building my first Dread, hobby build

[redir]

Looking good. What do you use to cut the binding channels?

[TEK]

Originally Posted by redir

Looking good. What do you use to cut the binding channels?

I built a tower that holds a router and slides up and down on drawer sliders and made a doughnut for the base of the router. I made a cradle for the guitar body to set in and just rotate the body under the router. I picked up one of the router bits with different bearings from LMI. Seems to work best if you make the cuts in several passes a little at a time by changing out bearings.
The only time it has caused any problems is when I cut the binding channel for the top first before cutting the purfling channel. The bearing jumped up into the binding channel and took a good bite out of the top. lesson learned!
I will only do that once.
Travis

[TEK]

I got the binding finished up,


I am liking the way the cocobolo looks with the ovangkol.



I went with herringbone on the top



Time to start on the neck
Travis

[CaffeinatedOne]

Wow. That is beautiful work! I'm intrigued by the way you assembled the rosette and how smooth and tight it came out.

[TEK]

Originally Posted by CaffeinatedOne

Wow. That is beautiful work! I'm intrigued by the way you assembled the rosette and how smooth and tight it came out.

Thanks, I was happy with the way it turned out. I have found that gluing the pieces to cardboard and gluing the cardboard to a piece of plywood allows me to cut it out with a router without worry of it moving around while cutting. Then it easily peels up from the plywood in one piece. Scrape the cardboard off and you are ready to go.
Travis

[Halcyon/Tinker]

I have ovangkol envy

[TEK]

I got a little more time in on this build this week. I use West systems epoxy for a pore filler. I like the results I get from it but it sure takes a lot of sanding. Here is a shot before sanding the epoxy



I also got some time in on the neck,


Taped up the binding on the fingerboard, I went with cocobolo with a maple purfling inside.




A quick shot with the neck on the body.


Next will be to inlay some position markers and some side markers. Getting out the dirt bike for the afternoon so no work on this tonight

[LouieAtienza]

Looking great!

[BrunoBlack]

It's a thing of beauty TEK.

[TEK]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Looking great!

Originally Posted by Haasome

It's a thing of beauty TEK.

Thanks guys, I do this in my spare time, usually in the evenings or later at night. One of the hardest parts of building for me is learning to slow down. I come from a mechanic background where getting things done fast was a bonus. I also did a lot of dirt bike racing and getting to the finish line first mattered.
Building is all about taking your time and making everything perfect.
Nothing worse than finishing a build and seeing those little things that you think you could have done and should have done better. Those things most people will never see or notice, but you see it, and its too late then. So I am learning to slow down and enjoy my time building. It can be very therapeutic.

[TEK]

Time for a little neck carving.....




I also started putting some finish on the body. I will be french polishing with shellac on it. I just have a few coats on it so far but it looks great.


.

[fazool]

Wow, that's some beautiful work. Are you sure this is just a "hobby?"

[Neil K Walk]

Wow!

What number is this for you, TEK? This can't be your first build! If so, you're setting a pretty high bar for those of us who have had the itch but the inability to commit.

[TEK]

Originally Posted by fazool

Wow, that's some beautiful work. Are you sure this is just a "hobby?"

Thanks Fazool, my definition of a "Hobby" is: something you enjoy doing that cost you more money than you are making on it. So until I hang my shingle and start making some money I will call it a hobby.

Originally Posted by kwakatak

Wow!

What number is this for you, TEK? This can't be your first build! If so, you're setting a pretty high bar for those of us who have had the itch but the inability to commit.

You are right Kwak, this is not my first build, it is just the first dread I have built. This is actually #20 for me in 27 months of building. I have posted a few builds along the way here.

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by TEK

Thanks Fazool, my definition of a "Hobby" is: something you enjoy doing that cost you more money than you are making on it. So until I hang my shingle and start making some money I will call it a hobby.



You are right Kwak, this is not my first build, it is just the first dread I have built. This is actually #20 for me in 27 months of building. I have posted a few builds along the way here.

Hehe - I KNEW it! Veerrrry nice, build though and you give me something to aspire to. That wood just seems to shimmer.