First build - "Birthmark"

[Asdrael]

Hey there,

 

well, after 20 years of playing, 10 years of wondering how a guitar is built... I found a maker space / open workshop so I'm making the jump and will try my first build over the course of the next few month. So this is a "in progress" thread that I am starting both as an archive for myself and as -hopefully- a place for people to give feedback and criticism on what I am doing. Here to learn!

The guitar I'm building is basically a Blackmachine, 7 strings, 26.5" scale. Not that I am a fanboy but I wanted a bolt on, natural finish, with a "straight forward" construction (no fancy carves, set in neck, fancy top...) so it should fit the bill nicely. Plus, various basic pdf/dxf templates can be found on the net so I had minimal CAD work to do in order to get some great 8mm acrylic templates cut for me. I also bought some basic luthier tools so I should be good to go.

So far, here is the shopping list for the guitar:

• 2 piece swamp ash body
• Rosewood fingerboard (got 2, just in case, since I need a veneer for the headstock and will be fret slotting by hand)
• Lightly figured but perfectly quartersawn maple neck blank
• Gotoh 7 string bridge
• Ibanez Fusion Edge pickups (got them cheap and will probably swap once I know how the guitar sounds)
• Guitar monkey locking tuners (can recommend, they are awesome)
• Jescar 57110 nickel frets
• Graphtec nut
• CTS pots
• Switchcraft barrel jack

And the corresponding picture:

[url=https://postimg.cc/NKjyWgwV][img]https://i.postimg.cc/NKjyWgwV/IMG-20230427-202315795-3123.jpg[/img][/url]

Shamefully, I have spend probably already over 100 hours preparing before actually starting to build anything. Binge watching a few builders on youtube that make sense to me and writing down a workflow, mostly. So I am hoping I will not get completely lost and overwhelmed.

I'm of course aware there is a 50/50 chance this will turn into firewood this winter but if you don't try, you'll never succeed right?

Anyhow, starting on a few jigs this week then it's on to cutting actual tonewood... wish me luck And of course, questions, criticism, whatever welcome!

(and thanks to @Bizman62 for helping me coming up with a name just by looking at the piece of Ash )

[Asdrael]

[Asdrael]

Well, here is the first useless update in my diary

I could spend some hours here and there getting to know the tools and the workshop (mostly the bandsaw at that stage). Decided to start by making jigs properly. The kind that you can reuse and trust. So loaded up some Youtube tutorials, adapted some, and went to town.

So, one fret bender done:

 

Also did a truss rod jig for my router. I'll use it for the truss rod and the CF reinforcement. It's just missing the rails underneath to clamp it down to the neck blank, which are done but stored securely.

 

Last jig that I think I need: a guide to make a nice and clean scarf joint. Going for 10° on this one. Took my time, everything is square to the table and secured. The angle is 9,7° (doh)... At that stage, good enough since I'll have to sand the cut anyway.

 

And last but not least, I did the first cut in the wood that will end up on the guitar today! Not a small step (for me) because I wanted to "resaw" an extra fretboard to get so thick-ish veneer for the headstock and wood for the cavity covers and truss rod cover. So I took my time, watched some guides, and completely retuned / redid the setup of the bandsaw. The blade on it was decent for a resaw, so I just went for it after cutting the board to the length I would need.

 

 

 

No idea how I managed, but that's as close to a perfect cut as it gets with a bandsaw that was out of whack completely 30 minutes prior and me being a noob. Caliper in hand, the thickness is on the resawn part is accurate and constant down to 0.1mm on each piece. (4.1 on one half, 4.3 on the other half so almost hit the middle too).

 

I'm happy with this and it gave me confidence to tackle the next step. I just have to figure out if I'll go with the neck or the body next.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Asdrael

[avengers63]

 

Welcome to the club. I hope you've said your goodbyes to any disposable income you might have in the future.

