This is Sparta!

[poro78]

Have to admit... I dream of Dremel.
After drilling about 30 holes with that microdrill, I have come to the conclusion that... this is madness!

No. This is Sparta!

Back to work --->

[Barnaby]

You need to train an army of pearl-eating termites.

First off, you will have to find a very small whip and chair...

[poro78]

Originally Posted by Barnaby

You need to train an army of pearl-eating termites.

First off, you will have to find a very small whip and chair...

Sawing the MOP is not a problem, but drilling those supporting holes is.

Tell me more about this termite method. How do you teach them to eat a perfect hole and not the whole piece?
I've been collecting threads from a spider web, I thought it might be good material for a tiny whip.
What do you think? Do you have any tips how to weave a whip from spider silk?

And that chair... What kind of a chair?



Ok, I'm almost done drilling. Tomorrow I'll spend a morning drilling holes for two more inlays and after that it's just piece of cake connecting those holes with straight cuts.
Like I said, sawing is not a problem. It takes about 5 minutes to cut one piece, 10 if I'm extra careful (Drilling 17 holes takes about 30 minutes with sore fingers).
But if I screw up, then I have to drill holes for another piece.

[poro78]

I almost failed to drill rest of the holes yesterday, there was lots of other things to do and my fingertips were sore as hell.
Almost.

Then I realised that it's just lame if you chicken out when your thread's title is what it is.

And it was about midnight when I had these last pieces on my desk.
If I ever build another guitar, I will buy a Dremel for this task.
Doing this with powerless microdrill is just too stupid, too painful and too time-consuming.

[poro78]

Crap.
For being so fast I hereby award myself about 30 more holes to drill.
My fingertips hate me.

So, everything was going fine and quickly and you know what that leads to..
I was sawing a big piece where I had drilled holes for 4 inlays.
I sawed off one, started second and *CRACK* ---- it was broken in two. And the best part of this story... The crack went just through the tips of all 3 planned inlays, making the whole piece useless.

[poro78]

Sawing the inlays done.
Not completely satisfied, but there's still some filing to do.
Maybe that helps.

Then I have to glue some pieces together and after that we're ready to start inlaying them to the fretboard.
Finally.

[Jusamies]

Waiting eagerly.

[Barnaby]

Me too. Just remember that everyone else is probably going to be really impressed while you're only ever going to see the microscopic flaws that you think are there. It's a curse!

[poro78]

Microscopic flaws... Ain't my style, I'm heading towards the big ones!
There's some unevenness in the pieces, but I think I can take it. After all, this is my first attempt doing inlays of my own.

Filing and fitting the pieces was quite painful, especially the smallest of my "puzzle pieces" (12th fret) and there's still 3 puzzles left + the one-piece inlays for the rest of the frets.

I spent about 2 hours to complete these three whole inlays and after that my wife came to say that she feels sick. And of course I too spent last night riding the porcelain pony with my head in a bucket.

Still feeling quite weak and it pisses me off since this week is the last week for two months that I can truly spent more than two hours daily on my project.

[Jusamies]

Originally Posted by poro78

Microscopic flaws... Ain't my style, I'm heading towards the big ones!
There's some unevenness in the pieces, but I think I can take it. After all, this is my first attempt doing inlays of my own.

Filing and fitting the pieces was quite painful, especially the smallest of my "puzzle pieces" (12th fret) and there's still 3 puzzles left + the one-piece inlays for the rest of the frets.

I spent about 2 hours to complete these three whole inlays and after that my wife came to say that she feels sick. And of course I too spent last night riding the porcelain pony with my head in a bucket.

Do get better. We like seeing you build! And as for...

Originally Posted by poro78

Still feeling quite weak and it pisses me off since this week is the last week for two months that I can truly spent more than two hours daily on my project.

I feel your pain bro! Well, at last you can pretty surely work on your build at all during summer...

[poro78]

All righty, then.
Because puking into the dust mask would make this build more manly, I decided to continue even when feeling slightly odd.

More filing and fitting. I removed all the drill marks from every piece and sorted the pieces (4 arrow shaped pieces per puzzle).
This was where I started:



The first inlay design I had in my mind was something megalomaniac (for beginner like me) based on Sámi shaman drum symbols and after realising that I can't make it happen, I ditched it.
Maybe I'll get a chance to make it some day in the future.

