Finished Shots - Trini Lopez 335 ish Tribute

meltedbuzzbox

just wondering mate. As it's looking absolutely awesome, are you going to be OK handing it over?

Andyjr1515

meltedbuzzbox said:

just wondering mate. As it's looking absolutely awesome, are you going to be OK handing it over?

Looking forward to it

Andyjr1515

Quite a bit of progress over that last couple of days.

First, installed the luminlays:



Next - added a feature that @meltedbuzzbox suggested that I think works really well.  Consider the idea stolen, @meltedbuzzbox ;

It just needs a 2mm accurate bradpoint drill, a dribble of CA and some mother of pearl dots  :  


I think that looks pretty cool   :   


Next, knobs.  I seem to use most of the tools I have in my workshop for these, but basically start with a drill-press, a plug cutter and then move onto various forstner bits, twist drills, circular files, soft drift and mallet, vice and sandpaper.  This is but one of those items:



For fixing to the pot, I use these 6mm bore inserts:


And here's broadly how it will look once they are fitted.  I'll check with @meltedbuzzbox if he wants a mother of pearl dot position indicator putting into each.



 

paulnb57

Stunning Andy, just stunning

meltedbuzzbox

Looks amazing Andy, I also like the attention to detail with matching the ebony knob tops to the ebony on the body.

I just need to post you those bits now!

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

Stunning Andy, just stunning

Thanks, Paul.  Always appreciated

meltedbuzzbox said:

Looks amazing Andy, I also like the attention to detail with matching the ebony knob tops to the ebony on the body.

I just need to post you those bits now!

Thanks, @meltedbuzzbox ;   

You'll be pleased to know that there are relatively few things now that I can do that would totally c**k it up

meltedbuzzbox

It's in more than capable hands mate

Andyjr1515

Last few jobs of the 'main build' completed.

First of all, magnets and thumbnail access have been fitted to the control chamber hatch and the trussrod cover.

For fitting magnets accurately, there are many ways folks do it but, for what it's worth, this is how I personally do it (and as always with my builds, never assume what I do is how it is supposed to be done )

- I use a 1mm smaller dia magnet for the hatch than for the rebate.
- I drill the rebate hole, leaving plenty of depth for the hatch magnet to hold the lid without the two touching, and super-glue the bottom magnet in (the magnet is in place here - this one happens to have a hole in it):


- I then cut a thin piece of wet and dry, and concertina it to make a packer to push into the remaining chamber:



- Then I pop the smaller magnet on top - it will orientate itself because it's...er...magnetic - and pop a drop of CA on the upper face:


- and finally put the hatch in place in the rebate and hold it tight against the top magnet for a couple of minutes. 

- With the CA set, I lift the lid off and there's the magnet in exactly the right place.  

- I dig out the concertina of wet and dry and move onto the next.

And here it is, complete with thumbnail cutaway to ease removal in use (I will stain the light wood under the cutaway as part of the final finishing):

 

@meltedbuzzbox and his good lady have an eye for style and we bounced backwards and forwards in pm's thoughts and ideas about the swifts on the headstock.  And I love what they came up with

The process is the same as with the swifts at the 12th and the magnets for the trussrod cover the same as above.




And, actually, that completes the construction part the the build. 

So still to do is:
Final finishing
Fret ends, level, crown and polish
Strap pins
Hardware and electrics installation

But, I couldn't leave you without a final mock-up first, could I

meltedbuzzbox

Amazing!!

roberty

One of the coolest guitars I've seen. Superb

Andyjr1515

roberty said:

One of the coolest guitars I've seen. Superb

That's great to hear.  Thanks!

meltedbuzzbox said:

Amazing!!

And that's a great relief to hear

I think it's fair to say we're on the home straight

Andyjr1515

Main job over the weekend was fret ends/level/recrown/polish.

For levelling I use a  box section of aluminium with emery cloth double-side-taped to one side and use it as both the level gauge and leveller:


For the fret ends and recrowning, I find the Chris Alsop crowning files just right...clearly designed by someone who's done the job himself...

