Boundless

Uh oh.  Dad's got the fringe out again...

I see tape fringe!  That can mean only one thing.  Daddy's gonna have a good time tonight!!!

...ahem...

Sorry. Wrong blog...

But seriously, it's time for more binding (yay!).  I decided way back that I wanted to bind this Les Paul style neck - including the headstock.  So, here we go.  In a previous post, I discussed how I needed to make a channel for the binding to sit in.

57 Channels and nothing on

Also in a previous post, I talked about making binding paste...

Mmmmm... Death Chicklets

The joy of watching plastic melt...

Death Chicklet soup...?

I've also talked at length about working on plastic binding: here, here, and here.

Always the same:  It's picture day and I have flyaway binding

So what more is there to talk about?

Not much.  I just thought a post of nothing but pictures would be a bit boring.

And I thought the blog would be a bit dry without my pithy observations.

Something pithy

But in truth - here's the bit I wanted to get to: The headstock.

Binding the neck isn't really that new and different.  If anything, it's easier than a guitar body because it's pretty much a straight run of binding with no curves.  Until you get to the headstock.

Curvy you say?

The headstock was the reason I needed to bind the neck over two days.  Day one was the neck and the big curves of the headstock.  Day 2 was for all of the little curves.

All wrapped up and nowhere to go.

So, after Day 1 we are left with this:

No, my workbench didn't magically turn into polished stone.

After all the tape was removed we had this: 

Ladies and gentlemen - my kitchen floor

If you look closely you can see that I cut the binding too long - so I need to trim it.

*Blink-Blink*
And we're back in the garage.

Take some snips and cut the binding to the correct length and you are left with this:

That middle bit is going to be a problem

And this:

And this is gonna make the guitar look better how?

And this...

Son of a...!

So, remember when I said there was really nothing new to report about doing the binding on the side of the neck.  Yeah, I lied again.  Lying liar that I am.  What happened here?  

I was pretty surprised myself.  I must have pulled the binding in the wrong direction when I taped it down because I was about a half inch short.  And by the time I realized this the binding was mostly done - so it would have been a real pain to redo.  So, I slapped another small strip on there and we'll work on it.

Lil' bits

Day 2 working on the neck was to affix the little bits.  Now there is a reason I split this process over two days.  To make these pieces blend seamlessly with the larger bits you have to trim, sand, and pre-fit them.

Unless you actually know what you're doing and then you do this in one night...

I started simple with the small piece that goes on the butt of the neck.

Heh, heh.  He said butt!

Then I tackled the top of the headstock.  On a traditional Les Paul guitar, the final profile or shape is supposed to look like an open book.  Which means I'm going to have to do something about that peak in the middle there.

Binding gives you wings!

Since we use anthropomorphic terms for guitars (neck, body, head-stock) this last part here would be the what?  Jowls?  Adam's Apple? Lymph Nodes?

Caressing the guitar jowls
...ew

Anywho!  All these pieces were cut to fit.  And in the few cases where they were not an exact fit - I used a bit of extra binding paste to cover my mistakes.  It's not like that went poorly the last time I tried that trick.

Then I waited overnight and on day 3 scrapped that sucker.

I will mention again that I use both a cabinet scraper and a utility blade to scrap bindings.  This time out I also tried using a 1/4 inch chisel.  Which worked for the area where the nut will go as that is harder to scrap or snip.

After a rough night on the town

After a shower and shave.

Scraping turned up a few blunders.  I kind of thought this one might not be a tight fit as I taped over it.  But until you take the tape off it's hard to know either way.

Heisenberg's lesser-known experiments with binding.  No dead cats required.

And I knew the top of the headstock was going to need a solution.

Pictured: Unresolved issues

Buth otherwise - it's starting to look pretty good

Pictured: Pretty good

Seeing as this neck started out life looking like this:

So, I've had some work done.  So what?

I mixed up a small batch of binding paste and filled in the cracks.
Once that's dry we'll scrap again.

A little schmeer...

And now we wait for Day #4

What could possibly go wrong?

Les Paul Dreamin'

Wow, that went fast!
The last post that I completed for this Les Paul build was almost two years ago.
This is the downside to having too many hobbies.

So, where were we?

I am a patient boy.

The guitar body has been sitting on top of my fridge for all this time (my garage isn't temperature or humidity controlled) so, I didn't want to leave this out there.  The fact that I thought it was only going to be a couple of weeks until I came back to this is neither here nor there.

For good or for ill - we're back.

