Blog Archives
Starting Work on the “Double Dragon”
Getting Started After a summer-long hiatus, it was time to get back into the shop for the next guitar project. I needed to build the next charity guitar for our 4th annual guitar raffle to benefit Make-a-Wish. The first of these was a copy of a Gibson SG Junior in 2014. Last year’s guitar was … Continue reading
Carving the Dragon’s Neck
The CNC cut a 3-degree angled neck pocket on its final pass. The bottom of the pocket came out great. Unfortunately I screwed up the top edge, which came out rough. Thankfully this wasn’t a huge issue – I pulled out my neck pocket routing jig and manually cleaned up the top. CNCs are great … Continue reading
Dragon’s breath
Once the guitar was out of the clamps with the neck permanently secured, it was time for finishing it up. The neck joint was flushed with scrapers and sandpaper, and the entire guitar was given a good sanding down to 220. I’d already applied some finish to the inside of the sound hole and so … Continue reading
Custom Dragon Hardware
Back when I first acquired the CNC, I also purchased some sheets of thin plywood, vinyl, and aluminum of varying thickness. My plan was to experiment with cutting these materials immediately after assembly to learn just what it could — and couldn’t — do. I instead wound up diving headlong into cutting wood and building … Continue reading
Raffle Ready
Once the finish was sufficiently cured, I spent an afternoon sanding and buffing it out. This part I generally dread as I’m always anxious about sanding through the finish. No matter how slowly I go, when you’re wet sanding, the finish usually looks fine until after you remove the sandpaper and dry it off. Only … Continue reading
Raffle Update – $14,000 for Make-a-Wish!
A New Home As planned, the “Double Dragon” was raffled off at intermission on the House of Blues Chicago mainstage. Make-a-Wish Illinois representative Wande Olude helped draw the winning tickets. This year we sold $7,010 in tickets, which was matched by our coprorate parent Alliance Data Systems, bringing the this year’s donation to $14,020. Special … Continue reading