psikoT

What did you use to round the corners of your neck? How did you match the radius? Any reason you choose rounding the neck instead of squaring up the neck pocket route?

And it looks like you have gone with no neck angle, right?

You've got a nice build thread going here, and a lot of several first time builders are watching and learning,so I'm asking all these questions to help them out in case they forget to ask.

SR

I've used a file to round the corners. It is almost impossible for me to match the radius, so I've done it a lil bit bigger than the pocket to avoid fitting problems. You can't see the gap because the end of the fretboard covers the joint.

There's no reason why I round them instead of squaring up the pocket, maybe I think it's easier?... I should try in the other way round some day.

And yes, I'm gonna use a hardtail bridge, which requires no neck angle.

Thanks for all the questions, I should explain better while posting. But you know, what I'm going to explain to you masters...

Hi there,

some progress on this. Continuing with the cavities, it's time to route the neck pocket.

First I place the neck carefully and use two long stripes with a straight edge.

And the tip...

Once the templates are fixed, I remove the neck and everything is ready to route.

Then I have to round the corners of the neck, in order to insert it into the pocket.

The fit is really good!

Now is when I need a press drill to bolt on the neck, then I can start carving the access.

Cheers

The best option is going to a shop if you know somebody, they can do planning and squaring in two minutes.

The other option is using a router planner, which is a jig made of MDF like I did for my neck blanks. You can find more info in youtube.

Hey PsikoT, what do you think of a similar work that you did for the headstock but in the body of the guitar? i would like to make a full body, then for example, a blue veneer (stained) then a veneer with the same color of the body and then a top blue stained veneer, in my mind it looks cool.

In case of yes, that should be decided before starting the job right? because 3 sheets of venner are going to take some space, i think that to be able to apreciate it they would need to be a little tick, so i would need to keep in mind how much space they are going to take and then substract it from the boby...

I hope the explanation is clear enough... english is not my first language.

Thanks!

Making veneers to cover the whole body is not easy, specially if your model has an arm rest.. Bending three veneers can be the hell. But if you have the tools (and balls) go ahead. The only thing which didn't convince to me is the stained veneer, at least the inner one, cause you need to make the whole process before staining. Then, if you're thinking on masking the veneers, why to use a veneer?... you can do it with a full top, or directly to the body.

And yes, you should consider the thickness of the top when making calculations, but there's always the possibility to tweak the whole body thickness after glueing the top.

Some people might frown on the cavity gap, let them.

When I first started making timber cavity covers I went for a small gap. The problem then was you can't get them out! First one I had to smash to get it out. Since then I make a gap not far different from yours.

The guitar as a whole is looking great. Good work

Thanks demonx! I had problems in the past with tight covers too, that's why I did it in that way.

About the neck, well... if you want to enjoy seriously, just do it. You'll feel like god when you're done. Only cowards skip the neck in the first build...

I had access only to sapelle and ash locally, there in Spain. Also walnut, but I never liked that wood. Sapelle is cheap and has a good sound, the only problem is the weight. And since I have to order some parts and woods anyway, I finally bought mostly on Madinter. You can get wood to make the body, top, neck, fingerboard and headstock for 150€ more or less - that was what I spent in the 7 strings -. They have alder body blanks already glued and planned for 60€, like the one I'm using in my current build. They are very light and look quite nice. And easy to work.

You can get very cheap parts from China on Ebay. Some sellers don't charge anything or just few euros for the delivery, but sometimes it takes long, up to four weeks... the good thing is that you can buy just a screw or a spring for 0,10€ and they send to you for free, wherever in the word you are.

Collecting all the tools is probably the most complicated and expensive aspect of the whole thing IMO. It will define your workflow and you'll have to take decisions depending on the tools you have... but there are some which are a must, like the press drill I don't have and I need so much now... ^^

Happy building!

That neck and headstock is a piece of art!!! And the colors layers in the headstock looks incredible.

The step by step pictures helped me a lot to see how is the work of building a neck!!

Saludos desde Barcelona!

Thanks!... that's just one of the many ways to make a neck... a pretty easy one IMO. It fits with the tools I have, I guess.

I like this system because there's no scarf joint and you don't need very much precision at the beginning. In the other hand, it's a waste of wood and probably means more work. But I feel very confident doing it in that way.

