steve1556 Posted June 1, 2016 Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 Wow, I love that body shape! Great way to support the router base as well, I may have to borrow that. Glad to see it's coming along nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2016 (edited) Carved the belly cut today with a saw rasp. This was by far the most enjoyable and rewarding job so far. It was a lot of fun to see those curves just magically appearing as I rasped away. There's also something that went wrong (naturally). Turns out my control cavity is about as wide as my router base. I hadn't noticed this, so while routing the recess for the control plate, the router plunged when routing the part closest to the body outline. I managed to hide that by widening the recess with a chisel. I took some work to get the sides straight, and now I'm right at the edge (or slightly over) of the roundover. To make matters worse, the depth of the recess varies from 4.0 mm to 5.5 mm. This sucks... Since the recess is now hand carved on one side, I don't have a matching template that I could use with a router to flatten it all out. This template inlay illustrates it nicely: Options I see are: Option 1) make a new template and hope for the best, there's really no room to take more wood out if I want a flush backplate, due to the round over. On a next build I'll do cavities before round over I think Option 2) a bit more radical: make a new template for a back plate the includes the edge of the guitar. Any suggestions? Edited June 6, 2016 by Rockhorst added another photo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 6, 2016 Report Share Posted June 6, 2016 I'd say make a new template. Trace the opening, use your current template for the bulk of the shape and hand sand the one side into shape. Glue in a shim to the rim and then re-route the ledge to a uniform depth. On the other hand the stuff Nugz and Vadim are showing incorporate cavity covers that go all the way to the edge of the guitar and include the round-over and they look pretty cool. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 You're doing some very nice work here, I have no doubts that you'll be able to find a good solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Thanks Knightro! New template on the way. I hope to start on the neck this weekend. I've got some options there: a big slab of maple, two maple planks which are bend a bit but can be combined with a scarf joint to a flat blank, and...I have a maple plank with bubinga center strip and one with a double purple heart line...The last two are a bit on the thin side (only 19.5 mm), but I can solve that with a slightly thicker fretboard or a shallower neck pocket. I'd like to try white binding around the fretboard and headstock. I've seen what a breeze this is with a router table, but I'll have to do a few jigs to make it work with my hand router. Nice challenge. Question though: at what stage should I glue the fretboard to the neck? I think the steps are: cut slots add radius (14" throughout) trim sides cut binding channel add binding insert frets My best guess is to glue it just before or after adding the radius, is that correct? What's a bit confusing to me is that working on the neck contour should be done with fretboard attached without a radius, but radiusing would be easier without a contour on the neck (or not glued in at all). Pointers? I can't find any tutorials on necks with a scarf joint and binding, tips and suggestions appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 A variety of construction orders are commonly used. I personally cut slots and then glue to the neck before anything else. I like the neck to be square while radiusing, trimming to shape and fretting. I think most would bind the fretboard first and then glue it on. Some prefer to carve the neck first to see if they get any movement before gluing on the board. Most combinations have pros and cons and most all of them work. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 I was afraid this was going to be an 'anything goes' kinda question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) Yep there's tons of ways to do it, personally I saw the fret slots, glue the fretboard to my neck blank, cut the taper down my neck on each side, shape the headstock, shape the back of the neck, radius the fretboard, recut fret slots and insert frets. Edited June 8, 2016 by 2.5itim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Each method has a bit of reasoning behind it. As long as you're doing the steps in an order that doesn't make subsequent jobs harder, you're probably fine. Personally, I prefer to radius on the neck. With that approach, you have to ensure that you're not deflecting the neck if it isn't fully supported. Things like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 (edited) Fixed the control cavity route to satisfaction. Curve doesn't follow the body as nicely as intended, but it's good enough. Once I get the backplate done, I'm pretty sure you'll hardly be able to tell anyway. More exciting news: made a jig for a 10 degree scarf joint and processed half the neck. Turns out I ordered the blank a little on the short side, so I only had a few millimeters to spare to also make the headstock out of it, didn't work out. So I'm gonna put some maple on the other side, as I had originally intended. Jig worked well. Part of the success is definitely due to reinforcing the MDF with some aluminum rims. Headstock and gluing is planned for next week, probably won't have the time for it in the next couple of days. I was thinking of thicknessing the headstock part down to 14 mm before