Calum_Barrow

Just realised I never posted any pics of this thing finished. I've started filling it with polystyrene sheets at the moment, and once I have got the 12 string neck of my double neck made I am going to cut out the shape of the guitar and start working on the interior of the case, such as the neck rest and a pocket inside and the like.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/PICT4493.jpg

It's being filled with polystyrene as I've said which will eventually be covered in black fur.

And I can't remember the weight, but it is around 20lb I think. With the guitar set to weigh around 10lb or so, that'll be about 30lb, but I'm not exactly going to be walking with it everyday. Having said that, I know when I finish I won't be able to get enough of this guitar, so it will probably go to school with me every day I take my guitar into school, and I won't trust leaving it in the music department (and of course they don't have any shelves big enough for a case that size!)

If I remember I will get some pics of my starting to fill the insides of the case with polystyrene (which I did some time ago but haven't taken any pictures yet)

Calum

^ Good thing is that plane only cost me £5 on a car boot sale. Got home and stripped it down and cleaned it up and it works better than any new plane would IMO, the old ones are just better. I love using it too; the plane is my favourite tool.

It's been a long time, but I finally got some time to work on this thing now that the holidays have come. I've been really busy the past few months, so haven't been able to do anything on the guitar for one reason or another. Finally got to cut up the neck blank today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/131.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/132.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/134.jpg

There's the scarf joint for the 12 string neck all cut. I cut it by hand with a tenon saw, and it was tidied up with that smoothing plane you see in the pictures and a sander. Still needs a bit of finishing off, but I'll sort that out later. Next thing I did was thickness the headstock and it's now ready to be glued. I was going to do this this evening, but I need to go get my glue back (it's at a friend's house, and I'll borrow one or two of his G cramps too to be safe)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/135.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/136.jpg

Calum

Those horns remind me of a Burns Bison

And I really like the way your logo runs off the edges of the headstock; it certainly stands out.

Why thank you!

Finally resumed work on the guitar on monday, and I started by planing up the 12 string fretboard and putting my new plane to the test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/116.jpg

When I say "new", I mean it's like 50 years old, but it's new to me anyway. Just put the fretboard on my Workmate and planed away. Because the sides were very narrow though, planing it with the plane in my hand made me feel I had a lack of control. So, to plane the sides I set the plane up like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/115.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/117.jpg

Fretboard all planed up. (Albeit a crappy shot because it's a crappy auto camera that focused on the foreground )

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/118.jpg

Another Shot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/121.jpg

Fretboard all marked out ready for cutting (the arrow reminds me which edge to work off)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/122.jpg

Setup used for cutting the slots.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/123.jpg

To check the depth of the slots, I use a Stanley knife blade. Last time I used a piece of card with a pen line on it, but the card kept fraying and peeling and was annoying me, so I thought this time I'll use a Stanley knife blade and scratch a line on it. Didn't need to put a line on it as the bevel on the blade was the right depth.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/124.jpg

All cut That bit of sapwood will be cut off when the fretboard is tapered BTW.

Today I bgot out my plane again, but this time I planed up the new neck block. This was really just practice at planing. Planed up the new neck block by hand, which would have taken like a minute or two on the planer, but I want to get even better with a hand plane (since I love them so much). I started with this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/110.jpg

About two and a half hours later I have this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/126.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/127.jpg

Still 4x2", but it produced a lot of shavings:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/128.jpg

For planing this up I used my Stanley Bailey #4 plane, which is really a smoothing plane and should only really have been used at the end. However, I don't have a jack plane or jointer plane or anything, though I am on the look out at the car boot sales I go to occaisionally for an old jack or jointer plane also they're a lot better for squaring up and straightening long pieces of wood timber, and then I'd use the #4 to smooth it out.

Now that I've done this I am going to now mark out the neck for cutting into two 1" blanks (excluding the blade thickness, as it's 2" at the moment). This means that I will have a neck blank for my next project too . I will also mark out the scarf joint after a lot of measuring of the fretboard and the neck length etc. (including some measuring of my Hohner 12 string). I want the two fretboards to be parallel and the nuts to line up to, so it is important I do the scarf joint in the right place.

Calum

I don't know how much those Fender buckers are, but you might as well look into Bareknuckles (they won't be TOO much more the Fenders I don't think, though they will be more). If you can't afford them then I would say go with the Fenders or you might also want to look into Swineshead pickups.

Sorry for the quadruple post, but lat night I emailed Tim from Bareknuckle Pickups with a few questions about my new pickups. Got more than enough money to buy the pickups now, so I should be ordering them very soon

Dude, I don't think there's anyone on this board willing to spend that kind of money on their pickups...

I'm paying £165 for a Strat set, and £65 for a Tele pickup. All for my double neck. That's £230 for four pickups, which is like $430. I think they're the best pickups you can buy though, and they sound fantastic.

I like the latest body design (check out my double neck if you don't know what I'm on about)

And I'm guessing you're an Eko player? What've you got? a Ranger VI? (going off your avatar)

Before I build my next guitar I'm going to make one of those jigs...

My Trend router is 2050W (2.75 hp) and I love it. 1/2" and 1/4" collets, good dust extraction too (fit my Dyson onto the end of it ) Already dropped it onto my concrete garage floor once and it's still fine (just a little crack in th handle, and it's not the handle with the switch on). Really is a nice router, and I love it.

BTW, to work out the power in hp for you guys, the online calculator also told me this:

This is the average power in full sunlight falling on a 105.9 square foot surface, directed toward the sun, and collecting 5 hours each day.