[mistermikev]

On 4/27/2023 at 11:51 AM, Asdrael said:

don't take this the right way but... nice ash.

excited for you taking the plunge.  I know that luthiery has been so fulfilling for me... ("you complete me luthiery") I hope the sm for you and look fwd to seeing you succeed... remember... you can't spell success without succ!

[Bizman62]

That's a nice resaw! Knowing how to set up and use your tools is an important part of this hobby where the tiniest piece of wood can cost a fortune! I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I don't know how to set up the bandsaw - then again I don't know if I'd even be allowed to do any adjusting as it's a communal workshop...

Same with building your own jigs. You know what they're intended for, what they're supposed to do and most importantly why they work the way they do. Understanding the mechanics instead of just slabbing a factory made template on a piece of wood and routing with a bearing bit gives results that you can stand behind.

[Asdrael]

Thanks guys!

Since I know next to nothing about wood, I decided to go the overpriced route of buying from "tonewood" resellers. It's already cut more or less to size, dried, and the cut direction is mentioned. This time I shopped on https://shop.espen.de/en/ (I'm located in Germany) and I'm very happy with what I got. They just did a small mistake initially with my order and it was fixed without any issues.

For the bandsaw, I also use a maker space / communal workshop. I am not sure I am allowed to actually set it up myself but I said fuck it and did it anyway when I was alone there. Honestly takes very little time, I followed Alex Snodgrass's advice. 

 

Now I have to set up the jointer/planner to make sure the neck blank is straight and flat on both sides. I'll be using the spindle sander trick to plan and thickness very small pieces like the fretboard and the headstock when the time comes, so that should be straight forward enough.

[mistermikev]

1 hour ago, Asdrael said:

Thanks guys!

Since I know next to nothing about wood, I decided to go the overpriced route of buying from "tonewood" resellers. It's already cut more or less to size, dried, and the cut direction is mentioned. This time I shopped on https://shop.espen.de/en/ (I'm located in Germany) and I'm very happy with what I got. They just did a small mistake initially with my order and it was fixed without any issues.

For the bandsaw, I also use a maker space / communal workshop. I am not sure I am allowed to actually set it up myself but I said fuck it and did it anyway when I was alone there. Honestly takes very little time, I followed Alex Snodgrass's advice. 

 

Now I have to set up the jointer/planner to make sure the neck blank is straight and flat on both sides. I'll be using the spindle sander trick to plan and thickness very small pieces like the fretboard and the headstock when the time comes, so that should be straight forward enough.

I've watched this vid about a thousand times.  my bandsaw isn't much... but thanks to snodgrass it resaws w the best of them.  the two things that did the most for me was 1) bearings as close as possible w/o turning and 2 ) the gullet of the blade should ride the apex of the wheel/tire.  once I did that... was like a light going on.  that said... your resaw is a lot cleaner than mine.

germany - I am a big fan of the site guitarbassbau I use google translate to navigate and a lot of really great builds there and docs too (if you don't know now you know).  I figure with words like ubersicht it and a ".de" it must be german! 

also... big fan of your beer (or at least when I drank I was) - hacker pschorr weiss - "it was the greatest beer in all the vorld".  hehe

[Asdrael]

Good news, bad news.

Bad news: I spent 3h yesterday trying to straighten up and thickness a neck blank with hand planes (wooden, too small, not sharp) and / or a jointer/thicknesser that was badly setup, not sharp, and all around wonky. I didn't manage setting it up correctly and my technique was probably not the best. I almost ruined the blank.

Good news: It was only *almost* and this morning, I located a furniture builder at literally a 1min walk from my place, I dropped by, and he jointed and thicknessed my neck blank absolutely perfectly to my desired thickness in around 3 minutes. The blank is as smooth as a baby's butt. He wanted no money for it but I insisted so he told me I could drop a few euros for his coworkers' coffee funds. He's a really cool guy so I might drop by again just to drop my body's thickness a few mm.