gluing. Is that ok? (just checking) (also just checking: should I worry about the slightly frayed edge? I'm guessing it'll be ok after sanding and such?) Edited June 14, 2016 by Rockhorst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 I totally agree with the aluminium reinforcement. MDF isn't durable enough over the long term. Don't sweat the frayed edge. It'll be well within the waste. Knock it off with some 80 grit paper or whatever if you want to keep sources of chips and things out of the story. It's looking nice and clean. Normally I check the face by scribbling with a pencil and pulling the face across a flat board with a sheet of coarse sandpaper stuck to it. That highlights any unevenness and makes for a perfect glueing face. Of course, having a perfect flat board and not causing humps in the paper from glue or tape helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Thanks Prostheta I'll do the pencil check. I should maybe specify that the plan is using the Ibanez type of joint, so the frayed end will be on the top side, covered by the fretboard, instead of the Gibson style. Does that change anything in your answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Gibson style? Gibson are more known for not scarfing! I think they did at some point, however I'm unsure on the orientation. Regardless, the thin end there would be behind the neck here: ....or am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 By the way - in the background of that photo is how ProjectGuitar.com (the forums at least) used to look back in 2007! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 1 hour ago, Prostheta said: Gibson style? Gibson are more known for not scarfing! I think they did at some point, however I'm unsure on the orientation. My bad! I thought they used a scarf with the headstock part glued underneath. 1 hour ago, Prostheta said: ....or am I missing something? Dunno Referring to this picture, I was going for the illustration in the middle (No 1). I seems to me that the pieces should fit together with as close as 'knife edges' as possible and keeping it flat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Well, you CAN do it that way, however it's a better idea it leave a little waste to clean up. The pieces will align like that, however the leading edge of the glueline will need planing or sanding flat. A bit of waste is preferable, simply because of the worst case; that it slips below the line you're aiming for. In that instance, you'd end up taking off more from the neck than the end of the headstock scarf. Does this make sense? If the headstock portion protrudes a bit above the neck, you're safer that than the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted June 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Makes sense. I'll try to minimize it though, as my means of planing are, I think, limited. I wouldn't want to do that with a router, most likely sandpaper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 If you've got an excellent reference surface to work off, yes. Just check as much as you can using straightedges and be your own worst critic with the levelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted July 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2016 That scarf joint business is giving me a hard time...I can get the surfaces flat at a consistent angle with the jig and some sandpaper, but I can't get the edge between the horizontal and the slope to be square to the board. Could I just glue it on and square it up 'after the fact'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 5, 2016 Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 As long as your jointing faces are flat and gap-free, sure. It took me a couple of re-reads to figure out the issue here, so if I'm interpreting it incorrectly, just give me a slap. The priority is always the joint. Draw a small steel ruler or straightedge over the mating surfaces with a light behind it....you simply need to avoid any light peeking out from underneath. I do it horizontally, vertically and in both diagonals. If there's a slight twist but the surfaces are otherwise perfect, then yeah, you can dial that out after the fact. That is, as long as you left yourself a little room to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhorst Posted July 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 Well my neck's come up about an inch too short Feared this might happen but proceeded hoping for a miracle. I reckon I could add a piece of maple to the heel end and it would hardly be noticable....Beats tossing an otherwise good plank I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 15 hours ago, Rockhorst said: Well my neck's come up about an inch too short Feared this might happen but proceeded hoping for a miracle. I reckon I could add a piece of maple to the heel end and it would hardly be noticable....Beats tossing an otherwise good plank I guess. I'm actually not sure how you would do that and the neck fixing and joint be strong enough except maybe a 'flat scarf' joint at the heel end? The full leverage of the string tension on the neck is going to be acting on that heel. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 An inch short? Errrr How did this happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psikoT Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Just move the bridge one inch backwards... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 True, however I am sure that this will fundamentally alter it from being a true RG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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