Winter Build Off 2020 - Kuun Space

[Jisch]

I like the rune. But I don’t know anything about them, so I’m wondering if perhaps the meaning might change when rotated, like perhaps it means “Fire Eye” in its normal vertical orientation, but when the instrument is rotated to playing position it suddenly proclaims “Dirty Diaper” to everybody listening...?

That would be embarrassing ...

HA! that's hilarious. I'll have to see what a 90 degree rotation does to a rune meaning. It has an equal chance of summoning demons from another dimension.

 

[Jisch]

I did a little work this morning. I will be doing some significant carving on the top, so securing the neck pocket template with a carved top will be problematic. The top is just under 5/8", which is the typical depth for a neck pocket. Being that I'm making the bridge for this one, I can do just about anything as long as it's strong enough. So what I'm going to do it is cut the neck pocket before I start carving, I can do that on the bandsaw. I shouldn't need to make it any deeper after I glue everything up. I spent some time this morning finalizing the end of the neck and marking things out for the cut.

I'll do that later today, off for a bike ride...

 

[Matt Liebenau]

HA! that's hilarious. I'll have to see what a 90 degree rotation does to a rune meaning. It has an equal chance of summoning demons from another dimension.

As long as it doesn’t summon dirty diapers from another dimension!

 

[TerribleTim68]

I like the rune. But I don’t know anything about them, so I’m wondering if perhaps the meaning might change when rotated, like perhaps it means “Fire Eye” in its normal vertical orientation, but when the instrument is rotated to playing position it suddenly proclaims “Dirty Diaper” to everybody listening...?

That would be embarrassing ...

I kind of thought the same thing. Because I wanted to recommend rotating it 90 degrees so it fit the 12th fret better and "read" upright when playing. But I didn't mention it because, like you, my brain went "what if that means something else, like 'red light district' or something?"

 

[Jisch]

I think it should "read" in the correct direction when the bass is upright. If I put it sideways it's not symmetrical when it's upright, that will bug me when it's in the stand. Or maybe I should look for something symmetrical in both directions.

 

[Jisch]

I got a couple hours in the shop, but didn't take many pics until I was done.

I got the neck "pocket" cut, it looks good. I cut it with the band saw then finished it off with the router and cleaned it up with some files.

Then I started contouring the top. I marked a line all the way around that was about 3/16ths, then I used my shinto to kind of round over toward the line. After I got that done all the way around I used an Iwasaki file to add contours. That file is new, it works so well, it takes off a good amount and was pretty easy to control. I will say that you have to be careful that it doesn't slip out of your hand, it cuts skin even better than wood.

My aim to have no single part of the top flat, with the exception of where the bridge sits and where the pickup is. I definitely have more to go, once I have the top fully contoured I'll contour the inside to make the whole top 3/16" thick, dare I go thinner? I may do that and do some interior bridging - I may do bridging anyway. I know the pics don't show the contouring at all. I'll try to get some side views at some point.

A knot appeared out of nowhere, I guess not out of nowhere, but it was a small spot on the front, I checked on the back and there wasn't anything there. I guess it will get smaller the more I contour, but I don't think it will go away. The inner part was loose so I stabilized it with CA, it's not going anywhere regardless.

At the end I couldn't help but put the 80 grit on the ROS and see what it looked like without any tool marks in it, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm pretty psyched how this is looking right now.

Once I get the contours done and make sure my edges are all good, I'll get the back cut. I will be proud of the maple on the bass side by about 3/4" and that's where my sound holes will go. I originally planned to put a sound hole in the upper horn, I'm not sold on that idea, but I might still do that. It will be a game day decision.

 

[ctmullins]

Those woods look fantastic together!

 

[Jisch]

Those woods look fantastic together!

I'm usually going for the most figure I can find with wood. I actually had a bookmatched pair of figured walnut cut for this one. I'm glad I opted for the straight grained stuff instead.

 

[Jisch]

I got a bit of time in the shop today, not a ton of progress, but I'm figuring some things out, so sometimes that takes time without a lot to show for it.

I built a bird beak stand (I think that's what you call it) to cut on and used a very fine blade in a saw made to cut inlays. I cut out a Fire Eye rune out of walnut, transferred it to a piece of birds eye and routed it out the negative image with a tiny bit in a palm router. I'll be honest, I lost track of whether I was going inside or outside the lines, but it came out good enough that I feel that I could do this. I'll do another attempt tomorrow. Obviously it needs to be a lot better than this.

