alysum

thanks but I'm not in Australia but in a remote area in France ! it's strange even the "Bunnins warehouse of France" don't seem to have those bearing bits on their website. I have found an online store but they cost 40 euros, pretty pricey !

that would be a bit risky and more difficult to get nice and straight lines don't you think ?

I went to 2 hardware stores, none have the bearings on top looks like they are hard to find...is there a way to make your own bearing ?

Body back contour Carved the contour at the back for more comfort using spokeshaves and cabinet scrapers. I struggled using spokeshaves along the grain so dad helped. Then sanded with 150 grit. Carving the body back edges Manually carved the edges with a cabinet scraper and 150 sanding

By the way I hope to get a better join at the bottom when I carve it around. The figure doesn't show much on the outer ends so I might have to do a sunburst spray around.

Gluing the body and top together The maple and mahogany were already well sanded on the machine using 80 grit. So I just did a quick manual sanding using 150 grit then glued with cold glue and heaps of clamping ! Cutting out the body The body is ready to be cut around ! Band sawing the guitar The result ! I left some space on the right of the neck pocket as I want to do it manually. I'm currently sanding the body contour manually which is time consuming

Apologies for not updating this thread; I have now made an effort to put all photos on and resize them so here we go ! [click on thumbnails for larger pictures] The wood African Mahogany plank (50mm thick) My dad has so much maple to choose from but not many are wide enough (16cms) plus not all of it is very good So we cut out on the band saw several planks We took the mahogany and 2 tops to a local chap who had this huge sanding machine. After several passes, the mahogany got to 30mm thick and the maple to 12mm. Nice and flat all over. Joining the maple top together The first top we did was no good as we did a bad join and the surface was all uneven and bent so we chose a second one. But the next day the 2 tops moved and was no longer bookmatching so we did it again with more clamps at both ends. Body template I had a rough drawing I did from my telecaster back in Sydney to base myself on for the bottom part of the body and the height of the body (about 41mm). For the mattocaster cuttaway I based myself on the picture of his 'Bomber'. First I drew the shape on tracing paper than onto some thin plywood. I drew precisely where the bridge will go with the usual 25.5" scale length, pickup cavities, controls, neck pocket with joint at the 16th fret etc...

thats for the tips, no I don't have any bits like the one on the pic above so I guess I'll have to purchase one as none of the 6 bits that came with the B & D kit have a bearing on top. 2 have them on the bottom which obviously are no good. good idea putting some masking wood too ! but then making a template without a template is even harder ! Is it best to do the edges by hand ? Harder to get it straight tho

Hello, I'm having troubles using my new router and creating neck pockets for my bolt-on telecaster style neck; seems like a difficult thing for something very important where errors are not acceptable... I know it takes time to get used to the router; right now I struggle to see anything at all using the router ! I've been trying to create some templates but I often go a bit too far in with the router and after I find it very hard to get straight lines sanding it. Then when I used the template on a block of wood to practice, the router cut through both... What's the safest approach to making neck pockets ? Thanks in advance for any tips...I wonder how all those people can easily rout pockets and cavities...

ahah no my dad is a lute maker not a shop

Hello, I got an african mahogany plank in Paris last Monday; it's 50mm thick...going to be a lot of machine planing to do to get it to 30mm. I'm taking it to be planed tomorrow. My dad has lots of maple so we found an okay figured plank, cut out 2 bookmatched pieces and glued them. Unfortunately because of the band saw and the fact that the glued maple bent overnight, the surface is uneven so I'm hoping the machine planing will flatten it on both sides. I might actually prepare a second one in case this onemesses up. I got the maple neck with brazilian fingerboards from Warmoth; it looks beautiful, wish I made it lol More tomorrow then with some pics I hope ! Right now I'm drawing the body shape on paper etc... Xanthus> no I'm keeping it simple with no effects in it for start plus I like to show off the flamed maple instead of the extra knobs all over

