mannym

It works a treat. It actually looks worse than it is because its a laminated strip I used for the block. The Merbau Im using for the Fret board is rock hard so its taking me some time to sand the correct thickness, but I reckon after I go through the grades it should look pretty good. Hopefully I can post some profile photos later today. The radius is spot on. Cheers Manny

Hey Blues, Im a little lucky in that I have family in the building game. They are able to salvage timber for me from some of the demolitions they do. I often help out and that way pick the stuff thats more suitable. There are often furniture items that get turfed out every so often when there's a town cleanup or grabage pickup. If someone leaves a cabinet or old table on the side of the road, Ill definitely take a look and collect it if its usable. Garage Sales are a good one. Often youll find furniture items that are made of the right type of timber, and cost next to nothing. I picked up a bed frame for $5 recently with over 3 meters of suitable timber. The neck on this one and teh neck from my first build are from this old bed frame. Look around your area. You'll be surprised at what you'll find. Just be careful of old building material and ensure there is no exposure to Asbestos debris. You dont want to get an unhealthy dose of that dust in your lungs. Wear a mask if need be to collect and when cleaning the timber. Not a paper mask, get a decent cannister filtered mask. also wear long sleeves and pants when collecting this stuff to make sure.

Whilst the fretboard was getting to know the neck a little better, I thought Id make myself a 12" radius block - the easy way. No building an Eiffel Tower of frames and trusses to route the perfect curve. This time I took this: Did some maths. Whacked some scraps together: And ended up with this: OK. Thats ready for the fretboard. I finished up today by trimming the neck width close to the fretboard profile, and will sand and radius in the next few days. Then the carve. More later. Manny

Continued on a few things today. Finished shaping and sanding the headstock. Driilled teh peg holes and test fitted. Trimmed down the fretboard and prepared to glue. Installed Truss rod, and fitted fret board. I used a couple of small nails as guide pins. Clamped her up for the night. Whilst the fretboard dries, I started on the 12" radius sanding block. Also started experimenting with this: Added some of this: And got this: A little on the thin side, but Ill definitely try a larger/thicker bucket. Thats it for today. Cheers Manny

A little more neck work tonight. Sanded the profile to shape. Glued the "wings" for the wings for the headstock. A day or so later cut out the headstock shape and sanded to lines. Trimmed down Fret board to correct width. Next steps - tidy up the headstock, trim the neck to correct width. Drill tuner holes and glue fretboard. Should be able to finish most of that this weekend and be ready for final carve. Cheers Manny

Im saving my sharpened spoon for my next Les Paul carve.

Cheers Mender. Its not too bad, the hardest part is ensuring a nice straight cut. Slow and easy is the trick and a sharp blade helps..... Ive got arms like Mr Bean .

Started work on the neck today.Firstly, completed a couple of templates for the neck profile and pick guard. Firstly, mark out the profile using the template I made earlier. I cut the head profile and then decided to route the truss rod channel whilst the neck blank was still square. Unlike the tele, Im going for a single action on the Junior. Nice and snug. And now the fun begins with shaping the neck. The trusty old hand saw technique. And the rough shape is cut out. Light is going bad, and rain is setting in, so I called it an afternoon. Next time we should have the final profile sanded, and ready for gluing the fretboard. Cheers Manny

Started work on fret board. Marked out profile and fret lines. Slotted and drilled holes. Merbau nice and dry and has a nice reddish tinge, with some black flecks that will be interesting to see how this borad comes up sanded fine and polished. Holes are 6.5 mm. Added glue and fitted Pearl dots. Next step is to make the 12" Radius Sanding block. Neck needs to be marked up and cut out. Then glue fretboard and sand to radius before carve. Im taking my time on this one. Want to get the neck right first time. More Later. Cheers Manny

A bit more work today on the body. Rigged up my belt sander and sanded the body flush to lines. Just didnt get to the cutaway...should get the drums onto that section this week. Parts are starting to arrive. Bridge, bone nut, knobs, tuners and p-90 pup arrived this week. I'm waiting on the dog ear cover. Here's a mock up. Cheers Manny

Hey Hay!!!! Man I can tell you now, I tried using a jig saw, but this salvaged timber (Australian Red Gum - is out of a warehouse and was sitting around for 70 years before I found it) Im using is very very hard and at 45 mm thick I barely made a dent. I dont have the world's best router bits, so I thought take it easy go slow with the saw, get rid of the "big" stuff......and then I thought to try my trusty grinder with a 80 grit sanding disk on rubber pad. I used the grinder to "carve" my first neck on the Tele I recently made, and its a very versatile tool......just gotta remember to be patient and go slow. Now its ready to sand to the line with my belt sander and home made sanding drums.

OK, Found some time today in between drying coats of deck oil to cut the body. As always the minimalist, and because I dont have a band saw, off I went with my trusty Hand Saw. Got those edges rounded off just outside the line with my trusty grinder, and the body is now ready to sand to final shape with the sander.

