GCmtb Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Hi! I'm Graham and I'm a High School student from just outside of Seattle Washington, I just started building in October after seeing a few videos on youtube and deciding that this looked like something I could do (Learned pretty much everything from the Crimson Guitars channel and by lurking their forums). Going into this my only woodworking experience was a few wood shop classes in middle school (And I'm a senior in high school now, I'm 17) but I race mountain bikes and work as a bike mechanic so I do know my way around tools to some extent. I just finished my first build, a through neck, 24 fret strat-ish thing at the end of December and it came out way better than I expected, but definitely not perfect but it plays well. here's a couple pics of it. Now that I have this build done I already feel like I can make something far better, so that leads me to where I am now. I've decided to do a bass as my second build, simply because I don't own a bass and I want one. This is also going to be a sort of trial run for a custom guitar that I've had in mind for a while, but using cheaper woods. Here's the design: Very PRS inspired but with a bit of my own twist. I just got wood for it yesterday, A big 'ol piece of Alder for the body, and some Sapele and flame maple for the neck and fretboard. Ended up being just under $100 for all the wood, and I've got enough Sapele left for a another neck, maybe even two! So far I've got the body rough cut, and a neck blank made. Was my first time cutting a scarf joint as my first build had an inline headstock, surprised how well my little old bench top bandsaw that I stole from my dad did. Hopefully going to make some more progress over the next few days but it's always tricky to balance working on builds with School and work. Cheers, Graham 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 hello and welcome! Some good looking stuff their, nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Hi Graham and a very warm welcome! That's a beautiful build, let alone for a first one... I love the laminations you chose and that neck / heel carve is right down my street (if that translates from UK to US English!) Look forward to seeing more of your work Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: I love the laminations you chose and that neck / heel carve is right down my street (if that translates from UK to US English!) We might say it is right up my alley.....close enough! And let me add my welcome and nice work to these guys'. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Welcome! Nice work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted January 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 Thanks for all the nice words guys! Nice to have a new forum to be on (As a mountain biker I spend way too much time on all the bike forums). Little bit more progress the last few days but I've been pretty swamped with studying for finals. Got the neck cut down further and cleaned up the sides and back of the body. Also planed down my fret board blank to about 8mm, been making good use of my new Stanley #62, definitely the best Christmas present I got this year, I love that thing. I also ordered most of the hardware for this build, trying to keep this one fairly cheap as I'm not a bass player at all, but I managed to find a good deal on a Gotoh bridge and tuners so I picked those up. It's pretty early to tell but this build is probably going to come out to under $300 for all materials and hardware, not bad! Cheers, Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 Looking good, I wish I could build a guitar for £300. I usually get a bit carried away and spend that on just the pickups then I think during each build I end up spending that again on new tools. I wonder if I will ever go to the point where I have enough tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted January 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 5 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: Looking good, I wish I could build a guitar for £300. I usually get a bit carried away and spend that on just the pickups then I think during each build I end up spending that again on new tools. I wonder if I will ever go to the point where I have enough tools Yeah I'm just trying to not think about how much I've spent on tools at this point. During my first build I probably spent twice as much on tools as I did on materials for the build itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted January 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 Got some work done the last couple days, neck is starting to take shape a bit. Did the truss rod slot by hand as I don't have a router (And I don't really like using them so I'm not too motivated to buy one), Drilled out most of the waste with a 7/32" drill bit then went through with a 6mm router plane, not perfect but it does the job and came out better this time than on my first build. Then I got the fretboard glued up, trimmed down, radiused, and the frets marked out, Cut out the headstock and cleaned it up a bit. On my first build I used a pre-slotted fretboard so this is new to me, fairly confident I got the frets marked out accurately. Also got locations of things roughed out on the body, but I'm planning on going back and re doing all the measurements once I have the neck carved and have a better idea of where it's going to sit. Cheers, Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 14, 2019 Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 looking good! Wow, you are making good progress. Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 14, 2019 Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 It doesn't matter if your truss rod channel isn't perfect, it's hardly visible. The blue PRS rep I've been working on has a little zig-zag in the truss channel where I forgot to lock off the router. It looked like a dogs dinner before the fretboard went on Looking good though, I'm really liking the looking of sapele/maple contrast strips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted January 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 On 1/14/2019 at 2:12 AM, mistermikev said: looking good! Wow, you are making good progress. Congrats. Thanks! Progress is slowing down a little now that I'm in the middle of finals though... On 1/14/2019 at 5:36 AM, ADFinlayson said: It doesn't matter if your truss rod channel isn't perfect, it's hardly visible. The blue PRS rep I've been working on has a little zig-zag in the truss channel where I forgot to lock off the router. It looked like a dogs dinner before the fretboard went on Looking good though, I'm really liking the looking of sapele/maple contrast strips. Yeah I had a bit of an incident with a borrowed router I used for my first build, I was routing the neck pickup cavity and the router caught an ripped the whole corner of the fretboard out and a lot of material around it, that was super fun. Learned to use gouges this week, got a cheapy $18 set of gouges on amazon and spent a couple hours sharpening them properly and got to work on the body. The carve isn't perfect but I'm pretty happy with it for my first try, this piece of Alder was very easy and forgiving to work with so that was nice for learning. Also did all the cavities with my drill press and cleaned them up with chisels. Not as clean as using a router but far cleaner and quieter. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 thats a great looking carve, especially first a first attempt. Did you go straight from gouges to scrapers? That is one way to do it but a lot of effort. I tend to go from gouges to random orbital sander, or if I'm after some quiet time, thumb planes. FYI my thumb planes cost about £15 from ebay/china, I highly recommend them, like your cheep gouges, they just need a good sharpen. If you want to do a bit of a back carve though ala PRS, it's much easier to do that with the random orbital. Looking great, looking forward to seeing it mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 Excellent carve, you are doing everything right! There have been so many times, I look at something that needs to happen, plan for the power tool, the template, the setup and then do it by hand with a chisel. And, as you are doing already - take the time to stop and sharpen the gouges, planes, and put fresh burrs on the scrapers. It makes all the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 14 hours ago, GCmtb said: Man after my own heart. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 14 hours ago, GCmtb said: Thanks! Progress is slowing down a little now that I'm in the middle of finals though... Yeah I had a bit of an incident with a borrowed router I used for my first build, I was routing the neck pickup cavity and the router caught an ripped the whole corner of the fretboard out and a lot of material around it, that was super fun. Learned to use gouges this week, got a cheapy $18 set of gouges on amazon and spent a couple hours sharpening them properly and got to work on the body. The carve isn't perfect but I'm pretty happy with it for my first try, this piece of Alder was very easy and forgiving to work with so that was nice for learning. Also did all the cavities with my drill press and cleaned them up with chisels. Not as clean as using a router but far cleaner and quieter. Nice bit of carving, that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted January 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 On 1/20/2019 at 8:28 AM, ADFinlayson said: thats a great looking carve, especially first a first attempt. Did you go straight from gouges to scrapers? That is one way to do it but a lot of effort. I tend to go from gouges to random orbital sander, or if I'm after some quiet time, thumb planes. FYI my thumb planes cost about £15 from ebay/china, I highly recommend them, like your cheep gouges, they just need a good sharpen. If you want to do a bit of a back carve though ala PRS, it's much easier to do that with the random orbital. Looking great, looking forward to seeing it mate. Thanks! I brought out the random orbital between the gouges and scrapers, I do want some of those little thumb planes though, the look like fun and useful little tools. On 1/20/2019 at 10:39 AM, komodo said: Excellent carve, you are doing everything right! There have been so many times, I look at something that needs to happen, plan for the power tool, the template, the setup and then do it by hand with a chisel. And, as you are doing already - take the time to stop and sharpen the gouges, planes, and put fresh burrs on the scrapers. It makes all the difference. Thank you! I'm usually just too lazy to pull out any power tools from under my bench when all my hand tools are right in front of me and so much nicer to use. On 1/20/2019 at 11:18 AM, ScottR said: Man after my own heart. SR Thanks man, means a lot hearing that with how good all of your carving is. On 1/20/2019 at 11:51 AM, Andyjr1515 said: Nice bit of carving, that.... Thanks! Well I am now done with Finals for this quarter so now I should have a bit more time to work on this build. Got the body cleaned up and finalized over the last few days, ended up changing the carve a bit. Did the pot recesses with a 1.5 inch spade bit with the corners ground down, then just cleaned them up with some 80 grit paper. Made a control cavity cover, sadly didn't have any alder scap with the correct grain direction sitting around but I'm pretty happy with the fit compared to my first build, plus the magnets are nice and clean. Body is sanded up to 220 grit, so nice having a random orbital sander now after my first build where I did all the sanding by hand. Quick test fit of the pots and mini toggle Still waiting for my fret slot saw I ordered to come in before I continue on the neck, and at this point the body is nearly ready for finishing. Hopefully that will be here in the next day or two. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted February 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 Finally got my fret slot saw in and made some progress on the neck. Decided to do a pretty thin neck carve at just under 20mm and dug up the truss rod it one spot, was hardly noticeable at first but after all the work I had to do to fix the soft spot around it I've got quite the mark left. Still trying to decide if I'm going to try to do something about it, it looks horrible but at this point its strong and smooth so functionally I'm all good. Besides that though the neck carve came out great. Also got an alder cap on my tiny little headstock and drilled the tuning peg holes, and test fit those today. The wonderful scar that's left in the neck Tuner test fit shows how tiny the headstock is, bit of an odd look but I really like how its coming out. Just pressed the frets in, went with stainless this time around so I'm interested to see how much more work they are to level/ crown. Once I get the fret work done this thing is going to be about ready to finish (and