henrim Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) Hi, My first post although I've been reading this forum quite a bit and even registered some time ago. I'm building my second guitar and thought publishing a few pics of the process. Or technically this is the fourth as I built two guitars 20 years ago when I was in my teens. Anyhow I did not build necks for those so I start the count from the previous build that is still waiting for a clear coat. Which will be applied once I'm done building the paint booth... So, the second build is a single cut with: - Swamp ash body with padauk top. - Set neck with scarf jointed headstock. Neck is maple and head plate is padauk. - Padauk fingerboard, 22 frets, 24,750 scale, 12" radius. Jumbo frets. - Two passive humbuckers, coils spitted with a 5-way switch and volume and tone pots. Pickups will be fixed without mounting frames, either with custom covers or "naked" (model TBD, likely NOT the EMGs shown in one of the pictures). - Tuners 3/3. I have Schaller M6 2000 and Schertler tuners in shelf. Will need to decide which ones goes in to this build. - One piece Bridge/tail piece (likely the schaller 455 as pictured) Finishing - The Back of the body and the neck will be painted off-white (actual colour TBD). - The padouk top and the head plate should match the FB somehow, so i need to do some testing whether all of them will be oiled or if I clear coat the top and the head plate and oil the FB. Clear coat, if used, will be water borne KTM-9. Right now on mobile, so pictures will follow once I'm connected to a proper network. Cheers, Henri Edited June 7, 2011 by henrim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 So, here we go. Headstock veneer cut (covered with tools somewhere in the top left corner of the pic). Also the FB is cut to shape and fret slots are cut into it. Gluing thin strips of padauk on both sides of the FB. Detail of the FB. Gluing headstock scarf joint. Body template cut, checking with hardware. Thicknessing the body blank. The blank was meant to be used on an other body and it was too thick for this build. Cheapskate like me what can you do. But hey, that off cut can be used to make a top for an other guitar... Cleaning up the cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Body and top rough cut. Sandwitched with a template. Routed with a template bit. The rest of the back of the body will be carved so no need to clean it more. Made a jig for neck angle and routed the neck pocket. (clamps holding the jig down were already removed before I took the pic) Planing the neck tenon to be flush with the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) Few more picks I took today. On the previous build I bent fret wire by hand. Lesson learned. I built a bender for the job. Also built a jig to route a sanding block to sand the FB. Another thing I built was a plane to plane thin strips of wood. It's based on a Stanley RB 5 (an awful tool nobody should use as block plane). Anyhow with this mod it became a decent tool for thicknessing thin stock. What I did today was I tried out an idea for mounting the pups. Edit: one more pic. Here we are today. With the most important tool in the pic. Mosquito repellent I'm located on the northern hemisphere, namely south of Finland. It's beginning of the june and we have like millions of those little suckers buzzing around here. Even inside in my shop! Edited June 7, 2011 by henrim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I love your resourcefullness (that's probably a new word) in building tools and jigs. I expect good things from this build. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I love your resourcefullness (that's probably a new word) in building tools and jigs. I expect good things from this build. SR Thank you Scott, resourcefulness sounds like a good word to me. Something to live for. I've seen your single cut thread, beautifully crafted instrument and incredible polish! Cheers, Henri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2011 (edited) Quick update. One thing has changed from the original spec. I decided not use a 5-way rotary switch for controlling the output because the switch I have cannot be fit in to this body as the back of the body will be carved quite heavily. Or actually I will use the same switch but modified to a 3-way switch. So no coil splitting, just: Neck / Both / Bridge. Pickup holes and control cavity routed. Peg holes drilled and headstock roughly cut to shape. EDIT: Added a pic with the padauk top. Edited June 19, 2011 by henrim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 the back of the body will be carved quite heavily. I'm looking forward to seeing that! I love carved backs. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie H 72 Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 this is really sweet man. so glad you're keeping it simple with the woods. the grains of the two match really nicely, and the shape kicks ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the replies! Scott, the plan is to shave the back fairly round as opposed to the top that will be almost straight. Top wood is only 10mm thick right now, so there would not be much to carve but it will likely be shaped a bit (e.g. 10mm at the center and 5mm at the edge). Charlie, thanks for the nice words. Current plan is to paint the back of the guitar white but that might still change because I really like that ash as is. Also an other reason not to paint it would be that I have always preferred to play with an unfinished neck. We'll see Today I glued the fingerboard and even remembered to put in the truss rod I drilled small holes (0,5mm) in couple of fret slots and put thin nails in to them to help keep the fingerboard in place while gluing. Had a thought about making pot knobs of padouk and aluminum tube. I had a length of aluminum tube lying around that is otherwise a good fit but has too thick walls (2mm) to my taste. I'll turn the thickness to 1mm and install a piece of padouk inside it. I made some discs of left overs with a hole saw and glued them together. I don't have a wood lathe so I'll turn them to right thickness in a metal lathe. Waiting for to be spun. Edited June 20, 2011 by henrim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davieboy Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 The build looks great so far. Just noticed the control cavity cover looks really think. Just wondering why if it is. Look forward to the finished project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Just noticed the control cavity cover looks really think. Just wondering why if it is. It is going to be carved to follow the body shape so there is still quite a bit extra material on the cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davieboy Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Just