JD, I realize I haven't complimented you yet on your bravery for tackling this job and making a great post out of it! We really have a great forum here. As far as my work goes, I'm actually quite shy about posting that kind of thing, but since you called me out....I do have a couple of embarassingly unfinished things around I could post. I'll have to find my camera (I don't even know where it is...!) as I don't document my work too much. My output is much reduced to nothing lately due to a freakish series of personal injuries, but I'm fighting my way back into shop life a little at a time, mostly focusing on upgrading and maintaining machinery and such. Such is life, ya know, ya just keep rollin'! My shopmate is quite the badass and remains busy as a professional builder, and together we are negotiating the purchase of a CNC machine which should really help me get back in there as well as boost production, which is currently a real chore for him to keep up with. CNC won't really affect the "hand-made"-ness of anything, as it would replace operations currently done on a pin or hand-held router, using templates anyway. Everything will always have to be finished by hand, and necks will always be carved by hand. Fortunately I know how to do alot of different things and have enough ties in my community to keep me busy doing jobs that aren't quite as hard on my body, but I've been really missing the shop and doing what I love. That other thread about building a jet really got a fire lit under my ass at a time when I'm already gearing up to get back to doing that sort of thing. I actually found my top material yesterday, as one of the workers here is also a drum maker and turned me on to tons of drum covering and links to suppliers of maple plies for forming tops! He has beautiful silver sparkle that has a slight ginger ale aging to it. Anyway,it's a beautiful sunny day here in California, perfect for taking pictures, and I have a little time off this morning. I'll see if I can't find that camera....and if I do maybe I should start a new thread, but where...?
Andy's "57" Chet Atkins 6121 Jet. Watch as it gets repaired.
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Apr 25, 2008 12:07 p.m. riz:
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Apr 25, 2008 12:45 p.m. riz:
BTW, JBJ, I remember your work from that thread and have always thought it exemplary!
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Apr 25, 2008 12:55 p.m. JackDaniels:
Now that is what I am talking about! Hand carved top or pressed? Dude, you should be doing this job and me watching from the armchair!
J
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Apr 25, 2008 1:30 p.m. JazzBoxJunky:
No no no, solid hand carved Italian spruce tops. I have a bad thumb tendon to prove it too.
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Apr 25, 2008 1:48 p.m. JackDaniels:
We need the emotioncon of the "not worthy" guy bowing down!
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Apr 25, 2008 2:32 p.m. riz:
Looks like we're continuing on with this thread hijack, and that's fine with me. Wow, JBJ, you're stuff looks great! I've got some pics here, and I know my finish work doesn't compare, but what the hell. Finding my camera was easy, but the USB cord, now who the hell put in the camera case? How was I supposed to find it there?...First up is a neck I made for an old Silvertone body I had. Gretsch influenced, of course, with some of my own flair added. Pearl is all abalone I cut from shells found in my ex-girlfriend's front yard, just for the experience. Neck blank is an off cut from a wasteful bass neck of someone else's design, and is board matched maple with center strip like a 6120. Analine dyes and french polish finish, of course not all the way done. Figured I could squeeze 22 frets out of it converting to 25.5" and did. I decided to leave the fingerboard thick at .300" but won't do it again because although it is VERY stable and sounds great, I wasn't able to achieve the neck carve I wanted without coming thru the top layer of binding.... .250" is a good standard here. Neck angle still needs to be adjusted as well as zero fret height, and one of these days I'll even finish reaming and seating the tuner ferrules.... I included a pic of the bridge base I made because I liked the design. It's not completely finised either! The story of my life, y'know...The bridge itself is a piece of bleached bone from the pet store laminated to ebony. Nowhere near done.... I could have made a template for routing the inlays accurately, but I didn't so hand work shows in locations being off and all but I don't care. It was fun, and made almost completely by hand except for a headstock perimeter routing template which I made, well, by hand... Made my own trussrod, but that was easy. Well, hope ya'll find some enjoyment in this. These things have been sitting around so long they look almost childish to me now, but I know have but scratched the surface of my abilities as builder and am itching to get back to it! On to pic posting...wish me luck.
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Apr 25, 2008 2:35 p.m. riz:
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Apr 25, 2008 2:37 p.m. riz:
O.K., I get it, one pic per post, this may take a little while....
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Apr 25, 2008 2:40 p.m. riz:
Last one, I'll post my "Gumby Leg" lap steel later....
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Apr 25, 2008 2:52 p.m. JazzBoxJunky:
Riz, you need to get out the engraving tools and detail that skull! Cool project.
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Apr 25, 2008 3:06 p.m. riz:
Forgot to add this back shot...
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Apr 25, 2008 4:04 p.m. JackDaniels:
Nice Guys!
Who cares if we hijack a little. Heck no one is reading this anyway. Ha Ha (over 5000 views).
I'll get this back on topic this weekend. I need to sand the drop fills I did on the top. Gretsch Orange was not as hard as I thought it would be to mix. Again, the idea is not to make this one new, but to make it look appropriate.
JD
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Apr 26, 2008 9:53 a.m. gresco:
Riz, You just gave me a dose of nostalgia. I used to own a Silvertone, 3 p/up single cut, just like that…. my first electric, bought used in 1961. Years later I had a Bigsby installed by a local C&W artist. I loved the guitar…except for the neck. (I’m sure you agree.) Had I realized that the bolt on neck could have been replaced, I’d probably still own it. Sadly, I passed it down to my son, and have never seen it again. The good side of it is, I replaced it with my first Gretsch, which began a lifelong journey in my love affair with Gretsch.
