Blackdog

I guess it's time to update this old thread with some progress pictures. The body now has the rear cavity routed and the korina cover has been cut. I also routed the lip around the body edge, and the binding channel. I can't really continue with the recurve and angling of the top until the body binding is done. A lot more was done to the fretboard. From the original slab of cocobolo I cut and thicknessed some strips to be later used for the body binding. Then slotted, cut to shape and used the fretboard to cut the sides of the neck. Then radiused. I also though that this neck would look better with the unbound fretboard. So for contrast, the side dots are made of bronze. In the end I decided not to use CF rods in this neck. Should be stable enough with the laminations, we'll see. Now the fretboard has been glued on the neck and quite a few carving sessions later the neck is about 90% finished: The carving of the neck still needs more work and the heel cut to length. I'm still unsure if I'll stick with 24 frets or cut it down to 22. So this is the current status of this build. But being that my other build has to be finished by the end of the year, I'll have to assign priorities properly. So this one will advance rather slowly from now on, as time is always limited. Thanks for reading.

OK. I guess it's time I add something to these long forgotten threads. I'm obviously getting much slower with the builds, and the holidays and all have kept me saw-dust free for some time. Anyway, there has been some progress (mostly in the right direction...) that I would like to share with you guys. After adjusting the proper top to the body I rushed into sanding the sides to erase those ugly router marks. And "rushed into" are the key words here: I oversanded. Probably the only critical dimension in the LP body contour is the place where the cutaway meets the treble side of the neck. At that point it needs to be exactly half the width of the fingerboard to have a centered neck ending flush with the cutaway. After sanding I had lost a couple of millimiters there. I thought of two possible solutions: either mount the neck a few mm off center (which would look quite obvious with the center seamed maple top), or adopt the more radical solution of an offset heel. I chose the latter, which in turn makes for a more original design and a better upper-fret access overall. At this point I also abandoned the idea of a mortise-and-tenon and decided to go with the full-neck insertion PRS style. So the body was reshaped to this. The lip around the body has been routed too. I still need to route the recurve and the angle of the top. The body now looks like this: A lot more was done to the fretboard. Inlaid the yellow MOP markers, cut the fretboard to size, added the maple binding and the side dots. With the finished fretboard as a template (aligned on the neck with two pins) I cut the sides of neck to the final size with the router. Error number two: the fretboard was already radiused, so it was very difficult to keep the router bit vertical in the heel areas of the neck. I removed some wood from the side of the heel and had to repair it adding some mahogany and sanding everything flush again. It left a clear patch as the wood was not exactly the same. You can see that in the next pictures. Not much of this ends up exposed anyway (on this side the body still meets the neck at the 16th fret), and I think it will blend better after the pore filling. This mistake should not happen again, as I don't plan to use anymore pre-slotted, pre-radiused fretboards. So in the future I can slot, inlay, cut to size and bind the fretboard while still flat, and radius as a last step after using it to cut the sides of the neck. After some sessions of carving this is the neck pretty much finished: Now I can concentrate on the body: I'm ready to route the recurve, then the angle of the top. Right after that I'll route the neck pocket and here is when I'll probably curse the day I came up with the idea of the offset heel, but we'll see. Thanks for reading.

Now that I re-read your posting I think that you should definitely give building your own neck a try... The carving of the top is indeed a nice challenge, but carving a neck is not really that difficult after all and it is fun and very rewarding. I really enjoy working on the necks, and it gives you the possibility to tailor the instrument to your liking a lot more than any bought neck will.

Thanks for the replies. I agree that it would be complete overkill for a plastic binding, but I'll be bending some maple and cocobolo binding. That's why I want something like that...

Hello people, Currently working on my first bound body. I found this picture in another forum. (picture borrowed from someone's build thread for illustration purposes only...) What do you call this type of tape ?? And do you know where should I look for it in the NL/Europe ?? Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi Tom, I think I can help a little. The thickness of the body (walnut in your case) is really up to you. If you want to use the PRS values then the mahogany thickness of a McCarty is around 31mm, and a Custom is about 3mm less. For the maple top 3/4" (19mm) is about right, PRS seem to use thinner tops (around 1/2") and thicker bodies for the Singlecut. I made my second build with 31mm mahogany body and 19mm maple top, so the total thickness was 50mm. Regarding the top angle, it doesn't really matter if you do a bolt-on or a set neck. It will affect the look of the carving and the perceived neck-to-body angle, though. I did both and I liked the angled top better. Of course the neck-to-top angle will have to be designed taking the usual factors into account: bridge type, heigh, string action, etc. You may find it useful to have a look at my last finished build (see signature), there you'll see how I carved mine and you'll find some discussions about the top angle. Hope it helps. Luis

I'm using the Hot Rod on my necks too and these are 16mm (sans fingerboard) deep at the first fret. The hot rod is about 11mm IIRC, so that would leave 5mm of wood behind the rod. I think you can safely go down to maybe 3mm at the first fret. If you want a neck that's significantly shallower then you might need to use a different TR. I have read here that the Gotoh two-way rod is shallower than the hot-rod.

