Home Depot Build Challenge 2013 - I'm Losing My Head!

[BlackMastodon]

Neck shaping begins:

When I bought that spoke shave, the owner of the wood shop said I was probably the first person in 15 years to buy a spoke shave. I liked using it, too. Much better luck than with planers.

Rough shape:

Blurry pic after some sanding:

It started raining a bit so I couldn't do too much with the sanding, but it's almost there.

Also, the sign of a sharp chisel:

Lesson learned.

 

[Deadnightshade]

Lesson learned.

Sharp chisels force period on your fingers?

 

[RV350ALSCYTHE]

Is the face of your spokeshave bare smooth metal?

I bought a cheapy that was/still is painted on every surface except the blade. It left blue smears with every pass. I set it aside and went back to the Rasp

 

[pondman]

Blimey this has moved on

 

[BlackMastodon]

Is the face of your spokeshave bare smooth metal?

I bought a cheapy that was/still is painted on every surface except the blade. It left blue smears with every pass. I set it aside and went back to the Rasp

It is painted and yes, it does leave blue smears every now and again. Nothing a bit of sanding won't take care of, though.

Blimey this has moved on

I need to move faster if I want to finish this by the end of the month. Stupid rain is holding me back on my day off.

Edit: the rain has turned to snow. Fuuuuu-

 

[BlackMastodon]

Screw the cold, I have a guitar to build!

Did some final shaping to the neck profile, quite satisfied with it, might do some final touches before final sanding but for now this is fine.

Hogged out some meat with a forstner for the control cavity:

This is what the control layout will be: 1 Vol, 1 Tone, 3-Way toggle pickup selector, and strat style input jack.

Normally I forgo the tone pot but I figured I have it so I might as well use it.

Cleaned up the control cavity.

The router bit I used for this is actually chipped and it still cuts 100x better than the StewMac one.

And she's glued up:

 

[BlackMastodon]

Are you ready for quite possibly the sloppiest pickup routes ever?

Luckily I planned to use chrome pickup brackets anyway and they cover it up well enough, so I'm not bothered by it.

Also did some grain filling on the oak board, no pics, though because it isn't exciting.

Today, before it started pissing rain I managed to do some carving for the comfy parts.

Weapon of choice:

Still going to work on this stomach contour a bit, but I like it. The design doesn't really need a stomach contour as it's the body is already fairly thin and the shape makes it pretty comfortable already, but it doesn't hurt to have a small one.

And forearm carve. Still needs a bit of work of course.

Here's how she's looking. Sanded the fretboard to 150 so far and cleaned out the fret slots.

Looks comfy, and also feels quite comfy.

Getting close, folks.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Spent 5 hours in the cold today cleaning up the sides and getting them mostly smooth, made the headstock a bit more presentable, too. Also recessed where the bridge will be, otherwise the action would've been so high that the guitar would say shit like "that's a trip, brah" and "yo chill man." *shudder*

Anyway, on to the exciting part.

We have colour! I used that shadow grey/blue that isn't far off from denim that I mixed a little while ago. Was considering doing a black burst but I'm honestly so goddamn sick of sanding and I want to finish this up and oil it ASAP. Plus I think it looks just fine, though in those pics it looks a little funky because the dye is still relatively fresh.

Here's how it looked right when I applied the dye:

Here she is dried a few hours later:

Tomorrow's plan: nothing. I have to work in the morning, then go to the gym, then go to my last class (hopefully ever if all goes well ), and then go to bed for work Friday morning.

Friday's plan: sand the sides and clean it up some more, do fine sanding, drill pilot holes, begin oiling. Then after I get a few coats of oil on the fretboard I can fret it and it should be good from there.

 

[Neilzord]

Nice progress. Look forward to seeing the fruits of Friday's labour!

 

[Artifacts in Motion]

I love that dye! Really nice color.

 

[sage]

Looks great. That cutaway is ridonkulous.

 

[dudeskin]

Noice!! Keep it going dude!

 

[BlackMastodon]

Looks great. That cutaway is ridonkulous.

ALL the fret access! And then some more.

 

[The Hiryuu]

Whew. That's looking great so far. I have to stop looking at this board or I'm going to get inspired to try to build something myself. And that will suck all kinds of hours out of my life, considering I'm a complete woodworking noob.

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

Tell this'll be for one day.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Whew. That's looking great so far. I have to stop looking at this board or I'm going to get inspired to try to build something myself. And that will suck all kinds of hours out of my life, considering I'm a complete woodworking noob.

Do iiiiiit. Just take your time, learn from your mistakes and have plan B's for everything, and keep all your fingers and eyes safe.

 

[The Hiryuu]

Do iiiiiit. Just take your time, learn from your mistakes and have plan B's for everything, and keep all your fingers and eyes safe.

Yeah, I kind of doubt I have nearly enough actual tools to pull things off, nevermind the funds to so much as get wood.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Really should've worked on this more during September and October. Colder than a witch's tit outside today but I got the final sanding done on it (at least all that I'm willing to do, there are some areas where I'm just saying f**k it). Also got the pilot holes drilled and began oiling. Pics!!!

 

[XxJoshxX]

The oak looks amazing

 

[BlackMastodon]

Thanks Josh! You got a nice looking piece for your fretboard, too.

Also, got some shots of the backside oiled up (giggity):

Sorry for the blurriness. I'll get some better ones after a few more coats.

Reaaaaally liking the look of this poplar neck.