# LiveOVErdrive's consolidated build thread



## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 6, 2017)

MikeNeal had the right idea to throw all his build stuff in one thread. So I'm stealing that idea and running with it. 

I glued up a maple and basswood body blank last week without any real plans for it, then I woke up on Saturday and thought to myself "I'd really like an explorer shred stick". So here we are:




Gonna throw an OFR and an EMG81 in there and call it a day. Should be fun.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 8, 2017)

Did the first of three layers of binding. I decided doing one at a time was probably going to be easier than multiples, as some people seem to do. By the end of this first layer I think I figured out my technique pretty well so the next two layers should be easier. 




I'm a little nervous using acetone indoors since the vapors are supposed to be really flammable and my shop doesn't have great ventilation. But I think at this scale it is probably safe. I just have a little glass jar of it open and am brushing it onto the bindings with a small artist brush. 

Somebody please correct me. In the worst case I'll work outside, but it's quickly becoming winter out there so I'd rather not. I suppose I could rig up a fume hood...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 9, 2017)

So the closer I get this body to finishing the more Im leaning toward just a natural clear finish on the top. 




Then again this surf and doom purple type thing are pretty sweet too.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 9, 2017)

turquoise ftw


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## MikeNeal (Nov 9, 2017)

turquoise x2


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 9, 2017)

I'm actually leaning toward purple since I already have a turquoise-with-black-hardware guitar (see my avatar). But turquoise would look amazing. We'll see. I've got a few more combos I want to try.


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## Pikka Bird (Nov 10, 2017)

That's an interesting shape for the pickup routs... Are you doing some custom recessed humbucker rings or what's the dealio?

Also, you'll be fine with using acetone indoors short term, but if you wanna do binding regularly I'd suggest getting a hood and possibly a quality respirator (doesn't have to set you back a million- Wish has some good ones)


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## pondman (Nov 10, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> So the closer I get this body to finishing the more Im leaning toward just a natural clear finish on the top.
> 
> View attachment 57153
> 
> ...



I think both of those would look great together as a burst.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 10, 2017)

Pikka Bird said:


> That's an interesting shape for the pickup routs... Are you doing some custom recessed humbucker rings or what's the dealio?
> 
> Also, you'll be fine with using acetone indoors short term, but if you wanna do binding regularly I'd suggest getting a hood and possibly a quality respirator (doesn't have to set you back a million- Wish has some good ones)



On the acetone, I've got a 3m paint respirator that seems to work. I did the last two layers of binding in my garage with the door cracked, and that seemed to work really well. 

And yes that's exactly what is going on with the pickups. I'll have countersunk pickup mounts on the end so I can mount and adjust them traditionally but still have the low profile look of a direct mount. Gonna mill them out of either abs or maple. Might try both. 

Unfortunately I may have modeled my pickup hole a little too short. Fitting the bucker in there was a very tight fit. Might have to make some adjustments there. 



pondman said:


> I think both of those would look great together as a burst.



That sounds pretty cool. I'm gonna try that on some scrap. 



Here is the body all cleaned up:


If you look on the right side, you'll notice the outermost black layer of binding is super thin. That's because my front and back milling jobs ended up a little bit out of alignment, so when I drum sanded the sides flush, my binding channel ended up narrower than I intended. I'll have to work smarter next time, and come up with a better alignment system than what in using now. 

Still looks okay though.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 10, 2017)

pondman said:


> I think both of those would look great together as a burst.


Hmmmmmmmmm




Maybe a north-south fade

I think I sanded back the blue sub-dye too much. It's a tricky process. Then again, the middle one doesn't have clearcoat, while the outer ones do, and it tends to pull that sub color out a bit.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 10, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Hmmmmmmmmm
> 
> View attachment 57172
> 
> ...


fades ftw. I'd try a purple or blue base stain, sand it back, then apply the turquoise over the sanded back layer. it'll give you a cool kind of prs northern lights vibe.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 10, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> fades ftw. I'd try a purple or blue base stain, sand it back, then apply the turquoise over the sanded back layer. it'll give you a cool kind of prs northern lights vibe.


The middle one and left one are a blue base, sanded back, and then gone over with the purple (and turquoise for the middle). I may have used a blue base on the right one too, but I don't think so.

I wish I could get a little more color depth out of the purple and turquoise. Unfortunately those colors are just RIT dye, which does not penetrate as well as Aniline stuff (the blue is Transtint).

I'll try a few more things. I have blue and red aniline dye. I might try mixing them to get purple, though color theory says that'll actually give me a kind of brown-purple. I know you can buy purple aniline dye, in the worst case.

Does anyone know if they make turquoise aniline dye? I don't think I've seen any.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 10, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> The middle one and left one are a blue base, sanded back, and then gone over with the purple (and turquoise for the middle). I may have used a blue base on the right one too, but I don't think so.
> 
> I wish I could get a little more color depth out of the purple and turquoise. Unfortunately those colors are just RIT dye, which does not penetrate as well as Aniline stuff (the blue is Transtint).
> 
> ...


The only aniline turquoise dye I know of is the angelus leather dye. I highly recommend the angelus dyes, they're super rich/vibrant. you can mix your own turquoise out of blue/green dyes (use a little more green than blue and dilute mix to preferred color). The only way to get better depth is to do a couple of layers of blue or purple first to build up the proper contrast, then sand it back/apply the turqoise/fade it etc. Blue and red should be more of a purple than anything, if you add some yellow you'd get more of a brownish tint.
Here's a purple to turquoise fade I experimented with (no clearcoat):


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 10, 2017)

That purple does look pretty good.

Theoretically red plus blue doesn't give as good a purple as cyan and magenta but clearly it is good enough, because that's really nice.

Ill have to pick up some leather dyes.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 11, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> The only aniline turquoise dye I know of is the angelus leather dye. I highly recommend the angelus dyes, they're super rich/vibrant. you can mix your own turquoise out of blue/green dyes (use a little more green than blue and dilute mix to preferred color). The only way to get better depth is to do a couple of layers of blue or purple first to build up the proper contrast, then sand it back/apply the turqoise/fade it etc. Blue and red should be more of a purple than anything, if you add some yellow you'd get more of a brownish tint.
> Here's a purple to turquoise fade I experimented with (no clearcoat):


So I ordered some Angelus dyes. What kind of base do they have? The videos I've seen of people dying wood they just put it on dry wood and it looks a little blotchy. Can you wet the wood down first with water or DNA or something?


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 11, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> So I ordered some Angelus dyes. What kind of base do they have? The videos I've seen of people dying wood they just put it on dry wood and it looks a little blotchy. Can you wet the wood down first with water or DNA or something?


they're alcohol based dyes. The blotchiness is due to the grain of the wood or how they're applying it . I haven't had any issues with blotchiness with maple, walnut, bubinga or lacewood, though pine gets blotchy ime. Just don't linger in one spot too long with the dye and use DNA to blend/pull color as needed, also use less than you think with darker colors, especially purple/black.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 11, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> they're alcohol based dyes. The blotchiness is due to the grain of the wood or how they're applying it . I haven't had any issues with blotchiness with maple, walnut, bubinga or lacewood, though pine gets blotchy ime. Just don't linger in one spot too long with the dye and use DNA to blend/pull color as needed, also use less than you think with darker colors, especially purple/black.


Awesome. This'll be fun.


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## Walshy (Nov 11, 2017)

How are you getting on with your Shapeoko now you've had it a while, mate? Just wondering how much maintenance it needs between sessions, if any, and how much time it's saving you with certain processes.

And do you use any kind of dust hood on it when it's running? I imagine it gets real messy otherwise.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 11, 2017)

Walshy said:


> How are you getting on with your Shapeoko now you've had it a while, mate? Just wondering how much maintenance it needs between sessions, if any, and how much time it's saving you with certain processes.
> 
> And do you use any kind of dust hood on it when it's running? I imagine it gets real messy otherwise.


I've not had to do anything, maintenance wise, short of vacuuming it off and tightening some machine screws here and there. They say belt driven machines need maintenance but... I guess it is fine for now?

In terms of dust collection, right now I stand by the thing and vacuum away the chips when it is working through a particularly chip-clearing pass (roughing and outline contour cuts). I just got some materials together to build a dust boot for the spindle, though. That should make things much better.

But yes I love it. I'm able to build things so much more precisely than I would otherwise. And as I get better at modeling it definitely is faster too. It's a lot of fun.

Edit: just looked up some basics and they say vacuum it regularly as well as wipe down the metal with lube, as well as clean your belts. I'll have to do some of that. I'm assuming I'll have to change the belts put at some point too but that shouldn't be too bad. The nice thing about the machine is that if any single part goes bad, replacing it isn't really that big a deal.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 12, 2017)

The dying begins! 




Ill sand this back and do the turquoise and purple next. But oh man does the transtint blue ever look. Good on its own. 

Now I gotta go kill some time playing pubg while I let this soak in and dry.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 12, 2017)

Ohhhhhhhhh yes


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 12, 2017)

[double post]


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 12, 2017)

get to blendin boii


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 12, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> get to blendin boii


Yeah it looks blotchy in that picture, so I went back down and gave it another few passes and blended it through. Looks pretty good. Especially after scraping the binding.

I'll post pictures after it dries and I shoot a coat of clear.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 12, 2017)

Some blending and some clear coat and... 




I'm gonna get banned for spam if I keep posting like this


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## Pikka Bird (Nov 13, 2017)

Dude, badass! I haven't paid attention to ALL the posts in here so pardon me, but- Gloss or satin? And what of the back/sides?

I am waiting anxiously to see that pickup mounting system too. It looks great so far, and I especially dig the multi-binding.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 13, 2017)

Pikka Bird said:


> Dude, badass! I haven't paid attention to ALL the posts in here so pardon me, but- Gloss or satin? And what of the back/sides?
> 
> I am waiting anxiously to see that pickup mounting system too. It looks great so far, and I especially dig the multi-binding.



Gloss for sure. I haven't yet done a perfect gloss and I'm gonna make it happen, dammit!

The back and sides I will probably very lightly stain to add a little warmth, but I want them to contrast the black binding, so I'll keep them pretty light.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 26, 2017)

Flowed some epoxy onto the top (did the back and sides already, though they might need another coat). I love this stuff.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 27, 2017)

Nice job! Do you use Acetone for thinning to spread the epoxy evenly or is that a PU finish that boat builders use?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 27, 2017)

Lemonbaby said:


> Nice job! Do you use Acetone for thinning to spread the epoxy evenly or is that a PU finish that boat builders use?


This is just bar topper finish, so it flows okay on its own. Famowood Glaze Coat


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## pondman (Nov 27, 2017)

That came out really well. Nice one.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 27, 2017)

Thanks guys. Unfortunately there's a blemish to the right of the neck pocket that I'm not gonna be able to fix. It's driving me crazy but I'll just have to live with it. While learning to cut down epoxy drips, I pried a chunk of base coat all the way off, leaving that part paler. 

Live and learn I guess. Turns out rough sandpaper on a big flat block is much better at taking those bumps off than a chisel. Epoxy is just too damn hard for a chisel to work well on.


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## Omzig (Nov 27, 2017)

Wow looks so wet and blue i could dive right in! super work


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 9, 2017)

So. Epoxy is awesome, but it turns out of you don't perfectly follow the mixing instructions, it becomes a thick, perpetually sticky mess that you can't even sand off because it is too sticky.

Put another way, I think my explorer body is ruined.

Ill revisit that shape some other time, but for now I'm dialing it back and I'm gonna build myself a simple oiled guitar that hopefully plays well, because Ive abandoned pretty much every build since my second due to (largely) finishing problems. So let's do this.



Maple top, basswood back. Just like the explorer. I'm doing the same (though modified) flush mount humbucker rings I planned to do on my explorer, too.

I designed this guitar to be comfortable for me. The bigger the arm carve, the better, I find. And the tummy cut causes more problems than it solves IMO. Holding the body as is feels REALLY good. I'm excited. 

