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57 Gibson Futura build


pshupe

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So I will move on with the second build now.  I think I stated that I finished the first build about a year ago and then I was contacted by someone wanting to buy the test body and neck as long as I built it up into a finished guitar.  Challenge accepted! 😉

So here is where the parts sat when I picked this build up again.  The body was pretty much done the neck was rough shaped and I had picked out a nice dark brown EIR fret board.

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I routed the neck for a double action truss rod, not vintage correct but a good idea in my mind.  Machined the fret board and glued in MOP dots. 

front - 

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backIMG_6276.JPG.d0d1bd314409ffdf7796e6205fbc2125.JPG

Notice this is a two piece body, again not vintage correct but a lot cheaper. 😉  I actually couldn't find a nice wide piece of Korina at any price.

Cheers Peter.

 

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I found a couple of pics doing the truss rod cavity.  I find the router table works the best for just a straight slot.  I have the Stew Mac low profile spot facer tool and it seems to work OK but I would not recommend this rod for the angled head stock design in this orientation.  It takes a bit of fiddling to get the rod to sit perfectly in the slot.
 
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Cheers Peter.
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Finally got some time back on this build. Got out my fret board sanding jig and went through a number of grits.  I use a 18" aluminum radius beam in a jig thta holds the fret board right in the center.  I double faced tape my fancy walnut push stick for nice even strokes. 😉
 
 
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I usual mark the top so I know I'm sanding evenly and just take off the pencil marks then move up a grit.
 
 
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I start at about 80- 100 and work up to about 400.
 
 
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Cheers Peter,
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Back at this one again.  My friend wants the big "G" logo on the head stock.  There is some debate whether this was ever a Gibson thing or not.  Apparently Billy Gibbons had a luthier build him a few guitars with that logo.  I guess in that case it could stand for Gibbons as well.  I did some research and found quite a few old examples of a similar head stock logo on what seem to be Gibsons.  I even found one that they say was a Futura / Explorer neck mounted on a J-200.
 
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and also some more modern ones and specifically a Futura -
Futura_G04.thumb.jpg.3432da4e26d0239a7ce8427f069b8ae9.jpg
 
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This is the one I will try and duplicate.  I took a snipit of it and scaled it to about the right size and tried to match it up to my CAD head stock drawing -
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I think this is pretty close.  I bought some shell cutting bits for my CNC machine, which are not cheap.  So hopefully I won't break too many.  I also got my hands on some MOP blanks.  I should be able to get two big G's out of each 1"x 2" MOP blank.
 
Regards Peter.
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I got my hide glue setup out to glue on the ears, which are quite a bit wider than normal LP ears.
IMG_6572.JPG.686d408d79342877b05cf40be82c84e1.JPG
 
The grain looks like it will match quite well.  Gotta move quick with HHG but it's such a small amount of glue it went pretty well.
 
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All clamped up and I wiped off the squeeze out the best I could.  I'll let it setup over night and I will turn my attention to frets.
 
Put away the glue stuff and get out the fret stuff -
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I have my fret bender setup to bend to about a 10" radius.  I like to over bend it slightly as it seems to grip better.  I'm using one of the Stew Mac by the pound fret wire as it is almost identical to the vintage wire used on these guitars.  It comes in 24" lengths and I use just over 2 lengths.  Just over by one piece of fret wire.
 
Put away the fret wire stuff and get out the fret press.  This is the second time I am using this press and I like it for pressing frets into boards that are not glued to the neck yet.  I wasn't that impressed with this tool but I think it will work out fine but I might have to make a couple of simple fixtures to hold the work piece better.
 
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All pressed in and ready to snip and file the edges -
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It's nice to do a simple board for a change.  No binding, nibs, or clipping fret tangs.  It makes short work of a fret board.  All trimmed and filed and ready to glue to the neck.
 
IMG_6579.JPG.dcf17910fcc4e4c0da3b095ba7f4ae5a.JPG
 
Cheers Peter.
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Yep - that's me.  I've been a CAD monkey for about 30 years now.  From AutoCAD to 3DS Max to Revit and now onto Fusion 360.  Still got a lot to figure out but it's a lot of fun designing and then cutting stuff out on the CNC and then doing all the wood working and setup etc etc.  Don't get bored doing one thing when building guitars.  That's for sure.

Cheers Peter.

PS - skyjerk - Chris, got me over here.

