guitarnut Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 I have been quietly buying materials for a serious production run...well, serious for me anyway. I located 35 BF of beautiful Peruvian mahogany, some very nice Bolivian rosewood and some thick quartersawn basswood. I also put together a stash of plain maple, figured maples and ash. that I'll be using for both flat and carved tops. I don't know if I'll cover all of the guitars in this thread but I wanted to cover some points on my experience with mass producing in a small shop and getting maximum yield from my lumber. I spent alot of time thinking about the best way to resaw all of this wood to get the maximum yield. The mahogany was shipped as 2 pieces - 61" x 14" x 3" each. It was originally 122" long but I had them cut it in half knowing that the 61" mark would work for me. My plan was to get 6 body blanks and 16 neck blanks. The problem was, that I needed the neck blanks cut to a different length than the sections that would be body halves. Each 61" piece could have been cut to 18" lengths for the bodies but obviously, that's too short for necks which will be 30". So, I needed to resaw each piece before I did any crosss cutting. I started by marking the center line down each 61" piece. This was at roughly 7". The max resaw height on my band saw is just over 6.75". This cut will leave me room to clean up the edges on the jointer before resaw. Then I built an infeed support out of a stack of stuff that was roughly the same height as the resaw table...I really need to invest in some roller stands. The bar clamps held it all together and the pipe ends hanging down past the cabinet top kept it from scooting forward. Casters locked inplace, were ready to cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 I didn't use a fence for this step. I just ran them thru by hand keeping the saw blade on the line...I'll clean them up on the jointer. Here they are after ripping and cleaning up on the jointer. Now I'm ready to resaw to get things to the proper thickness for bodies and necks. I set up my resaw fence at 2". With the pieces being a hair over 3", this will give me plenty of extra thickness for planing. Here's a shot of the first run yielding a 2" thick piece that will be cross cut for body blanks and a 1" thick piece that will be cross cut for neck blanks. And after all 4 pieces were resawn. Time to move on to basswood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 I bought 6 blocks of basswood that are 4" x 5". My goal was to resaw them to 1.75". At a width of 5", this would give me four 15" wide blanks...a bit overkill but that's the way it worked out. Pretty easy cutting compared to the mahogany. The way it worked out I also ended up with three .125" veneers...I figured I might as well cut them from the blocks instead of having them end up as shavings from planing. You can see them sitting lower right of the pic below. Then I moved on to the rosewood. My plan was to get 32 fretboard blanks but a slip of a clamp on the resaw fence...actually, I didn't completely tighten it...kept me 4 short of that goal. I did end up with some nice rosewood veneers though. :grin: So, the 2" mahogany will be cut to 18" lengths yielding six 2-piece body blanks. The 1" mahogany will be ripped at a shade over 3" and cross cut at 30" yielding 16 neck blanks. Anf the rosewood pieces will be quartered yielding 28 fretboard blanks. The basswood will be glued in groups of 3 and yield 4 body blanks. After sweating thru 2 shirts this morning, it's time to head inside for some guitar assembly...I have 3 builds waiting to be dressed out. :grin: More tomorrow on the tops. A wide range for carved top maple, carved top ash and some flat tops as well. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Just to make sure my math was correct, I did a cut layout. It'll be handy to have during cutting just to keep me on course. By offsetting the body cuts as shown, I can keep the grain lined up from the original planks. The 11" and 9" pieces left over will be used for neck heels, headstock ears and veneers as needed. More tomorrow... Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supplebanana Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 looks like someones going to be busy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oblaty Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 (edited) I could use some of that mahogany too Pretty hard to get a nice piece of it in my country for a reasonable price Looking forward to see your projects Edited June 6, 2010 by oblaty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Why cut the body blanks in half just to re glue them together if they were wide enough already? Just because you couldnt resaw them that wide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Why cut the body blanks in half just to re glue them together if they were wide enough already? Just because you couldnt resaw them that wide? And if that's the case, why not get 8/4 and 4/4 lumber instead of 16/4 and then cut it down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 3" is 12/4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Why cut the body blanks in half just to re glue them together if they were wide enough already? Just because you couldnt resaw them that wide? And if that's the case, why not get 8/4 and 4/4 lumber instead of 16/4 and then cut it down? Fair questions: In this case, the 12/4 boards found me... I got a great deal on them. And yes, ripping them allows me to work the boards in my shop. I don't mind a 2 piece body at all. Even when the grain isn't a perfect match, to me, a centerline implies symmetry. In the same way a one piece figured top just wouldn't have the same lines as a bookmatched top with a centerline. Maybe someday I'll have a saw that can resaw 14" stock and that may change my mind. Right now, I'm not letting it stand in the way of building. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 3" is 12/4. my bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Well, the rampage is over. I have measured, cut, resawn, and planed until my hands ached. It was worth it though. I have set aside 6 mahogany body blanks, 6 basswood body blanks, boards for 2 walnut body blanks, 6 figured maple tops, 2 plain maple tops, a quarter sawn ash top, 16 mahogany neck blanks, 9 flame maple neck blanks, 28 rosewood fretboards and 14 flame maple fretboards. All stickered and ready to work except for the walnut that needs to dry another 6-8 months. One of the reasons for working ahead like this and having things ready to go is I plan to produce a video series as I go thru some of the builds...being an animator and video editor by trade, I should be able to bring some fire power to the effort with multiple camera angles and graphics & animation to illustrate things that are tough to shoot. It was a ton of work but well worth it. My next dozen builds will go much quicker with alot of the prep work done. I had hoped to take more pics during the process but I was constantly thinking about yield and not making any mistakes. I was able to get the numbers I was shooting for except for a few neck blanks that have some worm holes...they may cut/route away though. My thought process was to look at my list of remaining items and with each piece of wood, start out by taking the largest pieces and considering how the scrap might be put to use. It was a great exercise in being frugal with the stock. I still need to cut some ash tops for carving but it hasn't come i yet. My local WoodCraft owns a mill and kiln just north of town that supplies their hardwoods...they have some 13" wide ash that I have dibs on. It should be in by Tues. Then I cut about 100 stickers...that was fun. Just rip and go...no worrying about important cuts. :cool: Much building and many new threads with video support to come this summer...even some first run designs by yours truly. Stay tuned! Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAK Guitars Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Stoked. That stash is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 That stash is ridiculous. Same thing my wife said...different meaning I'm guessing. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 You know what would make your wife happy...Send some of that stash to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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