Lwguitar Posted March 29, 2019 Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 (edited) Well I finally started my first guitar build! Got the body template cut out of 3/4 MDF and trimmed the walnut slab down to the correct width using a band saw and a plane. Also finished my workbench! The frame is made from a 70 year old door frame and the top is 4 pieces of 3/4 MDF glued together. LW Edited March 29, 2019 by Lwguitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 29, 2019 Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 "I like the cut of your jib" - ambitious first project - good on ya. That is a nice piece of figured walnut. this is going to be an amazing build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted March 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 It is pretty ambitious but this is the guitar I want so I may as well go for it. Plus all the extra little things that make it more difficult arn't really any harder than the basic stuff needed to build a guitar, just more time consuming. Ive never done any precision wood work before so the whole project is going to be new to me. I have been planning this project off and on for about 10 years though so hopefully Ive got the skills somewhere in my head to not mess it up to bad. The plan is to make everything but the tuners, switches and pots completely from scratch. Here are the full specs if everything goes according to plan. Dimensions Number of strings-7 Fanned Fret-Low B Scale Length 26 High E Scale length 25 Bridge Angle-16.5 degrees Zero Degree Fret-Approximately the 5th fret Fret board radius-12" at nut, conical section fretboard Number of frets-24 Nut Width-Equivalent to 1.695 nut width String Width at nut-E-B length -1.70 E-e 1.415 equivalent Sting to string spacing at nut-.004 increase per string treble to bass String width At Bridge-E-B length - 2.61 inches (e-E = 2.175") String Spacing at Bridge-.435 Inch (same as wide fender spacing) Electronics Pickups custom made slanted super low wind mini humbuckers with wood covers Preamp- Bartaloni AGB/918-2 placed after all electronics to act as buffer so guitar cable won’t effect tone Battery 9 volt Main Controls; 3 way paddle toggle switch bridge/middle/Neck Volume control with push push for phase reverse 3 way mini toggle resonant frequency switch for neck pickup 3 way mini toggle peak hight switch for neck pickup 3 way mini toggle resonant frequency switch for bridge pickup 3 way mini toggle low cut for bridge pickup Hardware Bridge-Custom made top load bridge Nut-Brass adjustable nut Tuners-Hipshot locking open gear tuners Neck-Bolt on Control cavity cover-Magnetically secured easily removable wood cover Volume knob-Custom layered wood to match pickups Construction and materials Neck-Wenge with 2 carbon fiber re-enforcement rods and a two way truss rod Fret board-Birdseye Maple with "crown of thorns" inlay and walnut binding. Body-Figured Makore back, figured walnut top Frets-Evo Gold Fret wire I had to google "cut of your jib" haha. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted March 29, 2019 Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 I agree with MisterMikev. this is a very ambitious first build. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted March 29, 2019 Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 That's a really sweet piece of Claro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 Got the walnut book matched. I don’t have a bandsaw that can re saw a board this wide so I had to cut it by hand. This is what I used for a vice. Marked the centerline. I cut in about 1/4 inch strait across the top and then followed the line about 4 inches down the close side of the board. Them turned the board around and followed the line down that side. The idea is to use the saw cut as a guide so you don’t get crooked. This happened on the opposite side of the board though. The whole process took about an hour. The thin spots are about 3/4 inch so I should be able to do a decent carved top. Still lots of work to get it flat. A few minutes of planing... Not to bad so far! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 Very brave. At least you should get useable boards out of it eventually Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 27 minutes ago, Norris said: Very brave. At least you should get useable boards out of it eventually Brave, stupid or cheap! I’m not sure! I couldn’t find any 3/4 inch thick book matched walnut that had the figure I wanted so this was my next option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 Dedicated. Committed. Sore. SR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, ScottR said: Dedicated. Committed. Sore. SR Being sore the next day is the best part. that's how you know you did something worth doing..... Edited April 1, 2019 by Jdogg 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 I’ve spent more time sharpening my plane blade than actually working on the guitar. The plane was my late grandpa’s, I found it in his garage and am working on refurbishing it. This is what the blade looked like... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 good job on the resaw, I've done that myself on a couple of builds recently, I made myself a kerfing plane out of a cheap tenon saw and some oak offcuts, I recommend doing the same, it will prevent the little hickups and give you a much better bookmatch result as you can get through the whole thing without having multiple cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 I have an old belt that the buckle broke off. It's now attached to my workmate as a handy strop. Great for restoring the sharpness every once in a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 2 hours ago, Lwguitar said: Got the walnut book matched. I don’t have a bandsaw that can re saw a board this wide so I had to cut it by hand. This is what I used for a vice. Marked the centerline. I cut in about 1/4 inch strait across the top and then followed the line about 4 inches down the close side of the board. Them turned the board around and followed the line down that side. The idea is to use the saw cut as a guide so you don’t get crooked. This happened on the opposite side of the board though. The whole process took about an hour. The thin spots are about 3/4 inch so I should be able to do a decent carved top. Still lots of work to get it flat. A few minutes of planing... Not to bad so far! wow, you are brave. that is a nice piece of wood! I have a bandsaw that can re-saw but I'll be damned if I can get a good cut out of it... seeing your work makes me think perhaps I should consider trying this (not that I think I could do it but that I think I'd stand a better chance w your method than my bandsaw!) Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said: good job on the resaw, I've done that myself on a couple of builds recently, I made myself a kerfing plane out of a cheap tenon saw and some oak offcuts, I recommend doing the same, it will prevent the little hickups and give you a much better bookmatch result as you can get through the whole thing without having multiple cuts. The guy on the video I watched didn’t do that step. Next time I will either do that or use a table saw with a thin blade to start the cut. (My dad has a table saw he might let me use if I bring his granddaughter along)! Thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: wow, you are brave. that is a nice piece of wood! I have a bandsaw that can re-saw but I'll be damned if I can get a good cut out of it... seeing your work makes me think perhaps I should consider trying this (not that I think I could do it but that I think I'd stand a better chance w your method than my bandsaw!) Nice work! It would be a sad day if I scraped this piece of walnut! Thats the nice thing about hand tools! They are slow at cutting wood but they are also slow at making mistakes! It’s a lot harder to make a big mistake when it takes 5 minutes of hard labor! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 43 minutes ago, Lwguitar said: It would be a sad day if I scraped this piece of walnut! Thats the nice thing about hand tools! They are slow at cutting wood but they are also slow at making mistakes! It’s a lot harder to make a big mistake when it takes 5 minutes of hard labor! trust me... I find it easy to make mistakes going slow! Have a piece of 3/4 flamed oak that I want to resaw but on my bandsaw I have had poor results resawing much thicker material... and I'd hate to ruin it. Think I might invest in a decent saw and perhaps use some hard maple as saw guides when I get to that point. Anywho, your build is looking pretty good. Looking fwd to seeing it develop. rock on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2019 Finished this prototype bridge piece. The first hole is for a lock bolt and the second is for a small height adjustable saddle. The hole on the front is for the intonation adjustment screw. The plan is to make 7 of these and anodize them black. The string goes through here. This key way will keep the bridge piece aligned properly. The idea behind this bridge is to have a more comfortable and attractive bridge while maintaining full adjustability. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted April 5, 2019 Report Share Posted April 5, 2019 looks like a winner, You must be a machinist... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 I’m an Engineer that knows a little about machining. The plant I work in has a machine shop I have access to so I poped this out on lunch break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2019 So after about 2 hours of planing and sanding and measuring I finally got the top joint flat. I used the Stew Mac sanding beam to get the final dimension flat. I found that using new sandpaper and low pressure worked best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted April 13, 2019 Report Share Posted April 13, 2019 looks like a nice seam but hard to tell from the pics... can't wait to see it sanded up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted April 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2019 I sure hope it looks good sanded. After all the time it took to get that joint on walnut I’m not looking forward to all the sanding required to do the multi lam neck in wenge! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted April 15, 2019 Report Share Posted April 15, 2019 The good thing about the darker woods like walnut, wenge etc is that they're a bit more forgiving on your glue joints. tops like maple are impossible to stain well if you've got a gap that's full of glue. But I'm convinced that this top will look epic and I'm pretty jealous that I haven't got a bit of wood like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted April 15, 2019 Report Share Posted April 15, 2019 On 4/13/2019 at 5:57 PM, Lwguitar said: I sure hope it looks good sanded. After all the time it took to get that joint on walnut I’m not looking forward to all the sanding required to do the multi lam neck in wenge! have yet to do a multilam myself but there is def one in my future. afa tops... I've had good luck cutting both sides at the sm time with a router... lot less work anyway. not sure what one does with multilam. run it through the planer? I am not sure I would do that with figured wood. I guess that leaves my router planer... would be a lot of work to plane down several boards for a multilam. If it means hand sanding the whole way... I just as soon not do multilams! I think I'm going to have to buy a jointer b4 I do that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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