steve1556

15 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

How deep of a cut were you taking? I hope that you weren't doing that full depth....working on end grain with a significant cut depth causes this with more regularity than you'd expect....

You can get away with glueing it back up, however you need to ensure that the glue coats all internal surfaces and that it's clamped up adequately during the drying to reduce any sort of gluelines. It's not a complete disaster, but it's not far off in that it could have been a lot worse. Have you counted your fingers yet?

I fully appreciate it could have been a hell of a lot worse and I definitely respect the router a lot more then I already did. I already respected it a lot. I clamp the work piece to the opposite side of the work bench so if anything did happen then at the the router is the little bit further away from me and my legs. 

You guessed right on what was the cause of it then, I was trying the cut the whole depth in one go (in my defence it worked well on the MDF and the rest of the neck). I was trying to take very small amounts out of the wood until the router bearing was going along the template. As the rest of the neck went OK with cutting the full depth in one go, I honestly didn't even give the the fact it's end grain a second thought.

I've got an early morning tomorrow with work so I'll try and get it glued and clamped up tonight if I get time so it's ready for when I get time later in the week to do it. If it doesn't glue 100% perfectly I'll use it as a test neck for carving, if it's still good I'll still build the guitar with it and maybe look at changing it at a later date.

Many thanks on your help again, can't tell you just how much I appreciate it!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've just messed up! Badly!

I went to my friends house this morning and rough cut out the neck using his band saw as my jigsaw couldn't really do it. Just now I've been using the router on it, all was going great, until 1 bit on the headstock where the router bit caught on something and jumped. I tried a few times, each time it jumped, then it split the wood! I don't know if I should scrap the neck and get a new one, or if it's possible to fill the cracks with glue and clamp them together? I've got a picture of it below.

23 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I hope that helped. It was meant to!

Yep, it most definitely helped! I've found all your posts helpful on this big learning curve, and I really do appreciate it.

That's a good point on the hand waving, and if I'm just doing it in the garage no one will ever know! Haha. How many degrees do you have now? And don't worry, I'm sure that pencil will have teeth marks in it in the not too distant future! With regards to the mechanical pencil, in the pictures there is a pink one, I promise it's not my favourite colour and it was just the first one that I pulled out of the pack. I've already had some white pencils turn up that I'm going to use on my next build as some of it will be walnut, so they should show up much better.

Yeah, the plan is to rub out the neck outline and redraw it from a center line created from the truss rod route. Hoping to get that done at some point over the weekend, maybe even on Friday depending on the weather and a bike ride. You've already answered a question I had on which way round the truss rod goes, and righty-tighty lefty-loosey is always the best way to remember it! When I do get round to fitting the truss rod, should I have it so the nuts are halfway down the thread so then it can travel the same distance either way? I'll take a picture of what I mean next time I'm in the garage. With regards to the headstock design and the truss rod, I know what you mean by it being easier with a angled headstock, but I'm assuming the best way would be to use a scarf joint, and I didn't want to do that on my first build as it would just be another thing that could potentially go wrong. I've never been a fan of heel adjustment rods, so angeled head stocks may be the better option for me in the future.

I finally remembered to measure the plans I got from Crimson to the photocopied ones I had done, and they are both the same size so they didn't get scaled down when they were photocopied, so unless the template I got was based on a different model/year, I really don't understand why my guitar body is too small. I'm still awaiting a call from my wood guy for the ash wood to create the new body with, hopefully won't be too much longer. On the plus side, I had a delivery today! The box is damaged quite badly so I'm going to make a complaint to the delivery company about it, but thanks to the packing guy at G&W, nothing was damaged or missing (even with a big hole in the box!).

I should now have everything I need to finish the neck! I hope I have anyway! I ordered a couple of the wooden radius blocks to help clamp the fretboard down to the neck, they were cheap and it saves any potential damage to the metal one. I had the fret board thicknessed down to 6mm, and the neck black is 20mm. From my understanding, together they should be 24-25.5mm, so after the radius is done, hopefully it should be near perfect.