I'm just going to do a simple satin oil finish on this. The neck will be bamboo with a purpleheart fretboard. I'll do purpleheart pickup mounts to tie it into the body, and black inlays on the fretboard to tie it into the black hardware.


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## Pikka Bird (Dec 9, 2017)

More Kiesel than Kiesel.


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## odibrom (Dec 9, 2017)

That is some BIG bevel... Do you think you could enhance that "eye" on the bevel?, I think it could become really nice. Not on the drawing an eye over it, but some stain here and there and make it pop a little more above the rest... or then, why not go nuts and make it Sauron's...


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## MikeNeal (Dec 9, 2017)

I love a good bevel every now and then. Excited to see this one finished


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 2, 2018)

How about some post-finish photos?

Just look at that bevel.



Purpleheart neck and fretboard because I found a chunk of quartersawn purpleheart and I just can't leave a simple build alone.



I just learned how to change material appearances in fusion360. Kind of fun.



I'm so excited about this neck I'm going to have to do a few tests before I mill the real thing.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 19, 2018)

So I was milling my purpleheart neck and it was going well. I made a few mistakes but I was able to fix them and move on. Then I spaced and forgot to re zero my x axis after shifting the workpiece. So I ended up with a neck carve that's a little off position.




So that's shot. Bummer too. It was gonna look nice. If anyone wants to try to salvage it let me know. 

But the fretboard went just fine. Need to slot it yet but oh well.




I know, I know. "how could you put those stupid block inlays on that beautiful piece of purpleheart." the answer is because I like em. And purpleheart fretboard blanks are easy to come by in my town, for some reason.

It's kind of cool. You can see the difference in color between the wood where I've milled it and where I haven't. The non milled stuff is oxidized and hence a much richer purple. In time the milled fretboard will take that color too. And then a deep brown.

I needed a neck still, so I thought I'd try the thing I'd been wanting to try for a while: bamboo laminate:




I'm not sure how well it is going to work. It is pretty bendy. But if the truss rod can keep it straight I think it won't warp or anything, since it is so many tiny laminated pieces. The purpleheart fretboard should help with rigidity tho.

Stiff splinters like crazy though. Gonna need a little thicker finish than I was planning.


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## MikeNeal (Jan 20, 2018)

Are you using carbide motion to send your g-code to the machine?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 20, 2018)

MikeNeal said:


> Are you using carbide motion to send your g-code to the machine?


Yep. A little clunky but it works fine for my needs.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 12, 2018)

Taking a slightly different direction.


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## jwade (Feb 22, 2018)

One bevel to rule them all.


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## Omzig (Feb 22, 2018)

Jeff called.....  

Looks pretty sweet though


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 22, 2018)

Omzig said:


> Jeff called.....
> 
> Looks pretty sweet though


I believe the term is "rad"


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## odibrom (Feb 22, 2018)

It looks like you got an eye there at the bevel. How is this project going?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 28, 2018)

odibrom said:


> It looks like you got an eye there at the bevel. How is this project going?


It's going, but taking some time. I've screwed up four necks at this point and in working on my fifth.







Left to right

1. First one I did. Solid purple heart. Was going well until I zeroed the x axis wrong doing the backside and cut the carve about an inch closer to the heel than it was supposed to be. Lesson learned: always double check your zeroing.

2. Second one. This one is actually okay. It's a laminated bamboo neck with a purpleheart fretboard. The glue joint from the neck to the ferret was bad, though, and the neck came out cupped instead of radiused. I used little tacks to keep it from sliding while gluing but because the purplehepurpis so hard they wouldn't go in all the way. So I got a bad glue joint with a big gap. Lesson learned : glue first, machine second. Just like I did when building by hand.

3. This one and the fourth one both use a laminated maple blank I made and a purple heart fretboard (so many trips to the wood store). This one went well until I forgot that I designed my toolpath to use a 1/8 inch bit instead of my usual 1/4 inch for the outline of the fretboard. So I wound up with a fretboard that's a little too narrow and a little too short. Lesson learned : label your toolpaths with the correct tool, not the incorrect ones.

4. This one went perfectly except for two things : my z axis zeroing always ends up lower than I thought, and my fence was slightly off kilter. Result is a neck that is too thin (note the truss rod poking through the back) and with the top and back carves being slightly off - a few mm at the nut and almost nothing at the heel. Lesson learned: zero z on the top of the stock with a light touch, and machine my fence to he perfectly true.

So now my fifth neck should be perfect. Should be.


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## odibrom (Feb 28, 2018)

It will... have faith in yourself.


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## MikeNeal (Feb 28, 2018)

Have you calibrated for belt stretch on the z axis? I had the same problem with the z axis plunging too deep.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 28, 2018)

MikeNeal said:


> Have you calibrated for belt stretch on the z axis? I had the same problem with the z axis plunging too deep.


I haven't. That sounds like exactly my problem. I'll look it up before I continue on number 5.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 6, 2018)

My z axis still needs a little work but I finally got a neck that will work.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 8, 2018)

Now with logo and headstock paint.




God I need to clean my workbench.

Also I can't get a smooth finish on this damn thing. I think I'm gonna have to sand the bejeesus out of it and then just spray it with poly.


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## jwade (Mar 8, 2018)

Love those block inlays.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 12, 2018)

Here's a mock-up. I think I like this thing.




Trying to get a smooth finish between the frets is almost impossible for me. If anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

I just tried folding sandpaper over a sponge block with a sharp corner and that definitely helped. Maybe if I build up the finish enough I can sand it through finer and finer grits and rub it to a nice satin.


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## Randy (Mar 12, 2018)

I'll have what she's having!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 12, 2018)

Randy said:


> I'll have what she's having!



I was about to say "oh man I JUST watched that movie" and then I caught on.


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## dankarghh (Mar 12, 2018)

It's not too late to paint the bevel!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 12, 2018)

dankarghh said:


> It's not too late to paint the bevel!


Not this time


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## MikeNeal (Mar 12, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Here's a mock-up. I think I like this thing.
> 
> View attachment 59673
> 
> ...



I do my finish sanding before installing the frets. Any little touch ups I use a card scraper


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 12, 2018)

MikeNeal said:


> I do my finish sanding before installing the frets. Any little touch ups I use a card scraper



I'll have to try that. I was doing it after for a few reasons:

1. I know fender does it that way
2. The clear coat helps lock in the frets a little more.
3. Filing the fret ends to a bevel I usually sand into the fretboard a little.

What do you do to get around that? Or do you just not use a clearcoat?


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## MikeNeal (Mar 12, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I'll have to try that. I was doing it after for a few reasons:
> 
> 1. I know fender does it that way
> 2. The clear coat helps lock in the frets a little more.
> ...



I just use an oil finish


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## MikeNeal (Mar 12, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I'll have to try that. I was doing it after for a few reasons:
> 
> 1. I know fender does it that way
> 2. The clear coat helps lock in the frets a little more.
> ...



I just use an oil finish


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 12, 2018)

MikeNeal said:


> I just use an oil finish


Like BLO or tung oil or l what? I've used Tru oil before but it is a film finish too, so Id still get ugly wiping marks between my frets. 

Could he my technique sucks. I think my fretboard coats are too thick.


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## MikeNeal (Mar 14, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Like BLO or tung oil or l what? I've used Tru oil before but it is a film finish too, so Id still get ugly wiping marks between my frets.
> 
> Could he my technique sucks. I think my fretboard coats are too thick.



I use either Rubio monocoat or ciranova unico


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 14, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Like BLO or tung oil or l what? I've used Tru oil before but it is a film finish too, so Id still get ugly wiping marks between my frets.
> 
> Could he my technique sucks. I think my fretboard coats are too thick.


I'd say just use watco tung oil or danish oil. i'm thinking of trying to clear coat a fretboard before I fret. I'm sure it'll go poorly but I want to try it.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 4, 2018)

Getting near the finishing line now.




Hopefully those of you who don't like the plain wood bevel are seeing how the whole color scheme ties together now. If not, oh well  

My flush mount pickup "rings" ("cheek blocks" is probably a better term) are looking pretty cool, though I need to update the design a little for fitment.




Also my Duncans apparently didn't come with screws and springs, so I guess I need to order some of those.


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## Spicypickles (Apr 4, 2018)

somewhere, Jeff came.


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## KnightBrolaire (Apr 4, 2018)

Spicypickles said:


> somewhere, Jeff came.


liveoverdrive is the trv bevelking


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 4, 2018)

Next build will just be one big bevel all the way across


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 8, 2018)

She plays! 




Gotta wire it up yet but it plays pretty great. Even with the EB heavy bottom strings I got on clearance for testing projects.

I apparently did my FR route weird tho, and I can't really dive bomb. Gotta clean that out a bit.


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## odibrom (Apr 9, 2018)

Looks pretty nice, congrats.

For the next one, experiment with another similar bevel on the treble side, for a "mirrored" look.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 9, 2018)

odibrom said:


> Looks pretty nice, congrats.
> 
> For the next one, experiment with another similar bevel on the treble side, for a "mirrored" look.



Would look kind of like a Majesty. Which would be pretty okay.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 9, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Would look kind of like a Majesty. Which would be pretty okay.



Maybe I'll do a double bevel model in an Ibanez titanium ice type finish sometime. They have rattle cans of that at my local shop.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 19, 2018)

Well its time I get back to building the guitar for my brother I was going to build last year but never got around to. This'll be the same shape and neck as the one I just finished, but with some updates to the design I'll eventually move back into my floyd model. 


Specs:

6 Strings
Hardtail
H-S pickups
Ash body
Maple neck
Ebony fretboard

He and I are still discussing finishes. Originally it was just going to be a plain satin everywhere, but he really liked the different-colored-bevel thing I did on my own build, so something like that might happen here too (which I know all of you guys will just LOVE)

Pics:




And I have tightened up the heel a bit from my last build (which already had pretty-good upper fret access). This one I think will be SUPER comfortable.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 30, 2018)

I finally tried doing the dye-sand-candypaint method on figured maple and Holy wow.




Purple dye in the figure. Blue tinted epoxy over the top. This is extra nice because epoxy pops the figure more than anything I've ever seen.


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## MikeNeal (Apr 30, 2018)

that looks really good. what epoxy did you use?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 30, 2018)

MikeNeal said:


> that looks really good. what epoxy did you use?


Famowood Glaze Coat. Tried warming the bottles beforehand and that seems to have made it react better than previous times I've used it.

I just got a new brand in today I'm gonna try soon as well.

It also looks like I might be able to resurrect my explorer build with the gummy finish using NG a heat gun. Time will tell.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 4, 2018)

Planning out something new:




Now with a smooth and sexy heel:




Unfortunately all that smooth sexiness makes fusion kind of annoying. I get all kinds of errors when I try to do anything to the neck right now. Which is frustrating as hell. I'm probably doing something wrong. Oh well. Worst case I will do the top routing stuff on a separate-but-same-outline body and just run the toolpaths on the same piece of wood.



I am building this thing to be a studio tool. Its gonna have XLR and balanced TRS outputs for plugging directly into my interface, and I'm trying to make it as comfortable as possible. It'll live full time in my office and I'll use it for recording and general dicking around.


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## crackout (Jun 5, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Planning out something new:



Define 'new'. 

http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/bastet-v2.326570/


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## raytsh (Jun 5, 2018)

Great shape! I like the fusion of traditional Strat and modern ergonomic body shapes. Reminds me of:







See: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/bastet-v2.326570/

Abasi Guitars go in a similar direction in regard to the lower area of the body where the controls are and the area right behind the bridge.






Edit: Well, too slow... Crackout beat me to it.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 5, 2018)

I mean it's not a new concept but it's a new build. The bottom is shaped to sit on my lap how I like it to sit when I'm practicing.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 3, 2019)

Been posting designs on a few threads but here's a headless I'm working on.




Tortoise pickguard. Some kind of dark fretboard. White block inlays. White fretboard binding. 25-26 inch fan.

