scorpionscar Posted October 11, 2017 Report Share Posted October 11, 2017 Hi guys, I'm working on 4 new hardrock guitars. Two of them ara strato style guitars, one one with only bridge humbucker semi-relic guitar, the other is a replica of Richie Sambora. The third is a superstrato style wit a pau ferro top and ebony fretboard and the last one a ferray red remated with stainless steel pickguard flying-v type guitar. I'll try to document the whole process explaining with plenty of detail and asnswering my doubts. I don`t remember how to upload images, if you can help me I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance. Scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted October 11, 2017 Report Share Posted October 11, 2017 You can attach pictures directly to your posts, like you would when typing an email: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2017 (edited) Thank you so much Curtisa. Easy, I thought it was more difficult cause there are forums where is necessary to upload the images to a server. Thank you. I'm going to put some images about my advances: This is a spanish cedar body for a strato type guitar. I've used this clamps that are very easy to do and very effective. 5 layer laminated neck: wengue-bubinga-wengue-bubinga-wengue. This is a laminated 5 layers: mapple-bubinga-wallnut-bubinga-mapple with a scarf joint of 12º. This is a jig I use to put he neck and headstock in the right possition rapidly. Testing the 90º angle. The wengue-bubinga neck glued and thickened. view of the spanish cedar body and my loved threaded rod clamps. I found out somethig strange with the pieces of spanish cedar. I've bought a blank with an excelent quality and the right weight (spanish cedar is usually a lighter wood). I bought a new blank and for my surprise, it was lighter (too much difference), I bought a third blanck, and very heavy. Never did I have to deal with something similar. What do you think is the explanation about this issue, different blanks of the same wood, very different weight of the pieces. I think is not a matter of humedity cause all of them were bought in the same wood store and were there for four years. I'm very surprised!!! Edited October 11, 2017 by scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) Instead of have been festivity day here in Spain, I've been working on two scarf joints. The method I use is to mark the angle in the neck and then I cut with a japanesse saw. After that, I use a jig I built with a slope according to the specific angle, in this case 12º, and screw the router base to a straight piece of wood that allows to plane the scarf joint. The result is perfect, quick and easy. The excess of wood in the piece of blank corresponding to the headstock, I use the japanesse saw and cut the surplus material. After thath I use another jig I built in order to take the piece to the right thickness. Then I glue the two pieces in a special jig that consist of a plywood base and another piece screwed at 90 degrees with regard the base. I like to use this jig because otherwise is not easy to mantein the neck blank 90º due to the strengh of the clamp, tends to turn the blank. I upload some pics of the process. Edited October 13, 2017 by scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 13, 2017 Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 On 10/11/2017 at 6:19 PM, scorpionscar said: I found out somethig strange with the pieces of spanish cedar. I've bought a blank with an excelent quality and the right weight (spanish cedar is usually a lighter wood). I bought a new blank and for my surprise, it was lighter (too much difference), I bought a third blanck, and very heavy. Never did I have to deal with something similar. What do you think is the explanation about this issue, different blanks of the same wood, very different weight of the pieces. I think is not a matter of humedity cause all of them were bought in the same wood store and were there for four years. I'm very surprised!!! This is usually a result of growing conditions for the different individual trees the lumber came from. Trees growing in areas with good soil and plenty of rain will yield timber of different weight than trees growing in rocky dryer areas, for example. This is some nice clean work your doing! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 Thank you for your explanation and your words ScottR. Even the heaviest pieces has an special wood grain, It seems as it were grown at the base of the tree. Scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2017 (edited) Today I've been working on the flying-v. I've routed the interior cameras not only for an stetic issue but for lighten up the body. Here are some pics. Happy weekend to everybody: Scorpionscar Edited October 14, 2017 by scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2017 Today sunday, god day, I've been working on the flying-v. I cut the body shape with the jigsaw and route the contour with the router. I made as well the cavities of each wing of the guitar. After that I cut the scarf joint of the neck and headstock with a japanesse saw. Then I used a special jig for this purpose with very good results. Tomorrow I'll glue the two pieces and deal with the corners of the two cavities, that is no an easy matter and I will try with japanesse saw and two pieces of wood in order to guide the blade of the japanesse saw. The guitar is getting shape and coming to life. