Calum_Barrow

Transferred my working drawings onto the PC today and drew them on AutoCAD. I've printed out two issues of it already on A1, and I'll print out another tomorrow morning because I noticed some more things that I missed out/did wrong. Also, my stuff came today, along with lots of redundant wood screws I quite like the black hardware, and it's a bit more matt than it looks in the pictures. Now I've got to take them into work tomorrow with my calipers and ammend my drawing so it's all correct for when I go on the shopfloor on monday. Here are some pics anyway (I actually bothered to crop these!) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4270.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4271.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4273.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4274.jpg My carpet looks unusually pink considering it's a deep red....

Andy Fellows. Simo recommended him. I'd certainly reccommend him to others. He has fantastic wood, he's fantastic to deal with too. That cost me £45 too incl. P+P. Not bad eh?

I'm guessing this is the best place for this thread. Just some drawings and measurements at the moment. For my double neck I realised that I'd have to make my own guitar case for it as I wouldn't be able to get one to fit. Originally the design was to make it out of wood and varnish it, but when I went for my work experience interview and found out I was going to design and make anything of my own choice over the two weeks, I thought about making one there. I'm doing it at Coates Engineering, who are a company who design and make high-specification machines and runs for the food industry. They have made machines for the likes of Cadbury's, Kraft, Nestle, Thorntons, Ginsters, Hollands and MANY more. I thought if I'm going to be making something I can't buy, I better make it last. So that's why I'm making it out of aluminium instead of wood. Also, I most probably won't have access to the type of equipment again. Here's my first three working drawings: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/FLIGHTCASEA.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/FLIGHTCASEB.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/FLIGHTCASEC.jpg Big pictures, but they dont take long to load at all. I'll be doing another one tonight, and finishing off two of those (little things I've missed here and there) Calum

Probably not too many. They were skilled workers, and were very careful at work. Without the safety guards did pose a higher risk though, and most people today seem to take them for granted and misuse/abuse tools. Most of the tools in the workshop I use are 50+ years old, and most don't have guards on (not as exposed as those machines though), or I remove them if I need to. I've still got all my limbs.

Thought I might actually drill through the top at first, as the wood is thin there, but I didn't and it's pretty strong. Had to drill to 9.5 to give it a loose fit, and it's perfect now. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4238.jpg Here's the walnut! Don't worry, the radiator isn't on. Used the flash on this one so you can see the grain in it's realy colour; without the artificial warmth of the tungsten bulbs. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4251.jpg

Never done it yet to any of the guitars I own. I clean the fretboard and re-setup every time I change my strings, but I don't use any oils. You only need to put lemon oil on your fretboard once every one to two years anyway. Also, I think people seem to be a bit obsessed with the stuff.

I've found a 250k/250k, but i need the 3/4" theaded bushing to get though the front. It's rear routed and I'm afraid to route it any thinner than 1/2", because in the freak chance it could get hit, the knobs may push through the body. I've considered routing it thinner and then gluing a thin steel plate inside to reinforce it. Weird, I know. It's a realistic fear, and TBH I hadn't thought of that really when I designed my double neck. Whatever, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Been in the garage doing some cutting sanding and planing to get the neck right. The headstock is cut out now and sanded, and the whole neck is ready for the truss rod nut hole to be drilled (was going to do it today, but I forgot to take the neck to school). Once that's done I can insert the truss rod and glue on the fretboard. Need to make myself some radiused sanding blocks for the fingerboard too, and I thought I'd make quite a few at once (different radii) while I've got the router set up for doing so. Anyway, just a few pics in case you didn't know what a Tele headstock looks like: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4133.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4136.jpg Ugh, blurry. I should start taking pictures in the daylight, cause I hate taking pictures inside with a flash without setting up a flashgun and such. If I use the camera's flash you can't see the shadows and such and it looks flat. Whatever. When I finish the guitar I'll remember to take some proper, IN FOCUS, pictures Also, there's a little chip on the back of the heel. No idea where it came from but I'll sort it out later or I may just leave it.

That's Beautiful! Well done indeed!

I'll have a look at buying some when I go to get a spokeshaver

When I said that I was really referring to fret benders and presses and such, but I dont see why I need any TBH, when I can do without them. Soon that one cheap tool will become many, and the costs will add up. I'll have a look when I go to get a new spokeshave (don't know where my other went). I don't see why I *have* to get some though. Anyway, got into the workshop to do some work today, albeit only two hours, but I did everything on that list apart from drilling the 9mm hole for the truss rod nut. The ebony was a pain in the ass to round off at the end to match the channel by filing, pairing and sanding, so I had to round off the end on the 6" bench grinder : Did the job. The tuner holes were drilled using a 10mm bit (the actual post measurement is 25/64, which is 9.9something mm) and they fit really well. Piloted the bits for the screws for the tuners also, and the tuners fit, even though the headstock is still a little too thick on the top (haven't touched it since I thicknessed it on the table saw). I made the neck/headstock scallop with a coping saw and then with a chisel. sanded it with some 60 grit paper afterwards and now it's pretty smooth. It'll be smoothed off with everything else when I finish cutting out the headstock and sanding it down. Just got the finish cutting the headstock out, drill the truss rod hole and thickness the headstock a little before I can insert the truss rod, glue the fingerboard on and begin shaping, fretting and inlaying the neck. Front of neck and fingerboard (blurry, but didn't look it on the camera when I took it. meh) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4118.jpg Back of neck and fingerboard http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4123.jpg That's it for now :cheers: Calum

I tend not to buy specialist equipment when I can make do with what I've got. I can use the side of a chisel, or if I wanted a more scraper-like tool I'd use some Stanley Knife blades. I don't see the point in spending all this money on specialist equipment when I'm not building and selling or building for a job or anything. When I get to that stage (*IF* I get to that stage), I'll buy stuff made for the job.