Its going to have 2 strat pickups and a third hidden under the pickup (not near the strings). There'll be some active electronics onboard that'll use the hum from that third coil to cancel the hum from the other two (but without the extra passive load of a stacked single coil).


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## KR250 (Jan 4, 2019)

Really interesting pickup setup and cool design.... Would love to see how you wire it once complete. Planning to do a dual passive single coil setup soon and extra noise is definitely a concern.


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## ThtOthrPrsn (Jan 4, 2019)

Too much goodness in one thread! I love that bevel and I can't wait to see how this headless turns out!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 5, 2019)

Thanks top. I actually plan on following through on this one so we might see some progress pics soon. And dare I say a video later.



KR250 said:


> Really interesting pickup setup and cool design.... Would love to see how you wire it once complete. Planning to do a dual passive single coil setup soon and extra noise is definitely a concern.



Sure thing. Here's a diagram:


ERRATA: It says R2 = 1/2 * R1. It should read R2 = 2 * R1

Pickups: 3 identical single coils. Use the negative lead of the "hidden" pickup. Hidden pickup should be away from the strings. Not even pointing at them. Mine is going in the control cavity.

Cable sim: this is just a capacitor to ground to simulate a cable connected to a pickup, and give you the response you expect from a pickup. I'll use something between 500 and 1000 pF. This site has some great info on the interaction between the pickup and cable (though they are trying to sell you something) http://zerocapcable.com/?page_id=209

Buffer: now that the passive interaction of cable and pickup is simulated, we do a unity gain buffer so we're not in high-impedance-land anymore. It is possible that this stage can be omitted without too much trouble, since the next stage is active also. I'll have to test.

Noise cancel: this stage is two summing amplifiers - one for each of the "real" pickups. We sum the pickup signal with the negative noise signal from the hidden pickup. I plan to make the summing resistor for the hidden pickup a trim pot so I can dial in exactly the best noise cancelation.

Selector: this is just a summing amplifier with a switch built into it. In the top position, only the neck pickup signal is connected so it acts as a simple unity gain amp (r1/r1). In the middle position, both signals are connected, but through r2 (I have it labeled incorrectly. R2 should be twice r1, not half). This makes it a summing amplifier that gives us the sum of the two signals, reduced by half (so we get roughly the same output level. Nice). Then the bridge position is the same as the neck position but for the bridge.

Vol: this is a volume knob in the usual arrangement. I'll use a similar value to the other resistors in the circuit (20k probably. I have a lot of those). There is a clean buffer after it, to bring this higher impedance signal (because of the volume knob) to a low impedance signal.

Output: the output jack. Got a nice low impedance signal that doesn't have any hum and doesn't care how long a cable you hook it up to (within reason)



So that's how it works. If I drop the initial buffer stage, I should be able to fit this all on a little pcb with only 2 op amp chips on board. That'll be neat.

Let me know if you have any questions.


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 5, 2019)

Oh, I'll also probably do a trim pot before the selector (or just change the resistor values in the selector of the neck pickup) so that the volume levels are balanced between the neck and bridge. Since I'm doing three identical pickups, the neck will probably be louder.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 6, 2019)

I really just can't stay away from surf green.




Still got some work to do on that pickguard shape but it is getting there.


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## Lemonbaby (Jan 7, 2019)

Just out of pure interest: any reason you don't use a differential unity gain buffer for the first stage?


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 7, 2019)

Lemonbaby said:


> Just out of pure interest: any reason you don't use a differential unity gain buffer for the first stage?


You mean across both ends of the pickups or between the signal pickup and the noise cancel pickup? 

Can you do that with a single op amp? Is that just a diff amp? Definitely a good thing to look into. Would love to reduce my part count.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 7, 2019)

Actually I think the best thing to do is to use a single ended unity gain buffer for each pickup, then run all three into a differential amp (the two signals to the additive side with the selector switch arranged as before, and the positive end of the hidden coil to the subtractive side). Add the output buffer and I only need 5 op amps. Not bad.

Or I could just buy two EMG SAs. But where's the fun in that?


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Jan 7, 2019)

so are you basically using the middle coil as a dummy coil to minimize noise?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 7, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> so are you basically using the middle coil as a dummy coil to minimize noise?


Exactly. But actively buffered so it sounds (about) exactly like the bridge or neck alone, rather than like the cocked 2 or 4 position of a strat.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Jan 7, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Exactly. But actively buffered so it sounds (about) exactly like the bridge or neck alone, rather than like the cocked 2 or 4 position of a strat.


why not just use noiseless single coils? the lace ones are pretty good ime.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 7, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> why not just use noiseless single coils? the lace ones are pretty good ime.


Only because I've wanted to try this for a while. And I think it might sound pretty neat.


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Jan 8, 2019)

On the other hand, I'm lying to myself if I say I like single coils more than hums. 




EMG 81 + SA? Yeah I think that'll be okay.


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## Defyantly (Jan 8, 2019)

I'm really starting to dig the hum/s configuration! I say go for it!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 8, 2019)

Picked up a used Ping Floyd and got distracted with another design.




Gibson scale
Top mount blocked floyd
Angled hum bridge (duncan custom/59 - that 1984 sound)
Strat neck pickup
4+2 headstock
Les paul - style selector switch
Probably a maple burl veneer top with a blue-to-white dye fade and cream binding.


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## Omzig (Feb 9, 2019)

Hell yes that floyd tele pushes all my buttons,how about adding a roasted or flame maple neck


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 9, 2019)

Omzig said:


> Hell yes that floyd tele pushes all my buttons,how about adding a roasted or flame maple neck


The neck and/or fretboard might be flamed. Depends on what wood I've got sitting around. 

If I had a source for roasted maple I'd probably do that too.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 10, 2019)

Picked up some mahogany and figured maple veneer (rockler didn't have any burled maple. Oh well). Gonna do something like the PRS blue fade:


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 10, 2019)

Who says you can't finish first? 




The gaps in the veneer kind of suck though. If I do this again I'll glue the veneer before I joint it.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 11, 2019)

Okay, I'm not happy with the veneer. When the epoxy cures I'm going to rip the body in half on my table saw and plane the veneer off and try again. 

This time I'm going to glue the veneer on before jointing the two halves. I'll clamp the veneer sides together while they dry so it's held perfectly flat. That should do the trick. I only hope the blank is wide enough by the time I am done.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 12, 2019)

I was able to cut the guitar body in half down the center line, plane off the bad part in the middle, and rejoin it. Didn't even have to relaminate the veneer. So that's neat.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 12, 2019)

Yeah that's way better. And it is JUST wide enough still.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 26, 2019)

Forgot to mention I screwed this body up. Feeds were too fast I think. That and my dust collector hose disconnected without me realizing it so I had a bunch of chip buildup. Anyway the belts slipped and it the cuts got a little off. Probably salvageable but eh.

Anyway I've decided to do a few builds using cheap woods and just develop my technique some.

Glued up a body blank out of construction lumber on some pipe clamps I got for Xmas. Seven dollars of wood. Not too bad. 




For grins I decided to try baking some maple for a fretboard. It seems to have worked, though I'll only know for sure once I resaw it into two blanks.




Weirdest part is that it shrunk probably 4mm in width. Stayed straight though. 




Not sure I'll do this again. I was sniffling like crazy while it was in the oven. Could have been from shoveling snow earlier but I wouldn't be surprised if baking it gives off nasty stuff my lungs don't like.


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## Defyantly (Feb 27, 2019)

Its very possible that the baking could have done something like that. Did it turn to more of a roasted color? The picture looks like it is more 'aged'.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 27, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> Its very possible that the baking could have done something like that. Did it turn to more of a roasted color? The picture looks like it is more 'aged'.


Definitely came out more dark brown than I expected. I haven't seen a roasted maple neck in person but they've always looked more reddish to my eye. I guess we'll see. 

My main goal was to not have to finish the fretboard. So I'll give that a shot.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 27, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Definitely came out more dark brown than I expected. I haven't seen a roasted maple neck in person but they've always looked more reddish to my eye. I guess we'll see.
> 
> My main goal was to not have to finish the fretboard. So I'll give that a shot.



Gonna rip it and plane it tonight.


----------



## Defyantly (Feb 27, 2019)

Good luck! I agree with what you said. Roasted necks tend to look more reddish to me as well, but it could be a finish/oil that is applied.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 27, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> Good luck! I agree with what you said. Roasted necks tend to look more reddish to me as well, but it could be a finish/oil that is applied.


It is also soft maple rather than sugar maple, so maybe it doesn't work the same.


----------



## Omzig (Feb 27, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Yeah that's way better. And it is JUST wide enough still.
> View attachment 67008



Very nice color blend,and gratz on the rescue ! nothing quite like the feeling you get from fixing a luthiery fuck up


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 27, 2019)

Omzig said:


> Very nice color blend,and gratz on the rescue ! nothing quite like the feeling you get from fixing a luthiery fuck up


Thanks! Sadly I ended up breaking it anyway. Oh well


----------



## Omzig (Feb 27, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Thanks! Sadly I ended up breaking it anyway. Oh well



Dam that kinda sucks but as they say "it's just wood" (& time/mone/ect ect  )


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 27, 2019)

Alright here's what I'm theoretically doing this time. Still got some headless hardware to use. Cheap wood. No truss rod. Just want to give it a shot. Can always remove the hardware.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Feb 27, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Alright here's what I'm theoretically doing this time. Still got some headless hardware to use. Cheap wood. No truss rod. Just want to give it a shot. Can always remove the hardware.
> 
> View attachment 67370


looks like padalka's pluto/ennea or alpher's mako shape


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 27, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> looks like padalka's pluto/ennea or alpher's mako shape


Definitely inspired by Padalka. I threw all the features I wanted together and ended up with something similar to a Pluto. But I'm still tweaking and now its starting to look less like a Pluto and more like a pointy Les Paul.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Feb 27, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Definitely inspired by Padalka. I threw all the features I wanted together and ended up with something similar to a Pluto. But I'm still tweaking and now its starting to look less like a Pluto and more like a pointy Les Paul.


yeah, I know the feeling, there's only so many lines you can pursue if you're building a headless guitar. all my stuff is starting to look like a mix of his neptune design with extra contours


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 28, 2019)

Some changes.




I'm doing the heel by hand, because I can't for the life of me make it happen in fusion 360 without running into weird errors later on. Should be kind of fun to carve anyway.


----------



## Defyantly (Mar 1, 2019)

Its pictures like this that make me really GAS for a extended upperhorn single cut!! Cant wait to see this one built!


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 1, 2019)

Resawed my baked maple. The dark color goes all the way through, so that's good! 




The original piece was straight as an arrow but the two halves bowed opposite each other like crazy. 




Since I'm not doing a truss rod I'm trying to use this to my advantage and glue the concave side toward the back of the neck. Maybe that'll do something good. 




Is vise clamping a bad idea? Probably. Seems okay though. 

Also here's a body blank. It seems fine.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 5, 2019)

God I love watching a model become a real object.


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## KR250 (Mar 5, 2019)

Oh nice!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 6, 2019)

Body is done milling. 




It is somehow way smaller than I expected. It is going to be LIGHT.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 7, 2019)

I screwed up and routed a little bit of the cable jack route away. This wasn't really a problem because the bottom of the route was too thin anyway, and would for sure break down the road. I decided to take a template bit and just trim it through. I like it.




Not sure what to do for finish. I originally planned to do a natural finish to show off the set neck and the pretty pine grain. But now I'm thinking a chameleon paint job would look great on those bevels.

Either way there will be a couple coats of epoxy on top of this pine to give a nice substrate and keep the wood from denting every time I touch it.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 9, 2019)

I haven't done any hand carving since I got my cnc machine. I actually miss it. This is fun as hell.


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## Albake21 (Mar 9, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I haven't done any hand carving since I got my cnc machine. I actually miss it. This is fun as hell.
> 
> View attachment 67634


That's exactly why I don't want to do CNC. I have access to a huge ShopBot but it's just way more enjoyable carving by hand.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 9, 2019)

hand carving contours is definitely my favorite part of building


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 9, 2019)

I think I'm gonna go for a hybrid approach in the future. Or at least on the next build. I've still got my monster pin router, so I think I'll make body templates on my cnc machine and do the heavy lifting with the pin router. 