Your custom neck is a great idea. Keep us posted on your progress.
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Apr 26, 2008 12:16 p.m. Proteus:
JBJ, those guitars are stunning. PheNOMenable!
How do they sound? Any clips?
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Apr 27, 2008 9:10 a.m. BuddyMercury:
sweet thread.
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Apr 27, 2008 11:22 a.m. Timthom62:
Wow, JBJ, just WOW!
+1 to you, Sir.
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Apr 27, 2008 1:36 p.m. JackDaniels:
Ok, Andy. Here is a shot of the front. Remember the spot between the pups that was down to bare maple? Also there was spots under the bridge from the glue used to secure that wood bridge to the top. And finally the spots from the binding glue near the master volume. This has been drop filled with the orange I mixed. It still is waiting for a shot of clear over the top, but I think you can see that the major scars are almost gone. Alot of this will look better once clear coated and polished.
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Apr 27, 2008 8:52 p.m. JBGretschguy:
VERY nice, Joe!!
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Apr 27, 2008 9:25 p.m. Antik:
That looks great.
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Apr 28, 2008 9:25 a.m. hypnofonic:
looks great joe!!
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Apr 28, 2008 9:55 a.m. JackDaniels:
Thanks Guys. As you can see most of the top has been wet sanded with 600 grit. I will finish the wet sanding and spray a coat of clear nitro over the top of all the work done pretty soon. The major issue with the top was that it had some marks that were down to the bare wood. Those have all been covered.
Here is a shot of what it looked like before:
And after:
If you know where and what to look for, you will see the repair (color match). If you did not know it was there, you would probably never see it.
BTW: The color looks almost a rich surupy ruby red in the jar. The clear lacquer has a slight amber color to it, even though it will dry clear. So when I mixed orange in the jar that matched the top, it was too yellow when placed on the actual guitar. So as I added red, it started to match better and better. It was wierd but the results are pretty darn good.
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Apr 28, 2008 10:22 a.m. JackDaniels:
Just thinking outloud: So what's left? Well, I am waiting for some grain filler to clean up the sides near the binding. That should arrive tomorrow or wednesday. Once that is done and the sides are sanded and blended to the new binding, the guitar can be re-assembled. Once assembled, I will need to over sprayed portions of the guitar with nitro to hide all the new work (neck joint, binding, color fills on top etc). I am not sure just yet if I will spray the entire guitar, or just the top, sides and neck joint. The headstock is done and does not need any other work, so I don't really need to spray the entire neck nor the back (yet). The more area I spray over the guitar, the more I will have to wet sand 600/1000/1200/1500/2000 and polish with two grades of compound. So even if spraying it is the easy part, it takes hours to sand and polish a finish to perfection. Also, the more layers I spray, the longer it takes to cure. When I do a complete re-finish on a guitar from start to finish, I let it hang 30 days before sand/polish. Nitro tends to shrink the most in the first 30 days. So depending on how many new layers goes on, it will tell me how long to wait before working it. Just a light overspray probably does not need to wait as long...but Lacquer is strange. Each layer you spray melts into the previous layer a bit. So By adding just one coat, you actually soften the coats under it a little too. So dry times are longer than you think. I don't think Polyuratane works like that...but I am not sure. I have never sprayed poly on a guitar.
In the meantime while waiting for it to dry, I will probably clean up the wiring harness (a few splices in the wires, clean off all the solder blobs etc) and get it ready for installation. I am so use to working on Les Pauls, that I have the wiring memorized. So I did something stupid when taking this apart. I did not label the wires. So I will have to hit you guys up for a wire diagram, or sit and figure it out in my head. Doh!
After all that is done I will need to put it all back together and do a set-up on it and get it to play. (that is the whole purpose of this 12 page post for gosh sakes!)
Again, just thinking outloud. Some folks asked if they could hear/read what thought process goes on in my head as I prepair for each section of the repair. It's probably boring to some and interesting to others. Just sayin'...
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Apr 28, 2008 10:51 a.m. Curt:
I don't think Polyurethane works like that...but I am not sure.
There is a chemical and mechanical bond for poly too but the bell shaped drying curve can get a little weird. Most poly's you have 24 hours before you are required to sand between coats, so yes it does "melt" into the prior coat.The other nice thing about a lacquer repair is that you can get it to flow with the buffer.
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Apr 28, 2008 12:20 p.m. Setzer:
Very interesting to me Joe & Andy. Has me thinking about repairs on my Gold top Jet...no neck set thank goodness only cosmetic and patches. Thanks again for letting us get in your head!
The Duo Jet harness is pretty easy.
Also Joe, do you have an extra clear engraved large guard? I want to make a proper one for my Duo Jet.
Andy good luck with the jack cup hunt. I'll keep my eyes open for one. Have you asked Zuma/Scott Wolf yet if he has an extra?
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Apr 28, 2008 12:33 p.m. JackDaniels:
Paul. I do have another clear guard. Do you need me to cut it? Do need the template? Also, Andy is looking for the Sign-post artwork. Do you have that in a JPG? You know where to find me....
JD
PS: I WANT A JET!!!!!
