- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,587
- 221,942
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
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What's On Your Workbench?
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
Some fresh ziricote for tops and fingerboards.
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Are you going to use any of the sapwood? Or are you cutting around it?
I made bridges today for the two half scale nylon string acoustics. This is my first attempt at this style of bridge with a tie bar for nylon strings.
Marked them out on a 1 1/4" strip of 5/16" birdseye maple, then I drilled the string holes under the tie bar:
Cut the slots on the tablesaw and then did the crosscuts for the "wings", shaped the slots with a file and gave them a quick sanding:
I'm not ready to use them yet but I laid one in place to see what it looked like:
Marked them out on a 1 1/4" strip of 5/16" birdseye maple, then I drilled the string holes under the tie bar:
Cut the slots on the tablesaw and then did the crosscuts for the "wings", shaped the slots with a file and gave them a quick sanding:
I'm not ready to use them yet but I laid one in place to see what it looked like:
@Jisch I also got some more progress on the Kuun-inspired tenors this weekend. The bodies are glued up and carved, neck pockets are cut, and I got the bridges made and glued on.
I've got a thing for two-tone fingerboards so I always try to get as much of the sapwood in there as possible.
I picked up a couple free hollow core doors today, having been inspired by another post I’m planning on using these to build custom cases. 
#HollowCoreDoorsAreTheNewPallet
#HollowCoreDoorsAreTheNewPallet
Okay, question time. These free interior doors came with the frames. Reading online, I see it could be alder, maple or pine. So two questions here:
- Can the wood from these door frames be used in a hippie sandwich on a neck.
- How do I determine the wood species?
If it's maple, you might be able to use it in a neck. Pine is generally much softer than maple. If it's pine you should be able to tell by cutting and smelling it. Maple doesn't have a very distinctive smell. I haven't worked alder so I can't help there. Any pictures?
Any time I'm stuck on wood species ID I go here: Wood Finder | The Wood Database
Or you could post some pics and I bet someone could just tell you. Also, pine smells like pine when you cut it! Maple comes in different flavors (hard maple is white and much harder than alder or pine, some soft maple species can look almost as orangey as cherry and are much softer). Whoever built those doors probably just used whatever they could get cheaply.
At the end of the day, especially if it's only going to be a stripe, it probably doesn't matter what species it is as long as it's straight and stable (dry). Just pair it with some known-good stiff neck woods. Or if you can "prove" it's a good stiff species (like hard maple) use it on it's own.
Or you could post some pics and I bet someone could just tell you. Also, pine smells like pine when you cut it! Maple comes in different flavors (hard maple is white and much harder than alder or pine, some soft maple species can look almost as orangey as cherry and are much softer). Whoever built those doors probably just used whatever they could get cheaply.
At the end of the day, especially if it's only going to be a stripe, it probably doesn't matter what species it is as long as it's straight and stable (dry). Just pair it with some known-good stiff neck woods. Or if you can "prove" it's a good stiff species (like hard maple) use it on it's own.
Tough to get a pic of it that looks decent, but here is the unfinished side of the jam board...
Edit:
Yes, I’m planning a wenge/purpleheart neck and was thinking maybe this could be used to separate the wenge and purpleheart a bit to give it a little more definition. I find that once the purpleheart darkens a bit it can tend to not stand out as much from the wenge. We’d be talking a thin strip of this, as thin as I can rip and plane it to.
Also, looking at that pic I’m now seeing a finger joint, so clearly these boards aren’t full length which may also be a struggle.
Edit:
Yes, I’m planning a wenge/purpleheart neck and was thinking maybe this could be used to separate the wenge and purpleheart a bit to give it a little more definition. I find that once the purpleheart darkens a bit it can tend to not stand out as much from the wenge. We’d be talking a thin strip of this, as thin as I can rip and plane it to.
Also, looking at that pic I’m now seeing a finger joint, so clearly these boards aren’t full length which may also be a struggle.
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Definitely not pine based on the flecks and rays. Colour is more like alder than maple, so I'm going with red alder.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to think about that finger joint now. That may make this totally moot. But I had originally thought I could do a wenge/mysterywood/purpleheart/mysterywood/wenge kind of thing for the hippie sandwich. But now I'm not sure I'll have a piece long enough for a neck-thru, I'll need a chunk about 4 foot long. I'd think, as long as it's thin enough and sandwiched between known stuff like wenge and purpleheart it would probably be fine no matter what it is.