Necks I'll probably still do on cnc though. It's great for that.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 10, 2019)

I even get to use my scrapers. Real easy and fun on pine. 



Cnc does a bang up job on a neck and fretboard, I gotta say.


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## KR250 (Mar 10, 2019)

Multi-scale fretboards/blind fret ends are reasons alone I'd go for CNC. Looks cool.


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## Bearitone (Mar 11, 2019)

That body shape is rad!

How do you hold down the neck as you do the final outer contour? Vacuum fixturing? Any chance we can get pictures?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 11, 2019)

Bearitone said:


> That body shape is rad!
> 
> How do you hold down the neck as you do the final outer contour? Vacuum fixturing? Any chance we can get pictures?



Nothing so fancy. I just leave tabs to hold it in the blank until it's totally done. Then I band saw it out and clean the tabs off by hand (or with a flush trim router bit when possible).

Here it is before trimming.




I decided not to mill the backside into shape and carve it by hand instead. Was having enough fun with the rear bevel on the body I wanted to push it farther. Also I got a new idea for the neck shape and I want to try it.


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## lewis (Mar 11, 2019)

That body shape is next level.
Seriously awesome.

I would love a cnc machine


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## Bearitone (Mar 11, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Nothing so fancy. I just leave tabs to hold it in the blank until it's totally done. Then I band saw it out and clean the tabs off by hand (or with a flush trim router bit when possible).
> 
> Here it is before trimming.
> 
> ...



Nice! Interesting work flow. What neck profile were you planning on trying? Trapezoidal? Asymmetrical?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 11, 2019)

Bearitone said:


> Nice! Interesting work flow. What neck profile were you planning on trying? Trapezoidal? Asymmetrical?


Both of those things. I was palming just the raw board and I kind of liked it. 

Not doing the offset thing like an endurneck but I am going to try something trapezoidal.


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## Bdtunn (Mar 11, 2019)

I love that body shape!!!!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 12, 2019)

Thanks everyone!

Hoping to get the neck trimmed and glued into the body tonight.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 13, 2019)

Trimmed the neck. For this I decided to get out my old pin router jig. This was fun, but I made a mistake and got some tearout on the head. I think I can fix it but I'll have to be more careful in the future.

Pretty sure what happened is that I trimmed up the whole thickness at once on the end grain. Need to take much shallower cuts. It's been a while.  





This is my first set neck and I think I've already learned a few things for the next time. For one, the next time I do a neck angle I'm going to either use an angled template or angle the workpiece on the table when I route it. To do this one I rounded the edges over. This is fine but I think I'd get a better fit with squared up edges.




Regardless, tomorrow morning I can hold a guitar shaped piece of wood in my hands, so that's pretty exciting!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 14, 2019)

The torn out headstock was bothering me a lot so I went and fixed it last night.

Missing a big chunk on the left:



So I glued a block in place, and I'll use the top of the headstock as a template to trim it later. 



And I'm not sure how good the neck joint is (may not have gotten a tight enough fit in the corners), but the guitar feels GREAT in the hands. This build is supposed to be a practice anyway so I'm trying not to let it bother me too much. If it doesn't turn out great, I'll just build another one.


----------



## Solodini (Mar 14, 2019)

Looking good!


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## sezna (Mar 14, 2019)

That body shape is awesome, and your workflow is interesting and fun to watch. I look forward to seeing this thing come to fruition.

Did I read it right that your fretboard is pine?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 14, 2019)

sezna said:


> That body shape is awesome, and your workflow is interesting and fun to watch. I look forward to seeing this thing come to fruition.
> 
> Did I read it right that your fretboard is pine?


Fretboard is maple. Neck is oak. Body is pine.

Also thanks!


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## sezna (Mar 14, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Fretboard is maple. Neck is oak. Body is pine.
> 
> Also thanks!


My bad. I actually have really wanted to try making something with oak, it seems like it would be very stable (albeit heavy). I'm interested to hear if it is particularly difficult to work with given its hardness.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 14, 2019)

sezna said:


> My bad. I actually have really wanted to try making something with oak, it seems like it would be very stable (albeit heavy). I'm interested to hear if it is particularly difficult to work with given its hardness.


It seems fine so far. Supposed to be about as stiff as hard maple. Carves okay. Tearout can get really ugly on oak though.


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## Lemonbaby (Mar 14, 2019)

I like that Padalka-esque body shape.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 14, 2019)

The glued on piece worked! 




I threw some wood filler in those gaps. Hopefully sanding it down will clean it up. 




Haven't included a full body shot in a while:


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## KR250 (Mar 14, 2019)

Dig the style. Are you carving the neck after doing the glue up?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 14, 2019)

KR250 said:


> Dig the style. Are you carving the neck after doing the glue up?


Yeah. In retrospect maybe not the best idea, since clamping it down would be easier without. But i think it will work fine.


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## KR250 (Mar 14, 2019)

It'll work, I think just different challenges each way. I've found doing the fret work gets tricky on the neck through's so complete that before gluing on the body wings. Same with the set necks, which also gives a chance to test the action height vs bridge to get the right neck angle prior to glue up. Million different ways to do things, I think everyone finds their own path though. Looking forward to seeing this one through.


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## Defyantly (Mar 15, 2019)

Such a sick build! How is the straightness of the neck since it has been worked and had time to rest? Any movement that will be worrisome since your not using a truss rod?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 15, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> Such a sick build! How is the straightness of the neck since it has been worked and had time to rest? Any movement that will be worrisome since your not using a truss rod?



So far it looks fine, but I haven't shaped it yet. I don't plan on going very thin. Hopefully that'll work out. If not.... Well the wood cost a total of about 17 dollars for this build for a reason, so.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


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## Defyantly (Mar 15, 2019)

The figure in that wood so good that i would have never thought it would be so cheap! Any secret wood buying techniques?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 15, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> The figure in that wood so good that i would have never thought it would be so cheap! Any secret wood buying techniques?


Got all this stuff from Menard's (like Home Depot or Lowes). Body is 2x10 construction lumber. Dirt cheap. The oak and maple in this small an amount were very cheap too. At this thickness the oak is about half the price of maple even.


----------



## Defyantly (Mar 15, 2019)

For the 2x10 (I'm assuming pine) did you have them cut it down from an 8ft board or did you buy the whole thing and now you have 2-3 blanks worth?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 15, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> For the 2x10 (I'm assuming pine) did you have them cut it down from an 8ft board or did you buy the whole thing and now you have 2-3 blanks worth?


Grabbed a 4 footer out of the cutoff bin. Getting a full 8 foot would work too. Then I jointed it into a 24"x19" blank. A lot of wasted wood actually, but scrap is always useful.

And yes, southern yellow pine, though it wasn't labeled.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 16, 2019)

Carving. This is fun. So far I've only used chisels.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 16, 2019)

well, MOSTLY used chisels. A bit of scraping and a bit of sanding block. And just a touch of a rasp but the blades have worked better than that so far.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Mar 16, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> well, MOSTLY used chisels. A bit of scraping and a bit of sanding block. And just a touch of a rasp but the blades have worked better than that so far.


Check out the dragon rasp, it's killer, I got rid of all my other rasps besides the shinto rasp because it's so damn good.


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 16, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> Check out the dragon rasp, it's killer, I got rid of all my other rasps besides the shinto rasp because it's so damn good.


I have something like the dragon rasp. Rasps work fine, I just prefer blades because they make chips instead of dust, which bothers my perpetually sweaty hands less. Cut damn fast too. And I get to sharpen them and other such woodworky things. 

If I'm gonna not use my cnc machine I may as well go way off the other end


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 17, 2019)

Done carving and fretting. Mostly. Want to carve the neck a little more though.


----------



## Omzig (Mar 17, 2019)

Dam that's pretty cool!


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 18, 2019)

The farther I get this along the more I want to do a natural finish. But I've got a couple glaringly obvious wood fills in there that might look bad. 

Might still do it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Mar 18, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> The farther I get this along the more I want to do a natural finish. But I've got a couple glaringly obvious wood fills in there that might look bad.
> 
> Might still do it.


shou sugi ban that bitch


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 18, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> shou sugi ban that bitch


Had to look that up. Holy God that's cool


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Mar 18, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Had to look that up. Holy God that's cool


it works really well on pine and ash from what i've seen.


----------



## DudeManBrother (Mar 18, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> it works really well on pine and ash from what i've seen.


I did it to the mahogany strandberg body I built and it turned out cool, though I went for a super distressed finish.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 18, 2019)

Might do a trans finish like this







I already have so many blue and green guitars though.

If I stick to the original plan I'll paint it black and shoot blue/green chameleon paint over that.


----------



## Defyantly (Mar 18, 2019)

The carving on that is gorgeous!! I would say finish it in anyway that highlights that grain! The pine grain the body is extravagant!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 18, 2019)

Thanks! 

I wonder how a dye fade would look along the whole length of the guitar.


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## Defyantly (Mar 18, 2019)

Sick as shit!! Dye the fretboard too!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 18, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> Sick as shit!! Dye the fretboard too!


Never thought of that. Hmmmmmm


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## Defyantly (Mar 18, 2019)

You can do the fretboard dying like kiesel does on their color treated FBs.


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## Defyantly (Mar 18, 2019)

Kinda like this.
View media item 1747PS Sorry for the double post.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 18, 2019)

nah, don't do the fretboard too, unless the figure is super strong. It just ends up looking cheap if you don't have good figuring ime.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 18, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> nah, don't do the fretboard too, unless the figure is super strong. It just ends up looking cheap if you don't have good figuring ime.


It is actually pretty flamed IIRC.

I don't plan on doing it though. I'm gonna see what dyes look like on pine and oak though.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 19, 2019)

Wasn't happy with my frets so I'm redoing them. This time it is going much better. 




This is my first time doing blind ends. Last time I was too generous with my tan nipping. This time I am cutting them JUST to size, I'm gluing them in with pva glue, I'm overbending them beforehand, and I'm seating them by striking the center first. Also I'm using the Jumbo frets I meant to use in stead of the medium ones I used before because I couldn't find the jumbos I had bought the week prior.


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 23, 2019)

Finally got the frets done. Man it took a long time. Finally got into a rhythm by the end though.


----------



## odibrom (Mar 23, 2019)

it's looking awesome...


----------



## IGC (Mar 24, 2019)

Perfect candidate for a Ceruse finishing experiment!

https://m.wikihow.com/Apply-a-Ceruse-Finish


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 24, 2019)

IGC said:


> Perfect candidate for a Ceruse finishing experiment!
> 
> https://m.wikihow.com/Apply-a-Ceruse-Finish


That's cool as hell. Would probably work well on the oak neck but I think the pine body won't take to it very well. Pine is soft but I think the grains is pretty tight.


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 24, 2019)

Well shit. 










Somehow my strings ended up shifted too far left. The neck is a little high too. I might not be able to fix this mistake. 

But that's okay. There's a reason I did this with cheap wood. The good news is the bridges are FANTASTIC. And I actually like the thick neck a lot. 

Time to try again I guess. Gonna change a few process things but overall I think I've got a good design here, and I'm gonna make it work. 

Though I'm tempted to make it a 7 string.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Mar 24, 2019)

just shift the headpieces closer together?


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 24, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> just shift the headpieces closer together?


Yeah that's a good idea. The bridge might still be too low though.


----------



## KnightBrolaire (Mar 24, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Yeah that's a good idea. The bridge might still be too low though.


you could always make a shim for the baseplates in that case.


----------



## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 24, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> you could always make a shim for the baseplates in that case.


Stop making sense! 

