Dirge for november Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) Hi guys, It must have been ages since I last visited this forum. The reason: I had a guitar building overdose doing my final project for school. I lived, ate, dreamt and played guitar for half a year. As a result I simply had a guitar builders block. In fact it stopped me building and even reading about building guitars. Well, now I'm finally getting some inspiration back and thought I would start of with a 'leftovers' project. I got some black DR strings as a present from a friend of mine, but I didn't want to waste them on my vintage sounding guitars. A dilemma you all probably had at least once: Something small that just begs for a guitar to be built around it. As so happens I still had some EMG's laying about from when I changed them for vintage pickups in my first build. Also I have a black Wilkinson Wraparound and some black tuners. Gotoh I believe (to lazy to get up and check). Woodwise I still have some bamboo leftover from my final project, and I figured the wonderfully clear (bright) sound would fit well with an EMG and a wish for clear metal tones. For this interpretation of my first design I was inspired by the LP junior. I want to make this guitar as plug-and-playable as possible. I'll use just one of the EMG's in bridge position. Then I figured I would carry the simplicity further: no knobs whatsoever. Then even further: no back plate whatsoever. How i do this you'll probably figure out by checking the pics. Edit: All the stats in a list: - Bamboo body - One EMG 85 in bridge - Wilkinson Wraparound bridge - no knobs - Color: Green - Neck: Spanish cedar (leftover) reinforced with carbon rods - Fingerboard: Bloodwood 24 frets - Bolt-on (most likely) The color I'm going for is going to be a green. Something like the color they use on old stoves: The first picks: I glued the halves together, after which I went around the template with the router. Edited January 18, 2011 by Dirge for november Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 You can see the gallery at: http://s602.photobucket.com/albums/tt110/dirgefornov/Entropic%20Junior/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 ok, you've piqued my interest. Is that not a cavity I see drawn in on the template? Where is your battery box going? hmmmm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Haha, puzzle puzzle. See the small cavities connected to the square jack exit? They are positioned under where the bridge is going to be. And connected to where the pickup cavity is going to be. I know it's gonna be a small hassle to change batteries, but this ones for myself, so it's not a prob. The cavity drawn on the template was the initial plan. I routed a channel in that direction so in case I want to do a cavity I can just rout it from the back and be done. The channel connecting to the pickup cavity will already be there then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skullsession Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I know you said no knobs...but you gotta at least put one or two of those big 'ol stove kobs on there somewhere....or maybe the stove timer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Not even a bad idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Some progress which had already been made, but of which I just took some pics: The body routed to the template: The second pass I took routing (to get the full body thickness, using the upper part of the body as a template) went a bit wrong at some places. Sometimes my router took a bit of a dip. Some unclear pics of the result (the front is tight, the pics are of the back): This last one shows how dimwitted I can be somethimes The router bearing ducked into the hole... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Shait, the filler option aint working.. It crumbles when I sand it.. Could this be because the filler I use is to old? Any other ideas for solving this problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mender Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Shait, the filler option aint working.. It crumbles when I sand it.. Could this be because the filler I use is to old? Any other ideas for solving this problem? As they are pretty shallow, I would just sand the wood down to get rid of the dips. Sanding carefully, you should be able to blend it all in and looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 The next small step has been taken.. I sawed the bloodwood fretboard to a taper by hand. It took about 1,5 hour to complete one side, though the second side went a lot better. I'll now think twice before sawing the neck blank by hand... I sawed the first side from the back.. Wrong way to go about it as I learned. There are one or two tiny spots where there's a chip missing where the fret slots are. Second side I sawed from the top, the result is beautiful, it couldn't be straighter! Also I bought some carbon fiber reinforcement rods. I think I have all the gear except the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 This topic keeps on disappearing to the second page, let's do something about that A.K.A.: Progress I did quite a lot by my standards yesterday. I sawed a neck blank from a to large body blank for a future project. I routed the slots for the carbon reinforcement rods and the trussrod. Then I glued in the carbon rods with epoxy, hand carved a recess for the allan head of the trussrod and glued on the fretboard! Not everything went without scratches. Step by step: As you can see my (whatchamacallit) saw machine practically fell apart. There are some springs and rings lying a bit further out of the picture. I rushed to the store to get a handsaw: This worked surprisingly well and fast, especially since I'm in a wheelchair and can't exactly lean over my work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Routing the channels The channels The rods glued in Hand carvin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I glued some pieces against the fretboard while it was dry clamped, so while glueing the fretboard would stay in position. I unclamped this morning.. I took no pic though, because it would look exactly the same as the dry clamped version (first pic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Do you guys have any ideas on what finish was