I planed down some cherry for the middle. I may use this for the back, I'll look at it after it comes out of the clamps and planer and decide whether I'll put the one with the the walnut stripe or this one with just the cherry on back. I'll put a piece of black laminate between them, regardless.

The two cherry glue ups are .6 thick and the top is about that thick as well, so as it stands right now it will be a little over 1.75" thick. Normally I'd be aiming for 1.5", but for this I'm going to go for the full 1.75" given that it will be hollow.

 

[Jisch]

Now things are getting serious.

I planed down the middle section. I'll use the cherry glue up as the middle and the cherry/walnut for the back. I marked everything out then went to town with the scroll saw, this is a lot of material for the scroll saw, but going slow it made it through. I ran into the back end of the scroll saw, but I got it cut then smoothed things out with the oscillating drum sander.

I decided to go with a single "wave" as a sound hole. I will cut out the material under the maple closest to the maple so you can see through to the hollow part. I think I could get away without any bracing under that maple, but in talking to my wife, I think we figured out how to brace it and still make it look cool.

I'll use this middle part as the guide to route the back piece, which will get routed down so the back is 1/4" thick. I guess I took this pic before I smoothed out the wave cutaway.

With all three pieces stacked up

 

[Jisch]

and here's with all three pieces stacked up, quite the depth!

 

[Jisch]

I got the middle and back section basically where I wanted it, they will need a lot of clean up.

I'll have a lot of clean up to do after it comes out of the bag. I considered using spool clamps for this, but with a couple screws in inconspicuous places, it looked like the bag would work great. I am a little concerned about how the laminate got pulled into the open cavity. In retrospect I should have cut out the middle. It was too late to do anything, I'll deal with whatever mess happens.

I guess I'll be working on the neck this afternoon.

 

[Jisch]

I had quite the productive afternoon.

I worked on the top quite a bit, but nothing that would show in pictures.

Then I cut down the fingerboard marked and cut slots for the side markers in it. I'll put the dots in tomorrow.

I practiced doing inlays, I think I've done it four or five times now. I figured a few things out, the most important thing is to sand the wood so there are no sanding planer marks in it, my practice piece was pretty rough. That alone made the pencil lines much more precise. The second biggest improvement was using a knife to cut the lines, I used a razor blade last time, but the knife made deeper and wider cuts, I could get the bit right into the knife groove perfectly. This one is not perfect, there are three spots where the bit is too wide, if I do that with a chisel/knife instead of trying to force the bit in there I think I can get this pretty dang close. Now I just need to buck up and do it.

I was going to carve the inside of top, but it was too late in the day for that. I decided to make a pickup cover as a last effort for the day. I've seen a discussion on Facebook about ebony and how it's not very ecologically responsible to use it - I totally agree, there are other options available now, however I do have a couple scraps and I think a black top would look good on this instrument. So away we go.

Pretty simple, I just cut out the top then transferred it to a piece of birds eye. I used forstner bits to remove most of the inside - I decided on this one I'm going for pickup clearance not so the pickup is tight in there like I usually do. After I got the material removed I cut the outside on the band saw. I'll bring it in with the oscillating sander tomorrow.

I'll say it again, I really think I could do this as a job, so great to spend practically an entire day in the shop with my wife.

 

[IconBasser]

Awww, don't ruin such a nice piece of maple with fret dots, they look so tacky!

 

[dwizum]

Doing a dark inlay on maple is hard! I applaud your efforts. It's so much easier to do it the other way around (light inlay on dark wood) because you can just backfill with tinted glue.

 

[Jisch]

Awww, don't ruin such a nice piece of maple with fret dots, they look so tacky!

I'm putting dots on the side, I wouldn't put them on front, especially with no lines on the board!

 

[Jisch]

Doing a dark inlay on maple is hard! I applaud your efforts. It's so much easier to do it the other way around (light inlay on dark wood) because you can just backfill with tinted glue.

Well I have to see myself do one perfectly before I attempt it on the fingerboard.

 

[IconBasser]

I'm putting dots on the side, I wouldn't put them on front, especially with no lines on the board!

oh thank god! I read the word "dots" and immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion.

 

[TerribleTim68]

...
I'll say it again, I really think I could do this as a job, so great to spend practically an entire day in the shop with my wife.

I say that about building racecars all the time. There's something about building things with your hands. The only problem, and the thing that literally keeps me from doing it, is that there's just no money in it. Stupid reality.

 

[FretFree]

Subscribing! This looks to be super cool...