JWT Guitars WIP

[Polymaker]

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new here and I've been interested in building guitar only since last December.

To do a long story short, I have no prior experience in wood working and therefore had barely no woodworking tools at all.
But I've really set my mind to do it so I had to purchase a lot of stuff. So for that reason, I decided that I will do more than one guitar (a bunch even) to make up for the investment. Also, after watching a lot of first build by other (inexperienced) people, I (my perfectionist side) decided that I did not want to do an half-assed  job (sorry for the language, IDK how to translate this expression from french other than that).

So since the beginning of the year, I've been planning a couple of builds and designs and accumulating wood and tools.

Now I am at a point that I'm almost ready to start, I've purchased a bandsaw this weekend and the only thing that I'm missing is a good table saw and a planner (for the moment I borrow them from friends)

I also found a guy near my place that owns a CNC so I had those made: (this is a must for me for that it will help me do a better looking job)

The templates on the left are for a Telecaster variant that will look like this :

Planned specs:

• Alder Body
• Wenge Top
• Padouk Neck & Control Plates
• Wenge Fretboard
• Wenge Headstock Veneer (will see if not too much wenge)

 

 

The templates on the right are for a 7 strings Headless that will look like this :

Planned specs:

• Ash Body
• Flamed Mapple Top
• 5 pieces neck (maple/wenge/purpleheart/wenge/maple)
  The render shows a bolted neck but I've decided it will be a neck-through
• Maple Fretboard
• T4M hardware (or maybe ABM)

 

 

 

 

P.S. There probably won't be many progress this month because I'm moving at the beginning of June and I've already started boxing stuff. Also for the moment I don't have a proper workplace but I'll have a proper workshop at the next place (I'm really looking forward to setting-up my workplace).

Also if you're wondering, JWT (in the title) stands for my initials.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Polymaker

[Jdogg]

I rather like your single cut design.  the triangular cavity cover in particular is quite cool...

[ScottR]

You may not have much in the way of wood working experience, but you've done a fine job of planning. I too like the single-cut design quite a lot. And your translation skills appear to be first rate as well. (half assed is fine and even the best description at times). While you are honing your wood working skills, be sure to practice on scrap till you are sure the operation is going to come out just the way you want it.

And welcome!

SR

[Pariahrob]

That t style is v cool. I'd like to see a cap where the bevel exposes the body wood. 

I particularly like the two recessed neck bolts. Nice detail. 

[kmensik]

Oh my, when I stared my first build I had no idea what i'm doing or what the result will look like. Points for you for preparation. Looking forward to see you progress.

I like the ergonomic one. Not sure about the breaks in the outer horn curves, too devilish. The neck heel at the body seems to be curved upside down, more access at the bass strings, less at treble strings. Might work anyway, it's just uncommon.

[Polymaker]

19 minutes ago, kmensik said:

I like the ergonomic one. Not sure about the breaks in the outer horn curves, too devilish. The neck heel at the body seems to be curved upside down, more access at the bass strings, less at treble strings. Might work anyway, it's just uncommon.

I agree that this design is a little eccentric, I too felt the same about the horns at first but I got to like it. And beside it was purposely designed with an hard rock/metal theme in mind.

About the neck access, I just realized I might have goofed up a little. I aligned the neck in a way that if you  follow the end of the fretboard it will hit the lowest point in the horn (treble side). Since it will have fanned frets, at this point on the neck your hand will be slanted forward and I was thinking it would be just perfect to hit those frets. But now I see that the bulk of the neck heel/joint might come in the way.

It may help that I've decided to make it neck-through so I can smooth the neck joint/fret access.

Speaking of that, I've made the neck blank and routed the truss rod channel:

And will look something like this: (earlier photo, the neck blank wasn't glued)

 

 

[Polymaker]

I've made some progress this weekend, mainly on the headless design. I slotted & shaped the fretboard and I also drilled the positions markers. I've also started slotting the fretboard for the single cut design. 

