psikoT

I did something like this when built my V... hope it helps.

Can I ask which gauge would you recommend?... I need to be sure before making the nut.

If you run the router again, you'll have to start sanding again... I'd suggest to go to a carpenter, they can do it in a minute.

Never tried anything different to 25.5"... and a baritone looks quite long to me, so I made something in between. Let's see how it works. Also wanted to tune it in drop B, not sure if the length helps... The nut is also wider than the others I built, 42mm this time... always made the nut 40mm wide, so in general, the whole thing is proportionally bigger.

Thanks!

Fretting this thing... I had to cut the tangs in order to hide them from the side view. I did it with the (pseudo) dremel and a small file.

It worked very well...

I wanted to have a break from body sanding and worked this weekend mostly on the neck... I've tweaked the back carve profile a lil bit and I think I got it... also worked on the fingerboard, 16" radius and polishing given, now it's ready for fretwork...

There are a couple of fret slots that are slightly out of place, I must admit... hope they don't turn in problems while playing...   I missed that pretty fret slotting jig from Stewmac, which everybody has except me. Anyway, the scale is 666 mm, doubt that Stewmac has such diabolic templates.

Hi guys... *** with the forum... ^^  

@admins: How can I adjust the transparency of the background in the posts? I can't read a ****... 

Anyway, here some progress. Basically sanding the body, and still left to do...

... ok, so while I'm getting used to the new image upload system...

... here u go...

So the body is mostly done... I still need to place the bridge and the electronics...

And here testing some hardware... 

Next step is to radius the fretboard and finish the neck... let's see...

Thanks for watching! 

Maybe it's an excess of confidence... after so many guitars as you built, it can happens. Actually, it happened to me more than once when I felt confident doing some tasks. Then I try to learn that things are not so easy as they could seem and try to be as careful as a first time builder...

There's nothing worse that destroy a good wood work, I know that feeling... take it easy man.

I'm not sure those are cracks in alder. I've used it a number of times and haven't had that issue. I do see those markings though like in the Fender picture. Not sure what they are, but when I've seen them they have not been cracks but part of the grain detail of the wood.

Chris

Those markings is what I meant with cracks... maybe is not the right word. It happened to me in the first body I made, long time ago. First I didn't see anything, but in a week or so they appeared in the surface... is something superficial, not really deep cracks.

Thanks for the comments!

I have to see which kind of finishes I can find in the shop and then decide... I feel my last guitars a lil bit sticky, mostly used nitro and 2-compund poly. And the raw maple neck feels so nice as it is now that I thought it would be cool to give oil, at least to the neck... about the body, I will see... I want a solid black at least on the front, so maybe I have to finish it in the traditional way.

Not sure if i can find nitro here, either poly (both are not produced anymore) so I will feel like a noob for sure. I'll keep you informed!

How is that alder to work? I've not ever worked it. Does it carve, rasp, sand and scrape easily or does it have some quirks you have to look out for?

This is the second body I make in alder.. I've mostly chosen it because the weight, it is stupidly light, like cedar or so. It's easy to work, not really hard... and yes, sometimes is tricky. I had problems while carving the access with the gouge - you probably remember - and had some surprises while scraping with the blade. You have to follow the grain and be careful, so I think is a matter of getting the grips with it. For a solid color finish, I would recommend it. Also relatively cheap.

It has a drawback: tends to crack once it's worked, due to wood adaptation. Here's an example of the cracking. This is supposed to be a brand new guitar, Fender doesn't really care about:

I'm planning to finish this guitar with oil, but never used it before... I was peeking in youtube and found the danish oil like a good option for finishing, even with stained tops, but not sure what I can found here in the hardware shop. Maybe some of you guys could share your experiences with oil finishes and give some advice, would be really appreciated. The plan is paint the top in solid black, maybe some water based paint, and then apply the oil... what do you think?

Hi there!

Thanks for comments!... and sorry for the delay, I have been the hell busy.

Started with the top carve. I thought it would be quick, but it's getting really complicated. It's not easy for me to get that straight plane in the bevel, but step by step it's getting shape. I've mostly used rasp, files, blades and sand paper...

It took some days to do this. First I shaped it roughly with the rasp...

And then started to fine tuning the bevel... I have to create a plane without screwing up the edges in both sides. Big deal...

It looks like it is done, but it isn't... mostly used my fingers to check out the flatness of the whole bevel. And this is turning in a never ending story...

This is the current state, after 3 days of work... still work in progress.

I got some weird figure in the grain, so trans-black is a no-no right now... but there's still the possibility of painting only the top in black.