Yeah it can probably be fixed. I'm a bit frustrated though because I honestly don't know where I went wrong. Probably didn't zero the machine between steps at some point.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 24, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Stop making sense!
> 
> Yeah it can probably be fixed. I'm a bit frustrated though because I honestly don't know where I went wrong. Probably didn't zero the machine between steps at some point.


something ALWAYS goes wrong with building ime. Even with a guitar like my blue sparkle tele, where the majority of the build was pretty smooth. I had to wait 3 weeks to get a tele control plate I ordered, and then a piece of the wenge neck chipped off while I was installing the nut, so I just spent the last couple of hours fixing that. Then my RFR tele got a big chip in the back, so I have to fix that as well


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## MikeNeal (Mar 24, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Stop making sense!
> 
> Yeah it can probably be fixed. I'm a bit frustrated though because I honestly don't know where I went wrong. Probably didn't zero the machine between steps at some point.



I always confirm my zero before every single operation. Have you checked the calibration of your machine at all lately?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 24, 2019)

MikeNeal said:


> I always confirm my zero before every single operation. Have you checked the calibration of your machine at all lately?


Yep. I did have to reset between a couple operations. Maybe that screwed it up. Not sure.


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## Solodini (Mar 25, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Well shit.
> 
> View attachment 67960
> 
> ...




I like the positivity and willingness to continue.


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## Defyantly (Mar 25, 2019)

I agree with knightbrolaire saying that you might be able to just move the headpieces closer together and shim the bridges. other than that this build is pretty awesome even saying that you just did it for fun and used cheap materials. You definitely could ceruse finish this as well. It might just take some time to open up the pine grain. a wire brush will do that job nicely.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 25, 2019)

Thanks.

Moving the stuff over might work, but it'll be tough. I'd have to fill the holes for both the bridge and headpieces and them redrill them 1 or 2 mm to the right. I could maybe do it with a template I suppose. 

That said there's a few things I want to change. I want to put a nut above the zero fret. These string clamps aren't quite enough to space the strings side to side. So that'll require a little bit of a redesign (which I've already modeled up in CAD).

This build was good practice regardless. My fretting technique is WAY better now. Same with carving and scraping and stuff. If I start from scratch I think it will go very well.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 25, 2019)

Alright let's do it again. Gluing up a body blank. Construction lumber again, this time with a thin, bookmatched oak top. Should look nice with the bevels and stuff. Gonna carve all of those by hand this time.


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## Defyantly (Mar 26, 2019)

Dude I'm quite jealous of how fast you can crank these out! Pretty soon your gonna have a collection like Pondman!


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## KR250 (Mar 27, 2019)

I've made the same mistake before and now always do a test fitment with bridge and strings (or mockup) before gluing on the neck or routing for the bridge. In your case might be easiest to route out the neck pocket depth manually to get the height right, and then also horizontally to angle/shift the neck for string alignment and then glue in some shims. Then you'll also have a template to compare against when you do the next version.

EDIT: NM, moving that glued neck is probably not going to work. Following along for V2!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 27, 2019)

KR250 said:


> I've made the same mistake before and now always do a test fitment with bridge and strings (or mockup) before gluing on the neck or routing for the bridge. In your case might be easiest to route out the neck pocket depth manually to get the height right, and then also horizontally to angle/shift the neck for string alignment and then glue in some shims. Then you'll also have a template to compare against when you do the next version.
> 
> EDIT: NM, moving that glued neck is probably not going to work. Following along for V2!


That's a good idea. All the carving happens after it is glued in so next time I could definitely test fit before I glue. Thanks for the tip.


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## Defyantly (Mar 28, 2019)

Where did you find bookmatched oak? Did you buy it from a lumber yard or big box store?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 28, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> Where did you find bookmatched oak? Did you buy it from a lumber yard or big box store?


Bought a 1x8 at a big box store (menard's) and resawed it on my band saw. It is definitely underpowered for that job but it can get it done. Might do it by hand next time though.


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## Defyantly (Mar 28, 2019)

You have a band saw with atleast an 8" resaw depth? Damn! Those are definitely not in my budget....


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 28, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> You have a band saw with atleast an 8" resaw depth? Damn! Those are definitely not in my budget....


It's actually just a cheap old 3/4hp craftsman one with a 30 dollar resaw blade. You can find them used for like 100 bucks. I inherited mine from my grandpa.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 28, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> You have a band saw with atleast an 8" resaw depth? Damn! Those are definitely not in my budget....


 do the resawing the hoodrat way (table saw makes as deep of cuts as possible, finish the cuts with hand saw or sawzall). If you're a masochist you could just do the resawing all by hand. I prefer the table saw/sawzall method, but it's also pretty easy to buy pre-bookmatched pieces


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 28, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> do the resawing the hoodrat way (table saw makes as deep of cuts as possible, finish the cuts with hand saw or sawzall). If you're a masochist you could just do the resawing all by hand. I prefer the table saw/sawzall method, but it's also pretty easy to buy pre-bookmatched pieces


I've done that for a neck blank before. It works. The kerf is so wide though that if you're trying to do figured maple or something it might not match up that well. 

Then again if I'm not careful my bandsaw blade wanders just as much. 

Might try the by hand method.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 28, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I've done that for a neck blank before. It works. The kerf is so wide though that if you're trying to do figured maple or something it might not match up that well.
> 
> Then again if I'm not careful my bandsaw blade wanders just as much.
> 
> Might try the by hand method.


by hand is very, very tedious. Even with my dozuki saw it took ages to cut a bookmatched top and that thing rips through wood normally.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 28, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> by hand is very, very tedious. Even with my dozuki saw it took ages to cut a bookmatched top and that thing rips through wood normally.


Well I'll just stick to the band saw then. It does better on maple than on oak anyway. Soft maple.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 28, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Well I'll just stick to the band saw then. It does better on maple than on oak anyway. Soft maple.


yeah, I was hand sawing quilted maple. with soft maple or walnut it's not as bad.


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## Defyantly (Mar 28, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> by hand is very, very tedious. Even with my dozuki saw it took ages to cut a bookmatched top and that thing rips through wood normally.


 I have no problem getting a clean cut when hand sawing my problems are that i don't have the best workstation to hold the workpiece steady while sawing and i tend to wander. So my cuts are clean and this but either tend to wave in the middle or not follow my line.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 31, 2019)

I decided to try to fix the alignment instead. I think I've finally got it right. Made an ABS baseplate for the bridge and moved the string locks on the head north and east a little. The low e is still closer to the edge than I'd like but I think it is playable. I think my neck is just a little too narrow to be honest. 




BUT I think I can make this thing play. So that's good. I'll finish it up and then I'll think about building a MK2 model.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 2, 2019)

So it turns out my neck is about 1.5mm narrower than it is supposed to be. I remember cutting closer than I meant to with my pin router so that's probably what did it. That's gonna be tough-to-impossible to get usable, so I'm gonna start over after all.


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## Defyantly (Apr 2, 2019)

Is the string spacing to far off or the end strings to close to the edge?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 2, 2019)

The strings are too close to the edge. I mean I think it could be playable but it would be kind of a pain.


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## Defyantly (Apr 2, 2019)

Yeah i do see that could be a problem..oh well..crank out another one! I mean, this one only took you like a couple days to do right?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 2, 2019)

I'm leaning toward more of a skervesen shoggie shape now. I have the attention span of a fly.


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## Defyantly (Apr 2, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I'm leaning toward more of a skervesen shoggie shape now. I have the attention span of a fly.


 Same here. I think it is just a musician thing. We see new shapes and we are like..."oooh pretty, i want one"


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 2, 2019)

Heheh

Hahah

Hahahahhahahah

I just realized this body shape with the contours fits onto my ruined mahogany tele body from earlier.




The contours cut in already will be carved away by the bevels.


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## KR250 (Apr 2, 2019)

Is there any way to adjust string spacing on the headless hardware, or is it limited by its own width? I have a Jackson that has really narrow string spacing similar to a 6 string. It could be a "feature"


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 3, 2019)

Some wood selection. Time to finally try out this richlite stuff. 




Also figured mahogany because why not.


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## Defyantly (Apr 3, 2019)

That black looks good against the blue! Whats the mahogany gonna go towards?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 3, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> That black looks good against the blue! Whats the mahogany gonna go towards?


The neck. Mahogany body and neck. Hope it sounds good with the nazgul/sentient set I'm putting in.

I'm also going to break down and put in a truss rod. If I'm using nice woods I better not take any stupid chances. That's what the budget Build Challenge is for. Still making it an inch thick though.


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## KnightBrolaire (Apr 3, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> The neck. Mahogany body and neck. Hope it sounds good with the nazgul/sentient set I'm putting in.
> 
> I'm also going to break down and put in a truss rod. If I'm using nice woods I better not take any stupid chances. That's what the budget Build Challenge is for. Still making it an inch thick though.


I like the nazgul for chugs/br00tz, I had one in an all mahogany schecter and it kicked ass. sentient blows though.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 3, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> I like the nazgul for chugs/br00tz, I had one in an all mahogany schecter and it kicked ass. sentient blows though.


Isn't it a lot like a jazz? I like those okay. Regardless I've got them so I'll use them but I can certainly swap it out for a paf pro if it sucks. 

The paf pro is of course the one true perfect neck humbucker and I don't know why I bother with anything else.


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## KnightBrolaire (Apr 3, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Isn't it a lot like a jazz? I like those okay. Regardless I've got them so I'll use them but I can certainly swap it out for a paf pro if it sucks.
> 
> The paf pro is of course the one true perfect neck humbucker and I don't know why I bother with anything else.


i don't really have any experience with the jazz, so I can't say. All i know is that it was bright and spiky sounding for leads, which is why I hated it, since I tend to prefer warmer smooth sounding shred friendly neck pickups (like the 59 or alnico II). I only liked it for cleans and some chordal work.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 3, 2019)

Milled the body. I love the blue and mahogany contrast. 




The route through the upper horn is too deep. I'm gonna have to fill it with something. Mayyyyybe wood. Probably more like black epoxy.


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## Defyantly (Apr 3, 2019)

I'm not really sure what is happening here?!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 3, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> I'm not really sure what is happening here?!


So a month or so ago I milled a tele body but the bit crashed and ruined it. However I figured out I can fit this body on the wood and all the routes will be hidden by contours. Though not quite as the route through the neck pocket is too deep. But I'll make that work somehow.


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## KR250 (Apr 3, 2019)

I actually like the Sentient in the neck position for cleans, but that's about it. FWIW I also spaced it pretty close to the strings to get a hot sound out of it. Agree on the Nazgul for hugs and searing leads. I found the Instrumental pickups a bit more articulate and refined, but not quite as all out nasty.


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## MoonJelly (Apr 4, 2019)

@KR250 Never go to a Nazgul for hugs


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## KR250 (Apr 4, 2019)

lol, meant "chugs".


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## Solodini (Apr 4, 2019)

KR250 said:


> lol, meant "chugs".



Aw, that's disappointing. I've always though my pickups were lacking a little affection.


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## BlackMastodon (Apr 8, 2019)

Shit, sorry to hear about the original neck. I was looking forward to seeing the finished product, and I really loved the lines and carves of the body, especially with the grain of the pine. I really wish pine wasn't so soft because it could look awesome with the right grain and could make for nice guitar bodies.


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## LiveOVErdrive (May 31, 2020)

I haven't built any guitar stuff in a year. But my dad got me a big chunk of figured walnut for my birthday back in February, and lately I kind of NEED a telecaster, so... Here we go.





No pickguard. Too much figure for that. White binding tho.


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## LiveOVErdrive (May 31, 2020)

Oh this is gonna be pretty.


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## redkombat (May 31, 2020)

KnightBrolaire said:


> by hand is very, very tedious. Even with my dozuki saw it took ages to cut a bookmatched top and that thing rips through wood normally.


 I tend to do most my cuts by hand if I know the angles are going to be tedious or if the cuts are to be deep. jealous of the dozuki saw, that would be real nice for the amount of cuts I do by hand


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## KnightBrolaire (May 31, 2020)

redkombat said:


> I tend to do most my cuts by hand if I know the angles are going to be tedious or if the cuts are to be deep. jealous of the dozuki saw, that would be real nice for the amount of cuts I do by hand


they're relatively cheap tbh. I think I paid 30 usd for mine.


