Andyjr1515

Aye, aye, Cap'n Sir And so to the back and neck carve. I'm probably about half way through that so far. As I've mentioned before, I finish the neck profile off once the guitar is finished and fully strung up - yes, I know. I'm weird like that - but there's still a bit of bulk to take off to get to my preferred softish 'V' profile before that stage. After just a few minutes with a spokeshave, most of the carve has been done using micro plane blades, just held in gloved hands like a scraper. The towelling underneath is to stop any dints on the top (you see, I do sometimes take notice of your gems of advice, @Prostheta ) - you can see it's been used for many times for past staining jobs. Based on the fact that a number of my staining jobs are red ink, it has the unfortunate look of the results of a serious router/finger incident! At this stage, I tend to do a lot of air-guitar playing I've got some more bulk to take out at the heel / body transition, but the thumb anchor points and 24th fret access feel fine so far. You can see why I took impressions earlier of where the hidden weight relief chambers are! Breaking through at this stage of the process would definitely spoil my day Total weight so far is spot on 4lbs - about 4oz lighter than my previous build. Having a bash at making my own wood knobs - which will save 2-3oz over the brass ones I previously used - a final 5 1/2 lbs weight should at least be within reach

Having added another two frets with the revised fretboard, I've deepened the two cutouts to try and achieve the full fret access and thumb-anchor position for bend to, and including, the 24th fret. Having done that, I've started to finish the top shaping. I may need to tweak it a bit more once I've carved the back, but this is how it's starting to look. Those who've seen my builds before will know that I add an early quick coat of tru-oil - regardless of what finish I'm going to use in the end - to show up any lumps and bumps a bit easier. I'll be trying to finish the back carve later today / this evening and then hopefully tomorrow comes the neck carve

With the fretboard on, I can now finish the body carve :

Right....I'll just go and suggest to MrsAndyjr1515 that she goes to the automotive bodyshop and panelbeaters suppliers for her make-up, then...

I'm sure that there are better ways, but one method I've used in the past that helped - once I was pretty close to flatness - was to use school chalk on a 1' square piece of 1/4" ply, liberally applied, and then rub the coated ply over the mating surface. Any high spots will show as the chalk will be rubbed off onto them. Then I use a cabinet scraper to scrape away the high spot and repeat until the whole surface has chalk transferred onto it. Then do the same on the other mating surface It won't sort two mating surfaces that are way out, but it is a decent method for sorting out pesky high-spots.

Yes - it's even more satisfying than popping bubble-wrap

I decided to put the same demarcation feature under the headstock plate. I cut some maple and ebony veneer offcuts: Then glued and clamped them under a decently thick piece of sapele: For the fretboard, I did the side dots, then filled the fret slots with a mixture of epoxy and macassar dust: Once that was set and the edges sanded down, it was time to glue the fretboard on In the meantime, the pickups have arrived

For no particular reason other than it's a shame to lose any of the macassar, I've decided to skip the binding of the fretboard. The consequence, however, is that I can't use the cheat of using figured acoustic guitar body binding to give me the feature stripes as I had done of the maple, bound, version: So, it was back to some maple and black veneer, stuck to the bottom of the fretboard: Came out alright, though Got to double check the flatness of the neck, fit the truss rod and then the fretboard can be glued

OK - just done something the other way round to usual and am now thinking, 'Why haven't I ALWAYS done it this way?????' Up until now, I've always fretted once the fretboard has been glued to the neck. I'm now not entirely sure why that was, except I had an un-considered prejudice against fretting the board first. And a number of my fretting jobs and fretboards have had challenges! This time, I decided I was going to fret first. Boy oh boy... Other than I've finally invested in a tang nipper - which is great - my actual fretting method is unchanged: For good or bad, I basically run a very fine bead of titebond along the tangs, hammer in and then immediately clamp with a radius block. All of that is so much easier on the bench... And then the trimming, filing and bevelling. SOOOOOOO much easier - and more accurate. Not glued to the neck yet, but I've got a good feeling about what it's going to be like once it has been

Ooooh...that's nicely done

For the maple fretboard I was going to use some NZ Paua to get the contrast, but for the macassar I think MoP would work better. I cut out a couple of swifts for the 12th and routed the shapes with the dremel precision base: Then glued them in with epoxy mixed with fretboard sanding dust and added the MoP dots for the other positions: Then a quick sand with the radius block:

Hi, Brian and welcome! I love Arias. I've worked on one in the past and have seen @Norris 's in the flesh. Beautiful! With the care you're taking on this one, I'm sure yours will turn out just as good. Watching with great interest.

