orgmorg

One of the things this jig is for is routing the trussrod slot.

Here is the routed slot with the rod in place:

And with the fretboard blank, which is persimmon:

You can see a pair of 5/64" holes here, and these are used to pin the fretboard in place with a toothpicks while gluing:

Then the back of the headstock gets sanded on the spindle sander:

and over to the drill press to drill the tuner holes using an index pin underneath:

The neck blank locates on this jig via two 1/4" holes which fit onto brass dowels in the jig.

Now, using the these holes get transferred to the back of the blank:

so that it will fit onto this jig:

which looks like this underneath:

Now, the headstock veneer.

I usually like to use one that matches the body, but as you will see later on, that will not work here, so I am using walnut, like the center strip.

Then it goes in a jig to cut the curve of the volute on the pin router

And the excess gets sawed off the back

Finally managed to get somewhere with internet, and it seems to be working fine. Satellite internet is so screwy.

Paulie~ Yes, I do like me some machinery

So, here is the neck stock all squared up:

And bandsawed into 2 blanks:

Then the neck portion is sanded to thickness on the spindle sander:

And headstock ears glued on:

Poplar is a very different wood than it used to be.

Most of what you find today is indeed rather boring, mostly whitish sapwood, and the heartwood is a very pale green. The old growth stuff is wonderful. Deep green with very little sapwood, softer and lighter, very resonant.

I am having the worst time trying to post this. I am writing it in my word program, and hoping to paste it in the reply box and hit send before I get timed out or whatever the heck is going on.

This is the only site I seem to be having this trouble with, and it started when our satellite internet provider “upgraded” our equipment. I will try and use a friend's internet later on and get more posted, but for now, here are some pics of the neck stock being glued up. I started with a 1 1/8” x 5 1/4” piece, ripped it in half, jointed and sanded 2 faces, and glued them up with a thin strip of walnut in the middle.

Thanks!

My internet connection is being screwy again, and the PG forum doesn't seem to work a lot of the time, so updates may be sporadic, but I am looking at getting this wrapped up over the next month or so.

Anyway, The top on this will be carved, so here we see a small ledge I have routed on the pin router using a 1/2" bit with a 3/8" guide pin

Then it gets flipped over, and I use a 1" radius roundover bit at about 3/4 of its depth.

And back to the top again, starting to carve with a 35mm #5 gouge. This old poplar carves sooo nicely! Didn't use a mallet at all.

And here 'tis all glued together and all....

This side will end up being the back, and left pretty much as is, and the front gets sanded down flat...

Then bandsawn to shape and the edges sanded...

Here now, let us not speak disparagingly of the Corvus.

In fact, it would be best we not speak of it at all...

No, this is not a tease, though I understand why it might seem so.

Indeed, I am making a body out of old yellow poplar.

Here are the pieces cut to size and edges jointed

Then trued up on sandpaper on a granite surface plate

And glued and clamped.

Well, I didn't find anything I wanted to use in that barn, but I have here four sections of quartersawn poplar 2x4 rafter.

When I use a hard wood like maple for a neck, I like to use a soft body wood, and all I found in that barn was oak and beech.

This poplar is something I found a while back, and has been sitting up in the loft of my finishing room

Never used mulberry for a full body, just a drop top, once. It works nicely, though the grain can be tricky (tends to interlock.)

I've done a couple necks with three strips of osage in them, never much more than that. It is pretty heavy stuff, and amazingly strong.

Bukoffsky~ Thanks, the figured cedar is indeed out of character for me, but every now and then I need to do something colorful.

I always finish after the glue up. This allows me to do any sanding to shape or blend the joint before finish is applied.

I'm sure others do it differently?

MK

Yes, I do it the opposite, but the necks and bodies of mine are designed to look like two separate parts and don't get blended together.

They also usually get finished differently, and I like being able to clean up the glue squeeze-out without it soaking into the wood.

It is easier for me to wipe it off of the finish than to get it out of the wood.

You know, as soon as I posted that, I knew someone was going to say something like that

Phantom Mando~ This is just so freaking cool!! Love it!

