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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 19, 2020 9:19:38 GMT -5
The doctors are saying they can't help me. This project is a DC junior. I cut the body from a three piece glue-up of lightweight mahogany. I've always wanted to build one and never got to it, so this is a great time to take a shot, what with social distancing and errything. I plan on using a standard soapbar-style P90, rather than a traditional dog ear pickup because the soapbar allows adjustment of the pickup's height. A dog ear P90 has to be shimmed; while that does work, it's a bit of a pain. Gibson originally used the dog ear because it was cheap to produce (less parts/less labor). I think it's going to be fire engine red to lend a toy-like quality to it. Yeah, I know TV yellow or maybe a sunburst would be more traditional, but I have a Gibson tobacco SB Jr as well as a limed white Gibson CS Jr. It's also sort of an homage to one of my favorite humorists Dave Barry, who, when shopping for his first electric guitar, took a knowledgeable friend with him to point out all the plusses and minuses of various brands and features of guitars. The goal was to help Barry make an informed decision; after spending an entire day browsing through several shops, the answer was clear: "I want a RED one!" Here we go.
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woody
Wholenote
Posts: 245
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Post by woody on Mar 19, 2020 10:27:52 GMT -5
Godspeed,Peegoo! Would that be considered a long tenon? Years ago I had a DC Jr. and the neck was a wiggle stick. Looking for ward to seeing your progress. Maybe you should do a live stream, like they do with the nesting eagles in Decora IA. Leave the camera on 24/7. We could sit in front of our screens, lonely in our isolation, and wait for work to happen. Peegoo Cam.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 19, 2020 10:57:13 GMT -5
Very groovy project!!!!
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 19, 2020 14:29:03 GMT -5
Woody, this is considered a long tenon, but that's not on purpose; the tenon length (in my experience) is critical only in SGs because the body is so thin. A standard Les Paul, Special, and Junior all have thicker bodies and that prevents the flex that is common in a lot of SGs. The other variable is the wood itself: some woods exhibit more flex, and others remain stiffer than a coffin nail. Even some Les Pauls with long tenon joints have whippy necks that go out of tune if you look at them funny. I don't pay much attention to it. This one has a long tenon because that's the way I made the router templates.
I did once do a live stream on my yootoob channel but they shut me down because nobody told me it was improper to be in my underwear. The ladies dug it, but...you know.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Mar 19, 2020 17:15:56 GMT -5
Looks like another cool build. The body looks perfect to me. You are making me realize I need to get back on my Pawn Shop Project I had begun on the old forum.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 19, 2020 19:33:37 GMT -5
C'mon, Larry, get to it!
The good news is this: others can't accuse you of hating people and hiding in your shop to avoid them.
It's direct Orders from the Goobermint!
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Post by LTB on Mar 20, 2020 10:30:13 GMT -5
That should make a great looking guitar. I like the idea of a type of red for body color. You should open your own shop building custom guitars. You do great work. Yep this would be a very good time to build something. What kind of finish? Just paint, red stain and poly , nitro etc?
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 20, 2020 13:23:28 GMT -5
Thanks LTB. The funny thing is I do have my own shop and I build custom guitars The finish will be Rust-Oleum acrylic nitro lacquer. Not many people know about this stuff. It's one of my favorite finishes, but the colors available in aerosol cans are limited. It is more durable than traditional nitro lacquers like Stoomac, Reranch, and Behlen's. Instead of costing $20 per can, it's $5. This stuff: www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/specialty/lacquer-sprayI'm not a nitro freak and I'm not a 'less finish = more better tone' goober. I've tried all different kinds of guitar finishes over the years and I've tried bare wood guitars, and the finish/tone relationship is little more than screw sniffing. The reason I like this Rust-Oleum is it gives consistently good results; I've been using it for years and have used the black, white, red, light blue, pink, and clear. The clear is fantastic over plain and stained woods. If you pay close attention to the instructions (shake shake shake, temperature, distance, etc.,) it self levels perfectly and there's very little wet-sanding sanding required; it doesn't 'orange peel' like many lacquers because it's not a particularly hot formula. Many aerosol nitros are mixed hot (more solvents/less solids) to tack fast and prevent runs, which is good, but this contributes to the orange peel problem. I use Zinsser Bulls Eye clear shellac as a sealer/primer for this and it works great. If it weren't raining today I'd be shooting shellac right now (
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Post by Pinetree on Mar 20, 2020 20:52:15 GMT -5
Red is good.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 20, 2020 22:18:33 GMT -5
The Rust-oleum does give good results without a *lot* of fuss. My latest thinline is nitro because I’m looking to match the LP gold top look.
