mannym Posted September 10, 2010 Report Share Posted September 10, 2010 Well, I said I always wanted one. And after the first build rendered me an addict, I thought it was time to pick up another build. More salvaged Timber. Heavy redgum, trued and glued. And salvaged blank used for neck. Using a Les Paul Plan and made up some Templates for the body outlines and headstock. And we wait for a day or 3 before we thickness the body blank. Cheers Manny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted September 10, 2010 Report Share Posted September 10, 2010 What kind of wood is the neck? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted September 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 What kind of wood is the neck? Chris I believe its a species of Maranti (or Meranti). It was great on teh Telecaster in my first build. So Ill give it a try on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted September 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2010 OK, Found some time today in between drying coats of deck oil to cut the body. As always the minimalist, and because I dont have a band saw, off I went with my trusty Hand Saw. Got those edges rounded off just outside the line with my trusty grinder, and the body is now ready to sand to final shape with the sander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haydenralli Posted September 19, 2010 Report Share Posted September 19, 2010 holly **** lol, i've never seen anyone use a saw before that's awesome, but i guess if you dont have a band saw that weirdly enough would be one of logical things to, i use to use a jigsaw before i bought a bandsaw and it literally drove me crazy with all the angle cuts!! if i wanted the edges to be inline i would have to cut mm's away from my template and spend alot of time sanding it but even then i could never get a straight enough line on my neck cut and cutaways.but anyway all i am say is I AM VERY IMPRESSED good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted September 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2010 holly **** lol, i've never seen anyone use a saw before that's awesome, but i guess if you dont have a band saw that weirdly enough would be one of logical things to, i use to use a jigsaw before i bought a bandsaw and it literally drove me crazy with all the angle cuts!! if i wanted the edges to be inline i would have to cut mm's away from my template and spend alot of time sanding it but even then i could never get a straight enough line on my neck cut and cutaways.but anyway all i am say is I AM VERY IMPRESSED good work. Hey Hay!!!! Man I can tell you now, I tried using a jig saw, but this salvaged timber (Australian Red Gum - is out of a warehouse and was sitting around for 70 years before I found it) Im using is very very hard and at 45 mm thick I barely made a dent. I dont have the world's best router bits, so I thought take it easy go slow with the saw, get rid of the "big" stuff......and then I thought to try my trusty grinder with a 80 grit sanding disk on rubber pad. I used the grinder to "carve" my first neck on the Tele I recently made, and its a very versatile tool......just gotta remember to be patient and go slow. Now its ready to sand to the line with my belt sander and home made sanding drums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted September 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2010 A bit more work today on the body. Rigged up my belt sander and sanded the body flush to lines. Just didnt get to the cutaway...should get the drums onto that section this week. Parts are starting to arrive. Bridge, bone nut, knobs, tuners and p-90 pup arrived this week. I'm waiting on the dog ear cover. Here's a mock up. Cheers Manny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted September 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Started work on fret board. Marked out profile and fret lines. Slotted and drilled holes. Merbau nice and dry and has a nice reddish tinge, with some black flecks that will be interesting to see how this borad comes up sanded fine and polished. Holes are 6.5 mm. Added glue and fitted Pearl dots. Next step is to make the 12" Radius Sanding block. Neck needs to be marked up and cut out. Then glue fretboard and sand to radius before carve. Im taking my time on this one. Want to get the neck right first time. More Later. Cheers Manny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 (edited) Started work on the neck today.Firstly, completed a couple of templates for the neck profile and pick guard. Firstly, mark out the profile using the template I made earlier. I cut the head profile and then decided to route the truss rod channel whilst the neck blank was still square. Unlike the tele, Im going for a single action on the Junior. Nice and snug. And now the fun begins with shaping the neck. The trusty old hand saw technique. And the rough shape is cut out. Light is going bad, and rain is setting in, so I called it an afternoon. Next time we should have the final profile sanded, and ready for gluing the fretboard. Cheers Manny Edited October 2, 2010 by mannym Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mender Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 With all the hand sawing you've been doing on this one, you must have arm muscles like Hercules It's certainly coming on well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 (edited) Cheers Mender. Its not too bad, the hardest part is ensuring a nice straight cut. Slow and easy is the trick and a sharp blade helps..... Ive got arms like Mr Bean . Edited October 3, 2010 by mannym Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Great to see so much use of hand tools, craftsmanship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plinky Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Great to see so much use of hand tools, craftsmanship. Absolutely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supplebanana Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 cool... spalted workmate!