beltjones Posted March 16, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 Ok, first the messed up template. I'm going to call it out of center by 3/64ths. Now the messed up guitar. I went ahead and routed the bridge pickup because regardless of how I fix the neck pickup route I'm going to have to do the same for the bridge pickup. Somehow I also slipped with the damn router when doing the bridge pickup. If you look closely at the left side you will see where the router bit somehow dug in a little bit. I didn't even feel it happen, and I was a pattern cutting bit, so I'm not sure what I did wrong. I think in the future when I need to route something on a guitar I'm going to find a homeless guy with a "will work for food" sign and have him do it, because I clearly can't be trusted. Some ideas for fixes: #1 is to do what yall suggested which is just shift the template and even it up on the other side. (More routing - a recipe for disaster), or route the other side AND make some pickup rings out of contrasting wood (probably some flame maple I have), or here's what my hubris is telling me to do: route out two rectangles in the shape/ size of a pickup ring around each existing pickup cavity, and then take the flame maple and plug the holes. Then re-route the pickups into the maple, so the pickups will still be direct-mounted to the guitar, but it will kind of look like there are maple pickup rings around them. The odds of me pulling that off with any kind of success are close to zero, but at this point I kind of want to go for it. Oh, and I used the router with a rabbeting bit to remove some material before I start the carving process for the top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 You are too hard on yourself. First that is not exactly a beginner's guitar you chose for a first build, and those are not exactly beginner's wood choices either. Having said that, fixing mistakes are a part of every single build....at least for me. Finding ways to fix them creatively and invisibly is part of the skill set. We all do it. Personally, I would buy some pickup rings and move on. Wenge and flame maple are not known for playing nicely with routers. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FINEFUZZ Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) As someone who is also in the midst of their first build, I think yours is coming along very nicely. As someone who is also his own worst critic, I have come to realize that time heals some mistakes. There are projects I messed up on that really irked me, but now when they are done, I cannot remember what those mistakes I don't see were. Edited March 16, 2018 by FINEFUZZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariahrob Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 My semi hollow body did the same. An odd change of humidity can do all kinds. Lucky it sprang back. Carve looks great and suits that wenge perfectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 Drop a humbucker in the bridge position and see how it looks. My preference would be to see how it looks in practice and work out if shifting the template the other way is going to be visually acceptable. My gut feel is that it will be fine, but your eye looking at the guitar is going to be better than ours looking at computer screens. If it doesn't look like it will work out, I'd be fitting some pickup rings as a second alternative. Re-routing the entire cavity as one solid block and inlaying some contasting faux pickup rings of timber is not something for the faint hearted. If it were me I'd avoid this option unless I was at the point of 'one last shot, otherwise it's firewood'. As a first or second build I reckon you'll be happier if you have a finished guitar in your hands with some pickup rings on it, than a pile of very expensive sawdust. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 I lurked here for about six weeks before I finally signed up, then I made this thread because I wanted to pick the the collective brains of all the experienced people here. If someone else can learn from my mistakes, awesome. What I didn't expect is for you guys to talk me off the ledge. Ok, I'll be taking a conservative approach with re-routing the pickups any further. I figure I can complete most of this build and "fix" the pickup route much later if necessary. Ok, now I'm going to go search the forum for how y'all do your wooden pickup rings. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 17, 2018 Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 My current build actually has router bites on both sides of the neck pickup route. Small (yet gigantic to me) chip outs of unsupported grain coming out of the dog ears. Mounting rings were already part of the plan, and will cover them completely so I'm not going to do a thing about them. I'm not sure I even cussed when it happened. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 When I get to my desktop, I'll post pics of my latest build...with a slipped router and dig out in the pickup pocket....and that was with a bearing bit inside the absolutely square and flat chamber! I generally use pickup rings for pickups with the standard humbucker-type l-shaped brackets for practicality and for the number of sins they generally hide... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: When I get to my desktop, I'll post pics of my latest build...with a slipped router and dig out in the pickup pocket....and that was with a bearing bit inside the absolutely square and flat chamber! I generally use pickup rings for pickups with the standard humbucker-type l-shaped brackets for practicality and for the number of sins they generally hide... Note the router bit-shaped gouge. No idea how that happened with the bearing bit fully inside the chamber. And the only thing I was routing was the bottom of the chamber - theoretically there was only a bearing anywhere near the sides...and this isn't a bearing gouge! AND I've been doing this for some years now and apply all the normal precautions against slippage, moving the router before the bit fully stops, etc, etc, etc. Happily, this is intended for standard black metal humbucker rings that will just cover the gouge... Does that make you feel a bit better about your remarkable and impressive climb up the learning curve @beltjones ? And maybe it explains better my oft-repeated statement 'I hate hand routers' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: Note the router bit-shaped gouge. No idea how that happened with the bearing bit fully inside the chamber. And the only thing I was routing was the bottom of the chamber - theoretically there was only a bearing anywhere near the sides...and this isn't a bearing gouge! AND I've been doing this for some years now and apply all the normal precautions against slippage, moving the router before the bit fully stops, etc, etc, etc. Happily, this is intended for standard black metal humbucker rings that will just cover the gouge... Does that make you feel a bit better about your remarkable and impressive climb up the learning curve @beltjones ? And maybe it explains better my oft-repeated statement 'I hate hand routers' Thank you so much for sharing. I'm following your latest build closely - this makes me feel a lot better. It also makes me feel worse because I figured it was possible to eventually get good at using the router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 23 hours ago, ScottR said: My current build actually has router bites on both sides of the neck pickup route. Small (yet gigantic to me) chip outs of unsupported grain coming out of the dog ears. Mounting rings were already part of the plan, and will cover them completely so I'm not going to