10pizza

That's a really nice toy you have there Chris!

I'm sure there's a lot of time going into preparing the models, but once you learn how the machine reacts to your models and setup. But each next one will be easier I guess.

those are some great looking wood selections, nice!

NECK FIT

today I also installed the edge-trem and two tuners, strung it up with two strings to position the neck correctly in the body and mark it.

that worked out pretty well and I've now installed the neck-screws Here's a few shots of what it looks like now.

Got the body covered in about 8 layers of Tung oil. First few layers I thinned to have the wood better absorp it. Now it's waiting for it to dry completely, which can take up to 3 weeks as I read on the container. I'll see what it looks like then. Might try to wetsand it to make it more shiny.

So, now I need to design my headstock signature. I got a name for it, just need to get a nice design for it.

then I'll create a decal of it and I'll attach it to the headstock. It means I'll have to lacquer my headstock to make the decal blend in.

If anyone has a better idea for that, I'm all open to suggestions!

I put some tung oil on the back of the neck as well to seal/protect it.

Next on the hit list: installing the frets and the locking nut. As I've used a 240mm radius on the neck, I need to think of a solution to give the nut a proper radius as well. 

to be continued......

NECK CARVE

today I started on a task that I maybe dreaded the most: carving the neck. I was very scared of ruining my neck ( which I almost did )

I used my Dad's workbench and got out my brand new Shinto rasp. I had expected to spend a lot of time rasping, but man! That Shinto is fast! Almost too fast as I accidentally created a deep scratch where I didn't want one anymore, so I had to sand that out. I also used a smaller sized flat rasp. Then it was sanding, a lot of sanding. Here I almost went too far as I kept seeing dots/scratches but eventually I found out that it was the figuring of the maple haha. At least it's very smooth now.

I carved it into an asymetric profile, similar to my Peavy Wolfgang neck which I like very much.

Yesterday I also glued zebra-veneer on the headstock to match the body. 

Been using my unemployment time as useful as possible, so here's some updates. I'll put them in separate posts to keep things readable.

INLAYS

Bought myself a Dremel tool to help with cutting the MOP as I couldn't get it cut with my figure-saw 

That worked very well so I decided to do some more MOP inlaying. Used the dremel as well to route out the inlays in the fretboard. Next time I'll try to find an even smaller router bit for the dremel to make things more neat, but I'm pretty satisfied with this first time result.

made some dust-glue to blend the inlays in. Took me two rounds because of the glue shrinking.

After that I routed the headstock to the appropriate depth and used my friends drum-sander to finish it off. 

update: glued the fretboard to the neck and created a 'table' for my plunge router to hang under so I could use it to route the fretboard flat with the neck.. Drilled the pegholes so now I'm preparing the inlaywork to be done After that I can radius-sand it and then it's onto the carving! Hope to get all of that done by Monday. Will post some pics then as well.

a question on the inlays: what.glue do you use  for the inlays? also, do you use special drills for round position markers or just a regular 6mm drill ( in case of 6mm dots )

I also started on a side project titled 'Cheapo Les Paul' which is a restauration of a discarded LP copy my brother in law found somewhere. will create a separate topic for that.

pictures will follow.....

created my own fret-slotting mitre box today. copied fretslots from an existing neck on a piece of scrap wood ( thicknessed and flattened) and created a marker in my slotbox using a piece of an exacto blade. The neck black will be taped on the scrap wood which will fall over the blade to get the right fret positions for sawing.

job for tomorrow: actually slotting the frets and glueing it on my neck!

24 minutes ago, SIMpleONe89 said:

Nice! I like how the lighter stripe lines up with the knobs.

small correction: zebra-stripe 

haha, I read tiger stripe, but it actually says lighter  stripe, sorry 

First layer of Tung oil applied, many more to come,,,,,

10 hours ago, SIMpleONe89 said:

Is that birds eye maple? 

yes it is. I have a strong bem-fetish. Got me a nice piece a while ago which I'll be turning into 2 necks. This is the first, made out of the less-beautiful side. Using it to learn and then on the next project I'll be making a birdsey neck with birdsey fretboard.

another day at the workshop. preparing the rough neck.

