wood art, flatwork? FINISHED

allen levine

Member
Messages
12,344
Location
new york city burbs
Maybe I should just refer to it as fun work.
The object of this build is to have fun, not cost me more than 20 bucks, and not use anything but excess pieces of wood I had laying around without taking a new board off the pile.
I cut up all the sycamore I had. It was really full of splits, so I cut around all of it, made 14 bed slats,and a panel for the underside of the body for my piece.(I gave the rest of the split up pieces to Jim, Im sure he can cut them up and make plenty of boxes or boards with them)
Used some leftover pieces I had from the panels I made the bed with, not the greatest figure in these pieces, but I wasnt going to trim down another board.
Laminated them, made a template for the body around 1 and half the size of regular looking electric guitar, traced it, cut out with bandsaw then used flush bit on router. Sure could have used a spindle sander, but I have one drum that I attach to drill press, does a sufficient job.
I had alot of thick pieces of maple around, from all the tables and units Ive made.
Cut out some shallow grooves, inlaid strips of walnut for some frets. I had them slightly raised, but didnt like the way it looked, so I took my block plane and shaved them down, then sanded them flush. Used a countersink bit, made some holes, took my plug cutter, used some walnut, put some of those dots on the neck, whatever ya call them, I forgot. (so you can know where your fingers are when youre playing)
My first headstock cracked, cut the second one out of spanish cedar, just to mix up the colors, and will attach it with a lap joint.
Same way I will attach the neck to body.

The strings will be small chains(well, Im the artist, hehehehe), and now Im working on figuring out how to get good tension on the chains when I make the bridge and pickups.
The bridge and pickups and all the hardware will be assorted junk hardware I have laying around, but I purchased 6 brass eyelets and 6 small eyelets with bolt ends that I will figure out how to make the bridge.
Im using a small sheet of I guess its called stainless steel sheet, like ducting material, and Ill cut it to size to form phony, but artistic(hehehehe, Im making myself laugh) bridge and pickups.
I have some wood knobs Ill paint black to use for volume or tone control knobs.
I have a small sheet of 1/8 clear plastic, I took off a cutlery showcase, and I might paint it and use it as a pick guard unless I like the way the wood comes out and dont want to cover it up.(I turned the boards when I glued them up with the least amount of coloring/figure in the middle, since most of it is covered with strings, bridge, pickups)
Heres where Im at now, tomorrow I will slightly round over the pieces, attach them all together, sand, and start applying finish before I attach any hardware. Im up in the air with hardware right now, been sorting threw my screws, and some little metal clips I found laying around.
The bridge will make or break this piece. If I mess that up, Ill put the piece on hold and get to the next bed.(the second bed I made this winter is going to be sanded with 400 grit tomorrow to take the knubbies off, and its ready to be shipped, uh, delivered)

I know I copied the design of a famous make guitar, but I figured an artist has to be inspired by something, and that guitar inspired me.
All the parts were sized and drew/cut freehand using my eagle eyes, so if anything looks a tad off, well, Im off.
I purposely left the bottom of the body a bit more flat because I may want to put it on a shelf standing up so gravity helps keep the chains straight if I need some help with tensioning.
 

Attachments

  • bed 255 (Medium).jpg
    bed 255 (Medium).jpg
    57.8 KB · Views: 104
  • bed 258 (Medium).jpg
    bed 258 (Medium).jpg
    41.8 KB · Views: 84
  • bed 259 (Medium).jpg
    bed 259 (Medium).jpg
    49.7 KB · Views: 84
Last edited:
best part about this project is that Ive had to use almost every piece of equipment I own, including the new belt sander and my hand planes. Even pulled out the spokeshave, but abandon that idea quickly.
And all the machines took very little effort to move from machine to machine, set up router, change blades, it all was fast and time saving not having to move machine after machine.
Im very pleased with my shop layout now, I think I got it right this time.
Just gonna start one more unit to hold screws this week while working on these few projects.
 
well, heres my blank canvas with a bit of oil on it. It really soaks up the oil, so Ill put at least 4-6 coats of waterlox rubbed on, then some gloss to shine it up, all before I attach any hardware.
Its 55 inches long.
I painted two pine pulls to use as phony volume controls.
I didnt like the first pick guard I cut, it was big, covered all the beautiful wood, so I made it very small, sprayed it black. Im not sure if Im going to use it at all, or change it.
I hung the chains Im using for strings to see how the contrast would look.
Ill use some brass headed screws for contrast also on the sheet metal plates.
 

Attachments

  • bed 262 (Medium).jpg
    bed 262 (Medium).jpg
    72.4 KB · Views: 48
  • bed 263 (Medium).jpg
    bed 263 (Medium).jpg
    41 KB · Views: 47
  • bed 264 (Medium).jpg
    bed 264 (Medium).jpg
    44.1 KB · Views: 44
figured out how IM going tension the chains Im using as strings, needed something simple but effective so I can pull chains a bit tight to avoid too much sag. At least my picture taking is getting better. Never knew theres a button for shots closer than 28 inches.

I played around with some sheet metal and chrome auto tape, will cover the oak bar.
 

Attachments

  • bed 266 (Medium).jpg
    bed 266 (Medium).jpg
    43.4 KB · Views: 28
best part about this project is that Ive had to use almost every piece of equipment I own, including the new belt sander and my hand planes. Even pulled out the spokeshave, but abandon that idea quickly.
And all the machines took very little effort to move from machine to machine, set up router, change blades, it all was fast and time saving not having to move machine after machine.
Im very pleased with my shop layout now, I think I got it right this time.
Just gonna start one more unit to hold screws this week while working on these few projects.

Norm would be proud!:wave:

Be looking forward to the end result.
 
finished, just cant sign it yet

My wife must have given my paint pens to someone. I wanted to sign the headstock above the chains, maybe use Lev 1.

this is it, its all done, just have to clean up the sawdust and wipe down all the smudges on it from installing the hardware.

The pickup is made of a piece of a copper plumbing bracket, the end had a pipe connector, I clipped it off, used some white oak, sprayed it black, and whatever screws I had. I like the way it looks.I tried to alternate different screw colors to get some color. Dark screws on the chrome, silver on the copper.
The bridge cover plate is just a piece of sheet steel, I cut with a tin snip, bent in the vise, and I had a few pieces of chrome detailing tape left from a tailpipe one of the kids did years ago. It covered the sheet steel and gave it a little shine.

It ran me around 22 dollars, so I kept it close. I thought I spent more, but I had purchased other stuff for a different project.

btw-I used 2 coats of waterlox original, 1 coat of waterlox gloss, 2 coats minwax polyurethane gloss, and after 4 days, I waxed it today with butchers bowling alley wax. I sanded in between each coat with 400.(not the first waterlox coat), I finished sanding the final coat this morning with 600 wet sandpaper and water. I just couldnt seem to get that plastic sheen I wanted.There are no spots on the finish on the face, thats just sawdust from drilling holes.
 

Attachments

  • bed 272 (Medium).jpg
    bed 272 (Medium).jpg
    21.3 KB · Views: 46
  • bed 273 (Medium).jpg
    bed 273 (Medium).jpg
    60.4 KB · Views: 47
  • bed 274 (Medium).jpg
    bed 274 (Medium).jpg
    76.7 KB · Views: 46
  • bed 275 (Medium).jpg
    bed 275 (Medium).jpg
    51.4 KB · Views: 43
  • bed 276 (Medium).jpg
    bed 276 (Medium).jpg
    29.6 KB · Views: 39
  • bed 277 (Medium).jpg
    bed 277 (Medium).jpg
    70.4 KB · Views: 37
Last edited:
Top