sunday_luthier

Today, I did some work on the control cavity.

I started by taking this abominable machine out of the closet :

It's a homemade routing compass that used for the rosette on my acoustic build

The plate and recess will be round. Routing :

Here it is :

Then, I rout another cavity, it's shallower than the holes I drilled for the pots :

This will be the tools cavity, with hex keys for the bridge and trussrod, and a small screwdriver for the pickguard screws :

The plate will be held in place by magnets. I still have to make a transversal cavity to join the 2 pots.

Chiseling the end of the neck flush with the body top :

Drilling the bridge post hole with a 7/16 bit :

The humbucker jig :

My router bit doesn't have much life left in it, so I just make a single pass to outline the actual pickup rout :

... and make the bulk of the rout with the drill press :

... and chisel :

... and only use the router to "clean up" (same pic as above) :

Drilling a hole for the toggle switch :

Drilling the control knob holes with a 3mm bit, all the way through the body :

...then turning the body over to drill two "big" holes that will be the basis for the control cavity :

An overall view of the back :

... and the front :

A good night's sleep tells me I shouldn't depend on a loose neck joint to decide what finish to use.

It's a setup :

Cutting the shim to size with a chisel :

And slowly peeling back, checking often by placing the neck in the cavity :

In the end, the fit is tighter... not fantastic, but I guess it was never going to be anyway...

Drilling for inserts :

And for the screws :

Screws are actually a bit long, so I need to shorten them with a saw :

Filing new tips :

Let's try this :

That is done :

Ok, so today I'm going to tackle the neck pocket.

I have an adjustable jig that I felt would do the trick nicely. First, I copy the neck taper and tighten the bolts. Then, I spread the two pieces apart according to the router bit and collet diameters, and re-tighten the bolts :

Did a test piece on some scrap wood. The neck fights tightly... Perfect :

But the actual rout will be trickier. First, I need some angled rails for the neck's 3.8° angle :

Finishing off with the sanding block :

Cutting the caul in half to get 2 rails :

A setups :

checked, and checked again :

There's a wooden caul held in place with double-sided tape to stop the router at the back of the neck pocket.

After routing, the alignment is perfect :

But the neck doesn't fit tightly. In fact, it moves a little from side to side :

I guess I shouldn't complain, as the treble side of the neck pocket offers very little support, but I know I could've done better.

If I decide on a lacquer finish, it will probably add enough thickness to the neck pocket to ensure a tight fit, but not if I go for an oil finish, in which case I may shim the neck pocket...

I still have plenty of time to consider my options...

Cheers,

Great build thread and design. Everything looks so clean !

That pickguard design is awesome, although I have a tendency to think "less is more" (maybe out of laziness). I would leave it full. my 2cts...

Cheers,

After a good night's sleep, let's have another go.

The biggest saw marks are removed with a chisel :

After watching a few videos on YouTube about scraper sharpening, I'm getting the hang of it. Pressing harder, with the grain, I manage to make nice shavings :

Some parts are more difficult than others, like out-facing curves and end grain. I gave up trying the scraper directly on those, and used a block with 80-grit sandpaper :

And only used the scraper to erase the scratches left by the sandpaper :

In the end, I'm pretty satisfied with the result. It's not perfect yet and some curves don't flow as nicely as they need to, but it went way better than yesterday : :

I filled the deeper slots under the frets with ebony wax filler :

Back to the body. Scraping the glue joint, and the back :

Doing the same for the top. At this stage, I had very roughly cut the body shape, for really no good reason :

80-grit sanding :

Cutting the body shape :

Here it is :

I had seen someone fine-shape a solid-body contour with a scraper, so I decided there was no reason I shouldn't try :

I did, however, find a reason to stop when, after 45 minutes of scraping I had managed to obtain a very tiny portion of uneven smooth edge.

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to properly sharpenning and using scrapers...

Cheers,

Cutting the rough neck profile. Since I always made sure that the sides stayed square to the back of the neck, this operation was a breeze on the old Inca...

