Dom in Somerset

On 12/06/2021 at 15:41, Si600 said:

Love the title of this video. 

No' even close Jimmeh!

To be honest, I've not watched the video so he may have made it from heather wood with a thistle stem fretboard all sourced from the Highlands. 

I have seen it, his guitar is actually made in Scotland though and by a scot (I'm only 50% scot and never lived there) I believe the wood is from whisky barrels too.

I went through a phase of being almost crippled by it, I think it had a lot to do with stress I was going through outside of music. I ended up on Prozac for a few months and it went , I'm pleased to say that it broke the cycle and I've been fine since. 
The nearest I got to serious stage fright since was when I accidentally became lead guitarist after a lifetime of bass or rhythm duties. I took a very systematic approach and worked out solos where I needed them with no improvisation , no stepping into the unknown.Early on I realised that I couldn't fill the previous guitarist's shoes but I could put on my size 12s and do it my way. I borrowed about 20% his stuff and filled in the gaps with what I was comfortable with. The band was well rehearsed and as someone said earlier as soon as I hit the first chord I was off. Not the most relaxed gig I ever played but no silly mistakes and no mistakes caused by worrying about making mistakes.
Just before we started one of the best guitarists I know came through the crowd and stood right in front of me....a few seconds later and for the duration of the gig he was dancing with a cheesy grin on his face.

So what does it sound like? 
In the hands of a bass player who was in the wrong place at the wrong time , like this:

Annnnd rest.

Getting close, I can almost feel myself playing it on stage now ...foot on a monitor and a pained expression on my face.

The longest two weeks ever.

Truss rod cover, this was tricky to make , I may try again. It involved sticking the decal transfer the wrong side (glue side )up. It's made from perspex from a shop display stand.
How much more yellow could this be?

Holes for controls:

Big hole for controls showing the back of the small holes for controls:

I filled the truss rod access with blue tac to prevent it filling with resin while I finished the headstock . Today I opened it up with a dremmel

 

Fretboard masked and frets blacked in preparation for some levelling:

Run the levelling beam over until all the frets have lost the black from the crown, then recrown:

 

Fretting in progress...
Fretting complete:

The neck starting to take shape:

The inevitable trail fitting:

Fretboard slotted glued on and radiused.

That's my left foot BTW.
Dots fitted and I've started staining the fretboard, the dots will show up better once I've snaded and finished the board.

The inevitable trial fitting.

Measuring with callipers will tell you the string gauges but not a lot besides, most brands do a 9-42 and a 10-46 set and the gauges are the same. If you guitar is strung with standard 9-42 0r 10-46 it would be hard to tell the brand.
You can sometimes identify Ernie Ball strings because they do some hybrid sets , skinny top heavy bottom etc and the mix of gauges is (as far as i know) unique to those sets.
 

59 minutes ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Taking shape really well! Love to hear some clips once it's up and running!

I'm itching to play it, I was hoping to have got the neck finished this week but ongoing issues with the headstock have held me back.
 

The flower is sometimes called "Scotch broom" which is what decided my exact choice of yellowness.
A few things happened today.. The neck joint is quite a complex shape , in order to use reclaimed timber it was necessary to glue two pieces together to for the heal.
.
To strengthen the joint I've put some dowels through (made from piano hammer shanks.)

Routing for neck joint and pickups.>

Trial fitting of the neck. I must admit to spending a few minutes posing with this and looking at my reflection in a window.

 

The gift that keeps on giving....the board I put the body on while spraying has been transformed into this marvellous piece of abstract art.
That's the album cover sorted.

25 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Fiat make brooms now?

Apparently so.
I actually prefer Füc£in’ YELLOW!

1 minute ago, ezbass said:

I think, that is what Billy Connolly would describe as, “Füc£in’ YELLOW!” It’s going to be awesome; I like it.

That may be what Billy Connolly would call it but Halfords call it "Fiat Broom Yellow"

Yellow, seriously yellow. Monochrome cat included for comparison.

Calmer voices have prevailed, I'm spraying it white:


















Only kidding , that's primer on the back , it will be yellow eventually. The front is looking good now but I may have to go back to square one with the headstock though. I tried applying layers rather than casting a solid section. A word of warning if you are thinking of trying this the dust that comes off when you scrape or sand the epoxy is nasty stuff. I gets into my sinuses and gave me a week long headache even though I wore a mask.
The back before spraying.

I was sorely tempted by an AXL one on ebay. I have an AXL strat and it's a great guitar for the price (£150ish second hand on ebay) I'm just not a strat man deep down. 
Lockdown has turned a lot of us into guitarists.

There's been a bit of a lull while resin sets and things arrive in the post. I couldn't resist another sneaky peek at it now all of the bits are here. For those of you that care about that sort of thing ...Seymour Duncan Distortion bridge pickup , Warman P90 in the neck position.

The resin isn't perfect , there is a blemish where some of the tape touched the surface but that's right where the bridge pickup will go. Another thin layer in the fork of the V ,some sanding back and it should be done.
I couldn't resist seeing how the gold hardware will look.
Headstock prior to coating.

This is why I need a tartan flying V:

Tartan glued on and held down at the edges with masking tape.

Making ure it's level before pouring the resin.

 

The dam in place , the masking tape over the top is to stop the sides from bowing out. Note that I've put it on a bin liner so if it leaks I won't have to chisel it of the workbench

Resin poured...now we wait...

Pianos are mostly made from poplar , much of which is a bit soft. It's quite variable so I only use the more dense stuff. For necks I use oak or beech that comes up occasionally. 
I read somewhere that Danelectro used poplar  a lot. 

44 minutes ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Your tartan is MCLeod of Lewis, I believe... I rather like it. Also known in some corners of Edinburgh's Royal Mile as "McLeod of Loud". Considering a kilt to match?  

Used to be a young shredder type that got a lot of coverage in the US guitar mags around the turn of the 90s, Blues something - Blues Saccercho, something like that? Had blue tartan guitars as he wanted a visual signifier people would associate with him. He kept insisting on calling it "plaid", though - Yanks, eh?

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build. 

Well spotted! I already have the kilt! I play in a glam punk band , my profile pic shows my usual stage gear, the tartan V will clash horribly (I hope).