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Winter Buildoff 2022: Still A Diva

#201
I also got a wiring channel routed tonight -
20220107_213000.jpg


I know, minor thing. But baby steps will get me there. I'm hopeful this will be way better than trying to angle a drill bit through the pup cavity later. All I gotta do now is actually hit it with the two cavities. :roflmao:
Yes, I laid my drawings on there to locate the pickup end. The control cavity end is a guess. ;)

I also spent some more time filing away on that neck heel transition, but no photos of that. Sorry.
 
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#209
Flying B said:
Why didn't you just rout a straight line?
Click to expand...
Ultimately I'm just not exactly sure where the control cavity will be. It's just gonna be a single volume knob and a jack, so it doesn't need to be crazy big nor does it need to be too far towards the horn, so I just wanted some extra insurance that if I decide to scoot the cavity over towards the "end", then my channel will still get there.

I was also worried about cutting into the space needed for the bridge posts. I'm going tune-o-matic here so I have to insert those posts somewhere. I don't want to drill those holes and blow out the side of the post hole. Know what I mean?
 
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#211
Templates, Templates, Templates -
Nothing earth shattering today. I did take some time to create a couple templates for the control cavity. One for the main cavity and one for the cover. Same method as usual. Trace my shape using my full size drawing, hog out the bulk in the drill press with Forstner bits, then move over to the oscillating spindle sander to clean it up -
20220108_135059.jpg


I typically use the largest drum on the OSS I can and then step down to smaller drums to get in the finer, tighter corners. So the pic shows the final drum I was using, but that was not the drum used for the majority of it. Any time you're doing this, you want to use the biggest drum you can, because it creates less wavy edges. :thumbsup:

I also took a drive down to the harbor to get some freight. I needed some round over bits. Apparently the one round over bit that I had that was roughly the size I wanted to use had a smaller bearing on it, so it leaves a small step, then a round over. Not what I want. So I grabbed a 4 pack from the harbor ranging in sizes and ended up using the 3/8" round over. -
20220108_135135.jpg


I'll clean up the rest by hand. I think a 1/2" round over would just be too much, maybe, I'm not sure. Mostly I wanted to get the round over on it so I could continue shaping that neck heel transition. And yeah, the observant will see some router tear out in a few spots. I used my router table and did each piece separate, which means I forgot to support the "ends" of a couple cuts, so of course it tore out. I'm still learning, don't be like me. Support your open ends with a scrap piece or something. So now I've gotta fix those. :meh:

Anyways, I guess I really need to build some sort of router jig to radius that fretboard, or get to doing it by hand with the radius block. Either way, it needs to happen, because honestly I'm running out of things I can do without ordering parts.
 
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#213
Didn't get a lot done over the weekend. I did finally place an order for some parts. I've got tuners, a Graphtech nut, a tune-o-matic bridge, my side dots and a brass rod to make the string ball end retainers out of coming, but it's all sort of spread out and arriving at different time (thanks Amazon). I should have the nut, bridge and brass rod in hand by the end of the week. But the tuners will be at least the end of the month, maybe early next month.

Bottom line is, probably won't see a lot of progress this week. I'm trying to build a fretboard radius jig during this down time. I've got a few pieces cut out already, but we're far from done. I'll post more on that later, once I get it done and know it's gonna work. Right now all I've got is the bed and I started working on the radius rails, so there's not much to show yet. I still gotta figure out the router sled for my router.
Most of my weekend was taken up by taking down all the Christmas lights, getting my truck to the shop and going grocery shopping (we hadn't been to the grocery store since before Christmas). Gotta get them lights down so we don't have to move, plus we had a break in the rain/snow so it was go time. We'll get back to the radius jig as time allows this week, in preparation for the arrival of the nut and bridge.

If all goes well, I should have some stains in hand today or tomorrow. Tracking shows them here in Tacoma, with expected arrival tonight/this evening. We'll see how it goes. But that may also allow me to play with some tests for the finish this week too. :cool:
clearly I gotta step up my finish game with Dwizum around. :woot:

I gotta wait for another payday before I can order my pickup, jack and pot. Then I should be good to go here.
 
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#217
Bent77 said:
What did you do to the truck?
Click to expand...
I drove it. :smug:
Seriously tho, I purchased this truck (2003 Dodge Ram 2500, 5.9 diesel, 6-speed, 4x4) in 2007 with 48k miles on it and it currently has 249k miles on it. So basically I've put 200k miles on it, 75% of which was towing either my racecar trailer or the stupid big 5th wheel toyhauler. It's been an absolute beast of a truck, but it now needs a new clutch and we're replacing the heater core while it is down, because it's just starting to develop that "smell". And then, while we're at it, we're gonna do a valve adjustment for good measure. It's got a bit more clatter than I'd like. She needs a new exhaust too, but we'll deal with that next year or something. I'd love to just upgrade to a newer truck, but you simply can't replace this thing for less than the cost of a house these days, so we're gonna just pour some money in it and keep on truckin'. Really, the only thing I wish it had that it doesn't is a dually rear axle. So for the cost of a 3500 dually these days, I'll just stick with my truck. We're gonna be in this repair bill somewhere around $3,000 by the time we're done, and probably a couple weeks without my baby. But that price is WAY cheaper than trying to find a replacement/upgrade. This one has been paid off for about 4 years now. :cool:
 
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#219
Right! I purchased this beast for the used priced of $22k back in 2007. It was a lot of money for us at the time, but we needed this truck, and that price was well below the cost of a new one. We ended up refinancing it during the recession and extending the loan another 8 years, which is why it took so long to pay it off. Today, to replace it is next to impossible. IF you can find a truck, they want $50-60k for a used 2008 with 200k miles on it. I don't see a reason to pay through the nose for a truck that basically has the same mileage as the one I already have paid off. And new ones are eclipsing the $100k mark easily. It's kind of out of control.
 
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