Disaster!

My friend used to tell me, "Danie, you're a star... a fucking disa-star!"... and sure as hell, disaster struck yet again.

You might have noticed that I have not been posting for a while. I had an absolute few weeks from hell. First my phone got stolen... Then my laptop was unceremoniously introduced to a sledge-hammer and I lost everything on there. So I was a bit distracted by sorting all of that out. I now got my laptop back, so here we go with a new post...

To top it all off, I had a serious disagreement with my brand new router that I bought specially for this job. When I started this project I had just about no tools, not to even mention power tools. I got myself a jigsaw for cutting the rough stuff, and then went out to get a router too. I got the router brand new at a second hand shop (ironic) for R420, including a set of bits. To cut the mahogany from a template, I needed a router bit with a bearing on the top, (as opposed to having the bearing on the bottom, like the ones included with my router). After spending the entire Saturday morning looking for one, I finally tracked one down at some obscure hardware store, where I had to part with another R70!!! Just for a router bit, but I suppose if you need a bit with a bearing on the top, and they are the only people around selling them, you got no choice but to buy it... Capitalism at its best.

The new tools - a second hand jigsaw, and a brand new router/fucker-upper-machine.

The router bits. Note the yellow one has the bearing above the blades, while the red one has it below the blades.

So, daddy took the new toys home and got busy. I soon realized I brought home the spawn of the Devil himself... this R70 router bit fucked up my mahogany that I spend AGES tracking down! Somehow, the bearing that is supposed to follow the template slipped, resulting in it going all over the show. This means nothing was stopping the actual cutting edge of the router bit to feast on the forbidden fruits of my Les Paul. What can a man do? I fixed the bearing, (or thought I did), and carried on - this thing has to be routed out sooner or later. Low and behold, the fucker did it again... and again... and again. After the neighbours came around to see what I'm shouting, screaming and swearing about, (yes they could hear me a block away over all the noise of the router), I though to myself "Fuck-it... time to get a beer...", and that is what I did.

One of several chunks that went missing in action - casualties of war. The dark stuff is the paste I used to fill the gaps, and at the top you can see the damage done to the actual template as well. There is still a lot of work to be done here before I'll be able to use it again, but I'll worry about that later.

I didn't have the heart to go have another look at it for days after that, but I send off a few e-mails to fellow guitar-builders for advice... The prognosis wasn't good at all. When I finally got the guts to go look at her again, I started thinking that it can be saved after all. Option one was to fill the gaps with body putty - pass on that idea... Option two was to mix up some varnish with some sanding dust from the mahogany to make a paste and fill her up with that - bingo! (Another trick I learned in woodwork class at school... the best wood-filler is varnish and sanding dust - the stuff you buy in little tubs are useless, since it shrinks and falls out) Just as I thought I solved my problem with my cunning plan, it was dowsed in cold water... I will never be able to hide any sort of filling under the clear coats! Fuck!

I did fix her though, but I can not use this body for my 58 Standard. I will use it later for another Les Paul - something with an opaque finish, so the paint job will cover up the mess I made. This takes me back to square one though - looking for wood. I don't have mahogany for the body, and I don't have maple for the top either. Time to do some real work for a change so I can afford to buy new wood - when I eventually find it.

I'm not even going to bother putting up pictures of the mauled body here. I will put it up when I use it for the next build. When I get the new wood for the new body, I will put pictures up of the (hopefully more successful) process of routing it out. In the meantime I can at least work on the neck, and I hope to make a post on that soon.