The fretboard glue up went just ok. I think using a caul was not the right thing to do when the board already had a radius on it. I have a few gaps that I will have to fill, not a big deal, but I think with a different clamping strategy there would have been none/less. I didn't see any gaps when test fitting. Oh well, it should look ok after I fix the gaps. I did a bunch of sanding to bring the edge of the neck blank in with the edge of the fretboard. I didn't take any pictures of that, but there's not much to see there. Although the side markers are now crisp, even though the side is still mottled and not quite the contrast I was hoping for.
Plan A was to take that maple/cocobolo tower and mount it in my dad's lathe to make some knobs. I was impatient and I cut off the excess with my fret saw an hour or so after I glued it up. Obviously not enough time for it to dry and the tower broke in half as I was cutting it - but it broke in a good way so I still had two knobs on each stick.
Plan B: I drilled out a hole for the pot in the bottom of the lower knob, I figured I could stick a dowel in there and sand it into a circle in the drill press or maybe on the lathe. My dad wasn't home and the lathe had a different chuck in it. I am not sure how to change it, rather than figuring it out I figured I'd sand it in the drill press. It turns out that didn't work very well with these hard woods. The sandpaper really wasn't taking much off, and even if it was, the holding the sandpaper in my hand meant it wasn't sanding off material evenly.
Plan C: I cut the knob blanks up so I had four individual knobs
I drew the outline of a knob on the top then I used the oscillating drum sander to get them close and finished them off by hand. They are not perfect, but they look pretty cool with the cocobolo on top. I'll see how they look mounted and decide if I keep them or not. I think they will look good.
Plan A was to take that maple/cocobolo tower and mount it in my dad's lathe to make some knobs. I was impatient and I cut off the excess with my fret saw an hour or so after I glued it up. Obviously not enough time for it to dry and the tower broke in half as I was cutting it - but it broke in a good way so I still had two knobs on each stick.
Plan B: I drilled out a hole for the pot in the bottom of the lower knob, I figured I could stick a dowel in there and sand it into a circle in the drill press or maybe on the lathe. My dad wasn't home and the lathe had a different chuck in it. I am not sure how to change it, rather than figuring it out I figured I'd sand it in the drill press. It turns out that didn't work very well with these hard woods. The sandpaper really wasn't taking much off, and even if it was, the holding the sandpaper in my hand meant it wasn't sanding off material evenly.
Plan C: I cut the knob blanks up so I had four individual knobs
I drew the outline of a knob on the top then I used the oscillating drum sander to get them close and finished them off by hand. They are not perfect, but they look pretty cool with the cocobolo on top. I'll see how they look mounted and decide if I keep them or not. I think they will look good.