The second was Valknutr, old norse symbol with three interlocked triangles, but I ditched that too because some neo-nazi groups are using it as their symbol.
(And also, why use a Norwegian symbol if you're Finnish? )

Then I found what I was looking for.
Tursaansydän, an old Finnish symbol, luck charm that was especially popular in northern Finland (Lapland that is) where I am originally from.

And how to make it?
Take 4 alike arrow shaped pieces and put them together.



Like this... A completed puzzle.



The problem of this design was that pieces beyond 12th fret would be too little, so I had to think what to put there.
Since tursaansydän was mainly used on wooden furniture and buildings I started to think what other ancient symbols were used that I know AND what would be small enough to fit into that narrow space and there it was: Thunder mark! (And how great is that, you know... SG, lightning bolt inlays, AC/DC... )
And also some say that tursaansydän represents a flying and rotating hammer of the thunder god Ukko, so this must be a good mix.



The one at the 1st fret looks too big. Maybe I have to make another one or just leave that blank.
I had in mind that 12th fret would also have small (z-shaped) lightnings on the sides of tursaansydän, but somehow I just didn't make them.

Next step is to mark the locations for the pieces and to carve some cavities.


Damn.
I just remembered that there's also this thing they call headstock... that possibly needs inlays too.

[Barnaby]

Wow! Just...wow!

[poro78]

Thanks!
Though it's not so "Wow!" I'd like it to be.

Since I don't have too much time I did some tests with fingerboard binding.
I had two colors, red and black. And I have to say that red binding looks quite "cheap".





I think I'll use the black.
Color theme for this guitar will most likely have something to do with black and red.

[Jusamies]

For the comfort of non-Finnish speakers, Tursaansydän means literally "squid's heart." The name probably refers to Iku-Turso, a sea monster/demon from finnish national epic Kalevala, though, so Taursas' heart" is probably the best way to translate.

Bjauutiful inlays! Lightning bolts do work as inlays very well indeed!

[poro78]

Originally Posted by Jusamies

For the comfort of non-Finnish speakers, Tursaansydän means literally "squid's heart." The name probably refers to Iku-Turso, a sea monster/demon from finnish national epic Kalevala, though, so Taursas' heart" is probably the best way to translate.

Bjauutiful inlays! Lightning bolts do work as inlays very well indeed!

Another possibility is that the name has something to do with Thurisaz or Turisas, Thurs, Týr... or even Thor. Those arrows have distant resemblance to the shape of Mjölnir, Thor's hammer.
Another name for it is also mursunsydän (heart of walrus).
But you can flip this over and chew it endlessly.
My brain aches now.

Hopefully I manage to put those inlays in place without screwing everything up.

...and lightning bolts... well...

AC/DC - Thunderstruck (Live At Donington) HD - YouTube

AC/DC - Thunderstruck (Live At Donington) HD - YouTube

[Fred_Garvin]

Fantastic work on the inlays, I think they look great!

Don't breathe the pearl dust, it's very bad stuff.

[poro78]

Originally Posted by Fred_Garvin

Fantastic work on the inlays, I think they look great!

Don't breathe the pearl dust, it's very bad stuff.

Thanks! I guess they look worse to you when you have made them and know precisely where all the flaws are.

When I heard somewhere that when viewed through a microscope pearl dust looks similar to glass, it kind of stuck into my mind.
Sounds really nasty. Wouldn't like to breath stuff like that.

So this is how I usually look like.
When working with MOP, that is.

[Jusamies]

You could also get one of these.

[Riku]

Oh man that looks awesome!

[Knarbens]

Red binding looks definitely more agressive to me.
Depends on what you want and like. I think it looks "custom".
Don't know about the rest and the overall theme of the guitar.
Black is just more common.

[poro78]

I think it looks a little "toyish" with red binding.
Some darker red would be much better.

I have to start making some tests with my finishing materials and scrap pieces of mahogany before final decisions.

But first I'll get that fretboard done.
There's been some bad news coming from here and there and I've been following my father-in-law's advice: If you're not feeling focused, don't work on your project.

[Jusamies]

Oh dear! I hope it's nothing really serious

From those two bindings, I still prefer the black one. The more I look at them, the more the red clashes with the rosewood. If you have other options, though, I'd definitely see them too. I think, perhaps a lighter colour like white, cream, perhaps yellow would suit it better. Or a darker red. Something like cherry or candy apple red binding would be really cool!