Oh well, worst case scenario I'll use the frame wood for the custom HSC I plan to build.
Oh well, worst case scenario I'll use the frame wood for the custom HSC I plan to build.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,587
- 221,942
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Unless I missed something - this is thin (1/8") used on panel doors? Luan most likely - a mahogany strain. It would be good for a HSC - I made one using it. Just make sure the frame is made of minimal pine or it will get heavy quickly. Use a HSC you own as a template/guide.
Yeah, I plan on using the door itself for the top and bottom of said HSC, and then the frame (jamb) is probably the typical 4-3/4"-ish by 1" (maybe) boards. Those are the boards I was kinda thinking of planing down and using as a stripe in the neck, or I'll just use them in the case. They can't weigh too terribly much, I can pick this whole door/frame assembly up with no effort. And hey, free is good!
All sorts of wee projects and general nonsense! Never a dull moment on my workbench!
Green Joyo delay pedal. Modded with a 3PDT switch in between the top two controls. Switched to the right the stock 'time' pot is in the circuit. Switched to the left and the time is altered using an expression pedal connected to the TRS jack I've added to the side. The second footswitch on the bottom right is a momentary 'dub' switch. It shorts out the 'repeat' knob making the pedal instantly loop and self-oscillate.
For my next trick I will get a delay pedal kit off the web and implement all these mods, plus a 100% wet output and a couple more pots to control the speed the self-oscillation ramps up and the maximum delay time from the expression pedal circuit, as the longest delays are pretty short.
That stock 'noughties era MIM Fender logo with its flat silver '7ender', inky black text, serial numbers and blatant 'Made in Mexico' is ugly. Time to sand it off! The lacquer on this neck was dented, chipped and discoloured. I plan to finish the neck using Danish Oil, with the exception of the headstock face which is getting a new '60s-style decal:
As Cheap Trick once sang, The Decal Police they come for me in my bed!
I made a near enough direct copy of the pickguard from my guitarist's Casino Coupe. I stuck a radius to the flat section that runs parallel to the strings, as I saw this feature on some old Gibson guitars.
He seems happy with it (I fitted the Bigsby as well!).
A battered Epiphone Mandobird. It came with flatwound strings and horribly high action. I've decided that two pickups do it better, so I drilled and chiseled the top out. I also drilled out the bridge to take two threaded Telecaster saddles to give me a bit more intonation adjustment. I might try and refinish it as the original lacquer is a bit thrashed, and too thin to drop-fill the big dings on the back adequately.
Green Joyo delay pedal. Modded with a 3PDT switch in between the top two controls. Switched to the right the stock 'time' pot is in the circuit. Switched to the left and the time is altered using an expression pedal connected to the TRS jack I've added to the side. The second footswitch on the bottom right is a momentary 'dub' switch. It shorts out the 'repeat' knob making the pedal instantly loop and self-oscillate.
For my next trick I will get a delay pedal kit off the web and implement all these mods, plus a 100% wet output and a couple more pots to control the speed the self-oscillation ramps up and the maximum delay time from the expression pedal circuit, as the longest delays are pretty short.
That stock 'noughties era MIM Fender logo with its flat silver '7ender', inky black text, serial numbers and blatant 'Made in Mexico' is ugly. Time to sand it off! The lacquer on this neck was dented, chipped and discoloured. I plan to finish the neck using Danish Oil, with the exception of the headstock face which is getting a new '60s-style decal:
As Cheap Trick once sang, The Decal Police they come for me in my bed!
I made a near enough direct copy of the pickguard from my guitarist's Casino Coupe. I stuck a radius to the flat section that runs parallel to the strings, as I saw this feature on some old Gibson guitars.
He seems happy with it (I fitted the Bigsby as well!).
A battered Epiphone Mandobird. It came with flatwound strings and horribly high action. I've decided that two pickups do it better, so I drilled and chiseled the top out. I also drilled out the bridge to take two threaded Telecaster saddles to give me a bit more intonation adjustment. I might try and refinish it as the original lacquer is a bit thrashed, and too thin to drop-fill the big dings on the back adequately.
