mistermikev Posted December 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 15 minutes ago, JayT said: Wait...you "cut the join" with a router? Is this something done commonly or just your personal method? I guess it obviously works great for you, I may borrow this technique. Any tips on this for a new builder? Is this limited to thinner tops, or can this be done on like 3" body lumber? Is that a dumb question? Thanks for posting as I'm learning so much from these, I'm loving the "Tuxedo" design most but all are awesome. commonly - probably not. I've not really seen other folks even do it for guitar - I learned to do it when I worked as a solid surface counter top fabricator. People who buy solid surface sort of have an expectation of invisible joins so... this is how we did it. I've heard of folks using it on guitar tops... but have yet to see any tutorials so thought I'd share. I don't think I'd try this on a body because you can choke a router taking off 1/32 on 2" lumber, let alone taking that off of two sides at once. I joined my ash for the tele's above by just using a straight edge and holding the router really steady. I did some minor sanding after to remove any chatter. actually works even easier on thicker tops... but there is the issue of cutting more material... I did it on the 3/4" flamed maple for the carve top above. I generally prep the edges of both sides by trimming against a straight edge first. This way, when I get to cutting on both sides I'm removing as little as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted December 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2019 awaiting some parts and kind of left to all the minor details of my builds for the time being, so thought I'd spend some time on my plans for electronics: first up: the tuxedo. going to be using a seymour vintage stack for the bridge, and a 4 way tele switch. I have a 4 way in a tele and didn't realize until recently that the two middle positions where NOT the two combined positions... so I changed this on my version as I prefer Bridge, BN Parallel, BN Series, Neck. Also set it up so that the bridge will be in stacked humbucker mode in pos 1, but split for the two combined positions 2 and 3. Figured it might be nice to go back to single coil for the bridge position so I've got a push pull that will accomplish that, and also swap between 50's and 60's style tone control with the lead for the tone swapping between the pickup side and the jack side. next up is the broadchaser: I'm putting a hot rail in the 'hidden' middle position so that I can use either rail for hum cancellation. That rail is a bit mismatched with the bridge which should allow the bridge pickup to dominate for a little less hum cancelling but a little more bridge flavor. Using a 4 pole 3 throw switch here for stock tele operation plus two additional modes: parallel humbuckers and series humbuckers. finally, the les flaws: I don't generally tend to care for the split singles by themselves from a humbucker, and the humbuckers I'll be using are sentient/nazgul which (I'm told) don't sound great split anyway... so I figured I'd do a simplified version of my signature "all combos" wiring... and just focus on the 4 humbucking combos: bridge-vs-neck-parallel, inside-vs-outside-parallel, inside-vs-outside-series, and bridge-vs-neck-series. Going to etch a pcb to keep the wiring of the 4p4t clean. Using a unique alph 4p4t switch that is fairly small... might have some issues getting it fitted in the carved top but... will cross that bridge. Also planning an active mid boost mounted on a push pull for this one... I have a jackson preamp etch lying in wait, and an sho... but I loved the 'switchblade' in my sweet spot build so much I might etch another of those... haven't decided. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted December 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 shot of my setup to add the taper to the back of my necks. I started out with a common neck profile drawing for a late 50s tele. I have marked the neck with the depth from the top down at the first fret and the 12th fret... then I set the depth of the router to go right up to the mark at the 1st fret... and raise the other side of my planing rails until the blade of the router lines up with that mark. and here's the product of putting in that plane... and he is my tuxedo neck with the grade planed in. shaped my neck for the les flaws... my first experience with wenge and sharp corners right on end grain. installed my truss rod for the tuxedo... and installed my truss rod for the broadchaser: decided I would use some offcuts from my tuxedo top to join together for a headstock overlay: cut the 4 degree slope in my les flaws... had to go snag some 6" bolts to get the correct rise/run... then feathered that into the rest of the body: did a test fit for my 4 way switch on the tuxedo and found I needed to remove a little more material... also have carved in my belly cut and neck transition (will show that later)... final weigh in before adding the top: so was thinking tonight... about a jig I might make to cut the 94 degree cut into the back and sides of the neck where it meets the body and it occurred