Seraph-inspired thinline/semi-hollow

[ragamuffin]

I received the new top Monday, shaped it on Tuesday, and carved it yesterday. The carving (I timed myself this time) took about six hours and it was a considerable workout for my lower back/abdomen. Remind me never to make a carved top out of bubinga again... Unless this guitar comes out ridiculously good!

 

[PhilHill]

I received the new top Monday, shaped it on Tuesday, and carved it yesterday. The carving (I timed myself this time) took about six hours and it was a considerable workout for my lower back/abdomen. Remind me never to make a carved top out of bubinga again... Unless this guitar comes out ridiculously good!

Bubinga is wonderful to work with....If your an experienced stonemason....But it's also one of those woods that ring like a bell when you drop a piece on concrete. I think you'll be happy in the end........ :icon_thumright:

 

[ragamuffin]

Bubinga is wonderful to work with....If your an experienced stonemason....But it's also one of those woods that ring like a bell when you drop a piece on concrete. I think you'll be happy in the end........ :icon_thumright:

Lol! I'm not totally convinced that bubinga isn't a type of rock, but t definitely has a nice resonance to it!

 

[ragamuffin]

Today I thumb-planed, scraped, and orbital sanded it smooth and it's looking nice! I think this one looks even better than the first. Gets me excited to see it all come together!

 

[PhilHill]

Very Nice. Are you going to do an f-hole in this?

 

[ragamuffin]

Very Nice. Are you going to do an f-hole in this?

Thanks Phil! I think I am going to do an f-hole, but I’m still a little intimidated by it so I might practice a few more on scrap first

 

[ragamuffin]

Today I drilled and recessed the bridge, drilled the string ferrule holes, control holes, and routed the pickup cavities.

It went smoothly except for a small template slip on one of the humbucker routes. Luckily I noticed it quickly so it didn't do much damage. You can see the little spot on the right side of the neck hum route in the picture, but I filled it with CA glue and bubinga dust. It shouldn't be too noticeable once finished and assembled.

 

[Sadie-f]

Damn that's nice.

 

[ragamuffin]

Damn that's nice.

Thanks Sadie!

 

[ragamuffin]

I was bored at work and had some time to kill, so I drew up a pretty wiring diagram for my build.

I'm a big fan of Passive Treble-Bass (PTB) wiring a la certain G&L, Reverend, and Yamaha guitars. I'm currently using this scheme on three guitars, and this will be the fourth. The bass knob allows the roll off of low end, tightening up the sound. It's especially useful with humbuckers and p90s or other "fat" sounding pickups and also in conjunction with fuzz or distortion pedals.

I intended this wiring diagram for myself, but it ended up looking nice enough to share so I added some notes to it:

-For the volume and tone knobs, use the pots that you normally would with the pickups that you're using, generally 500k audio for hums and p90s or 250k audio for singles.

-For the bass pot, a 1meg reverse audio taper pot is ideal, but you could also use 1meg or 500k linear or even reverse audio (the taper is just not as desirable). For more bass cut use a smaller value cap like .001 .0015, for less use a larger value cap like .0033.

-The "TB" in the diagram stand for treble bleed, this is optional and can be left out.

 

[ragamuffin]

Yesterday and today I cut the f-hole and cleaned it up, drilled the neck pocket holes, made a heel recess with an angle grinder, and made the control cover plate and everything went pretty smooth!

The fit on the control cover plate is a little less than perfect but I guess that's ok. I guess I could try to tighten it up with a little sawdust and CA glue?

 

[zebra]

That heel recess looks great!
Would you mind giving us a few more details about your process?

 

[ragamuffin]

That heel recess looks great!
Would you mind giving us a few more details about your process?

Thanks Zebra! I planned to take off about .75" or a little more since I'm using a full 1.75" body and .75" top. I sketched out the area with pencil where I wanted it, clamped the body to a bench, and then I went at it with the angle grinder using a 60 grit conical flap disk making light passes. It's was fairly easy to do, you just have to take it slow and steady as an angle grinder can take off a lot of wood in just seconds.

Once I got things where I wanted them I went in with and orbital sander and some hand sanding to clean things up. (still needs a little more clean up)

 

[ragamuffin]

Glue up in progress. Ended up buying twelve $3 clamps from Harbor Freight

 

[ragamuffin]

I'm getting way ahead of myself since the body still needs to be finished, but I get excited about wiring so I went ahead and wired up a harness for this build.  :bananaguitar:

 

[ragamuffin]

So on Wednesday I got everything sanded smooth and ready for grain filler, so I opened my new grain filler that I ordered from Stew Mac and it looks like feta cheese.

edit: took Stewmac five days to get back to me, but they quickly replaced the grain filler

 

[ragamuffin]

So I applied my grain filler this week, and the weather was nice today so I deiced to shoot my first coats of sanding sealer. It looks ok, but I'm getting uneven coloration/blotchyness on the top. I think it's showing darker/more vibrant color/wet look in areas where I sanded more; was I supposed to sand all the way through the grain filler?

Calling all finishing experts

 

[stratamania]

You have probably just revealed more low spots versus high spots. Perhaps repeat the sanding sealer and sand process till the blotchiness goes, or perhaps was the grain filler even?

 

[ragamuffin]

You have probably just revealed more low spots versus high spots. Perhaps repeat the sanding sealer and sand process till the blotchiness goes, or perhaps was the grain filler even?

Thanks, I think I didn’t sand down the grain filler enough in most areas and it shows dark where sanded deeper. I wasn’t sure how deep to sand since I’ve never done a clear finish like this working with clear grain filler before. Might not have even needed grain filler on the top

I’m going to sand the top down till it looks good all over when I wipe it with naphtha and then try sanding sealer again.

 

[stratamania]

You have probably just revealed more low spots versus high spots. Perhaps repeat the sanding sealer and sand process till the blotchiness goes, or perhaps was the grain filler even?

Thanks, I think I didn’t sand down the grain filler enough in most areas and it shows dark where sanded deeper. I wasn’t sure how deep to sand since I’ve never done a clear finish like this working with clear grain filler before. Might not have even needed grain filler on the top

I’m going to sand the top down till it looks good all over when I wipe it with naphtha and then try sanding sealer again.

Okay...sounds like a plan. Finishing is a labour of love sometimes...