Morale of the story: it's cool doing your own stuff but sometimes you have to hand it to the pros - especially when it has to do with heavy power tools that require maintenance and setup are out of your league.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Asdrael

[Professor Woozle]

Glad you got it sorted out, I'd add another moral - with blunt tools, you'll waste less time if you take the time to get them properly sharp, and properly sharpened tools are a pleasure to use! I've got my no.5 plane and flat spokehave in pieces right now while I get the blades to a state I'm happy with, and won't be continuing with my mandolin build or the wood for my intended 8-string Rick bass until then!

[henrim]

23 minutes ago, Professor Woozle said:

with blunt tools

There are blunt tools in my shop. Only sharp ones and those that need to be sharpened

But yes, I’m fully with you.

[Asdrael]

You are definitely right. Good advice right there. I bought some tools that I deemed really necessary (good rasps and files, fret saw, etc.) but planned on using the communal workshop tools for the more specific stuff until I find out what I like to buy it for myself, like hand planes. One of the two workshops I am using is in a sad state - jointer/thicknesser is dying, all the blades from hand planes are actually rusty, only the bandsaw was salvagable (but still dull). I ll be moving workshop as soon as I get the introduction and safety course in the new one, everything looks actually taken care of properly. Plus, they have a laser cutter, CNC and 3D printer so I should be able to pour some of my geekiness into my build(s).

[Asdrael]

Went back to the communal workplace with a mission: prepare the scarf joint for glue up when I come back from holidays.

 

But first things first: measure, mess up, measure again, get the CAD drawings back up, measure again because why not.

 

After recalibrating the bandsaw again (who the hell messes with my setup each time), and a few runs on scraps to make sure the angle is correct, I'm putting my jig to good use and I'm going for it.

 

While the cut was close to perfectly straight, the bandsaw blade probably made the worse noise I have ever heard. Reminded me of a vampire howling at sunrise. I think we need a new blade, that maple was a struggle.

 

But hey, at least we are straight!

 

Now it's just sanding so everything is smooth, straight, perfectly flat and orthogonal. I swear this square touches my wood more often than my girlfriend those days.

 

Well, took me a while but the results aren't too bad. I finished it up with 400 grit which should be good for glueing up. As you can see, there are slight imperfections on the very sides due to me not tightening up the sandpaper on my block enough. I have approximately 1 mm from the very edge that is slightly more sanded. No biggie, this will disappear once I can the neck. Same for the two small "dents", they will go away once the neck profile is getting carved. Checking the "fit", I am happy with it.

 

Now I need to thickness the headstock further down, I had left 2mm for "safety" to sand the glue sides straight. Since it went better than I thought, I have 1.8mm left to shave off. Probably will do with either a table belt sander, or a thicknesser. It should be 13mm final more or less, to which I'll add 2mm of headstock veneer.

 

Also, bonus pic:

There is some flame, yay!

 

Happy with the day overall. I was apprehensive I wouldn't manage a proper cut, but it turned out well. I think sanding with a block larger than the piece was a good call, and my technique seems symmetrical enough that the end result is usable. Now onwards to a week of holidays, then it's a lot of thicknessing and glueing up that joint!

Edited May 26, 2023 by Asdrael

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, Asdrael said:

there are slight imperfections on the very sides due to me not tightening up the sandpaper on my block enough.

Another explanation is that no matter what the edges tend to get a roundover. Some have built a jig to run the sanding block against. Just a box with slanted sides that work as rails. That can be useful also for fixing poor sawing results.

9 hours ago, Asdrael said:

the bandsaw blade probably made the worse noise I have ever heard.

I know that sound! But your blade was sharp enough to cut, the one at our workshop scratches and burns its way through the wood. Sometimes it feels like the back of the blade might cut faster!

[avengers63]

16 hours ago, Asdrael said:

 

 I swear this square touches my wood more often than my girlfriend those days.

 

Now I need to thickness the headstock further down, I had left 2mm for "safety" to sand the glue sides straight. Since it went better than I thought, I have 1.8mm left to shave off. Probably will do with either a table belt sander, or a thicknesser. It should be 13mm final more or less, to which I'll add 2mm of headstock veneer.

