 · 05-03-2012, 07:18 PM

I'd mix the epoxy in a small container, and use a toothpick-stick-brush-whateveryoucanfind to apply it where you want it. Keep in mind you won't ever be able to get rid of the epoxy on the container or toothpick-stick-brush-whateveryoucanfind, so use something you don't care about... oh, and wear a mask... and work fast, it dries FAST.

As for the figure, it will pop out again with the finish.

Ghost40 · 05-03-2012, 08:05 PM

I love the top man, that green is sex!

asher · 05-03-2012, 09:27 PM

Tasty green and nice carves

Stompmeister · 05-03-2012, 11:22 PM

Lookin so good man! What kinda chisel did you use to carve the top? It looks so sexy.

BlackMastodon · 05-04-2012, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stompmeister

Lookin so good man! What kinda chisel did you use to carve the top? It looks so sexy.

One of these:

Slapped in a handheld grinder.

Much quicker but considerably more pants shittingly scary.

BlackMastodon · 05-29-2012, 07:11 PM

Oh hey, some cavity covers.

unfortunately the trem cavity cover is a fair bit too small so I will most likely be redoing it.

scherzo1928 · 05-30-2012, 08:15 AM

Lately I've been thinking about having cavity templates laser cut or something, because it's a PITA to get the cover and the cavity to match well enough... It's also entertaining though, and rewarding once you finally get it right.

Btw, did you only take your socks off for the photoshoot?

Pikka Bird · 05-30-2012, 08:56 AM

Couldn't you make perfect covers by making a single oversized template and then cutting the cover recess with one large size ball bearing around the shank followed by cutting the cover using a smaller sized ball bearing? You'd size up the ball bearings so that the bigger one would line up the cut on the inside of the line and the smaller would make the cut outside the line.

edit: Strike that- don't need the ball bearing for the cover cut. If you're using a ½" router bit then you'd make the template ½" oversize and just cut the cover directly via the template. Then you'd use a ball bearing that adds that ½" of distance to the template.

JamesM · 05-30-2012, 08:59 AM

Looking good man. Good luck on covers.

BlackMastodon · 05-30-2012, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scherzo1928

Lately I've been thinking about having cavity templates laser cut or something, because it's a PITA to get the cover and the cavity to match well enough... It's also entertaining though, and rewarding once you finally get it right.

Btw, did you only take your socks off for the photoshoot?

I took them off earlier and just left them on my floor.
But yeah some laser cut templates would be awesome. On the next one I will just leave some buffer room when I cut out the template with the jigsaw. I don't mind the top and bottom sides being slightly off, it's the 1/8"+ on the shorter sides that bugs me since the magnets would be exposed with this cover. If you look close you can probably see the wholes I made for the magnets.

BlackMastodon · 09-08-2012, 05:15 PM

So lately I've just been doing some final sanding on the body and neck and I also did a mockup of the control layout only to find that I didn't have enough room for the battery. Planning fail on my part but better late than never. So now I will be extending the cavity a fair bit to allow for the battery bag to fit in there, which also means that I will be having to redo both cavity covers.

Good times ahead.

So today while I was doing some proper sanding on the neck to get rid of some scratches and whatnot (I didn't properly sand the edges on the sides of the headstock at first so I needed to redo those) I decided to experiment and tried taking off as much of the green dye as possible from the back of the headstock to see if I can still make the maple of the neck as natural as possible. Here is the result:

The maple cleans up pretty well but you can still see the green inside the grain, especially in this area:

So should I bring it back to 99% natural with small hints of green in the grain?
Is there a way to get the dye out of there without bleaching the wood?
If I did bleach it, would it look good?
Or should I just stain it green again and forget about it?

If I do sand it back, I will get a spindle sander to clean the edges properly and this way I can keep most of that "natural binding" thing I wanted earlier. But the problem is that the joint where I put the maple in doesn't look to good and the dark of the green kind of helps cover that up.

I keep changing my mind on what I want to do. Ideally I would take off a bit of material all around just to get it back to natural with as little green as possible, but if I can't do that then it won't be the end of the world.