I made a tiny mistake cutting the last fret. It is not slanted enough and looks parallel with the 23 fret. I'm tempted to redo the slot as the angle is so slight the old slot will be hidden under the fret.

Today I planned the neck blank sides to be the same width as the bridge and also cut the wings on my new bandsaw, It is now glued and clamped. Also it is not shown on the picture but I've put black veneer strips between the neck and wings.

[Polymaker]

Time flies rapidly.... So fast I forgot to take the time to post updates of my progress, and I've made quite a lot.

Last week I routed the final body & neck shape. Last weekend I glued the fretboard and started to carve the neck profile and the belly cut. I also started sanding the fretboard radius.

Yesterday I've received the flamed maple top for this guitar that I rough-shaped and fitted to the neck. This step was fortunately not so hard, but I understand that it is a little more complicated for a through neck than a standard bolt-on or set neck. The thing is that because I had already started sanding the neck, my neck pocket routing template was bit loose so I put some layers of tape over the edges of the template before cutting the opening on the maple cap. After a bit of sanding and tweaking, the maple cap fitted perfectly.

I also filled the fret markers with two parts epoxy putty (milliput, which is from UK IRC) and sanded them flush this morning.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Polymaker

[Polymaker]

I finally made progress on the single cut design. I was stalling since I first posted the topic because I needed to square-up the sides of the boards I was going to use for the body blank and I did not find anybody near me who had a jointer. But last weekend I was finally able to go at the workshop of the company that my uncle works for (it was a little drive from home) and took the opportunity to plane and square-up an 11' board of African mahogany (enough for 3 body blanks), the alder board for this build and also an ash board.

Here is the alder body and wenge top rough cut:

 *you might notice that the wenge top is flat on the sides, well the board was exactly the size of my template so I don't have a lot of wiggle room but it should be OK. If anythings happen I have small strips that I can glue on the sides.

On 02/05/2017 at 2:02 PM, Pariahrob said:

That t style is v cool. I'd like to see a cap where the bevel exposes the body wood. 

The wenge top came a little bit thinner that I planned so I've changed my plans and I will make the bevel expose the wood underneath.

Now back to the headless build, I had a little mishap with the planer... The maple top was about 2mm too thick so to save time I opted to make a small pass on the planer, but I hit the crank a little to much and the board didn't like it....

Next time I'll use the belt sander... But it may have been for the best in the end because the replacement looks way better:

[Polymaker]

I made a lot of progress this weekend. I did like Pariahrob suggested and I made the bevel so it exposes the alder and I have to say that it was a GREAT suggestion. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, but it took a LOT of elbow grease to carve that wenge .

I finished slotting the fingerboard and routed-it to shape. I also started working on the padauk neck (as you can tell by all the dust in the background).

I'll be moving to my new house this week so I probably won't make any progress on both of my builds until I've set-up my new workshop.

[Pariahrob]

The effort paid off. Looks fantastic!

[Polymaker]

Just a quick update on the single cut design. I've glued the fretboard tuesday and I routed the neck to shape. I've also roughed the headstock shape, but I left a lot of room because I haven't yet decided on the shape. 

I also came up with a name for it: Scorpio. The reason behind this is because to me the upper part of the body look like the dart of a scorpion.

So with that name I also changed my plan a little, I originally planned to use steel tubing for the fret markers (like Pariahrob did on his build on the 12th fret), but I now have the idea to inlay a scorpion at the twelfth fret. I'm still not sure on what material to use, because I want to stay on the chrome theme (the side dots will be made with stainless steel tubing). I'm thinking of having a aluminum plate milled by the guy who did my mdf templates but I have the idea it will cost me a small fortune . Also for the headstock I think I'll put a small layer of wenge on top and make a bevel like the body,

[eubie]

You're making great progress.  This is very nice, especially for a first build.  You clearly have brought some skills to the game.

[Polymaker]

Hi everyone, it has been a long time since I last updated my progress.

