My First Build

[Denis]

Hey TC Kid,

I am as big a rookie as you - My Build and if there is just ONE thing I would do differently, it would be doing a full size drawing before I started to do anything else.

It may be my first, it has been a learning curve (and a good one at that) but it would have been so much easier if I had taken the time to do even more planning than I did before I started.

Keep having fun

Denis

[Ben]

+1 for pics

+10 for accurate, full sized drawing

Honestly, accuracy is important, otherwise you risk making something completely unplayable.

[Hector]

+100 for pics

[suicidecustom]

my first build is screwed to the wall of my shop to remind me to plan, plan, and plan again. my second build went better and yeilded a playable guitar (plays better than the squire strat i took the neck from) and my brother loves it. im on my third build now, making everything myself. if i didnt spend the 2.5 weeks planing, researching and making a full scale drawing, it wouldnt be going as smooth as it is now.

on a side note, after carving a small part of the neck (took about 20 min taking my time) i realized i better run out this weekend and buy a lot more wood. it actually is fun carving a neck, im definately 100% addicted.

[the telecaster kid]

Well, at long last, I got my digital camera working. Here are some pictures:

Wood Being Glued:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/spie...rX/IMG_2752.jpg

Wood after being glued:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/spie...rX/IMG_2755.jpg

Sideways: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/spie...rX/IMG_2754.jpg

And the blank as it is now (Ignore Cat):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/spie...terX/guitar.jpg

Any input is great!

Edited April 26, 2007 by the telecaster kid

[Jon]

I suggest jointing the boards before gluing.

[the telecaster kid]

I suggest jointing the boards before gluing.

I did. The top and back are still rough int he picture, but the sides were smooth.

[Xanthus]

I like that body shape, it reminds me a bit of the Vampyre basses that Warwick makes. Very cool

I'd also agree with Jon, though, in either jointing or dowel-ing the pieces before gluing them. Even though you said you did, it doesn't look so in the pictures. I'm not calling you on it, just saying.

Also, the glue pictures show 4 pieces being glued together, but the cut out body is a 5-piece. What happened there?

[JOAMdude]

I suggest jointing the boards before gluing.

what does it mean to joint something?

[the telecaster kid]

I like that body shape, it reminds me a bit of the Vampyre basses that Warwick makes. Very cool

I'd also agree with Jon, though, in either jointing or dowel-ing the pieces before gluing them. Even though you said you did, it doesn't look so in the pictures. I'm not calling you on it, just saying.

Also, the glue pictures show 4 pieces being glued together, but the cut out body is a 5-piece. What happened there?

I didn't want to waste the mahogany, so I cut a channel into the body and set it in.

[Jon]

I suggest jointing the boards before gluing.

what does it mean to joint something?

To true an edge before gluing, getting it completely squared off. No planer sniping, no rough edges, just nice and flat.

[the telecaster kid]

I did, well, the guy at the lumberyard hit all the sides with the joiner, taking off at least a total of an inch. They were really good edegs when i glued them, the top looked pretty bad though.

[the telecaster kid]

Update:

As you might be able to tell from the pics, the magony neck channel is too wide, so I'm going to my friends house, (friend who has a better workshop than me) and I'm going to put some redwood on either side. (he just had it lying around.) Not sure how its going to look, but It'll certainly be better than te grooves on either side.

[westhemann]

Sorry to say,dude,but I think you should start over.This time with a plan.I have no idea how you are ever going to get proper fretboard height or ever shape your wings or neck profile properly with it all glued together rough cut like that.I say that because I made the same mistake on one of mine a while back,and it sat in the corner for over a year before I finally cut it back apart and started over.

[the telecaster kid]

Sorry to say,dude,but I think you should start over.This time with a plan.I have no idea how you are ever going to get proper fretboard height or ever shape your wings or neck profile properly with it all glued together rough cut like that.I say that because I made the same mistake on one of mine a while back,and it sat in the corner for over a year before I finally cut it back apart and started over.