I tried out this new router today. Had an issue changing the collet size, turns out they have updated the fittings but not the instruction manual. I came to that conclusion after about an hour of messing around with it, and the shops power tool guy and his manager came to the same conclusion after spending half an hour on it when I took it back to the shop just to make sure. Regarding the jumping and egde guides, I was pushing the router in the direction of the arrow, and tried about 5cm the other way and in both directions is sat firmly and didn't try jumping out. You know you've gotta concentrate hard when you start waving the hands around to picture it! Thanks for the heads up on it though, it made me extra careful. On the plus side, the router is much nicer then my dads one to use and don't seem top heavy, spins up slowly, etc.

The new router, clamps and pencil. I always see workmen with this style of pencil, so now I feel like a real craftsman now that I've got one! I also got a 6mm router bit, but after routing the channel for the truss rod, I realised that I needed a slightly wider cavity, but small then when a 8mm bit would give me. I ended up moving the rails on the router guide slightly which solved the problem. In hindsight, I should have also got a 8mm bit for the adjustment part, but this time I just used a chisel and mallet. I also made the mistake of drawing out the neck, marking out the truss rod, then finding out it wasn't 100% straight, although it is very close. I may rub out the neck outline and redo it, but it's near perfect and I believe it wouldn't make much difference. It started raining so had to move everything into the garage very quickly and finish it off in there. Had to use the router for a tiny bit in the garage with no was for dust extraction so I'm going to clean that up later.

I've put the start of the allen key socket under the nut, it's that the correct place or should I move it up slightly?

6mm router bit

New clamps arrived, they are so easy to use. Kinda makes me wish I got this style instead of the sash clamps for the body.

New router and bits.

My new workmens pencil.

Marking out the neck, truss rod placement, routing and using the chisels.

This was taking around 4pm, getting darker already, overcast and raining almost the whole day! This was just before it chucked it down again.

Haven't had a chance to do anything on the guitar the last few days. Was hoping to get a fair bit done yesterday but I ended up helping to put new roof felt on the shed instead and had to work today. I have had a chance to do some reading, many thanks to Prostheta for that. Still got a fair bit of learning to do on the subject though.

On the plus side, I've bought a load of F clamps for the neck/fret board, the shop had 2 in stock and ordered another 8 in for me, they were fairly cheap at £4.40 each, but they are big enough for multi laminate necks plus gluing the fret board onto the neck with radius boards on top to make sure there is full contact between the clamp and fret board. Every time I go into a shop, I keep looking at this router that they do, and as I'm having issues with my dads one in that I think it's jammed, so I decided to treat myself to it. I also think I've got a good idea to route the truss rod channel, and my plan is to make sure the edge of the wood is straight, then mark out the channel for the truss rod, use the edge running extension on the router base to route the channel, then trace the neck template and cut it out. I believe that will work as long as the edge of the neck wood is straight.

17 hours ago, ScottR said:

You guys should try building in an open garage in Houston.

On the other hand you handle cold much better than I.

SR

I like the cold weather so I really don't envy you building in the heat!, In fact, in my eyes, it would be absolutely unbearable for me! I'm glad that the summer here is actually quite cool this year

18 hours ago, Prostheta said:

If the wood has been dried properly - either air or kiln - then I tend to leave it in the area I'm going to work it for a few weeks. It just helps get it used to the localised environment. "Indoors" is half the fight.

Ahh that's not good to hear, I really didn't want to delay the project any longer! I'll see what the wood is like when it turns up, although I think I had the last body wood about 5 days before I jointed and glued it, and thankfully (probably by pure luck), it's was fine. I'm going to order the wood for my friends bass build soon so it can acclimatise fully before I use it.

18 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Phew, a few questions.

Moisture. Well, that's an entire conversation on its own. Generally it depends on the wood's end purpose. We should aim for between around 7-12% however unless the wood was prepared, dried and stored for our specific end use, it could be way off....especially if it has been stored outside rather than indoors. You can't easily gauge wood moisture content without a meter, and certainly don't take anybody's word for it unless you know they measure it personally.