Both build are nearing completion. I need to finish fretting the single cut (I'm currently waiting on some dremel polishing wheels because I round the fret ends on this one) and I have received the parts for the headless guitar and test fitted them. 

Before showing you the pictures I have two questions.

First, the unfinished maple fretboard on the headless got dirty along the way (you may able to see it on the pictures), so I was wondering what is the best way to clean this up? Sanding between the frets could work but I don't want to end with a scalloped fretboard 

Second, I tested finishing a wengé off-cut with tung-oil and the figuring in the wood darkens a lot and I fear I'll lose the beautiful figuring on the top of my single cut. I've heard of wood bleach. Do you think it is something worth to try?

[Prostheta]

If anything, oil has a tendency to enhance chatoyancy in figured woods. It will undoubtedly darken the wood to a degree, however it will also increase the contrast between flat and rising/falling grain.

[Polymaker]

Hi everyone one!

I'm not dead  A lot has been going on recently. And I have a bunch of good news and a sad one.

First of, I've finished my single cut , around the end of October... Now as to why I haven't posted yet is because I kinda finished it in a rush because I was eager to finally finish a guitar. This resulted in a nasty uneven finish, and because I didn't want to waste a fresh set of strings I waited until last week to dismantle the guitar and redo the finish. Here is the result:

Now the sad news... I have broken my headless in the final steps. It was in part due because of me rushing thins a little but mainly because of one error I made in the beginning. The headless was the first I started and the truss rod channel was too wide and I forgot (due to eagerness to carve the neck) to add some tape in the channel (to secure-it) before gluing the fretboard. This obviously led to a nasty rattle. I fixed it by pouring some wood glue thinned with water in the channel, which fixed the problem in a way, but this made the truss rod hard to adjust, and the adjusting nut broke...  Also just before that incident I had a little issue with sanding through the finish while buffing and had to re-apply stain a little 

Here a picture of the guitar before it all went south:

[Polymaker]

I've said I had a bunch of good news but my last post was getting crowded so I split it.

First, I've started and well advanced a 6 strings fretless bass.

• The neck is bubinga/maple/wenge/maple/wenge/maple/bubinga
• The body wings are ash
• Over the ash is a walnut veneer, a maple cap and a black walnut top
• The inlays are made with epoxy mixed with phosphorescent powder (some lines need to be redone)

I also started another build, an 8 string guitar!
I've only started the body and it will look like this:

I've also started another electric ukulele that has an awesome neck:

 

[Andyjr1515]

I just re-read these posts. These are your first builds??????? 

Then you are definitely one to watch in the future. They are all excellent, and by any standard, but that fretless bass is simply magnificent!

Wow!

[Polymaker]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I just re-read these posts. These are your first builds??????? 

Then you are definitely one to watch in the future. They are all excellent, and by any standard, but that fretless bass is simply magnificent!

Wow!

Wow thank you. I'm very humble by nature and I'm not the kind to brag, but I've got to admit that I'm very proud of that bass 

I have to say that they all have some small defects that don't really show on camera but I'm working really hard to recover from them 

Also if you have a keen eye you may guess that the design was very inspired by the Ibanez BTB 

For anyone wondering how bad the headless is, here's a picture:

The truss rod is still stuck and while trying to pry-it out the neck started de-laminating.

I might try to salvage the body but I'm going to start it over. On the bright side there are some advantages.
First, I had some time to play with it acoustically and the fan was a little too much for me. I'm keeping the multi-scale but it will be 25.5" to 26.5" instead of 27". That scale also seems to match the angle of the slanted Seymour Duncan pickups I purchased. Also since it was my first neck carve it ended way too much thin. While at it I decided to upgrade the fretboard to bird's eye maple. Also I encountered the issue that the T4M nut's screws blocks the truss rod access so on the next one the access will be at the other end of the neck,

Edited December 26, 2017 by Polymaker

[Pariahrob]

Those are the best and worst learning experiences. You’ll definitely end up with something you’ll love even more now.