Ahhh...

...that what I said yesterday while working on this. Long week at work. Stopped and bought some beer & sandpaper on the way home and sat outside in the sun sanding away with my Mighty Mouse sander. Got all the finish off the front of the body....which surprised me...figured it would take longer. Also spent some time filing down the binding more. Still a few frets worth to go, but I'm well more than half way done with getting it shaped.

The hideglue/putty feels tacky every time I touch it whilst working on the guitar, so I don't know yet if I need to be worried about that. Not sure if it's not drying (it seemed to file and sand OK), or if it's just the heat from my hands making it do that. Rockler has sent out another e-mail coupon for 20% off, so I may stop there this weekend to get another can of clear lacquer and see what sort of traditional wood putties they have. My fill spot has some small divots and will need something anyway...a think skim coat over the hideglue/putty might be just the ticket. I am letting it sit over the weekend, I should have a better idea what's going on monday night.

From Astro Jet work 1

Huh, I thought I had one of those...

I sat down to do some more work on the binding last night. After casting about for a bit, I realized I did not have a scraper. I thought I'd ordered one from Stew Mac, but apparently not. No big deal, I ended up using a single edge razor blade, which seems to work just fine.

I started on the treble side and it became apparent where the low spots in the neck are over time. I decided, for various reasons and some internal debate, to sand the finish off the entire neck, rather than strip it chemically. Once the binding was level with most of that side of the neck, I sanded the rest of the finish away and made some putty for the low points.

I briefly contemplated gouging out a more or less square area in the biggest low spot and laminating some wood in there, but decided to just go with putty instead. I made some of my own to use. I've been saving sanding and routing dust from past guitars and have a little ziplock bag full of vintage mahogany dust. I mixed some of that with some hide glue to make a putty and applied some to the neck.

That was about it for last night.

From Astro Jet work 1

This morning, before work, I sanded some on the "putty" and mixed up/applied another coat. I also was able to get the bass side mostly scraped down. It will need a bit more work, but not much. Next up is getting the top edges brought down level with the finger board. I think that's going to mostly be a careful filing job.

Awesome!

Just sent the paypal payment for the pickguard. Finalized the shape last night, adjusted the file this morning and heard back with a quote from http://terrapinguitars.com just a bit ago. I decided to go with 0.090" black/white/black and to have no holes drilled for controls. I haven't decided how I want the control layout done, and since I now have a drill press I can do it when ever I wish. Best part is I was figuring the guard would run me just shy of $100, but he quoted me $37.50 shipped! Here's the final shape:

From Astro Jet work 1

Took the tape off the binding last night and all looks well. Will assess further and make the next move tonight....may start stripping the neck, may just sand it down and start addressing the worn spots on the treble side of the neck....we shall see...

more binding work

I removed the tape last night for the treble side binding and all looked good. I cut a length for the bass side, made doubly sure the channel was cleaned out and ready, as well as wiping down the new piece with some naptha. A generous application of WeldOn #16 and I put the bass side binding on. I suppose I went a little overboard on the tape for this side, but tape is cheap.:D

From Astro Jet work 1

Next I cut and filed a piece for the end of the neck and got that glued on and taped up. Once this sets over the weekend (I'll be at my GF's all weekend), I'll remove the tape and start scraping & filing the binding down to flush. I expect that will take a while. I also need to address the low spots in the wood on the treble side. The binding had been off a while and someone played a lot of the wood away on that side. Not sure what it's going to take to fix that, I will evaluate it probably tuesday evening, as I have band practice monday night after work.

I trimmed out the second pickguard template and layed it up on the body. I used a green fine point sharpie to mark where all the adjustments had to be made. Brought that into work today, scanned it and proceeded to make the necessary adjustments. I've printed a couple copies off to double check, but I have a feeling it's ready to send off to have the pickguard made. That will likely happen next week.

From Astro Jet work 1

The (perhaps) final pickguard template:

From Astro Jet work 1

I also worked up some line art for the missing badge on the bass side upper bout. Not 100% sure how I'm going to go about replicating that...or if I'll bother to come up with a pseudo serial number for it. I don;t know what the actual serial number of this guitar is, nor have I been able to figure out exactly what year it is.

From Astro Jet work 1

I have my eye on a regulay old Gretsch Filtertron neck pickup ending tonight on ebay. If it doesn;t get too high, I'm going to try to win it. I have a regaular old Filtertron for the bridge right now...I'll make use of these till I have the spare cash to buy a set of TV Jones pickups.

Working on my Gretsch Astro Jet

Last night I finally started on my Astro Jet. Previously I had done mock up work, getting it playable to check out how the neck did with string tension, see what I thought of various aspects of it, including the frets, Here is a gallery with some after photos of it to that point.

Grestch Astro Jet

I got this off ebay for about $450....I'm still pinching myself....


So, last night I loosened the strings and started working on her. The binding was completely gone on the treble side of the neck and was deteriorating on the bass side. It was also missing at the heal. I'd ordered some binding and glue from Stew Mac a few weeks ago. I also find a place selling red side dot marker material, which was cool as hell. One pack (around $6) is damn near a lifetime supply too!

http://www.doeringerguitars.com/servlet/the-669/Side-Dot-Rods-RED/Detail

I used a small square file to clean the old glue and other ditrius out of the binding channel. Then I cut a piece of binding to a generous length and used naptha to clean it and the neck well. I ran a generous bead of the WeldOn #16 glue in the channel and fit the binding in place. Lots of masking tape later, it was ready to sit for 24 hours. I hope to do the bass side tonight.

Once I'd finished there, I started on the process for making a pickguard template. Using a stiff piece of construction paper I basically went by eye, loose measurements, clues on the body and a picture to get a starting point for making the pickguard. I brought in those templates to work today, scanned them and using some photos started working one up in Adobe Illustrator. Here's a photo of the first rough draft template:

From Astro Jet work 1

I think clicking that photo will take you to the album where I will store the work photos.

More Explorer

I suppose it was about two weeks ago I went to a friends machine shop to drill the bridge location holes. Everything kind of fell together quickly after that. I'll try to detail what happened and where the project stands at this point.

Lack, at the time, a suitable drill press I made arrangements to go to a buddies machine shop after work and get my bridge holes drilled. I had spent some time the previous two evenings carefully measuring and locating where they would need to be. I even went so far as to mock up the guitar with a pick up and a high and low E strings so I could check out alignment. I propped the bridge up on some bits of scrap wood.

Once the drilling was done I went ahead and assembled the res of the guitar and ran into some trouble. The controls and cavity didn't all jibe correctly. I improvised a control layout and got a good Switchcraft 3-way switch and jack. It didn't take long to get everything assembled and playing, but I'll need to make some decisions about how to proceed with the electricals and a few other details. At this point, however, the guitar is together and after some attention to the nut slots, plays pretty well. The pickups are uninspiring, but that's OK as I have a set of Schallers for it. Very low string tension too.

I've procured some Behlins spray cans of nitro lacquer from Rockler for the finish work. Walnut, Natural (supposed to be like a light oak), some black and some clear. They run coupons for 20% one item almost every weekend. I need to make a habit of going by there to get a cheap can of Behlins clear every time they do that.

Eventually I'll get back to this, address the issues and start getting the grain filler on it in prep for the finish...but I have other projects going and the fun stuff is done now, so....sometime....soon...

From Explorer Kit