Second Build

[SIMpleONe89]

It's been a while since I finished my first scratch build. It was a success for a first timer like me. I didn't have any major issues with it, thankfully, but only had some areas where I could improve. And of course I learned from some mistakes and hopefully not repeat them again.

Since I spent a lot of time making my templates, I decided to build another super strat, this time with a killer 4A flamed maple top. I have hardware left over from the first build because I initially wanted to use chrome hardware but switched to black hardware to match the zebrano.

I intend to do a hand-rubbed burst and I'm still contemplating if I should do something like Suhr's Bengal Burst or a lighter honey burst or maybe a cherry burst. Even with the Bengal Bursts there are variations. 

Lighter bengal burst.

Once again, I have limited tools (jigsaw, router, drill and random orbital sander) but slightly more time and patience, so hopefully the end result will still be awesome.

The materials are:

-AAAA flamed maple top (from StewMac, Beautiful piece!)

-Fijian Mahogany body

-flamed maple neck (flat saw unfortunately)

-pre-slotted 12" ebony board - might as well pay a few more bucks for them to do it perfectly for me. 

I drew the outline and that's for a 22 fret. The neck humbucker definitely has to change if I decide to do a 24 fret. 

I'll discuss the hardware later on as I haven't decided what pickups to get.

So currently the plan is to do either a 22 or 24 fret, with 2 humbuckers and a 5 way super switch which allows for selecting the inner and outer coils in the 2 and 4 positions. I may do a 24 fret because the neck will sound different and I don't have many 24 fret guitars .

I also want to attempt to do a forearm contour, so that means I'll have to bend the 7mm drop top. I've been doing some research and the best way would be to route parallel relief holes in the top and went the top and gradually clamp a bend into it. Hopefully this method will work and I'll get an invisible glue line, something I didn't get for my first build. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by SIMpleONe89

[SIMpleONe89]

This is the Fijian Mahogany blank after rough cutting with the jigsaw. Apparently Fijian Mahogany comes from the line of Honduras mahogany. They took those trees and planted them in Fiji. It smells like barbecue sauce when I cut it...yumm...

Once again it took quite a while because I'm using a jigsaw. I also made an effort to stay clear of the line because the blade might bend at the bottom. 

Then I used my Shinto rasp to get closer to the line.

And since I don't have a thickness sander, I used a large sanding block to flatten the faces.

I normally would prefer to build the neck first, but I'm still waiting to order my truss rod. I guess it doesn't matter which one you build first but you need to have the neck on hand before you route the body cavities and neck pocket. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Also with regards to the forearm contour, can anyone care to share their way of doing it or is my idea pretty much what most people do with a 7mm top?

And should I route the final body shape before gluing the top or glue the rough shape and route later on? The reasons for the latter, which I can think of, would be to make sure any glue is removed from the routing process and to have more surface area for the glue, but I guess it's easier to route the body first and use a flush trim bit to route the top after glue up. 

[ScottR]

See if this helps.

SR

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks Scott that helps. I'm pretty nervous about it and still think if I should do it... 

[SIMpleONe89]

More progress. Managed to route the body to shape and cut out the maple top. I left a lot of meat for the top because I want to make sure it doesn't slide off centre like last time. I'll be using alignment screws, one in the neck pocket and one in the tremolo cavity.

I'm still thinking if I should route the channels for the pickup wires. I'm still thinking if I should do a 22 or 24 fret neck and I haven't received my truss rod yet so the neck has to wait. 

Meanwhile, I've let the top rest after cutting it. And I'll get more clamps so I won't get an ugly glue line.

[SIMpleONe89]

I also decided not to do a forearm contour. Can't risk an ugly glue join and this maple top is pretty thick. About 7.8mm,

[Prostheta]

It's worth practicing, definitely. If you can get ahold of some thin plain stock, do that....it's worth it. Just don't practice on your real workpiece! I've cracked tops doing that.

[SIMpleONe89]

I managed to get some more work done.

Routed the channel wires.

Glued it all up. Still don't have enough clamps! Some areas still had gaps. Argh!

Fresh off the clamps.

After trimming the top and with some mineral spirits, the flames really popped.

 

[Prostheta]

Sorry about the gaps man. That's a PITA. Are you binding this body? I mean, you should be fine in terms of structural integrity and don't let the neurotic ones tell you that it will affect the tone. It won't. The gaps will only be a problem if you are needing a clean natural edge, such as for faux binding (masked). Otherwise, just take the experience onboard and forge on ahead. If your last build is anything to go by, that won't be a problem for you. 

[SIMpleONe89]

I was considering binding because I haven't tried it before. And if I were to do binding I may transform it into a carved top. So the body thickness will be lesser. 

If I were to go the faux binding route, I will stain the body with a dark brown and use some dark brown filler as well. Hopefully that should minimize the look of the gaps. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Just cut out the neck today. I had to use my hand saw for most parts because the jigsaw kept burning the wood.

The flames here aren't as great as the top but they should look much better once a finish is applied.

I also managed to route the neck out. Curly maple chips easily and I had 2 spots on the headstock where I had chips.
I'm not sure if you can see, but the end of the neck is made for a 24 fret fingerboard with an overhang. 

[Prostheta]

Sure. I think it's a good idea to pick your fights and know when you're more likely to get a win. Binding the first time can be just as difficult as anything else in terms of gaps. It's another skill that needs a bit of practice. Unless it's going under paint, I avoid filler whenever possible. It's just bad going forward, because you end up using it as a safety net rather than applying yourself to the root cause. That and filler moves differently to wood, so it shows itself over time in many cases.

Flamed Maple has to be treated like you're climbing against the grain at all times, since that's what is in fact happening off the quarter. The direction of the grain rises and falls like shaving a block of Ramen noodles. 