used on stoves and such like the one in my first post? I'm not sure I will go with the real deal eventually, but it might be a nice addition to the feel of the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mender Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Do you guys have any ideas on what finish was used on stoves and such like the one in my first post? I'm not sure I will go with the real deal eventually, but it might be a nice addition to the feel of the build. Stove enameling wouldn't really be possible on a guitar because it is (or at least, it should be) baked enamel. It is applied as a powder and baked at a very high temperature, much like the glaze on crockery. A guitar would simply go up in flames at those temperature. You can get cold brush or spray enamel, but it looks and feels nothing like proper stove enamel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Thanks, exactly what I was afraid of . In that case I'll stick to the color and use a 'normal' method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Some progress on the neck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 And the headstock being straightened out with the rasp: and now... Confession time!! As you can see in my previous post I used six clamps to clamp the entire fretboard to the neck blank. One side I used a single piece of wood under the clamps. On the other side I used smaller individual pieces. The side with the one piece turned out great, the clamping force was evened out across the entire fretboard. The other side however.. Well, the pictures are bad, but they show the problem allright. The fretboard ‘waves’ a bit. The places where it was clamped are fine, but in between the FB rises up a bit. I’m going to try to solve this tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted on how and on the results!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted February 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 It took me a while to gather up the courage, but I fixed the problem! With some dual action ironing and reclamping (without removing the fretboard). Problem surprisingly enough solved! I guess the next step is to fix the mistakes on the body. Something I'm not looking forward to, but it'll get me where I want to be. Then the remaining steps are fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 It took me a while to gather up the courage, but I fixed the problem! With some dual action ironing and reclamping (without removing the fretboard). Problem surprisingly enough solved! I guess the next step is to fix the mistakes on the body. Something I'm not looking forward to, but it'll get me where I want to be. Then the remaining steps are fun. Thats kewl......... iron and re-clamp to the rescue !! Too cool . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted August 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 It's been ages. A quote from my blog: [Entropic Junior] The return of the previously extremely lazy guitar builder! I’m back! Well, to be truthful, I’ve never been gone… I have been very lazy on the guitar, because problem solving is the least appealing work to be done on a guitar. Fixing your own stupid mistakes is confronting, and very tedious work in this case. Well, it might not be the right thing to do, but I didn’t solve any of the problems. Instead I did some work that is very pleasing as it takes little time yet the result makes me enthusiastic. I rounded over all the edges with a round over bit on my router. After this I (against all rhyme or reason) routed the pickup cavity. Why would this be wrong? Well, the neck cavity hasn’t been routed yet, so I’m risking the danger that my neck won’t be in line with my pickup. It’s a risk I’m willing to take this time around. I did some very careful measuring. Hopefully things will turn out right. Problems remaining: the little dips I made while routing the shape of the body. I filled them up with filler, but it turned out to be useless stuff as it crumbled. I’m now thinking of filling up the dips with epoxy glue. Something for a rainy day. Pics can be found on my photobucket: http://s602.photobucket.com/albums/tt110/dirgefornov/Entropic%20Junior/ Just one to tease you into clicking the link: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted August 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 Lot's of neck progress! All the progress pics and explanation on my blog: www.willemvantuijl.wordpress.com This neck is different from the others I did before. Because I do most of it by hand it starts out butt ugly but becomes nicer and nicer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xadioriderx Posted August 27, 2011 Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 (edited) you could have just put the knobs recessed and in the side of the guitar, so theyre not visible but still exist, might be kinda neat on a build sometime! youd hardly need knobs, just something to cover the knurl on the pots a little. could have a switch too... hmmm got my mind going now! looking good, glad you got your neck problem figured out. looks like youre working fairly limited with tools, welcome to my world! as for routing the pup first. just install the neck, and if its a little off, adjust the route a little to move it into place, and make your own pickup mounting ring the will hold it in the right spot and cover the route Edited August 27, 2011 by xadioriderx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted August 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 Haha, I know I know. No knobs isn't exactly conventional. Nice ideas, but in case of knobs and switches I do want them reachable and changeable while playing! In any case, when I play metal I never use any knobs. And this guitar is a small experiment with all my leftover hardware. The metal justifiable EMG I had lying about is the reason why this will be a metal guitar. I do want to build a guitar with Brian May style switching one day to compensate Indeed I hardly have any tools! Actually I find it surprisingly doable with hand tools. And surprisingly fun as well. I did recently get a column drill or I believe it might be called a drill press? This way my drilling won't be crooked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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