New build - The Verdict

[henrim]

As the Red/White build is nearly finished I thought about building yet an other one.

I'm calling this one "The Verdict". Because this is my third single cut with the same shape. I'm combining what I think were succesfull features from the two previous builds to this one. 

From the Red One I'm using a drop-top.

From the Black One I will use back mounted pickups (with some changes in the design). And a bolt-on neck. Although the neck will be bolted it will extend almost through the body. So that the bridge will be bolted through the neck. If that makes any sense.

I like the modularity with a bolt-on. Separate neck is easier to work on, fix or replace. I'm making an unique piece here but being an industrial designer I can't help myself from thinking production in larger scale. I also like oiled necks. Combining that with a body that has different finnish is not straight forward. In the Red One I finished the whole back side with oil. This time I want a lackquer finish on the body. Not willing to experiment with blending the two together. Could be interesting but not worth it for me right now.  

Controls will be a combination design that take something from the both previous ones. Here I'm still in planning phase but the aim is to make the design without any cavity covers on the back of the guitar

Hardware. I have an extra satin chrome Schaller 455 wraparound bridge that the Red One uses. So that is the most likely candidate. Stock studs will be replaced with a through body bolts. I also have a set of Schaller locking tuners with a matching satin chrome finish. 

Pickups. I will likely start with a Dimarzio Super distortion and a 36th anniversary PAF since I have an extra pair. Back mounted with custom covers.

Birch neck. I already cut a blank which is flat sawn, but from the center of the timber so the grain is going upwards. May be I should split the blank, flip the pieces and laminate together. Dont' know. 

I have some linden (basswood) blanks for the body but I still may go with swamp ash as I have a nice piece of that too. Depends on how I want to finish this guitar. Quilted maple drop top. I'm not sure I'd want a quilted maple top but I found a bookmatched pair from my storage and sure looks nice. I can't recall when, where or why I got it but since I have it I'm going to try.

Fingerboard I want to be black. So propably some sort of ebony or stained rosewood but I'm investigating other options too. Blackwood Tek from Madinter looks interesting. I should get a piece and see if that is an option. Any experiences with that?

This one will likely be finished in less time than the previous ones. But who knows. Not me.

[Bizman62]

47 minutes ago, henrim said:

Blackwood Tek from Madinter looks interesting. I should get a piece and see if that is an option. Any experiences with that?

A fellow builder once ordered some. Out of curiosity we sanded it up to 6000 and it really got shiny! Yet you could see the grain pattern when the light came from the right direction. Not bad, considering that it's not resin impregnated, only treated with some fancy method.

[Professor Woozle]

4 hours ago, henrim said:

Fingerboard I want to be black. So propably some sort of ebony or stained rosewood but I'm investigating other options too. Blackwood Tek from Madinter looks interesting. I should get a piece and see if that is an option. Any experiences with that?

African Blackwood would be an alternative to staining Indian rosewood, but rather more expensive and takes the edge off tools pretty quick. It is lovely wood though, smells faintly of chocolate when you're working it and takes a really good polish.

[henrim]

Ok. Let's still call it "The Verdict" although the plans have changed a bit. I'm not going to start building before I have finished my unfinished projects. But I've been designing this one from time to time. Since I'm building these guitars just for fun and for myself I decided I have enough single cuts and need to do something else. Although I think that single cut is closest to perfect shape for a guitar (all the curves on the body shape are there for a reason) this one is going to be a double cut. Or maybe it falls in to superstrat territory. I have drawn something that acts as a mockup for designing the more interesting stuff.

What interests me more is the structural choices and in that sense this build is taking something from the previous ones and going a step further. I have gathered together these parts and priciples.

- Swamp ash body. Ebonized. No grain fill. Satin/matte clear. Or painted (black?). I know I like ebonized swamp ash and I have painted European ash previously so I know that works nicely too. I have to make some test pieces.
- Birch neck. Bolt-on. Sort of through body. Double action trusrod with CF reinforcements.
- Headstock Blackwood Tek.
- Fretboard Blackwood Tek. 24,750" scale. Dunlop 6030.
- Pickups Dimarzio Super distortion and a 36th anniversary PAF. Back mounted or actually sandwiched between the neck and the body. Covers or sans, TBD.
- Black hardware. Hipshot Bridge. Strings through the body (and neck).
- Schaller mini tuners.
- Controls front mounted. No control cavity in a traditional sense. I'm still designing the details but I'm planning to go with 9mm pots that are used in pedals and modular synths.

The Bridge and tuners are on their way to me. Other stuff I have already or will fabricate. Except Blackwood Tek which I also ordered from Madinter. Never used that before so that is still a bit of a question mark but hopefully I find it usable. 
 

