XBIGJIMX Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 So where do you start when you have a 1000 ideas you want to do. Well base it on what you play. So the start is my number 1 for the last 10 years "Molly" A Heritage CM-150. but make the changes I needed. So first the woods Mahogany body Maple tops Necks Maple Jatoba 5 ply With Jatoba fret board. Purple heart maple 5 ply with Willow fret board So I start as always with a hard board "master" template that is transfered to 3/4 MDF After I am happy with everything its the glue up of the 2 part body and the top after resawing the maple cap looks nice Now originally I was going with purple heart necks which you will see later went to hell The original Billets and necks Starting to early in the morning and took to much wood of on the jointer and made some fire wood So grab a fresh blank and redue the scarf joint. I cut these at 13degrees on the band say then even out on the jointer Now truss rod cut on the router table Then some wings for the head stock Now moving on to the bodies, After the glue up its off to the thickness sander to get them to thickness and clean them up. First a trip to the band saw Seeing the cut outs never gets old And hogging out the control cavity before template time Now I use a combo of the Shaper and overarm pin router I also do my tops the same way. Now on my templates I put in register pins so to a line everything up and to prevent slipping in the glue up. and then its back to the necks Rough cut on the band saw then over to the pin router When I carve the tops I take a little off the top with the pin router for a guide and to speed things along I do the main carve with a angle grinder then with a scraper and a hockey skate blade I have a template made for the neck pocket. The depth I always measure with each guitar just to make sure Finished neck pocket with back angle And a test fit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I'm a fan of jatoba necks. They are so stiff and lively. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 I am really surprised it does not get used more it is so solid and on a tap test the tone rings for days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 I built a tester body and neck from Jatoba just for experimental purposes. It's close to 14 pounds, but it's extremely vibrant and lively, as you guys both say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 I made that mistake I made a 335 sized hollowed body with a maple cap it made my explorer feel like ultra thin ibanez in comparison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Well first off took some days to do some shop "upgrades" New band saw tires cool blocks and these beauties I also got a few fret boards slotted One of Jatoba and one of Willow. Now I have never done binding before, so i king had to figure out how I wanted to do this. I wound up using an offset pin on the pin router. Then glued the wood binding to the fret board. Maple and Purpleheart. Then a quick trip on the jointer and drum sander to level it Now I was little off on replacing the final trim out so I will half to remember that for next time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Here is the fretboards sanded to 12 and then polished to 1000 grit then buffed. No finish applied Then Putting the trust rod in Then clamping the fretboards on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Nice! I really like the maple/purpleheart board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Nice! I really like the maple/purpleheart board. it's actually willow and purpleheart. the pic doesn't do justice of how white it is. MInd you it will look better when i get the scratches out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) Well it has been awhile but sometimes life gets in the way or our mental health but hey with that fixed or at least medicated lets get back to building. Now on the last step I jumped the gun and glued the fret board on before putting in the side dots not the end of the world, but it makes the job harder. I use aluminum for my side dot so the shine up really niceI got all the sanding and carving doneAfter I drilled out the string holes and for the bridge. It was then I realized I did the neck pocket to deep or not enough pocket angle either way a recessed bridge can fix that. BUT..... in the process we had our first real disaster. The router was set way to deep and dug out a trench and blew out the pick up wall a bit so this was all going to have to be filled and hid. Lucky for me it happened under the bridge which makes almost unnoticeable, But with some timber mate we got it fixedThen comes my least favorite thing grain filling. Edited October 20, 2015 by XBIGJIMX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 So then on to the finish which was was desided on sunburst-ish see though blue. So I sanded the body down to 320Step one mask off the natural binding and the neck binding.Then with a cotton rag and water based stain I wipe on the black for reasons one to make the grain pop in color and to raise the grain to sand flush. So add the blackAnd sand off the blackThen add the blueThen logos which was just a basic mask and sprayed with an airbrushAfter the color got done i scrapped the binding for any seepageI used a 2 part clear post catalyzed lacquer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 Well that escalated quickly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 One of the things I love about using stained tops is that I can fix them pretty easy is I burn though them while level sanding. as you can see in the before and after pic. A couple quick wipes of stainSo after another 3 coats and a level sanding from 500,800,1000,1200 It was off to the buffing wheel that I built from my drill press (there is tutorial pinned in this site) I moved on to electronics which were a standard 1 volume one tone and a 3 way switch and a set of old Ibanez super 58's from an old artist I was saving. I then put it on the home made stew mac fret jig and did all the fret work. And finally put on the magnets that hold on the trust rod covers and control plate. And 1 of the Molly's is complete. the other is waiting.All and all it came in at 10lbs1oz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 Cool, that's got a real denim sort of feel to it. How's the buffer panning out? Great bit of work on your tooling there. Looks like it did the trick admirably on this one too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 Cool, that's got a real denim sort of feel to it. How's the buffer panning out? Great bit of work on your tooling there. Looks like it did the trick admirably on this one too.The buffer has worked out great, have not had any issues with it (knock on wood) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 Well it looked fantastic out of the gate. Wouldn't mind one myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 I like the color a lot and the way your neck binding matches the neck wood. It almost looks like the fretboard was inlayed into the neck.SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 I like the color a lot and the way your neck binding matches the neck wood. It almost looks like the fretboard was inlayed into the neck.SRThank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 No top ferrules? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 No top ferrules?I debated this one alot. I had not used them in the past and it seemed to not be a problem or caused any tuning issues on tour ( and I am rough on guitars). So angled the edges to avoid and indention in the wood. This may have been a real bad idea but we are going to find out. I know on the next project I will use them more because of rubbing compound in the indents thats horrible to get out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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