First Build, And It's A 7

[scherzo1928]

Mk, so I wanted to make something like this:

Out of this:

Made a template for the inside of the rings.

Routed the cocobolo.

Chose where to make the rings so I dont have to route the wood and make it thiner.

Drill and cut the insides:

Route...

And enjoy!

[scherzo1928]

Now I needed to take care of the outside part of the rings. Started by butting off the excess wood on the sides.

First one was easy. Only had to cut a little bit, and I was following the grain. Still took my time and made smooth strokes, trying to take as little wood as possible on each one, so I didnt break them.

But for the second one, I had to cut on the sides, not following the grain. Went even easier on this one.

And the wood split on the outside

Close inspection shows it also made a check on the ring itself.

Anyways, if it holds after the routing, I'll just use a drop of CA glue or epoxy or something. It's actually barely noticeable, unless you look for it like that.

I still decided to make the rings a tinny bit thicker, 1mm more should be fine.

BTW, I was planning on drilling the rings, and scrweing them to an MDF or wood guide to route on the router table. But somehow I changed my mind, and simply taped them to a piece of MDF and routed them. Something like this:

[scherzo1928]

And they turned out like this:

.

Better pics to come!

[scherzo1928]

Well, it seems like the pickup rings held fine.Just used a drop of CA glue on the one that "split"

and it's good as new.

Also marked the position of the bridge and pickups. Then drilled the hell out of the soon to be pickup cavities

I can be really nervous at times (read paranoic), so I decided it would be better to make sure the template was spot on.

And routed.

Did the same for the bridge pickup.

Then made sure the position for the bridge was correct, and drilled pilot holes.

[Johnny Foreigner]

this is a great build.

what sort of laser are you using to line everything up?

[RestorationAD]

Not a big fan of the lazer... It is never accurate enough for me (guess I need a better one).

But everything else seems to be going swimmingly.

How did you make out on finding the oil finish supplies?

[scherzo1928]

this is a great build.

what sort of laser are you using to line everything up?

It's just a laser level. Bought it really cheap, and seems to work like a charm.

can kinda see it in this pics if that helps.

Not a big fan of the lazer... It is never accurate enough for me (guess I need a better one).

But everything else seems to be going swimmingly.

How did you make out on finding the oil finish supplies?

I've been a fan since I saw a friggin sharkk with a laser beam.

Well, I found the boiled linseed oil. Just a very very small jar though. The problem I see now, is having to buy more supplies to make more oil, and re apply it every now and then.

[RestorationAD]

I find that the beam is wide and therefore not accurate enough...

As for the oil finish ingredients.... why didn't you order some from the internet?

[scherzo1928]

I find that the beam is wide and therefore not accurate enough...

As for the oil finish ingredients.... why didn't you order some from the internet?

Well, I only found the teak oil nearish (3 hour drive, maybe 5 with holiday traffic).

I couldnt find the others in any other spanish speaking countries except for spain (actually Bilbao in Spain, and the dont speak spanish) and Costa Rica. And they dont ship it, since it cant go on a plane.

You would be amazed at how hard it is to find all of this stuff in here. I think Mexicanbreed already found that out too, haha.

Would gunstock oil work? I'm fairly confident that's the one oil I could find. (somehow, I find that sad )

I would probably have to use some porefiller on the mahogany and tzalam parts...

[ihocky2]

I find that the beam is wide and therefore not accurate enough...

As for the oil finish ingredients.... why didn't you order some from the internet?

What method do you use to line everything up? I use a laser as well and find the beam a little on the wide side, but I don't really have much better of a method. I've tried using a piece of fishing line, but found that as I am setting parts on top of each other the line snags on parts and tends to move with the wood. I use templates for as much of the routing as I can, but I still like to have a nice straight line for verification.

[scherzo1928]

I find that the beam is wide and therefore not accurate enough...

As for the oil finish ingredients.... why didn't you order some from the internet?

