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Winter 2017 Build Off - Padauk Single Cut

#121
reverendrally said:
I had a guy once ask me, "How many clamps will I need for guitar building?"

I said, "more" :D

P.s. I am more and more impressed with the work that you're doing. There are a few people on this forum that do work to a level that makes me think, "I'm a hack and imposter. I need to find a different hobby". You're one of them. :)

P.s.s. that's a compliment. ;)
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Thank you, but don't cut yourself short! Yours are great too.
 
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#122
I think there are a few different approaches to building..
1. replicating - building better fenders/rics/etc
2. crafting - highly detailed craftsmanship
3. stretching - pushing the boundaries

A lot of people have a some amount of each camp. I realized some time back that although I'd like to be in #2, really I'm almost entirely in camp #3. Just finishing the instrument in a presentable state is enough to overheat my detail abilities. :eek:
 
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#123
reverendrally said:
I think there are a few different approaches to building..
1. replicating - building better fenders/rics/etc
2. crafting - highly detailed craftsmanship
3. stretching - pushing the boundaries

A lot of people have a some amount of each camp. I realized some time back that although I'd like to be in #2, really I'm almost entirely in camp #3. Just finishing the instrument in a presentable state is enough to overheat my detail abilities. :eek:
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There's definitely nothing wrong with that
 
#124
I made a really conscious decision to start out replicating, because starting with only average woodworking skills, I wanted to work against a known “yardstick” of sorts, a Ric in my case, but it could have been any neck through bass. I felt like a painted bass would force me to learn some finish tech too. My output is so low, I’ll probably never get to stretching, and I’m ok with that.
 
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#125
Gilmourisgod said:
I made a really conscious decision to start out replicating, because starting with only average woodworking skills, I wanted to work against a known “yardstick” of sorts, a Ric in my case, but it could have been any neck through bass. I felt like a painted bass would force me to learn some finish tech too. My output is so low, I’ll probably never get to stretching, and I’m ok with that.
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One of the truly curious things about Leo Fender was that he started by 'stretching'. Where Gibson and some other more established (electric) builders stuck to the 'crafting' angle, he concentrated on really simply constructed instruments that didn't need a lot of detail work to build. That's why they're so easily copied. Which is what makes the whole super-fender industry so amusing to my mind. That's not to say you can't build some really intricate things using a fender-style instrument as a basis. However, as an overall design, they're much closer to a baseball bat than a swiss clock.
 
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#128
I got an Ingersoll Rand spray gun, Koa wanted to be in the picture. This should be much better than preval sprayers! I did get a regulator and water separator too.

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I cut the frets to length and filed the fret tangs.

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Cut out the control cavity and routed wire routes, along with rough cutting out the wing shapes. Ready to glue the padauk on top.

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I forgot what knobs I got for this build and found them when I was going through my bass parts. These are going to look really good on the padauk.

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By the way, it is really hard to get a picture of the padauk. The camera on my phone keeps throwing off the white balance and changing the color.

Cut out the truss rod cover. Needs to be thinned and shaped.

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And glued on the fretboard.

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This was the easiest and most stress free glue up in a while.
 
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#131
lbridenstine said:
The fretboard glue up came out good.

So, I fine sanded the fretboard.

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Installed the frets

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Nipped and beveled. I can't believe I forgot to mask off the freshly sanded fretboard before I did this. Luckily nothing happened to it.

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Vacuumed off the fret glitter.

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Looks awesome, are those brass frets? They look like they blend into the fretboard visually letting those long, defined black grain lines stick out.
 

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