Three new rockers are coming to life

[scorpionscar]

Today I've glued on the hardmapple top to the cedar-bubinga body and did an access in the inferior horn in the posterior zone for a better accesibility to the last frets. Some pics of the advances:

 

 

[bileshake]

Really like the cutaways on the carved top. Nice and pronounced.

[scorpionscar]

8 hours ago, bileshake said:

Really like the cutaways on the carved top. Nice and pronounced.

Thank you BILISHAKE I'm glad you like it. Yesterday and today I've been working on the flying-v body and is almos done. I made the bridge humbucker cavity, the cavity control, the neck pocket and the lateral carvings. I'm going to explain how I did the last ones: 

- For the neck pocke I used a double MDF template joined together wit screws. I used a 8 mm height piece of wood at a determinate distance for creating a 2º ramp. I used double side tape. Whe the bit couldn't go down, I unscrewed one of the templates and that way the bit is allowed to get deeper.

- For the lateral carvings I used a 12.7 mm radious bit with no bearing. I built a 3 piece jig, one acts as a base for the router, another one acts as a stopo block, and the third is 1.5 mm longer and acts as a rail to avoid that the router can desestabilize. In went down in increments of 3 milimeters. Some pics of the process:

 

[pan_kara]

nice, I'm liking the jig work. I somehow never thought of a double template setup for neck pockets, will have to remember this trick

[scorpionscar]

It's very usefull PAN_KARA cause sometimes the router bits are too long or too short. With this method is possible to allow always the bearings in contact with the border of the template. Sometimes I used a 3 piece specially for pick up cavities. This way is no necessary to drill holes previously in order to empty the cavities.

Scorpionscar

[scorpionscar]

Today I've spent five hours cutting the edges of the cameras and sanding the interior. It was tedious and no easy but the result well worth the effort. The easy thing would have been left the round edges of the bearing of the bit, but personally I think that in this guitar the personality and the essence are just the corners, so I did. I had to build a jig with two pletins of 3 mm to act as a guide for guiding the blade of the saw in order to respect the rectitude of the line. Some pics of the process:

 

[scorpionscar]

Today I cut the necks to their definitive profile. Only have pics of the wengue-bubinga ones. Happy weekend for everybody:

 

[scorpionscar]

Today I've been working on the Strato necks with the help of a tunel I built for the router. Some pics; 

 

[scorpionscar]

Today I've been working on the fretslots. I used a homemade miter box made with recycling materials. I spent a lot of time setting up the jig but well worth the effort cause it works fantastic and is very precise. I cut the slots but not as deep as tang, after that, I use my japanesse saw with a stop block and is now when I locate the acrylic stop block the lenght of the tang plus six or seventh of a milimiter. This way is no necessary to fill the gap and it works great for me.

In one of the pictures there is the easter candle's of my grandma in honour to Curtisa Who tought me the trick of lubricating the saw blade with the parafin of the candle. At the same time I pray to god for no make mistakes at this stage of the process. Some pics of the advances:

 

[scorpionscar]

inlays of one of the Strato figerboards done, simple, but effectives, sometimes in the simplicity is the hit, is no necessary to inovate too much. The inlays of the other Strato, and the Flying-v are more elaborated and eye-catching. The fingerboard of the carved guitar, has no inlays, is a complete ebony fingerboard, I slotted it today too. Some pics:

 

[scorpionscar]

What do you think is better for gluing the fingerboard (bolt on neck)?:

- First route the fingerboard with the same template used for the neck, and then glue or

- Glue it first, and then use the neck shape as a template?

All your advises will be wellcome.

Scorpionscar

[ScottR]

Of those choices, I'd glue it first and use the neck as a template. This will eliminate any chance of mis-alignment and also route away any glue squeeze out...as long as you don't have so much it dries and gets in the way of the guide bearing.

I always glue them up and then cut them to shape at the same time.

SR

[pan_kara]

I think my preferred order is different from either of the two - I cut the fingerboard to shape first, then glue it to the neck that is rough-cut and then use the fingerboard as a template to trim the neck. But that works since I do the radiusing after that (and fret slots before).

For a fingerboard that's already radiused that's more tricky since you lose the flat surface for the router (unless you go from the other side and that is still flat). There I'd probably do as Scott says - glue and then trim both. Or glue the fingerboard and trim it with the neck as a template.

I'd never cut both and try to glue later, in my case that's asking for disaster. Or at least I'd need to be very precise with avoiding a slip during glue-up which is something I always have problems with, and here you pretty much have zero margin for error.

[scorpionscar]

21 hours ago, ScottR said:

Of those choices, I'd glue it first and use the neck as a template. This will eliminate any chance of mis-alignment and also route away any glue squeeze out...as long as you don't have so much it dries and gets in the way of the guide bearing.

I always glue them up and then cut them to shape at the same time.S

I've decided to do it this way ScottR. The fingerboard is already radiused but suppose there is no problem to rout it on the router table.

