My wife, the Luthier
by David P. Wescott
Drilling the body for the ferrules
So I worked on drilling the holes for the string through ferrules and quite honestly, I'm not sure I'm loving how they came out. It's hard to come up with something different when doing a pattern for these as it seems everything has been done.
What I ended up doing was to take the angle from the headstock, and copy that pattern for the ferrules to give that "fast-even when sitting still" look.
One more thing, you'll get to see the binding installed in the secondary route for the pickups as well.
Without the strings installed it looks kind of odd but when I was done, I temporarily put some strings through and I guess it looks pretty cool but I'm just not sure. You'll have to let me know when it's all said and done - lol.
First I drilled the holes for the top ferrules. Rather than measuring everything out on the front and back so that the holes meet perfectly, I stopped just short of going through (you'll see why in a bit - pun intended! lol!).
Test fitting the top ferrule.
I then use a very small bit to "follow" the previous bits drill point to proceed the rest of the way through.
This gives me a small hole on the other side for my Forstner bits tip to "find" the exact center of the hole from the other side. Instant perfect center location!!
Drilling the rear ferrules holes.
Rear string ferrules checked for fit.
The final result!
You'll appreciate the angle of the string ferrules when you see the whole guitar in one pic, it really does make a difference.
String length
Do they make strings that long, or do you plan on fabricating strings your self as well.
Oh, yes, absolutely, I did all the measurements to make sure and I'm sure as hell not equipped to make strings lol!
Finish options
From Sully:
Hey Dave, i messed around a bit in photoshop and here's some color options for ya:
Click images to zoom
Oiled
Honey
Dark yellow
Red
Blue
Green
Pink
Blue Green burst
Red honey burst
Honey burst
...
Sully: I appreciate the pics, they look fantastic, especially the PINK! I hate to disappoint you all but I think I'm staying with the naturally cleared as I think it's perfect for this project. As much as I love the amber burst, I already have 2 of something like that so why not something different, right?
I think I have the back color narrowed down as well but you'll have to wait for that. Let's just say it's not going to be anything loud because I don't want it to detract from the top.
Update
The guitar is at Mark's (M&M Restoration) being cleared and painted as we speak so I will have some visual updates soon.
One more update
Just wanted to let you guys know that she's home and ready for the final fret work and assembly. I know some of you will be disappointed that I didn't have anything radical done to this one, but my wife just didn't want anything loud with this project and after all, she has the final word on this one.
This one was about "class" which I think Mark did a great job even though we ran into all kinds of problems with wood movement and not to mention the bad batch of clear he received for this project.
All in all, at least she made the trip back and forth unscathed so hopefully I can get an update for you soon. I'm thinking I'll do one more update with pics from final fretwork to finished product.
You really don't want to see the guitar "naked" do you?