So anyone have any advice for my indecisive ass?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, I need to motivate myself to finish this SOB.

BlackMastodon · 09-09-2012, 12:29 PM

Anyone? Bueller?

scherzo1928 · 09-09-2012, 04:05 PM

When it comes to finishes I'm completely clueless

BlackMastodon · 09-09-2012, 10:31 PM

I'm just wondering whether or not it will look stupid with the green in the grain. I was also thinking maybe of staining it like a light mahogany colour? It could match the body more and make the green less noticeable.

BlackMastodon · 09-15-2012, 04:16 PM

Made the cavity bigger today:

Also spent a lot of time sanding the sides and edges and getting everything nice and smooth and also put some more green on the top. I think it looks better than ever now though the green is kind of hard to get in a picture.

Still undecided on what I should do with the neck but so far I'm leaning more towards sanding it back as much as possible and hitting it with a cherry-like stain that matches the mahogany a bit.

TimSE · 09-15-2012, 05:01 PM

Looking excellent man! Love that colour!

iRaiseTheDead · 09-15-2012, 05:03 PM

envyenvyenvyenvyenvy

Dan Halen · 09-15-2012, 06:10 PM

thats pretty awesome. good job

jake7doyle · 09-16-2012, 06:17 AM

easily one of the nicest finishes ive ever seen man

dingaling · 09-16-2012, 06:39 PM

I dig the body wood showing underneath and around the separate actual carved top. Looks great!

BlackMastodon · 09-16-2012, 06:51 PM

Thanks for the positive comments guys.

I think for the neck I'm just gonna sand all the end grain properly and dye it green again; I already made my bed with that so I'll sleep in it, and trying to stain the maple darker doesn't help mask the green too well anyway.

I mixed up my shellac over the weekend and will start working on test pieces with it before I do it on the body so it might take a while.

A question about shellac: do I need to fill in the pores of the wood before I do this or after a few thin layers of the shellac? I've seen a tutorial where the guy used fine ground pumice but I can't find any in my city and it seems like a big hassle so I think I will just use regular wood filler if anything.
But I am curious, do I need to fill in the pores at all? I'm leaning more towards yes because of the mahogany but with enough layers shouldn't the shellac begin to smooth itself out after filling in the small pores?

If anyone could shed some light on this it would be great. Scherzo I know you did a shellac finish on your first guitar and it turned out great; any suggestions or tips?

Thanks again guys.

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05-03-2012, 06:25 PM	#152
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Probably about time I update this, no? A little while ago I bought some new tools: Rotary planer for drill press, not Wagner Safe-T planer from StewMac, apparently those don't exist anymore, but I did manage to find a similar one on eBay that works quite well so far: Pretty clean. Going to use this to plane out the cavity covers some time soon. Also bought these on sail from the magical internets: Used the core box bit (round one on the far right) to do this on the back: which will make it easier to grab the cavity covers. So yesterday I grabbed my body and noticed quite a few terrible scratches in the green through natural light (finally sunny outside) sooooo I sanded it off yesterday and then redid the dying process today. Came out pretty decent I think, didn't lose anything as far as I can tell: I had to fill the one bridge post (again ) because it was very much off so I will have to fix that up. I also drilled the holes for direct mounting the pickups (probably won't need the inserts, but I have some anyway if it all falls through) and the pilot holes for the trem claw as well as string tree on the headstock. Next up will be to redrill that bridge post, pop the bridge in and grab some kind of thread/string to line up the neck, drill the holes into the neck, and then make the cavity covers. NOW, a question: when using the StewMac fast acting epoxy, should I mix the 2 components in a separate container and then dip the magnets in and put them in their slots? Or should I just pour each epoxy mix into the holes and drop the magnets in? Anyone have experience with this stuff? I think the hardener got reaaaaaaally thick too. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

05-03-2012, 06:33 PM	#153
theo Ibanez whore Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Melbourne, Au Posts: 3,119 Thanked: 37 Feedback Score: 3 reviews	YEAH! that stain looks great http://soundcloud.com/ecliptica_aus