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Are you the guy that everyone keeps talking about who could build a guitar with a sharpened spoon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Are you the guy that everyone keeps talking about who could build a guitar with a sharpened spoon? Im saving my sharpened spoon for my next Les Paul carve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mender Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Are you the guy that everyone keeps talking about who could build a guitar with a sharpened spoon? He cheats! He uses his fingernails as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted October 5, 2010 Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 Are you the guy that everyone keeps talking about who could build a guitar with a sharpened spoon? He cheats! He uses his fingernails as well i think you mean orgmorg; although he wouldnt carve the body with it, he'd probbly turn it into a tremelo or something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 A little more neck work tonight. Sanded the profile to shape. Glued the "wings" for the wings for the headstock. A day or so later cut out the headstock shape and sanded to lines. Trimmed down Fret board to correct width. Next steps - tidy up the headstock, trim the neck to correct width. Drill tuner holes and glue fretboard. Should be able to finish most of that this weekend and be ready for final carve. Cheers Manny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 Continued on a few things today. Finished shaping and sanding the headstock. Driilled teh peg holes and test fitted. Trimmed down the fretboard and prepared to glue. Installed Truss rod, and fitted fret board. I used a couple of small nails as guide pins. Clamped her up for the night. Whilst the fretboard dries, I started on the 12" radius sanding block. Also started experimenting with this: Added some of this: And got this: A little on the thin side, but Ill definitely try a larger/thicker bucket. Thats it for today. Cheers Manny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 (edited) Whilst the fretboard was getting to know the neck a little better, I thought Id make myself a 12" radius block - the easy way. No building an Eiffel Tower of frames and trusses to route the perfect curve. This time I took this: Did some maths. Whacked some scraps together: And ended up with this: OK. Thats ready for the fretboard. I finished up today by trimming the neck width close to the fretboard profile, and will sand and radius in the next few days. Then the carve. More later. Manny Edited October 10, 2010 by mannym Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
335blues Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Mannym- I am new to the forum and looking forward to my first build. Do you have any suggestions where I might look for salvaged wood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannym Posted October 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 (edited) Mannym- I am new to the forum and looking forward to my first build. Do you have any suggestions where I might look for salvaged wood? Hey Blues, Im a little lucky in that I have family in the building game. They are able to salvage timber for me from some of the demolitions they do. I often help out and that way pick the stuff thats more suitable. There are often furniture items that get turfed out every so often when there's a town cleanup or grabage pickup. If someone leaves a cabinet or old table on the side of the road, Ill definitely take a look and collect it if its usable. Garage Sales are a good one. Often youll find furniture items that are made of the right type of timber, and cost next to nothing. I picked up a bed frame for $5 recently with over 3 meters of suitable timber. The neck on this one and teh neck from my first build are from this old bed frame. Look around your area. You'll be surprised at what you'll find. Just be careful of old building material and ensure there is no exposure to Asbestos debris. You dont want to get an unhealthy dose of that dust in your lungs. Wear a mask if need be to collect and when cleaning the timber. Not a paper mask, get a decent cannister filtered mask. also wear long sleeves and pants when collecting this stuff to make sure. Edited October 10, 2010 by mannym Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boundsteelblues Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 That is the crudest looking radius block I've ever seen, but if it works I got to try to make one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPA or death Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 I love Juniors. There's something about the simplicity of that single P-90 that appeals to me. It does one thing and it does it very well. True story: an LPJR was my first from scratch build but I was using a Les Paul plan, so I put a neck angle on it . It still works though. Keep up the good work man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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