Baritone 7 27.5 in scale build (Myrtlewood, Sapele goodness)

[IkarusOnFire]

Hey mate - danish oil and tru oil seems very nice, has a sweet mirror finish...but will it dent?
Sorry...pun intended...I am wondering how hard that coating is. It looks really hard, but compared to a think layer of standard lacquer? Any thoughts/experience on this?

[Necromagnon]

For what I know about oil finish, it's very hardless than a huge layer of plastic coating like what is done on manufacturers build.
But the advantages are many: cheap, not smelly, easy to do and easy to retouch (??) when there's a scratch, etd.

This is my point of view. And now, with some water-based lacquer, you can have a good finishing, easy to apply also, not smelly, and easy to clean your tools.

I'm taking my bass to send good low vibes, dude!!

[Purelojik]

Hey guys im back!
The test was probably the hardest thing i've taken, with questions designed to demoralize. so needless to say i really dont know how i did and im trying to hope for the best. most people who take this test feel the same but anyhow. i needed to preoccupy my mind so i put Lord of the Rings on and started working on the neck during the last movie. it took a while but not as long as i thought it was. mostly due to these awesome microplane rasps.

So without further ado....























i got the idea to use a plane from Huf's vids. he usually takes them down so i used keepvid to save the ones i could. i asked him a questions about it on his Facebook but he deletes my comments. seems like its something he usually does unless its undulant praise. hes a good luthier but it kinda ticked me off that he didnt even respond and say hey sorry i dont wanna discuss this or something. anyhow my rant is done i know his name should appear here but im just trying to learn.

Hope you guys enjoy!!

[Alberto7]

That neck-carve looks great, man! What kind of shape did you go for? You really do have some mad luthiery skills built within you

Also, let's hope that you did well on your test!

And yeah, my opinion on him... Has been downgrading a lot these past few months. I understand your need to rant.

[cthom124]

way to go man love the progress!!!!
i hope to aced your test! those things are a bitch!

[Purelojik]

Originally Posted by Alberto7

That neck-carve looks great, man! What kind of shape did you go for? You really do have some mad luthiery skills built within you

Also, let's hope that you did well on your test!

And yeah, my opinion on him... Has been downgrading a lot these past few months. I understand your need to rant.

i actually didnt have anything in mind when i was carving. i was just going by feel. i did two depth cuts and basically rasped and sanded the shit out in between its still a mm or two higher but it'll all come down in final sanding probably. the heel area is a bit tricky so im leaving that for now as im still kinda restless and dont have the patience to be meticulous.

anyhow so by the end it looks like its a nice mix between the warmoth standard thin and a ibanez wizard. which i never thought i'd be able to achieve! feels amazing and i dont mean to toot my own horn but im pretty damn proud of how it looks so far.


SO The update for today is i did some body bevel shit. also sanded the remainder of the glue of the body sides with a drum sanding bit for the drill. i'll need to work up the grades of sandpaper to make all the sides look pretty but thats another day.

i got the dremel out and went to town. Check this out guys...














Since i usually watch a movie while i do stuff i was watching Predator lol.

[Levi79]

It's getting there! So sick!

[Purelojik]

Originally Posted by IkarusOnFire

Hey mate - danish oil and tru oil seems very nice, has a sweet mirror finish...but will it dent?
Sorry...pun intended...I am wondering how hard that coating is. It looks really hard, but compared to a think layer of standard lacquer? Any thoughts/experience on this?

hey man sorry forgot to respond to this comment. the tru oil topcoat will dent because its a thin hard finish. but its easily reparable. im no expert at applying it and i've made a ton of mistakes but it looks nice. i think i'll be leaving it at a night high sheen instead of a laquer type gloss.

over on the gear page theres a guy who builds custom lapsteels named tom pettigil or osmething his name on the forum is Quarter. and his work with tru oil is virtually indistinguishable from lacquer. its quite labor intensive but looks gorgeous and has a mirror finish.

[Purelojik]

so i sanded the sides of the body today. originally i'd used a 60 grit mandrel for my drill and it did the trick but was rough as hell. so i figured why not use the dremel?

the result was amazing. better than hand sanding it . it cleared up everything then i went with 320 sandpaper and straight to 600. im gonna leave the back of the guitar textured and the sides smooth like a babys butt.


Also i've finished the volute which i kept messing up lol.

















Its not oil on there its just mineral spirits to show the chatoyance and figure.

tomorrow im going over all the chamfers again cause i wanna keep it with the newly sanded body. then im gonna drill the control cavity, drill the ground channel from the bridge, then routes from the pups to the cavity.

then the fun part starts! i get to start applying the shitton of coats on the body and just watching the beautiful figure pop! and of course i'll be posting an absurd amount of pictures.

enjoy buddies..