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6 hours ago, pshupe said:

Yep - that's me.  I've been a CAD monkey for about 30 years now.  From AutoCAD to 3DS Max to Revit and now onto Fusion 360.  Still got a lot to figure out but it's a lot of fun designing and then cutting stuff out on the CNC and then doing all the wood working and setup etc etc.  Don't get bored doing one thing when building guitars.  That's for sure.

Cheers Peter.

PS - skyjerk - Chris, got me over here.

right on... well I think I can speak for everyone in saying we're glad/lucky to have you contributing.  also we're lucky to have skyjerk.

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2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

right on... well I think I can speak for everyone in saying we're glad/lucky to have you contributing.  also we're lucky to have skyjerk.

Thank you.  I started this about 7 yrs ago and it is a great hobby.  I've met lots of cool people and try to meet up with forum members if I am traveling.  I can see retiring into this as it sure doesn't make financial sense considering how long it takes me to build a guitar but I enjoy it immensely..

Yes Chris is a pretty awesome dude! Unfortunately he has gone over to the dark side and gotten himself into blacksmithing.  .😁  I try not to follow him too much in that respect as I may be tempted to buy a forge! I might also have to look for a new place to live if I did that.  I'm lucky to have a tolerant wife but do not want to push it.  😉 Just kidding.  I'm sure Chris will be back building some guitars at some point as well.  I would imagine he checks out the threads here as well.

Cheers Peter.

 

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Head stock wings are dry and out of the clamps.  I printed out the drawing of the head stock with the G logo.
 
img_6580-jpg.423135
 
I jointed the front face as the ears were pretty consistently raised above the head stock face.
 
 
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Just a few swipes with my plane and sand a touch.
 
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The face looks like it's a different colour but I think it is just because I didn't take much off the face so a bit more oxidation than the ears.  This will be under a holly veneer anyway.
 
 
head stock layout -
 
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Thickness on the band saw.
 
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Cheers Peter.
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1 hour ago, pshupe said:

Thank you.  I started this about 7 yrs ago and it is a great hobby.  I've met lots of cool people and try to meet up with forum members if I am traveling.  I can see retiring into this as it sure doesn't make financial sense considering how long it takes me to build a guitar but I enjoy it immensely..

Yes Chris is a pretty awesome dude! Unfortunately he has gone over to the dark side and gotten himself into blacksmithing.  .😁  I try not to follow him too much in that respect as I may be tempted to buy a forge! I might also have to look for a new place to live if I did that.  I'm lucky to have a tolerant wife but do not want to push it.  😉 Just kidding.  I'm sure Chris will be back building some guitars at some point as well.  I would imagine he checks out the threads here as well.

Cheers Peter.

 

right on... I hear ya on the how long it takes.  have never sold a guitar and do it more for fun but if I did I'd have to charge eleventy million dollars to pay myself $8 hr.  Is a ton of fun tho.

I saw that skyjer is now a smith... perhaps we'll see him on one of those knife making shows!  Anywho, I'll quit diverting your excellent thread. 

cheers

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I did mark the outline on the front and the back but I like to drill holes from the front.
 
 
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Then trim out on the bandsaw with the face down.
 
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Finish up by getting the sander and the router table all ready to go.
 
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I'll sand close to the line on the sander then cut a head stock template, probably from 1/2" fly wood and use the router table to finish the head stock shape.
 
 
Cheers Peter.
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I created a new template for the head stock.
 
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taped it to the head stock and used a pattern bit to cut to the line.  I took quite a few passes so as to ensure there would be no tear out.
 
 
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finished up -
 
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blended the back of the head stock with the neck join.
 
 
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Cheers Peter.
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2 hours ago, pshupe said:

I can see retiring into this as it sure doesn't make financial sense considering how long it takes me to build a guitar but I enjoy it immensely..

"Financial sense"? As you say, you enjoy building guitars. There's a name for an expensive thing that makes you enjoy yourself, it's called "therapy". Instead of lying on a sofa telling how few toys you had as a child and how even those few were most often behind the radiator, you can concentrate on something you really like. Plus instead of just paying through the nose for talking smack you get items that remind you every day how good you have felt and will feel making them!

Talking about other costs that don't make financial sense, just how much does a haircut cost? Hair grow for free, don't they? Getting free stuff removed and the rest of it dyed, shaped, snipped, pinched, waxed and whatever to something beyond the normal behaviour of hair, how would that improve your financial state?