Wood brought in from outdoors might be over 10% moisture, which means as soon as it comes inside it'll start losing water to the environment. When it does that, it changes size. By far the greatest movement is tangential, followed by radially and by a magnitude less, longitudinally. Tangential is shrinkage in line with the growth rings, radial is heart-to-outside. Longitudinal is in line with the grain/fibres.

If the growth rings of the wood aren't particularly well straight, then shrinkage from moisture loss tangentially can cause a board to cup side to side. If your guy joints and planes wood that is more or less straight from the yard, Once it sits in your workspace, it might not stay flat.

The Wikipedia article will probably help a bit with understanding how moisture content changes with the environment and why having it acclimated to your own workspace (better, "the kind of place the guitar will live").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_moisture_content

 

It's 24,8°C 54% humidity in my workshop right now. I could expect that the wood in there will be "trying to get to" something like 8-9% moisture. That's about fine, or "on the top end of fine". Outside during a stormy week you'll get far higher RH, so wood will accordingly move to higher equilibrium moisture contents and be totally unsuitable for working on anything other than outdoor projects.

This is useful too:
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/drying-wood-at-home/

Thanks for the very informative reply here. I know wood can change due to moisture content, but my knowledge stops on how it's affected, in terms of it's shape, bending, growing, etc. I'll check out the links and give them a good read in the next few days. So, if I'm right, it's both temperature and humidity that have an effect on it? From what you said, I'm also assuming that it's better to keep the wood in the house rather then in the garage for the moisture content and working/joining it.

I'll ask the wood guy if he can measure the moisture content, although he should have received the wood on Wednesday so it will be sitting in his workshop until Tuesday when he planes and joints it for me, so hopefully if the wood needs to settle most of it will be done in that time. I'm hoping the bits from G&W turn up by Tuesday or Wednesday (the last packaged arrived after 3 days!) so I can finish the neck next week as I have a good amount of time off work, then I'll get the body done the following week to try and allow the wood to settle slightly more.

19 hours ago, psikoT said:

I thought it was going to be a strat...

Hope you get better soon, the body is the most important tool.

It is going to be a Strat, but I didn't want to use the Fender style headstock as it's not a Fender. Also, I'm finding it's very therapeutic when things are going right, and I plan on building several more, so thought my own headstock design would be a nice touch.

Hopefully it's a quick recovery, it's the same thing I had at the end of last year but at a much worse stage. Part of the treatment is rubbing a golf ball on the front of the shin to loosen the muscle off it (it hurts like hell!). I've been taking a golf ball into work with me and the difference after 1 day of doing it made a big difference to my run, so hoping it won't be too long. Had to pull out of a 10 mile race and a half marathon though which is annoying as the half marathon wasn't cheap to enter.

Bit of an update, I got delayed at work last night and didn't have enough of a rest period for today so I now don't start until 6pm, so I've got all day to work on the guitar. Don't think I'll be getting much done though as it's raining loads and I don't have a dust extraction system in the garage. I'm going to try sanding down the new neck template, trace around it and try and get the truss rod lined up in the right position. If the weather dries up (unlikely), then I'll try and use the router as well. To be able to do more work in the garage, or if/when I get more machine tools and have to move everything to my dads barn, I'm looking at getting a dust extraction system, this one seems to be quite good, cheap, and would fit my needs link

I've got an issue with my dads router though, the up/down movement is extremely hard to move, I'm assuming something is clogging up the poles that allow it to move up and down. I'm tempted to go and buy my own one, but I've just places an order of parts with G&W which came to more then I was hoping for, so the new router may have to wait. In hindsight, the nut files were an additional £60 on my order, so I'm maybe wondering if I should have just bought a pre-cut nut instead.

19 hours ago, Prostheta said:

 

Fantastic news on the templates. I screwed up a bunch of Masonite templates way back when, and ended up repairing them with car body filler. I wish I'd have had the sense to have copied them myself....