I like the F5 LP, but I seem to remember it much more purple. I hope it's just the light that washed it out.

I really liked that purple burst.

BTW, I goofed~ the pickups in mine are not Fralins, they are Manalishis from CV Guitar, a Peter Green mod humbucker, hence the reversed neck pickup.

The middle knob is a blend pot which allows the middle out of phase position to be tweaked to taste.

I must have had a different guitar on my mind when I wrote it out.

Yep, them's the ones.

I tried ordering from him, but get an error message when I add anything to the cart.

Haven't seen the Axminster ones.

Definitely don't waste your money on any of the set of 3 double edged ones that are sold on ebay and maybe Stewmac. They are awful.

Stew-mac's regular ones ( the thin ones with the red tips)are OK.

The best by far are the Grobet files. If you can find them, they are absolutely worth the money.

I have had some for ages, and they are still way better then the Stewmac ones I picked up a couple years ago, even after doing stuff like deepening the slots in a Floyd locking nut.

I suppose that, having won recently, I should sit on my hands for a while; but I thought it might be fun to enter something a bit different than my usual fare.

Plus, it's my birthday

Redbird

The top is curly eastern red cedar. I have never seen figure like this in this species before; a lucky find!

Schroeder bridge, Lindy Fralin Humbuckers with covers I put together from open nickel covers from Mojotone and some tortoise pickguard material.

More tortoise in the control plate, with an overlay cut from nickel silver sheet.

Neck is red mulberry, black walnut and osage orange, back is salvaged yellow poplar.

Sperzel tuners, and my first go at veneering the back of a headstock:

MORE PICS~

Osage orange fretboard with tortoise binding and tortoise catalin dots

Full view of back

Full view of whole guitar

Headstock

Butt detail

These are awesome! I stumbled upon his website recently, great stuff!

Back when I used to do inlay, and had to scrap a neck, I would cut the fretboard up and use the inlaid parts in other woodworking projects.

I am sure you will find a good use for them.

Most coniferous woods can have sap pockets like that, and they don't go away with drying.

Drying removes the moisture, not the resins.

The main problem I see is the tracks getting full of dust and the ball bearings seizing up.

The drawer I keep my router bits in has the same tracks, and the dust from my pin router, which is right next to it has done this to them.

Well, I can't really see too well what is going on there, but if it is a single rod, wit two way adjustment, then it is most likely the same as one that LMI used to sell many years ago. It had reverse threads on one end and regular on the other, each threaded through a small steel block, with a hex nut welded onto the end.

Hopefully they have improved the quality, because the LMI ones **SUCKED** The nuts were badly welded and would snap off if tightened too much, and "too much" was not too hard to do. Fine threads on one end and coarse on the other would be much better, like on the Allied Lutherie rods.

I use the Allied rods for my guitars that adjust at the headstock, and they are excellent, but I wish they would use a thicker tubing on the bottom rod so it would fill up the channel and not rattle. Their "solution" is to tell us to glue a filler strip on top, pushing the rod down into the channel. Very annoying. I just wrap little pieces of electrical tape on the bottom rod. It works, but still...

For my guitars that adjust at the heel, I use a one way double rod from ebay seller Bezdez, and put a spoke wheel nut on the end.

I would love to use an american made truss rod, but LMI's rods have always disappointed me, crooked welds and such.

At some point I just may start making my own.

Edit~ Duh.. just saw the second video which I didn't notice before

Forget safety.

Live where you fear to live.

Destroy your reputation.

Be notorious.

~Rumi

I was biting my tongue on that, Wes.

Bukoffsky~ I was musing on that myself. Congrats! Excellent job.

Good enough to keep me from deleting my vote at the last minute.

Thanks all, it's fun to finally win one of these, even if it is a tie.

I have to ask.. Was it bigger?

Voted for the Black Beauty, and it is certainly both. Absolutely love it.

Shad's guitar is also excellent, and noticeably tighter and cleaner than his previous entry. Only thing that bugs me is the placement of the low E tuner. Other than that, great job!

The Comicaster came out really well too.

where do you get the string anchor block thingy?

I make them out of brass, but you can get them from this guy