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I know what ya mean Idch, I always feel like there's a mile left to go and no gas to get there when it comes to finishing. Got the rough carve on the body today. Matching the body to the neck angle Template in place for the recurve in the face of the body Contouring the body - The tools used Forgot to get pics of the back, but all I did was put matching belly cuts on both sides of the waist. Lots of hand sanding to do now, but first I will mount the neck and carve the heel. That will be tomorrow's task. Nate Robinson

Wow, you literally found a "trashed" guitar and turned it into that? That kicks ass - it looks sweet too! Nate Robinson

Poor boy burst

Being that there is nothing really spectacular about the grain in the body, I would probably go for a solid color or maybe a burst. Beyond that it just boils down to what you are comfortable doing. Body looks nice so far, hope it continues to go well. Nate Robinson

Well....There's room for improvement to be sure, but It doesn't look gash either. I think that if it satisfies you at this point then it's a winner. I know everytime I finish a build I'm really proud of it, but then when I get a little way into the next build I start looking at the previous one with much less pride. Only two things to do in that situation - get better or quit - and it's to much fun to quit. Nate Robinson

Zoso: Yeah thats the veritas shoulder plane, can't believe just how handy it is. whoofnagle: The neck has a 3 degree angle on it. In the "cleaning up the patch" link in my last post you can see the body is shaved from the front of the neck pocket to to the back to allow for the angle. Nate Robinson

The bass looks worlds better than when you started (but then I suppose that was the point right?) As far as painting the pickup covers goes, you might check into the Fusion line of paint offered by Krylon. I haven't used it myself but I hear that it does adhere quite well to plastic surfaces through some sort of chemical bond. Krylon Fusion Good luck! Nate Robinson

Had to spend today backtracking - which is always a fun and productive way to work. However the pocket is taken care of and the project is back on track. First I attached a piece of scrap mahogany to a piece of mdf via double stick tape and then ran that setup through the planer until I had the thickness I needed to fill the stairstep. Creating the veneer Finished veneer ready for bending Then I peeled the mahogany veneer I had just made off the mdf and soaked it water. After holding the veneer in front of a tank mounted propane heater until it began to steam, I moulded it to the neck and let it dry out. Moulding the Veneer to the pocket Finally applied the glue and used masking tape to hold the veneer in place - I set the neck in to give the joint a little more pressure. Veneer taped and ready to set Trimmed the veneer flush with the top of the guitar.... Cleaning up the patch ....and here's what I ended up with. Tomorrow I'll start shaping the body. Nate Robinson

Welcom to the forum! Nate Robinson

whoofnagle: Yes it is. ZoSo: I think I will just fill the portion that is missing now and leave the part of the pocket that is correct alone. Not a major deal, just a stupid mistake. As far as the templates go I start with a paper template, then transfer that to a piece of 1/2" MDF. I usually cut the templates on the bandsaw then clean up the saw marks with a pattern makers rasp. The last thing I do to get nice clean edges is hit the MDF with some 36 grit sandpaper. The template for that headstock took aprox. 15 min to create. Nate Robinson

Cracked: I cut this neck with a 14" Ridgid bandsaw. The blade I used was a 3/4" rip blade. The thicker blades are less likely to wander than the thinner blades when cutting through thicker stock. ZoSo: Thanks for the compliments, man. So Today I finally got a chance to get back to the shop after the holiday. I got the headstock cut, trimmed, and ready for drilling tuner holes. Headstock with template on it. Then I decided to cut the neck pocket. Neck pocket jig viewed from top Neck pocket jig viewed from side I loaded the router with a 1/4" x 1 1/4" straight bit and began making shallow passes just along the perimeter of the jig. This went fine for awhile, but after achieving roughly half the depth of the neck pocket, the bit seamed to be dulling very quickly. Sooo...I changed out the bit for a 1/2" x 1 1/2" bit. This also meant that I had to swap out the guide bushing. I then continued the route to discover that I had created a stairstep of of 1/16". I set the neck into the pocket see what kind of problem I had created to find that it fit as it was supposed to in the deeper second cut that I had made after swapping from the 1/4"bit. Pocket with neck installed View from top with neck installed What had kicked me in the teeth was the fact that I have a full set of matched guide bushings that all have the same width wall - I also have a few guide bushings that I had collected that did not have the same dimension wall. Moral of the story: Double check your bushings! So now I gotta fill that gap tomorrow, too flustered to bother with it today. Nate Robinson

Good find, thanks for throwing in the mix Chris! Nate Robinson

That fingerboard rocks, Gun! From the pics you posted it looks perfect. How did the carve of the back of the neck turn out? Did you have to play it a little then continue to carve, or just carve and go with it? At any rate, it looks great. Congratulations on a very nice build. Nate Robinson

