Timber supply - WA

[routout]

That is a great write up on the pickups thanks for that thought about making a pickup winder (just like making stuff) distracted with hand engraving at the moment

[nicco]

Steve, timber is Tassie black wood for both body and neck. Stunning bits of timber.

I've got a 12ish mm body top to go on the front, so the black wood is 29 mm. Aiming for a total of 40 mm when it's all said and done.

Thanks for the offer with the routing templates also. I've got the body template pretty much finished, so I think I'm okay for now; but I'll definitely get in touch if I need more.

Got the two body halves joined yesterday, truss rod in the neck blank and fret board glued on.

First cock up had already happened though, I used tape to hold the fret board in place while I clamped it to keep it aligned. In clamping it the tape has been able to loosen a bit and now one end of the fret board has moved off centre line by a mm or two. I've got enough meat in the neck blank to make a functioning neck, but the truss rod won't be completely parallel to the neck. Thinking I might need to pull the fret board off and try again. Thoughts?

[nicco]

So that misalignment on the fret board has been eating away at me, so I did a bit of looking around and saw that with a bit of gear I should be able to pry it off and try again, this time with the pins Steve mentioned in another thread.

I was just using a hair dryer and it's feeling like bloody hard work. Some of the sites I saw suggested to use a clothes iron, but I want comfortable with that straight off the bat. Do you guys have any experience with that? Is it safe to do?

[simso]

Clothes iron works just fine, it was my go to tool for about five years for pulling fretboards and bridges

Steve

[nicco]

Okay, cool thanks. I'm guessing I should be putting a cloth between the board and the iron?

[simso]

Yep, wet one if you want to create steam

Steve

[nicco]

Steam doesn't introduce any issues with warping or anything silly to the fret board then obviously? That was part of my fear with it.

[blackalex1952]

When I remove a fretboard, I use one of those bathroom radiant heat lamps on a mic stand actually. I place it around 18 inches from the job and then let the heat slowly penetrate, keeping a surface thermometer there to keep an eye on the temperature. I use knives and spatulas, warmed over a flame. After heating the tool, I can place it on a scrap of wood occasionally if I feel it might have got too hot. If it burns the scrap of wood, then I let it cool a little. Actually, I now have a feel for it so skip this step. I use craftwood cauls wrapped in Alfoil as heat shields to protect the finish for some jobs as well. I find that the heat lamps give greater control over the heat. The radiant heat penetrates slowly rather than the way a heat gun seems to work, and the job can be left slowly heating while I do something else rather than having to stand there waving the heat gun around. Cheers, Ross

[nicco]

Success! It's off. Two steps forward one step backwards. Ha ha.

Thanks for the help guys. Going to be much happier with it now.

[simso]

May I make a suggestion,

Shape or at least profile cutout the neck with the fretboard off, I find it easier to shape a neck and then shape and fit the fretboard, than try to shape both together at the same time

Also create the access point to your truss rod before covering it up.

Steve

[nicco]

Okay, will do. Thanks for the heads up.

[nicco]

Got an rdo today, so going the first bit of work on the guitar for a couple of weeks.

Since I removed the fret board, it seems it's now got a bit of a cup/warp going on. I'm worried that I won't be able to get it to sit flat.

Is there something I should be doing to straighten it out before I reattach it? Or will clamps and glue be enough to pull and hold it in?

Thanks in advance

[nicco]

Can't work out how to edit on my phone. Here are a couple of photos

[simso]

It just the heat thats caused it to warp, wet it and clamp it flat until you need it

Steve

[nicco]

Sweet, thanks Steve. Got it clamped now, I'll come back to it next time I'm working on it

[benldwyer]

Hi All,
I was just interested to see if there were any new timber supply recommendations in WA?
Thanks in advance,
Ben

[Phil Mailloux]

So much involved in pickups,

Here's me making a pickup, hope its informative.

http://www.mirwa.com.au/HTS_Manufacture_Pickup.html


Steve

Had a read at your page, very cool, nice old electro magnet yoke. I've got a feeling someone used to be an NDT technician I can attest that making pickups from scratch it a total pain in the ass. I stopped very quickly making them when I started selling more instruments. Takes way too much time to do compared to what you can get them for.

[nicco]

Oh wow, yeah, this post is a bit of a blast from the past. I've been really busy in the last few years (built a house, new job, become a dad, started a side hobby doing laser cut stuff) but unfortunately not on making my bass guitar. That last post of mine was pretty much the last work I did on it.

I'd been thinking more about getting started again over the last couple of months though, so this was a timely reminder! Thanks!

Actually thinking about doing a bunnings timber guitar first... that way I can make all the mistakes and get my mojo back without worrying about screwing up the nice bits of blackwood! Ha ha.