Finished Pics! SG-style in Yew

Andyjr1515

TJT1979 said:

Thanks for posting all of this. Great to follow.

Another question regarding doing the fretboard prior to gluing... I would have guessed that installing frets prior to gluing would make the fretboard bend backwards a bit. ie. the tangs of the frets push outwards a little bit on the sides of their slots. All this force is present only on the top face of the fretboard, meaning it bends backwards. Was this the case? Or did it stay straight?

No - you are correct.  It bends.  I keep it lightly clamped to the neck most of the time until it's time to use (I use a couple of spool clamps) - not that the bend is particularly bad for the wood but more that the grip on the fret tangs is going to be at its lightest and if it was handled a lot in that state, then some of the frets might unseat.  

I once shipped a bass with the strings loosened and forgot to equally loosen the truss rod - which gives the same effect.  With the customary chucking around that the couriers did to it, three or four frets loosened in transit.  Lesson learned.   

Andyjr1515

Yesterday was a bit of a lazy day so I got cracking again today.

First job was to glue on the headstock plate:


That meant that I could confirm the final positioning of the neck and therefore also the pickup chambers.

Those who have watched my build threads know that I hate routers.  I will use them, but only where they are pretty much the only thing for the job.  In terms of pickup chambers, that in my book is one small job.

For what it's worth, this is how I do them.  Having worked out exactly where they are going to be, I draw out the chamber outlines.  Then I drill the 8 corners:



Then, I hog out to the edges with a large forstner bit and use a chisel to take me up to the pencil line to a depth of around 10mm:


And then, and only then, I use a bearing trimmer bit in the router to tidy up the sides and get it to final depth:



You can just see in the above shot that I have successfully intersected the cable run channel that I cut before gluing the top - phew!

And then repeated the whole thing for the neck chamber:


Still no trussrod.  May need to order another one from a different supplier...

Andyjr1515

The last structural job on the body will be to rout the control chamber to final depth and to rout the recess for the hatch.  But before I do that, there's a bit of structural integrity to sort out.

Knots - they can add beauty, especially to Yew - because the wood grain sweeps round what are emerging branches.  But that is what they are - and so knots are always effectively separate parts of the wood and so have to be stabilised.


So, today's scary picture to those who haven't got up close and personal to these kind of woods   :  

And there's a related crack that goes all the way towards the pickup chambers.  So my strategy is to stabilise and do the bulk filling at the same time.

First step, I have 'wick'd' thin superglue into the cracks.  Capillary action sucks the cyano deep into the crack which will help reduce future movement:

 
Then - goodness, has this build turned Andyjr1515 to drugs??????


No - at least not yet .  It's a syringe folks use to get medicines down cats and dogs throats.  And perfect for forcing epoxy&wood dust mix deep into the larger fissures.  Yes - I know what it looks like...



And all done waiting cure and sanding:


And after that, finishing off the control chamber.

andyp

This is such a cool build. Loving this thread!

Andyjr1515

Thanks @andyp

I reckon that's enough for today.

I've got most of the cyano and epoxy overfill off the top:


...and routed the control chamber to depth:



The observant amongst you will have spotted the pickup cable channel in the side wall.

Depending if the truss rod arrives or not tomorrow, then I will probably complete the carve, adding the rear cutaways, etc, and rounding some of the hard corners.

As always, thanks for looking and for the encouraging feedback, folks

Roland

Andy. If you get stuck over the truss rod I've got a telecaster length one which you can have.

Andyjr1515

Roland said:

Andy. If you get stuck over the truss rod I've got a telecaster length one which you can have.

