XBIGJIMX

Your right about that because the steel one is just a POA because you can't see though it.

Moving on to finger boards. I took piece 5/4 flame maple stock and butterflied it to find a great finger board. I used a 17" band saw with 1" resaw blade to split these. Then on to the most hellacious part of guitar building... radiusing the fretboard. It is a grulling tast that you feel in your shoulders . I tend to do it for a few minutes move on to something else. then come back do some more. I slotted the fret boards next on a dedicated old dewalt radial armsaw and then back to the shaper again and trim out the fret boards. Now lets see em roughed together After the test fits I marked out the centers for the side and top dots. For the side dot I use aluminum which shines up nice for dark stages. Why 3 dots at the 12th fret...why not The top dot will be maple and purpleheart

Than cutter porn shall be had! I picked up this beauty used for $250 for the 3HP model I bought the cutter and bearing new from Shellix for around $200 but this thing cuts like butter all most tearout even on the Jatoba i Had to remove some of the steel dust control shroud to fit some of the tight curves I needed to do

Next we have some wood selection... I have had this one piece Jatoba I have been dying to use. Its just big enough for 2 bodies I cut out the bodies on a combo of the 14" band saw with a 3/16" blade to rough it out and then on to the shaper with Heilx byrd cutting head Poplar and maple top I tend to make neck blanks in bulk just cause it is much easier and I like to have a selection when needed I settled on one with purpleheart and one jatoba and these both got the same treatment of the small band saw and shaper

I have used them in several builds (all 5 part laminations) and have had great results. No twisting or tuning issues.

I was worried about the weight since one time I made a 335 style body out of it and and even hallowed out it was almost 11.5 pounds total. But i called the guy and he looking for something "beefy" and feels like you ave a guitar on. So he is getting what he wished for hahaha

Getting ready to do the next set of guitars. While I was out on tour The Rev from the band Success played one of my basses and ordered a set of teles with some mods ... So here are the common wants no pick guards , one single coil , set necks, one volume no tone from there he let me have some freedom. Rev caster one Poplar body with maple top Purpleheart /maple neck with maple fretboard Revcaster two One piece Jatoba body maple / jatoba neck with a jatoba fretboard But first we need to do a little design work First step we need that Classic tele shape but my own . We started with a hard board, cut out on the band saw and smoothed the curves by hand and with the spindle sander. After the happiness was achieved to 1/2" MDF board we go. Along with a dedicated centerline and hidden pattern mountng spots. I use alot of two way tape in my guitars but if I screw to a body I can change templates and reattch them as needed so if you can find a spot to hide a screw hole go for it. Now I needed a headstock shape. So armed with a ruler and some tape rolls and jar lids to make curves this is what we got. Tape the headstock right to the MDF and draw out the neck with the center line. This cut out on the band saw. I cut out the main neck length with a 1" blade which makes it very easy to hold a nice straight cut with out those band saw marks. Side note though i have all these nice work surfaces and here i work on the damn garbage can. Here it all is all together All center lines should line up (seriously they mean everything)

I debated this one alot. I had not used them in the past and it seemed to not be a problem or caused any tuning issues on tour ( and I am rough on guitars). So angled the edges to avoid and indention in the wood. This may have been a real bad idea but we are going to find out. I know on the next project I will use them more because of rubbing compound in the indents thats horrible to get out.

Guitar Name: MollyBody: Mahogany with Maple CapNeck : 5 ply Maple / Jatoba Fretboard: Jatoba with Maple binding 22 frets no inlay with Aluminum side dotsScale 24.75” Weight 10lbs 1ozPair of late 70’s Ibanez Super 58 pick ups Interesting features Hand made brass nut. Brass block to add some mass in the ass if you will. All control covers and truss rod covers are held on with magnets to make access easy and fast on tour.This was my 5th scratch build (the first 4 I built 2 of each at the same time so this might be my third build)This was built in my own shop in my basement it was also finished in my garage so I had to manage dust for that.This build was for my new Son in Law. My Daughter asked me to make him a guitar for there wedding which was not going to happen with my touring and other issues so we shot for the first anniversary. So cost was an issue, her having twins throwing money on a custom guitar was not really feasible. So I recycled some parts when possible. It was designed by (well improved in my opinion ) by me I basically took my #1 and put the things on it I would change.I am far from a professional I am more artist then engineer. I am self-taught as you can be in the era of the Internet. I can’t do a lot but wood and paint make sense to me unlike most people and math.Here is a link to the build http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/48138-my-first-base-model-build-a-pair-of-mollys/#comment-542413

Thank you!

The buffer has worked out great, have not had any issues with it (knock on wood)

One of the things I love about using stained tops is that I can fix them pretty easy is I burn though them while level sanding. as you can see in the before and after pic. A couple quick wipes of stain So after another 3 coats and a level sanding from 500,800,1000,1200 It was off to the buffing wheel that I built from my drill press (there is tutorial pinned in this site) I moved on to electronics which were a standard 1 volume one tone and a 3 way switch and a set of old Ibanez super 58's from an old artist I was saving. I then put it on the home made stew mac fret jig and did all the fret work. And finally put on the magnets that hold on the trust rod covers and control plate. And 1 of the Molly's is complete. the other is waiting. All and all it came in at 10lbs1oz

So then on to the finish which was was desided on sunburst-ish see though blue. So I sanded the body down to 320 Step one mask off the natural binding and the neck binding. Then with a cotton rag and water based stain I wipe on the black for reasons one to make the grain pop in color and to raise the grain to sand flush. So add the black And sand off the black Then add the blue Then logos which was just a basic mask and sprayed with an airbrush After the color got done i scrapped the binding for any seepage I used a 2 part clear post catalyzed lacquer