I've got something special planed for that...). For now I think I'll just learn to live with the "scar" on the back of the neck, but if anyone has an idea on a way to cover it up I'm all ears! Cheers, Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted February 5, 2019 Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 A chap at my class carved through into the truss rod channel. He ended up cutting a small section out and then inlaying a piece. He cut a shape like this... With careful chiselling and sanding the repair was rather good compared to the state of it beforehand. The triangular top and bottom helped to blend in into the grain. Obviously that was followed by very careful carving to avoid going through again! Edit: Btw, his guitar was a through-neck multi-scale 5-string bass, that was almost ready for finishing! He was gutted when he carved through, but managed to save it without too many battle scars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted February 5, 2019 Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 ouch, dang that's ruff but you know what they say: everybody makes mistakes, it's the recovery that makes you a luthier. so it's an opportunity. I think norris's idea is probably best. I guess you could plane it flat right there and add a piece back on... try to match the grain. better yet, plan the entire length of the neck and add a contrasting piece and make it a feature! really nice looking build. was looking at the chiseled out body and thinking "well that'd be quite nice if you just left it rough". Esp the pic where it's half chiseled and half smooth. Don't think I'll ever be brave enough to chisel my way to a carved top but if I ever do I might go for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 5, 2019 Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 (edited) This hasn't happened to me yet but it's something that scares me every time I carve the neck. I'm very conscious of how deep my truss rod channel is and how thick the neck is. When carving, I'm always stopping and checking depth with a micrometer. For me usually the fretboard is 6mm (in the centre), the truss rod channel is 10mm at the nut and I get the neck wood down to no less that 15mm leaving a safe 6mm of wood under the truss and 5mm under the nut. Starting the volume a couple of mm just before the nut adds a bit of extra material too. For a bass neck, it's probably fine to go even thicker. I know no of the above is any good now, but it might save a neck in future. Edited February 5, 2019 by ADFinlayson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted February 5, 2019 Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 I can try and grab a photo of the repair, but it won't be until Monday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted February 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 3 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: This hasn't happened to me yet but it's something that scares me every time I carve the neck. I'm very conscious of how deep my truss rod channel is and how thick the neck is. When carving, I'm always stopping and checking depth with a micrometer. For me usually the fretboard is 6mm (in the centre), the truss rod channel is 10mm at the nut and I get the neck wood down to no less that 15mm leaving a safe 6mm of wood under the truss and 5mm under the nut. Starting the volume a couple of mm just before the nut adds a bit of extra material too. For a bass neck, it's probably fine to go even thicker. I know no of the above is any good now, but it might save a neck in future. Yeah I thought I had it all measured out correct but it looks like between this fretboard being a little thicker than normal (it's 8mm or so on center), and not having the truss rod channel carved super accurately I was off. Definetly going to be more careful next time! 3 hours ago, mistermikev said: ouch, dang that's ruff but you know what they say: everybody makes mistakes, it's the recovery that makes you a luthier. so it's an opportunity. I think norris's idea is probably best. I guess you could plane it flat right there and add a piece back on... try to match the grain. better yet, plan the entire length of the neck and add a contrasting piece and make it a feature! really nice looking build. was looking at the chiseled out body and thinking "well that'd be quite nice if you just left it rough". Esp the pic where it's half chiseled and half smooth. Don't think I'll ever be brave enough to chisel my way to a carved top but if I ever do I might go for that! This was the first idea I had, throw another strip of flame maple in there, I figure the transition at the heel and volute would be a pain. And thanks! I'm super happy with how the body turned out, just hoping it survives finishing, which may involve playing with fire. 9 hours ago, Norris said: A chap at my class carved through into the truss rod channel. He ended up cutting a small section out and then inlaying a piece. He cut a shape like this... With careful chiselling and sanding the repair was rather good compared to the state of it beforehand. The triangular top and bottom helped to blend in into the grain. Obviously that was followed by very careful carving to avoid going through again! Edit: Btw, his guitar was a through-neck multi-scale 5-string bass, that was almost ready for finishing! He was gutted when he carved through, but managed to save it without too many battle scars I think the plan is going to be cut out around it just up to the glue line where the sapele and maple meet, then inlay some more sapele and hopefully that will hide some of the seams. I may just have the top and bottom straight, as with my level of skill I bet I can get a cleaner joint that way, but we'll see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCmtb Posted February 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 Well the repair went super easy, just made a couple of cuts with a handsaw at either end of the scar, leveled it out with a big chisel, and inlayed a little piece of sapele. Grain match isn't perfect but it looks way better now than before, and only took maybe 15 minutes to do. Little before/during/after 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted February 5, 2019 Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 That’s seriously good work A lot of people, myself included, would have called that a fail and walked away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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