tribute guitar - First build

[kendog]

If you really wanted the f-hole, and not just a decal, you could cut a smooth slot for the spine, then do all the jaggies with woodburning. I can picture it in my head, but not totally sure how it would work out - but at least mechanically it would be more sound. Or simply clean up most of the rib jaggies, and just do head/spine/fins/tail in a simpler outline.

I like the idea, I'll have to see what I can do with it and post it. If I can figure out how to do it in photoshop/the gimp

 

[stubhead]

I just saw this in passing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grand-Master-Custom-Shop-Masterpiece-Surfcaster-Electric-Guitar-100-handmade-/280908202730?pt=Guitar&hash=item41676f02ea

That IS a pretty fish.... it looks to me as though it's made with large pieces of "abalam", which is a laminated shell material much easier to work with that individual pieces (SUPPOSEDLY... easier for you maybe!) :laughing7: And then they scribed lines into the shell and dyed them or something? You could try and check some inlay books out of the library, or get them through inter-library loan, because they might give you some more ideas.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=Shell%2FInlay&NameProdHeader=Abalam+Sheets

I read Larry Robinson's that way. Libraries are cool...

 

[kendog]

Still working on getting some new fish-hole templates made and gettoing rather annoyed with my lake of graphic arts skills. So I made a few mockups in blue, BK and I have no idea why but walnut (with gold hardware ... which I usually hate).

What do you guys think?

 

[leo12.]

Sorry to hear your Farther passing seems you have a great many memories of times spent
together.The Thinline is a real nice tribute. I like the Quilt Maple in a Blue or Blue to clear burst,
How about going recessed Tom bridge keep the F hole  & get one of  the neck plates with
your Farther's years dates  on with something like this;
http://www.clipartof.com/gallery/clipart/jumping_trout.html
If you go Google Images for Fish or Trout clip art should get more idea's Good Luck.

 

[kendog]

I like the Quilt Maple in a Blue or Blue to clear burst,
How about going recessed Tom bridge keep the F hole  & get one of  the neck plates with
your Farther's years dates  on with something like this;
http://www.clipartof.com/gallery/clipart/jumping_trout.html

I thought about the recessed TOM and decided against it, I have several guitars with different bridges (flat mount, fender trem, floyd ....) I find the most comfortable to play for me is just the plain TOM on my Gibson V.

 

[Jack Michaelson]

How about a solid birds-eye-view fish silhouette?

It would look like a fish swimming just below the water.

 

[Mor Paul]

I'm sorry to hear about your dad, man. I thought I'd chip in with a mockup.

 

[swarfrat]

My drawing skills are limited to engineering drawings but... seeing that one makes me ponder...

Could you scale the fish up even bigger, make the cutaway the open mouth? Would need an exaggerated perspective to get the rest of the body in. Might work better with a Salmon or trout with the curve of the horn / lower jaw.

 

[kendog]

I'm sorry to hear about your dad, man. I thought I'd chip in with a mockup.

Holy shit! that is awesome.  :headbang:
Max, since your photo shop skills are obviously way better than mine could you post a pic of just the fish? I'd actually like to try to mock up that.

 

[Mor Paul]

This is what I got it from

http://www.clipartof.com/interior_wall_decor/details/Retro-Woodcut-Largemouth-Bass-Fish-Jumping-Poster-Art-Print-1097158

 

[kendog]

Max, you're the man.
This might take me a week or two and I have to order some wood.
I'll post the draft when I complete it.

 

[kendog]

Anyone know how think the top and back of a thin line tele is? trying to figure out how think the wood I use for an inlay can be. I was hoping to be able to use 1/8 thick.

 

[Mor Paul]

For an inlay, you generally won't cut all the way through.

 

[kendog]

For an inlay, you generally won't cut all the way through.

I know, that's why I'm trying to figure out how thick the top and back are. I'm hoping I can use 1/8 as it has seemed easier to work with. I have also practiced with some veneer pieces which are 1/32 - 2/32 thick and I'm finding it more difficult to work with the thinner the inlay material is.

 

[bagman67]

You can use temporary spray adhesive to glue your veneer to a thicker substrate.  You can also use a jeweler's saw or fret saw  (meaning THIS, not THIS) to do your intricate pattern cutting.  You might also benefit from a v-block to support the work while giving you some space to manipulate your saw.


Bear in mind I know nothing about the nuts and bolts of inlay, nor of marquetry - but a quick scan of some youtube how-to videos gave me this much info, which I in turn supply.  I hope it's helpful.


Bagman

 

[kendog]

The wood has arrived!
I ordered the veneer sampler from woodcraft.com, seemed like a reasonable thing to do so I'll have variety to choose from as I mock things up.

I also had some time to work with some wood I already had, and started practicing with cutting out the letters for the inlays. This was down right maddening as I was constantly cracking and breaking the wood until I found a few tips on google/youtube. The trick seems to be to put down masking tape first and then cut the shape out over the masking tape. The tape helps strengthen the wood as you are cutting and handling it

Here is dad's name cut out (I have no idea why the pic is upside-down, Ive tried to fix it twice):

Hopefully this week I'll get to actually inlaying the name into some wood and start cutting out a trial version of the fish Max sent.

Also on a side note, as I have seen the topic come up before and I have been sidetracked a bit by it over the last 2 weeks. I ran out of hard drive space!
Now I am a geeky person and have the whole RAID thing set up at home but I was tired of doing it all "by hand" and have been eying up some home NAS (network attached storage) devices for a while.
Well I bit the bullet and finally bought one:
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS1512%2B&lang=us

although a bit pricy ($800 + drives) all I can say is this thing rocks. Besides storage it has built in media server, itunes server, web hosting, web accessable photo gallery, blogs ... blah blah blah and some more even geekier stuff.
If anyone is looking for something like this I give the product 2 thumbs up!

I also started using one the blogs on it to document the guitar build.
http://kendog.redirectme.net/blog/#param=label_19

 

[Tipperman]

Hey Kendog, I'm sorry about your dad.  :sad1: I think the guitar idea is very awesome. Looking forward to watching this one come together.

 

[kendog]

Well I got the first inlay test done.
It's not so good, but I'm learning as I go and I think you can see some improvement as you go from the "K" to the "h". I also haven't done any filling or finishing on it yet so it may be better than I think.

I also think that when I do the guitar I might shy away from "script" type lettering as it's basically a pain in the @$$ to both cut out and rout out. I think I'll retry with something more "boxy"

Here is try #1

 

[ocguy106]

Actually fill that in with saw dust and wood glue I I think it would prob look perfect.

 

[fdesalvo]

Nothing to add, but thumbs up for doing such a cool thing in honor of the old guy.