padbug

Thank you very much for the pointers, guys. You've answered a lot of questions.

I'll be sure to let you know how it comes out!

Anybody?

The way I think I have it is to take the length of the truss rod, minus the adjustable nut, and route a channel that length from the edge of the headstock angle. Is this correct, or should the truss rod be positioned a little further towards the body?

I'm approaching a snag with my build when it comes to routing the truss rod cavity. I have the stewmac 18" allen nut rod, building an lp double cut with the body finishing at the 19th fret. Where do I start and finish the route on the neck? Does the brass block at the adjustable end rest under the nut?

I know that I need room to adjust the rod under the cover and that the rod should support as much of the neck as possible, but I cannot find a definite answer and don't want to charge into my first neck all willy nilly.

Thank you!

I agree, now that avangers pointed it out. Maybe some kind of burst would soften the blow, so to speak?

Other than that, it looks great

Can I ask what tool you used to finish the inside of the cavity? I'm halfway through chambering my build and I'm struggling to finish the process with all my fingertips in tact

Hey guys, I've hit a wall

*EDIT*

But I might have found a solution. Please disregard

...I was sitting in a cafe in Warsaw with the battery going down and lots to do...

No attitude, just gratitude.

Good luck with your build.

Cheers

Buter

Haha, ''clang''! Jealous and helpful! Thank you mate

Masterblastor - the body's a real nice mahogany slab that would have done the whole build had I not overcompensated with planing it down =/ as it is now I need wood for a top. Hopefully my father in law can help me out from his oak horde, even though I don't hear great things about it as an instrument wood (but that doesn't bother me nearly as much as it's reputation for being hard to work!).

As for the neck, it's a maple/paduak/wenge laminate I bought on ebay pre-planed. Were it rough finished I doubt I'd be up to building a neck just yet, but as it is I'm fairly confident I can have a good crack

Batfink - this may suprise you but I had no idea that place existed! I just wish I could drive

Thanks for all the tips guys! I'll be back all over this when I get home again next weekend, I'll have more progress to show asap

Hey, hey, hey now, I'm not from Holmfirth

I don't think I am being unreasonable. I didn't mean to rant, but I don't come here to be made an example of. Spoke is quick to point to the bajillions of previous glue threads, and few are relevant. In fact, in Buter's search, of the first page only some 2 or 3 threads are actually seeking glue recommendations. In the 1st thread the asker asks, and receives a dozen piss-take replies before someone recommends Titebond. Brilliant.

Spoke came across as arrogant and condescending. If that was unintentional then fine, let's draw a line under it and move on, but I'd suggest he take a few moments more next time before imposing his own forum standards on people asking for help.

Back to glue, I hate this. Both of your choices are unsuited for guitars. Weatherproof means water resistant which means can cause finishing problems. Please look for the one hundred threads which discuss the many proper glues for your guitar project.

Oh I'm sorry - did I seek help with an issue relevant to my build in my own thread?

If you had even read my question, you would have seen that I was asking if either of the glues I already owned would be suitable, not beginning a new thread entitled "URNGH HI GUYS PLZ LIST GLUE MAKES 4 GITARS." As you might have gathered, I am a novice, not an idiot. As the other guys here have highlighted - and as I said - there are a lot of crossover qualities amongst the many thousands of different types of glue. As far as I was aware, a glue such as Titebond is a brand name, and not a recipe, so going into a hardware shop and asking for "Titebond, and ONLY Titebond!" is likely to get me absolutely nowhere. Please help if you can, but if my impudence is too much to bear, don't berate me for asking.

/done.

As it happens, I used neither. I did a dry run of the clamping set-up I thought through and it looked massively incapable, so I dared not risk it until I get home again.

Do you think it's ideal or just the lesser of two evils?

Haha, that's the plan! I have an idea in mind to make the guitar whale or Herman Melville-themed. We'll see how well that turns out(!)

And as an aside, for my first scarf joint and first use of a tenon saw I am very satisfied. It's a pretty tidy cut after all and sets up the headstock to be 18 degrees from the neck (aimed for 17 degrees). Not too shabby

Quick guestion gang; I am away for a week for tomorrow, and I wish to glue up the scarf joint (now fully sanded and prepared) so it can have all 168 hours to set and I can continue when I return. Routing around, I have found two different wood glues, and each promising slightly differing results and crossing over in a few places, and with the internet not being an especially definitive tool, I wonder if you guys could help a brother out.

Which glue would you recommend (if either) for the glueing of a scarf joint in a guitar neck?

I already owned these, but wanted to find titebond, as that's the brand most sources recommend or swear by, but it seems impossible to find either in the UK or at least within walking distance. Will either of these suffice? I'm 60% sure I could use either but I want to be 100%, and also use the right tool for the job.

Certainly food for thought!