[Purelojik]

Ok guys check this out.











im loving the way this is looking. not to mention it feels like butter.

[Alberto7]

I am thoroughly and utterly impressed. It looks so neat, and that sapele looks RED. I love it!

[penny1]

Duuuude. Sooooo siiiiiiiiick.

[BlackMastodon]

Oh lawd! That is nice looking!

[Levi79]

Holy bro. Looks insane!

[TimSE]

Damn! I havnt checked this thread in a long while! Fantastic updates

[Purelojik]

Check out my sexy bevels!

pics here are taken with a coat of danish oil. no filters except some fancy borders. lol







EDIT: the dremel is hands down the most useful tool i've used...

[Pikka Bird]

Wonderful!

Only thing- The low E and high B tuners seem awfully close to the edge compared to the others...

[Levi79]

I'm going to start my first build hopefully soon. You'd definitely recommend getting a dremel then? Which one do you have? What accessories are worth while getting?

[Purelojik]

Originally Posted by Pikka Bird

Wonderful!

Only thing- The low E and high B tuners seem awfully close to the edge compared to the others...

yea its close but i just popped in the top part of the tuners and everythings fine. the tuner holes i kinda messed up on but thats teh price i pay for not having a proper drill press. also the back ferrules will be a bit wonky but i'll try not to make it too woobbly. lol

good eye though!

[7stringDemon]

This is what Satan would play when he wants to make himself look cooler. . . . .

[Pikka Bird]

Originally Posted by Purelojik

yea its close but i just popped in the top part of the tuners and everythings fine. the tuner holes i kinda messed up on but thats teh price i pay for not having a proper drill press. also the back ferrules will be a bit wonky but i'll try not to make it too woobbly. lol

good eye though!

Well, if you want it to look totally sharp then you could glue in a dowel and redrill the hole a little further from the edge. Just make sure the new hole is not moved further than the body of the tuner machine on the back and the washer on the front will cover...

But that could be something you could always do further down the line, it's definitely not important right now.

[Purelojik]

Originally Posted by Pikka Bird

Well, if you want it to look totally sharp then you could glue in a dowel and redrill the hole a little further from the edge. Just make sure the new hole is not moved further than the body of the tuner machine on the back and the washer on the front will cover...

But that could be something you could always do further down the line, it's definitely not important right now.

i was thinking of that. but honestly without a proper tool im afraid i'd just botch the whole thing up. if theres something i've learned especially in the last guitar i made where i made waaay too many mistakes and rushed way too much, is that if it looks ok for now with what you have then leave it. the chances of messing it up further is higher than the chances of making it look better.

next guitar i build i'll be planning everything hopefully using some computer software or something. Aaron rose said he'd give me a hand, awesome dude. so hopefully next time it'll be spot on. this build i was just roughing it.

[Purelojik]

Originally Posted by Levi79

I'm going to start my first build hopefully soon. You'd definitely recommend getting a dremel then? Which one do you have? What accessories are worth while getting?

yea i recommend it. you'll end up finding random uses for it and it makes life pretty easy. the dremel trio is good for small time routing but you wont be able to use patterns or anything, just freehand.

i have the dremel4000 and it came with a buncha bits and attachments. i recommend the sanding drums with various grits and a lot of them. also the router bit with depth stop attachment. the cutting wheels have been very helpful. and the universal chuck that accepts all sorts of bit sizes.

its a pretty powerful tool for what it can do and definitely makes life easy. just make sure to go slow and dont get over zealous like i do sometimes lol

[Necromagnon]

Great job! It looks awesome (sorry, can't anything else, it's all censored... )

For routing, I would advise to use a bigger router than a dremel. It generally cost less, and it works better for use with templates.
I've bought mine on second hand to a friend, and it cost me 50$ with a box of 12 bits of great quality.

[Purelojik]

Ok guys shes pretty much ready for finishing.

drilled holes for pup to the control cavity that was a challenge as well as getting the ground hole to the cavity.

i had to eyeball it and it was kinda risky. i drilled halfway with one bit and halfway with another to avoid damagin the body. there was one scuff but it was under the bridge area so im alright.

drilled the ferrule holes and they look alright just a bit wonky.

then applied another coat of danish oil.

my plan is to apply three coats of danish oil to let it sink in and preserve that gorgeous chatoyance of the wood.

what i've found is that if you tru oil it right away it doesnt pop as much. at least thats what i've seen on my test samples.

so after three or four coats i'll let it dry for 3 days then start the tru oil applications!

anyhow PICS!








The Ground hole sees the light!!






OH YEAAAAA