Your main problem is not extracting the bushing. That's reasonably easy with the proper jig/setup, as it was mentioned. Drilling the hole for the grounding wire is more of a challenge. I think the simplest and safest solution to that would be to drill parallel to the body top, from your output jack hole through to the tailpiece bushing cavity. You still need a long and thin drill bit, but not having to drill at an angle is a big advantage with a thin solidbody like yours in my opinion. Of course, once you got your wire in the jack hole you can enter it to the cavity or simply ground it at the jack itself. Hope it helps.

Every now and then I come back to the idea o using maple for fretboard inlays, but isn't it a problem to leave them unfinished ?? I mean, an unfinished RW fretboard looks great, wouldnt the maple get too dirty with normal use ?? I have a question about your top. I have some flamed redwood I will use for tops, but t quite brownish in color. Did you bleach that top of yours before staining red ?? How did you do it if so ?? BTW, I like your headstock shape very much !!

Beautiful !!! I'm currently working on a LP myself... I'll check your progress thread at mylespal.com. Thanks for sharing.

That is true. But you can always suspend the template over the body, there are many ways for this, like with thicknessing jigs as Mattia mentions. In my carvings I leave a flat area at the center of the top. My template is long and has the hole for the dishing at the end, so I clamp it to the center of the top and leave it suspended over the controls' holes. Works well for me. I might still try the grinding and sharpening of a spade bit, though.

I tried the cove-bit-on-drill-press method, but it has a tendency to tear a lot (it's a big bit at low speed) as was mentioned. Another problem with this method is that you're limited to the size of the bit: speed knobs are 1" diameter, a cove bit of 1 1/4 leaves a barely noticeable effect with the knob in place, and that's a big bit already. The method of cutting the flat bottom with a forstner and then use a roundnose-top-bearing bit with a template works best for me. The cut is much cleaner and with the proper template you can make dishings of virtually any size or shape. Not exactly like the PRS but still a very nice effect.

OK, so it's been a while since I posted any progress on these.... I arrived at a headstock design for this that I like. It's symmetric and has a rather classic outline without being exactly the Gibson shape. Here it's been already cut from the thicknessed headstock. Then I routed the body for the control and switch cavities, he wiring channel and a chamber. I then jointed the top. I had to do a pre-cut as the top was too wide for the clamps I have... That was odd... Ayway, I proceeded to cut the top, and ajust it to the body. So this is when I realized that this was NOT the top intended for this guitar... Sigh. I pulled out the proper top and did it all over again.... So here it is, now with the proper maple top: So the other maple top will be used in a hollowbody les paul I was planning for myself. I already cut the body for that one, from a thick honduras mahogany blank. So I guess build number five has already started... Does it ever end !?! So Now I think I'll work a little on the Korina DC for a change. Thanks for reading.

First of all welcome to this group of build-a-holics... Mostly everything that matters has already been said by the experienced guys around here. With only two complete builds under my belt I can say I'm still a newbie myself, but I have learnt a couple of things already that I can share with you. 1-Your first build will NOT be cheaper than the guitar of your dreams. Quite possibly not even your second build. 2-Your first build will NOT be as nice and perfect as the guitar of your dreams. Quite possibly not even your second build. 3-Wood is possibly the cheapest element of the cost structure of your build. Tools, hardware and hours are by far more expensive. 4-You can do a carved top on your first. I did and worked out reasonably well. And it's a lot of fun. 5-You can make a neck for your first. It's not that difficult and it's a lot of fun. 6-It's not really necessary to start with a flat-top, or a bolt-on or a kit if you really feel you're up to the challenge. That said, keep your design as simple as possible without sacrificing the specs you really want. Revisit your reasons for wanting to build your guitar, What we're saying here is that your first build is likely to be inferior and more expensive that the PRS you want. But with a bit of patience and planning it will still be very playable and satifying. And with the gained experience you'll be planning your second build... So if it is for the fun of building it yourself then, by all means, go ahead. If you just want to have that PRS Custom 10-top for less, then look into buying one second hand. The two guitars I built are along the lines of what you want to attempt, so have a look ant the build threads in my signature and it will give you an idea of what you're looking at. And keep on reading. There are many build threads in this forum alone that will give you many interesting ideas. People do things differently, quite often there is more than one way of doing something, so there's a lot to learn just by reading. I wish you the best of lucks and a sweet guitar at the end of the road.