...except that I forgot that the neck was wider at the head. No problem, a piece of flat panel fixed with double-sided tape raised the neck just enough to saw to the nut :

Making the perpendicular cut with a hand saw; I still don't know if I want a volute or not :

Tried smoothing the neck heel with a plane...

... but the blade was probably too dull and I too lazy to sharpen it, so I used the sanding block, checking often for straightness and staying square to the sides :

Hello,

Cool project. The jazzmaster has always been my favorite Fender design.

I find that taking lots of pics and posting them to forums is a great way to improve your work methods. If you ask yourself "do I really want people to see this?" before making a cut or whatever, chances are you were about to do it wrong...

And you're right about dealing with mistakes. It's at least as important as not making them...

What hardware are you using? The one thing I really like about the Jazzmaster is the tremolo and bridge, even though they can be prone to rattling...

Cheers,

Bending fretwire on another jig that borrows from the latest NASA research :

Fretting with a hammer and hardwood caul :

Snipping the fret ends

Filing straight along the sides :

... and at an angle to chamfer the fret ends :

The same with 220 grit paper on a sanding block, mainly to "break" the 90° fingerboard edge :

And a pass with fine wire wool, which is actually pretty useless at this stage :

A+

Ooops. I was actually just posing for the picture. My hands were nowhere near the blade when I did the actual cut.

Still, I admit I should have known better and won't be doing that again without an edge guide.

Cheers,

After cutting the neck and head shapes on the bandsaw, planeing with a scraper, and files :

For the sides, a flat straight sandblock is clamped and the neck is run on it :

Drilling machine head holes :

My logo jig held in place with double-sided tape :

and routed with a Dremel :

The result :

Same with tuners :

The fingerboard is sanded with a sanding block. It is actually still straight as before glueing :

Radii unchanged - 10" at the nut :

... and 12" at the heel :

Cleaning the fret slots :

and deepening where necessary :

and a light pass with a triangle file along the length of the slots :

Next will be fretting.

Cheers

Homemade a truss rod à la Cumpiano/Natelson :

Routing the truss rod channel :

Cutting the neck to length :

The truss rod channel with inlaid maple fillet planed down flat with the neck top :

Put a piece of masking tape to prevent the glue from falling into the adjusment nut cavity (at the heel of the neck) :

Cutting the masking tape with a scalpel :

The old double pointed nails trick to prevent the fingerboard from moving as it is glued :

Two thin strips of wood will press on to the edges of the fingerboard for a flawless glue joint :

They are double-dided taped to the clamping caul :

Spreading the love (and the glue) :

.Clamped :

Planeing the fingerboard to a compound radius of 10" at the nut, 12" at the other end of the fingerboard :

And sanding with a straight sanding block :

... and checking for straightness :

.Okay, so this might seem like overkill, but I made a jig to drill side position dots :

It ensures that all holes are drilled precisely, and the 2 holes at the 12th and 24th in particular (not that it aaplies here... for the 24th, I mean...) :

Hello, everyone,

Ok, so I haven't built anything in more than 2 years. I decided to get back in the game with a very straightforward electric guitar.

I call it the Bumble-B, and it has a plan :

It will actually have 2 humbuckers, with a toggle switch. Neck will be sipo. Body will be sipo with a cherry top. Fingerboard is ebony. No body or neck bindings, no inlays and no Wi-fi...

Here we go :

The neck with the headstock glued at a 13° angle

After levelling the fingerboard with a hand plane, slotting the fret slots using a technologically very advanced jig.

Cutting the paper body shape

And making the body template.

Smoothing the template edges

Cutting the cherry body top halves

Planing the cherry facets.

...and sanding

Glueing the sipo bottoms to the cherry tops to make both halves of the body.

Trueing the body halves' joints prior to glueing

... and checking with a straight edge.

Glueing the body halves.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

I've never voted for a "graphics" guitar and possibly won't ever again, but the Butterfly Tele is the sweetest graphics guitar I've ever seen.

All other entries were stunning, too.