Yes - one and the same

Thanks, folks. I've had that board for years - can't even remember what I got it for although it was bass length....and that means I've managed to get an acoustic-length blank as an offcut. Will have to build another acoustic, then Ref the clamps - yes - I find I need packers to stop the template moving (you can see those in the shot) as well as clamping both sides. What it doubles - as well as stopping the template assembly moving around - is the double security of the fretboard on the template. I never completely trust 2-sided tape by itself!

Do you know....I don't think I'd realised that your tuition was with Colin Keefe. He's been on my 'a bit of a legend' list for years! No wonder you thrashed me on the other month's GOTM!

So having decided to go dark, I cleaned up the (I think) macassar blank and set forth for a further try out of the radius jig: Still got that slight imbalance that causes the dig-in stripe but it does a reasonable job: 15 mins or so with a radius block gets it line free and final radius: Next - out comes G&W's mitre block again. I've got the hang of the sequence of clamping, etc, now and so that, too, is a lot quicker: And so in an afternoon, I'm pretty much back to where I was: Today, I will trim it to final taper and start thinking about inlays

Excellent tips, @Norris & @Mr Natural I shall steal those shamelessly

That looks really nice, Goran That brass claw is a work of art too!

And...she prefers the darker fretboard. So this is where we're heading: It'll give me a bit more practice with the radiusing jig!

I know where you're coming from, Scott. Hence my hesitation, having assumed maple so far... ...and I suppose that's my hesitation for the darker wood - is it sticking to convention for convention's sake? Hmmmm - I used to be indecisive, etc etc I don't want Jane to see her actual build until it's pretty much done but - as in the end it is going to be her guitar - I've sent her the photo above of my yew guitar alongside the veneered bass and asked her, as the guitar will be similar body colour, if she has a preference... I'll let you know what she thinks

OK - I need a view from you folks. Fretboard. Stick with the maple (tinted a touch) or go for macassar (at least I think it is macassar)? Broadly this-ish: Or this-ish: In real life, the difference is probably close to these two: What do you reckon, folks?

Just about It's actually the same thickness as the first version below so I didn't have to check, recheck and check again this time : Mind you - there's no room for push pulls, standard three way switches or other fancy new-fangled stuff! This new build is probably going to have a single P90 and 50's-style tone and volume so there's actually plenty of depth for the electrics. The challenge is actually the jack - I'll probably have to go for a Switchcraft barrel jack again, as I did for the one above.

With the weather too cold to do anything useful outside (I know, I know...but I'm a brit and an old one at that...you lot don't feel cold like we do ) I've knuckled down and made some more progress on this. First glued the back wings on and routed the various chambers: Then glued the top on: Then took advice from this forum and crept up on the final back outline rout using progressively tight guide rings. Worked a treat. Ignore the bearing - this was the only 1/4" bit I had long enough to do the whole depth in one go. Having got to 1mm of the top outline, I finished off with a standard trimmer bit: Next came the back carve. First I cut a guide template from the cover of an old A4 notebook. I agonised a few years ago before buying the Veritas pullshave but am really glad I did. I use it for all sorts but for this it's ideal: It really didn't take long at all to get it rough-shaped: And finally to the top carve. I generally do this over a couple of days - I have to come back to it fresh and then can see the flaws better. This is after day one: At the moment this is weighing in at 3lbs 13 oz - probably closer to 3 1/2lbs once the neck has been carved - but, of course, the trussrod, pickup and tuners do add quite a bit... It would be nice to hit the 5 1/2 lb finished weight though, in spite of the oak...

Well how absolutely delightful is that! Bravo - I bow to the master

There's a decent simple explanation with illustrations on Tundra Man's website half way down the page here: http://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/NeckAngle/index.php If you are thinking of a typical Les Paul Tune-o-matic bridge (assuming a flat top along the length where the bridge sits), then you will need a neck angle built in (and you can see why in the above article). If you are planning on a very low profile bridge, then you might get away without one. I personally find the easiest way of getting it there or thereabouts is to draw fullsize the nut position, the bridge position, the fretboard line (ie the tops of the frets), the lowest and highest the bridge saddles will sit and the string line, from the nut to, say, 2mm clear of the fret tops at the end of the fretboard. You can see here some of the things that @Prostheta refers to - that the thickness of the fretboard affects it, the minimum height of the bridge, the scale length, etc..