That seems to be the right approach to take, and is what I do.

I sharpen the sides some chisels I have and use those to scrape. Like a planer really, but you can go up and down curves with it. I don't have a drum sander, so I had to sand the sides of my guitar body with my orbital sander (the older style ones with the rectangular pad). Unsurprisingly the sides were slightly cuved so I actually did a lot of work with the sides of a few chisels. Did the job!

Whoa, beautiful top. Andy Fellows? (I recognise the planer cause it's on the pic of the top I bought from him too) Not to keen on the shape of the bass, but I don't like many designs that stand out. Each to his own of course, and I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who don't like my double neck design.

Hey thanks, I'll *try* and remember to do that. I forget things too easily I don't think it's got into the maple so far, but then again, so far I've only used 80 grit on the body.

Well, on Wednesday I routed out the channel for the skunk stripe, which I'll probably fill tomorrow after I've cut the ebony to go in it. Yesterday I got the headstock cut out roughly on the bandsaw, but I won't finish it off before I cut out the rest of the neck. I ran the bandsaw off so I can cut the sides of the neck with a circular saw to keep them straight. While I'm at it I'll cut the thickness of the headstock with the circular saw too, again to keep it straight. So tomorrow I should have a neck with skunk stripe inserted, and with everthing ready to attach the fretboard and start fretting and inserting the inlays. Body blank after rough cut on bandsaw: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4106.jpg Body blank all cleaned up (still SOME imperfections, but they'll be taken out when I've got the top glued on) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4111.jpg Headstock roughly cut out: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4114.jpg Things to do tomorrow: Cut the sides of the neck (Circular saw) Drill tuner holes (Pillar Drill) Cut the thickness of the headstock (Circular saw) Cut the ebony block to make the two skunk stripes (though I'll only be using one tomorrow) (Circular saw) Drill neck heel for the truss rod nut (Pillar Drill) Glue skunk stripe in The neck pockets are oversized because I need to make them to fit the necks. They shouldn't be toof ar out at all really, but I'm just making sure. Here's the walnut top (Ain't got it yet, but he sent me a pic of it all sawn). Total size is 24"x38"x3/16" http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/calum001.jpg Think that's it for now.

Yes, they'll have had routers but not as we know them. They'll have had most of the tools you'll use, if not all of them (cept for Dremels if you use those). The workshop I use comprises almost entirely of pre-50's equipment (only hand power tools are really the modern things, and chisels and saws and such). Circular saws, Radial arm saws, drill press, planer among others.

Remember you'll have to make sure your pickups are 4 conductor. Most guitars that don't have coil splits/phasing as standard use 2 conductor wires. You could split the pickup into a 4 conductor if you wanted, but it's a little tricky and quite easy to get wrong.

I posted some stuff on UG but forgot to post it here. This was sometime like a week or two ago when I did it. I made a body template and a template for the Tele headstock, and routed the channel for the truss rod. Forgot to take pics of the templates and cant be arsed now. Neck blank with channel marked out prior to routing. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4039.jpg Channel cut 10mm deep 12mm wide. Ends not square yet. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4043.jpg It fits! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4044.jpg Ends of channel paired with a chisel. A bit dirty, but the cut is clean and square. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4046.jpg Truss rod housing in the channel. I took the bolt out as I still need to cut the end of the blank off and drill a hole from the end of the heel into the truss rod cavity for the allen nut on the end to go into. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4048.jpg It fits great, and its a bit dirty at either end of the channel but that doesn't matter. Need to rout out the channel for the the skunk stripe soon. There'll be 6mm of wood between the truss rod channel and the sknunk stripe channel. Bear in mind that the skunk stripe will only be 1/4" (6.35mm) wide and won't extend to the full length of the neck anyway. It should be strong enough shouldn't it? it's gonna be quite a thick neck.

Yeah that's what I thought. I tend to adjust it when I use different diameter cutters, but the diameter doesn't change too much anyway.

If I make one for my 12 string neck I'll cut the joint with a radial arm saw and make a shooting board and just use a plane to get both sides of the joint flat.

You'd probably want to use different speeds for different diameter cutters. My router has 7 speeds I think, but I barely touch the selector wheel anyway.

Yup, that's the one I'm on about. And Marksound, I didn't know that. Interesting.

The Floyd Rose isn't THAT out of place. Gibson did actually provide Floyd Roses and Kahlers as an option on Les Pauls sometime during the 80s IIRC. I quite like that model actually, and the Townshend deluxe.