Congrats to absolutely every one this month.

Cheers,

The Barnstormer got my vote, with SwedishLuthier's build tailing very closely.

basswood is both soft and strong to keep screws due to it's structure.Pine's is softer...

anyway i cannot abort this question which is very common i think..Please forgive me if i repea tmyself..

DO WOODS PLAY ROLE IN THE TONE OF ELECTRIC INTSTUMENTS???

i cannot accept this price for a pine and for alder...(ok,they choosed the best wood but there is a huge difference)

how can we prove if the answer is YES???please suggeest an experiment to see with my own eyes and ears...if there is!

All this talk about this or that brand or model being too expensive for whatever reason really doesn't make any sense.

The price is dictated by the BUYERS, not the seller. If customers are willing to buy at that price, than that's the price it's going to be. Period.

# Bill Blue - Gordita : You can't go wrong by going classic... But you can't really wow anyone either. I have to agree with what was said above about the finish. An oil finish would have looked better. Still, a much better first guitar than most. Cheers,

# bigdguitars - LPDC : There's a fine line between classy and tacky. Replace that gold hardware with black or chrome and you'll definitely be on the right side!

# Boggs - RockBeach Kanji Mantis : Finish looks great, but I don't dig the body shape and Telecaster neck. Plus the headstock logo looks like a sticker.

# hufschmid - The Firedroid H : It doesn't do it for me either. Maybe, it's the wood, as said above... too much sapelli, or it could be that's it's just not my kind of guitar shape.

# SwedishLuthier - MorningStar "Italico" : I'm a sucker for a clever mix of modern and retro, and this is it! Love those fingerboard markers, as usual. My one complaint would be playing a guitar with strings so far from the body top.

# Scatter Lee - The Scatter Prototype : Which animal has a phalus like this? My dog! Sorry, but I immediately thought the same thing when I saw that headstock. Other than that, this guitar has a sort of 80's Squier Bullet vibe, which isn't a bad thing... kind of a "let's see what a kind of guitar I can build with these leftover parts" theme. I like it (except, of course, for that headstock!)

# Voted wyrd - Spider : I voted for this one. Even without the spiderweb, I think it's a very nice shape. I like the inlay, and the spiderweb effect is incredible in direct light (like in the first picture). The one stupid practical flaw I could think of was... what if you spill your milkshake on it? That would be a pain to clean up ! But then again, the same could be said of any hollow guitar.

# chile - moro : Ok, so I didn't get it the first time around. I thought the shape was akward and didn't know the white drawings represented anything (although I thought they looked cool even if they were abstract shapes). Now that you've explained it, I think the whole thing looks fantastic! Great job and a very close runner-up!

I really like EVERY guitar this month.

In fact, I voted a few days ago but didn't have time to comment. Today, I can't remember who I voted for!

Again, an excellent bunch of guitars. Congrats to all!

Sergiokuns - Kuns Les Paul Custom - Some orange peel on the headstock. Otherwise, this works for me... Like any well-made LP with nice woods and hardware would.

***mkm*** - MKM custom guitar - I like the wraparound setup better. The other one has a pickguard that doesnt really fir IMHO. Otherwise, the design is original yet familiar enough to make it look like something that's been around for a while. Well done.

hufschmid - Hufschmid H8 Baritone Myrtlewood Top - Too many strings for me. I like the subtle bevels in the cutaway and armrest areas.

SwedishLuthier - Mr Blue Bigsby - I like the fact that you made a tele but found another way to personalize it other than by changing the headstock : those fingerboard markers look great!

NotYou - "Stagolee" - I think I voted for this one. I hate relics, but to me this has nothing to do with relicing, as I pointed out in your topic. It has a novelty appeal, but it also seems to say "you can play me for centuries". I love it.

Maikkeli - ”The Moon” - Classy. A billion light years from NotYou's entry, but a fine guitar with just the right amount of decorum to make it "deluxe" but stopping short of being tacky. Very tasteful.