A fretwire holder is always handy. Go for it.

Careful of grinding the cutters. If they heat up too much, they'll lose their hardness or simply become too brittle if you quench them. The edges have relatively little thermal mass so will happily heat up far quicker than the rest of the metal. Slow and steady, keep checking your progress, Do it in sessions if it helps keep the metal from altering properties.

Cheers. The templates have been a massive headache for me but I'm pleased the body template is done. I've created the first neck template today, over the next few days I'm going to finish sanding it and then transfer it onto 9mm MDF. Most likely it won't be until Sunday or Tuesday though. Were those templates bought ones and you used them straight on the guitar wood? I bet you kicked yourself hard for that (I know I would have done!).

Looking at the price of the cutters, it's just not economical to go that route so I'll be ordering them from G&W I think. Good tip on the thermal properties though, I'll bear that in mind if I ever do decide that route.

19 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I'd place the end between the screws rather than further into the neck itself where it gets more flexible. The rod can act on the bits its meant to, which is generally the bit where the profile starts and ends. The cross-sectionally (?) weak bit where the neck is more likely to bow forward from string pressure. Fender placed the anchor somewhere in the middle FWIW, however you'll be fine between the screws.

That makes sense. The truss rod arrived today, how far up the neck should I put the end? I was thinking under the nut or just after it. It's got the Allen key bit that sticks out from the truss rod so I need to take that into account when I route the hole for it.

19 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I slot before radiusing, but not to the full target depth. After radiusing, I drop the depth stops onto the fret saw and deepen the slots so that they are consistently radiused internally. 

Ensure that the guy who's "ordering in" the wood knows the moisture content of the wood. If it's too wet (less likely "too dry") then you need to let it sort itself out before working into any sort of dimension.

Silly question time, but how would I know the moisture content of the wood, and is there a reliable way to tell? The guy runs a timber merchants so I assume he will know, but I'll ask just to make sure. What sort of moisture content should I be looking for?

That's a really good idea to get the same slot depth all the way though, and saves using so much super glue in the gaps, I'll try that. I'm ordering a miter box from G&W so I know my frets are all in the right places.

On 7/27/2016 at 0:32 PM, SIMpleONe89 said:

I think it makes more sense to cut first then radius, then recut after radiusing. I do it that way because I can clamp a straight edge down on a flat, unradiused fretboard.

Good thinking. I'm planing on using a miter box so my theory was that if I radiused first, the cutting template will be attached to the back which would still be flat. But I'll cut it first just to make sure.

Managed to get some work done on the neck today. Decided the best idea was to draw the center line first, then line the neck template up on it. I made it on 6mm MDF, I'm going to hand sand the edge to tidy it up a little, then transfer it onto 9MM MDF. I may get a chance to do it Sunday, if not, it will be Tuesday or Wednesday. Getting really excited about this now as I finally feel like I'm making some progress. I've also created a wish list on G&W for some bits I need which I'll get ordered in the morning.

Wanted to carry on working on the neck, but I've gotta go out for a small run to help with the recovery of the leg injury and then I've got a late shift at work so the rest has to wait.

Now I've had all night to think about it, here is where I'm currently at with the body. I've decided not to continue using the body in its current form. I've got a couple of Teles, so I'm going to size the body up against one of them to see if it can be salvaged into one of them, if not, maybe build a travel guitar or something out of it. It's good wood so I don't want to waste it.

I've spoken to the wood guy, I've given him the dimensions of the wood, so he is ordering in a 2.4 meter board, and will plane and joint it for me. I should hopefully have it by Tuesday and won't know the full cost until then, but it will be cheaper then ordering the equivalent amount of boards from eBay in body blank size. I'll then have enough wood left over for future builds so that's a bonus.

I'm going to start working on the neck in the meantime, I ordered the truss rod yesterday so hopefully that will be here in the next day or two. It's a double action truss rod, but I'm having difficulty in how far to place it from the heel of the neck. Does it go between the screws, or just in front of them? The one I've ordered is listed as the Fender size at 460mm with the adjustment by the headstock.

