Siamese JAEbirds

[MrBasseyPants]

This was supposed to be assembly day, I sanded and buffed both maho birds over the weekend.  Yesterday was a nice day, 70, so I was working in the yard.  Took the bodies outside to get a good look, left them there and went back to polishing rings and covers in the shop.



When I came back out I found a major problem.  Even though the paint had been curing for two weeks, the sun had caused major shrinkage.


 

I  sanded back the black body and stuck both out in the sun this morning to see if the problem is solved.  Then more paint, another curing stretch.  Then sand, buff, polish and assemble...did somebody say 'Groundhog Day?'


As far as I can figure the cool weather and high humidity was the cause.  From now on I'll be more on top of that.

DOH...more waiting!   Well that's better than getting something imperfect.

     jc

[Aussie Mark]

I'm sensing something tangible now :-)

[OldManC]

Yeah, Gibson would have just sent them to Guitar Center... It sucks that it happened but I think it's cool that you care enough to send 'em out right.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

You ought to just claim it's just part of your "patented custom aging process" and double the price.  

[drbassman]

Nice recovery Carlo!  I can't tell you how many basses I've had to redo.  More than I'd like tothin about, but every one of them a great lesson!  Hang in there!   

[dadagoboi]

Yeah, Gibson would have just sent them to Guitar Center... It sucks that it happened but I think it's cool that you care enough to send 'em out right.

...but I don't have the ability to build a Firewood IV, a 20/20 would be pretty easy, though.

You ought to just claim it's just part of your "patented custom aging process" and double the price.  

I've done a lot of relic work and it sure is easier!  Considered it, especially with Mark since he has a Nash

Seriously, I'm trying to build these as if I'm the buyer not the seller.  I really appreciate that Mark and Jeremy are being so understanding.

Nice recovery Carlo!  I can't tell you how many basses I've had to redo.  More than I'd like tothin about, but every one of them a great lesson!  Hang in there!   

Thanks, Bill.  Very little is learned from success!

Yesterday I did all the routing on the next 5 'birds including shaping the body and control cavity.  I'm getting an idea of how much time it should take in a limited production operation and what my actual cost is.  A big time saver is improving the jigs making for less setup on the pin router.  After 8 bodies worth of routing a $60 solid carbide bit is shot.

[drbassman]

Failure is a tough teacher, but the lessons stick with you!

Wow, only 8 bodies?  I think I'd learn how to sharpen the bit! Something else for me to keep in mind!

[dadagoboi]

Failure is a tough teacher, but the lessons stick with you!

Wow, only 8 bodies?  I think I'd learn how to sharpen the bit! Something else for me to keep in mind!

Initially I had the same reaction but then realized it's less than $8 a body if they can't be resharpened properly.  These are upcut double spiral solid carbide bits.  Of course there are resharpening services, finding the right one is key.  Standard shop procedure is 3 sets of everything that cuts, one on the machine, one in the shop ready to go and one at the sharpener.  Costs money to have workers unable to work because of dull tools.  Gets expensive with 14" saw blades though.

As I say I'm trying to dial in what these 'birds actually cost!  I can see having to replace the router in the pin router down the line.  It's a discontinued Bosch.  The replacement is a Porter Cable 220volt that requires a bigger cradle or machining the original, plus a magnetic starter.

[drbassman]

Initially I had the same reaction but then realized it's less than $8 a body if they can't be resharpened properly.  These are upcut double spiral solid carbide bits.  Of course there are resharpening services, finding the right one is key.  Standard shop procedure is 3 sets of everything that cuts, one on the machine, one in the shop ready to go and one at the sharpener.  Costs money to have workers unable to work because of dull tools.  Gets expensive with 14" saw blades though.

As I say I'm trying to dial in what these 'birds actually cost!  I can see having to replace the router in the pin router down the line.  It's a discontinued Bosch.  The replacement is a Porter Cable 220volt that requires a bigger cradle or machining the original, plus a magnetic starter.

Oh yeah, overhead rears its ugly head!!!  I was thinking the bits were straight.  The spirals have to be a pain to sharpen without special equipment.  I have a bunch of stright ones to wear out before I worry about it too much!

[dadagoboi]

I've come to believe they are worth the cost, it takes less than 5 minutes to do the 5/8" deep neck pocket and pup routes.  The perimeter shaping takes 3 minutes to band saw and 2 to rout, all in one pass.  The control cavity is 1 1/4" deep so it gets hogged out with a forstner bit.  The biggest bottleneck breaker was coming up with jigging for doing that accurately.  Next is figuring out quicker way to do gut cuts.

[drbassman]

I've come to believe they are worth the cost, it takes less than 5 minutes to do the 5/8" deep neck pocket and pup routes.  The perimeter shaping takes 3 minutes to band saw and 2 to rout, all in one pass.  The control cavity is 1 1/4" deep so it gets hogged out with a forstner bit.  The biggest bottleneck breaker was coming up with jigging for doing that accurately.  Next is figuring out quicker way to do gut cuts.

I hear ya!  I'm scheming and planning for my future one-man assemble line!  Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[Highlander]

... Next is figuring out quicker way to do gut cuts...

Was it you that made that comment about how they did that on the Fender back in the day vid that Dave posted a while back..?

[dadagoboi]

Was it you that made that comment about how they did that on the Fender back in the day vid that Dave posted a while back..?

Yes!  Today after posting that I went to work with my 4x36 Porter Cable belt sander with 80 grit.  With an arc traced on the bodies I did all 5 freehand in an hour...Fender used a horizontal stroke sander contraption with no platen and a lot of dust collection.  I halfassed it with my shop vac.  Another problem sort of solved.

Also got some work done on JAEbird II prototype this evening, the weather is perfect, mid 70s. Working in skivvies with no bug attacks yet, just squirrels screwing in the yard and birds going nuts.  The idiot bird who tried to build a nest in my rollup door is back looking for his mate...where's a cat when you need one?  Speaking of, this is last week in said yard.  Guess what's going on.

[sniper]

feeding time?

[dadagoboi]

No, Rites of Spring

...Sniper I will get to measuring that neck soon, just have to get some of this work out of the way.