Chloe, the dog faced guitar

[RVA]

So I bought this walnut top because my employee and I were convinced we could see a floppy eared dog in the grain. So did my parents, and my mom asked me to name the guitar after her deceased doggie, Chloe. Here is the bookmatched top after glue up next to the 2 plywood cauls I cut for the top to back glue up. So do you see the dog image?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RVA]

Here she is off the bandsaw. The dog image is still hanging on, but I am sure you realize that will be short lived !

 

And here is her matching alder back 

 

[RVA]

Side by side

[RVA]

And the glue up. Got clamps? Yeah, we got clamps

 

 

 

 

[RVA]

After edge routing ang some rough shaping. I use a Milwauke 3" buffer/sander freehand for shaping, which is the best tool I have right now. Note the amateur router burn on the perimeter!

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

Cavity routing. In the process, I gouged yet another template. Infuriating!!!

 

Bye bye doggie!

 

[RVA]

My first angled neck pocket! I measured how much I needed to lift the template to get the desired angle and then propped it up with a shim

Target: 3 degrees. Result: around 3.75. I'll take it!! 

 

[RVA]

After fitting the neck and body with threaded inserts. Cheap Chinese neck, atrocious fretboard (more on this later).  I will likely replace it if you good people can teach me how to make a decent neck

 

 

 

 

[RVA]

My bridge locator rig. This method is usually done with a trapeze bridge as you probably know, but this worked

 

[RVA]

My ridiculously imprecise method for locating drill points for the bushings. I was off by almost 2mm and had to file the bridge slots to make it fit. Serves me right. I have since purchased transfer punches, but that is probably not my of a step up

Edited May 21, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

My improvised scale ruler. Very professional! If anyone can suggest a real tool, it would be appreciated!

Edited May 21, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

After some more sanding. 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

I put the bridge bushings in before finishing because I did not want to hammer into a fresh finish. However, they took a beating in the final pre-finish sanding and post-finish sanding. Advice on a better approach would be appreciated 

 

[RVA]

After a few rounds of Spraymax 2K spray. I wear a respirator, goggles, long sleeves pants....and a shower cap!

Not shown - I  used Solarez "I Can't Believe It's Not Laquer" to seal. It worked out OK, but after reading here, and other sources,  I realize I don't know much about sealing and filling.  Any suggestions for good learning materials would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

[RVA]

After wet sanding, cutting and buffing. It is still wavy, but better than previous builds since this is the first time I did any sealing.

You may notice areas to the right and left in between pickup routes that are light in color. The blank had fissures all the way through, so I patched them with glue and walnut dust.

I followed the traditional control layout because I had already routed the control cavity, but I think the layout is poor. I will probably do something different next time. 

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

 

I had to go back and take more wood off the pocket. Better than having to add it!!

 

[Bizman62]

5 hours ago, RVA said:

My improvised scale ruler. Very professional! If anyone can suggest a real tool, it would be appreciated!

That is a professional tool! Every time I've seen a luthier do that, they've held the two rulers with their fingers. The tape is an improvement!

That said, a tiny clamp or even a binder clip/paper clamp would be even better as it allows easier adjusting and leaves no residue.

[nakedzen]

That's some pretty looking wood, nice job! IME making a neck is much easier than the body, don't be intimidated to make your own. Much more fun to play too.

[Bizman62]

Just now, nakedzen said:

IME making a neck is much easier than the body

Opinions seem to vary on that subject! Making a neck isn't basically more difficult but finessing the shape can be frustrating. The long straight lines are something people often struggle with. It's relatively easy to make the fretboar edges straight but there's no full length templates for the carved side. It's not too difficult but it takes a lot of checking and double checking to get rid of bumps and gaps and to avoid the hourglass curse. Faceting makes it relatively easy, though.

Aligning the neck with the body so that the centre lines match is one of the trickiest tasks in my opinion!

[RVA]

9 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Opinions seem to vary on that subject! Making a neck isn't basically more difficult but finessing the shape can be frustrating.

 

9 hours ago, nakedzen said:

IME making a neck is much easier than the body, don't be intimidated to make your own.

Thank you both for the encouragement and advice. So I can get started on wood selection, what are the appropriate neck blank dimensions? Many I see are only 1 inch thick, which would seem to be too thin, even with a healthy fretboard.

Edited May 21, 2022 by RVA

[nakedzen]

1" is plenty thick for bolt on. Necks I've made are 23mm thick with the fretboard, and that's slightly on the chunky side.

YMMV but I've made the necks with an orbital sander, 40 grit discs and long even longitudinal swipes. This avoided most of the uneven bumps and took around an hour to finish a neck shape. I don't have the patience to use rasps.  Obv. you need to be aware of how deep your truss rod is in the neck. 

For fender style headstock I've used these:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/hard-maple-blank-for-neck.html?search=maple neck blank

For tilt headstock these have been long enough:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/hard-maple-blank-for-bass-neck-1166819049.html?search=maple neck blank

[Bizman62]

The thickness needed depends on the style of the neck - partially. If you take a typical Fender neck it's made out of a 1" plank, Add to that  some 1/4" for fretboard and you can carve up to 3/8" from the bottom side. The bottom of the headstock and the bottom of the heel are on the same level and the headstock is thicknessed down to 5/8" or even less.

If you want a slanted headstock 1" is still thick enough. You "just" have to make a scarf joint.

Or you can laminate two 1" planks with a 1/4" decorative center strip. That will make a very strong neck and you can carve the headstock angle as you prefer.

[ADFinlayson]

Wow that bit of walnut came up nice.  Nice work. 

[RVA]

12 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

Wow that bit of walnut came up nice.  Nice work. 

Thank you!

[RVA]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

The thickness needed depends on the style of the neck - partially. If you take a typical Fender neck it's made out of a 1" plank, Add to that  some 1/4" for fretboard and you can carve up to 3/8" from the bottom side. The bottom of the headstock and the bottom of the heel are on the same level and the headstock is thicknessed down to 5/8" or even less.

If you want a slanted headstock 1" is still thick enough. You "just" have to make a scarf joint.

Or you can laminate two 1" planks with a 1/4" decorative center strip. That will make a very strong neck and you can carve the headstock angle as you prefer.

 

1 hour ago, nakedzen said:

1" is plenty thick for bolt on. Necks I've made are 23mm thick with the fretboard, and that's slightly on the chunky side.

YMMV but I've made the necks with an orbital sander, 40 grit discs and long even longitudinal swipes. This avoided most of the uneven bumps and took around an hour to finish a neck shape. I don't have the patience to use rasps.  Obv. you need to be aware of how deep your truss rod is in the neck. 

For fender style headstock I've used these:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/hard-maple-blank-for-neck.html?search=maple neck blank

For tilt headstock these have been long enough:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/hard-maple-blank-for-bass-neck-1166819049.html?search=maple neck blank

Thank you gentlemen.  I will begin the hunt!