With the fret board, is it best to cut the slots then radius it, or to radius it then cut the slots? I haven't ordered the miter box from G&W yet but I do have the radius block already.

On 7/25/2016 at 10:12 AM, Prostheta said:

I'm slightly different because I cut and grind my fretwire almost to length before I fret. My normal procedure is to work from the upper frets downwards, so that if I accidently cut or grind one too short, it will fit further down the neck. I don't like cutting frets on the neck for the same reason @psikoT states; distortion from twisting. If you are like me and cut the tangs back however, distortion is less likely from "squashing" of the fretwire instead of cutting.

That's a good idea to not waste any fret wire, may try that. When you say you cut the tangs back, is that the bit that goes into the fretboard? I saw a guy cutting the part that goes into the fretboard shorter, then after the fret is installed, he fills it with super glue and the saw dust left over from when he radiused the board. It looked really nice when done.

I was thinking of creating a little holder to hold the fret wire in the right order for when I cut the fret wire so it doesn't get mixed up.

On 7/25/2016 at 5:06 AM, curtisa said:

If you've got a bench grinder you can make your own fret end nippers from a regular set of electricians' end nippers by grinding the faces down to flatten them to a true flush cut. They're no good for stainless steel frets, but you'd be hard pressed to find any set of end nippers that will cut SS without being destroyed.

These were a pair of generic of Crescent end nippers from the hardware store, maybe 30 or 40AUD at the time. You should undoubtedly be able to get them cheaper if you hunt around:

That's not a bad idea and is certainly cheaper then fret cutters. I think my dad has one of those bench grinder things, I'll have to check. TBH, I don't think that I'll ever use stainless steel frets so that shouldn't be an issue.

On 7/24/2016 at 6:49 PM, psikoT said:

You always have to leave 1-2mm of fret sticking out, no matters the tool you use to cut it. Then file the excess off.

If the wire cutter is not very strong and sharp, it tends to deform the fretwire in the ends while cutting. I don't have a good one, so I use the dremel instead. The problem with the dremel is that you have to cut the fret off very quickly, otherwise it tends to heat the metal, with the risk of burning the wood. Nothing serious, just something to keep in mind.

My rotary cutter isn't anyone near as good as a Dremel, so I may not be able to go that route. I'll test it on some scrap wire first to double check.

Today hasn't been too good a day. Firstly, I went to the physio, received the news that my leg injury is back, but it's now worse then before when I had it. When I wasn't feeling well the other week, I put on weight as I was eating a lot of junk food, and just started losing the weight and now I'm injured, so can only run 1 mile at a slow pace at the moment, but I am allowed to do a lot of cycling. I was planning on cycling from my house, down to the river then all the way to the Olympic Park in London and back (rough guess is 60-70 miles), but I'm not allowed to do that distance, especially along a mud path. My only option is to go on a diet so I don't put on loads of weight. I'm not happy as my running was going really well, getting a PB in every race I was doing, and now I'll be back to square one.

Sorry, just had to have a little rant as it's got me feeling really down. On the plus side, I managed to get the motivation to transfer the G&W templates to another sheet of MDF. I left between 5-10mm gap between the line and cutting it with the jigsaw, and they have turned out really well, just need to give the edges a very quick sanding and they will be as close to perfect as I can get! I'm really glad that I got a much better mask for the routing, although now my throat and nose are getting irritated, but I think it's the dust on my clothes that's the cause.

For sticking the templates together, I used a method that I picked up from watching Crimson videos, of masking tape on both templates, 1 has super glue applied, the other has super glue accelerator. It worked really well and I would recommend it. I Used a quick hand clamp to attach them to the work bench for routing, and also a G clamp that I had, but I do want to get another hand clamp when I next go to a shop that does them. 

