bokchoi77 Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 (edited) So for my second full build I'm going for a replica of the Turner Model one, as played by Lindsey Buckingham! I've admired this one since "The Dance" first came out. I recall attempting to replicate the tone with my Samick Les Paul in the band I was in back in the day... I grabbed some Tas Blackwood for this one as I've read it goes close to Mahogany, and I'm liking using local timbers. A bit of work on the planer getting the wood flat and thickessed. For the neck I've laminated some merbau between Blackwood, Hopefully it'll work nicely... Glue up, some bandsawing then a relaxing time with the hand plane flattening it out. Edited September 4, 2018 by bokchoi77 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 watching with interest i bet that body wood will look killer once you put the radius in the body and finish it. those grain lines should really pop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 very unique build... I like where this is going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted September 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 3 hours ago, Mr Natural said: watching with interest i bet that body wood will look killer once you put the radius in the body and finish it. those grain lines should really pop! I hope so, it's a nice bit of wood! I've read your thread quite a few times as a guide! I've not found anyone else who's tried to build one. 2 hours ago, mistermikev said: very unique build... I like where this is going! Thanks man, hopefully I can do it justice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar Goomba Posted September 6, 2018 Report Share Posted September 6, 2018 That is some gorgeous wood. I look forward to seeing this come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 7, 2018 Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 Likewise, I will be watching this with interest as well. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted September 16, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 (edited) On 9/6/2018 at 12:04 PM, Guitar Goomba said: That is some gorgeous wood. I look forward to seeing this come together. On 9/8/2018 at 5:23 AM, ScottR said: Likewise, I will be watching this with interest as well. SR Thanks guys I'm pretty interested to see how it turns out myself. Got a little bit done on the neck this weekend, got the scarf joint done and roughed out the headstock. It's been a neck focused weekend, with the telecaster neck in the finishing stages too. Edited September 16, 2018 by bokchoi77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar Goomba Posted September 16, 2018 Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 In the 3rd photo, you show what appears to be an aluminum neck template. Did you make that or buy it? can you post the measurements so I might replicate it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted September 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 12 hours ago, Guitar Goomba said: In the 3rd photo, you show what appears to be an aluminum neck template. Did you make that or buy it? can you post the measurements so I might replicate it? Hey, it's just some 5mm MDF and it's wildly inaccurate, I'm just using it for an angle gauge. You'd be much better off with one of the many other templates out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar Goomba Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 13 hours ago, bokchoi77 said: Hey, it's just some 5mm MDF and it's wildly inaccurate, I'm just using it for an angle gauge. You'd be much better off with one of the many other templates out there. Gotcha. I will look into that. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 I've always loved this guitar. How will you tackle the body radius? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted September 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 9 hours ago, komodo said: I've always loved this guitar. How will you tackle the body radius? Me too, ever since The Dance came out! I reckon I'll shamelessly copy @Mr Natural 's radius jig. If it aint broke don't fix it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted September 22, 2018 Report Share Posted September 22, 2018 I contacted @bokchoi77 to obtain permission to hack this thread. Hack in that I would post the measurements of the radius jig I used. I have had 3 people in the last couple months message me about the turner one model I did- and I have pointed the last couple folks in the past weeks to watch this thread as bokchoi77 was in progress of making one. I have gotten a lot of questions about this and that- the radius jig being one of them. Mine is simply an oversize fretboard radius jig of sorts- made completely out of whatever the hell I had laying around at the time (as the pictures tell- all offcuts of mdf I had laying around, I hardly bothered cleaning some of them up). All the mdf is 3/4" (1.9 cm) thick. it is glued and screwed with inch and a half screws and I pre-drilled the holes. The long sides (rails) are 3ft (91.5 cm) and the router base/one of the spacers are one foot (30.5cm) wide. The radius on the rails is 25 1/8 ". I cut/sanded both rails at the same time. The router base is centered at the 1.5 ft mark- ie- the center of the rail- the highest point in the arch. The bottom of the router base that faces the guitar body is 1/4" up from that arch-so- seeing that the mdf is 3/4" thick- that puts the base of the router at a full one inch above the radius. I would lower my router bit down so final cut the bottom of the router blade was like 1/8" or so below the rails- and it put a 25" radius on the front and back of the guitar body. - but I started with it much higher so only the outside of the guitar body were nipped first- slowly lowering it- typically 1/16" at a time (maybe 1/8"- its been so long I cant honestly remember if 1/8" was too much material to cut at once) The guitar body was mounted on the bottom side of my myka neck angle jig- which is 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood glued together- the measurement of that is 2ft (61cm) wide by 29.5 inch long (75cm). I screwed 3/4" pvc pipe along the length for the rails to ride against. A single screw (3 inch I think) held the body down- drilled in the center of the pickup hole and small pieces of wood that were screwed into the base to hold the body centered to the jig. That screw channel would later be fitted with the screw that went from the back of the guitar into the rotating pickup housing. I wont say this is the most effective/efficient way to do the radius- I have seen interviews with Rick Turner where he said he did the first few on a belt sander and winged it. (they do them now with a planer blade that has the 25" radius cut in it.) it took me a while to do this- lowering the router a little bit each pass- but this jig is hefty- and I felt very safe using it due to the weight and that I had my hands on the router thru the whole motion- and nothing was going to fling out at high rate of speed/etc. but it cleaned up in a matter of seconds with a sander and it sure was fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted September 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2018 Thanks so much @Mr Natural this info will be so helpful to me and no doubt others attempting this build! I'll probably bend your ear about wiring at some stage too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted September 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2018 (edited) A bit of progress on this one this weekend, body glued band sawn and routed. And with a wipe of mineral spirit: Edited September 30, 2018 by bokchoi77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted September 30, 2018 Report Share Posted September 30, 2018 Bravo on the radius top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted October 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2018 (edited) Spent a bit more time on this one today, got the truss rod sorted and the neck trimmed down and radiused the fretboard. Edited October 6, 2018 by bokchoi77 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted October 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 (edited) More work on this one... I routed the pickup cavity and the angled neck pocket as well as the plane on the body. I've hogged out and chiselled the battery compartment and the control cavity in the back. Bit of a clean up on those with the router and I'll be ready to radius the body! Edited October 12, 2018 by bokchoi77 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 Looking good....and looking quite heavy too. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted October 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 5 minutes ago, ScottR said: Looking good....and looking quite heavy too. SR It's actually not too bad at all, it's quite small, smaller than it looks in the pics and a large amount of it will be carved away from the font and the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 Cool--looking forward to seeing that! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted October 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2018 (edited) So a little more progress on this one over the weekend and this evening. I've routed the control and battery cavities, they still need some clean up after the radius but are looking tidier. I made up a battery cover from Merbau and ebonised it, which worked very well. Time will tell if it will be ok post radius but should be able to fettle it. I got the fretboard slotted and glued on and trimmed down. I ebonised that as well. Starting to come together! Edited October 15, 2018 by bokchoi77 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted October 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 (edited) Small update, Today I put together the radius jig - based on @Mr Natural 's details above. I'll probably need to trim the points a bit when I get the base setup, I have some 20mm pipe for the jig to run on. Edited October 20, 2018 by bokchoi77 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted October 20, 2018 Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 Loving this build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoi77 Posted October 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2018 Well, today was radius day, I can report the same as @Mr Natural above - the process felt safe and solid with the jig. it took quite some time, doing 1.5mm per pass but I had zero chip out - other than a little at the start, I changed technique and went around the edges from a better direction before doing a linear pass to remove the rest. All in all the process was a success! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.