That's very kind, @Roland   

 It's posted - I'm probably just belting ahead a bit faster than normal.  I probably need to exercise a bit of lockdown patience

Andyjr1515

I've cut a slice off some Sapele offcut to use as the control hatch.  I generally use a bottom-bearing rebate bit to cut the rebate and then just square off the magnet-protrusion peaks you can see here with a chisel.  The little offcut is to double make sure that the rebate is the correct depth before I put the router away:



And then I started the carve at the back.  Although I don't think the 'proper' SG's have wing cutaway relief at the back, that has always seemed daft to me as it is one of the things that makes it much easier to get to the upper frets.  So this one's got them   This is after the 'reveal & seal' coat of Tru-oil prior to final sanding:



Why do I call it the reveal and seal coat?  Well, the seal I've talked about before - I do a light @WezV slurry-and-buff with Tru-oil as an initial grain-fill and sealer step even when, like this one, I'm going to eventually gloss varnish it.

But it is also, I find, the very best way of finding missed dints, sanding marks, glue spots and other similar things to tidy up.


Take, for example the edge here - I can now see that the edge needs a little more cabinet-scraping work to ensure that the demarcation line is revealed all the way round:


And here, you can see that again and also some glue spots that need sanding away:


As always, thanks for looking 

 - and stay safe

Andy 

PeteC

Looking superb @Andyjr1515.  

Will you be using an ink stain on this one - I am interested in what type of inks you use and how you go about applying them ? 

Andyjr1515

PeteC said:

Looking superb @Andyjr1515.  

Will you be using an ink stain on this one - I am interested in what type of inks you use and how you go about applying them ? 

Not on this one, @PeteC ;

There are all sorts of fears generally abound with builders about colour fade with pen inks, and some colours (purple seems to be one of them) do indeed fade with exposure to sunlight.  That said, I have been lucky with all the ones I've ever used personally and that includes blues, reds, greens oranges and even yellows and a number of these.    

Having said that, if you want a real deep blood red that is pretty certain to be colour-fast - and the red SG still looks that colour after 6 years or so on a stand next to a south-facing picture window - then red calligraphy ink is a pretty safe bet.  It is, after all, designed to be used on documents that should be able to be read for hundreds of years it not thousands (think Lindisfarne Gospels).  

In terms of application, I just wipe it on with a soft cloth and apply as many coats as needed to get the depth of colour I need.  If I want a burst, I add the teeniest amount of dark blue or black and use a squeezed wet cloth to merge the transition.

Also bear in mind that the wood significantly affects the end colour.  That's actually why I started using inks in the first place.  With someone like Diamine, there is a huge range so I buy 2 or 3 either side of the shade (they are only a few £'s a bottle) and try them on the actual wood I'm going to use. 

It is important that the wood is completely clear of any contamination or oils - so a proper sanding before applying is a must.

The finished stain will look like it looks while it's still wet.  Some folks are a bit alarmed to see the colour when it dries.  If it is dry, then just wiping over with a slightly damp cloth will again show you what it will look like once it has had its finish applied on top.

Andyjr1515

In terms of cleaning up the edges, this is closer to how it should be with the demarcation stripe fully visible:



You can see the slight bow on the fretboard we talked about earlier (just held in place with a rubber band) here @TJT1979  

YellowLedBetterMan

Andyjr1515 said:

PeteC said:

Looking superb @Andyjr1515.  

Will you be using an ink stain on this one - I am interested in what type of inks you use and how you go about applying them ? 

Not on this one, @PeteC ;

There are all sorts of fears generally abound with builders about colour fade with pen inks, and some colours (purple seems to be one of them) do indeed fade with exposure to sunlight.  That said, I have been lucky with all the ones I've ever used personally and that includes blues, reds, greens oranges and even yellows and a number of these.    

Having said that, if you want a real deep blood red that is pretty certain to be colour-fast - and the red SG still looks that colour after 6 years or so on a stand next to a south-facing picture window - then red calligraphy ink is a pretty safe bet.  It is, after all, designed to be used on documents that should be able to be read for hundreds of years it not thousands (think Lindisfarne Gospels).  

I have to say, the red Jazz bass has held it's colour really well since you built that, although I think it may have gotten a little bit darker/duller because I haven't polished it in quite some time.

Suppose that's a job to add to the stay-at-home chore list.