I'm really glad the templates turned out really well, it's got my confidence back up with using the router and got my motivation back up to get outside and do work on the guitar, rather then sit on the sofa watching YouTube videos on how to do stuff. However, I've hit a massive issue, my guitar body is too small for the template!!!!!! Because of the margin of how much smaller then the template is, there is only 2 possible ways in which it could happen. Either the templates are completely different (the ones from Crimson are of a 60's Strat and the G&W MDF ones are of a newer, slightly bigger body shaped size), or when the plans from Crimson got photocopied they were scaled down x amount. Either way, the templates are now too big for the body.

So, the option is to either sand the edges of the guitar down with the bobbin sander, but then I assume I'll need to make my own scratch plate as to make it smaller if need be. The other option is to keep the body as a spare (maybe make a small travel guitar with it or something), and buy some new wood and start the body again. The guy who planed the wood down for me reckons 2.4 meters of 50mm thick sawn ash will be cheaper then what 1 guitar body worth from eBay would be, plus a little bit for him to plane the wood for me. If I take this option, then it's going to be a slight delay in doing the body, but then I'll also have spare wood for future builds or could sell it on eBay (as that's where I got mine from originally). While writing this, I've decided that's the better option, so I'll give him a call in the morning to arrange it.

If I decided to keep the excess wood, would keeping it in my dads barn have any detrimental effect, as in for when I would next want to use it if it would need drying or anything like that?

Also, my original headstock designs that i really liked didn't seem to work when drawing them out on paper with the strings (although not at full size). I think I've found a design I like though. I traced out teh Fender headstock, then sketched an idea around that and I think it looks really nice.

Good news! The motor and counter arrived! They actually arrived at the beginning of the week but I just haven't had time to post an update. Next week I've got a long week at work, but don't start until late afternoon on all the days bar 1, so I'm going to do as much as i can on the guitar, then any left over time will be on the pickup winder.

I'm having second thoughts on using the pine as it's slightly warped, but I'll see how the box assembly goes before making a final decision.

The new parts! I've also got the wire limiting blocks for the coil wire, no picture of them, but apart from the power supply which I'm going to use a 24V DC powder adapter, and a long bolt and nut for the coil wire feed.

On 7/22/2016 at 8:56 PM, psikoT said:

One more month, I guess...

Those nut files look really crappy, I can not imagine myself slotting a bone with them... I would suggest to invest in a better set if you're planning to make more guitars. I have something like this and they are worth the price:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/hosco-double-edge-nut-files-for-electric-guitar-set.html?search=nut&page=3

From your list I'm missing a nice radiousing block, not sure if you already have one though. Take one which is long:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/16-aluminium-radius-sanding-beam-for-fingerboard-fretboard.html?search=16

I'm missing also a crowning file. Some people don't like them but they work for me:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/hosco-double-side-fret-crowning-file-large.html?search=crown

And see some things that can be done with the same file, like the fret bevels, endings, and levelling (besides Pro's advice, which is the best option). To cut them you can use some pliers(?) or a dremel with a cutting disc (my favorite) and you can use a common rubber hammer... no need to spend big money on these things, but spend it on some others things which are more important.

I know those neck files look really crappy, but I was hoping to try and save myself around £60, as the cost of the various tools that I need are really starting to mount up (and there was me thinking the guitar build would be a cheaper option then buying a nice Strat and saving my credit card being punished!).

For the Radius block, I got one the other week from G&W. I got the 2 Kramer Pacer Satchel signature models a few months ago and they use a 9.5" radius and I really like that, so I've decided to do the Strat in that. I'll stick one of those crowning files on my order.

I've got a Dremel style tool, if I put a cutting disc on it I would be worried about catching the wood, or would I leave 1-2mm of fret sticking out and file the excess off? I've got some wire cutters to cut small wires that I use for my effect pedal builds, would they work as well or not be strong enough? For the hammer, I've got a big rubber mallet, it's got a massive head though, so would a hammer like this work well linky

19 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I made my own fret edge bevelling file using an old Stewmac wood radiusing block with a slot cut in it on the table saw. Not the best, but it does the trick. If I came across a huge block of Nylon or some weight of PE, that would soon end up replacing the wooden block....