Quarter - the Junkyard Dog - I love that shape. It's like a mini, softened Explorer. Attention to detail is top notch. Another one in the "very tasteful" department

Menapia - 7 string thingy - Very cool paint job. I'm not a fan of the headstock though, and I would be afraid to break the horns, they look very thin! I'd like to see a close-up of the Saturn inlay. It lloks very cool!

Metalhead28 - "SS" - Another very tasteful one in a classic design. I do think the particular wood figuring on the back would have called for contrasting wood or plastic cover plates, though.

3DogNate - Custom Renegade 7 - To my eye, the waist is a bit too wide on the left side (under the upper horn). Other than that, I can't fault the worksmanship or materials and color choices. It all comes together nicely.

stereordinary - Oceana Prototype - Very cool retro-ish design with matching pickguard shape and grayish green metallic finish. Headstock shape does nothing for me, though. Still very cool!

Scatter Lee - Scattervarius - A fine novelty guitar. An inspirational attention to detail. I think you really have to agree with the philosophy of construction something that emulates traditional quatuor lutherie to appreciate this fully. I have to admit I'm divided. Not because I don't like it, but because I don't agree with it, no matter how fantastic I think it looks.

Cheers,

Finish looks fine from where I'm sitting, but I guess you're in a better position to judge.

I may have made the headstock a different shape, but the body shape and contours, the pickguard and colors are very nice.

It's a very clever retro-ish design. I really like it!

yeah but to me when you say the term "reliced guitar" i am thinking of a guitar that is made to be passes off as a guitar that has years of play wear and road abuse to it where NotYou doesnt do that. he just makes it look old and rusty.

I agree. The term "relic" is IMHO a bit derogatory, as it's goal is to pass something for something it is not. In this case a guitar that's seen it's share of road tear. It's pretty much a lie... a pretty kitsch one at that... like fake wood flooring.

NotYou's approach is completely different. He doesn't want to make his guitars look like something they're not. The rust treatment is there for esthetic and artistic reasons. To me, it has nothing to do with "relics".

Cheers,

Wow another great thread. Really a good read so far, brings out the best in human emotions. Let's see competition, envy, denial and self worth...

... and turn it into a TV show!

I guess it is as much a vote for this particular guitar as it is a vote for Scott French's other work.

Please be fair.

This is what I, the "single-post nobody", wrote :

There were 3 guitars I could easily have voted for this month : Osario's Explorer, Strandberg's Ergonomic guitar and Scott French's SF2. Those are the ones I would really like to own.

Since I had to pick just one, I went with the SF2. I guess it is as much a vote for this particular guitar as it is a vote for Scott French's other work.

I now feel compelled to justify my vote a bit further :

Osario's Explorer is an existing design. Of the 3 guitars mentioned, it's the one that has the workmanship and materials I like best. I think it's a bit of a shame to have also copied the headstock which, even on a copy, reflects the builder's personality.

Strandberg's guitar is probably the one with the design I like best of the 3. The "surprise" effect is gone and this design has already won GOTM so I didn't want to vote for it. I'm also turned off by the blue hardware.

Scott French's guitar is all the way tasteful, the design is both familiar and new. It may not have the "wow" of Strandberg's design or Osario's worsmanship, but I wouldn't change a thing on it. So I voted for it. I am also a fan of SF's other work, and my vote was a nod to that as well.

I hope this clarifies things.

I'm flabbergasted that an innocent comment I made on the GOTM topic would fuel yet another of your tantrums regarding GOTM.

If GOTM gets on your nerves so much, I respectfully suggest, for your own well-being, that you stop participating.

If it's any consolation, you can be sure that you won't receive any "sympathy" vote from me. I just vote for what I like. Period

Cheers!

There were 3 guitars I could easily have voted for this month : Osario's Explorer, Strandberg's Ergonomic guitar and Scott French's SF2. Those are the ones I would really like to own.

Since I had to pick just one, I went with the SF2. I guess it is as much a vote for this particular guitar as it is a vote for Scott French's other work.

Cheers!