Bienvenido al foro!

www.madinter.com Bought stuff there a couple of times, last time I bought a flame maple neck through blank and got an ordinary blank instead. After contacting them I got the neck through blank sent to me for free and got to keep the other blank as well. Good of them to correct their mistake that way.

I had exactly the same problem with them in my last order. They sent a guitar sized maple neck instead the bass size neck I've ordered. After a week or so, the call me and sent the neck blank and no need to return the wrong one.

Maybe I'm missing something... are you binding the cavity cover to fill that border or something?

Chris

No, I think there will be less separation after finishing. But that gap doesn't disturb to me actually, as long as it stays parallel.

BTW, a black binding would be cool... but I don't have binding material.

Hi there,

I had some stupid weeks and couldn't make much progress on this. I was preparing all the templates for the cavities: electronics, pickups and neck pocket. So I've started with the electronics.

I've made an experiment, in order to fit the cover perfectly into the cavity, which turned out very well.

First I use a MDF template for the dremel...

And cut this in two pieces. There's a gap in between, but it's ok.

These prototypes are to make the real templates...

And check that they fit perfectly.

The complete set...

But first I need the cover. Here I was looking for matched grain, more or less...

And then, I've started with the cavity itself. First the inner part....



And then the carve for the cover...

And here you go...

They fit very well. It was not easy, but I did it. I'm really happy with the results.

Cheers

Well, this is just awesome... the father must be proud of his son.

Love the care on details, as well the overall look. And the heart in the back side of the headstock is really cool... ^^

Congratulations!

Very nice!... I would love to have a try.

There are far too many helveticas in the world these days.......

SR

Sorry, Helvetica, there is only one.

That headstock rocks!

It's so damn hard to be unique! Its a bit like Nitros first and my NorthStar, similar designs, meaning both designers have excellent taste!

Guitars are like typography, maybe they look similar but have unique character... actually, you will see how, even having similar body shape, can be totally different. I know that because is not the first guitar I build with this body... I just want to keep the mystery until the end, as Scott does. ^^

Hi there,

some progress... I've started with this alder body, finally.

Yes, it's a singlecut...

So that oil finish seems pretty cool and not so tedious as lacquer is... and it's getting quite trendy, I see it everywhere. How about the durability?

I love that monster guitar... must be funny to play.

After reading these comments and staring at the pic something else started nagging me. The bevel at the end of the fretboard falls below the level of the trussrod cover so the eye has to step back up as it follows the lines created.

Well, you got me thinking... but to make it super cool, the curve should start on the fretboard, at least the general shape. And now it's too late... I guess.

Really like were this is going. One suggestion though, if it is OK. The truss rod cover is really nice. However I would make it a tad wider so that the maple line is in line with the fretboard maple binding. The offset in the lines really catches the eye in a bad way and its a pity as there is so much more really nice stuff to look at here

I already thought about that and got the same conclusion as Prostheta. Since it will not be in the same plane, I would never get that continuity you're suggesting, so I finally decided to break it on purpose. There's another detail which makes it even harder, and it's that the cover is slightly higher than the fretboard... so I try to avoid crappy joints. But you know, that's something interesting to think about for the next build: making the cover as an extension of the fretboard. I wouldn't do it with bindings though, as I don't have proper tools to reach that precision level.

The body will be solid black top, no binding planned, so I try to keep the headstock as simple as possible...

Some progress on this... fretboard glued and neck sides trimmed out:





And a 3 layer truss-rod access cap I made...









The hardest part is done, so it's time to start working in the body.

Hi, thanks for comments!

Prostheta is right, having a clean workspace helps a lot to focus on things... I personally hate to work with sawdust flying around, so YES, I clean after every task. Actually, I spend a big part of the whole session just sweeping. ^^

Glad you find my work inspiring, I'm just a poor hobbyist and learning on every build. I would love to have a workshop with heavy machinery and spend the rest of my life building guitars... but just for pleasure, never as business.

Congratulations, you've got an unique specie... and it must be nice to play, it looks quite ergonomic.

Some progress on this... rough shaping the volute:

I have to wait until the neck is trimmed to finish it. I think I'm gonna make it less prominent.

And some veneers to make a subtle heel:

Fantastic job!... I've followed this topic in the dark, glad you're back.