2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Take us through building your guitar step by step. Post pictures and tell us what you're doing.
Post Reply
Kevin Sjostrand
Posts: 3712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

Ha ha Neil. Some of us just build SLOW. I'm in the same fraternity.
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by nkwak »

Correction: my friend and I bent the sides in January. Hoo boy. I need to pick it up a little, so I've started shaping the bracing here at home. The plates still need a little work though.

Splitting the second brace. Nice and even with little runout.



Braces from the first billet:


It's nice getting reacquainted with my cheap bench plane with a blade that is still nice and sharp. My 8yo son thought I was making paper ribbons so I had to explain what they were and carefully showed him how to use it. I wish I could say it was a similar joy with my little 9" Ryobi bandsaw (no, the boy didn't use it because it and the noise scares him) but I am able to work with it or find an alternative.
Last edited by nkwak on Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
~ Neil
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by nkwak »

I messed up. Note to self: glue kerfing PROUD of the rim, not short of it. That's what I get for not marking the line on the inside face of the slats. It's all coming off so I can do over.
~ Neil
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

We all goof; that's how we learn. I have a lot of those self notes!
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by nkwak »

I admit: I was BUI: Building Under the Influence. I had a couple of Sam Adams and it was after 10pm. FWIW I brought it all home with me from my friend's workshop and used some nice chisels to get the kerfing off, then steamed off the off-center blocks with a clothes iron. After cleaning off the glue and residue and buying more kerfing I was back in business. I measured and drew guide lines for my kerfing to follow, took a block plane to about 1/8" of the line and then glued the new kerfing in about 1/32"-1/16" proud of that.

Now I need to get the rosette finished and the plates sanded down a little more and I'm off to bracing. Once the back bracing is on I'll glue in the side braces to match.
~ Neil
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

nkwak wrote:I admit: I was BUI: Building Under the Influence...
HAHAHAHA!!! I like that one! It sounds like you've got a handle on it now. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by nkwak »

Not much going on except fretboard inlay. This one is going to have abalone crosses. I've been sweating the details and hemming and hawing over things too long, so I jumped in headlong on tapering the board then marking the centers carefully. The good news is that I got the positioning right and everything looks okay. Not perfect, not pretty good. Just okay. The Dremel is a tricky tool for me so I opted instead to mark with an Exacto knife and used a chisel instead. The edges are predictably sloppy but fortunately I made LOTS of ebony dust and have a lot of CA glue on hand. I also neglected to buy enough individual pieces to account for error so I need to go back and buy more from Stewmac. On the 12th fret I intended to inlay two smaller diamonds side by side but they are not placed symmetrically. I'm mulling over how to fix it.
~ Neil
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by nkwak »

Duplicate post edited out.
~ Neil
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

You could always inlay 2 larger diamonds, or even 3 of them on the 12th, depending on how far off you are. I'd have to take it out to see which fret, but one of my diamonds on the OM fretboard is slightly off and only noticeable to me.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: 2nd scratch build - Carpathian over EIR

Post by nkwak »

I was thinking of maybe inlaying a piece of the zig zag backstrip on the 12th fret. It's a pity because I'm really happy with where one of the small diamonds laid - and ironically it was the first one I did. Then I went and did the four enlongated diamonds on the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th frets. I used a larger bit than I should have and had a hard time in the light and without any sort of magnification to get it to behave. I ended up sanding a LOT of ebony dust and filling in mistakes. I also experimented with different glues. My favorite technique was to blow some of the ebony dust in the hole (which BTW also have had an irregular bottom) and use the tip of my Exacto knife to mix in a tiny drop of Titebond (so that I had a little time to work with it.) Then I'd lay the diamond in and TRY to walk away and not fudge with it so much.

Famous last words, those. A few times I heard that little *tic* sounds that are the inlay breaking but by then everything was in place - MOST of the time. I actually broke two of the elongated diamonds and the larger piece of the less damaged decided to *disappear* into the cat's litter box which sits underneath my workbench. $2.60 a pop or not but when that happens it's *gone* IMO. I hate wasting the money and I love the cat and all but cleaning that thing is my wife's job and it's the one thing that she's not so detail-oriented - or punctual with.

Anyway, I ended splicing two broken pieces of different inlays together and use a drop of CA glue this time around. It seemed to work out:




Here's how it looked when I decided to quit for the day and put on the "dad hat." The angle of the photo is a bit forgiving but the "bad" diamond on the 12th fret is .1" further from the centerline than the "good" one.



It was all still enough to bother me, though as I waited for Stewmac to deliver more materials I chose to be a LOT more diligent and less rushed for the remaining diamonds above the 12th fret. It occurred to me that I had some experience working in such fine details before. At one point I was a graphic artist who did a lot of fine-tooth-comb type of work, though mostly on the computer. In particular, I worked in programs nearly as detail-oriented as CAD . For example, I worked with Adobe Illustrator as well as a few 3D modeling programs where you can align items in three dimensions with great accuracy. Going back 20 years ago I also got pretty proficient with an exacto knife and drafting tools in a 100 level "old school" graphic design course. I saw that the basic techniques and concepts still apply. The only difference this time was that I was using CA and AR glue with wood and shell instead of glue sticks and rubber cement on card stock and vellum.

So, last night I decided to mask the fretboard with some yellow tape and broke out the old tools. I also paid extra attention to alignments and discovered that my 4 elongated diamonds were as close to perfectly aligned as I could do with the naked eye. I chose to run with this and drew two lines on either end of the diamonds running along the centerline of the fretboard. Then I'd take my digital caliper and along each of the three lines measure the distance between the fret slots in order to locate the precise position of the center line between the frets.

Once that was figured out, I essentially had a "box" to put the inlay in. Then I'd put the inlay on the tape and nudge it into position, hold it in place with a plain old rubber eraser on a school pencil and trace the outline with the Exacto knife. Then I'd remove the inlay and peel away tape beneath, creating a mask. The result was something that had a bit more contrast for my failing eyes to see more clearly. I also opted to use some really small Dremel bits that I happened to find at the local Harbor Freight. Things went much more smoothly.






This time around I opted to use CA glue to embed the inlay, with a little sprinkle of ebony dust to fill the gaps of course. Here's how it looks, awaiting final sanding of the inlay once the CA glue sets with the zig zag backstrip in position for a mock up. I'm still on the fence whether I want to bind the fretboard with ebony, just to hide the fretwire tines:



PS: my 8yo wanted to help with things this morning, but his ADHD flared up and the last diamond went *missing* under the workbench. After much sputtering and with gritted teeth telling him to "git upstairs!" I think it's no big loss. Less may be more.
Last edited by nkwak on Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
~ Neil
Post Reply