...ah done a bad bad thang....

**fanlee** · 13th January 2008, 03:21 PM

Hi.
In setting out my 'latest' project I was upset by the large wastage factor of my attractive blackwood body blank.
Consumed by my penny pinching ways I rotated the blank 90deg & found I could squeeze two bodies out of it that way.
I drew up the shapes & cut two 'blanks' from the one.
A smarter friend of mine pointed out that I was now in for all sorts of problems with the grain now going 'crossways' & not up & down the length of the body.
We discussed 'stringers' & also whether or not a 1/4" top with the grain running 'up & down' would stabilise it enough.
I want to do both..that is use internal stringers as well as the 1/4" top.
So the question is...what's a good timber out of which to make the stringers?..and any other tips in making & using them?
...er...also....do y'all think it will work.....or should I hoik the whole thing & start afresh?
TIA Rob.

**EtherealGuitars** · 13th January 2008, 07:02 PM

Hi Rob,

Wasteage can drive us to do all sorts of things.......however I have learnt to waste where necessary and have a massive pile of offcuts! Anyone looking for kids toy blocks?????

My view would be to start again. The strength of the body would be compromised regardless of any attempt to 'fix' the problem. I think the biggest thing though is that you will always look at it (as indeed will others) and remember that error. Good job you realised this now rather than after you had spent many more hours on the body. Also, the Blackwood will give you a good supply of Control Cavity Covers, Headstock Veneers, Truss Rod covers........no wasteage

and a valuable lesson learnt. Good luck with the project and keep us posted.

Just my 2 cents worth......

**old_picker** · 14th January 2008, 09:10 AM

I look at the "wastage" from a blank as pieces of high quality stock for repairs, addittional added bits and all sorts of things as outlined above.
i usually rip what i can out of the leftovers and have a nice stack of 1"x2" and 2"x2" 's

they can be cut as decoroative strips or even binding if you you want to go to the trouble

**RGM** · 14th January 2008, 12:09 PM

I use wastage for things like headstock plates and back plates. If i was into turning pens i would use it for that!

In fact i could build some guitar shaped chopping boards from my wastage, though probably not very effective due to the size and the cavity routing.

**black_labb** · 14th January 2008, 10:22 PM

just a thought, buy depending on the size you may be able to do a 3 piece flying v style body with it, due to the short distance between the neck tennon and the back of the centre piece, or even wings for a neckthrough instrument, what about if you had the centre part of the body longer (where the neck laminate is) extending to a point and a short avtual body shape, something like a mix of a alembic point at the end and a beatle bass (those violin shaped bass guitars) having odd resitrictions can force you to design something unique and interesting.

having said that, if your not interested in that then dont torture yourself doing a project your not interested in just so you dont waste wood.

**Hammered** · 15th January 2008, 10:59 AM

I can see how that would be a very annoying mistake, but the wood is certainly not wasted.

As others have suggested, you can try and work around it by going with a new design, or you can use what you have already cut to make something completely different like a chopping board.

You could even bandsaw that blanks you have cut into three or 4 pieces (through the thickness) and make some guitar shaped boxes, with the bandsawed bits forming the top and bottom of the box.

Hope you find something satisfying that you can do with the wood.

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