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6down1togo gets his head veneered


Freeman Keller

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Some time ago forumite 6down1togo posted a thread about trying to put a thin wood veneer on the headstocks of a couple of guitars that he was assembling. He was experiencing some frustrations, I made a few suggestions and the thread kind of went away. I forgot about it until recently when I got a PM from 6 asking if I would be willing to help him put the veneer on. I said sure, we negotiated a bit and the necks and a sheet of really lovely veneer appeared at my house.

 

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There are a couple of problems with veneers - they are very thin (this one is 0.020, about the diameter of a G string), they are not cut along the grain of the wood but rather peeled from a rotating log and they want to crack in just about every direction you can imagine. I cut of three pieces, traced the strat head shape on them and asked 6 which he liked.

 

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In order to bend them to the curve by the nut I made a little caul and fired up my hot pipe. A hot pipe is just what the name says, a 2 inch piece of water pipe with a cap on it, a propane torch stuck in the other end and a damp rag draped over it. That is the time honored way to bend thin pieces of wood such as the sides of an acoustic guitar

 

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When I was happy with the bent pieces I glued two of them to the heads of the the two necks. I sanded about 20 thou off the top of the head both to keep the thickness the same and to get all the finish off so I could get a good glue up. The caul is a piece of UHMW that glue will not stick to, lots of clamps

 

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Pore filled it and shot 10 or 12 coats of lacquer. Buffed to a medium gloss - I'll let 6 determine just how shiny he wants it and do whatever else is needed. Looks like a couple of scratches need a little more work

 

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I really like the way the color and grain flows from the rosewood fretboard. Into the mail tomorrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I can’t even begin to tell you how pleased I am. Freeman, you are an artist! I had literally put the two guitars aside because the plain headstocks were such a letdown. I considered buying Fender walnut necks and giving up on on the cool block inlays and bindings.

 

I first tried contact adhesive which did not hold. I then tried some heat activated PVA glue on my next attempt and of course the veneer sprung loose in the cove behind the nut Fortunately, I was able to clean up both failed attempts and Freeman knocked it right out of the park!

 

When Freeman sent me pics of the headstock outlines I thought ... geez he read my mind and selected the grain that was a near perfect match to the fingerboards.

 

 

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How did you shave down the existing maple in an even way? Just sanding?

 

Belt sander and calipers. The drum is almost exactly the same radius as the curve up to the nut.[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"IMG_4495-2.jpg","data-attachmentid":32231713}[/ATTACH]

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