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Onto the neck body join.  It is a very complicated joint.  There are 3 faces on the tenon and then the top of the body has to be sanded down to be flush with the neck angle.  But only about half way.  There will be small wedges placed under the fret board.  I placed the body in a vise and placed the neck in the mortise.  I just used a rasp to take down the edges to be flush with the top of the neck.  It went pretty quick.
 
 
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You can see the pencil marks where I wanted to take some material away.
 
 
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a quick mock up.
 
 
Cheers Peter.
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Went over to the candy shop (wood store) and bought a chunk of Holly.  I had a few pieces licking around but none wide enough.  They had a pretty decent selection but none looked that great.  I bought a small piece probably enough to get 10 veneers or so.
 
 
rough cut -
 
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jointed - nice and clear piece
 
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re-sawed a thin veneer -
 
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and got out my other tools for the veneer and MOP inlay -
 
 
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Cheers Peter.
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I test fit the tuners on my headstock template.  I do not know why but I thought they looked too close to the edge and not spaced correctly.  They looked fine.
 
 
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I machined the holly veneer with the G logo route and truss rod access as well as the outline offset about 1/16" all the way around.
 
 
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Then got out all my clamps.  I have had issues with veneers sliding in the past but did not want to put locator pins.  Maybe next time as this was a bit of a pain.  HHG again and lots of clamps.  I'll keep it clamped over night.
 
 
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I mounted the pearl on a block with CA glue and some accelerator.  I'll give this a try and see how it works.  I double face taped the block to my CNC lining up the cross hairs to ensure it was in the correct location.
 
 
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Then let her run.  I cross my fingers sometimes when running these toolpaths.  I just got new shell cutter bits and this is the first time I am cutting MOP.  The bits are 0.0156" diameter and are remarkably strong.  I ran about 8/1000" per pass until I cut right through the blank.  I got two inlays out of this one piece.
 
 
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Now the fun part.  Trying to release the MOP from the wood backing.  I trimmed to the edge of the pearl blank with the bandsaw and dropped the whole thing into an acetone bath.  I'll see if it loosens up later on and then I can epoxy in the inlay.
 
 
Cheers Peter.
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So I cut out that little piece of maple close to the edges around the pearl.  The pearl is really stuck down there.  I sub-merged it in some acetone while I had dinner and when I went back out it had slid off the backer.  Wow that was easy.  This will be my go to work flow from now on. yesway.gif
 
 
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I took the clamps off the head stock and flush trimmed to the veneer head.  Test fit the inlay.  Looks pretty good.
 
 
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Cheers Peter.
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Mixing up some epoxy.  I'm trying something different.  I realize that when I routed the inlay pocket it may be a little too snug to allow the epoxy to flow.  I had some thinner stuff from the SG build I used so thought I'd give that a try.
 
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It's definitely thinner than the 5 min epoxy I have used in the past and it seemed to flow nicely around the inlay.  I'll probably let it setup the rest of the day and check back on it tomorrow.
 
 
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Cheers Peter.
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Got back from Buffalo late this afternoon and started filing the epoxy.  I got it down to the inlay but it seems a little tacky still.
 
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So I moved on to finalizing the neck body join before putting on the fret board.
 
 
I bought this box of thin rolls of sand paper from Lee Valley which are really handy for finessing a neck body joint.  I slip a piece of sand paper in the tight side of the joint and then place the neck in and pull the strip through the joint.  It sands off the high spots and gets a nice fit.
 
 
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Onto the fret board.  I have a stainless steel fret board template that I use for shaping the fret board and I also use it for aligning the fret board with the neck.  I clamp the template on the neck and the fret board and drill a hole with a depth stop so I can use a small hardwood dowel to align when I glue on the board.
 
 
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Regards Peter.
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and glue on the fret board.  More HHG and I enlisted my wife to give me a hand.  I find this hard to do by yourself even though I have indexing pins and fixtures all setup.  It would be nice to have a big long clamp that I could just put on the glue index the board and then slide the neck in and clamp with one hand.  Or those pneumatic clamps like they have at big manufacturing plants.  One can dream. 😉
 
 
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I'll let that sit over night and then I will check on the epoxy for the inlay and think about mounting the neck to the body.
 
 I also picked up some parts from Dan at Mojoaxe.
 
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I had them delivered to my friend's place in Buffalo and brought them home this afternoon.  Great stuff and I had a real issue with USPS but Dan was right on top of it and everything worked out perfectly.  If anyone needs vintage stuff either aged or NOS Dan is the guy.  Check them out at www.mojoaxe.com
 
Cheers Peter.
Edited by pshupe
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