I'm full of very technical terms."exactly similar"??
Yeah, it's my week to be pedantic....
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Down the rabbit hole again - Project 4350
- Thread starter ChickWithaRic
- Start date
Thanks for posting this, OP. I may go the same route. My country's largest web store has this at around €60:
Instrument building has its own realm of GAS....
Instrument building has its own realm of GAS....
LOL! I know... it's coming.
We, as in, my small company that I run, just landed a massive new job which is pretty much two year's work and so I have devoted a lot of energy to that because it will be our security going forward, I can keep my entire crew employed for the next two years thanks to this one contract. It involves converting a 1900s factory in 90 apartments, communal leisure suite, and underground parking. Biggest thing I've ever taken on, and it's a great thing but it's also been time consuming and quite stressful at times. I've spent 6 months chasing this job. The entire place currently looks like a bomb site, it's filthy, chaotic, dangerous despite all precautions, and nowhere near fully cleared out after the internal demolitions, and keeping my people motivated during this initial phase is quite a task at times. We're dropping floor joists into 120 year old steelwork, and there are laser lines everywhere and I'll tell you one thing - they sure knew how to build back then, and they didn't have fancy green lasers like we have now. Impressive stuff from long dead craftspeople.
So yeah, that's my life. I suppose I could work in an office and wear nice clothes all the time but I'd probably not last the week.
I also just upgraded a new Squier CV 50s P Bass which took what little spare time I had. The thread is here if you want to look at it, it's quite fun.
I'm not going to promise anything for this weekend because Saturday is the day of the English FA Cup, and I am a soccer fan so I intend to watch that on some or other no doubt dodgy streaming website with similarly minded people and bottles will be involved.
I'll do something soon. It's on my mind. Just be a little bit patient. Rome wasn't built in a day, but if it had been, it wouldn't have been very good.
I’m not sure how I missed the updates to this thread. Asleep at the switch, I guess.
Yeah, regulated irons make a world of difference, regardless of brand or level of fanciness. I’ve used a bog standard Weller WTCPT fixed temp station and a much cheaper Xytronic analog adjustable station for many years and get equally good results with both. They’re both fairly stripped down models and they each spent several years on my bench at work before moving to my home shop so they have a lot of hard mileage on them and they’re pretty much bulletproof.
Once you make the switch from a hardware store “pencil iron” to an actual, regulated solder station you realize your skills are better than you thought they were. Not that I generally take stock in a craftsperson blaming their tools, but in this instance it really does make a difference.
I’m interested in all of what you have been doing...even if it is a luthier thread. I had aspirations of going into the building trades myself. Got a builders license and did some renovations and such in the early to mid 90s. I realized that it was not my calling. I was way too slow about it. Had to try it though.
I share common interests with you and this group so to give it a nudge every once in a while is entertaining for me.
It did make a huge difference to what I could do... here's a P Bass wiring harness I did.
couple of blobby joints to the pot case but they are perfectly sound, and I did get better results at 420 degrees (it only does Celsius).
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Practice, practice, practice…
I find it helps to put a healthy solder spot down on the pot beforehand. That way, you can lay a liberally tinned wire over it and lay the iron tip on top of that. As the heat travels down through the work, the wire will sink into the solder pad as it melts and then you can just hold there until the heat evens out through the work and you’ll see the meniscus form around the wire.
Curious where it's located. And yeah, I know, Portland. I meant more specific than that.
I am absolutely blown away that you do ALL THE THINGS you do (are capable of) at age 34 / single Mom raising two children.
You must be a real smarty pants with a ton of drive and energy.
. . . 
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On the old building renovation, keep an eye out for some good old wood. I used to work for an Architectural firm that did some old mill building conversions to apartments that required cutting out some of the floor beams that were something like 8x12 old-growth solid oak, they sold a big lot of them for a small fortune. The rock maple floorboards they pulled out got sold too, but they were full of nails and metal shavings, so not much good for guitar work.
Congrats on the new contract. I hope it works out well for you and your business.
My father was an architect. He did a middle school renovation in the 1970s; a school that had been built around 1900. The contractor salvaged truckloads of clear American chestnut from the built-in cabinetry and moldings. Being friends with the contractor, he also stuffed our Ford station wagon with chestnut.
My father used the best pieces to make furniture years ago but I still have a bunch of random pieces of it which will find their way into various things.
No, it's actually across the river in WA. I'll eventually post pictures but right now it looks like downtown Mariopul.Curious where it's located. And yeah, I know, Portland. I meant more specific than that.
My "black bass" was made entirely out of reclaimed timber from a Portland silk warehouse that underwent a similar transformation. The body was mahogany stair treads, the neck was maple flooring and walnut trim. It was vintage before I even took a router to it. The only non reclaimed timber on it is the bocote fretboard.
Just lucky, I guess. I certainly don't do anything special, and my career path has been... chaotic.I am absolutely blown away that you do ALL THE THINGS you do (are capable of) at age 34 / single Mom raising two children.
You must be a real smarty pants with a ton of drive and energy.
That was exactly what I said when I got my digital soldering station. It’s not as feature-rich as yours, but it sure makes a difference!
I know! I had always "known how to solder", but could never get a great result. Now, it's like I really CAN do it! I feel like I would if I had spent ten years woodworking with blunt tools, and then I got sharp ones. It's a revelation. And it wasn't even expensive. I could kick myself for not doing it earlier.
I was working on a Casino site a few years ago and they were ripping out old growth fir baseboards. I grabbed as much as I could for my place.
I'm not even joking when I say this but, I once made a double bed from left over 3/4" Douglas fir siding. I copied an Ikea design. Damn, that thing could take some punishment.