[poro78]

Originally Posted by Jusamies

Oh dear! I hope it's nothing really serious

From those two bindings, I still prefer the black one. The more I look at them, the more the red clashes with the rosewood. If you have other options, though, I'd definitely see them too. I think, perhaps a lighter colour like white, cream, perhaps yellow would suit it better. Or a darker red. Something like cherry or candy apple red binding would be really cool!

Serious - yes. Really serious - don't know yet.
(Illness in the family.)
But nobody's digging a grave so we'll try to continue as nothing has changed.

I too prefer that black one and I still think I'm going to use it. Though I even considered ordering some white, but then I thought that I have to keep things simple and try to keep my original vision as solid as possible.
I also have this thin "tortoise" strip, but I think it's useless in this build.

[Jusamies]

Okay, then. Good luck and nothing has changed.

The black binding is fine. Now, you do realize, tyis guitar is screaming for more black to accompany it. That red and black you mentioned, is obviously an idiot-proof combination. I could appreciate something like that Your original idea (from what you have told) sounds like a good one. By all means, sincerely, hang on to that.

Edit: apparently I'm not the only one writing at MLP at midnight. Perhaps I should use nights for sleeping?

[gator payne]

Originally Posted by poro78

Thanks! I guess they look worse to you when you have made them and know precisely where all the flaws are.

When I heard somewhere that when viewed through a microscope pearl dust looks similar to glass, it kind of stuck into my mind.
Sounds really nasty. Wouldn't like to breath stuff like that.

So this is how I usually look like.
When working with MOP, that is.

MOP dust is bad for your lungs but Abalone dust is realy bad for your lungs. Either will cause silicosis.

[poro78]

Originally Posted by gator payne

MOP dust is bad for your lungs but Abalone dust is realy bad for your lungs. Either will cause silicosis.

Silicosis aka Potter's Rot, we don't want to have that.

I have quite sensitive respiratory system (especially now when the hay fever season is going on) and I use mask almost all the time there's chance of any kind of irritative dust.
There's also some asthma in the family, so I want to avoid getting that too and thought that there's no overkill in protecting yourself.

[poro78]

Something little going on again.

I realised that I didn't include binding when I cut the fretboard so I had to shave some off the sides.

I used a little piece of binding and a wooden ruler to mark the final width.
Then I measured the lines here and there, just to be sure that I didn't make any mistakes. (Maybe I'm paranoid, but I check and check and check all the time...)



Then I clamped the fretboard to a small vise and started to work with my small block plane very carefully.



Barnaby's right about the planing. It is really addictive.
And those little wooden curls. They look so tasty!



After this operation it was time to start the inlaying.
I have been reading PatrickR's build thread many many times and hopefully I can succeed with his techniques.
I put the piece next to the fret slot and measured the distance from the bottom of the inlay to the next slot and then halved it and made a mark with a pencil.
Then did the same sideways.

I then glued the inlay on place (the points of the arrows touching the lines I made) with a tiny drop of CA and scribed the edges carefully.



Then I removed the inlay with a boxcutter and started to carve the cavity with a 12mm chisel and a variety of hobby knifes and mini chisels.



The first cavity went well until my mini chisels got dull. You can't imagine the amount of swearing words man can invent when his own stupidity causes mistakes.
Argh!!!! ARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!!
Next time I'll stop right when I feel that the blade is not cutting well enough.
(Luckily it really doesn't look as horrible as in that picture below... )



I had to try mixing some epoxy and rosewood instantly after I had the first cavity done. The mistake was really bothering me.
So I glued the piece on, filled the gaps and used a strip of paper to make sure that the fret slots were clean.



Then I had a sharpening session and started to make second cavity.
Halfway there, this one is much better, hopefully I don't ruin it.



The slot is nice and tight. Here's the fretboard upside down and the piece stays there without glue.



1½ inlays done, 7½ to go. The speed is about 2 inlays per day at the moment, but there's no hurry.
(If there would be, I'd buy a Dremel today )

[Jusamies]

Sexy inlays. I like 'em big!

[Barnaby]

Originally Posted by Jusamies

Sexy inlays. I like 'em big!

Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back (I Like Big Butts) [ORIGINAL] - YouTube

Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back (I Like Big Butts) [ORIGINAL] - YouTube

...but yeah, great work!

[Jusamies]

Have you ever missed an innuendo, Barn?