The Journey OF660

I've had no trouble with a gloss finish. I have found, however, that I need to keep the neck clean. I think hand oil gets deposited on the neck and results in a stickiness that slows things down. I don't know why the same problem would not exist with semi-gloss or matt.

[Res Ipsa]

That’s price is a steal. I hope it brings more folks into the wonderful word of CF.

BTW I like your positioning of the fret markers. Functional, yet modern in design, a nod to the essence of OF660 itself. Well done. With the cool matte finish and gloss edges, and now the fret markers, this guitar looks fantastic.

Evan - my hands sweat and gloss necks get sticky for me sometimes. It’s less of an issue with matte necks for me for some reason. Maybe it’s my viscosity, or my imagination. Yeah, that’s it, a viscous circle.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by Res Ipsa

That’s a steal. I hope it brings more folks into the wonderful word of CF.

BTW I like your positioning of the fret markers. Functional, yet modern in design, a nod to the essence of OF660 itself. Well done. With the cool matte finish and gloss edges, and now the fret markerd, this guitar looks fantastic.

Evan - my hands sweat and gloss necks get sticky for me sometimes. It’s less of an issue with matte necks for me for some reason. Maybe it’s my viscosity, or my imagination. Yeah, that’s it, a viscous circle.

Thanks for the kind words Res Ipsa and AC! I like the way it came out too

[steelvibe]

I liked the inlay idea enough to go ahead and permanently install real abalone shell inlay. The main complaint I had with the stickers was that they were 8mm and seemed a little too big. I did like the positioning of the decals on the trial run but opted for 5 mm inlays when going with the real deal. I have had a blast modding this guitar and pretty pleased with the end resultsIMG_1529.jpgIMG_1454.jpgIMG_1530.jpg

[ac]

Nicely done! Elegant!

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by ac

Nicely done! Elegant!

Thanks again AC. I like these guitars and many are doing cool customizations on their OF660s too. Journey's FB page has a bunch of pics of different mods (although I can't find them right now).

[new2guitar_eh]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

I liked the inlay idea enough to go ahead and permanently install real abalone shell inlay.

Looks fantastic!

Wondering if you could share your process for permanent fret marker install? I would love to do something similar, but really don't want to screw things up

[kramster]

That’s pretty darn cool.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by kramster

That’s pretty darn cool.

Thank you Kramster

Originally Posted by new2guitar_eh

Looks fantastic!

Wondering if you could share your process for permanent fret marker install? I would love to do something similar, but really don't want to screw things up

Hey new2guitar_eh......Thank you!

First things first- get over any fear of "screwing up". I've learned this with my own set ups over the years and the more you tinker with guitars the better you get. I'm always impressed when people work on their own cars, guitars, homes whatever and learn (and perform) when I can.

So as you see earlier in the thread I started with some $10 stickers I bought from Amazon, inspired by an OF660 thread from a couple years here on AGF. I thought the decals looked sharp! I created a template with four images of the OF660 from the web and then created a mock up of hand drawn ideas. I then took a vote from my family members and the design you see here won out.

A video documentary would be so much easier to describe this process but YouTube has a few videos on inlay work- however, nothing with composite material that I could find. I selected 5mm dots from Stew Mac and did some research on drilling into composite material so as to purchase the appropriate bit. It is worth mentioning here that a complex design like birds in flight, initials, or what have you might be too risky for a novice like me. Dots seemed doable. I purchased this bit

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It turned out to be the perfect size for the 5mm dots as I didn't have to sand the edges of the dots to drop them in. If you notice the bit has a center point at the end that essentially pilots the hole just before the diameter cut begins. You could use many other carbide or titanium bit but I didn't want to risk "slippage" since I wasn't using a drill press with the neck in clamps. I was instead using steady hand and a Ryobi.

I left the strings on the neck as I worked and found they were the perfect straight edge. On the selected frets I placed masking tape under the strings, a CRITICAL STEP (more on this later), and pressed down hard on the tape against the fretwire to score the tape with a pencil (for an easily seen measurement reference). I Then just measured with a metal precision ruler than has mm measurements, and divided the distance between frets and then between strings and marked the intersection with an "X" (this part of the process could be simplified with a digital caliper but I do not own one).

The scariest part for me was when I began to make my first hole. To check my work I pulled the tape up after beginning my first hole to check my progress- a good idea and a bad idea at the same time. Good because I could now mark the bit with electrical tape once I determined the depth I would need to drill for a flush drop in of the inlays; bad because I didn't replace the tape before hitting the fretboard for just a few more rotations of the bit to level out the first hole. This created a micro splinter that I later filled with ebony tinted super glue. Barely noticeable but I was careful not to make that mistake again.

Careful drilling was by far the hardest part of the process. I kept a vacuum close by to suck up any of the powdery graphite as I worked to keep the work area clean and the hole drilling accurate.

I went slow.

Once I had my holes complete and "tested" by performing a dry run of dropping in inlays, it was time to glue them in. I removed all the tape and used "whips" from Stew Mac to guide the ebony tinted cyanoacrylate into the reservoirs. The whips gave total control and precision! Those whips are cool and would be very handy for installing pretty much anything small needing precision work. I also own one of these head sets so I can see detail better. Some of the best $11.00 I've ever spent, see this link

https://www.amazon.com/SE-MH1047L-Il...s%2C204&sr=1-4

I used tweezers to drop in the inlays and to keep my fingers away from the glue and it worked out great. One needs to decide how to deal with any over-gluing and whether the it should be cleaned up while working wet or after dry. Since cyanoacrylate dries so fast (and since I was working with very hard composite and not a fine wood like ebony), I decided to clean up any issues after the glue was hardened. I had very few issues with over gluing and the areas it did happen where easily cleaned up with needle shop files, and then smoothed out with steel wool. *Note that abalone is very soft and forgiving and files make easy work of it. It files into a silky talc-like powder and filing did nothing to take away from it's beauty.

Oh, and the dots I bought from Stew Mac are excellent. I bought a set of 25 in case I messed some up and so that I could pick out the best ones. Out of all of them there were only a few that I wouldn't put on my best work. I will be performing the same procedure on my Martin and have beautiful dots for that one too.

[Captain Jim]

Looks good! Nice bit of bling in an understated way on that OF660.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by Captain Jim

Looks good! Nice bit of bling in an understated way on that OF660.

Thanks Captain!

[jdinco]

Great job Sean ! Looks good.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by jdinco

Great job Sean ! Looks good.

Thanks for the kind words John. I've also been playing it of and on all day. It really does have great tone, even if on the quiet side. I'm hoping to coax more projection and have a stack of strings to and see if any out there will help a bit.

[Frettingflyer]

Wow, thanks for sharing the process too. Not looking to do anything like that but I like learning just in case.
Turned out great, design and execution.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by Frettingflyer

Wow, thanks for sharing the process too. Not looking to do anything like that but I like learning just in case.

Turned out great, design and execution.

Thanks Frettingflyer