bob123

dont be now! haha Well gluing a top down wasnt as easy as I thought it would be. I went frisky with the contoured body, that appeared to go well, but since I clamped the bejesus out of the countoured part, I have a lovely gap right down the middle now hahaha. My plan is to route out a 1/2" strip of oak and inlay that down the middle. we shall see how that goes! I'll keep my eye out for some woods I can use, but Im tired of all my stupid mistakes

Yeah! haha im building one, cost about 50$ in parts haha, i'll know tonight if it works out haha.

Its concave now, Im STILL working on it, its being a pain in the arse! I threw primer on there to make sure I dont have any low or high spots on the sides. I must be doing something wrong, but this isn't working out very well by hand haha, I'll definitely be going the "angle grinder" route next time around. Oh yeah, got this in the mail today

I remember seeing someones routing jig they made. It appeared to be an aluminum contraption of awesomeness, 2 side beams, and a moveable arm piece. If someone knows what I'm talking about, please push me in the right direction, I'd like to make one of these before attempting any more builds of any kind. edit: this was a DIY thing, not a store bought contraption. it was kind of like this, just aluminum http://warpedboards.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/100_1740.jpg?w=810

Dude, I think I spent about 3 hours rasping and sanding the heel before I was comfortable with it haha. I feel like I should have went the "Angle grinder" route that some have suggested here.... oh well, next time!

Wish you guys told me shaping the heel was sooooo much effort and work but its coming along. Sprayed some primer to make sure I was going where I need to be going, but its coming along ok.

??? No, just wondering why the bridge pickup ring is facing the other way is all lol, charlie H got it anyway. For the string ferrules, I mean to have them kinda match the shape of the body, for example, an extreme example of this would this flying V Its his guitar, and his design, and it looks great as is. Just my subjective opinions is all

Why unbalance the design with the bridge pup? Also, try fanning out the input ferrules a little to contour to the body, I think that would look killer Just my 2 cents Should look cool regardless.

Tone Zone is a "hotter" PAF style sounding pickup with more bass in my opinion. Another "PAF" type pup is the Dimarzio FRED, its what satch used for about 20 years. Im a dimarzio spam, but Seymour Duncan makes some good PAF style pups too. EMG's are pretty much a one trick pony in all reality.

Ok got the guitar in mostly one piece now, Im kinda thinking about just letting it "sit" for a week or so, make sure all the movement is out of it? not sure if thats overkill or not, what do you guys think? Also, shape the top first or attach it, then shape?

It actually LOOKS like a guitar now Im getting more into this as I go along. Still waiting on my radius block and my top still hasn't come in yet, so waiting on that. Not sure why my other images wont load, but lets try this one?

haha was his name popeye? lol

Yeah man, thinkin something like this, just with the dark red instead of the black edges. I think itd be killer with some gold hardware too! :

haha! Got frets slotted pretty well! my little home age jig wasnt the most accurate depth wise, but it worked well! I can square off the fret depth by eye, and adjust the fretboard thickness to match. Then decided how to plane the body, so I just took a few blocks of wood and made a sliding jig to go around the body, worked out really well. Still waiting on the top peice.... but I got my jescar fret wire in! Im probably mentally deficient using stainless steel frets for my first build, but I should be allright.

Oh, well the back of the neck still isnt shaped and is fairly flat. I will be marking and measuring from the bottom of the fretboard to ensure accuracy though. My next build, I Will measure and cut out a slightly oversized fretboard first, slot it, THEN glue it up. learning curves ftw

lol just asked this question, couple posts down

Saw first and then radius is best, but it's not the end of the world to go the other way. It is pretty important to slot before you attach it to the neck though. I hope that's not what you meant by "fret board is attached". What method are you using to layout and cut your slots? Indexing template? Miter box? Something more (or less) elaborate? SR Got a miter box setup, making a depth stop rig to attach to the box and using fret saw to do the work. That part is pretty straight forward, but Im not sure why it matters if the fretboard is attached on a neckthrough? Again, I'd have done it separately on a bolt on, but I figured it was better to shape the neck and fretboard together as one piece. Can you elaborate this for me? edit : watching all the "Big name" manufactures build videos almost ALL of them attach the fretboard THEN slot is... So Im rather confused :-/

If it were me, Id say burst the reds together, but if you want solid, I vote for the bright red

Saw the fret slots first, so that ensure accurate depth. Then do your dot inlays if you are going to, and then radius/polish. Use a hand plane, a thickness sander, or a planer. Thats about the only way to get it right. Why dont you just buy a pre-slotted and radiused board from stewmac or lmii etc? Judging by your questions it seems that you are completely new to this and that would be a VERY wise decision. Cutting a fret board is difficult without the know how or the right tools man! You can pick up pre-slotted boards for 20-40 bucks usually. / Ah, I've done plenty of refret, plus I have the tools already. Im just figuring out order and process. Besides, I won't learn if I dont do it Never did a "from scratch" build, and buying a premade fretboard isn't "from scratch" . I used cheap enough wood and parts. If I mess it up, its not the end of the world, I can start over and redo it. Probably should have started with a bolt on first, but oh well. Diving head first here haha. I think Im gonna just make myself a routing jig for the body, wont hurt

Well, I was dinkin around with my scroll saw haha, DEFINITELY not intended for thick cuts, but I have my circular saw for those straight cuts. Got a hacksaw handy for rough body cuts, and will simply sand the guitar body into its final shape.

Ok gents went vaseline route and put a very thin bead of silicone on the bottom, enough to stick, but not hold entirely. Also... this is a very dumb question, but I cant seem to find it anywhere.... Radius the fretboard first THEN saw the fret slots, or vice versa??? fret board is attached. ALSO, is there a good way to get the body down to the right size without a router? Hard question to ask without pointing out what I mean, hopefully someone understands what Im asking.

About this time, I wish I Was doing a bolt on now hahaha.... I've made some foolish mistakes that would be super duper easy to fix on a bolt on, but this is difficult. Attached the fret board, realized too late that I should have shaped the damn thing before gluing it on hahaha. Now I have some VERY careful routing to do, but nothing I can't handle. Decided to just sand the headstock down with 50 grit sandpaper pad on my belt sander If I try to saw it out, Im afraid I'll "miss" and cut something wrong. I have to plane down the body part to accomodate for the top... which is gonna suck, but I'll survive.

That looks REALLY good man! Congrats!

lol Id figure something out if I did that haha. Right now its just routed flat on the back. Im gonna be attaching the fretboard and body wings today. Perhaps getting some top routing done? Who knows. Maybe my top will come in today!

Thank you guys!