Vivi22's miscellaneous artsy crap

[Slothy]

I was bad and didn't get as many pictures as I planned, but most would probably just show a shiny board in varying stages of shininess so no big deal.


Started off by sanding it down by hand with 220 grit sandpaper. Smoothed out the edges and corners, got the grain nice and smooth. That sort of thing. Then I removed the dust using a tack cloth.


This is right after the first coat of polyurethane I believe. Nothing fancy, just brush it on. The can says it's quick drying. Apparently quick drying means taking 4-6 hours. Not sure I want to experience the slower stuff.


After that was dry I sanded it down again with 320 grit this time. Then I applied the second coat. You can see the very much wet second coat above. I was planning to do a few more, but it honestly looked great after two and I was pressed for time to get this done before my parents returned from their vacation. I was doing this as a surprise for the old man so it being done when he got home was important and the flu ate up a week.


Here's the board up on the wall. The screws going into the studs are around 5-6 inches long minimum. I can't remember the exact number, but I didn't want to smurf around when it comes to expensive instruments. I'm pretty sure that if the board was thicker than one inch I could hang off of this no problem.


First guitar hung (a Peavey Wolfgang for anyone curious), and the spacing for the other hangers marked. The nice thing about using polyurethane was that I could mark the spots for all of the hangers using dry erase marker and wipe it right off when I was done.


Last shot with all four guitars up.

I'll note for Pete's benefit that this is just less than half of his total number of guitars. Some highlights missing from this are a Gibson Flying V (can't remember how old it is, but a few decades at least. I think he got it in the 80's maybe), and a Gibson Les Paul Custom sitting behind me on a stand right now (I bought the game Rocksmith 2014 to try learning guitar and my old man insisted I use something that will "stay in tune." Apparently his tastes are a bit too refined for my Epiphone Special ).

[Miss Mae]

That looks awesome. You have good taste in guitars, son.

[Pete for President]

Last shot with all four guitars up.

I'll note for Pete's benefit that this is just less than half of his total number of guitars. Some highlights missing from this are a Gibson Flying V (can't remember how old it is, but a few decades at least. I think he got it in the 80's maybe), and a Gibson Les Paul Custom sitting behind me on a stand right now (I bought the game Rocksmith 2014 to try learning guitar and my old man insisted I use something that will "stay in tune." Apparently his tastes are a bit too refined for my Epiphone Special ).

That's a nifty collection! I bet your dad is into hardrock of the various kind The Fender Strat looks nice and I'm jealous of the Custom. I got a Gibson Les Paul Studio myself, dated 1993. I'd totally put the V on the wall. How are things going with Rocksmith?

[Slothy]

Rocksmith is good and fun and actually does seem to work well for learning guitar. I had to put it aside for a bit due to computer issues though so I need to get back to it now that things are running fine again. It was a bit hard to play it when my audio drivers were bugging out on me.

And my dad agreed with you on the fact that the Flying V should be up there. I wasn't sure where it was at the time. I might grab it and throw it up there for him now though.

[Rocket Edge]

Vivi, those are beautiful! You should invest some time in trying to find better lighting with your camera as it drains some of the detail. I think it's pretty obvious to see you have great colouring talent though. Keep it up.

[Slothy]

I've spent my afternoon designing drums and hardware that are inspired by the design of cars and whatnot from around the 1920's-1930's or so. Unexpected to say the least. Might have to take a bad cellphone pic of some of the sketches later. Minus the picture of a snare strainer design I've never seen attempted before which would be utterly awesome if it works, and which I plan to build and patent if it does. Hence why I won't put a picture on the internet.

Slight tangent, but not being depressed anymore has done wonders for my motivation and creativity.

[Slothy]

I was planning to buy some drum shells and hardware to assemble some drums soon, but after selling a bunch of stuff to fund it I've realized something: I made way more money than I'd need to do it. So since I wanted thicker shells than Keller drum shells are available in, I've decided to make my own. I'm presently buying some second hand tools to assist with this: table saw today, router on Monday. I'll buy some MDF to build the few jigs I need, then make some stave drum shells, probably out of red oak, maybe maple. So look forward to some updates over the coming weeks/months.

[Pete for President]

That sounds like an awesome project!

[Slothy]

Should be good. Hopefully I get it done right before I run out of money. I'm aiming to make the final drums about an inch thick. They'll be 8" and 10" rack toms. A bit thicker than most drums you can buy.

[Slothy]

I'm now the owner of a table saw and router, some clamps, and other assorted tools. Going to buy the stuff to build a router table and the maple this weekend. Dye, gloss finish, a rounded plane, wider 45 degree router bit and some other stuff I think I've forgotten have all been ordered. trout's getting real kids.

I've also realized that most of this will actually be easier than I expected. I just need to build the router table (easy), some jigs tighten the staves around and keep everything round while the glue dries (also easy), and a jig for rounding the outside of the shell using the router (not as easy, but not too bad). I'll buy a piece of pine or something to test it all on though. Might just start a new thread for the drums once I get started.

[Pete for President]

Exciting build that stuff and bang it Vivi!

Edit: the drums I mean! Bang the drums. That's normal right? Oh man it almost sounded so wrong.

[Slothy]

If all works out they may be very bangable.

[Slothy]

And the wood has been purchased.

It begins...

[Slothy]

Did a test cut on the table saw with some left over oak from making my dad's guitar rack. Ended up burning the wood. Probably need to check the alignment of everything on the table saw, and likely fed the wood too slowly since I've never used one before. I'll make some adjustments and try again tomorrow hopefully.

[Slothy]

Sadly I have some bad news: While looking into some more of the challenges I'd face building my own drums and what it would take to overcome them, I've arrived at the inescapable conclusion that it would cost on the order of a few hundred dollars more than I originally thought and that won't fly now.

Looks like I will buy some shells for now and explore scratch building them again in a few years once I'm working and can afford to put the money into tools and materials for something that may not even work the first time. Wish it didn't have to be that way, but I will not be beaten forever.

That said, I will still cut the edges of the drums and finish them myself, so I will document that process.