Rheasville Truck and Auto Sign

[CarveOne]

A local dealer in used trucks and automobiles that has seen some of my strange guitars asked if I could make one with a hubcap. My answer was "Of course, but I can't guarantee how well it sounds. Moon hubcaps are popular for this kind of thing". He said that it was to be primarily a wall sign for his office, and if it could be played so much the better. "Cost is no issue."

He located the hubcap he wanted to use and I took a close-up photo of a decal on the cash register counter and the fun began...

I made measurements of the hub cap inner diameter and started a new drawing in Aspire. Imported a copy of the neck drawing from the last Iron Man guitar build and modified it as needed for this new build. I used the decal photo to capture the text to convert it to vectors and cleaned them up. All of it is horizontal text. Then I used Aspire tools to make the text vectors conform to a half circle vector for the upper half of the top panel, and also to the lower half circle as you see it in the photos. The top panel is two layers of 3mm birch aircraft plywood glued together at 90 degrees. All of the top panel text and the "lug nut" sound holes are carved with a 60 degree Whiteside #1540 carbide V-cutter. A thin coat of Early American liquid stain is applied overall, then the final finish is clear satin polyurethane from a spray can. The black gel stain is sparingly applied into the text with a small artist brush in sections. The excess gel stain on the surfaces is carefully cleaned off with folded paper towel pieces with a small amount of paint thinner before the gel stain has dried. Then a final coat of clear satin polyurethane is applied after the gel stain has dried to seal it all.

The final attempt to tune it to DGBE was done this morning, and I delivered it to the owner. He was very impressed with the final result and gave the biggest grins when I showed him how it sounds, which is very good for something like this. I told him to keep it de-tuned to a little less than half tension when it is not being played. He will mount it on the office wall for decoration.

He asked "How much do I owe you?" I handed him a Christmas card and said "Merry Christmas, no charge." You guys promptly came to the rescue when my truck wouldn't start after I stopped at a nearby gas station to get gas. Fast service, and already had the part on hand to fix it."

Merry Christmas to all of you at Vectric Ltd, the users of Vectric software, and to my friends that I have met at McGrew Woodworks Aspire camps in the past.

Richard

[CrowsWW]

That is way cool.

Great job! How does it sound?

Thanks for sharing

[mtylerfl]

Best hubcap sign ever! Merry Christmas, Richard!

[scottp55]

NICE challenge to your skills....and VERY nice results!!
I bet your account is Flagged for personal attention now though
The look on their faces sometimes is worth it!
Another Unique job in your quiver Richard!!
Merry Christmas!
scott

Oh....Thought you were going to find a different stump Richard!

[ich-fräs-das]

Very cool Richard.
Merry Christmas
Eckart

[Holzarbeiter]

What an excellent project! And even better is it being a gift in return for a favor.
Well done, Richard.....Merry Christmas!!

[CarveOne]

That is way cool.

Great job! How does it sound?

Thanks for sharing

It sounds a little more mellow than my salad bowl guitars with the 1/8" thick birch plywood top panels, due to the larger diameter and thicker panel. It still has more of a banjo like sound than an acoustic guitar. Sustain is still pretty good. I wasn't expecting much from this one though. I will see if I can get a short sound sample of it today.

Richard

[CarveOne]

What an excellent project! And even better is it being a gift in return for a favor.
Well done, Richard.....Merry Christmas!!

Thanks Joe. He managed to GET EVEN with me though.....

He gave me a Christmas card as I was leaving. When I got home and opened it there was a $50 gift card in it.

Richard

[CarveOne]

Very cool Richard.
Merry Christmas
Eckart

Many thanks Eckart. Merry Christmas to you also.

Richard

[CarveOne]

NICE challenge to your skills....and VERY nice results!!
I bet your account is Flagged for personal attention now though
The look on their faces sometimes is worth it!
Another Unique job in your quiver Richard!!
Merry Christmas!
scott

Oh....Thought you were going to find a different stump Richard!

You are correct. He was there by himself in the office when I delivered it. I'm sure he was showing it to everyone that came in after I left. I've never seen anyone get this excited when he saw his original idea completed this well with the text curved like that and it's still very readable. He said "I will cherish this as long as I live." He was acting like he had just won the lottery.

I looked and found no other usable stump. I just might have to create one from a 3D model ... Aspire can do that y'know.

Richard

[CarveOne]

Best hubcap sign ever! Merry Christmas, Richard!

Thanks Michael, Merry Christmas to you also.

I have been mostly quiet on these forums again this summer due to all the work I have done for my friend's new restaurant. He is as busy as the pandemic laws will allow and has a very attractive place for the locals and interstate traffic to go now.

Richard

[CrowsWW]

That is awesome. My son wants me to make him a Les Paul out of some black limba . I am very nervous about doing it.

Can’t wait to hear how it sounds.

Hope you & your family have very merry Christmas.

[SteveNelson46]

Really nice job. The Christmas spirit lives on and you have surely done your part to keep it alive. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you and your family.

[CarveOne]

Ok, here is a link to my website's Downloads folder where you can hear the difference between this new Rheasville hub cap guitar/sign and my older Star Wars theme salad bowl guitar. Two different short videos.

http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com/downloads.html

Merry Christmas to all who come here to watch what we can do with our CNC inventiveness/addiction.

Richard

[CarveOne]

That is awesome. My son wants me to make him a Les Paul out of some black limba . I am very nervous about doing it.

Can’t wait to hear how it sounds.

Hope you & your family have very merry Christmas.

You can find some CAD files online for the body shape and information on making the neck. There is a gadget available on this website for the Vectric software that can help you get the dimensions for the fret spacing. correct. String sizes and string height is critical for tuning and playing. I'm no luthier, but there is a lot of information online for doing this yourself.

Richard