Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: FELINEGUITARS on April 16, 2012, 06:36:20 PM
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I have an old Alvarez acoustic guitar - not an overly expensive one , but it sounds ok and is fun to mess about with.
I was stuck at home this weekend with a nasty cold and eventually got bored watching TV so I decided to pop the acoustic on the bench for an overdue refret - I'm going a bit bigger with the wire so it will be easier to play .
Also adding an Earvana shelf nut - handy that the nut is just 43mm wide like a Les Paul.
While we have the frets out we also set about changing the inlays - the existing ones were just small dots, and the choice of maltese crosses seemed like fun.
Here you can see that I have already pulled the frets out and laid out the inlays on the bare board to see how the layout will look
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/pimped/DSC03528.jpg)
I've temporarily stuck the mother of pearl pieces down with the equivalent of model airplane glue - enough to hold them in place for me to scribe around to mark out where to cut with the router so I can set them into the board
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/pimped/DSC03531.jpg)
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Yeah, nothing better than working on guitars when you gotta stay home (although I am doing a lot less sophisticated stuff when I do).
Those new inlays looks great, especially on the 12th. By look it adds 200quid to the estimated price easily.
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Very nice. The inlays look great!
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mmm want them for mine now
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Great inlays there Jonathan.
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That looks fantastic!
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Okay - made some more progress , although I'll leave it for today:
Inlays installed and frets installed.
I chose to stain the fingerboard with an ebony stain to even up the colour
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/pimped/DSC03532.jpg)
I'm looking forward to having the next stages done , so I can play her
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/pimped/DSC03533.jpg)
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I gotta be honest here, I do not really agree with the choice to ebony stain the fretboard. Now keep in mind that I am just judging from the photos, but I think it looks a little off. It is probably better in real live, but I really like a nicely oiled rosewood fretboard. That brown richness (the richness is what I like) is, to me, nicer than what I see here.
I think this is actually the first occasion where I disagree with a style choice Jonathan made^^
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^
To be fair, some rosewood looks anaemic whether it's oiled or not, you can't always get that "brown richness".
The ebony stain is interesting - does it hold up well over time, and do funny things happen if you then oil the fretboard? I suppose it can always be re-stained subsequently?
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Because of the awkwardness of the shapes being routed out there was a touch more visible filler than I liked, and whilst I used rosewood dust to conceal the gaps , the dust when mixed with epoxy looked darker.
That along with the general look was the reason for me to break out the stain.
We used a leather dye which penetrated really well , and will stand up against playing wear and tear.
If you gouge the wood , you'll go through it but with Dunlop 6100 fingerboard contact is kept to a minimum.
It is the same way that Ibanez offered Ebonised rosewood on many guitars in the late 1970s
Thankfully the binding was black , so it is neat edge to edge.
It also looks better in real life - the camera flash has made it look a bit flat
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I actually think it looks cool :D
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I actually think it looks cool :D
i agree :)
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Looking good :D
I was reading it earlier at work, not able to see the pictures, thinking "maltese crosses on an acoustic? oh well, each to their own..." :lol:
But no, I'm quite surprised, it looks really tasteful.
I'm firmly on the fence over the ebony stain. If the rosewood itself had been spectacularly yummy I would have thought "oh that's a shame...". But I think the new finish looks just as good - and seeing as something was necessary, I think it's a win-win :D
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The darkening of the board makes the pearl stand out more too I have found.
Must get it fret dressed now!
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I was reading it earlier at work, not able to see the pictures, thinking "maltese crosses on an acoustic? oh well, each to their own..." :lol:
I remember a Fender acoustic someone had in school. It had cross inlays, of sorts, but rotated 45 degrees - in fact they were more like small diamonds with cuts in the edges. I thought it looked really cool, never forgotten it even after 30+ years!
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not unlike these but more diamond shape
(http://www.richardsguitars.co.uk/acatalog/crafter_gae15_frets_500w.JPG)
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Yeah, very much like that! :D
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I actually think it looks cool :D
i agree :)
Same here, I think it looks great - I had reservations when I saw the first pics!
I think you should stain the bridge too though.
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She's all done - although I will make a new bone bridge saddle for her to improve the intonation now I have an Earvana on there.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/pimped/DSC03584.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/pimped/DSC03587.jpg)
I noticed that the ebony stain relaxes back and kind of fades to look like old dark rosewood after a while - even over the week that this was lurking before being finished off.
So I topped up the stain levels again just before stringing her back up, but over the next week or two it will change again and take on a more natural look, which I will leave to become the look for this guitar.
I'm certainly enjoying playing her again - thanks to the refret, although I do once again fancy an acoustic with a rosewood back and sides - think I prefer the tone to a mahogany back and sides version.
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That looks great - personally I like th elook of the fretboard now. Nice work!
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Yeah, that looks very nice. I think breadfan might be right about staining the bridge plate as well. (Wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't pointed it out, though! :lol: :roll:)