to me...why not just make it easy on myself and cut a 90 degree transition from the 4 degree plane? This would be 86 degrees relative to the body. Then I can simply make all my cuts on the neck at 90 degrees. Skip the need to build a jig, skip that pesky sanding to match the angle... and since this isn't a traditional les paul build... no reason to not hit the easy button. Here's my 86 degree line: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 ==============update 12/04/2020============== started work on the broadcaster finish. wanted to document my steps here as who knows... might turn out good. grain fill: finish sanded to 320, made up some grain fill using some rit camel die... sort of a chocolate milk color. generally with ash, and with this grain filler, it's going to take a few passes of grain fill as the filler recedes. In this case... I don't want to totally fill the grain, so I'm going to do one pass. sanded back the grain filler and prepared for first coats of laquer. two light coats of mohawk whitewash laquer. since the grain is not fully filled... the whitewash sort of 'dissapears' into the heavier grain. works to my benefit here as it's keeping the grain more visible which I like, however it's still so open that I decided to do another grain fill but this time clear. my plan is to let the grain fill sit overnight and sand it back. have a couple spots that got a little too much white so will feather those out as well. did did my binding channel on my les flaws. Piece of binding seen here sitting just a hair proud in the neck join area. and worked on my broadchaser neck... used a chamfer bit to get my first facets done... then completed those facets with my rasp: completed a secondary facet... hard to see here but I have drawn lines down the center of the neck to show me where the facet ends... from there I approximate a 67.5 degree chamfer. this neck will have a vintage spec soft v... have owned a hard v but it was a bit much... thought this might be a nice pairing with the 9.5" radius fretboard. Here's a shot of her all sanded up... =================update 1/10/20========================= slapped some frets on the neck... amber dye here is looking pretty orange but a lot of that is my camera... 186.24 kB · 0 downloads sneak preview of my butterscotch body in the corner... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Your finishing schedules are getting pretty sophisticated, MIke. Obviously you have a short learning curve. The ash body is looking sublime, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the les flaws goes. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 2 minutes ago, ScottR said: Your finishing schedules are getting pretty sophisticated, MIke. Obviously you have a short learning curve. The ash body is looking sublime, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the les flaws goes. SR thank you sir... probably more luck than anything but it's coming out the color I was shooting for (pardon the pun). Sort of on the 'banana' side of butterscotch blonde. hoping to get some clear on this weekend. Have sort of focused in on the broadchaser as I'm figuring on some cure time and then relic time, but hope to get back to the les flaws next weekend and do a template for the neck channel. thanks again for the reply and support (as always)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Have you got plans, more photos etc of that binding channel jig? I could do with making something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said: Have you got plans, more photos etc of that binding channel jig? I could do with making something like that. I didn't use a plan... just looked at a number of builds online, but I'll tell you all you wanna know and take all sorts of pics if you like. one key element is a light router. you don't want to fight a lot of counter weight so... the rigid is good, has some good torque, and is very light. there are other candidates that would be fine but I wouldn't use a 'full' router - just a laminate router. basically, I just build a simple 3 sided box. put a piece of plexi on the bottom with a little spot for the router to place the bit at the edge of the two 'legs' of the box. this is important so that you have enough room underneath that your body doesn't hit the other part. (I can take measurements if you want) on the back of that I used some drawer slides. you can find one's that have a spring that 'pulls the drawer closed' - this is a nice feature as it acts against the springs pulling upward and lets it sort of 'hover' - but is not required. any drawer slide will work. I built another box at the back with just some simple triangle sides, a face and a bottom. this allows you to clamp the jig to your bench at the back. bought a couple of furniture springs (hardware store) and bent the hooks such that they'd hold on to a screw. on the other side I put eyelet screws so they could be detatched for taking it apart later. I'll try to take some more shots when I get home but I'm old and could forget so don't be shy to remind me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 thanks dude, appreciate that, photos will def help me make something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2020 @ADFinlayson here you go. the part that holds the router is 5" x 9" x 11.5". If I had to do over again I'd make the 9" a 6.5" as when going around there are a few spots where I would make contact with the corners unless I pivot the body a certain way. Put some female velcro to protect the surface of the guitar. Drilled the hole in the back for cable relief but that didn't work out quite the way I hoped... could have made the 5" dimension 7" but it works fine, just a hair hard to get the router out. the lexan bridge in the front there is just to help stiffen up the lexan... again probably would have been less flexible if I had gone 6.5" across instead. had to play with the springs and distances they were attached to get the thing to float right. not particularly fancy but it works very well. see here... the white part there is called an escutcheon . you can find in hardware stores - for dressing up where a pipe disappears into a wall. there are other methods of things that follow the body but this is cheap and easy. Just glued it to the lexan with super glue. here's a shot showing the springs attatched to the eyelet screws on one side. on the other side they are just attached to the other piece via some woodscrews. crimped the hook on the spring and screwed it in to fasten. the back side where I usually use two clamps to clamp it to my table. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 11, 2020 Report Share Posted January 11, 2020 Nice. When I saw that in your thread, I thought you had built a pin router setup for the same purpose. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2020 35 minutes ago, ScottR said: Nice. When I saw that in your thread, I thought you had built a pin router setup for the same purpose. SR no, not quite. just something simple. it's not 100% perfect as the escutcheon caused about 1/32-1/16 drift in the depth but it's not really even perceptible because it drifts in and out of the slop. good 'nuf fer me! anywho, thanks for the response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 11, 2020 Report Share Posted January 11, 2020 Hey Mike, I really like your adjustable planer sled. It’s seems really great for putting the angles in. I’m sure the mild steel box means the sled slides a bit easier than if it was all wood/mdf? the binding jig is cool too, a simpler (and cheaper) version of the Elmers binding jig 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2020 Just now, willliam_q said: Hey Mike, I really like your adjustable planer sled. It’s seems really great for putting the angles in. I’m sure the mild steel box means the sled slides a bit easier than if it was all wood/mdf? the binding jig is cool too, a simpler (and cheaper) version of the Elmers binding jig right on and thank you for the reply! the sled rails are steel and the main reason I chose that is that it is rigid. Orig I used aluminum but they had too much flex in the middle over 36". W steel they only flex if you push down hard in the middle. I'm going to be building a new version of it someday and I'll use 1/8" steel square tube so I can extend to 4' for bass necks.. these are 1/16". I wasn't familiar with elmers but it looks a lot like stew mac. def didn't cost much to build this and that is nice, but I actually think it might be better: 1 - more room under it means less struggle maneuvering the piece. you wouldn't think you'd need it but trust me - I almost want more of it... specifically when doing the horns you can take a more natural approach going straight into it. 2 - the clear plexi allows you to 'see' the work and I find this handy. prevents me from doing something dangerous like getting eye level with the bit. 3 - the drawer slides I use have a counter spring that pulls back down... this makes the thing float very nicely. there is a little tension and I like that. I don't know if some of the other designs would have that. also prevents a 'violent' drop if you pull the piece out. not trying to be a 'mine is better' guy, that jig looks very nice and I'm sure it runs smooth and is clearly more heavy duty... but I'm very happy with this jig and def recommend giving it a shot if you need something like this. It was very simple to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 12, 2020 Report Share Posted January 12, 2020 Thanks Mike that's really helpful. I'll see about building one so I can attempt a bound build 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2020 16 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: Thanks Mike that's really helpful. I'll see about building one so I can attempt a bound build glad to be of help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2020 did some relicing to the hardware... control plate was the first thing I did and started out with fine steel wool to remove protective coating but it didn't do enough damage so switched to coarse... that was clearly too much! Not crazy about how it turned out so will redo that... and didn't realize the knobs are a hair small for my pot shafts so will have to order some replacements. All in all it went ok. wired up my broadcaster controls. again no tone control here. have a middle hot rail hidden under the pickguard that will be used for hum cancelling. mode 1 will be std tele operation. 