Idch: This project will slow down here pretty quick as work is going to engulf my daylight hours for the next 6 weeks solid. I did enjoy it while it lasted though. Got to rough out the neck today, this is where I tend to get really excited about a build. Had to take a couple of timeouts today to double check measurements and layouts. But after a few hours here's what I got. Layout on side of neck Layout on top of neck Cleaning up the rough neck with the #4 All the cutting was done on the bandsaw, no routers today! Because it is crucial that these cuts are all either perpendicular or parrallel to each other, I took some time this morning to check that the saw was tuned up and the table was perfectly perpendicular to the blade. From there its no big deal to cut out the rough neck as long as the blank is square to start with. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Nate Robinson

Marksound: You are absolutely right, it is a guide bushing that I used. I had just ordered a new 1/4" collet from woodworker supply. Guess it was still on my mind when I posted. Nate Robinson

Ok before the pic I want to justify why I did this the way I did. I come across quite a few posts of guys who have small benchtop bandsaws or no bandsaws at all so I got to thinking about how I could cut out the body with out one. I don't care for using jigsaws as the blade wanders more than I like, and though a coping saw would work I just don't have that kind of patience. Don't own a scroll saw so that was out. What I did have was a router and a 2" long straight bit. I did this with a 1/2" collet in the router and the template, of course. Template mounted Second pass with the router Top view of body Side view of body The key is light passes. I wouldn't do this with a bit that had less than a 1/2" shank. Also, bear in mind that the african mahogany was pretty soft - trying this with a harder wood is going to put alot of stress on the router. If you decide to try this method I recommend putting a couple of wraps of masking tape on the collet to essentially make the collet a little thicker. Make your passes until you have completely cut the body out. Then remove the tape and make a final clean up pass. This will remove some of the stairstepping you may see with all those passes. Anything to reduce sanding, right? I don't think I would use this method again, as I do have a bandsaw, but it was effective if just a little time consuming. The upside was that there was almost no sanding necessary. Nate Robinson.

Thanks for the votes of confidence. Southpa: Day three and no AWOL digits (knock on wood). Johnsilver: I got those clamps at Harbor Freight during some kinda annual sale, I think they were around $5 apiece. I'll be keeping an eye out for that sale again. Ledzendrix: It is a monter of a chunk of wood for just one neck. I didn't want to see the scarf or heal joints, so I decided to go for the full depth of the neck with the blank. My guess is that decision cost me about $20 more than doing the joints, but that was the look I was after so....it is what it is. Nate Robinson

Couldn't wait till tomorrow, so I went back to the shop to trim out the blanks. Leveling the body with a router and planing jig Planing down the neck blank There's a neck in here somewhere... Everythings ready to shape, WooHoo! Nate Robinson

Today was all about the glue it seemed. I swear I must have used a quart of Titebond on the neck blank alone. The neck consisted of: 2 - 2" slabs of maple 2 - 3/64" pieces of maple 1 - 3/16" piece of maple 4 - 1/8" pieces of walnut Body is just two chunks of 2" x 8" african mahogany 20" long. Body glue up Most of the monotiny is behind me now (barring the whole finshing process that is ). Will begin roughing out the body and neck shapes tomorrow. Nate Robinson

Ok, I figured I'd try to keep tabs on a build start to finish for the sake of keeping notes for myself. Who knows it might even help inform new builders (or amuse veteran builders). So to start at the beginning, I have drawn up the plans for a guitar based loosely on the PRS Macarty. The specs of the guitar will be: 25.5" scale 3x3 grover locking mini tuners Hipshot baby grand bridge EMG select non active pickups (HH or HSH configuration) Electronics are unressolved at this point Solid african mahogany body at 2" thickness 9 piece laminate neck (Maple and Walnut) Zebrawood fingerboard Varathane finish on neck Painted body Tomorrow the fun begins. Nate Robinson

Thank you for the input, if nothing else its nice to see how some of the big guns feel about it. With that being said, I'm off to start a new project... Nate Robinson

FANCY!! That looks invincible. But for all I know ya might go at frett sawing like its a bedroom activity. You'll have to show us a pic of it with your first board when its done. Nate Robinson

I run a Bosch eight hole with hook and loop attachment. I haven't had any problems with it not getting the job done. It's had two years worth of abuse now and is still going strong. I can't for the life of me remember what I paid for it though... Anyway, if I do finally manage to tear it up, I will be replaceing it with another Bosch. Nate Robinson

I used the Mirage paint on a strat as well, my results weren't so good though. To my knowledge the problem was user error. I applied way to much mid coat and it pretty much killed the color change effect except when the guitar was in direct sunlight. So I guess it's the old adage of "practice on scrap first". Good luck. Nate Robinson

From his description, it sounds like mine is pretty close to M A T T's. The collector does a decent job of keeping huge piles of sawdust off the floor, but I still find that I have to run the shop vac now and then. Nate Robinson