If you are just joining us I've been working on a 12 string electric guitar for the last few months.  But that one is sitting in my basement while I wait the 2-3 weeks for the nitrocellulose lacquer finish to dry.

The previous five posts for this guitar (from two years ago) were about binding.  Let's be clear: it was about how to fix a bad binding application because even though I'm 44 years old  I still have the patience of a frickin' teenager...

...ahem...

So, in short, the binding took longer than I expected...
...and it didn't come out exactly how I planned.

The thing is - it was really small potatoes compared to the actual problem with this build:  The neck pocket wasn't straight.  I've tried to make a point about how important it is to get this part of the build correct (here and here).  It's kind of a thing...

Funny then ( funny strange not funny ha ha) when I routed the pocket - I thought it was okay. It looked fairly straight.  And that neck pocket was tight! I mean that in the literal and colloquial sense.

Sadly, as I looked closer I found it wasn't quite right.

If you look at the diamond inlay under my thumb in the below picture - it is supposed to be lined up with the purple stripe on the body.

I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait...

You can also see that the neck isn't quite lined up with the laminations either.  In short - the neck pocket is crooked.

...boo...

Now, I know what some of you are saying, "It's really not that bad."  And you're right.  It's not that bad - but it's also not how I want it (as I plan on keeping this one).  And to top it off - did I mention it was a tight fitting joint?  I can't tell you how proud I was of that little bit of craftsmanship right there.

My time is like water down a drain

So it has to be fixed.  How to do it...?

There are a few different ways - the hardest one being to fill the neck pocket with a block of wood (cut to size and glued in place) and re-route the entire pocket completely.  I'm not wild about that option.

The other options I know of are less invasive but they all start with making the current neck pocket bigger so that I can change the angle of the neck.  Those of you playing the Luthier Home Game - I mean the Lateral neck angle. The Vertical neck angle is still fine.

Sitting in the Waiting Room

It's frustrating to have to fix this - but it will bug me if I don't.  Once the neck pocket will accommodate the neck in the correct position you can do one of the following to tighten up the fit:

1. Glue in a shim of wood (or a couple of sheets of wood veneer).
2. Fill the gap (gaps?) with a sawdust and glue mixture.

Sadly, the easier the method - the more visible repair. I'm looking at you sawdust and glue.  So, I think I'm going to go with option number 1 - shim it!
I first need to straighten the pocket and evaluate what comes next.

Sandpaper don't fail me now!

Function is the key

Hey baby, where you been?

I've been right here, fool!

For the last couple of months I've been giving the guitar body on this build all the love.  What about the neck?  I guess it's time to see where we're at.

I bought this neck from Warmoth soon after I started this build - back in 2010.
It was then (and is now) ridiculously expensive.  I would never spend that much on a neck ever again.  But at the time - it made sense.  I was unsure of my abilities as a builder and had precious little experience.  Plus, the mechanics of a twelve string seemed to be overwhelming.
How strong did it need to be to carry the strain of twelve guitar strings tuned to pitch?  I had no idea.

Waiting on your sorry ass...

So, I bought the neck and other than installing the tuning keys and putting a finish on it - it needed nothing.  That certainly is one upside.  The build for this was done by professionals - so it looks good and it functions well.  No arguments there.  But I did want to personalize it a bit.  And of course that's where I got into trouble.  Back in 2010 I added the black stripe and the Irish 5 penny coin..  I was new to these things and as such - it didn't go as well as I would have liked.  Knowing what I know now I would do things a little different.but since fixing these errors would take a looooong time and I'm not sure the coin could be fixed (it's epoxied in there) I'm going to move forward and accept that the headstock won't be perfect.

...to finish what you started.

So, what are we doing?  I'm adding some color to the face of the headstock.  The neck is made of maple (the fingerboard is ebony) which is the same wood as the guitar top.  The difference is that the maple of the body is figured/flamed and the neck is not.  Also, the neck is quarter-sawn wood whereas the guitar top is plain-sawn wood, and finally, the two maples were of different colors - as happens when taking wood from two different trees.  So, my goal is not to match the two woods but rather put them in the same ballpark (I'd be happy with the same zip codes to be honest).

Shellac in esse

To put the headstock in the same color palate I needed to dye the headstock with the same dye and also use shellac.  It became clear to me that the shellac added a lot to the color.  So, I mixed up a small batch of dye and shellac.  You may have noticed in the above photos that I also taped up the neck and filled the tuning peg holes with paper towels to keep the dye/shellac to one area - the face of the headstock.  I'm going to spray the whole neck with nitrocellulose lacquer but I just want color on the face.

