Thread: Al's Single Cutaway - Blackwood Beauty

Originally Posted by floody_85

Thats the biggest neck ive ever seen andy!!

thats what she said

Originally Posted by DarwinStrings

Cool inlay Peter. A bit off track but do any of you guys reckon those fret presses are any better than using a drill press to do the same job and if so what reasons make it better?

Jim

i used to use the caul in my drill press,
and i absolutely noticed the difference once i bought the arbor press, much much better pressure and consistency
love it
making my money back too lol

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

i used to use the caul in my drill press,
and i absolutely noticed the difference once i bought the arbor press, much much better pressure and consistency
love it
making my money back too lol

Thats what i dont like about my drill press. The pressure is pretty weak. Ill prob shell out for a press soon

Cheers dudes, I had not thought of the bearings Peter although I guess if there is a problem in the long term (no troubles after many fret jobs) I will have to replace the bearing. I have never thought of pressure as a issue as my drill press works well, I reckon if it was not enough I could unscrew one of the levers and make a longer one to screw in doubling the leverage. $90 is cheap though I might put it on my long list of future things.

Jim

Give me a piece of wood and I'll make you some music.

Originally Posted by DarwinStrings

Cool inlay Peter. A bit off track but do any of you guys reckon those fret presses are any better than using a drill press to do the same job and if so what reasons make it better?

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!

You get much better leverage, control and support with an ardour press, and you can position it where you like and even use it sitting down making the job more comfortable. A drill press isn't designed to have so much pressure applied at the lever and there is always the risk of damage.

This is only my opinion from an engineering point of view,

regards to all

Wal

Cheers Wal, I would not have thought there was that much pressure involved when pushing a fret in.

Jim

Looks great! Keep the pictures coming can't wait to see how it comes out.

Originally Posted by DarwinStrings

Cheers dudes, I had not thought of the bearings Peter although I guess if there is a problem in the long term (no troubles after many fret jobs) I will have to replace the bearing. I have never thought of pressure as a issue as my drill press works well, I reckon if it was not enough I could unscrew one of the levers and make a longer one to screw in doubling the leverage. $90 is cheap though I might put it on my long list of future things.

Jim

i dont think it is the amount of pressure your putting on it (or leverage),
its more the consistency of the pressure and how its transfered,
i used to have to put my weight into it when using the drill press and it never felt steady or fluent,
where as the arbor press is just a fluent pull down on the arm and the frets seated nice.
thats just my opinion and personal findings lol

Seems you are the only one who has used both Andrew, you do make it sound tempting and when I saw them I have to admit my TAS kicked in but after thinking about it I reckon I will stick with the drill press for now (even though Wal is probably right and I may have to repair the drill press one day), mainly cause it will take up just that little bit more space although I do need to add a bit more roof to my shed so I can add a big boy sander so might just fit it in in the future.

Jim

Life is good when you are amongst the wood

Hi,

Thanks Alex. I am realy happy with how this guitar has panned out so far, so thanks for the kind words.

Below pics of glueing the binding. Appologies for the quality of some pics. I trialled taking photos via my phone. They looked OK on the phone until I viewed them on the computer. Won't be using that method unless I have to in the future.

All binding is curly maple which needs to be heat bent before glueing


Gluing the binding


Gluing the paua purfling


And the cleaned purfling. I have skipped ahead a bit with the top carved to show the overall effect


Cheers,

Peter

Looks awesome Peter.
Really good job with the purfling

Cheers Floody,

Fitting the control cavity cover cut out of the back plate. The binding prebent. I decided to use maple binding to match the veneer trim line on the back



Gluing the binding


Test fitting the cover


Roughing in the top carve



Refining the carve



Cheers,

Peter

Hi,

More to add.

Below rough shaping the neck. I will shape to profile after the neck is glued in.


Gluing the neck in


Shaped the neck to profile and carved the heel into the body




Cheers,

Peter

Coming together really well Peter,
That blackwood neck matches beautiful, your customer will be pleased with that guitar.
Cheers, Bob

Finally, someone who's not afraid of a bit of pearl work,,, LUV IT!!!
And the rest of the build is looking FANFRIGGENTASTIC.
What sort of pickups are you using?