Thing is I'm not so au fait with planing that I can say I can get the neck surface flat enough cock-up free, and as I (more by luck than judgement) bought a pre-planed neck blank, I'm VERY keen to leave the surface of the neck well alone! So what I'd like to do is leave that surface well alone if I can, and carve the neck from the back.

Doing it with hand tools is, I find, a very wasteful way of doing things. Had I a bandsaw I think I could have gotten the body and a top from the original slab of mahogany. As things stand now though I'm looking for a top - stylistically a good thing but not financially. But those are the breaks. I'm rather resigned to that fact though, so I've thought through a way of bringing the neck to thickness using a router and a jigsaw. I think the first drawing in the diagram - thinning the headstock - will be the biggest factor in the final positioning of the nut.

Of course o.o

I would love to be able to afford a bandsaw, but I made do with a tenon. Given it's my first crack at any kind of luthiery/substantial woodword since high school I think it's actually in pretty good shape.

Made a lot more progress. Though it's been so long since the first post, I've only actually had 4 days to work on the build, and the work I've done has taken about 12 hours, which I'm pretty pleased about

Body routed and planed to thickness:

It's now sanded too. Not to a high grit but to touch it's as smooth as a baby's bottom. The face that was worked on is going to be the back of the guitar so I'm not worried about it being prerfectly flat.

The MDF in the top left of the picture is the template for the body shape.

Watershed moment! Started on the neck!

Cut the blank in preperation for the scarf joint.

Next step is to precisely sand the part down to glue them together in this shape:

Also, a template is prepared to route the body cavaties. Hopefully work on this on Sunday, and route the truss rod channel if I can find a bit thin enough. Then it'll be all on hold until I can source a nice top, maybe an old table or reclaimed timber.

I really like the 'blend' control, I was mullling over doing something like that on my build to minimise the number of knobs on the face. Do you have any wiring diagrams for doing something like this, or do you know of anywhere I could find one?

Beautiful build, too

Templates for a carve????

Well.... yeah

The technique I've seen used most, and the one I will use, is to use a router to carve 'steps' into the face of the instrument, and then carve smooth. I didn't think a template for doing so would be that outlandish an idea. You wouldn't route anything else without one.

On my first build I'm essentialy drawing around my les paul. Funds being what they are the parts (particularly the bridge) are not all they could be, and I would at some point like to replace the stop tail with a bigsby (assuming the final build is of the quality). Regarding the top carve, so a bigsby would fit, are there any templates available to keep mine as close to the gibson carve as possible?

You might try a local cabinet or furniture maker. Maybe another builder in your area from here on the forum.

A quick search has revealed a couple of prospective cabinet makers nearby, thanks for the tip!

If they're not possible then I shall probably opt for the drill sanding bit, as it's certainly the cheaper option for me.

Thanks again!

Thanks Mark! EDIT: And Hocky2

How easy are drum sanders to come by? My disposable income is nil and the only places I can really think of locally that have the facilites I'd use (and for free) are colleges and the like, who I've approached before but for insurance reasons a technician would do it for me, which I'm reluctant to do as I want to do as much of the build myself as possible. Also, as unlikely as it is, if there is horrendous tearout I'd rather blame myself than some technician who likely couldn't give two big ones as to the success of the build.

Day 1

I went to bed last night leaving this in my living room

And I wake up to find some b*stard has snuck in during the night and stolen the guitar I was going to build!

Never mind! Found it

Using the new Dr. Toolbox method, you can also shed half a pound from your slab of wood. If you know what I mean.

The plan is a LP-inspired double cut set neck.

My next task is to route for the truss rod, which hopefully the father of my betrothed (a cooper, don't you know) can help with as I have never routed anything in my life before ever. It's the only aspect of the build that I'm apprehensive about, now that I've gotten over the first hurdle of actually putting blade to wood for the first time. Here's hoping he also has a nice bit of aged, Rusticator-esque wood for the top! (I cannot remember the name of the builder of that guitar, but it was beautiful and I wish to take inspiration from them.)

I have a question though; what hand tools or economical power tools would be ideal for neatening up the body shape? Given it needs to be at right angles to the surface, I'm not over confident in my ability to do it with the few tools that I have. I got over confident during today's session and used the jigsaw to shave away at certain areas but I did not feel in complete control, and I'm not sure the blade sits vertically enough to do the job.

Here's the listing.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=220630332482

To save money I've redesigned my build to use cheaper parts. It'll be putting a baby through nursery, be generous!

Looking really good!

Can I ask the thickness of the body? Is it that of a gibson v?

I'd hate to hi-jack a thread, but this is a fairly similar question and in itself not worth a thread, so I hope noone minds!

I'm in a similar position to the OP but without the woodshop. I have little experience with woodwork but am keen to have a bash anyway, and I'm under no illusions that it will be a long time before I'm building more than a guitar every two years in my spare time. Also, with space and cash being big factors, I can't/don't feel inclined to shell out for a fabulously equiped cupboard, not that I'm going to scrimp on a necassary tool if it gets the job done right.