 

BANDSAW JIG: Why in the hell didn't I think of that! I've been doing this for over 15 years. I'm always wanting to make a jig for the table saw, but it's be a really tall cut and it doesn't feel safe. This is also why I make the cut on my bandsaw. So why have I never considered making a bandsaw jig for the scarf joint. The obvious often escapes me.

SQUARE: Subtle. Well done.

HEADSTOCK THICKNESS: I find it better to glue the scarf and thickness it afterword. This would also eliminate the potential for that little gap at the end of the cut you were fussing over.

[Asdrael]

3 hours ago, avengers63 said:

BANDSAW JIG: Why in the hell didn't I think of that! I've been doing this for over 15 years. I'm always wanting to make a jig for the table saw, but it's be a really tall cut and it doesn't feel safe. This is also why I make the cut on my bandsaw. So why have I never considered making a bandsaw jig for the scarf joint. The obvious often escapes me.

If I can '"develop" a tool to make the job itself faster and more accurate, I will usually do so. At my job or my hobbies. So in that case, it made total sense - especially because it worked really well. You can even do a more sophisticated version with a hinge to set the angle if you need that (I will for now stick with my 10° so I just built a fixed one).

 

3 hours ago, avengers63 said:

HEADSTOCK THICKNESS: I find it better to glue the scarf and thickness it afterword. This would also eliminate the potential for that little gap at the end of the cut you were fussing over.

I actually thought about that this afternoon, and you are right. It makes sense to glue to joint with 1mm safety on "each side" to correct for imperfections and small angle deviations. Then I'll plane to thickness to make sure all is straight and parallel. Can't wait to do it !

[henrim]

15 minutes ago, Asdrael said:

If I can '"develop" a tool to make the job itself faster and more accurate, I will usually do so.

I love building tools and jigs but sometimes I feel I spend more time on them than on the actual build. So lately I have found myself using more and more hand tools.
 

Today I spent some time on thinking about building a fretboard tapering jig for table saw. However, I decided not to. And I know I will think about it once more again the next I make a fretboard. It would be a simple jig to make but then again it doesn’t take much time to saw the taper freehand in a bandsaw and plane it straight. So I guess in the end I have spent more time thinking whether or not to build a jig than what it takes to do the taper by hand or what it would take to build the jig

[Asdrael]

Hey, conceptualizing is also a skill

[Asdrael]

Scarf joint glue up day!

Went back to the workshop after a week of holidays in the sun eating too much. Decided to go ahead and glue the scarf joint and finish thicknessing once it's in place. Which turned out to be an even better idea that I thought due to some issues arising in the process...

Placing the neck in position and aligning everything (after sanding to 400 grit and cleaning up with naphta) took a bit, I wanted to do it as well as I could to minimize the effert afterwards.

So yeah, as you can see, the angle on the "headstock" and the "neck" pieces isn't 100% perfect so there will be some extra sanding and flattening to do once it's dried up and before putting the headstock veneer:

I am not too bummed about that, I have plenty of material to work with still.

To avoid slippage during glue up, I went with the holes + dowel approach. I had plenty of room, and I didn't like the screws I had at hand for the thickness I had left. Queue up mistake #2: I didn't use a pillar but a hand drill and one dowel was not that tight of a fit. I hope the glue up didn't move significantly. I think I will go with screws for my next build and forget the romanticism of using wood only.

 

So I then did a "dry run" doing everything as if glue was present. Everything well went, so I opened my first ever wood glue bottle and just well, went for it. Titebond is much more gooey than I thought but judging from the squeeze out, I had enough and the joint seems to be of good enough quality (the bit of wood that seems not tight is actually only a slight angle deviation that I had after aligning the piece surfaces. The joint is tight and there is some squeeze out after tightening the clamps).

