Finished Shots - Trini Lopez 335 ish Tribute

Lebarque

Andyjr1515 said:

OK - I think we are on the final furlong 

With grandparenting duties done for a few weeks I have a fairly uninterrupted run to finish this off.

Offline, @meltedbuzzbox and I have been doing some work on the headstock arrangement and he has come up with a shape that I think works beautifully.  It gives a respectful nod to the original but is its very own.  This is a mockup, but later today I will be cutting and gluing on the actual ebony plate.

At the same time, I've been experimenting with some ebony offcuts from the top wood to see how well a 'no finish, just sanding & buffing' approach (think violin fretboard) works.  The trials went well and so I did a quick and nasty to see how it works on the whole top.  I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but...I reckon it works


 

If only there was a MegaWow! button.

paulnb57

Fabulous!

Lebarque

meltedbuzzbox

its looking amazing Andy

Andyjr1515

meltedbuzzbox said:

its looking amazing Andy

That's the one that matters the most  

That said, many thanks for the kind words, folks.  Always much appreciated

Andyjr1515

And so to the headstock plate. 

Before gluing, a vital thing not to be missed - cutting the access to the trussrod:


The cunning plan is to use the cut out above as the cover, fitted flush with magnets:



There will be a shallow scoop at the apex as a finger-nail access (this will be a snug fit!)

And no, you can't have too many clamps!


The plate is presently oversize at the edges and will be sanded flush with the headstock once the glue has fully cured.

Andyjr1515

There have been a lot of 'like hens' teeth' items in this build.  

One being a Hiscox Pro II GS (semi acoustic ES335 etc) case!!  Feast your eyes - possibly the only one in the UK as far as I could see.    

And, against all the odds, it fits!!!!


Of course, there's the vibrato whammy arm to accommodate...but surely that's nothing that a quick few seconds with a router can't fix 

Andyjr1515

Next is the tuner holes.

This is absolutely a 'measure 15 times, drill once'

There is an advantage with the Steinbergers that the strings go directly through the centre of each tuner:


A 2mm bradpoint to drill the pilot hole - the wedge is to get the headstock at 90 degrees for each drill hole and let me drill a recess in the back to avoid tearout at the main drill hole exit:


And then the BB (bigger b******)   :


And fitted - his/her trunk's got studs!  :





 

Andyjr1515

Time for a gratuitous mock-up



When sanded and buffed, the fretboard and headstock plate will polish up to the same sort of satin as the ebony on the body. 



  The remaining visible neck laminates will darken with the application of the Tru-oil but will buff up to a similar sheen. And before anyone asks...no, they don't do the Steinbergers in nickel

Only a couple of jobs left on the basic build and then I can move onto the final sanding and finishing 

meltedbuzzbox

Superb!!!
Looks great!

the only question that remains (for now) is where will you put your Swifts on the headstock?

Andyjr1515

meltedbuzzbox said:

Superb!!!
Looks great!

the only question that remains (for now) is where will you put your Swifts on the headstock?

Thanks

I may have a cunning plan...I'll pm you when I can find an example

Lebarque

What sorcery are those tuners?!

Andyjr1515

Lebarque said:

What sorcery are those tuners?!

They are Steinberger's alternative to the original banjo tuners that were fitted to the Firebirds, etc..  For a while, they fitted them as standard to the Epiphone version of the Firebird...where the whole guitar wasn't much more expensive than a set of the tuners nowadays (oh, those were the days when bargains were bargains )

I retro fitted them to my band mate's genuine '64 fake Firebird when the original (genuine) banjos eventually fell to pieces.  Without a shadow of a doubt, they are the best tuners I've EVER used.  My son-in-law has the Epiphone Firebird which he bought when they were still fitting them and he agrees.

Here's my band mate's not-a-Gibson with them fitted:


The tuning knobs themselves are at the back:




The wing nut at the top is actually the clamp and turning the back knobs raises and lowers the shaft. 

So to string up, you turn the knob to raise the shaft as far as it will go, at which point, the string hole is exposed in its centre.

You then thread the string through, pull it taut and clamp it with the wing nut

Turning the back knob the other way retracts the shaft, pulling the string in with it (as you can see in the bottom shot) and that tautens the string up to pitch

And they hold pitch excellently and fine tune super smooth and controllably 
  

 

meltedbuzzbox

they are great tuners. It was the one thing I liked about my 2015 Gibson Firebird (wide fretboard, brass nut thingy). 

paulnb57

I would have those Steinberger tuners on every guitar I own, if I could afford it

skippy76

That mock-up look spot on mate, very nice work  

Andyjr1515

skippy76 said:

That mock-up look spot on mate, very nice work  

Thanks!

meltedbuzzbox said:

they are great tuners. It was the one thing I liked about my 2015 Gibson Firebird (wide fretboard, brass nut thingy). 

paulnb57 said:

I would have those Steinberger tuners on every guitar I own, if I could afford it

Yup - we should form a Steinberger fan club

UnclePsychosis

Wow.

One of your best yet Andy. Love it. 

Andyjr1515

UnclePsychosis said:

Wow.

One of your best yet Andy. Love it. 

Thanks, @UnclePsychosis. ; I'm pleased how it's turning out 

Andyjr1515

We're still at the 'reveal coat' part of the finishing process, but this gives a much better idea of the likely finished colour/finish at the back.  This is just the standard @WezV Tru-oil slurry and buff method, presently down to 240 grit - the subsequent finish coats will be down to around 400/800 and will get that wonderful organic but silky satin finish that the method excels at :