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Today I've working on the two cameras of the flying-v. As there were rounded due to the radious of the tread of the bit, as a result, I had to cut the straight edges by hand with the help os the blade of a metal saw. For doing that, I used two metal pletins that I put on each side of the guitar and acted as a guide for the blade of the saw. After that, I used a chisel for removing the saw marks It was a time consuming proces, but the result well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 Today have been gluing the ebony peghead veneer. At first I've drilled four holes in the area outside of the final shape of the headstock in order to avoid displacements of the veneer once the glue has been applied. Afther that I use chopsticks in the holes I did for putting in place the veneer. After that I use two clamps in the center, and in the perimeter use mini-clamps from the Balado's harvest made of MDF and 6mm threaded rod. Some pics of the process: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2017 Today I've made the truss rod channel with the help of a jig for this purpose. Sometimes I made the channel with the guid of the router, but I don't like very much the results, so I built this simple jig. The truss rod fits perfectly. The necks are coming to life!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2017 Artistic pic day in the workshop. My porta-tools: Scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2017 I've been testing my new jigs for radiousing and slotting the fingerboard in order to see if everyting was alright. Afortunatelly, all the measurementes are right and the jigs ready for doing more fingerboards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 (edited) Today I've been doing the fretboard of one of the guitars. For radiousing I've used a jig where the router goes over two rails. I use a 10mm bit cause I get better results than with a bigger one. With this operation the fingerboard is almost in its final shape but I use a radiated sanding block, in this case 12". I post some pics: Scorpionscar Edited October 25, 2017 by scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2017 (edited) Today I've been radiousing the fingerboards and slotting then. I have to point out that the ebony is hard as a rock, difficult to slot, but very beauty on the other hand. I leave two pics, one of the jig I use for radiousing which consist in a box with two rails. The other is an artistic pic I took cause I liked the shavings of the ebony after using a scraper. The guitars are coming to life little by little. Scorpionscar Edited October 26, 2017 by scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bileshake Posted October 28, 2017 Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 Maybe I'm a little late to the party here but I love the threaded rod clamps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 (edited) Hi Bileshake, you're are in time hahaha, there is a long way to finish the project. The target of this topic is to show every aspect of guitar building, not only beutiful pics and nice things. The other face of the coin is that sometimes things are not the way you liked. While I was working on an ebony fretboard, it appeared cracks, at first instance I thought there were big pores of the wood, strange thing on the other hand so as to ebony's pore is almost inexistent. I tried to save the fingerboard, and thought about putting a binding, not bad idea, but when I was looking at the cracks closely, I coul see that light passed through them, and of course had to discard the fretboard. On the other hand I have a problem about cutting the fretslots. I made a jig for this purpose and today I've been working on an accesory in order to fix the miter box to the workbench, and use a pair of toggle clamps in forder to fix the fingerboard and the template. I used a MDF base of 19mm and did the driles for the screws. I put a 4mm iron pletins underneath the base to reinfort the zone due to the high strength of the clamps. the jig works great, but It's impossible to cut fretslots in ebony, is hard as a rock and the blade of the japanesse saw embedded in the ebony, I someone has any suggestion it will be wellcome...Not very good day today... Scorpionscar Edited October 28, 2017 by scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted October 28, 2017 Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 Dig the fretboard out of the trash. Those cracks are easily repaired. I would just work some good epoxy into the cracks and clamp the board back together. Fretboards do not have much load on them and are secured to the face of the neck by a large gluing surface. Trust me the cracks will not affect stability or the sound in the long run. I have make fretboards out of some very questionable pieces of ebony with the help of West Systems Epoxy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2017 Thanks for the advise 80s BMX Bandit, I've glued it with titebond. It's possible that installing a binding the damaged zone is out of the final shape. Scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted October 29, 2017 Report Share Posted October 29, 2017 Lubricate your saw blade with candle wax every few slots. It will cut much easier without binding in the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionscar Posted October 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2017 Thank you so much CURTISA, I will take into account and try tomorrow. is incredible how the ebony problematic is for this issue. The blade gets jammed into the wood. Is it easy to remove after that from the teeth of the blade? Scorpionscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted October 30, 2017 Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 On 10/29/2017 at 4:00 PM, scorpionscar said: Thanks for the advise 80s BMX Bandit, I've glued it with titebond. It's possible that installing a binding the damaged zone is out of the final shape. Scorpionscar Titebond will be fine as long as the crack is clamped tight. I use epoxy on Ebony/Rosewoods because it is clear and is not affected as much by the oil in the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted October 30, 2017 Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 21 hours ago, scorpionscar said: Is it easy to remove after that from the teeth of the blade? Not sure what you mean. The candle wax should prevent the blade from getting jammed in the slot, making it easier to cut the slot and remove the saw when finished. Any sawdust that works its way into the saw teeth should be easy to remove using a stiff brush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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