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Post by LM on Mar 20, 2020 22:44:00 GMT -5
That's gonna be sweet!
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Post by LTB on Mar 20, 2020 23:03:32 GMT -5
Thanks LTB. The funny thing is I do have my own shop and I build custom guitars The finish will be Rust-Oleum acrylic nitro lacquer. Not many people know about this stuff. It's one of my favorite finishes, but the colors available in aerosol cans are limited. It is more durable than traditional nitro lacquers like Stoomac, Reranch, and Behlen's. Instead of costing $20 per can, it's $5. This stuff: www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/specialty/lacquer-sprayI'm not a nitro freak and I'm not a 'less finish = more better tone' goober. I've tried all different kinds of guitar finishes over the years and I've tried bare wood guitars, and the finish/tone relationship is little more than screw sniffing. The reason I like this Rust-Oleum is it gives consistently good results; I've been using it for years and have used the black, white, red, light blue, pink, and clear. The clear is fantastic over plain and stained woods. If you pay close attention to the instructions (shake shake shake, temperature, distance, etc.,) it self levels perfectly and there's very little wet-sanding sanding required; it doesn't 'orange peel' like many lacquers because it's not a particularly hot formula. Many aerosol nitros are mixed hot (more solvents/less solids) to tack fast and prevent runs, which is good, but this contributes to the orange peel problem. I use Zinsser Bulls Eye clear shellac as a sealer/primer for this and it works great. If it weren't raining today I'd be shooting shellac right now ( Great, thanks....I am making a note of this! Not being really good at refinishing a guitar I need all the tips I can get.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 23, 2020 11:31:02 GMT -5
"Not being really good at refinishing a guitar..."
Nothing wrong with that at all. The more you do it, the better you get. I've been doing this stuff for many years, and it's funny because every finish job I do is usually better than the last one, if even by just a teensy bit. Experience counts. So does patience when finishing. If you rush it, it will look rushed.
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woody
Wholenote
Posts: 245
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Post by woody on Mar 27, 2020 12:00:12 GMT -5
So? How's progress?
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 27, 2020 16:06:10 GMT -5
I'm at a full stop on it while I knock out the mini Telecaster project.
And I cannot find the custom headstock overlay for the Junior. It's somewhere...just not where I thought it was.
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woody
Wholenote
Posts: 245
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Post by woody on Mar 28, 2020 10:30:45 GMT -5
Hope you find that overlay. Always enjoy your project updates.
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argo
Wholenote
Posts: 397
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Post by argo on Mar 28, 2020 12:13:20 GMT -5
This triggered a memory! Didn't Wickedgtr not like red guitars or was it pointy ones RIP young man.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Mar 28, 2020 14:22:57 GMT -5
Thanks Woody!
Yeah, WG hated red guitars AND pointy guitars. But he hated red guitars more.
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argo
Wholenote
Posts: 397
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Post by argo on Apr 6, 2020 13:56:09 GMT -5
Peegoo? Do you wet sand with 1500 grit? Would Grey scotchbrite be too coarse?
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 6, 2020 20:24:25 GMT -5
Scotchbrite is too coarse, and it's not good for wet sanding because it's a thick soft/flexible pad and will give you inconsistent results.
I wet sand with 400, then 600, then 1000, then 2000. There's no easy, fast process. It just takes time.
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argo
Wholenote
Posts: 397
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Post by argo on Apr 7, 2020 16:24:24 GMT -5
Thanks.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Apr 8, 2020 6:29:58 GMT -5
I got an email ad from StewMac about a sale on single cut Jr kits. Gahhhh...
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 8, 2020 9:34:12 GMT -5
Are you sanding it after planing? Thickness sander? By hand? In my experience, that is the thing that jumps out the fastest on home projects... those flat surfaces look like an old wrinkled shirt someone tossed on at the last minute because of all the sanding dips. The other is the round overs get super wonky - people think they're adding a "handmade" touch, but they end up looking like a birthday cake made by a 6 year old.
I know you know your way around a router, but I'm curious on your sanding process!
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 11, 2020 5:54:39 GMT -5
I don't have a thickness sander (wish I had room). I sand the bare wood level using a sanding beam; same concept as used when leveling frets. I follow with a random orbit sander with 220 grit and let the weight of the tool do the work. After sealing with shellac, I beam sand again to 400 grit. This makes for a really flat, smooth surface. The roundovers I hand sand last, and I use a light touch because yeah, these are so stupid easy to sand through.