Well, I've invested a lot of time and money into it, so I'm going to try to finish it, if it's not playable, damn, lesson learned. I'm definitely going to plan out my next one much more thoroughly.

[westhemann]

Okay,but let me give you a suggestion or two.

To shape the back of the neck with it attached,the most inexpensive tool you gan get that will work well would be a good wood rasp.A long one,because you will need the length to shape around the body join.

I hope you already have the neck face jointed,because doing that with the neck attached will require a certain level of skill with a hand plane.

I don't recall if you said what type of bridge you were going to use,but if you have not already decided,then you are going to have to try to find one with sufficiently low string height to allow for the extremely low body/fretboard ratio,since you don't seem to have a neck angle.I don't believe that you will be able to make a standard 1/4" fretboard work for that.Most times(without a neck angle)the BOTTOM of the fretboard is 1/8" to 3/16" above the guitar top,and that is to allow clearance for a RECESSED floyd rose....one of the lowest bridges you can find.

So you will have to choose carefully.I think you said last you were turning it into a bass?scale length problems aside for now,look into the Badass bass bridges.I am only slightly familiar with them,but i believe they may have a working height similar to a recessed floyd.

Now back t the scale length.You have enough neck length for the minimum 32" bass scale??(there may be a 30",I am not all that familiar with bass guitars..)

The thing is,playable stringed instruments are built to EXACT measurements as far as the playing surface goes.You can play around with headstock angles,string trees,body shape,pickup placement,and all that stuff to a fair degree...but you don't jack with the playing surface.

[JOAMdude]

Okay,but let me give you a suggestion or two.

To shape the back of the neck with it attached,the most inexpensive tool you gan get that will work well would be a good wood rasp.A long one,because you will need the length to shape around the body join.

I hope you already have the neck face jointed,because doing that with the neck attached will require a certain level of skill with a hand plane.

I don't recall if you said what type of bridge you were going to use,but if you have not already decided,then you are going to have to try to find one with sufficiently low string height to allow for the extremely low body/fretboard ratio,since you don't seem to have a neck angle.I don't believe that you will be able to make a standard 1/4" fretboard work for that.Most times(without a neck angle)the BOTTOM of the fretboard is 1/8" to 3/16" above the guitar top,and that is to allow clearance for a RECESSED floyd rose....one of the lowest bridges you can find.

So you will have to choose carefully.I think you said last you were turning it into a bass?scale length problems aside for now,look into the Badass bass bridges.I am only slightly familiar with them,but i believe they may have a working height similar to a recessed floyd.

Now back t the scale length.You have enough neck length for the minimum 32" bass scale??(there may be a 30",I am not all that familiar with bass guitars..)

The thing is,playable stringed instruments are built to EXACT measurements as far as the playing surface goes.You can play around with headstock angles,string trees,body shape,pickup placement,and all that stuff to a fair degree...but you don't jack with the playing surface.

Is an OFR non recessed a bridge that is good for a guitar without a neck angle?

See im not really sure on how thick the fretboard is going to be.

I'll measure my own tonight to kinda gett a feel for it, but in general would an OFR be OK for a flat neck-to-body

[westhemann]

Is an OFR non recessed a bridge that is good for a guitar without a neck angle?

See im not really sure on how thick the fretboard is going to be.

I'll measure my own tonight to kinda gett a feel for it, but in general would an OFR be OK for a flat neck-to-body

Not really.

[Jon]

Now back t the scale length.You have enough neck length for the minimum 32" bass scale??(there may be a 30",I am not all that familiar with bass guitars..)

30"+ are considered bass scales by most. 34" and 35" are the commonly used bass scales, anything inbetween 30" and 34" are custom scales that I have never seen used on mass produced basses. I see 32" and 33" used on custom basses sometimes, I'm guessing those would be pretty comfortable scales for smaller hands.

[westhemann]

I am just thinking that is the shortest scale available on lmii preslotted fretboards.But that is from memory,I could be wrong.