Shellac in potentia

I tried to grind up the shellac flakes as fine as I could - to minimize the time it took to dissolve in alcohol but there is no substitute for making this stuff 8 to 12 hours ahead of time.  Next time I will do so.  One other thing that you can't see here is that I added a little dye directly to the shellac to darken it up.  It worked a bit to deepen the color of the shellac - which was good as the neck didn't soak the dye up like the guitar top did.

Wad

Wet

Repeat

After a few coats of dye and about four coats of shellac I was left with...

Whatcha gonna do now?

A slightly brown face.  And all of my mistakes highlighted by the dye.  Oh, goody!
In these last few pictures you can see where my chisel slipped, where the black strip was chipped, and basically everything that isn't quite right.  Ah well...

1970 Irish 5 penny coin

To help things out I used some pore filler to even out the rough spots.  As I wait for that to dry I'll do some soul searching to see if I want to try fixing some of these "beauty marks."

Hmmm...

And the mistakes begin! (Part 1)

Pictured: How I probably should have been doing this all these years.

I like the new template.  And I like the new process I've started using for routing body blanks.  Because I took my time (and used the disc sander) while making the Les Paul template it is probably the best one I've made yet.  In addition, taping the template to the body allows me to use just one clamp - so, I can go half-way around the body, move one clamp, and do the other half.
That's a lot faster and easier than my previous multi-clamp process.

Switching up the router bits takes time but makes for a smoother finished product.

Pictured: a couple of passes. Not pictured: a slap in the face.

The above image is after two passes with the 1/4 inch router bit (seen below).

Judge me by my size, do you?

Take a look at this bit for a sec.  You will notice that the blade is the same width as the ball bearing beneath it.  That's how this whole template business works.  The ball bearing follows (is pressed up against) the template and the blade (aka bit) cuts the wood beneath to match.

(fyi - the above router is upside down)

As long as the blade and the bearing are the same width - all is right with the world.
Remember I said that.

If you look closer at the base of the router bit you see where it enters the router collet (it's the part that holds the bit in place).  If you lower that collet too far down  it starts to rub against the template - usually burning it or deforming it in the process. If you are truly not paying attention - it will do both.  I speak from experience as at least two of my previous templates have burns and/or gouges from that particular mistake.  This is the service I provide.  I make these mistakes so you don't have to!

With the above router bit I can only make two passes on the body before I have to switch out the bit for a longer one.  So, in went the 3/4 inch bit and I made two or three passes.
...and things were looking good.

Pictured: Looking good.

As I said in a previous post (and as you can see below) at some point you can remove the template and just use the body blank as your template.  When and how you do this is based on how long your bits are.

...and now get your mind out of the gutter.

I made a total of 5 or 6 passes with the 3/4 inch bit - until there was 1/4 of an inch (maybe 3/8 of an inch) left on the bottom to remove.  Then I moved the clamp to the other side of the body blank to make the same 5 or 6 passes on that side.  And I don't mind saying that things were still looking pretty decent.  I was really happy with how this was all working out.

Pictured: Happiness

I was ready to switch to the last router bit.  Go back up again to that picture of the router bit above.  Now imagine the blade and the bearing are reversed.  That's what the final bit looks like.

You flip the body blank upside down (so the stuff you are going to trim off is on top), put the router on top of the body blank, and now the cutting edge is between the router base and the bearing.

And that's about when it all went to bollocks...

Pictured: Bollocks

Where did I go wrong?  Happily it was not my technique.  It was my organization.

I have about 20 or 25 router bits.  Most are in plastic boxes that are labeled with descriptions of what the bits are.  Some even have pictures for the drummers in our midst. But I also have a bag of loose router bits.  There are no labels or descriptions on these bits.  It appears that I have purchased a "binding" router bit at some point.  More important, however, is that I forgot that at some point I bought a binding router bit!

A binding router bit is one where the blade is wider than the bearing.  It is used, funny enough, when you want to inlay binding on a guitar.  So when you lean that bearing up against your template (or body blank) it digs in about an 1/8 of an inch deeper than the bearing.  And that's how you get the mistake above.

I know for a fact that this isn't the last mistake that will be made on these builds.  My hope is that when it comes time to actually put binding on this guitar that I've just made my life easier instead of harder (a man can dream, can't he?).

Thankfully I realized something was amiss fairly quick.  I switched to the correct router bit and was left with the below final product from todays routing adventures.

Dig.

I think there's hope for these two yet.