What's on your workbench right now?

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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epizootics
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by epizootics » Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:47 pm

I'll second what everybody's saying above - all of your guitars have a cool, streamlined vibe and they all look like players. Great color choices every time too! :)

Is that the Moslike trem you used on this one? I've seen it popping 'round quite a bit but found very few reviews...

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by niksureal » Sat Aug 01, 2020 9:05 am

epizootics wrote:
Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:47 pm
I'll second what everybody's saying above - all of your guitars have a cool, streamlined vibe and they all look like players. Great color choices every time too! :)

Is that the Moslike trem you used on this one? I've seen it popping 'round quite a bit but found very few reviews...
thanks! yeah, i love the moslike vibratos. same feel/sound as a mosrite vibrato but it actually stays in tune. haha.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by UC3 » Sat Aug 01, 2020 4:17 pm

First Bolt-up!

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Practicing placing inserts in neck blank off-cut. Why?... In my infinite wisdom I used Philippine Mahogany for the heel of the neck and it was so soft I thought it wouldn't hold a screw and in fact, was not holding the inserts. So, I drilled some 5/8" wells and plugged'em with some birch dowel. Yeah... "Tone-Plugz" patents pending ;)

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If anyone is interested, I used the SS, 8-32 inserts for soft wood. The dark grey are for hardwood and require a bottom tap.

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Drilled with bench press, then utilized the set-tool with my Gator drill guide to thread by hand and maintain perpendicular.

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Left the last one proud so you could see how the insert cuts the material away as it threads. Not a big deal, nature of the beast. Will probably add a dab of adhesive when they're ready to become permanently set.

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Major victory for me here, a lot of mental hurdles in the rearview now. Time to move forward...

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by antisymmetric » Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:57 am

8) 8) I was hoping you were still moving forward with this thing. It's always nice when you reach a milestone like this and the guitar/ pile of problems ratio tips in your favour. Should be much more plain sailing from this point on, hopefully. Thanks for posting.
Watching the corners turn corners

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Dan_Q » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:27 am

Man lots of the stuff in this thread inspires me. Some awesome stuff going on. Please keep sharing 8) :-*

Not sure whether to share this one on this forum, as it'll probably go down like a hydrogen filled airship........

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Just putting together the mechanical bits of a couple of scratchplates for my projects today- my "shielder" moves out this evening, so i imagine i'll be on here a bit more often! :)

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by UC3 » Sun Aug 02, 2020 5:12 pm

Thanks Anti, I'll see if I can keep the momentum. Quick thanks to BeetL and TexasToast who have both covered the insert thing very well and provided the confidence to give it a whirl.

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Yeah, so I got one of those D.I.Y bone nut kits from StewMac. They aren't messing around over there are they ;D

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Actually camel bone off eBay. Diamond grinder for some rough cuts. Smells like everyone says it does... Bad!

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Poor man's router sled with the 'ol painters tape and CA trick applied to granite. I used my old 1" bowl-carving bit coated with PTFE spray and cleaned bit between passes so build-up on blade didn't cause it to ride over material instead of cutting it.

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Couple of decent blanks to work with.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by BezelBrezel » Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:20 am

Hi,
getting that art deco/streamline/Rick Vito/Reverend Vibe….
[imgImage][/img]

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by verhoevenc » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:04 am

UC3 wrote:
Sun Aug 02, 2020 5:12 pm
Thanks Anti, I'll see if I can keep the momentum. Quick thanks to BeetL and TexasToast who have both covered the insert thing very well and provided the confidence to give it a whirl.

Image

Yeah, so I got one of those D.I.Y bone nut kits from StewMac. They aren't messing around over there are they ;D

Image

Actually camel bone off eBay. Diamond grinder for some rough cuts. Smells like everyone says it does... Bad!

Image

Poor man's router sled with the 'ol painters tape and CA trick applied to granite. I used my old 1" bowl-carving bit coated with PTFE spray and cleaned bit between passes so build-up on blade didn't cause it to ride over material instead of cutting it.

Image
Image

Couple of decent blanks to work with.
Gotta ask: why camel?!
Chris
Luthier are Raygun Guitars

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by UC3 » Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:47 am

Chris,
Gotta ask: why camel?!
It's been a long time, but I originally had the idea of doing something similar to Spalt's Bone Top pickups - really liked the dyed bone concept. I was thinking bone inlay, knobs, tuner buttons, saddles - you name it.

That being said, it was really about the quantity of material, more than the species. In addition, the knife scales I was looking at weren't the right size for what I though I had in mind, so I said what-the-heck and purchased the bone off eBay. So basically, Camel's what I had on-hand when the mood struck.

At one point, I actually began to go down the "bone density = tone" rabbit-hole, then checked myself - no need for something rare/expensive or possible illegal, like Giraffe, Manatee, or even Oosik.

That second image is a metal stamp that was pressed into water-soaked bone with a vice and then highlighted with sharpie - just some noodling

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Image

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by CROSS_guitars » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:56 pm

I'd be keen on bone block inlays or dots.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by UC3 » Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:54 am

Hey Patrick,

Yeah, I figured someone must have done bone already, but I haven't seen anything specifically marketed as fret markers/inlay. Plenty of knife scale blanks as inlay and some potential in bone button blanks as dots. Was thinking of stuff ready made and adaptable, but really better quality and tighter tolerance to be had with CNC or Dremel/Jig.

I've seen wood screw extractors(woodcraft) that are toothed - basically a small hole-saw made out of tubular metal . And, there's something called an annular hole cutter but you'd need to use it without the pilot bit, in a drill press, and make sure it matches your chuck.

Hasty attempt with an abrasive bit... close, but nothing you could hang your hat on.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Scout » Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:28 pm

I’m not sure about something as dense as bone on the fretboard, might take many years but it may wear awkwardly. Maybe not, abalone is dense also.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by SuperAxe » Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:33 pm

CROSS_guitars wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:56 pm
I'd be keen on bone block inlays or dots.
Nothing wrong with making your own bone dot inlays. No need for CNC, etc. Just takes a bit of time but I am happy with the ones as shown below.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by CROSS_guitars » Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:44 pm

Cool. I imagine it would age nicely. maybe even like clay dots?

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by SuperAxe » Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:39 pm

CROSS_guitars wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:44 pm
Cool. I imagine it would age nicely. maybe even like clay dots?
Some of my older ones have slightly discoulored... sort of getting a bit grey around the edges and the pores get some dirt in it.
Properly degreased bone should stay relatively white.

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