The FireDragon Triplets

[Christine]

Today I cut the fret slots on the three fretboards. I also inlaid the Rosewood blocks and fitted them, being wood they could be radiused the same time as the fretboard without worry. I've included a sequence photo of my marking procedure as a reminder but a full description can be found on the Les Paul Twins thread. After that I dimensioned the board and bound it.

Once that was all dry I started to radius it, initially I was going to use my jig for the router but I was out of other things to do today so I thought I'd have a go with the radius sanding block. It took 15 minuted to shape but I actually preferred that method, I felt a lot more in control of the amount of wood removed and it was easy to keep putting the straight edge on to check it was flat. I don't think it was an awful lot quicker either. Anyway, it was sanded down to 320 grit and thoroughly cleaned before slapping a bit of Teak oil on it. I have tried to photograph the figuring of the Satinwood, it's very difficult but it is truly stunning in the flesh, you can see how it got it's name.

[clankenstein]

Well that looks great .Nice seeing the grain there.

[Rob]

I really like that board with the binding inlay match.

[slinkp]

Oooh.... I like the looks of the dark block inlays on a blond neck, and that is indeed really nice wood!
I want a bird with a neck like that!

[Christine]

It's been a full day but a fruitful one

The Cherry constructional veneers were due to arrive this morning so I set out on a quest to get the necks glued. I planed, squared up and thicknessed the outer thick laminates, then thicknessed the inner Mahogany laminates. Just as I was finishing the veneers arrived I ordered enough for three necks but I was sent enough for seven, a bit of a misunderstanding somewhere, well they won't go to waste. I ripped those up into strips on the circular saw with an 80tpi blade.

Then after lunch I used a bench plane to clean up all the glueing surfaces, if you remember from the Les Paul build I don't consider a surface straight from the planer to be suitable for glueing, that's just me perhaps, it is done daily by many woodworkers without issue. After that (yes I was tired!) I glued them up, I changed glues for this, let me explain why. Titebond although it is considered the industry standard and with good cause it has a very short open time before it becomes less than ideal. As I had twenty surfaces to glue up in one go I needed a glue with a long open time, I chose Cascamite, a Urea formaldehyde glue, it's a powdered glue you mix with water, it is a very ridgid glue which has less tendency to "slip" when set than aliphatics so you can argue it is better for laminated neck
s but it will be no worse. It isn't an ideal glue for other aspects of luthery whilst it would be fantastic for glueing set necks you wouldn't want to use it because it is very very water resistant, you could never ever get it off again without a saw.

So anyway, glue, clamps and three necks glued up The last picture is the aftermath of the day in the workshop, I am far too tired to sweep it up this evening, a job for the morning I think








The difference in colour on the laminates is because some are planed and some sawn, they are all identical really





Tomorrows first job!

[Christine]

Today I worked on the other two fretboards, I'm using 8mm mother of pearl dots, this believe it or not is the very first time I have used them, how simple are they!! Drill and fit, sand and job done. I cut the boards to size and started to think about binding them, I bought a couple of rolls of plastic binding for them but decided to use Sycamore (very like Maple) instead, so I did and very nice it looks too. They've had a coat of Lemon oil and they'll get a couple more over the next few days. I also cleaned up the neck blanks, I think Cherry was a good choice, more subtle than the Gibson laminates







.

[Christine]

I built another Thunderbird today 

[4stringer77]

That's one way to improve a pie! Sweet or savory?
The sycamore binding looks sharp. Cherry seems like an unexpected choice in a neck. I normally think of the North American type as a very soft wood almost on the same level as pine in that regard. What type of cherry are you using?

[Christine]

That's one way to improve a pie! Sweet or savory?
The sycamore binding looks sharp. Cherry seems like an unexpected choice in a neck. I normally think of the North American type as a very soft wood almost on the same level as pine in that regard. What type of cherry are you using?

Steak and Haggis The speckles in the pastry is cheese

It's actually slightly more dense and harder wood than Honduras Mahogany but  the same density as the African Mahogany but slightly more flexible. I chose it for the colour rather than any physical properties, the Cascamite glue on 10 glue lines will add a lot of stiffness and I am fitting 4mm carbon rods in there too so the neck will be plenty strong (I hope!!)

[4stringer77]

That sounds simply delectable. It's a shame things like that aren't more prevalent around New England. As for your cherry, it seems the European variety is much harder than the American black cherry. I'm guessing you're more likely to have gotten the European cherry in Wales rather than the Black Cherry. Good luck with the rest of the build and Bon Appétit.
https://www.wood-database.com/sweet-cherry/
https://www.wood-database.com/black-cherry/

[gearHed289]

I'm using 8mm mother of pearl dots, this believe it or not is the very first time I have used them, how simple are they!! Drill and fit, sand and job done.

Your wood block inlays are awesome, but I've always been a fan of plain old MOP dots. Everything is looking great so far!

[Dave W]

I like the sycamore binding.

American black cherry isn't in the same league as hard maple, but it's noticeably harder and stiffer than genuine mahogany.

[Christine]

I fitted the side dots on the fretboards today, I remembered this time I also played around with the headstock design, basically it's the same as on the Twins but with an extra bit on the end with a Tbird feel to it. It's shorter, will be thinner, with the truss adjustment at the other end of the neck and Ultralites it should be less heavy than the Gibson. Also being the same basic design as the Twins the inlays will fit well too. On the subject of inlays, I made a start on the first dragon today too

[Christine]

A better look at the headstock design

[Pilgrim]

That will be lighter, too...less prone to neck dive.