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The paper template is a discarded mishap, but the shape
and size are correct.
This is not necessarily exactly where I shall cut, but
thankfully it seems that I won't run out of wood.
Tada!
Meet my new glue kettle! £3.00 from a boot fair! Never been used! The
thermometer didn't come with it; that's just a serving suggestion.
If you think I'm indulging in the over-use of exclamation marks, well, come on
now, how cool is that? You will perceive that the cloud of not having a
glue kettle has been lifted from over my head.
Now I only need to find a horse to melt down.
I was a little disappointed when I tried it out yesterday. After
an-hour-and-a-half, from cold, it reached a temperature of 145° and stayed there. Not
too bad because that was the temperature I was reckoning on using, but
I would have preferred a little leeway.
Today I tried it with my handy-dandy creosoted plywood lid, and I can easily
get a sustained temperature from anywhere between about 130° and 180°.
I also learned that starting off with hot water from a kettle saves a lot of
time.
Time to chop the mahogany slab. This is the last picture before the deed is
done. If I mess this up, it's the end of the project.
And here's where the body will be cut. I won't say that there's miles of room,
but there's enough.
The smaller piece will actually be on the bottom of the body for a couple of
reasons: The weight of the guitar, when the strap button is fitted, will be on
the more solid piece, and the placement of the chambers will be easier, given the
position of the functional cavities; controls etc.
I've been quiet for a couple of days, but I've not been dormant.
Can you guess what I'm thinking about here?
No, I'm not going to panel the bathroom with padauk.
Here's my pickup bezel jig. Sitting under the chrome bezel at the front there
is the first blank. Another chrome bezel is screwed to the under-side of the
main block.
This is for marking the holes really quickly. It's just a matter of placing
the blank over the spikes and pressing down on it. The spikes are one inch
clout nails coming through pre-drilled holes and held tight by the piece of
ply screwed on the bottom.
The outer fixing holes are drilled at 2.5mm and adjustment holes at 3mm.