If I had an old Block and a file that would be an option. Actually it's a great idea! Unfortunately I don't have either which leaves buying one as the best option for now.

19 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Yeah, sets of proper nut files are a heavy investment but totally set your work apart once you start working with them. I get to cheat since I use zero frets. 

I reviewed the G&W Radiusing Beams. Whilst radiusing beams are all radiusing beams, the price makes them a winner.
http://www.projectguitar.com/product_reviews/tools_and_consumables/gw-aluminium-radiusing-beam-r14/

 

I use a crowning file too, @psikoT. I mean, there are several ways to achieve the same end but that file always gets me most of the way there on its own.

It was the price and your review that made me get the G&W radius block! I got the smaller one, but next time I need one I'll be getting the longer one. Absolutely great quality, and I'm really looking forward to trying it out. Thanks for the 2nd vote of confidence in the crowning file, I'll definitely be sticking one onto my order.

While writing this post, I've come to the conclusion that maybe buying a pre-slotted nut is another option I have for this build, and save the 2 bone nut saddles that I've got for another build. I'm not 100% ready to place my big order at G&W, so I've got a little bit of time to decide.

On 7/22/2016 at 5:15 PM, Prostheta said:

I don't use fret levelling files. A good straightedge with sandpaper works just as well. Grab a steel box section from the hardware store and ask a local machinist or blade sharpening shop to grind it flat and true on all four faces. I'll do a video on that if I can sometime....

That's not a bad idea and is worth looking into. I've seen the cost of the straight edge at G&W, depending on the cost of a block plus machining costs, depends on the route that I will most likely take. Most likely though, I think buying the straight edge will ultimately work out cheaper.

On 7/20/2016 at 9:32 PM, Prostheta said:

At the very least you've figured out a flaw in your processes. You can build on that.

What's this about problems with acrylic templates? Bearings burning through them? I must have missed that one.

That's very true. The templates for the Strat have arrived today, once again they were extremely well packed! I'm going to trace them onto the 15mm or 18mm MDF sheet that I've got and start to cut them out (this time making sure to leave more then enough room for the router bit!). Most likely I won't use the router today, I'm absolutely shattered and don't trust myself to use many power tools.

I saw on a thread that the acrylic template looked like it shattered, I'll see if I can find it. 

On 7/21/2016 at 9:42 AM, psikoT said:

You guys are not alone, I had to put my build in stand by due to the heat, and still there's another hot month to come... 

Thankfully the weather here has cooled down a lot, hoping work don't call me tomorrow as I'm on Standby at 3:30am so then I can get time to work on the guitar a bit more. I've got a fan in the garage, but it's not very good when it's just blowing hot air onto me! Thinking about investing in a mini air-con unit if it gets too hot again. How long is your build on hold for?

I've made a little list of bits that I need for the neck part of the build, if someone could double check to make sure that I've got everything, that would be highly appreciated!

Fret saw
Miter box
Fret edge bevel file
Fret leveling file
Nut slot file
Fret hammer
Fret cutter
Fret end file(s)

I've also been looking at nut files and as I understand it, I need 6 different files which cost just over £10 each, so would a file tool like this work well for a few guitars link

Also, I'm a little bit lost on the truss rod. I'm not sure what size I would need, or even which one! Would this one from G&W be good? Or would one with a shorter Allen key bit be more ideal? My plan is to have the truss rod adjustment bit coming out at the headstock and not at the base of the neck.

Thanks for the words of wisdom, it's actually made me realise that I've been making a complete and utter school boy error! My initial templates I cut right near the line, then been sanding them back to the line, which is fine, but then when I cut a rough template out on thicker material, I'm obviously cutting it far too close to the template line, which sometimes goes below the thinner template outline. I've got the MDF templates coming from G&W, after seeing what happened to the acrylic templates on another thread, it had put me off them slightly. When the templates turn up, I'm going to have a quick go at practicing copying them onto another sheet of MDF.  I've started cutting out the templates from the paper plans for ready for the next build, so while I'm awaiting bits and pieces to turn up, I'll can practice on the templates!

