More cigar box guitars

[scottp55]

NICE Glenn!!

[CarveOne]

The neck is progressing. The nut will be made from a piece of white Corian scrap, the fret slots need to be cut, frets installed, and Tung oil applied to the bocote fret board. The polyurethane finish is applied, the fret locators (fired small pistol cartridge primers as before) and the Grover 18:1 tuners are installed. The box will be modified to fit the neck tomorrow.

Glenn, the red wood you used for your guitar neck is Padauk isn't it? I have a good supply of that and used some of it with ambrosia maple on one of my elliptical boxes. I might have a big enough piece of 1/4" thick curly sassafras to use for a box made similar to yours.

CarveOne

[glenninvb]

That's looking sweet

Yes it was Padauk, I used the same for bridge base and I'll use for p/u base as well. Then I'll never use again......... very deep open grain and hard to finish, when fresh cut the natural oil reacts w lacquer, so I sealed w unwaxed shellac first. Quite a pain.

Anyway I strung her up open G and it sounds pretty darn good, even had a good clear GDG on the 12th. The action is too high, I'll play with that tomorrow

[esteeme1]

Carve One

I've never made a guitar and I barely know how to spell it. Your work with this is quite inspirational. I've actually been looking at the 2015 Grizzly catalog and was surprised to see that there is large amount of guitar accessories. Apparently the CEO is an avid guitar builder. http://www.grizzly.com/search/search?q=fret%20wire They even go as far to sell inlay strips.

Glen I have read when working with oily wood it is best to apply an acetone or denatured alcohol prior to applying any finish. I've never tried it and actually stay away from oily woods just for that reason.

[scottp55]

Glenn, With Padauk, Watco-wetsanded one or twice(220G and then 320G) creates a "slurry" which fills the pores Very well (sand with grain--wipe off gently against). Wait 1 week before lacquering, but it really "pops" the wood too. A lot of very good custom furniture makers use it that technique to bring out the "Depth" of the wood.
Acetone or denatured does work very well on the "Oilys" (Teak,Rosewood,Wenge,Padauk, etc) especially when gluing.

[glenninvb]

Glenn, With Padauk, Watco-wetsanded one or twice(220G and then 320G) creates a "slurry" which fills the pores Very well (sand with grain--wipe off gently against). Wait 1 week before lacquering, but it really "pops" the wood too. A lot of very good custom furniture makers use it that technique to bring out the "Depth" of the wood.
Acetone or denatured does work very well on the "Oilys" (Teak,Rosewood,Wenge,Padauk, etc) especially when gluing.

"Wait a week before lacquering".... Are you Crazy?????

[CarveOne]

I have a special procedure with all woods that are oily. Wet it down real good with acetone then spray bomb the crap out of it with clear satin polyurethane until it looks ok to me.

I actually leave some pores on purpose so that it still looks like wood. I'm not a fan of the usual glassy look. In a guitar shop I gravitate toward the ones that look more natural. Last trip to a Sam Ash store I saw lots of them that had a dull "motor oiled" look. That was too far the other way for me.

Esteeme1, yes the owner of Grizzly is heavily into guitar making. He has added gunsmithing supplies and equipment also. He has a new website for reloaders, another of his personal interests.

I have purchased a few thousand $ of stuff from Grizzly.com over the years.


Carveone

[scottp55]

Just saying!! When you do what guys like this do , you DON'T want the Lacquer to muck up!

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showth ... 273&page=2
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showth ... 044&page=2

Me, I'm like you, so I'd probably go a coat a day of Watco Natural until I got the sheen right, but maybe not for a musical instrument? Thought I'd seen some guitar builders doing it?
Hey...What do I know.....Except you lacquer guys are always rushing around and swearing at DUST
Oh,
I DO agree with CarveOne that finishing woods like Padauk/Bloodwood can be a PITA to finish if attached to lighter colored woods! The pile of orange rags are a dead giveaway what wood you've been working Just before you Burn them!
I'm like CarveOne also in the finish opinion, I always cringe when I see beautiful wood look plastic.
scott

[CarveOne]

Just saying!! -snips-

I'm like CarveOne also in the finish opinion, I always cringe when I see beautiful wood look plastic.
scott

Well, maybe a Stradivarius violin could be an exception. My level of workmanship seldom (if ever) requires it. Sometimes I amaze even myself though. The last time that happened was when I took my first breath.

[scottp55]

Your next project?
http://waddleviolins.com/index.php?contentID=86

[CarveOne]

Probably not Scott,
I don't have my DIY CT scanner running yet, and nobody I asked would trust me to borrow their Stradivari violin anyway. Bummer ...


Glenn,
The piece of 1/2" thick curly sassafras I have is big enough to use for a homemade box but I will have to carefully re-saw it to make a top and bottom panel and it would be around 3/32" thick if I'm lucky enough to do it accurately enough. My band saw has a 12" throat. I do have some 1/4" box elder that is light cream color with streaks of bright pink that will work well with padauk being used as the box sides.


CarveOne

[scottp55]

CarveOne,
Funny, Dad just dropped off 1/4X3X12" Curly Sassafras blanks last Weds. for me to try for some buttons. I only have 6. How does it cut and finish? Anything funky about it? Can it hold detail?
Any tips would be welcome.
Never actually seen it before as it only seems to grow as a shrub and even then only as far North as Cape Cod. Wasn't even in the 160 trees and shrubs we learned in Dendrology course in NH.
Almost like Quilted Maple in appearance.
Nice work Guys!!

[CarveOne]

It carves ok. The piece I have is fairly porous but not real soft. Just use a sharp cutter and you won't be disappointed with it. I used it to make three of these. The sheet I have is 11" wide (no joints) and 1/2" thick. I didn't think it grew that large either. All I have seen is scrub brush. When you peel the skin off of a fresh root it smells just like root beer.

CarveOne

[scottp55]

Thanks!
Using Drillman1's little Kyocera engraving bits, so at $4, I'll just throw a new one in.
Is that more of Aspires extrusion tooling of yours?
Yep, "Root" beer, sometimes drink Sassafras tea and it's the same deal with the smell
Maybe try a simple design to show the grain. Dad said it was dirt cheap, but 3X12X.25" was probably the reason(also skip planed:( ).
How are you going to join box? Butt glued?
Thanks again,
scott

[scottp55]

Never mind, Just saw how Glenn did it.
You going Padauk sides too?