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## redkombat (Jun 1, 2020)

KnightBrolaire said:


> they're relatively cheap tbh. I think I paid 30 usd for mine.


30 isn't bad iive only seen them for 45 here. I use a $12 miller and a $20 silkie with replacement blades. book matching by hand always feels rewarding when you're done but it is always hard work


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 2, 2020)

I test fitted the bridge on the body and it looks like it overhangs the bridge pickup route a little bit. I think I may have placed the pickup a little too close.

I placed the mounting holes a quarter inch south of the scale length 0 position, per stewmac. That feels a bit too far north tbh. It puts the middle of the saddle adjustment a little further north than the 0 position, which seems wrong. I think I will move the bridge a bit south before I mount it up and that'll solve both my problems. Thankfully the original pilot holes will be hidden under the bridge plate.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 3, 2020)

Got my pickups. Ohhh I'm excited. Gotta clean up the edges and back, put on the binding, and make myself a neck!


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## dmlinger (Jun 3, 2020)

Nice! Looks to be a top load bridge? Or do you plan to do string through body?

How you plan to attack the neck pocket being so long?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 3, 2020)

dmlinger said:


> Nice! Looks to be a top load bridge? Or do you plan to do string through body?
> 
> How you plan to attack the neck pocket being so long?


The bridge is an either-or type and I'm going to top load it for the ease of it. 

The neck pocket is super long because I'm going to do a set neck and carve it to a smooth transition. So I just gave myself a bunch of material to work with. Let's me play with my chisels more.


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## dmlinger (Jun 4, 2020)

Oh man, do love a set neck T!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 4, 2020)

dmlinger said:


> Oh man, do love a set neck T!


Me too! I fell in love with a semihollow set neck Chapman Tele with p90s and unfortunately didn't get a chance to buy it a while back. Originally I was gonna do this one with p90s but then I used those in my strat so.... Standard Tele!

Never owned a tele of any kind so I'm excited.


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## dmlinger (Jun 4, 2020)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Me too! I fell in love with a semihollow set neck Chapman Tele with p90s and unfortunately didn't get a chance to buy it a while back. Originally I was gonna do this one with p90s but then I used those in my strat so.... Standard Tele!
> 
> Never owned a tele of any kind so I'm excited.



Definitely my favorite design! Excited to see where this one goes


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## electriceye (Jun 5, 2020)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> View attachment 81447
> 
> Got my pickups. Ohhh I'm excited. Gotta clean up the edges and back, put on the binding, and make myself a neck!



Did you place it with the neck on and nut in place? I wouldn't place it without doing that.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 5, 2020)

electriceye said:


> Did you place it with the neck on and nut in place? I wouldn't place it without doing that.



I originally placed it via cnc and was going to measure backward from there. You make a good point though, especially with a set neck, so I'll wait to place it until I have my neck on.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 6, 2020)

I had plans to get a bunch done tonight but then I spent like two hours sanding the side of the body.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 8, 2020)

Binding accomplished. This gave me more trouble than I remember on the last few I've done. I think a small brush is vital when using acetone. Bend with a heat gun, wet the binding and the wood liberally. Press together like hell.


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## KR250 (Jun 8, 2020)

Looks nice! I have yet to do acetone for binding but seems the preferred choice. My last go at binding was wicking in super thin CA glue after I had it all taped up.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 8, 2020)

KR250 said:


> Looks nice! I have yet to do acetone for binding but seems the preferred choice. My last go at binding was wicking in super thin CA glue after I had it all taped up.


How did that work? Seels like it might be a little easier in some ways.


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## KR250 (Jun 8, 2020)

Seemed to work pretty well. I think in the end it works in a similar fashion, but setting the binding up first with tape was certainly less stressful.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 10, 2020)

What are everyone's favored binding gap-filling techniques? I have a couple that need fixed. I am leaning toward dissolving some binding scraps in acetone to make a putty and filling gaps with that. Though there is one small spot where there was tearout, so I think I'll want to use a wood dust and solarez combo to fill it.


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## KR250 (Jun 10, 2020)

Word of warning with Solarez, I wouldn't use it anywhere it can't get proper light exposure or you'll have a goopy mess that will never cure. Don't ask me how I know..... almost ruined a nice top. It works great for a thin sanding sealer, but not for anything porous.

I'm giving a gap fix a try with just regular wood glue and wood dust/shavings. Will see how that turns out.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 10, 2020)

KR250 said:


> Word of warning with Solarez, I wouldn't use it anywhere it can't get proper light exposure or you'll have a goopy mess that will never cure. Don't ask me how I know..... almost ruined a nice top. It works great for a thin sanding sealer, but not for anything porous.
> 
> I'm giving a gap fix a try with just regular wood glue and wood dust/shavings. Will see how that turns out.


Thanks for the warning. I will try acetone and abs then.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 10, 2020)

KR250 said:


> Word of warning with Solarez, I wouldn't use it anywhere it can't get proper light exposure or you'll have a goopy mess that will never cure. Don't ask me how I know..... almost ruined a nice top. It works great for a thin sanding sealer, but not for anything porous.
> 
> I'm giving a gap fix a try with just regular wood glue and wood dust/shavings. Will see how that turns out.



I tried out solarez on a scrap piece and it did not work nearly as well as advertised. Definitely having the same experience as you that it has to be SUPER thin to cure right.

So I'm just gonna do shellac on this project. It's what I wanted to do from the start. Why do anything different?

I will keep experimenting with the solarez tho. Maybe get a small UV lamp. I was trying to cure it with evening sun so it might not have been strong enough. Of course the sun of any kind is a lot stronger than lamps I think.


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## KR250 (Jun 10, 2020)

I've had really good results with the "I can't believe it's not lacquer" grain filler. I use an old T-shirt to wipe it on thin then cure in direct sun for 1-3 min (or like 10 if it's cloudy - evening sun is pushing it, it really needs to be strong UV), then sand with 400 grit. It builds quickly and does a fantastic job for that purpose or as a base for a hybrid finish, so you could try the shellac over the top if you need grain filling. I tried the gloss version but could not get it to look right as a final finish due to the layering becoming visible when wet sanding. 

But stick with what works! I'm trying out yet another finishing product (acrylic lacquer), but keep going back to oil where I can for the same reasons.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 10, 2020)

KR250 said:


> I've had really good results with the "I can't believe it's not lacquer" grain filler. I use an old T-shirt to wipe it on thin then cure in direct sun for 1-3 min (or like 10 if it's cloudy - evening sun is pushing it, it really needs to be strong UV), then sand with 400 grit. It builds quickly and does a fantastic job for that purpose or as a base for a hybrid finish, so you could try the shellac over the top if you need grain filling. I tried the gloss version but could not get it to look right as a final finish due to the layering becoming visible when wet sanding.
> 
> But stick with what works! I'm trying out yet another finishing product (acrylic lacquer), but keep going back to oil where I can for the same reasons.


Thanks very much for the tips. I'll have to try the cloth.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 11, 2020)

Man oh man. The ABS-acetone slurry worked PERFECTLY to fill the gaps.

I have a couple more to fill in the body though. Two are tiny knots and the other is a little bit of tearout behind the binding. 

Not really sure what to use. CA glue might work but I'm not sure how good it is filling a volume, even a small one. 

I could try solarez too but I'll have to do more testing before I'm totally confident in it.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 13, 2020)

Got my gaps filled and couldn't resist a little French polish. Ooh baby.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 13, 2020)

With binding do people typically run a tiny radius round over bit around the edge to smooth it out or what? Just a little sanding?


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## crackout (Jun 14, 2020)

I only round it off with sandpaper.


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## electriceye (Jun 20, 2020)

Ok, the difference between raw walnut and finished is astounding!!! I have a couple of book matched tops I cut from sale pieces at a woodworking store last year. I can't wait to see how they're going to look after seeing yours!!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 20, 2020)

electriceye said:


> Ok, the difference between raw walnut and finished is astounding!!! I have a couple of book matched tops I cut from sale pieces at a woodworking store last year. I can't wait to see how they're going to look after seeing yours!!


Probably amazing. God a book match would look so good. I'm really looking forward to finishing this thing but I really need to wait until my neck is done and glued up. One advantage of bolt-ons there. 

In update news: I glued up a laminate neck blank. I'll be milling that probably next week. We have a foster dog this week so she's taking up most of my time.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Aug 12, 2020)

Wasn't going to use a full Tele bridge or pickguard but... I'm going to.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 12, 2020)

Without a doubt one of the most gorgeous tele bodies I've ever seen. Great choice on the pick-guard... really compliments the binding and overall aesthetics.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Aug 12, 2020)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Without a doubt one of the most gorgeous tele bodies I've ever seen. Great choice on the pick-guard... really compliments the binding and overall aesthetics.



Thank you so much! The walnut is just to die for. This will actually be my first Tele. I'm excited to play it.


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## KnightBrolaire (Aug 12, 2020)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Wasn't going to use a full Tele bridge or pickguard but... I'm going to.
> 
> View attachment 83714


is that Tejas hardware?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Aug 12, 2020)

KnightBrolaire said:


> is that Tejas hardware?


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYM3D5J/?tag=sevenstringorg-20

It is "WANBY" (?) brand. I'm gonna swap the saddles for machined ones.


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## KnightBrolaire (Aug 12, 2020)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYM3D5J/?tag=sevenstringorg-20
> 
> It is "WANBY" (?) brand. I'm gonna swap the saddles for machined ones.


ah, looks just like the Tejas stuff that Dean Zelinsky sells.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Aug 12, 2020)

KnightBrolaire said:


> ah, looks just like the Tejas stuff that Dean Zelinsky sells.


Probably a knockoff I guess. Didn't know the original existed. Cool looking anyway. 

I am not sure why the saddles are roller saddles since it's a hard tail. I'd rather have plain machined ones though.


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## Mr_Mar10 (Aug 13, 2020)

Stunning so far dude! Look forward to seeing the progress


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## Omzig (Aug 13, 2020)

Ive just used a similar bridge for a tele build im finishing up for my dad, only issue with mine was that the saddle block bolt holes and back string pass through holes had been miss drilled/interchanged so the saddles didn't sit directly over the through body holes (which i needed to use) but 3mm to the side of each....good job that moneky metal crap drill out so easy..

Super work Btw,seems a Shame to cover the "black hole" feature spot with a guard,had you thought about maybe cutting a clear guard for it?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Aug 13, 2020)

Omzig said:


> Ive just used a similar bridge for a tele build im finishing up for my dad, only issue with mine was that the saddle block bolt holes and back string pass through holes had been miss drilled/interchanged so the saddles didn't sit directly over the through body holes (which i needed to use) but 3mm to the side of each....good job that moneky metal crap drill out so easy..
> 
> Super work Btw,seems a Shame to cover the "black hole" feature spot with a guard,had you thought about maybe cutting a clear guard for it?



I originally intended to leave it naked but I just really like the black on there. It just looks kind of blah without it to me now.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 12, 2021)

So its about time I finish this damn thing. Here's the plan now:


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 12, 2021)

... And I'm actually working on it. About to take my glued fretboard out of the clamps. Nice to have the truss rod done. That's always my least favorite part.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 12, 2021)

Well I fucked up the neck. You can't really see it in the Pic but somehow my stock was at a slight angle when I milled this part, so now it's all askew and unfixable.




So I guess I'm gonna have a mahogany neck now. That'll kinda match the walnut.




I may scrap the binding as well. The channel is proving to be kind of a pain to mill, and I might use a cool piece of bocote for the fretboard anyway so... We'll see.

Who am I kidding. I love binding.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 13, 2021)

New Plan


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## dmlinger (Sep 13, 2021)

Dang, man, sorry about the screw up on the neck. Hurts to have wasted the time milling everything. I used to run the neck "shaft" on a separate operation than the fretboard, and then glue them together afterwards. 