Good tip. Cabinet rasps then. I'm thinking number 4 and 5 of those, right ?? But I guess I can ask you personally tomorrow...

I need a couple of good rasps and was checking Dick Tools... At about a third of the price of the "Ultra" Precision ones, are the Herdim Precision Half-Round Rasps worth a try ?? e.g. Stock Nr. 704733

I'm NL based too. Have a look HERE. Very comprehensive list put together by another respected NL based member of this community...

Hmmm, are you sure you guys have done the right thing ?? I don't remember anyone asking if dpm99 is married.... Anyone else sharing the appartment ?? Any pets ?? Good luck with the project. The only completely indispensable tools are "patience", and a vacuum cleaner: in your case more than ever. Looking forward to see your progress.

I think the safest way to figure out what scale was used would be to measure from the nut (side facing the bridge) to the 12th fret and multiply by two. The position of the ABR post will allow some variation because you alway have the saddle travel to compensate with. Personally I wouldn't use a template to locate the bridge, I would measure from the nut with the neck in it's pocket, and use the value from SMD's fret calculator as a guide. But that's me...

Hmmmm, so you think it could be Dalbergia Retusa instead of Dalbergia Nigra... It's definitely not Dalbergia Latifolia, let me tell you... Well, you might indeed be right. This is what it looked like after some more thinning, here side by side with what I believe to be a cocobolo piece (Dalbergia specialists, please confirm). It certainly looks like the same wood to me... Which means that I would probably use that piece for the fingerboard then. I used the other side of the rosewood thing for facing the headstock, as it looked a lot browner, but sand dust of this wood is indeed quite orange, and if I sand it a little more it'll start looking like the offcut in the picture. Some progress pictures are in order, so this is the already shaped headstock. And just to illustrate where I'm going with this build, this is a "concept" drawing out of the Corel file I used for the templates.

So I'm trying to advance these two projects in parallel. I added the ears to the headstock to this neck too. And it is also planed and ready to receive the headplate. Ears are longer on this one as the headstock will be closer to the Gibson shape.

Thanks for the comments. IRW doesn't smell like roses. It's a rather unpleasant smell, but not as extreme as cat piss to me... However the feel of the almost unfinished IRW neck is fantastic. I'll make me another full IRW neck in the future for sure. Anyway, the BRW smell is something else. It really smells like roses. At least these pieces are a lot oilier than the IRW I have too. In any case the BRW dust made me sneeze a lot more than the IRW did. Maybe I'm allergic to Brazilian !!!! Oh no, please !!! Regarding the shape I'll see tonight if I can export a "concept jpg" out of the Corel file of the body design. I also want to see if I can widen the heastock a little bit. I would like to show as much of the brazilian headplate as possible.

Look mom !! I grew ears !!!! Planed and ready to accept the headplate. So I was planing the rosewood I had for the headplates. An offcut piece from my previous indian RW neck and a couple of scrap pieces I picked up almost a year ago. These were very rough and even had paint residue all over... And when they went through the safeTplaner a rich, reddish grain appeared at the other side, and the unmistakeable scent of roses... Brazilian RW !! Have a look, here with the IRW piece in the middle: So now that I'll be using these as headplates I guess it would be cool to use BRW for the fingerboard too. If I can get my hands on some...

Hey, that's unfair !! I put no less than 3 P90s in my first build alone !!! Counting these two new ones it's 4 P90s vs. 5 'buckers, pretty fair distribution I would think. Well all right, but you need at least one more P-90 to bring the balance back. All right, I'll stop with the stupid jokes. The meaning of all this is very clear... To make you happy I'll have to keep building... Oh Well...

Hey, that's unfair !! I put no less than 3 P90s in my first build alone !!! Counting these two new ones it's 4 P90s vs. 5 'buckers, pretty fair distribution I would think. (Besides, the Paula doesn't really count: It's Blackdog Jr.'s guitar)