In this shot I'm just holding it for the camera - in use it fits nicely in your palm giving great control, but is short and so it much easier to use as you get to the over-body section than the longer types of files.

I rough crown it using the diamond edge itself and then run through 400/800 emery and then 4000/6000/8000/12000 micro-mesh cloths using the Chris Alsop file as the former:


And - you'll have to forgive the appalling winter/full cloud cover light - done:



For the back and sides, I've been doing the initial @WezV Tru-oil slurry and buff stages as I've been going along, which has given me the drying time while I've been able to be do other stuff on the finish list.  But on Sunday I was able to give it its final slurry with 2000 grit emery.  A break in the cloud gave me a rare bit of winter sunshine:


I've hand polished the fretboard and headstock ebony (again, using the micro-mesh, running progressively through the grades of 3200 to 12000) and will do a final buff later today.  For the main ebony panels, they need a final Mirka sand and then the same treatment.  All going well, both jobs will be able to be done by the close of play this evening.

I'm pretty sure that gets me to the stage of progressively positioning and fitting some of the hardware. 

WezV

are you going without a finish on the ebony?

I would consider an occasional wipe down with some kind of light finishing oil, just to protect against shrinking on the ebony.  same as a fretboard really, an occasional feed can be helpful.

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

are you going without a finish on the ebony?

I would consider an occasional wipe down with some kind of light finishing oil, just to protect against shrinking on the ebony.  same as a fretboard really, an occasional feed can be helpful.

Probably just that. 

The polished ebony is pretty finger-print proof, but the drops of sweat off @meltedbuzzbox 's brow as he's shredding like a crazy man would definitely absorb a touch and dull it      

Normally, for something like this, I would use a wax (Lord Sheraton's Beeswax / Briwax) but that would probably come out just a touch too shiny.  So yes - the plan at the moment is a light oil and treated like a fretboard.  I have some offcuts of the ebony and will try a couple of those options out while I'm battling with the ironwork
    

darius

That is just so NICE!

Andyjr1515

darius said:

That is just so NICE!

Thanks, @darius ;  Much appreciated

Andyjr1515

And a little bit closer.

With a through-neck, there is a lot that has to be basically right so that everything lines up and the string geometry is in the right place.  And pretty much the only way of checking that in the end is to fit a set of strings to see if it does, indeed, line up.

So back on went the tuners and on went the vibrato working bits (I'll leave the nickel cover until I've finished messing about).  And, with a packer to lift the bridge temporarily to a clearance height, on went a 'sacrificial' set of strings (actually oddments of acoustic sets from my bits drawer).

And it lines up pretty well.

PHEW! 
 



The other thing I've done is prepare an offcut of the body ebony to the same sanding stage and tried one side with Lord Sheraton beeswax balsam and the other side with a decent food-grade mineral oil (preferred to, say, lemon oil, due to the lack of acidity and other additives).

Both work fine and give the same satin hue.  Both feel great.  Bit of a toss of a coin, but I'm going with the mineral oil.  I'll apply it this evening and so tomorrow's photos should give a decent idea how it will turn out.

The other thing I can do with some strings on is work out - given the whammy bar - the accessibility of the knobs in the planned positions.

Still stuff to do - but it is looking like a guitar now

 

impmann

I've been quietly watching the progress of this... bloody hell, thats nice.

I can't wait to see it completed... I'll have to invite myself over to @meltedbuzzbox place on some pretence when its finished. :-)

Andyjr1515

impmann said:

I've been quietly watching the progress of this... bloody hell, thats nice.

I can't wait to see it completed... I'll have to invite myself over to @meltedbuzzbox place on some pretence when its finished. :-)

Andyjr1515

impmann said:

I've been quietly watching the progress of this... bloody hell, thats nice.

I can't wait to see it completed... I'll have to invite myself over to @meltedbuzzbox place on some pretence when its finished. :-)

Hmmm...and a video of a Trini Lopez-esque and an Alembicesque playing together.  Now that would be something you don't often see!