What method do you use to line everything up? I use a laser as well and find the beam a little on the wide side, but I don't really have much better of a method. I've tried using a piece of fishing line, but found that as I am setting parts on top of each other the line snags on parts and tends to move with the wood. I use templates for as much of the routing as I can, but I still like to have a nice straight line for verification.

yeah, I used the laser just to verify that my template was perfectly placed. And the beam is indeed on the wide side. I just check that my center line is perfectly centered all along the beam.

[scherzo1928]

Hey Scherzo, it´s coming along nicely. It´s ironic that finding local hardwoods in Mexico is so damn difficult. As you mentioned in a pm, LMII can´t ship wood items to Mexico...even cocobolo! I didn´t know that since I haven´t ordered anything (thanks for saving me the grievance). I guess that also rules out Erikbojerik as an option.

Gunstock oil would be perfect! I´ve been searching high and low for that thing! I´ve visited every damn sports and outdoors store in Puebla to no avail. Even googling it only yields other people looking for the stuff. There´s a gunsmen forum and apparently one of them can source it. If you can find it otherwise, please share! I have a Yamaha awaiting for finish and I´d love to use Tru Oil or something similar.

For other finishing supplies...well, there´s Home Depot where I live (three of them). Also, there are hardware shops. Thanks for the tips and I´m really looking forward to your progress.

Por cierto, donde vives?

I get angry everytime I see a nice piece of Ziricote in this forums, because even though it's from Mexico, I have only found mediocre boards for sale here. The good stuff is exported. And since you cant import wood, you are royally screwed.

I've asked in home depot, and they didnt even know you can use an oil for finishing wood. But I seem to remember seeing it in Liverppol, Hell, Soon as the holidays are over I'll even look in Martí. I might be metal enough to handsaw a guitar, but I cant deal with traffic, and endless children asking for a transformer toy.

Vivo en la ciudad de México, pero también he vivido en Monterrey Y Hermosillo. y en Estados Unidos hace muchos años.

[scherzo1928]

I wouldn´t bother with Martí...I asked. No clue (but hey, if you want to buy a less than mediocre hiking pack for twice the money, they´re the guys!). Strange about Home Depot. Not strange they don´t know much about anything (it´s not their job), but at least to those I´ve gone to, they carry some finishing products like Minwax. They also carry Tung Oil, and finishing rattle cans. I´m not positive, but they might have wipe-on poly as well. If I can find those in Puebla, I´m pretty sure you can find them in Mexico City!

I´ve been thinking about this some more...Buying the wood plank and getting a carpenter to make the blanks to the specs I want, as well as surface them. Then, there are luthiers here, so I could buy a couple of fingerboards from them. Everything else, like fretwire, can be bought for a hefty shipping from US.

Damn it, man! I have studies to pay for! Don´t make me want to build a guitar now!

hehe, I sold one of my old guitars to buy the stuff for my 2nd build!

About the carpenter, if you can get the top and bottom of the board planed down, that would be a great start. Cutting the shape and routing the cavities can actually be the easiest part from my little experience.

Did you check the link I sent you? the guy in Yucatan has some beautiful boards, particularly a pau ferro set, but it's for acoustics also. (same with the only nice looking ziricote I've seen around here.)

[RestorationAD]

I would say gunstock oil is not your best bet depending on what type of gunstock oil it is. If it is Tru-Oil then I would say Coco and Tru-oil don't usually get along. But others might tell you different.

If I was going to try tru-oil I would wipe the Coco with Acetone let it flash off a then put the first coat on and wait a few days. If it dried properly you should be good. However in my opinion Tru-oil might not look as good as a regular oil finish...

Also I have mentioned that you could do a thinned lacquer to seal everything end forgo oil all together.

I am pretty sure you could hit it with thinned shellac and let it cure. Then put a straight varnish finish on top.

The best thing to do is "Test on some scraps"

[scherzo1928]

Well, I've finished the guitar. Sorry I didnt keep updating the thread in here, but I'll make up for it now.

