Muttley's Custom LP Guitar Build

Lt. Bob said:
I want one of those with the cut-out on the top also ..... a double cut paul by muttley.

'That's what I want' ........ oh, and money too.
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Hang on... I'll get me hack saw....:thumbs up:

Never mind Lt one day I wont need to work for money either and I'll do you one on never ending installments. A beer a month, hows that sound?...:drunk:
 
A quick picture that hopefully shows the colour a bit better. Once the shellac goes on and then the tru oil it will get more "tobacco" as both have quite a bit of amber colour in them. I may add a bit more for the edge. Not sure yet.

Thing is really gonna pop when the shiny goes on...

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Next job is to clean the binding, sand any run off the back and sides and hit it with shellac sealer. Then I can start putting this baby together. I'm off to make a patent muttley tailpiece..
 
JCH said:
Thanks for the lesson.:thumbs up:
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Have you got a uv lamp?

It's quite interesting to set one, up in a closed area obviously and see what it does to wood, stains, etc... They are used a lot in faking antiques to bleach out patinas..
 
muttley600 said:
Have you got a uv lamp?

It's quite interesting to set one, up in a closed area obviously and see what it does to wood, stains, etc... They are used a lot in faking antiques to bleach out patinas..
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No I don't. I have access though. A friend has some that he uses for curing automotive paint. I had never thought of using one to test the colorfastness (wasn't sure if that was a real word, but the spell check didn't mind, so I guess it is.) of a finish. I'd prefer to use waterborne dyes, but not if they won't hold up to UV.
 
JCH said:
No I don't. I have access though. A friend has some that he uses for curing automotive paint. I had never thought of using one to test the colorfastness (wasn't sure if that was a real word, but the spell check didn't mind, so I guess it is.) of a finish. I'd prefer to use waterborne dyes, but not if they won't hold up to UV.
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I've never had a really significant problem with water based aniline but the spirit ones do seem to stay fresh almost indeffinetly.

You wouldn't have a problem working with them. Especially if you test em out on scrap to get a feel for them. Trick is to REALLY dilute them, you can always add more but taking it away means sanding back..
 
Shiiii, that's some excellent work. I love it. Is that a mahogony body/top? That finish you did brings out the grain of the wood real nice. I like sunburst colour scheme but have to say whenever I've contemplated buying a guitar like this from shops, I've been put off by the lack of sympathy/attention to the natural grain of the wood on closer inspection. Think you nailed it, really nice graduation of colour. Can't wait to see it finished. Looking for an apprentice by any chance? LOL. :)
 
fritsthegirl said:
Shiiii, that's some excellent work. I love it. Is that a mahogony body/top? That finish you did brings out the grain of the wood real nice. I like sunburst colour scheme but have to say whenever I've contemplated buying a guitar like this from shops, I've been put off by the lack of sympathy/attention to the natural grain of the wood on closer inspection. Think you nailed it, really nice graduation of colour. Can't wait to see it finished. Looking for an apprentice by any chance? LOL. :)
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Mahogany body and maple cap...

Wish I could take an apprentice but funds and a minefield of legislation do not allow. Also I'm not a good person to work for trust me... Always happy to help anyone who needs some input or advice though...
 
Chili said:
I should come over to your side of the pond for some lessons.
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We can do that remotely but you'd be welcome here anytime for whatever reason

Changed the title.
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Thanks. I was getting a little less festive...

Hey, I might have missed this before, but is the mahogany body one piece?
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Yep, my take is that if you are going to see it use the best. Also if you are going to put hours into building something then use the best6 you can get. The materials are generally the last thing any true craftsman would scrimp on. Not that a two or three piece body would be any less effective or suitable..
 
fritsthegirl said:
That's the best sort of boss to have and be. :)
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There's an old story about an apprentice who is asked by his mentor to make a simple box to keep his tools in. The apprentice goes off and makes the box and shows it to his mentor. The guy looks it over and asks "what do you think?, the apprentice looks at his mentor and replies "I suppose it's good enough" to which the guy hands the box to him and says "do it again". He goes off and makes another box and presents it. The mentor once again asks him "what do you think?" and the apprentice replies "I suppose it's good enough" to which he is sent off to make another. This carries on all week until eventually the apprentice, completely exasperated, presents his work and says to his mentor. "Before you say anything I've looked over this piece a thousand times and it's perfect..". The Mentor doesn't look up from his work, throws the box to the back of his bench and replies "I suppose that's good enough".
 
I haven't had a whole lot of time this last week to get on with this and the next part is pretty laborious and dull so not much to report.

I shall post up a few pics of the grain filling as I know JCH was wanting to get a start on epoxy grain filling. Previously I have used Devcon clear but a friend of mine has been banging on about Z-Poxy for ages so I thought I'd give it a try.

Goes on all right... It is supposed to have a cure time of three hours but with the temp here right now it was best left over night. Being as how I haven't used this before I am doing the back of the headstock as a tester before I do anything to the body. That way I can get a handle on how it's behaving. The rest of the neck is not going to be grain filled as I like the feel of a nice plain tru oil finish these days

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Left it over night and it cut back pretty well with 400 grit. Loaded up another coat and left that over night and cut that back as well. At this point I tested the back of the headstock with a bit of french polish...

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Seems to be working pretty well and the epoxy is plenty clear enough. ' going to hit it with one more coat which is literally just a wet coat which I apply with a window squeegy. The idea is to get a really thin covering that makes sure that the colour is even when the first lacquer coats go on. Any dry wood spots would otherwise grin through...

Cut back first.. then wash coat..

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This coat will just get a very light cut back with 1000 grit to key the sealer coat. All looking good so far but will know later when I shoot the lacquer on it.
 
While the epoxy filler cures I found a few spare moments to knock up the tail piece.

Made from ebony with a rosewood veneer on top to echo the fingerboard and headstock. I use this design on all my archtops these days as they work well and I haven't seen anyone else do it.

The finished tail piece screws into a threaded insert that is set into the top. The whole thing is held together with a nylon cello tail gut.

Pictures should make it clearer..

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