Rosewood tailpiece

[panther]

Sarah;
Very nice work, I will say it's even better then the one on my Original Dobro.
At least your string holes are in line.
It also appears that your choice of wood matches what mine is made of.
Dan

[panther]

Sarah;
I'm just curious, but I wonder if Semie mounted the wood to the aluminum, then sanded the edges. It would make matching the two easier I think. But no room for error.
Dan

[Sarah93003]

Sarah;
I'm just curious, but I wonder if Semie mounted the wood to the aluminum, then sanded the edges. It would make matching the two easier I think. But no room for error.
Dan

I'm going to do that. I rounded the edges that don't get bonded first. Once I've bonded the piece to the aluminum angle, I will then file and sand it accordingly. I should get very close to original specs (if there were specs).

[Sarah93003]

Today I had a chance to spend some more time on these. I bought a piece of aluminum angle from Lowes with 1/8" walls. I also got some two part Epoxy to bond the Rosewood piece to the aluminum piece. This will be the first time I've ever used Epoxy.

I realized all of my bandsaw blades are for wood, so off to Sears I went for a 1/4" metal bandsaw blade. Brand new and cuts through aluminum like butter.



Here is the Rosewood piece sitting and ready to be bonded/glued.


The aluminum angle I bought is three feet long so I figured I would have plenty to make a little drilling fixture for these Rosewood pieces.

Plus, I don't know if Epoxy lasts long once you begin so I want to make a half dozen of these Rosewood/Aluminum pieces all at the same time.

[Sarah93003]

First I cut it to size so that when I put the piece of wood on the inside, the wood is taller and therefore lifts the fixture off of the drillpress table.



I also cut little pieces to screw on each side to create an insert area, or pocket, for the wood to be positioned for drilling.



A simple file easily cleaned up the saw marks to leave a smooth finish. Next I drilled the little pieces along with the big piece then screwed them togther with brass screws. The heads of the screws are countersunk.

Making the drilling fixture this way allowed me to put both sets of holes on the same side. This way I just flip the wood rather than having two separate drill fixtures. Below you can see the smaller 3/32" holes for the six strings, and then the three 5/32" holes for mounting to the guitar body.


This is just the flip side so you can see the difference.


This is what it looks like seated on top of the Rosewood piece.


This is with the Rosewood flipped in the other direction.


Now I'm ready to start drilling the rest of my pieces. The drill fixture will ensure that the holes are always placed the same, in line, etc.

[panther]

Sarah;
Love your work, love your fixture..
Keep the photos, I'm like you, I love these continued photo progressions.
Dan

[dubtrub]

Great job Sarah!

[Sarah93003]

Thank you both! I really, really appreciate it. I'm not fast but I try to do a good job. I spend more time thinking about what to do and how to do it than it takes to actually do it. I should get faster though as the confidence increases.

[panther]

Planning well the first time saves a lot of time later on.
Dan

[Veenture]

Good thinking there, Sarah. I like the way it's all handmade stuff...not fabricated by robots; man made...ehrr...woman made!