Archtop & Solidbody. Languedoc inspired

WezV · December 2021

The afromosia is odd to work with. Routes great, but double side tape doesn't stick to it at all. We'll, you think it's stuck, then it suddenly releases itself on a whim. That almost caused some router slips!!!

ThePrettyDamned · December 2021

Loving the scratchplate.

WezV · December 2021

Pickups for the hollowbody arrived. Placed on the soldibody here to give an idea how it will look

The neck is a Charlie Christian, bridge is a PA Bigbsy style, both in matching nickel dogear bezels. Marc at mojo pickups really rose to the challenge here, I think they look awesome!!

Roland · December 2021

WezV said:

The afromosia is odd to work with. Routes great, but double side tape doesn't stick to it at all. We'll, you think it's stuck, then it suddenly releases itself on a whim. That almost caused some router slips!!!

Good to know. I was thinking of using that afromosia neck blank you gave me for the 1Q22 project. Maybe I’ll keep things simple, and use maple instead.

PhilKing · December 2021

Hi Wez, pickups look great, just one thing, Marc had said Charlie Christian bridge and Bigsby neck, because of the relative outputs. It will be interesting to see how the solid and hollow work out. Are you putting P-90's in both positions on the solid body?

WezV · December 2021

Yes, although I haven't decided what yet. I may go for a blade option on that too

WezV · January 2022

Routed for the plate and tailpiece also done control cavity and drilled for slightly recessed knobs

Also routed some ledges in the top and smoothed them out to guvve a subtle radius

The back is marked up for the same, just need to make a wooden cavity cover first so it can all be radiused at the same time.

PhilKing · January 2022

That's some precision routing. I hadn't realized that you were going to have the afromosia inset into the body. It will look very interesting as you get things more assembled.

WezV · January 2022

It's not CNC precise, but I'm happy with how it went. Can't have it too precise as the whole plate needs to be able to be raised and tilted as needed.

It will also have a recessed string block and cavity cover round back. Along with recessed wooden knobs on the front.

With a block colour for the body it should make the afromosia really pop. Likely plain white or plain black I think, I might try a milk paint finish too.

WezV · January 2022

I turned a couple of Afromosia knobs on the drill press

I used a basic holesaw like this

I started with the drill bit in the holesaw and went half way through, then removed the drill bit to cut all the way through. I left them tall at first, then cut down to size after double checking the depth of the center hole to make sure I didn't drill all the way through.

once that was done I drilled them out for some knob inserts, and a recess for the washer and nut (slightly off center, not on purpose) mounted them on the wrong end of a drill, put it back in the drill press upside down. Then i could turn them to shape with a file and various grits of sandpaper and finally a bit of boiled linseed oil

simple, but i think they will suit the guitar. They feel great so I'm really hopeful the neck will be similar

WezV · January 2022

started carving the guard. It's not quite flowing as smooth as I want yet, but it gives an idea where I am heading with this

The ridge is still as high as the pickups, so i will probably take a few mm off the top of it and recarve the curve from there. worst case if i don't like it is i flatten off the whole section

WezV · January 2022

Lots done on body and neck

Back of the body has had an afromosia plate made, then both body and plate have been subtlely radiused

Headstock has been cut to a shape that's mostly ibanez in size and shape, with a different end.

Board has been radiused and nut slot cut

Body is just about ready for finishing. Think I'm going to try some milk paint for it, but will see how the test go.

ThePrettyDamned · January 2022

Really interested in the milk paint! I'm going to do some tests with water based sprays, and milk paint is my next choice if that doesn't work out for me.

Like the headstock, such a tricky thing to get right but that looks really smart.

WezV · January 2022

Well I have some dark turquoise coming.

When I first saw people using it, it was all for shabby chic easy relic style stuff. But with people like millimetric and schorr guitars getting good solid colous on modern guitar styles I thought it could be worth a look for something like this.

WezV · January 2022

the body is now complete and ready for finishing

Neck has been inlaid with some pearl dots. Just need to glue a truss rod fillet in place before carving and fretting

PhilKing · January 2022

Will you put a maple/sycamore fillet in it for contrast?

WezV · January 2022

Yeah I think it will be maple, or possible go the other way with ebony

WezV · January 2022

So onto milk paint. For this I am trying Old Fashioned milk paint in a rather fetching shade of teal.

https://oldfashionedmilkpaint.co.uk/collections/old-fashioned-milkpaint/products/providence

the instructions say to mix the powder 1:1 with water. This is what I did for the first coat, and it was a little thick. It also starts to gel up pretty quickly if you don't stir regularly.

This is one coat applied with a crappy brush. Its applied to raw wood

not a bad start for one coat on raw wood

It sands well and burnishes to a nice eggshell at 240g. feels pretty sturdy. Clean up is really easy with water

I'm going to build a few thinner coats and see what we end up with. I'm going to try a mini roller for application once i have a good solid base coat laid down. I might try spraying, not sure yet.

I'm currently thinking an oil based top coat will be best, mainly because it seems counter intuitive to overspray a traditional water based finish with lacquer.

WezV · January 2022

2nd coat is still drying, but i think this is going to look pretty awesome if it works

ThePrettyDamned · January 2022

Love that colour!

Definitely a contender for me as well, if my mtn sprays don't work out. I've read some people use this stuff to top coat it, but can't find any good threads on method:

https://www.littlefairs.shop/products/littlefairs-extra-strong-varnish?variant=39424105971814&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=CjwKCAiAxJSPBhAoEiwAeO_fP3Ee7DuiHk1B9TpqbzK7voIO64JuMDwsFygmQMg_9g5fhN9dvS8ibBoCOfMQAvD_BwE

Available in matt or gloss.

I got a gloss "water based varnish" spray, which should be a clear acrylic, but I'm thinking I might go for a matt finish for a change.

digitalkettle · January 2022

WezV said:

2nd coat is still drying, but i think this is going to look pretty awesome if it works

You taking that on Bake Off: Extra Slice?

Ahem...watching the build with interest

WezV · January 2022

If I was doing a cake I'd be casting the parts out of chocolate

CFH · January 2022

It's kind of like Malinoski meets Languedoc. Love the design and the colour.

WezV · January 2022

i've added a couple more coats with a small foam roller

WezV · January 2022

and a couple of hours later that is dry and starting to look a lot more consistent

I will level that off tomorrow and see where we are at. I expect it will need two more coats before I start on top coat

ThePrettyDamned · January 2022

Certainly has a nice colour tone to it. It's a nice matte, too. I can see why this sort of paint is popular, it looks "tactile".

WezV · January 2022

I'm not sure how matte it will be once done. With a bit of practice I could probably roll on a nice final coat and leave it that way.

More likely it will need some levelling, which burnishes it up to an eggshell like sheen. Adding oil will probably push it towards semi gloss, and obviously darken it too

WezV · January 2022

I put a coat of osmo polyx on. It added a nice sheen, but didn't even out the colour as much as I hoped for... guess I need more practice getting the milk paint on first

Anyway the coat of oil prevents adding more, so I'm currently experimenting with mixing milk paint powder with boiled linseed oil.

That seems to be getting more consistent after 1 coat

Roland · January 2022

Will the paint powder mix with Osmo?

WezV · January 2022

I went with the boiled linseed as its a lot thinner and easier to mix than osmo, but it probably would mix. It mixed really well with the thinner oil... just got to see how it dries

My hope is to finish off with a few coats of osmo once I have a good consistent colour.

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Archtop & Solidbody. Languedoc inspired

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