05-03-2012, 06:42 PM	#154
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Thank you Only thing I'm a bit worried about is that some of the figure on the butt end of the maple (behind the bridge) seems to have gone away. Hopefully it will look OK once it's finished. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

05-03-2012, 07:18 PM	#155
scherzo1928 has wood for you Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mexico City Posts: 4,692 Thanked: 33 $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ Feedback Score: 0 reviews	I'd mix the epoxy in a small container, and use a toothpick-stick-brush-whateveryoucanfind to apply it where you want it. Keep in mind you won't ever be able to get rid of the epoxy on the container or toothpick-stick-brush-whateveryoucanfind, so use something you don't care about... oh, and wear a mask... and work fast, it dries FAST. As for the figure, it will pop out again with the finish. Is this... guitar?

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05-03-2012, 08:05 PM	#156
Ghost40 Dude Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Maryland Posts: 808 Thanked: 23 Feedback Score: 8 reviews	I love the top man, that green is sex!

05-03-2012, 09:27 PM	#157
asher n00b with an axe Join Date: May 2010 Location: Charlottesville, VA/Oakland, CA Posts: 1,254 Thanked: 15 Feedback Score: 6 reviews	Tasty green and nice carves SchecterWhore: Artistic voice is the same as your speaking voice. Two people can say the same thing and come across differently in a lot of ways. When my girlfriend and I are walking through a crowd, she squeaks "Excuse me!" and sounds cute and non-threatening. I say "Excuse me," and the person in front of us thinks they're about to get butt-raped by Barry White.

05-03-2012, 11:22 PM	#158
Stompmeister SS.org Regular Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Wollongong, Australia Posts: 107 Thanked: 5 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Lookin so good man! What kinda chisel did you use to carve the top? It looks so sexy.

05-29-2012, 07:11 PM	#160
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Oh hey, some cavity covers. unfortunately the trem cavity cover is a fair bit too small so I will most likely be redoing it. scherzo1928 and Solodini like this. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

05-30-2012, 08:15 AM	#161
scherzo1928 has wood for you Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mexico City Posts: 4,692 Thanked: 33 $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Lately I've been thinking about having cavity templates laser cut or something, because it's a PITA to get the cover and the cavity to match well enough... It's also entertaining though, and rewarding once you finally get it right. Btw, did you only take your socks off for the photoshoot? IkarusOnFire likes this. Is this... guitar?

05-30-2012, 08:56 AM	#162
Pikka Bird SS.org Regular Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Odense; Denmark Posts: 1,116 Thanked: 5 / 1 Feedback Score: 5 reviews	Couldn't you make perfect covers by making a single oversized template and then cutting the cover recess with one large size ball bearing around the shank followed by cutting the cover using a smaller sized ball bearing? You'd size up the ball bearings so that the bigger one would line up the cut on the inside of the line and the smaller would make the cut outside the line. edit: Strike that- don't need the ball bearing for the cover cut. If you're using a ½" router bit then you'd make the template ½" oversize and just cut the cover directly via the template. Then you'd use a ball bearing that adds that ½" of distance to the template.

05-30-2012, 08:59 AM	#163
JamesM The Armada Join Date: May 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 6,925 Thanked: 86 Feedback Score: 5 reviews	Looking good man. Good luck on covers. Cloudyhead. Facebook//Twitter//Bandcamp Watch:1,2,3,4,5 Debut Album, Abstraction out now!

09-08-2012, 05:15 PM	#165
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	So lately I've just been doing some final sanding on the body and neck and I also did a mockup of the control layout only to find that I didn't have enough room for the battery. Planning fail on my part but better late than never. So now I will be extending the cavity a fair bit to allow for the battery bag to fit in there, which also means that I will be having to redo both cavity covers. Good times ahead. So today while I was doing some proper sanding on the neck to get rid of some scratches and whatnot (I didn't properly sand the edges on the sides of the headstock at first so I needed to redo those) I decided to experiment and tried taking off as much of the green dye as possible from the back of the headstock to see if I can still make the maple of the neck as natural as possible. Here is the result: The maple cleans up pretty well but you can still see the green inside the grain, especially in this area: So should I bring it back to 99% natural with small hints of green in the grain? Is there a way to get the dye out of there without bleaching the wood? If I did bleach it, would it look good? Or should I just stain it green again and forget about it? If I do sand it back, I will get a spindle sander to clean the edges properly and this way I can keep most of that "natural binding" thing I wanted earlier. But the problem is that the joint where I put the maple in doesn't look to good and the dark of the green kind of helps cover that up. I keep changing my mind on what I want to do. Ideally I would take off a bit of material all around just to get it back to natural with as little green as possible, but if I can't do that then it won't be the end of the world. So anyone have any advice for my indecisive ass? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, I need to motivate myself to finish this SOB. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

