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Steve S' Challenge Special_Final Photos and Video uploaded
http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10133&t=37257
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Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:52 am ]
Post subject:  Steve S' Challenge Special

Bryan Bear wrote:
Interesting. Are the t-nuts epoxied into recesses it the bottom of the fret hours? I wonder if just one would be enough. I might have to steal this idea.


Yes. Right at the fret hours. ???


Posted using letters to form words, sentences and thoughts.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Tony_in_NYC wrote:
Bryan Bear wrote:
Interesting. Are the t-nuts epoxied into recesses it the bottom of the fret hours? I wonder if just one would be enough. I might have to steal this idea.


Yes. Right at the fret hours. ???


Assuming hours means board idunno the answer is yes. I needed a shallow flat bottom hole so I took an old 3/4" forstner bit and re-profiled it, put some tooth on the wood and the T-Nuts, then epoxied them in. There are two nuts because the truss rod runs between them so I suppose one nut would work if you adjusted the truss rod at the nut. Personally I prefer having no truss rod cover on acoustics (although I do have a cool way to attach them without having hardware showing).

James Condino recommended I use this method when we had a discussion about a butt-joint neck at our last luthier's meeting. I was not pleased with my earlier graphite-reinforced floating fretboard extension since the notes played up there were pretty dead. I figured that the notes were dead because the node was allowed to vibrate since there wasn't enough solid structure under the extension. I mentioned it sucked that you had to glue the extension and wouldn't be able to just pull the neck like I could on my other bolt-on design (Doolin-type adjustable). So James recommended bolting the extension on with something like T-Nuts.

Author:  Bryan Bear [ Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

I'm not sure how autocorrect got hours from board.?. I hope my woodworking is better than my typing/proofreadig. I had forgotten about the truss rod. I guess when I steal this it will be two T-nuts. . .

Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:02 am ]
Post subject:  Steve S' Challenge Special

Hours, board, who cares! It's a cool method of attaching the fb extension so that it is removable.


Posted using letters to form words, sentences and thoughts.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

The auto correct function on the IPhone gets me all the time.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Spent a few hours in the shop today and got the box closed, put in the frets, and glued in the truss rod and filler strip.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sun Dec 02, 2012 3:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

More progress today:

A side-by-side shot to show the top and back bracing.
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got the top glued on last night and parked it out of the way.
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Box is together and it all fits. Box has a huge tap - loud and like a tight drum head. Just like I was hoping, so far so good.
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Epoxied the fretboard.
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Author:  Bryan Bear [ Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Coming along nicely. I love it!

Author:  SteveSmith [ Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Managed to get the neck shaped. Heel cap and binding are all I have left before finishing. I have three rehearsals this week and then playing two concerts on Sunday so I'll have to try to get it done in the mornings before work.

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Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

That's a nice looking box and neck. I wish I could make nice looking boxes and necks and not punch them in the face.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Binding not dun yet so I ain't sayin nuttin

Author:  SteveSmith [ Thu Dec 06, 2012 8:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

No time for photos this morning but was able to get the binding channels cut. bliss

Too busy last night - long rehearsal, too many actors/actresses.
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Orchestra is behind a screen about 30' x 50' that they're using to project scenes. My view of the world when I have time to look over that way ;)
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Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Dec 07, 2012 8:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Moving along with the morning sessions - who needs sleep ;). I should be into final sanding this weekend and then start spraying this coming week. I've decided to do a water-based finish since I'm more comfortable with that and don't really have the time to work up a new finish schedule for the varnish I wanted to use.

Finished the heel cap
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Cut the binding channels yesterday morning
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I sure do like these Carruth scrapers [:Y:]. This is the mini version.
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My very first attempt at mitered purflings - very fussy stuff. Fortunately the gaps look quite a bit worse in the photo than in real life so I think it will look ok when it is finished. I definitely need more practice. Next time maybe I should do long grain to long grain.
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Author:  Bryan Bear [ Fri Dec 07, 2012 8:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Looks pretty good. Mitered purfling is one of the things I am getting ready to try. I'm not sure I'm up to it yet though.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Dec 08, 2012 6:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Just finished getting the bottom binding on. I've already scraped the top one so all I have to do is scrape the bottom one and do final scraping/sanding then it's off to finish. I ran out of blonde shellac and ordered some from StewMac - hopefully it'll be here Monday.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

I wasn't sure about the BRW binding with the bubinga but I think I like it now.
Attachment:
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I'm happy with the back; I used maple veneer for the purfling.
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Tail wedge came out ok. I think it will look pretty good under finish
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Author:  Tony_in_NYC [ Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Yes. It looks pretty nice with the BRW binding.

Author:  Bryan Bear [ Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Yep, the BWR and maple look good on it. It will look great under finish.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Thanks guys - we'll find out pretty soon!

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Cleaned up the shop for finishing. A fellow OLF'r, Paul, dropped by today so got to talk guitars which I really like to do and see some things Paul is working on.

Got the first coat of Zpoxy done, hopefully 1 will be enough.
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zpoxy3.jpg

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Author:  jfmckenna [ Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

That's a beauty, can't wait to hear it.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

jfmckenna wrote:
That's a beauty, can't wait to hear it.


Thanks. I've reached the point where I'm getting excited to finish this one and see how it sounds too.

Got the Zpoxy sanded back; first time I used it and I like it. Then I finished prepping the parts and sprayed 2 coats of shellac. Got to use my new spray booth and Walcom HVLP gun for the first time. Also had the 3M PPG disposable cup system. Everything works great - what a treat to be able to shoot inside and even after dark. I would have been screwed today without it, it's been raining all day. The StewMac holder thing works real well too, lets me rotate everything in all directions to get a real even coat. I built my little booth based on Rod True's spray booth that he built in a corner of his shop (thanks Rod!).

I do need a note to self: remember to turn the gun upside down when removing the disposable cup - good thing it didn't have too much shellac left in it, I got a bit of a shellac shower. idunno

Here's some IPhone camera photos. Sorry, left the good camera at the house.

EDIT: There are better resolution photos a few posts down.

Attachment:
SprayBoothTest1.jpg

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SprayBoothTest2.jpg

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SprayBoothTest3.jpg

Author:  SSO720 [ Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

It's looking good Steve. Thanks for the tour of your shop on Saturday.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

SSO720 wrote:
It's looking good Steve. Thanks for the tour of your shop on Saturday.


Thanks Paul. It's always fun to talk guitars, I'm looking forward to seeing how your EIR/Sitka build works out and I really liked the Tele body you brought by, I thought the finish looked great. Stop back by anytime

As far as my progress goes: 4 coats of PolyWhey and several light sandings done. Hope to level sand tonight then spray one or two wet coats for the final finish.

Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Dec 21, 2012 1:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Steve S' Challenge Special

Ended up working in the shop Wed night - had to polish some display bezels for some new prototypes at work. Dang things were made from Delrin - that is really hard stuff to polish up. So I didn't get the level sanding done till last night which puts me a day behind schedule - and I don't have much slack duh

I've been using the new water-based poly (PolyWhey) from Vermont Coatings on this basically as a whim. I wasn't real happy with the flow out on the PolyWhey, it is pretty viscous, so I called Dan at Vermont Coatings to see what I might do. He sent me some spray recommendations but also agreed that thinning the product 5 to 10% with distilled water should be ok although I might need more coats. I added about 5% distilled water and sprayed one coat last night and the last 2 coats this morning. The flow-out was much improved and the resulting finish looked much smoother with less orange peel. This stuff builds up fast. Now I just need to let it cure for a week.

Also this morning I started making my strap button and pin from some Bastogne walnut. I'll post photos later.

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