• created a necktemplate
• rough sawn the neck
• thickness planing
• truss rod routing

also thicknessed the fretboard, so that's next on the list to prepare for glueing on the neck.

had a few slips with the trussrod route. fortunately it will be covered up

also drilled the jack output hole on the body so It's now ready for finishing. I'll try to do a test piece tomorrow to see what it will look like..

some more progress during this week I hope!

10 hours ago, SIMpleONe89 said:

Yup I do. But still the handle could be slightly bigger! 

I'll check it out how my hands take it. Maybe there's a way of removing the handle and creating a custom one?

thanks @Norris

read some good stories about that one so I just ordered one online. Reasonable price, shipping makes it a bit more expensive, but I hope to forget that once I start working with it.

thanks guys. First time takes a lot of time, but you learn a lot, so next one will be easier/quicker I guess.

some lessons learned:

• don't overdo on the doublesided tape
• get a shorter router bit with bearing for the next project for those recesses
• route in very small passes with mahogany
• be patient, be very patient

Spent a day in the workshop last monday and got my body (almost) done:

• trem backcavity route
• electronics cavity route
• recessed cavity cover from Zebrano
• recessed tremcavity route
• drilled electronics channels 
• rounded body edges

I did the tremcavity at an angle to make sure I didn't cut through to the bridge pickup cavity. put a piece of scrap beneath my template to get the necessary angle.

Today I'll receive my jack and jack-ring so I'll know what diameter holes to drill for that. Also I'll receive my finishing oil today, so I can start working on the finish after that.

Yesterday I received my trussrod for the neck. Today my rosewood should come in. Next monday I've scheduled another day at the shop to start work on the neck. It will be a tele-style headstock to match the body, but ofcourse with a top-lock for the edge trem. I'll re-use the gotoh-tuners from my Ibanez neck.

for the neck shaping I still need to find me an affordable rasp. 

some pictures of progress:

it sucks, but it gives me opportunity to think about what to do next. Might start my own business in consulting and combine that with guitarbuilding and repairs. 

next week I'll be putting some more time in my guitarproject, that will help. Looking forward to getting more progress and start my first neck project.

I got a nice piece of birdseye maple. Trying to get two neck blanks out of it, but it will have to be by some economic sawing.

a question: at what time do you thin the neckbase to the right depth for the neckpocket? at start, or when shaping the neck?

thx @2.5itim , you always know it can happen, but when it does it's still a bit surreal

so,it looks like I'm going to have more time to build.. Just been laid off........

Just as my build goes ;-) FInished with my garden now, got some other things this and next week, but July is going to be a good project Guitar month!

some advice needed:

The plan is to finish with Tung-oil. Should I first use grain filler or not? 

will the tung oil finish be hard enough to protect from quick dents?

thanks!

As I'm making some progress lately and I've got a nice piece of birdseye maple I'm thinking of making this a complete build in stead of re-using the Ibanez neck as planned.

I'm not too big a fan of the Wizard -profile neck. Since this will be my nr 1 build, I'd like it to be to my preferred specs!

got to get me a nice piece of rosewood for the fingerboard and a nice inlay design. Looks like this project will be running a bit longer......

Just now, Tekkelenburg said:

Zie je weinig zo'n tele met floyd!

Wel erg gaaf!

dank je! 

great! Nice to see Zebrano on a fretboard as well!

managed to get myself access to a pressdril last week so I predrilled the cavities and last friday night did some serious routing!

really nice to see all that work creating templates finally paying off!

1 lesson learned: do not use too much double sided tape.

some pictures, with ofcourse the obligatory bottle of beer after finishing 

hi @Prostheta

yes, I took up your advice and created a chip to fit in with colouring. Glued it in, quick-sanded it and it looks good from my perspective.

I'll post some pics later after I've done some more work on the body and see if you can spot it ( and I have a feeling you can.....)