Andyjr1515

Well yesterday, the truss-rod shipped on 24 hour service last week arrived (not a grumble - just a fact of life at the moment).  But, actually, I'm pleased that I ordered a second one (which arrived today), because while the original purchase was very nicely made (the one with the fancy chrome end) it is no good for me on this build:



And why is it no good for this build?
  
Well, remembering that the rod is fitted the other way up, the fancy chrome cylinder (inside is probably exactly the same gauges of rod and tip as the one on the left) actually adds another 2mm to the depth of the neck channel - just at the point where the neck is at its thinnest.  And if you add the fret height to the fretboard thickness and the rod & tip height (11mm) and take away the planned thickness of the neck at the 1st fret (22mm), it would leave 2mm under the rod at the nut end.  And that's not, IMHO, enough.

Same calculation with the left hand trussrod, gives me 4mm under the rod - and that is fine.  So that's what I've used.

Is that going to be a problem for everyone with that particular rod?  No - not at all.  If the fretboard had been thicknessed 1.5mm thinner and I hadn't wanted the 0.6mm demarcation veneer, then it would have been fine.


But it means that the fretboard can go on


No capping strip (again, this would reduce the meat under the rod), just a strip of masking tape to stop the glue filling the channel, a final check that the neck was flat and that the rod top plate was flush with or below the neck glue face:



And on it goes:



   

Andyjr1515

Couldn't resist doing a quick mock-up




One of the good things about lockdown is that you know exactly what you are doing the next few weeks.

So I know that tomorrow, I'm going to be carving the neck

Roland

Does that picture make you wonder about using black hardware?

Andyjr1515

Roland said:

Does that picture make you wonder about using black hardware?

I took photos for Matt with black rings because that was a possibility (and I think the original thinking - my own design yew-topped guitar that he has on long term loan has black) but we both agreed that it also is going to look good with the nickel and it was worth a try.  TBH, it needs the pickups to get the best idea.  

Once that varnish goes on it is going to look spectacular whatever colour hardware is on it  

Andyjr1515

Most builders will tell you that their favourite part of a build is carving the neck.  It certainly is mine

The first thing I usually do is rasp-file the corners off the volute:



...which lets me go the full length heel to headstock in continuous strokes of the spokeshave:



You do have to be careful with the spokeshave, though.  I've gone from rectangular to broad curve on this side in just over 1.5 minutes!  It would be very, very easy to overdo it!
In all cases, though, I am moving progressively round from fretboard edge to the edge of the purpleheart and so taking nothing off the thickness of the neck, just removing material from the haunches.


In less than 10 minutes total, I move across to a fairly fine microplane.  In use, I hold either end and draw it up the neck just like a spokeshave - but trying to show that would mean me dropping the camera!



You can see how quickly the basic shape starts getting there.  However, I do stop frequently, have a cup of tea, play a bit of air guitar on it and view the shape from afresh to work out where I need to spend some more time.

Normally, I would move onto the cabinet scraper pretty quickly (again, drawn up the neck two-handed) but mahogany is quite soft and doesn't respond so well to a scraper used hard - so for mahogany I tend to stick with the micro-plane and then use the scraper just to 'kiss' the sides rather than bulk-remove material:



This is about 1 1/2 hours in, including the tea breaks.  I'll come back to it this afternoon and the carve should be complete by the end of the day:

the_jaffa

Great stuff Andy

MLten80

Looking great so far. Excellent skills & combo of woods
 I made a purpleheart top/ash bottom sg for my mrs recently it was great fun with all the curves & bevells 
  https://imgur.com/a/82c8RyN

Look forward to seeing it complete

Andyjr1515

MLten80 said:

Looking great so far. Excellent skills & combo of woods
 I made a purpleheart top/ash bottom sg for my mrs recently it was great fun with all the curves & bevells 
  https://imgur.com/a/82c8RyN

Look forward to seeing it complete

Wow - that looks great!

Purpleheart is great - but it's tough stuff, isn't it!

I have to be very careful not to sand dips in the neck from the stripe being SO much harder that the mahogany