Well it has been awhile but sometimes life gets in the way or our mental health but hey with that fixed or at least medicated lets get back to building. Now on the last step I jumped the gun and glued the fret board on before putting in the side dots not the end of the world, but it makes the job harder. I use aluminum for my side dot so the shine up really nice I got all the sanding and carving done After I drilled out the string holes and for the bridge. It was then I realized I did the neck pocket to deep or not enough pocket angle either way a recessed bridge can fix that. BUT..... in the process we had our first real disaster. The router was set way to deep and dug out a trench and blew out the pick up wall a bit so this was all going to have to be filled and hid. Lucky for me it happened under the bridge which makes almost unnoticeable, But with some timber mate we got it fixed Then comes my least favorite thing grain filling.

it's actually willow and purpleheart. the pic doesn't do justice of how white it is. MInd you it will look better when i get the scratches out

Here is the fretboards sanded to 12 and then polished to 1000 grit then buffed. No finish applied Then Putting the trust rod in Then clamping the fretboards on

Well first off took some days to do some shop "upgrades" New band saw tires cool blocks and these beauties I also got a few fret boards slotted One of Jatoba and one of Willow. Now I have never done binding before, so i king had to figure out how I wanted to do this. I wound up using an offset pin on the pin router. Then glued the wood binding to the fret board. Maple and Purpleheart. Then a quick trip on the jointer and drum sander to level it Now I was little off on replacing the final trim out so I will half to remember that for next time

I made that mistake I made a 335 sized hollowed body with a maple cap it made my explorer feel like ultra thin ibanez in comparison

I am really surprised it does not get used more it is so solid and on a tap test the tone rings for days

So where do you start when you have a 1000 ideas you want to do. Well base it on what you play. So the start is my number 1 for the last 10 years "Molly" A Heritage CM-150. but make the changes I needed. So first the woods Mahogany body Maple tops Necks Maple Jatoba 5 ply With Jatoba fret board. Purple heart maple 5 ply with Willow fret board So I start as always with a hard board "master" template that is transfered to 3/4 MDF After I am happy with everything its the glue up of the 2 part body and the top after resawing the maple cap looks nice Now originally I was going with purple heart necks which you will see later went to hell The original Billets and necks Starting to early in the morning and took to much wood of on the jointer and made some fire wood So grab a fresh blank and redue the scarf joint. I cut these at 13degrees on the band say then even out on the jointer Now truss rod cut on the router table Then some wings for the head stock Now moving on to the bodies, After the glue up its off to the thickness sander to get them to thickness and clean them up. First a trip to the band saw Seeing the cut outs never gets old And hogging out the control cavity before template time Now I use a combo of the Shaper and overarm pin router I also do my tops the same way. Now on my templates I put in register pins so to a line everything up and to prevent slipping in the glue up. and then its back to the necks Rough cut on the band saw then over to the pin router When I carve the tops I take a little off the top with the pin router for a guide and to speed things along I do the main carve with a angle grinder then with a scraper and a hockey skate blade I have a template made for the neck pocket. The depth I always measure with each guitar just to make sure Finished neck pocket with back angle And a test fit

Ok i may very well be the worst blogger in the history of blog mania . Kind of forgot the end of the story didn't I. Well let me recap those last 5 days, For those that did not know which is none of you I made that deadline I did finish them all , mind you i was setting guitars up all night the night before i left. Here we got them ready for finishing (except that one)all of them were grain filled then lets get tot the fun stuff ...color Now they requested flat black which is kind of boring so I gave them one flat black the other alittle more fun temperature changing paint over some see through tops First some serial numbers and then some coats of tung oil of the necks Step one we rubbed in a coat of water based black Then after a back sand to remove the black ...red Then other 2 got the sealer Then 2 got the flat black the other color changing paint NExt we paint on the logos Then some flat clear 2 part After some curing it was wetsand then buff then alot of fret work and wiring and The customers were really happy. The basses I stayed in tune so well many times they did an hour set an dnever needed tuning i was quite pleased now here is a few vids of happy customers http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u144/XBIGJIMX/th_IMG_3556_zpsutiiymkw.mp4 http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u144/XBIGJIMX/th_IMG_3581_zpsjck4q4ji.mp4

Ok this is just full of awesome can not tell if the everlasting gob stoppers volume knobs or the wanka bar pick ups are my fave

Its along day ahead cause it is getting real in here

So after the successful test lets see if i can do it again, as luck my have it they weighed with in 1 ounce of eachother So now back over to bobby's guitar, alot of th esteps were the same but different but it did have a few mistakes and a repair. Well before I forgot to get the final thickness down to 1.75" before the glue up and the guitar was to wide for my planner so, milled of a .25 " on the pin router which worked great on the 1st but no so much on the second So i had to either start over or fix it so i gave it shot fixing it. I took the body to the band saw and cut it down the center. then went to the planner and took it down to 1.375". After jointing down both sides and removing a total of .25 of stock I cut a jatoba accent strip and glued it all back together. After it dryed I glued on a new bottom and ran it around the shaper using the original body as the template after that i carved the tops with a power grinder and a scraper and glued in the necks I fretted the fret boards before attaching this time which worked better Now bobby requested aged hardware on of them so with some Tupperware and muric acid were off to the races. Basically you put the hard ware in a cup inside a Tupperware of muric acid and seal for about 20 minutes and boom. Mind you this is a total outside type project cause this stuff is nasty . Yes the smoke comes out of it when you poor it. THis is the result, there is one unaged one to show the difference While that was going i took a few shop pics to have a look around Also I built a stewmac fretting jig. at over $400 to buy one that was not going to happen...DIY!!! total cost $35

A quick assembly to test it and make sure it does not fall apart