Ain't updated it here for a while, but there really aint been much to put up I suppose. I've been off school for nearly a week now, and I've got all my GCSE coursework out of the way, so it's time to move onto my guitar.

Ordered and recieved the new neck block and abalone position markers quite a while back and I don't think I've shown them here. Couldn't get hold of a 1" blank, so I've got a 2" one that I'll just resaw and then use the rest on a future project (you didn't think I'd stop here did you?!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/110.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/111.jpg

A few weeks ago I also routed out the 12 string pickup cavity, and I finished connecting all the cavities up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/112.jpg

Later on this week sometime I'm gonna get the neck blank and fingerboard blank planed up, scarf the headstock and slot the fingerboard. Oh also, I'm about to go count my money, but I think I now have more than I need to order the Bareknuckles thanks to some car boots, pocket money and some working

Calum

Nice. Love the finish. Strap buttons (or is the top one on the back?)

That looks good, VERY good. Even better if it's a first guitar. You seem to have the skills so a neck shouldn't be any problem next time round.

That's turned out killer. I'm not normally a fan of basses other than P, J, Hofner, LP, SG, 4001 basses and such (all the usual shapes)

Yeah I agree about the red bit, I think it'd have been better without.

I wear a dust mask yes, and I'll try the Dyson next time I do some routing (I might try it out tomorrow). I mean I just wondered if there was anything preventing me from using it.

I'm sure it's 24". It's massive. When I say table saw, I mean it's on a cast iron base bolted onto a concrete floor. I believe it's about 50 years old or so. It may be more of a buzz saw. I'll get some pics of his shop next time I go.

My Trend router has a funnel type thing for a shop vac to attach to, and it just spits out chips and dust if its clear. Should I attach a bag or could I even use my Dyson (it fits on the end perfectly)? The dust is coating everything in my garage with dust, and it gets everywhere.

Nothing has been done for a while, but just some things to say. The next job is to rout out the pickup cavity for the 12 string, and then join the last electronic cavities up and glue the top on. After/during this I'll be working on the neck for the 12 string the wood for which I think arrived today while there was no one in the house, so I have to wait 'till tomorrow. However, last weekend I was away and I am over the half-term holidays too on Scout camp. So, I won't be able to do too much for a while, only during this week until saturday (might be able to get some done on saturday and sunday too though).

I'll see you guys in a week or so!

Calum

I think table saws are great for resawing unless you need it to be really precise, as they can remove a lot of wood (at least the one I have access to does; I think its 24"). It's a great table saw, I cut all the stuff on my guitar on it. I took veneers off both walnut body blanks, I cut the maple fretboard with it, I cut down the tapered sides of the neck with it, I thicknessed the headstock with it. It's great, it's not mine, but it belongs to a very good friend who's been a joiner/carpenter/builder for like 40 years now.

But yeah, table saws are great; they cut it really straight and smooth.

rokeros - The GK-3 has been scrapped now due to cost issues, and the woods weren't that badly priced TBH. The two piece walnut blank was £20, the neck blocks £7 each (I bought three of these), and the 12 string neck block was £17, because the place I bought the first three from hasn't had any in stock for months. Also, the top only cost me £40 IIRC, and theres PLENTY enough for two guitars. I'm alright at playing, moreso fingerpicking and acoustic work that soloing, but I'm improving all the time. Since I was going to be making my own guitar and case, I thought theres no point spending like a year building a guitar and not having it sound as good as my Squier

Thanks anyway!

jammy - thank you

Ben - No, I dont think he is (I hope he's not ) I know what he's saying though. It is costing around £600 in total, or maybe £650, and that's a lot of money. I haven't even ordered the Bareknuckles yet, I've only got like £30 towards them so far (gonna look for a job for over the summer as well). And remember, the concept of this guitar started over a year ago (around feb/march last year) and basically ALL my money has gone into this.

The covers were originally going to be black, then chrome, now I've decided that wooden ones that match will be a LOT nicer.

And no, there is no going to be no pickguard. Don't want to cover the laminates

Thanks guys,

Calum

EDIT: Thanks rokeros

^lol

Yesterday I rebated the control cavity and the trem cavity then joined them up into one (the strip of padauk seperating the two would have broken so easily as it was so thin). I'm still using two plates, just butting them up to eachother. Didn't have any time to take pictures yesterday as I finished late cause I went to the opticians. Anyway got some pics today; it's not the tidiest/best job in the world, but whatever - I'm happy. It fits pretty well, and you can't see the messy rebating when the plate is on anyway.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/105.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Calum/107.jpg

I'm just waiting to get the wood for the 12 string neck now, then I can make a start on that (can't wait)

Calum

Pretty loud. I like it!

Is it just me or the pickup cavities seem to be a bit off to the right? It doesn't seem to center with the laminates. Also, the tremolo cavity seems a bit crooked as well. but overall, excellent job, a bit more tinkering and it will be fabulous...

Ash

Quite an eye, I'll give you that

Yes, the neck and middle cavities are off to the right by about 1.5mm, and the trem cavity isn't quite square, and that's because the template wasn't either. Doesnt matter too much at all though, as I'm going to be covering it up anyway. The pickup cavities do matter a little in regards to the look, but the pickups can still move from side to side enough, so I'll be able to get them in the right place. If they don't look too good after I'll extend the neck and middle ones to the left a little to make it symmetrical This is my first guitar, and I am only 14. I could expect things to go a bit wrong

Thanks,

Calum