 

5 hours ago, pan_kara said:

I think my preferred order is different from either of the two - I cut the fingerboard to shape first, then glue it to the neck that is rough-cut and then use the fingerboard as a template to trim the neck. But that works since I do the radiusing after that (and fret slots before).

For a fingerboard that's already radiused that's more tricky since you lose the flat surface for the router (unless you go from the other side and that is still flat). There I'd probably do as Scott says - glue and then trim both. Or glue the fingerboard and trim it with the neck as a template.

I'd never cut both and try to glue later, in my case that's asking for disaster. Or at least I'd need to be very precise with avoiding a slip during glue-up which is something I always have problems with, and here you pretty much have zero margin for error.

You're right, is quite risky, because of don't have margin of error, I finally did it as ScottR said, but your method of using the fingerboard as a template seems to be interesting to. Thank you for your suggestions.

For gluing it the idea was to use two pins in order to avoid the displacement of the fingerboard due to the effects of the glue. I want to drill two holes with a 1mm diameter drill bit and them insert a nail of the same diameter but didn't found in any store, for that reason I decided to use the bit itself as a pin. The glue seems to be sucessfully. Some pics of the process:

 

[scorpionscar]

This is a jig I made for trimming the fingerboard using the neck shape as a template easily. It consists of two moveable cauls of MDF fixed to the bench with clamps. The router goes screwed on to a base. If the depth is not the correct, you can lay down the neck over a wood suplement of the measure you need: 

 

[scorpionscar]

Artistic photography day. Happy weekend to everybody!!!

 

 

Scorpionscar

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by scorpionscar

[scorpionscar]

This week I go abroad and I'll come back after Christmas, due to this reason, I'm not able to continue working on the workshop over the projects but I promise that in the new year, I'll continue working and exposing the advances again. I'm very proud and happy of being a member of this great comunity worlwide of guitar builders, I'll miss you. Merry Christmas to everybody and hope the wise men bring you a lot of souvenirs.

Scorpionscar

[ScottR]

Happy holidays and safe travels.

SR

[scorpionscar]

On 18/12/2017 at 4:02 PM, ScottR said:

Happy holidays and safe travels.

SR

Thanks Scott I'm back from my holidays and ready for working. I've visited Dominican Republic and New York, both of them beautiful places. After a little period of post-holiday depression, I've been working on the inlays of one of the guitars which is in the line of Ritchies Sambora's stars. I know that this has lovers and detractors but 80's are my debility, sorry can't avoid it. Well, the stars go in MOP but with a black frame which goes in ebony. For this, I had to thicknen a piece of ebony to 1.27 mm thickness. The frame of the big ones (first frets) have a measurement of 1.2 mm, and the smollest ( seventh to 21th frets has a measurement of 0.8 mm) that is a really really thin border. The process was done by a laser but was not easy cause had to do a lot of rehearsals till find out the correct way. The result well worth the effort. Two pics of the pieces with a 1€ cent as a reference between the biggest and the smolest:

 

Scorpionscar

[ScottR]

Ebony is hard but delicate at the same time.

How many did you break?

SR

[scorpionscar]

6 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Ebony is hard but delicate at the same time.

How many did you break?

SR

Ebony is a curious material. I spent the surface of one fingerboard (the one that appared cracks while radiousing) I used it for this and had to do a lot of attempts. Sometimes the laser burned the piece, others didn't run through the star, others, the piece of ebony were displaced due to its hardness and produced a tremendous noise. It was a moment when I thought of giving it up...But finally the result was excelent. It took me two days...

Scorpionscar

[scorpionscar]

On 27/1/2018 at 6:10 PM, ScottR said:

 

Today I've been working on the recess of the knobs. For this I've used a 31 mm diámeter router bit with an inferior bearing. I made a rectangular base for the router and screwed it. I placed the router bit in the right place using the bearing as a guide introducing it into the potentiometers drills. Onces located the jig in place, I fixed with a clamp the base, the body and the workbench. The process seems to be easy, but is very tedious, cause you have to go down very slowly and sometimes, instead of using the router (I prefer rather than the workshop drill) it produces crisps and have to sand for a long time, but finally, the effort has its reward. Some pics of the results: 

 

Scorpionscar

Edited February 21, 2018 by scorpionscar

[scorpionscar]

On 27/1/2018 at 6:10 PM, ScottR said:

Day of electronics cavity cover. In this case I've made it out of a piece of bubinga, with a beautiful grain and hard as a rock. I used a piece I had on the workshop and thickened with the router. After that I drawing the shape of the cover and then cut with the band saw. Finally I sanded with a spindle sandere I made with the engine of a washing machine. some pics of the results:

Scorpionscar

Edited February 22, 2018 by scorpionscar

[scorpionscar]

On 27/1/2018 at 6:10 PM, ScottR said:

When I write a post always appears this quote and can't delete it. Does someone tell me how remove?

Scorpionscar

 

[ScottR]

I've been wondering about that myself. Are you just clicking the the "reply to this topic" box?

SR