2 will be the tele pickups operating as parallel humbuckers with each one paired with a single rail. mode 3 will be the same but in series. the vero board there is just a common place for all my pickups to be wired to. In case I've got something wrong I just swap the positions and don't (in theory) have to screw with my heatshrinked wires. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 12, 2020 Report Share Posted January 12, 2020 4 hours ago, mistermikev said: did some relicing to the hardware... control plate was the first thing I did and started out with fine steel wool to remove protective coating but it didn't do enough damage so switched to coarse... that was clearly too much! Not crazy about how it turned out so will redo that... and didn't realize the knobs are a hair small for my pot shafts so will have to order some replacements. All in all it went ok. wired up my broadcaster controls. again no tone control here. have a middle hot rail hidden under the pickguard that will be used for hum cancelling. mode 1 will be std tele operation. 2 will be the tele pickups operating as parallel humbuckers with each one paired with a single rail. mode 3 will be the same but in series. the vero board there is just a common place for all my pickups to be wired to. In case I've got something wrong I just swap the positions and don't (in theory) have to screw with my heatshrinked wires. All looking good, @mistermikev I also use vero board for similar stuff and also as a common junction for multiple earths, etc. Useful stuff. Love the binding jig 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2020 5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: All looking good, @mistermikev I also use vero board for similar stuff and also as a common junction for multiple earths, etc. Useful stuff. Love the binding jig thank you sir! I have a pcb design with wire labels in the copper that I intended to start using, but too lazy to etch something right now... and vero works just fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2020 some shots of the body... looking pretty tan in this light... inner binding - and one picture says it all in terms of frustration! side note - did you know binding is easily set on fire via heat gun? binding the headstock overlay was seemingly easier comparably! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 ============update 1/19/20=============== note to self... next time separate the builds into a post each... pretty hard to follow 3 disparate builds! finished and bount my les flawes headstock. got a couple little spots at the points that will require some attention but pretty solid. got the top on for the tuxedo... the f hole is fully bound, top trimmed, binding channel cut just after this. working on adding the body binding now. On the radius for the top, I left a flat spot for the tele style trem king... was concerned I'd have little gaps as it transitioned from flat to radius (I broke them lightly) - but it turned out good. have 1 little spot where I didn't get glue squeeze out because I was a little too conservative with glue but pretty minor. took my pickguard and heat bent it over the body no problem. routed out the neck pocket (little overhang on the pickguard) and the p90 slot for it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 20, 2020 Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 That f-hole looks like it must have been a pita to bind, looks great though. It'll sound mean with a neck p90 too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 18 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: That f-hole looks like it must have been a pita to bind, looks great though. It'll sound mean with a neck p90 too thank you AD! yes, total pain. one strip spontaneously combusted... literal flame coming off of it from the heat gun at med setting! was tricky because I had to get the binding really soft to do those circles at the end... probably within a few degrees of starting on fire! thought about trying to build a channel to bend the binding then apply but I don't plan on using the same f hole over and over so... I just winged it. thanks again for the reply. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 ============01/25/20=============== got the binding on the tuxedo... got some inlay done... but funny thing happened. turns out this 25.5" scale length fretboard has fret slots from a 24.75". the must have put the slots in the wrong one... (or perhaps I ordered a 24.75sl board. oh well. could order a new one and some new inlay... but this is an opportunity to try a 24.75sl on a tele... so think I'll go back to my orig blank and make that work. (mmmm, lemonaid). gold mop on granadillo and white mop on ebony... 780.24 kB · 0 downloads also, finally got my broadcaster to check... check please! remember, it's not the size of your check that matters... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 26, 2020 Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 What technique did you use to get the checking? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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