Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The RedWitch -- S906_2

-- RedWitch --

This is the second prototype of the S9 series.

S906 #2 (RedWitch) is a Maple/Cocobolo neck attached to a super thin Sapele/Exotic topped body with hipshot parts and custom pickups.

Neck : Padauk/Maple/Ebony
Fretboard : Ziricote
Scale : 25.5
Frets : 24

Body : Sapele/Flamed Burl Maple (33mm)
Tuners : Locking
Pickups : Vintage PAF Humbuckers
Bridge : Hipshot
Electronics : 1 Push/Pull Volume




















Monday, March 28, 2011

Not dead.... just busy.

Life. 42. Should have some updates later this week. I am also working on updating the website with more recent builds.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The next step...

Much more professional...

V706_1 fretboard attachments...

Trussrod glued in. Really have to let these dry over night or else they will never dry.


Prep the fretboard. I could not see the pencil lines for the taper so I used masking tape to mark them. It also served to protect the face of the board from the epoxy.


Holes are drilled to align the board and prevent slipping during and after clamping. I use 3 really small brads in 3/32" holes for this. No pictures after this point because I need all my hands to align and clamp before the epoxy sets. It always ends with every clamp in the shop.



This is the first run using system three T-88 epoxy to attach a fretboard. Initial thoughts. Glad I ran a test run before trying it on other necks.

Neck and fretboard are still dead straight, no woops - bumps - or backbow. I like that part.

Joint came out clean. Just like titebond or better. Ziricote is always hard to glue without a little piece chipping here or there... the epoxy filled any of that.

It sands like epoxy... not that titebond is any better. I ended up using the router to clean up the edges. In the future I will protect the sides of the neck with masking tape (Same as I do with titebond).

Things left to test: flexing the neck and tightening the trussrod. It takes 24 hours to cure and says it builds strength as it ages until fully cured. Will need to make sure it doesn't become brittle and loose its hold on the wood after fully cured.

I will have to test it before using it on maple to maple joints.


After using the router to clean the joints I sanded it clean.


Sanded fretboard flat.

S908_1 neck template

Making the template. Using a razor mark center line, nut, 24th fret. Next mark width at nut and 24th fret. Clamp a straight edge on the marks. The clamps help keep the straight edge from slipping.



Next up double side tape a straight edge on the line. Use an edge trimmer bit on the router table to clean the edge after roughing it in with the bandsaw.


Hit the edges with CA then sand the edge perfectly straight. After gluing to another piece of hardboard clean up with the template bit. CA the finished edge and sand smooth.