What that picture hides is mistake 3 and 4. So mistake 3 is that I tried to use some MDF to spread the pressure, which didn't work out as well as I thought due to how I positioned them. I didn't think the pressure was sufficient. So a few minutes in, I had to open the clamps and reposition the MDF. Then, mistake 4 a few minutes later: I realized the size of the MDF I was using made it so however I was putting them, there would be a "weak point" in the joint. I decided to get rid of the MDF all together and only use the clamps as their heads cover 80% of the joint surface (and I placed the 20% not directly under pressure mostly where I know the wood will be carved away).

Like my brother says: the only people that don't fail are the ones who don't try.  And like I always tell my students: "try, fail, learn, repeat". Case in point.

Also kinda scared that it's so early in my first build and I am already saying my next build will be better

[Bizman62]

8 hours ago, Asdrael said:

I am not too bummed about that, I have plenty of material to work with still.

That kind of behaviour is to be expected. Every time you take material off you're changing the inner tensions of the piece of wood. How drastic the effect is depends on the chosen piece, a perfectly dry and well seasoned straight grained piece won't move that much, a semi-green piece with interesting figuration caused by a knot or branch most likely would warp big time. So no matter how straight your plank is before cutting a scarf joint, there's going to be some fine tuning after gluing.

[Crusader]

12 hours ago, Asdrael said:

........and I am already saying my next build will be better

And the next 20 LOL!

[Professor Woozle]

I'm about to glue the scarf on my mandolin build and I came to the same conclusions as you - allow material to get planed off afterwards on the fretboard side and put the clamps directly onto the work, on the most critical part of the join.

[Asdrael]

Went back in today to check on my neck and take it back home. My precious hasn't moved, and the joint is still as I left it - no movement.

 

Unclamping everything, I was left a bit disappointed. It's not as tight as I wanted it, but going in, I knew the very edges were not 100% flush and that the way I clamped it didn't allow for corrections on that. Still not bad.

 

This is the worse offender though: there is a gap on that corner:

I got scared so I grabbed a piece of paper to see how far in I could push it. This reassured me somewhat. As you can see, it cannot really go in. For reference, the pencil drawing is the headstock outline (+5 mm safety). That's also were the clamps were concentrated. So I am fairly confident the inside part, which was perfectly flat, is very nicely glued up.

 

Now I am left with a 15mm thick headstock. +-2mm need to go so I can glue on my +-2mm headstock cap. I will work on the back of the headstock first to make it nice, and remove the rest from the top. This is going to be my friend for the next few sessions:

I'll use it normally to flatten the front of the headstock and will be using a trick to thickness the headstock plate, back of the headstock and fretboard perfectly flat, parallel and stay consistent. (I just let it rip for a second on a scrap of wood and holy shit this thing rips. It's oscillating too, and almost perfectly flat. I set it up perfectly square to the cast iron plate and the wood scrap I ran on it barely even needed a bit of sanding to shine...).

Edited June 7, 2023 by Asdrael

[avengers63]

54 minutes ago, Asdrael said:

Unclamping everything, I was left a bit disappointed. It's not as tight as I wanted it, but going in, I knew the very edges were not 100% flush and that the way I clamped it didn't allow for corrections on that. Still not bad.

 

This is the exact reason I don't even try and make it "perfect" before glue-up. In MY experience, it's always gonna be off a little. I'll leave the blank just a little thick - maybe 1/16"-1/8". After the neck scarf, I run the face of the blank through the jointer a few times. The joint is cleaned up and the blank is ready to receive the fretboard.

[Asdrael]

Yep. Learning as I do it! I do have a bit more than 1/16" to go through of extra material, so I think I'll be fine, especially since the sides will come off.

Although in my case, I didn't go with a "traditional" scarf joint going from the headstock to the underside of the fretboard, but with a "reverse" scarf joint  from the top / front side of the headstock to the backside / volute side of the headstock. It will allow me to hide it more, will be more easily fixable (I hope) in case something goes bad, and I will cut more of the sides off than with a regular scarf joint - plus quite frankly I always disliked how regular scarf joints look. And most importantly, I was afraid I could feel a bad joint at the back of the neck when playing given it's my first build... Time will tell how good that decision was.