do a thing about them. I'm not sure I even cussed when it happened. SR I've read through that thread front to back at least 3 times and never noticed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariahrob Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 My current build has a similar issue. My template shifted as I was cutting the pickup cavity. I’m going for a stain and oil finish with no pickup rings so decided to repair. I spent some time looking through the iffcuts of the top and managed to match the grain closeish. Sharp chisel and a small square cut out, filled with the matching offcut then rerouted. It’s not perfect to my eye but hopefully will pass scrutiny. Just know that there are ways around mishaps but it’s probably you who notices. Everyone else will be wowed by your skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 6 hours ago, beltjones said: Thank you so much for sharing. I'm following your latest build closely - this makes me feel a lot better. It also makes me feel worse because I figured it was possible to eventually get good at using the router. It is possible to get good at using a router, so don't be disheartened. It's very similar to driving; slow down to give yourself thinking time, always have an escape route, and know when to stop if you're tired. Everyone has different pitfalls, but mine have always been from trying to get too much done (eagerness, naivity, time pressure) and being tired. You're also doing incredibly well with such a challenging first build! Technically I started my first build at 22 (10 years ago) and everything was a disaster; huge glue gaps, truss rod channel routed with a drill press, a narrow fingerboard, wonky neck profile, unpolished frets, almost flat fingerboard radius, thin headstock, and factory-cut nut. It kind of played, but the cost was far too high It literally ended up in a fire and I've purged it from my building history. Yours is far from that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 Saturday I was marking locations for fretboard side dots with an awl when I slipped and stabbed it into my thumb. Sorry, no pics.Sunday I finished marking and drilling fretboard dots and I started on carving the body with a sanding disk on an angle grinder.I only "carved" for about 20 seconds before my son needed me and I gave up for the day. I got some more carving done before my battery powered angle grinder conked out. Those things can really burn through a battery! I'm going to do a similar carve on the other side, then do the bottom, then blend everything, then reassess and decide if I want to make the angle of the carve a little less severe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 Oh, and I sort of evened up the route for the pickups. I feel a lot better about it now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariahrob Posted March 19, 2018 Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 That’s coming on really nicely. Good save on the pickup cavities. You’d never know. The carving looks great even unfinished so will look killer once you’re done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 19, 2018 Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 I agree. That wenge is looking like a topographical map. Very Cool! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 Ok, phase 1 of the carve is complete. I kind of like how steep the carve is at the waist of the guitar, but I want it to be a lot more gradual at the belly. I think I'm done with the grinder at this point, which is nice because it's like the router in that every second I use it I'm worried I'm going to slip and mess the whole thing up. I'll just use a random orbital sander with some 80 grit paper to blend everything together. Then I'll probably sand it up to about 220 or so to make sure it's in good shape and I like the contours.The things I'm thinking about are the controls. I originally specced it for one volume, one tone, and the switch, so I made the control cavity big enough for those three components. Then later I decided to put the switch in the bottom horn, but I still made the control cavity big enough for three components. So I'm trying to decide whether to do volume/volume/tone, V/T/T, or maybe V/T/Kill switch. What else would be cool? (I already have a couple of push/push pots, I'm thinking about using one as a coil split and the other as a direct out).After that it's time to do the carve on the back (just a basic belly cut), and then I'm going to bleach the wenge before I glue the fretboard on, which I expect I'll do over the weekend. By this time next week it's going to look a hell of a lot more like a guitar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 20, 2018 Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 It's interesting how the wenge top does not look particularly book-matched along the glue line--until you get to the bottom where you carved it down to that point, where it looks quite book-matched. Usually it's the other way around. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 Never mind. Sort of like how Tolkein said, "The tale grew in the telling," this guitar is growing more complicated in the building. I'm going to do some PRS-style recessed knobs, which means I get to use my favorite tool again - the router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 1 minute ago, ScottR said: It's interesting how the wenge top does not look particularly book-matched along the glue line--until you get to the bottom where you carved it down to that point, where it looks quite book-matched. Usually it's the other way around. SR That's probably because it's not book matched - I bought a ~3.5' board and cut it in half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted March 20, 2018 Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 1 hour ago, ScottR said: It's interesting how the wenge top does not look particularly book-matched along the glue line--until you get to the bottom where you carved it down to that point, where it looks quite book-matched. Usually it's the other way around. SR the grain lines in general turned out awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 20, 2018 Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 Totally! I haven't checked in for a few days but this looks like it's going swimmingly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 20, 2018 Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 33 minutes ago, beltjones said: That's probably because it's not book matched - I bought a ~3.5' board and cut it in half. Yeah, I figured that...and I love the way the zigzags in the middle come together. Unless the grain is running at crazy angles, wenge doesn't gain much from book matching. Doing what you did is often more interesting. I've done several book matched tops and then erase the effect on the bottom six inches with a deep carve. You, on the other hand, didn't book match and then you carve it and the carved parts looks book matched. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltjones Posted March 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 1 hour ago, ScottR said: Yeah, I figured that...and I love the way the zigzags in the middle come together. Unless the grain is running at crazy angles, wenge doesn't gain much from book matching. Doing what you did is often more interesting. I've done several book matched tops and then erase the effect on the bottom six inches with a deep carve. You, on the other hand, didn't book match and then you carve it and the carved parts looks book matched. SR As my father always told me, it's better to be lucky than good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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