09-09-2012, 12:29 PM	#166
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Anyone? Bueller? "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

09-15-2012, 05:03 PM	#171
iRaiseTheDead Ashes Of Rebirth Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Maryland Posts: 2,799 Thanked: 22 Feedback Score: 2 reviews	envyenvyenvyenvyenvy \m/ My Band: www.facebook.com/AshesOfRebirth My Soundcloud: (riffs and song ideas) www.soundcloud.com/iRaiseTheDead My Design Page: www.facebook.com/RaiseTheDeadDesign

09-09-2012, 04:05 PM	#167
scherzo1928 has wood for you Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mexico City Posts: 4,692 Thanked: 33 $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $scherzo1928 is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ Feedback Score: 0 reviews	When it comes to finishes I'm completely clueless Is this... guitar?

09-09-2012, 10:31 PM	#168
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	I'm just wondering whether or not it will look stupid with the green in the grain. I was also thinking maybe of staining it like a light mahogany colour? It could match the body more and make the green less noticeable. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

09-15-2012, 04:16 PM	#169
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Made the cavity bigger today: Also spent a lot of time sanding the sides and edges and getting everything nice and smooth and also put some more green on the top. I think it looks better than ever now though the green is kind of hard to get in a picture. Still undecided on what I should do with the neck but so far I'm leaning more towards sanding it back as much as possible and hitting it with a cherry-like stain that matches the mahogany a bit. scherzo1928 likes this. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

09-15-2012, 05:01 PM	#170
TimSE SS Contributor Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 4,161 Thanked: 140 Feedback Score: 7 reviews	Looking excellent man! Love that colour! www.facebook.com/tempusfusionband http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/to-...ll/id507292058

09-15-2012, 06:10 PM	#172
Dan Halen SS.org Regular Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Park, PA Posts: 502 Thanked: 4 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	thats pretty awesome. good job

09-16-2012, 06:17 AM	#173
jake7doyle SS.org Regular Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: birmingham, uk Posts: 264 Thanked: 0 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	easily one of the nicest finishes ive ever seen man

09-16-2012, 06:39 PM	#174
dingaling Exploding Shark Chum Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 147 Thanked: 2 / 1 Feedback Score: 2 reviews	I dig the body wood showing underneath and around the separate actual carved top. Looks great!

09-16-2012, 06:51 PM	#175
BlackMastodon \m/ (ﾟДﾟ) \m/ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Windsor, ON Posts: 3,166 Thanked: 12 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Thanks for the positive comments guys. I think for the neck I'm just gonna sand all the end grain properly and dye it green again; I already made my bed with that so I'll sleep in it, and trying to stain the maple darker doesn't help mask the green too well anyway. I mixed up my shellac over the weekend and will start working on test pieces with it before I do it on the body so it might take a while. A question about shellac: do I need to fill in the pores of the wood before I do this or after a few thin layers of the shellac? I've seen a tutorial where the guy used fine ground pumice but I can't find any in my city and it seems like a big hassle so I think I will just use regular wood filler if anything. But I am curious, do I need to fill in the pores at all? I'm leaning more towards yes because of the mahogany but with enough layers shouldn't the shellac begin to smooth itself out after filling in the small pores? If anyone could shed some light on this it would be great. Scherzo I know you did a shellac finish on your first guitar and it turned out great; any suggestions or tips? Thanks again guys. "Metal is for Vikings; if you're not a Viking, get off the boat." - The Beard "He doesn't even like Metallica, that's how metal he is." - My friend describing my musical tastes to her friends.

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