G'day, Next week I'm planning to start building my first guitar when I head overseas to my folks, I will be using my dad's lute-making workshop with all the tools we need (tho we don't have a router yet). I'm planning to make a combination of 2 guitars I like; my custom Fender telecaster FMT (made in Korea) and Matthew Bellamy's Manson 'Bomber' body shape. Features will be: bolt-on Warmoth telecaster maple neck with brazilian rosewood fingerboard thin mahogany body carved figured maple top, dark blue or grey stain natural maple binding hardtail bridge (string thru rear) Kent Armstrong Motherbucker bridge pickup Kent Armstrong P90 neck pickup Volume + push-push tone (to split the motherbucker to a humbucker) My dad has a beautiful maple plank we will cut out. When I'll be in transit in Paris I will get some mahoghany at this place. Can't wait to start this after reading this forum so much as well as Melvyn Hiscock's book...I just hope I have everything I need ! So far I have [maple top, neck with nut, tuners, string retainers, set of strings, 2 pickups, 2 pots, 2 knobs, jack socket, LP switch, bridge, 2 strap holders, cavity cover, wiring kit, grain filler]. Havent yet got: [mahogany, stain color, laquer, templates (to make)] Will be updating this thread once I start. Cheers

Looks good as usual wouldn't mind seeing some with blue colour stain just to see what it looks like (you guessed I find sunburst a bit boring lol but that's me...)

Cheers ! Think I'll go with this neck:)

I just checked Fender.com and it says their American series Tele & Strat nuts are both 1.6875” (43 mm). Strange Warmoth does not provide an exact nut size ! So I'm not sure whether I'd be more comfortable with the 1-11/16 in. 42.8mm OR 1-3/4 in. 44.45mm :s

wow Google... thanks !

Hello, When it comes to buy stuff in the US (Warmoth neck) I'm totally lost with the british imperial units; inches ! I cannot find a website where I can simply enter 1 11/16 to get the size in mm so what are the nuts mm sizes for: 1-1/2 in. 1-11/16 in. 1-13/16 in. 1-3/4 in. 1-5/8 in. 1-7/8 in. Which ones are standard ones for Fender ? I think my stratocaster and custom telecaster are 43/44 mm. Am I right that those are the FULL widths of the nut and not the length between the 2 outer strings ? Cheers !

ok thanks I'll take it easy then

Hello, I couldn't find a tutorial on the site nor a suitable response in the search engine; I believe there should be something pinned about this ! I'm looking for recommendations on where the pickups should be positioned on the body. In my case I will have a neck P90 and a motherbucker quad on the bridge. I've read that there is no official position for them, that it all depends on the sounds you're looking for with the closer to the bridge = more attack and harmonics ? and closer to the neck = more clear sounds ? There must be some rules of thumbs for positioning them By the way my neck will be a 21 fret one, I'd be looking for lots of harmonics with the bridge pickup Cheers,

correct going to south france how did you guess lol just hoping it wont be too hot ! think I will not take my guitar and just take tons of photos for the carving reference and measure things

haha I'm going for holidays at my folks home and dad has a workshop, he's a lute maker sure I will start a topic when I start ! still have some issues to resolve; i.e p.u poitios...

of course I'm going to wait for my Warmoth neck before routing the pocket but they seem pretty slow a Warmoth...

Difficult question, you really need to experience all of them before making a realistic judgement. People usually tend to vote for what they have ! I guess a distorsion is usually the first and 'compulsory' effect. But I now have a Vox AD30VT with lots of effects integrated so that will help me know what I like right now I'm enjoying the flanger, crazy sound. But when I can't wait to try out the whammy too... I had a delay pedal but sold it as I found it too hard to use, could never find the right setting and was wasting too much time on it instead of practising !

I should mention that I will be getting a neck from Warmoth so the neck reference won't be needed. If I'm not going to take it with me I'd have to write down every possible measurements lol

For my first build I'm undecided whether to take my guitar with me on the plane to where I will build my first guitar overseas. Obviously it could be too much to carry 2 guitars when I return ! The guitars will both be similar but different shape, bolt on neck vs set neck but it can always be useful can't it to know the pickup, bridge placements, body thickness etc... what do you think ?