I believe its a species of Maranti (or Meranti). It was great on teh Telecaster in my first build. So Ill give it a try on this one.

Well, I said I always wanted one. And after the first build rendered me an addict, I thought it was time to pick up another build. More salvaged Timber. Heavy redgum, trued and glued. And salvaged blank used for neck. Using a Les Paul Plan and made up some Templates for the body outlines and headstock. And we wait for a day or 3 before we thickness the body blank. Cheers Manny

Cheers Wisdom. I am really surprised ay how fat it sounds. Its fatter, and has more sustain that my Strat. My son hasnt put it down in 2 days. He's looking forward to taking it to school next week to show his guitar teacher. Seeing him completely into it made the long haul worth it.

All finished for now Gents. It was a fun project and Im definitely starting another one soon. Here are some pics around the place.

Luthier, that should have read trust rod access hole cover . Was going to bend some laminate, hence contoured.

Well, I found the source of the buzzing. The frets werent level and there were one or two higher ones. I also found 2 frets that had lifted up slightly. I read that the sting tension can sometimes move the fretboard and cause a fret to pop slightly. i removed and refretted. I did have to deepen the pocket by 2 mm, and presto....no more buzz. And the action is a lot better.

OK, Im nearly there. Tonight I attached the neck and strung her up. The nut slots are perfect....and then as I expected, some buzzing. Frets 15-20 are high. I have leveled them, and dont want to completely flatten them if i keep sanding them. Now I need advice. Ive raised the saddles and clearance from pickups is good. To me it looks like the neck pocket may need a slight shave, about a millimeter or 2 max. Before I shave teh neck pocket, should I try and apply some neck relief via a truss rod adjustment? I want it spot on before I work on intonation and final setup. Here are some progress shots. Nut ends need trimming, and electricals arent wired yet. It could use some volume knobs too. LOL. Looking forward to some advise. Cheers Manny

We are getting there....decal time. Here's the logo I drummed up for the headstock. Printed on decal paper. Below is the serial number that will go on the back of the headstock. It comprises the Country the guitar was made in( proudly AUS), the year (2010) and my sons birth month as I will give this to him then (10), and lastly the very first build (0001). Thats all for now. Cheers Manny

Finishing schedule just about finished now, after 2 weeks and 20 coats later. There was sanding and leveling on the front side after each coat with 600-1200 grit. 20 for the front, 10 for the flatter back. 5 on the neck. Next we let it sit and cure for a week or 3 before we buff up with 2000 Grit wet and dry and polish. Here are some shots: Here are a couple of shots of the neck with a few coats of poly and the frets levelled and polished along with the aluminium dot markers. And I also made a neck pickup ring out of the same Tiger Oak I used for teh cap. Needs a few more coats and polishing and its done. Almost there now. You can see the neck has the nut installed and Im ready to string up and set the string height and slot the nut. Ill wait until at least a week of poly hardening before I attach teh neck and string her up for final setup. This week Ill start wiring up the electrics - J5 style, with the single neck, hot HB in teh bridge, 3 way toggle and 2 x 250Ohm pots. cheers Manny

The finishing schedule continues. I apply one coat in the morning and one in the evening. Due to the wet cold weather in Sydney at the moment, I can only afford to lay down 2 coats per day. After the 3rd coat I sanded lightly with 600grit, and applied the 4th. Sanded again with 600 grit and did coat 5. Just sanded again and wiped on the 6th coat. Now starting to see some buildup. My testing with this method, means it will cost me about 20 coats before I reach an acceptable full level. I know it sounds wasteful, but I really want a decent ploy coating that will rub out nice and shiny. Results after 6 coats - 6th still wet.

Started applying the preliminary coats of wipe on poly. Here are the first shots with 2 coats done.

I routed the neck pocket and bolted the neck on. The fit was good, and I marked the center line again in prep for positioning the bridge. I also made a neck plate with the same material as the cavity covers. I dont think it will take the strain of a strung up neck though. Im going with a chrome neck plate instead. Rounding over the body edges. Now I had a challenge because the veneered face is very thin and when I routed the round over on a scrap piece found the veneer splintering if I went close to the edge. I ended up improvising by routing further into the body on the thinnest sides and ending up with an effect that I am happy with. The round over is a minor bevel/carve transitioning into the proper round edge. Pictures may explain it more. The first shot shows the effect best, although the next shot will show the transition better. I transitioned the route on the face and the back as I liked the effect. Here it almost looks like a pick guard attached. The laminated cap also gives a fake binding effect. This shot shows the transition better. There's a couple nice scratches I picked up. Sanded out now. string holes not perfect but ferrules hide imperfections. Mock up - Ive drilled the jack cup hole and spent pretty much the whole day final sanding the edges and faces with 180 - 240 - 320. One good clean up and she's ready for the wipe on poly.