Now I run the "top" of my neck which is just a pass for the truss rod channel and an offset 1mm deep outline of the neck perimeter. It also has index/locator pins. Then I flip it over on the same index pins and run the "back" which is the neck profile. 

Once the shaft is cut, I take the neck off, insert the rod, and glue on my fretboard. Then I can put it back on my machine where the index pins are, and mill all of the fretboard operations. 

Sorry to hijack, but wanted to share a way to think about milling that could possibly help figure a way to minimize alignment issues.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 13, 2021)

dmlinger said:


> Dang, man, sorry about the screw up on the neck. Hurts to have wasted the time milling everything. I used to run the neck "shaft" on a separate operation than the fretboard, and then glue them together afterwards.
> 
> Now I run the "top" of my neck which is just a pass for the truss rod channel and an offset 1mm deep outline of the neck perimeter. It also has index/locator pins. Then I flip it over on the same index pins and run the "back" which is the neck profile.
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing. I use a fence for alignment and something went wrong with my last setup. Still not totally sure. It was some kind of angle issue. I think my fence had something wedged in it.

My process for this neck will be four setups total, which is a lot of chances to screw up. I do the truss rod channel, then glue it in, then do the fretboard inlays, then glue them in, then radius the fretboard and mill the headstock, then flip it and do the back.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 13, 2021)

Did some work over lunch. Gotta say I'm pretty happy that I messed up my last neck.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 16, 2021)

Putting the radius on a fretboard with inlays is just so satisfying.




Can't wait to wham these two together.


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## dmlinger (Sep 16, 2021)

Hell yea, man! That neck has style! The grain on that top is mesmerizing, especially the "rings of Saturn" area on top. Lots to love about this build so far.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 16, 2021)

dmlinger said:


> Hell yea, man! That neck has style! The grain on that top is mesmerizing, especially the "rings of Saturn" area on top. Lots to love about this build so far.


Thank you! Yeah I really love this piece of walnut. It was a birthday gift from my dad a couple years ago. He also gave me some nice cherry that I'll have to make another build out of soon.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 17, 2021)

Yassss


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 17, 2021)

Ahh I screwed up the alignment again apparently. I think it's time I figured out using pins for alignment. Any tips from other cnc users?


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## Randy (Sep 17, 2021)

What's off?


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 17, 2021)

Randy said:


> What's off?


When I flipped it over to do the backside I ended up with the back being shifted like 3mm to the side with respect to the fretboard.






To align between setups I always drill a hole through the stock and zero to that hole in whatever side I'm on. So either my drill press is off, or I wasn't holding it square when I drilled it (likely), or I made a mistake zeroing it (also likely). I'll have to do a post mortem and measure the squareness of the zero hole. As well as my cnc and my drill press.


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## Randy (Sep 17, 2021)

Ah gotcha.

Yeah it's really a matter of workflow. Everyone's got their own strategies but it's relative to how you design your stuff. It gets tough because you can find something one person does that's genius but the designs they go after are different, so it wouldn't work for you etc.

So yeah, that's kind like, the $64,000 question because really everyone's got that problem to some degree.

For myself, I toolpath everything relative the left edge, center of stock (most of the time) and I set my stock with zero offset from the model size. Then I draw a centerline on my stock, and I always have templates for my models so I'll trace that onto the stock (which is actually usually a little larges than my finished model but not much). I resurface often and use a 60 degree bit to scribe a grid onto my spoilboard, and lock all my stuff down aligned with that line.




That usually covers most of it. I've got a centerline marking jig thingy, so the top and bottom always match eachother close enough on the flip and of course I always keep a very sharp pencil around. With that setup (as long as I'm not drunk  ) I'm usually within fractions of mm, which is honestly within spec/tolerance even in something mass produced IME.

I've used that approach for enough stuff I'm comfortable with it but if I have something that's Uber precise on the flip, I'll do all my zeroing using a 60 degree bit so I have a very precise zero point XY, then I'll home it and switch to my cutter (usually a 1/4 square) and rezero the Z.

Even then though it's an imperfect science. I pick my projects and do my toolpaths avoiding flips as much as possible or trying to do as much as I can on one side and be mindful of trying to make side B all stuff that visually you won't notice even if it were off.

An example would be a telecaster project I did last fall, I did ALL the carving from the back as well the contour/cutout, then did the flip but I did my toolpaths so that the truss rod was relative to where the truss rod starts, and the headstock recess/sculpt relative to the edge of the headstock and with some stock left. So the result, even of the truss rod doesn't track 100% by the time it makes it to the end, the only visible part is the beginning which is dead nuts on since you started there, doesn't matter if it drifts 1/4 of a degree because that's under the board. Headstock carve could be off by a tiny bit but that last 1/8" transition is getting belt sander anyway, and there's no contouring in that procedure so if it carves 1mm off from the reverse side, you can still sand/scrape to match.

I didn't get a close look at your original design, I don't think I'd have attempted the neck in one piece with a binding that's I had to flop to achieve, I'd probably have resawn the fret board from the same plank as the neck so you get the look visually but you can just subtract a little radius on the fretboard contour to offset for the binding and just hand fit it.

But if you do have a good centering/zeroing workflow, it could work. I've done some binding on flip stuff but even on my best day, I wouldn't say you can trust it to work more than maybe 1/2 of 2/3? The stock can shift or wobble just enough to throw the whole thing off pretty easily.

Specific to the Shapeoko, make sure your machine is going back to exact zero every time. I get some micro skips/binding when I get sawdust buildup. I think sometimes it just goes dumb or maybe has voltage drop or something and can be off a little or a lot. If I'm doing something where front/back is super important, I'll return to zero and fine tune a LOT.

If you decide to do the leveling/scribing thing, make sure to remove the bed legs. The middle of the bed sags, on its own and worse when you have weight on it. No idea why there isn't a middle bed support but if you take the legs off, its very close to perfectly flat and the facing doesn't have to take as much material off to get 100%


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 17, 2021)

Randy said:


> Ah gotcha.
> 
> Yeah it's really a matter of workflow. Everyone's got their own strategies but it's relative to how you design your stuff. It gets tough because you can find something one person does that's genius but the designs they go after are different, so it wouldn't work for you etc.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for the tips. I'll have to use some of that. I have a fence along the back that I have machined square. I just saw from another video that I could be zeroing another axis off the side of the stock...Can't believe I didn't think of that.

I think one thing I really need to get better at is prepping and squaring my stock. I'll just jog the machine to do it manually.

And thanks especially for the tip of taking the legs off. I wonder if my bed is sagging. Probably is.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 18, 2021)

My fence wasn't square! That'll do it. 

Squared it up, then did it again and leveled my surface too. Let's hope this helps with alignment.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 21, 2021)

Cleaned up my model and tool paths, added a headstock inlay. Go time for neck 3.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 25, 2021)

I think I got it this time.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 26, 2021)

After sanding, the neck binding on one side is a little too thin. It isn't a problem, beyond fine cosmetics, but it has me thinking there has got to be a better way.

The only thing I can really think of is doing what @Randy alluded to before and milling the fretboard and neck separately and gluing up later. That's.... Actually probably a great idea. I'm just gunshy since the only time I tried that before, it didn't glue up flat.


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## Randy (Sep 26, 2021)

Now that you've got your fence square and your bed leveled, that should help. I also run a second spoilboard on top just for fretboards. I run it along the bottom edge of the machine since that area has the least flex. Any bed sag will make the "flat" surfaces of the fretboard cupped when you go to glue up to an actual flat surface.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 26, 2021)

Randy said:


> Now that you've got your fence square and your bed leveled, that should help. I also run a second spoilboard on top just for fretboards. I run it along the bottom edge of the machine since that area has the least flex. Any bed sag will make the "flat" surfaces of the fretboard cupped when you go to glue up to an actual flat surface.


Good tips. Per your warning I reinforced the center of my bed and then machined it flat so hopefully that will help. Squaring things up definitely helped, but since the binding is only 1.5mm thick, even a half a mm error will be noticeable in the binding. I think a three setup process with a separate fretboard should help a lot since aligning that part will just be a matter of gluing straight. And I wont have any flat edges meeting halfway from two setups.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 27, 2021)

All sanded and fitted up. Just want to put the frets in and then it's time to glue it up and carve the neck heel.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 2, 2021)

Neck is glued. I used Dowels to line it up and keep it from slipping while clamping and it worked amazingly well. 

Stainless frets are in. They ended up being a lot easier to work with than I expected. The stewmac fret clipper has been amazing. That and grinding down the rest of the tang edges on my bench grinder.

Now it's time to carve the neck heel. This is a pain in the ass. The other sides of the body keep getting in the way of my rasps and I have to be careful chiseling so I don't hit the neck with an errant slip. Also this walnut is hard as hell. Looking pretty good tho.


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## dmlinger (Oct 2, 2021)

Carving is so tedious! It's looking good.

How much are you planning on taking the heel down? I'd personally like to see it turn out like how LTD does the heel on their Eclipse where it is basically no "heel."


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 2, 2021)

dmlinger said:


> Carving is so tedious! It's looking good.
> 
> How much are you planning on taking the heel down? I'd personally like to see it turn out like how LTD does the heel on their Eclipse where it is basically no "heel."


That's more or less what I'm going for. I need to do some measurement to make sure I won't cut through to my Dowels though. I want a smooth straight line across the back of the body from the cutout to the upper... Horn?


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## cip 123 (Oct 4, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Neck is glued. I used Dowels to line it up and keep it from slipping while clamping and it worked amazingly well.
> 
> Stainless frets are in. They ended up being a lot easier to work with than I expected. The stewmac fret clipper has been amazing. That and grinding down the rest of the tang edges on my bench grinder.
> 
> ...


Not sure if you've got one but - 
https://www.workshopheaven.com/iwas...r729G0y2GVNkHl6bWQj-oMlFRU0rh1ixoCvy4QAvD_BwE

Something like this is great for carving neck joints


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 4, 2021)

cip 123 said:


> Not sure if you've got one but -
> https://www.workshopheaven.com/iwas...r729G0y2GVNkHl6bWQj-oMlFRU0rh1ixoCvy4QAvD_BwE
> 
> Something like this is great for carving neck joints


Well that looks like exactly what I need. Wonder if they'd have something similar at a local shop so I can pick it up today.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 4, 2021)

Getting there! Round overs are so satisfying. Gotta shave a little more off that heel and then it's finishing time!




And a lot of sanding. A LOT.

The heel and the neck feel great. I will need to film a couple gouges. Not totally sure what I'm gonna do for that. Maybe CA glue and sawdust.


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## cip 123 (Oct 4, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Well that looks like exactly what I need. Wonder if they'd have something similar at a local shop so I can pick it up today.


Very useful, at least you know what to look for, the teeth are only in 1 direction though so you have to be careful with your grain.




LiveOVErdrive said:


> Getting there! Round overs are so satisfying. Gotta shave a little more off that heel and then it's finishing time!
> 
> View attachment 98461
> 
> ...


CA and sawdust works great, even little shavings from a plane too. Are you going to try and continue the round over you have round the back of the body? I think it'l look super cool if it can that bottom edge can continue flowing naturally.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 4, 2021)

cip 123 said:


> Very useful, at least you know what to look for, the teeth are only in 1 direction though so you have to be careful with your grain.
> 
> 
> 
> CA and sawdust works great, even little shavings from a plane too. Are you going to try and continue the round over you have round the back of the body? I think it'l look super cool if it can that bottom edge can continue flowing naturally.


Yes that's the goal. Probably can't see it but I have a pencil line drawn exactly where it needs to be. Hopefully it'll be awesome.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 4, 2021)

Starting to look pretty damn good here.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 5, 2021)

More pics. 





Can't wait to get a finish on this thing. It'll be soon. I should probably dry fit the bridge and tuners tho to make sure it is a viable guitar.


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## KR250 (Oct 6, 2021)

Looking good! I'm a big fan of neck/body transitions like that.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 6, 2021)

Spraying some shellac. Looking SO good.


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## dmlinger (Oct 6, 2021)

Now we're talking!