To that end, thought it may sound like a ridiculous question, can anyone recommend an alternative hand tool to a band saw? My first planned guitar is a neck through V, so I've two 1 3/4" thick mahogany triangles to cut as well as, most importantly, the neck from it's blank. Given how little of the blank the neck itself comprises I'm rather precious about hacking it to peices a bit at a time with a hacksaw and I recognise the value in a band saw at this point but I cannot afford it. I mean at the first fret I'm cutting a 2" thick maple oblong down to 0.8" :S it's a bit daunting! I have a jigsaw but I'm not confident in the length of the blade and the power of the tool to cope, and the drawn-out profile of the angled head stock is looking very delicate at this point!

Any extra arm work and elbow grease needed to compensate is not an issue in the slightest, but I don't want to compromise on quality in the long run

Now, is it better, given it's a neck through, to preserve as much of the width of the neck wood through the body as possible?

My personal opinion is that tapering the entire neck to match the taper of the fretboard looks much more natural to the eye and a damn site better, IMHO. I have done as you have suggested, leave as much of the neck blank as possible, in the past but I won't do it again now that I have tried tapering the neck through the body.

I agree it would certainly look better, but as I am currently planning to finish the guitar in a solid white I wonder if I might be sacrificing any potential tonal advantages for an aesthetic quality that ultimately won't be visible?

Thinking about it, however, I would like to keep my options open regarding finish for as long as possible, so will certainly taper the neck anyway

All that this means though is that I will be forced to take my time perhaps more than I might be inclined to (in all the excitement!)

Just take your time and think about what you are doing. I have ruined more projects than I have completed simply due to my impatience. I am actively seeking help for this.

I'll be measuring everything twice, checking it 5 times and cutting once! It's already been 4 years so I'm not worried about being tempted to rush the project. All I meant was my pace will ultimately be dictated by the weather

Hi guys

I joined a while ago and continued to lurk for a long time but now feel compelled to post as I plan to commence my first build very soon!

I've had plans to build a guitar for a very long time, and have assembled what should prove to be all the parts over several years from various sources. My original design was this;

but have since stumbled upon this, which I deeply covet

So I'm taking the lead from the second picture, and a far simpler build it should be too. The design intricacies will be of their own, however. In terms of aesthetics it will be very similar to the gibson V. The neck profile I want to model on the Les Paul's as I've been playing one for about 10 years and find it very comfortable. The bridge is currently illustrated below by a kahler trem bridge I got for cheap ages ago, but will be a t-o-m. Not made a desicion regarding the pickguard yet. Biggest change of all, however, is that it will be a neck through.

Here are the complete specs, as the final design drawing is not yet complete

Specs:

Neck thru

Neck: 5pc Maple, Paduak, Wenge

Fret board: Pao Ferro

Body: mahogany

Scale length: 24.3/4"

22 frets

Nut width: 1.11/16"

Fret board radius: 12"

Neck dimensions;

Profile at 1st fret: 0.860"

Profile at 12th fret: 0.970"

Width of body at heel: 2 1/4"

Width of neck at heel: 2 1/8"

2 Barenuckle Pickups Warpig humbuckers

TOM bridge

Neck angle:

Headstock angle: 17° to neck

Neck angle: 2° to body

And now, pictures!

Everything in a big pile

These are the plans in progress, which I've linked rather than posted because to be of any use to anyone the picture has to be MASSIVE.

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx230/p...10/IMG_9192.jpg

I'm keen to get started asap but unfortunately my workspace is outside so I am at the mercy of the elements. I've a folding workbench and a few very basic tools so far, (a couple of rasps, No. 4 jack plane, a larger spoke shave) and will be picking up other tools as they become necassary and affordable. All that this means though is that I will be forced to take my time perhaps more than I might be inclined to (in all the excitement!) This summer is forecast to be a nice one so hopefully I will get well on the way with this before autumn

I do have a couple of questions; you can see on the plans the dotted line indicating the dimensions of the neck blank. Now, is it better, given it's a neck through, to preserve as much of the width of the neck wood through the body as possible? In other words, should as little of the wings of the guitar be the body wood (in this case the mahogany) in favour of the neck wood? Or does it not make very much difference? I presume the latter, but would like to make sure before I get too far into the design process

Similarly, I'm not sure if it's clear enough to see in the plans but circles that round out the points of the V are 7/8" in radius. I'm sure I found this information from a Gibson V, but on the plans the points are much sharper than on the source guitars. Does anyone know the true radius/circumference of the Gibson V points?

Also, what experience do people here have of making guitars in spare corners of their homes? A lot of you have very impressive shops and though I don't have access to anything similar I want to ensure that I'm at no tangible disadvantage. What would you guys recommend as the absolute bare minimum or highest priority tools to invest in?

Hopefully I'll get some progress up soon thank you for looking!