@SwedishLuthier: I must admit that, eventually, I was not so sure about making something different from your model, but I think I got it... what do you think?

Thanks for watching!

She's so beautiful...

... and the balloon is sick. Nice trick.

Thanks!! ^^

I'm thinking on some trans-black finish, but not sure if I could pop up the grain of this alder... I was planning to paint in black, then sanding to keep the grain darker, and finally apply some liquid black stain... kinda grey. But everything will be done by hand, so I have to make some tests before. Let's see.

BTW, I got flamed only on one side of the neck, in the opposite side the maple is mostly clear, which is a shame...

Thanks for watching!

Hi there,

had a stupid week and could not make much progress on this... but the joint is mostly done. This improvisation means that now I can't paint only the top, because I've reached the bevel on the top while carving the back. So it would look a lil bit weird, I think... I will make the calculations when working in the top, but I guess is not possible.

Anyway, here's the current status... I did most of the carving in the back side, just need **** loads of sanding. I've tested the access and I'm very happy with it.

This is only a very rough shape, I want to make the neck a lil bit thinner and give more accent to some lines...

I'm gonna wait a week or so to the neck stabilizes after the carving before giving radius to the fretboard, so I will continue with the top carve in the next days. No more mystery, the thing is almost done.

Finished planing the 2 blocks, next step will be planing the sides to glue and join them, right?

That's the plan, to square the sides you need a flat surface, which you already have done. Good job BTW.

Mods: can someone have a look at 87Kevin's entry? None of his attached images can be downloaded. When I click on one of them I get a "Sorry, you don't have permission for that" error page. His link to the external page on his site also gives a 404 error, which means that we have no way of knowing what the build looks like to vote on it.

I reported that to an admin when the contest was open, but I got no response... ^^

Still have to work a bit more in the volute area...

Really? That looks damn clean to me.

SR

I think so... it may look perfect, but the eyes are not enough when carving the neck profile. I need to feel with the hand that there are no bumps anywhere.

Actually, I could not imagine how sensitive are the finger tips while hunting for irregularities in any carve... now I understand blind people.

Hi there,

I have been very busy lately and could not make much progress on this...

Some pics from yesterday and today... neck carving.

I mostly do it with the rasp, and lots of sanding. This time I had to do it in two parts: the neck itself first, then attach it to the body and made the joint afterwards.

I don't use profile templates, everything is eyeball... and handball.

Still have to work a bit more in the volute area...

And that's all for now.

Can't find double sided tape? I've had success using superglue and masking tape. Beware, use as little glue as possible as it holds the template like mad, and can be a nightmare to separate when you need to get the template off.

Wow, thanks for the tip! That's specially useful to stick the sandpaper in a cheap way, double sided tape is really expensive here.

is just so tasty. Really nice work!

Thanks master, glad you guys find my work entertaining... I'm really enjoying this build, I'm not in a hurry anymore...

Ahhhh. Slowly but surely we are learning all the little mysteries of this build.

SR

That was a big spoiler actually... I blame that chip out!...

Very nice! I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle blending that transition in after you carve your neck......assuming you haven't invented a brand new square edged neck profile.

Find or make yourself a matching chip out of scrap alder and glue it in. If it turns out you're not happy with the way that comes out, just sand that area a little lower till the chip is gone or the repair is invisible. It won't affect the neck join at all.

SR

Actually, I feel very lazy to carve the neck, don't give me ideas...

Thanks, let's see how that chip works.

I forgot you were planning to paint it black. If that's the case, it doesn't matter how nice the chip repair looks. Just glue it in, sand it flush and paint.

SR

The plan was painting only the top, the back side stays natural...

Very nice! I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle blending that transition in after you carve your neck......assuming you haven't invented a brand new square edged neck profile.

Find or make yourself a matching chip out of scrap alder and glue it in. If it turns out you're not happy with the way that comes out, just sand that area a little lower till the chip is gone or the repair is invisible. It won't affect the neck join at all.

SR

Actually, I feel very lazy to carve the neck, don't give me ideas...

Thanks, let's see how that chip works.

I wanted to finish with the router before continuing, so the pickup pockets were the only cavities left to do.

That's how I make the templates for pickup cavities. First I stick some squared wood pieces around the perimeter, previously drawn in the template. Double sided tape doesn't work itself, so I had to put some nails to fix them so they don't move with the router pressure.

I have no pictures with the nails, but you get the idea...

And then, with an inverted copy bit I route the template... looks nice.

Once I have the template, I can route the cavities on the body...

And that's all for now.

Cheers