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 11, 2020 10:01:43 GMT -5
Sanding beam, I like it! I had a feeling you were doing something good - it was hard to tell for sure from the pictures, but that flat surface looked almost glass like.
I had some hobby store sanding beams for years that I loved but are no longer being made, and several months ago decided to get one of the aluminum beams from LMI. Boy, do I love that thing. I wish I got it a decade ago, or more. I'll probably get some more blocks at some point, but now isn't the time to spend money on tools, unfortunately.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 11, 2020 12:04:24 GMT -5
Funky-K, save your money and get a few different aluminum "I-beam" levels. Buy in person at a builder's supply so you can examine the flat flanges of the top and bottom; buy the kind that have been milled flat (you'll see this as fly-cutter-like marks in the metal surface). They are insanely affordable considering how accurate they are, compared to purpose-made sanding beams. I apply sandpaper using the 'painter's tape and CA' trick. Apply a strip of painter's tape to the sanding beam; the tape needs to be at least as wide as the beam. Run a thin stripe of medium-viscosity CA down the center of the tape. With your grit paper of choice laying grit-side down on the bench, flip the beam and press it into place on the paper. Apply pressure for at least 20 seconds for the CA to kick. All that's left to do is use a sharp knife to trim the paper and any excess tape along the sides of the beam. It's ready to use. And if you're careful about pulling the sandpaper off the beam, you can stick the tape to a clean hard surface (glass, fridge, etc.), and it is reusable because it stays tacky. Have several of these strips in different grits and it won't slow down your work. Cheers!
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 11, 2020 16:27:17 GMT -5
Interesting. I see that working really well for some things, but it might be a bit cumbersome on a refret, especially since I already have my LMI beam.
I like your sandpaper technique, but I'm peeling/replacing paper waaaay too often to do that! At one point I was doing 2-3 refrets a week, and if I had some ebony and/or pearl to deal with, that could be a couple paper changes for each. Yeah, the stick on stuff is pricey, but at that point the saved labor pays for it.
Have you checked to see how true they are? If they aren't as good, since I already have the LMI beam, I could true it up on that. I did that with a home made straight edge for acoustic neck resets, made from a piece of aluminum from the orange box store. That saved me a good $70 or so. I wouldn't mind having something longer than the 24" I have now for the occasional bass. I did a fretless conversion on a 6 string bass that was 24 fret, zero fret, and extra long scale... so, probably close to a 28" long fingerboard. The 22" beam I was using at the time felt so tiny! I love fingerboard sanding when the block always overhangs, it just comes out so nice.
I may use that sandpaper trick to restore some Stanley planes I have lying around. I'd been picking them up here and there at used shops for dirt cheap and getting them going. I have a #5 Bailey that needs some serious work on the sole before it'll be useable. I got the frog, iron, cap and handles all fixed and working beautifully, but the sole is so cupped, that I can't get anything except chatter when I use it. Those soles eat sandpaper like crazy, so getting some 40 or 60 grit onto something flat would be a great idea. We'll see how bored I get during quarantine.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 11, 2020 17:55:23 GMT -5
I've not checked the levels with a dial indicator, but when compared to a high-Q straight edge, they are as straight as they need to be. I see no mountains or valleys in them when held up to the light.
Get yourself a coarse or medium diamond stone. They appear costly at first, but they last forever and they are perfect for truing up plane bases, plane irons, chisels, etc. Much faster than sandpaper; it's what I use and I get great results. The 12" one I have is almost 20 years old and still works like new. Diamond stones also don't dish out like Carborundum and water stones do.
I finish up by taping wet-or-dry 3M 400 to a plate of glass and scrub the tools over it with water, mineral spirits, or kerosene to keep the paper cutting. That gets things scary sharp.
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 12, 2020 9:21:36 GMT -5
I have a DMT Coarse stone, but I know they also make extra coarse and extra extra coarse. That is what I'd use to finish, as well as my fine and extra fine stones. The water stones are too much for just a sole. For really flattening and rebeveling I've done better with sandpaper... what kind of stone do you have? I think it would take an eternity with mine.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 12, 2020 12:00:44 GMT -5
DMT is good stuff; I have a few of their 6" stones. My 12" stone is Smith's brand; it's the earlier design that uses a heavy glass-filled Nylon backer. Super flat and rigid. I sent you a message; you can check your messages up top next to 'Profile'.
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