Steel Guitar Builder

The fretboard is now shaped:

Hey Buddy, sure is looking sweet. As I said before I think you are challenging me to work harder on my next project. You are so meticulous in your work. You are a pro. Keep up the good work my friend,

Paul

Dont worry Paul, I'm very far to be a pro!
I just carefully choose the pictures I upload here;-)

Xavier

How thick is the ebony you are using?

Paul

Paul, the blank fretboard was 9 mm, and I routed to 6 mm
Today I ordered some stuff at Stewmac , and the bone inlay
I inlaid my logo on the peg head.
First a spread of yellow tempera:


Then drawing with a needle:




It's a good idea to blacken the edges of the inlay, that avoids the light to bounce on it through the glue:


Routing...


Far from perfect, but (I wope) it will not be noticeable when finished

Glueing (I used the stewmac black CA):


The glue is now setting. tomorrow, sanding, and, I hope, good results

Xavier

You made a good choice using ebony for the fret board. On my latest project I used poplar which is light colored and kept it natural. Now when I play it and the light strikes in a certain way the shadow from the strings makes it look like I have 16 strings instead of 8. Won't make that mistake again. I must admit though, when I play the shadow strings my playing improves greatly. No sound lol.

I like your logo, looks pretty neat. You have more patience than I let me tell you. I think it will be a masterpiece when your done. You may not even want to play it. You night want to frame it in a glass case and just admire it.

Take care Chum!

Paul

Great work mate. I use ebony fretboards all the time now and wouldnt go back to rosewood. I just love it.

Paul Lafountaine wrote:
I like your logo, looks pretty neat. You have more patience than I let me tell you. I think it will be a masterpiece when your done. You may not even want to play it. You night want to frame it in a glass case and just admire it.

Take care Chum!

Paul

Paul, I have the piece of wood under my eyes several hours a day... It's FULL of imperfections that are not shown on the pictures. For example I noticed that the body shape is not fully symmetrical...
I'm not a luthier, I don't have the right tools, I have no experience... Every new step is for me a mountain to climb It's only my fourth project and I have to look after the "how to" for every step in books and on the net.

All my previous homemade instruments are full of "real life" dings... No, it wont be under glass, I promise to you:-) My actual(s) problem(s) is(are): How will I get the skills to finish the instrument and play it?

Here is the inlaid head stock:


Xavier

So THAT'S how you do inlay! I always wondered how it became so neat like you did your XB logo. aha! You use black glue! Simply ingenious and you, my friend, are turning into quite the craftsman.

Yesterday I drilled the peg head holes... It's really more difficult to keep them centered than it looks... fortunately I have a reamer:-)


and sanded the edges:





Xavier