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## odibrom (Oct 7, 2021)

... it looks like there's some turbulence coming from the treble strings... I wonder why... 

Just kidding, I'm referring to the wood texture being aligned to the treble strings. The guitar looks good...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 7, 2021)

odibrom said:


> ... it looks like there's some turbulence coming from the treble strings... I wonder why...
> 
> Just kidding, I'm referring to the wood texture being aligned to the treble strings. The guitar looks good...


Oh wild. I never noticed the obvious V pattern before. It seemed more subtle before finishing.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 8, 2021)

So I completely forgot about this project. I got the bridge centered up last night, but I think I'm gonna add a baseplate for it to raise it up and provide better purchase in the wood. Then it's on to finishing!


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## odibrom (Oct 8, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> So I completely forgot about this project. I got the bridge centered up last night, but I think I'm gonna add a baseplate for it to raise it up and provide better purchase in the wood. Then it's on to finishing!
> 
> View attachment 98615



Kind of a Pedalka meets Strandberg thingy... looks killer...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 8, 2021)

odibrom said:


> Kind of a Pedalka meets Strandberg thingy... looks killer...


Thanks. Yeah I designed that when I was GASing hard for a Padalka lol.


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## Taylor (Oct 8, 2021)

Definitely reminiscent of a Padalka. Love it!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 9, 2021)

I was having trouble getting my bridge pieces and head pieces to anchor in the wood well, so I decided to learn how to mill aluminum and make a head and bridge plate. 





So yeah these are officially the coolest things I've ever made.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 9, 2021)

Better photo. The sun is the best light source. 




Probably look even better installed lol.


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## pondman (Oct 10, 2021)

Looks good. The only problem with aluminium is that its really easy to strip the thread because its so soft.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 10, 2021)

pondman said:


> Looks good. The only problem with aluminium is that its really easy to strip the thread because its so soft.


Good to know. Thanks. I'm using wood screws so... Hopefully that'll work better. Otherwise this is just a fancy way to have the same problem as before. Though it does make grounding the ridge easier.


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## odibrom (Oct 10, 2021)

@LiveOVErdrive Couldn't you go with Stainless Steel instead? There are also different grades of aluminium...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 10, 2021)

odibrom said:


> @LiveOVErdrive Couldn't you go with Stainless Steel instead? There are also different grades of aluminium...


I don't think I can mill stainless on my cnc mill. Worth looking into if this fails tho.


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## odibrom (Oct 10, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I don't think I can mill stainless on my cnc mill. Worth looking into if this fails tho.



Well, that will depend on your CNC bits and motor resistance to stress. You will need to move with smaller steps due to the increased hardness... is it dry milling or you need to keep things cooled down with water? With Stainless Steel, you'll likely need to coll things down...

... or you could also require external services for that. As for prototyping Aluminium does the job. For a pro finished product, maybe go with stainless steel? Those plates don't look much complicated to manufacture, so it shouldn't cost much...


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## pondman (Oct 10, 2021)

I use normal 2 or 3mm steel and get it chromed or powder coated, you could also advance rust the steel.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 10, 2021)

T


odibrom said:


> Well, that will depend on your CNC bits and motor resistance to stress. You will need to move with smaller steps due to the increased hardness... is it dry milling or you need to keep things cooled down with water? With Stainless Steel, you'll likely need to coll things down...
> 
> ... or you could also require external services for that. As for prototyping Aluminium does the job. For a pro finished product, maybe go with stainless steel? Those plates don't look much complicated to manufacture, so it shouldn't cost much...


That would be cool as hell. My spindle is a palm router so I think when it comes to really hard stuff like that I might be SOL given how fast it spins (16k minimum). Maybe I could do it with a really good quality carbide single flute end mill tho. I'll have to see if anyone with the same machine as me has done it.

Hopefully this'll be enough tho. These were made to screw into wood after all.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 10, 2021)

pondman said:


> I use normal 2 or 3mm steel and get it chromed or powder coated, you could also advance rust the steel.


There's an interesting thought. I could probably do mild steel tho it might be a challenge. I know I can get stuff plated locally pretty cheaply.


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## pondman (Oct 10, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> There's an interesting thought. I could probably do mild steel tho it might be a challenge. I know I can get stuff plated locally pretty cheaply.



Its really easy to cut with a hacksaw then finish and shape with a file and sanding belt. If you get a set of taps to thread the holes you'll end up with a great bridge plate.







a few examples of what you could use for your bridge pieces.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 11, 2021)

Well they LOOK good. But man these screws are so small it's tough to get them in without stripping the heads. Got one in the headpiece that is... Probably stuck forever. So we'll see.







So yeah, steel would work better. Hopefully I can make this work though.


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## KnightBrolaire (Oct 11, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Well they LOOK good. But man these screws are so small it's tough to get them in without stripping the heads. Got one in the headpiece that is... Probably stuck forever. So we'll see.
> 
> View attachment 98707
> 
> ...


shoulda used torx or square head screws. wayyyy harder to strip.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 11, 2021)

KnightBrolaire said:


> shoulda used torx or square head screws. wayyyy harder to strip.


Definitely.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 11, 2021)

Yeah it's seeming like the aluminum isn't going to work, at least not as intended. I think I'm going to eventually suck it up and rebuild the wood part of the guitar with better woods that aren't splitting down the middle of the neck, and use the plates simply to locate the holes, using longer wood screws to actually anchor the hardware. That light to do it.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 17, 2021)

Today is likely one of our last beautiful days of the year, so I gotta get out and shoot some final coats on this guitar. 

I should have used my air compressor sprayer instead of my electric one the first time. SO much smoother and more even.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 18, 2021)

Bah. I sanded thru the finish on the front. Time to layer it up again I guess.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 25, 2021)

Aaaaaand done:







I mean it still needs hella setup and I need to replace these tuners because they are CRAP, but I gotta say it looks and feels nice. I'm loving the fat neck.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 18, 2021)

Sparkle time! 




This is my '99 rg470. Formerly titanium ice. Soon to be holographic ghost purple.


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## CanserDYI (Nov 18, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Sparkle time!
> 
> View attachment 100238
> 
> ...


Alright, give up the deets. Where'd you get this paint??


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 18, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Alright, give up the deets. Where'd you get this paint??


Sprayed black paint down as a base coat. Then mixed some iridescent 0.07in flake into some crystalac Brite tone and fogged it on with a 1.4mm hvlp gun.

Now I've put a few coats of dark blue candy on over the sparkles to provide a blue tint as a base for the purple ghost pearl that'll go over the flake.


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## CanserDYI (Nov 18, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Sprayed black paint down as a base coat. Then mixed some iridescent 0.07in flake into some crystalac Brite tone and fogged it on with a 1.4mm hvlp gun.
> 
> Now I've put a few coats of dark blue candy on over the sparkles to provide a blue tint as a base for the purple ghost pearl that'll go over the flake.


Damnit, was really hoping this was canned


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 18, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Damnit, was really hoping this was canned


Well my spray gun was about fifteen bucks new and my compressor is just a cheap pancake deal so while it isn't as easy as a can it's still pretty cheap.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 18, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Sparkle time!
> 
> View attachment 100238
> 
> ...


quit copying me bro lol


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 18, 2021)

KnightBrolaire said:


> quit copying me bro lol


No. Next I plan to dye a Strandberg rainbow colors. And you can't stop me.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 18, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> No. Next I plan to dye a Strandberg rainbow colors. And you can't stop me.


pssh that's passe, it's all about the pink sparkle icestroyer now


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 18, 2021)

KnightBrolaire said:


> pssh that's passe, it's all about the pink sparkle icestroyer now


Well I DO have some "Pinkest pink" pigment lying around...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 18, 2021)

And now.... PURPLE




So now it looks a lot like how it started... But better. 

And it's clear coat time.


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## dmlinger (Nov 20, 2021)

I love that!!!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 16, 2021)

Before:




And after!


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## Randy (Dec 16, 2021)

You added a tambourine too. Impressive.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 16, 2021)

Randy said:


> You added a tambourine too. Impressive.


Yeah, makes it easier to do one-man-band stuff.


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## cgmorrison (Dec 17, 2021)

Awesome, man. I've been making stuff on my new Onefinity CNC that took all the months to arrive. I was using a janky homebrew CNC before that. I looked pretty hard at the Shapeoko. I'm super happy with the Onefinity, though. Location pins are the bees knees for two sided machining if you haven't tried that yet. I tried butting the stock up against an L shaped stop at first, but you have to cut your stock to the exact length you tell your CAD program it is if you don't want to double any alignment errors when flipping the workpiece. It's pretty simple, watch any of the dozens of tutorials out there for it. Make sure the pins fit pretty snug and you should be golden.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 17, 2021)

cgmorrison said:


> Awesome, man. I've been making stuff on my new Onefinity CNC that took all the months to arrive. I was using a janky homebrew CNC before that. I looked pretty hard at the Shapeoko. I'm super happy with the Onefinity, though. Location pins are the bees knees for two sided machining if you haven't tried that yet. I tried butting the stock up against an L shaped stop at first, but you have to cut your stock to the exact length you tell your CAD program it is if you don't want to double any alignment errors when flipping the workpiece. It's pretty simple, watch any of the dozens of tutorials out there for it. Make sure the pins fit pretty snug and you should be golden.


Thanks for the tip. That's a really good point. About the L-fence, which is basically what I've been doing. I'm gonna have to try locator pins after I set up my cnc in my new shop (I'm moving). 

I also just realized my cnc has limit switches that I've literally never used. I'm going to have to figure those out, because if I can get those working WITH the locator pins, my life is going to get a whooooooole lot easier.


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## dmlinger (Dec 17, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I also just realized my cnc has limit switches that I've literally never used. I'm going to have to figure those out, because if I can get those working WITH the locator pins, my life is going to get a whooooooole lot easier.



Heck yea it will! Unsolicited but love talking about CNC processes for some weird reason...the way I do 2-sided operation is to home my machine (lower left) with the limit switches and then zero it. Then jog it over to the right a fixed distance (200mm, for example) and then zero it again. By doing this, you're ensuring the machine is in the exact same spot above the spoil board every time, which is 200mm right of the "home." Set your Z height and run the index operation to put the pin holes in the spoil board. Then fasten the stock to the spoil board, set your Z on your stock top, and run the index again. My index holes run all the way through the stock. Now you can flip the stock and ensure perfect 2-sided operation. 

The key in your CAM is to set up your origin so that it's the exact same spot on both sides except for the Z. I model my index pins along the centerline so that it's an easy flip.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 17, 2021)

dmlinger said:


> Heck yea it will! Unsolicited but love talking about CNC processes for some weird reason...the way I do 2-sided operation is to home my machine (lower left) with the limit switches and then zero it. Then jog it over to the right a fixed distance (200mm, for example) and then zero it again. By doing this, you're ensuring the machine is in the exact same spot above the spoil board every time, which is 200mm right of the "home." Set your Z height and run the index operation to put the pin holes in the spoil board. Then fasten the stock to the spoil board, set your Z on your stock top, and run the index again. My index holes run all the way through the stock. Now you can flip the stock and ensure perfect 2-sided operation.
> 
> The key in your CAM is to set up your origin so that it's the exact same spot on both sides except for the Z. I model my index pins along the centerline so that it's an easy flip.


Oh man that sounds great. Gonna have to try that.


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## MikeNeal (Dec 19, 2021)

i use locating pins and a 1/4 hole right on the center line to do my body flip. i dont think i've ever used the homing switches. havent had an issue with things not lining up yet.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 19, 2021)

MikeNeal said:


> i use locating pins and a 1/4 hole right on the center line to do my body flip. i dont think i've ever used the homing switches. havent had an issue with things not lining up yet.


How do you drill the holes? Do you use the cnc machine to space them perfectly? Or do you just drill them on a drill press or something?


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## MikeNeal (Dec 19, 2021)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> How do you drill the holes? Do you use the cnc machine to space them perfectly? Or do you just drill them on a drill press or something?


 i use the cnc machine to drill the holes


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