[henrim]

Here's a simplified picture of the main structure.

[henrim]

I experimented a bit with pot housings. The idea is to have a potentiometer that can be installed virtually anywhere in the guitar body by drilling a blind hole to the body and pressing the housing in (fastened with a couple of screws). Obviously there has to be a way to route the wires wherever they need to go. With the neck construction I’m going to use in this guitar drilling cable channels can be done easily through the neck pocket. These are acrylic. I may do them of aluminum later. The added bonus in acrylic is that some adventurous soul could use LEDs behind the housings and get a neat rim light for the potentiometer knobs. I may not want to install a battery in the guitar just for the LEDs, but you never know. I may drop an Arduino Nano in and do proper disco lights. And whatever else you could do with a microcontroller.

[henrim]

Also got some Blackwood Tek fretboard blanks from Madinter yesterday. I was not supposed to do this yet but couldn’t resist trying how it feels to work with. Out of the two pieces I got the other one is nice and black. While the other one is not so evenly black. What I tried it sands easier than ebony as it’s obviously not as dense. Makes a comparable mess though.

I have made a radius router jig in the past but can’t find it anywhere. I did my last fretboard by hand with a 12” radius block but it takes time to sand the board while trying to keep the block completely level. So this time I’m going to make sanding jig that can hopefully be used for other precision sanding needs too.

 

[henrim]

I did the easiest solution. Mounted M6 inserts to the radius block and made polyamide blocks that can be set to height. Fretboard blank attached to the table top with double sided tape and a parallel guide with clamps. It’s easy to notice when the radius is ready as sand paper stops biting and radius block slides freely. Used polyamide as it has good sliding properties. I have it stocked, if I didn’t I would probably have used plywood or something. Board was not yet ready when I took the pictures. Now it is radiused though. Next some vacuum cleaning and then to finer grade papers. It’s good to have fingerboard ready when I’m done with my unfinished jobs and I finally allow myself to start building this guitar

[Bizman62]

On 9/30/2022 at 3:46 PM, henrim said:

Here's a simplified picture of the main structure.

Didn't notice at the first look, but now it hit me right between the eyes, Your prolonged heel/neck pocket confirms my pet phrase about an electric guitar being basically a 2 x 4 with some some ergonomics and looks.

[henrim]

12 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Didn't notice at the first look, but now it hit me right between the eyes, Your prolonged heel/neck pocket confirms my pet phrase about an electric guitar being basically a 2 x 4 with some some ergonomics and looks.

That’s how I see it too. Actually I think single cut has the ergonomics part sorted out. Anything else is ornamental. Apart from Jem, it has the handle

[henrim]

I slotted the radiuses board and cut taper with a hand saw. Squared a piece of mdf to the table and sanded the edges straight. Board is undersized so I can glue 1 mm strips on both sides to hide the fret tangs.

I have fretted all my necks after the fretboard is glued to the neck but this time I’m going to finish the fretboard before glueing. I’m putting registration pins to the neck which are used to keep the board in place when glueing but I’m also using them as reference points when setting the neck blank to milling machine. I’m milling instead of routing most of the stuff on this build (I need to route the body outline and headstock maybe). My manual milling machine is actually for metal so it can’t rev like a router but it’s fine for cutting slots in wood too. As long as you are not in hurry. 

Oh, and there’s my new favorite tools in the last picture. Makita battery powered flashlights that I can set anywhere and any position for additional light!

[henrim]

Machined a fret press adapter to my 10 ton hydraulic press. Which is a bit on the large side for guitar building but barely big enough for anything else I do. 

[henrim]

Attached to the press.

[henrim]

So far I have marked my tang-cut frets with a piece of painters tape. Finally made a block to keep them in order. 

[Bizman62]

You're definitely not a professional builder!

A pro would have used the worst piece available and a sharpie to mark the holes.

[henrim]

That was not the worst piece but it was the first one I found though  

Using punches was obviously not necessary but I had a reason try them on wood. Tried hammering like I do on aluminum and steel and also heating them and burning the mark. But on pine I found it was enough to press them with hand and some color on the punch. Reason for trying is I’m planning to get my own punch made that I can use on wood and leather.

[henrim]

I’m very pleased with how the fret pressing works now. Nice and even. I was interested in seeing what kind of stress is introduced to the board when frets are installed. My highly scientific measurement shows we are talking about 0,5N force here. I’m not afraid of glueing that board to the neck as it is but  I guess it would be even better if the bend was corrected before glueing the fretboard in place. 