Hope the tearout was manageable. We've all been there.

[SIMpleONe89]

15 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Sure. I think it's a good idea to pick your fights and know when you're more likely to get a win. Binding the first time can be just as difficult as anything else in terms of gaps. It's another skill that needs a bit of practice. Unless it's going under paint, I avoid filler whenever possible. It's just bad going forward, because you end up using it as a safety net rather than applying yourself to the root cause. That and filler moves differently to wood, so it shows itself over time in many cases.

Flamed Maple has to be treated like you're climbing against the grain at all times, since that's what is in fact happening off the quarter. The direction of the grain rises and falls like shaving a block of Ramen noodles. 

Hope the tearout was manageable. We've all been there.

What about using wood dust with titebond as filler? Will it not take up the stain properly? I'll take some pictures tomorrow showing the size of the gaps. 

Fortunately the tearout wasn't tear-ible. I should be able to blend it nicely. 

[Prostheta]

Totally not. Titebond resists stain totally and completely. I can't recommend using wood glue and wood dust as a filler at all. The only time I mix glue and dust is for darker or oily woods, and that's only for things like fingerboard repairs and using CA.

Sure - post pics and I'm sure you'll get a few opinions on a good way forward. In my opinion, if you're considering binding then the gaps should become a non-issue. Just let the binding cover them up. As long as there is no underlying structural issue (I think it's likely cosmetic) that would do the trick. Like I said, adding in a new technique to cover up a problem could easily create a new one so weigh it up and choose to win.

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks pros. I'm not worried about any structural problems. It's purely cosmetic. 

[Prostheta]

Me neither, and yes....they will be just that as long as the gaps aren't yawning chasms. Good mating faces with even glue spread and evenly-distributed clamping pressure tick all of the mechanical boxes.

I'm going to be binding my ongoing Rick project, so if you need to take any information from that then just keep reminding me to get a move on with my own work. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks again Pros. Doubt I'll do binding because I'll have to get extra bits and extra costs, plus it may not turn out well! Maybe next time...

[ScottR]

That top is a beauty. If the gaps truly bug you, try doing a burst on the top and back and include the sides as well. You'll need to  a bit of it as a tint in the finish which will cover the glue line, as opposed to dying the raw wood which will not.

SR

[Prostheta]

Good point Scott. Stain won't work but tints over the top....totally.

As far as binding goes, it's pretty simple once you master working it around curves and are able to cut a clean channel. You can always practice on scrap pieces. Very easy.

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks guys. I'll think it through for the time being. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Today I managed to thickness down the headstock to the correct thickness of 15mm. I used a router sled for this. I then drilled the truss rod access hole and glued up the fingerboard. 

And I'm not sure why I've been such a muddle-head these few days. You would think I would learn from mistakes but I stupidly made some unforgivable mistakes. My truss rod channel was 1mm off centre at the headstock. I don't think 1mm will make a significant difference but it's just little errors like this that make me disappointed in myself. And I thought I had measured, measured, cut. 

Another stupid blunder was during the fretboard glue up. In the midst of all the adrenaline in trying to spread the glue as quickly as possible and scrambling to get everything lined up and clamped, I forgot to remove the masking tape I put over the truss rod channel. While this shouldn't be a problem (People used to do it back in the days. Ben Crowe from Crimson Guitars deliberately did it before.), I was shocked at how I missed it out. 

I guess I had an off-day or even an off-week. Hopefully I'll slow things down next week and make sure things are perfect. 

On the bright side I think I had even glue squeeze out and no gaps. Hopefully I won't get a surprise tomorrow!

[SIMpleONe89]

Also, the flamed maple neck smelled like candy when I was working on it. Is another name for it sugar maple?

And these are 3 areas on the body where I had gaps and an ugly glue line.

Hopefully they won't be noticeable after finish. I plan to use a dark timbermate filler for grain filling and a dark brown stain as well. 

[Prostheta]

It's not structural, like we discussed. Just a symptom of clamping pressure not distributing to the edges or not being sufficient in those areas. I hardly think it will be visible and filler will solve it. There might be a difference in colour depending on the filler and your finishing schedule, but it's certainly not something like a whacking 2mm gap right on the top horn or anything! I've seen that happen....

Make sure that you're not filling your tearout with Timbermate though. That'll only just highlight the issue. That needs a rounded sanding block to work out. Less than a mm of loss at best I reckon.

Sorry to hear about the masking tape. Bummer! Ben of Crimson Guitars seems to recommend, support or be ignorant of a number of issues in how he works. I stopped watching his videos ages ago purely because he pushes some really stupid things like they are a gold standard, and has a blatant disregard for fitness of purpose of the "advice" he offers. Hell, he used polyurethane glue for his fingerboards until he started getting failures. Seriously....

Without going too much off-topic here, the results of shoddy advice saw a guy's neck finish being ruined by advice he got from a "luthiers" Facebook group. The exact same problematic unqualified recommendation taken as gospel. All he wanted to know is how to remove adhesive left on his fingerboard after masking from a fretjob. Cue some idiot recommending aggressive solvents....which melted the nitro finish....errrrrrrrrr 

I'm sure your fingerboard will be fine in spite of the tape being under it, however I would never consider it as being okay as general practice....I'm not entirely surprised that it's the kind of thing Ben does. Hell, people did all kinds of things back in the day.... 

[SIMpleONe89]

Yes the masking tape was a great bummer. I didn't remember taking it off but by the time I realised it was already ten minutes after I clamped, so it was probably not a good idea to undo everything. Sigh I guess I'll have to live with the fact that silly mistakes still happen!