noticed the control cavity cover looks really think. Just wondering why if it is. It is going to be carved to follow the body shape so there is still quite a bit extra material on the cover. That makes perfect sense then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian d Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 I'm fascinated by your pickup mounting, Henri. Will the humbuckers be mounted before the top goes on? - I can't work out how else you can mount them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 I'm fascinated by your pickup mounting, Henri. Will the humbuckers be mounted before the top goes on? - I can't work out how else you can mount them Brian, pickups will be mounted after the top is glued in and i'm using standard humbuckers. The only difference to usual mount is I'll machine a custom mount piece. The mount piece has height adjustment. Pretty simple piece actually but I'll post a pic later that clarifies the principle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPA or death Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 I like it. Nice clean work, great jigs, and the guitar is looking very nice. I'm sure it's going to turn out beautifully with the finish on. Keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 I like it. Nice clean work, great jigs, and the guitar is looking very nice. I'm sure it's going to turn out beautifully with the finish on. Keep it up. Thanks, Indian Pale ale. My favourite of them beers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 (edited) Shaping the neck. Tools of choice. From the right. Traditional western rasp, good for quick shaping for curves. A Japanese saw rasp, accurate tool for quick shaping. Cabinet scrapers, can't beat them. Aluminum gauge I did for the neck, for the 1st and the 11th fret contour. Above of them scrapers and the gauge is the most important tool. A really fast and accurate shaping tool, sort of a mix between a spoke shave and a scraper. This is a tool mede by a Finnish guy Juri Voijola. I don't know him personally but bought the tool from a local wood tool shop in Helsinki. Anyhow definitely a tool for anyone who believes not everything can be made with a router Trashing an idea. So, here is a test piece of the pot knob I had thought about. In the end I think this would have been a good idea if it was the 60's and I was Sony (or any other home entertainment equipment manufacturer of the time). I have some other ideas about them knobs and I'll get back to this later on when it's time to finish up the build. EDIT: added a word to make bit more sense to this nonsense. Edited June 23, 2011 by henrim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted June 23, 2011 Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 Dude! I don't know what you're talking about?! Those knobs are COOL. Granted, you'd have to design a guitar to have the right aesthetic for them, but I'd definitely put something like that on one designed for it! Ahh... to have a metal lathe... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Dude! I don't know what you're talking about?! Those knobs are COOL. Granted, you'd have to design a guitar to have the right aesthetic for them, but I'd definitely put something like that on one designed for it! Ahh... to have a metal lathe... Chris Thanks! That is what i meant sort of I'm going to to design something else for this build and saving these retro buttons for later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 I'm fascinated by your pickup mounting, Henri. Will the humbuckers be mounted before the top goes on? - I can't work out how else you can mount them Sorry, forgot to get back on this. Here's a drawing that clarifies how I figured the mount. The piece will be machined of steel. I'm not sure but probably there will be a cap to hide the screws. And the holes will be countersunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Ahh... to have a metal lathe... Chris, I reckon when Neil Young sung "man needs a maid" he was supposed to sing "man needs a lathe". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian d Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 (edited) I'm fascinated by your pickup mounting, Henri. Will the humbuckers be mounted before the top goes on? - I can't work out how else you can mount them Sorry, forgot to get back on this. Here's a drawing that clarifies how I figured the mount. The piece will be machined of steel. I'm not sure but probably there will be a cap to hide the screws. And the holes will be countersunk. Thanks for that, Henri. Looking forward to seeing how it works on the guitar. Edited June 25, 2011 by brian d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPA or death Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 I think that knob is cool enough to build a guitar around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 I think that knob is cool enough to build a guitar around. Should you try that I'll provide the knobs Spent quite some time trying out different methods to fill the padauk grain and finnish with KTM-9. 1. Rustin's Grain filler. Would be good if I can get the colour right. 2. Shellac. I Have read possible problems with shellac and KTM-9, haven't witnessed any. I Have tried shellac in three different ways: - as is. Needs loads of coats and scraping in between. - mixed with padauk saw dust. Gives most pleasing colour and is relatively fast to apply. Feels promising. - applying with wet sand paper. Fastest method, but the grain gets dark for some reason. Probably impurities from sand paper causes this. 3. CA glue - I find it awkward to work with. And I don't feel too good applying that stuff. Possible solution anyways... I have carved the the neck. Needs to be finished later on but so far pleased with the feel of it. When I started to carve the neck I made a profile gauge close to the shape of 80's Gibson Les Paul neck, I used to play one a lot and felt kinda good with it. Anyhow when I had shaped the the neck down to it I thought since this instrument is for myself I could do it better... When I play barre or power chords my thumb has a quite extreme angle and so I decided to shape the neck more flat and made it also thinner. I'll see how it turns in the end. I tapered the the finger board a bit towards the end and realized the fret slots at the end are not deep enough to fit the fret tangs. Since I had already glued in the "bindings" i had to think how to deepen the slots. Ended up sharpening a feeler gauge and made a chisel from a needle, these did the job quite well. And hell yes, there's another thing coming I'll start a new thread for it some time soon. Shares the same shape, but has most of the details different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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