Perfect to stick oak on and carve! 🤣 

@nsj Who do you think I am, Arnold Schwarzenegger? 😂 I’ll have to do a bit of weight training before I attempt to carve that? I may use the oak barrel when I get it dry and flat enough. It will be one heavy guitar body, this worktop is pretty heavy for what it is, it is hardwood of some kind.

@boo You could hollow it out a bit then add some sort of top. Between gym sessions of course lol

I didn't go with the oak top this time, I just used some old boards I found in an out building. 

This isn't anything new from me really, I'm just keeping my eye in and feeding my addiction. 

Some pics. In the wrong order as usual but I'm sure you'll make sense of them. 

My routing template slipped a couple of times when I was routing but I went along with it and it turned out well, I like it. 

Obviously more sanding and routing. 

Even more routing. 

I got to the finishing stage of the body and wanted to raise the grain before applying the finish. Usually I use water to do that but as I now live in Scotland and the whisky is so wonderful, I used some of that instead. Whisky is now part of this guitar and it gave it a nice coloured stain. 

I did a little video of it too. 😂

@boo were you using the double sided tape? I've been having a couple of issues with it and have gone back to good old superglue and masking tape for now. Just works soo well

@nsj Yeah, I think I know why though. As I want to keep the top boards rustic and even though they are generally flat, they are a little bit uneven. This is due to me doing a deep burn with my blow torch and then wire brushing it. So it’s a bit “peaks and troughs” as well as being flat in general. When I use the NEC tape, sawdust from the routing process gets underneath it and eventually undermines the adhesive, resulting in it slipping. I think maybe for this kind of build I should probably use the superglue and masking tape instead, it will hold better. When first realised it had slipped, I was a bit annoyed but looking at it, I decided it could be quite good so I followed the mistake all the way through the rest of the route. I love it now so it’s actually a happy little accident (said in the voice of Bob Ross). 

Im going to move on from these Barncasters soon and use some much better woods and completely different designs, my own. There are only so many teles and Barncasters I can do before wanting something more challenging. 
I’ve been watching your work Neil and you do inspire me. 

I got a few coats of oil on and hung it up to dry and cure for a couple of weeks.

@boo 

Good work and good idea with the whisky stain, I wish I'd thought of that for my whisky barrel top. Maybe you could've just dipped it in the plentiful supply of Campbeltown loch and saved some of that precious stuff.

@robin Yeah, I was a little choked to part with some of this nectar but I also wanted it to be a part of this guitar, my first Scottish build. 

We’ve had a new bathroom fitted recently and there were a load of off cuts left over that the joiner left for me. Marine plywood and a coated ply in white for the finished outer surface. Yes, I stuck it all together and made a guitar body. I’ll post some pictures. 😆

I'll create a separate post for it, there are too many photos to include in this post. 

Whilst the body is drying, I made a neck. 

Time for some frets. 

It's looking much more like a neck now. 

Time to whisky stain the neck and get a few coats of finish on it. It's now hanging up drying for a week or so.