[henrim]

This is a tool I made (modified) when I did the fretboards for my two single cuts years  ago. It’s made of otherwise unusable disposalble blade Stanley plane. Awful tool as sold but with the mod it works very well for precise thicknessing of wood strips.

Edited October 22, 2022 by henrim

[henrim]

As I tried a different approach for making the fretboard I think I have created an another endless decision making process. Black binding on black board may not be easy to make seamless as it is when done before radiusing. Also Blackwood Tek is not as homogeneous as ebony. If I glue in a Blackwood Tek strip it probably looks like black board bound with black strip. Not necessarily a bad thing but maybe it is not the best solution. I tried:

1. Birch binding. Would work with birch neck but I’m afraid it makes the neck look thicker than it is.

2. Aluminum binding. Could be attached with tiny screws which would double as side markers. I’m not sure though I want that color with black hardware. Maybe black anonized aluminum. Feels cold though.

3. Thin steel or aluminum sheet and Blackwood Tek sandwich. Could be nice. In the picture I have 0,25mm steel in the sandwich. I tried even 0,05mm steel but that was not really visible anymore The sandwich would have to glued together and I’m not a big fan of glueing metal to wood. Yes, it can be done pretty well today, but still. 

I will still try something black with different glossiness. Like black ABS. And black or stained wood with oil or lacquer.

[Bizman62]

Have you considered a thin birch/maple veneer instead of the aluminium/steel? That would add a similar effect without having to worry about a wood-metal glue joint.

[henrim]

44 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Have you considered a thin birch/maple veneer instead of the aluminium/steel? That would add a similar effect without having to worry about a wood-metal glue joint.

Yes, structurally that would be better but if I want to finish this board I can only add 1mm thickness to the sides. I’m not sure I can successfully thickness 0,5 mm strips. Of course I could mill the fretboard a bit but setting the radiused board to the mill ain’t fun. I’ll figure something out or make a new board for this build and use this one to something else.

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, henrim said:

I can only add 1mm thickness to the sides.

Ahh... didn't look like that little on the photo. Agreed, the thinnest veneers are still 0.55 mm thick which doesn't leave much for the black one.

For thicknessing such strips I guess a version of your modified Stanley plane might work. Not with a blade, instead equipped with sandpaper. Or a scraper plane with similar side rails?

[henrim]

Not much progress on this one. I have redrawn the superstrat body shape a bit and started to make routing templates. I would have liked to do "routing" in a milling machine but the machine is not big enough for the job. So I mill the templates then.

Body shape aside my two single cuts are the source for inspiration here and now that I have played them side to side some time I have learned more. I'm pretty much set with the neck mount which I'm fine tuning with my current side build dulcimer guitar. The neck mount gives me the set-neck feel on the heel but the mount is bolt on which I prefer for other reasons (mentioned somewhere above I believe). 

Neck shapes on these single cuts are different. The padouk top guitar has fairly slim neck while the black one has more chunky one. The slim neck combined with as low action as I could make makes the guitar a fast and easy player. I like it a lot. So I'm taking that shape as a guide to the new build. The black one's neck is going to see some shaving as well. 

I had already set using passive humbuckers. Mostly because I have a nice extra pair. I may wind my own though. But the thing is, as versatile as the active EMG 57/66 TW three coil pickups on the black one are, I far prefer the more round and smooth sound I get from high-output passives. The Tone Zone I have as a bridge pickup on the padouk top is a high output pickup but not harsh at all. I guess that guitar looks kinda like vintage sounding, but it actually produces pretty smooth dirty sounds and well defined notes with well overdriven tube amp. And pinch harmonics scream nicely  

Control layout is a small issue. I would like to stick with the simple layout I have been using. One volume, one tone and three way switch. For aesthetical reasons. It's not the most versatile system but I would hate to have more knobs. Never ending fight between the engineer and the artist inside my brain. 

Otherwise I guess there should't be much holding to actually start building this one. Or two maybe.

[henrim]

I decided to glue a bookmatched pair of quilted maple together. Once again used the modified Stanley RB5 for planing the glue faces. It’s funny how one of the worst tools I ever bought has become one of my favorites

I know I’m going to build one solid swamp ash body guitar so I’m not sure if I’m going to use this top for anything right now, but I’m leaning towards building two so the other one would have a drop top. 

[henrim]

I believe the jury has reached a verdict and the sentence is to build one of each.

Single cut template is an old one and just started to make a double cut template. They will hopefully share the backside routing template but I need to do some drawing first to be sure.

Single cut will have a drop top and painted basswood body. Double cut ebonized swamp ash.