I had to stop building for about a month because of a lame leg injury, but once I got better, I went at it again. Here we go.

Last update was of the controls cavity being routed. Now we need to make a cover for it, and a recess to fit the cover.

Looked at my cocobolo leftovers for a piece that sort of matched the grain, and leveled it.

Cut it with my trusted coping saw

and route it with it's template.

Then make a new template to recess the cover into the back:

[scherzo1928]

Then I proceded to glue the fretboard.

Used a bit of scotch tape over the truss rod

And cut off the excess with a blade.

Drilled small holes at a couple of frets to place pins to keep the board in place when I applied preassure.

Masked the edges.

Used some alluminum as guides to make extra sure it didnt shift.

And clamped it to hell.

Afterwards I radiused the board with a 16" block.

and checked that it was perfectly straight.

[scherzo1928]

Fretwork!! Found some stuff to support the neck while I hammered the frets. By the way, they are SS6100, and oh man they are hard.

Those are actually tile cutting pliers. And still, I could barely cut them.

With the fretting done, I proceded to drill for the tuners and ferrules.

I used the headstock template to help me place the tuners.

Then I used the template again to help me place the ferrules, since I wanted them to follow the same curve as the top of the headstock.

[scherzo1928]

Drilled pilot holes.

Then the recess for the tuners

and the holes for the tuners themselves.

And finally for the ferrules.

OK, so HUGE problem ahead.

In order to drill where the bridge posts go, I had to use a drill press to be perfectly accurate.

BUT, my drill press isnt big enough.

The distance between the column and the bit is not enough. The bit itself is really agressive, and when used with a hand drill, the results look like this:

Sooo, I had to bring the super rig back from the dead.

I had a new column machined for me by a friend, and munted it on the rig.

[scherzo1928]

AND MOUNTED THE DRILL ON TOP!!!!

This allowed me to drill wherever I wanted. It's basically a 3 axis drill press.

After this, I still had a ton of drilling left.

First in the list in the output jack.

Then the bridge pickup.

Something like that, but with less of an angle... It's just weird holding it in place and taking a pic where you can see what's goin on...

Anyways, to connect the neck pickup to the controls cavity, I had a bushing made. This prevents the long drill bit from bending, at it keeps it on target.

To great results I might add.

[scherzo1928]

Fun part starts here. Time to carve a neck!

First finished leveling the back, since the laminate was a tiny bit higher still.

Then I marked the proper thickness of the neck at the first and 12th frets with a rasp, and joined them using a spokeshave

Also started to carve the heel and volute.

[scherzo1928]

Also rounded the edges of the body.

Ok, I finally got some shellac flakes. I tried out different ratios that would work on the cocobolo, and found that around 2.5 parts flakes, 1 part thinner works great.

Also learned to cruch the flakes or they take forever to dissolve.

Cleanup:

[scherzo1928]

Make a muñeca, and queue some appropriate finishing music.

First pass:

After this, I did some wetsanding with 1500 grit.

And applied the 2nd coat.

You can apply a new "layer" after about 10 min since it dries fast. And the surface starts to look beautiful.

Until you end up with a playable mirror.

[scherzo1928]

And after this, it's just finall assembly. My camera was on vacations though, so you only get pics of the final product.

Ok, now that the pics have been administered, I would like to thank those who helped me build this. First, my dad, who helped me a lot when I couldnt build because of my leg acting up. Also, everyone on these forums giving advice, or insight, and in general cheering me on to finish this project.

When I started the project, all I wanted from it was to learn a lot. I think I succeded on that, and I got a lot of ideas, and thoughts on how to make the next ones a lot better. As an added bonus, I got a guitar that (IMO) looks quite well. I detailed the process as much as I could, and I hope it helps others.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

[RestorationAD]

Excellent. I suggest a run at GOTM.

[verhoevenc]

FIRST!? Day-um! DAMN! Nice!

Chris