I've been making a shopping list of various parts that I think I need, I'll post them up tomorrow when I think I've finished the list. I have also been looking at getting my own router as I'm not happy with my dads one, I think it's a good router and can use both 1/4 and !/2 bits in it router

Halfway through writing this update post, I decided to completely change my plans as I've got a bit grumpy after trying to do the template today, and just ordered the Strat template set from G&W.

To cut a long story short, I just can't seem to make templates. The original one is rather good if I do say so myself, however, the thicker template that I've cut out to transfer the template onto seems to be smaller then the original template in places, not sure why this has happened though as I cut outside of the template line. I've decided that I've already spent far too much money on MDF, and I've got absolutely no idea how I'll get a straight line done on a template for a neck, hence the order of the template. I'm pretty sure I messed the neck pocket up on the template, but the plan was to redo the neck pocket part of the template. I'm annoyed at myself for doing it as I wanted to do everything from scratch, but it's the issue of the templates that has been the reason why I haven't had any progress on the build lately and started on the pickup winder.

The templates will take a week or so to arrive, so the plan is to get the fretboard slimmed down as it needs several mm taken off it, so I'll take that to the guy down the road in the next day or 2 so he can run it through his thicknesser, and to try and get the fretboard radius done. I'm going to order the miter box and saw shortly as it looks like the best way to do the frets. In the meantime I'm tempted to do the edge of the guitar body on the spindle sander, rather then routing it, not sure if it's a good idea of not though. I haven't got a truss rod either, so I can't get the truss rod channel routed out either, so I think I'm relatively stuck on what I can do towards the build until the templates arrive, so in the meantime I've started cutting out the paper plans to get ready to make a P Bass template. The plan is to not use the scratch plate, and to create a rear cavity for it. The only issue is the weather is stupidly hot for the next few days (30-33'C) and I absolutely hate the heat so I can't see too much happening. If I can get the templates roughly cut out, I'll be happy, any more then that will be great.

Sorry for the slow reply, I went away for the week with my 2nd job and couldn't seem to post on the forum through my phone. The good news is that because I was away, I got paid a nice daily rate, which helps fund the purchase of a lot of new tools for the build. I've decided that I'm definitely  going to buy the miter box for the fretboard, so that's been added to my list of parts that I need to order. I think the majority of the tools that I need will come from Carlos, they are much cheaper then Crimson and Stew Mac, but with the last order of bits that came in, I'm so impressed with the quality of them. The downside is that as I've been away, the work on the guitar body has been nothing, but I finish by mid day all next week so I'm hoping to get the body finished then. I'm in the process of setting up a router on a router table as I figured that would be the best way for the body.

The hand controlled pickup winder is coming along nicely. I cut some pine that i bought with my dads saw, although the wood is warped slightly so I may try and change it for another type of wood if I can find some decent cheap stuff locally. I'm still waiting on parts from China to arrive so I've got time. You should definitely get the new fret press, mainly because you can never have enough tools, or if your existing one breaks then you've got a spare!

I also have to agree with the sales and marketing, it's great if it's backed up by a great product, but if it isn't then the sales won't last.

Haven't really got an update on the guitar as I've been away, but I watched a great tutorial on neck carving, which is the one thing that I'm really worried about. This tutorial was really good on how it explained it all, so if the neck carving goes well, then I'll probably save money and not do the guitar building course. On the plus side, I've had some new toys arrive! On the downside, I could have probably get the pickup kit cheaper if I had hunted around, but for once I didn't get hit by import tax on the stuff from America!

The new shelving unit arrived for the garage so I can finish getting it fully tidied and organised, and the majority on the wood is cut for the pickup winder.

FYI, be careful not to stick the magnets together, they are a pain to release! I've also got the small magnets for the reed switch for the pickup winder.

For the pickups, I've got 1 with Alnico 2 magnets, and 2 with Alnico 5 magnets.

For the inlay logo, I'm thinking of something like this. Although my drawing if absolutely awful, you can get an idea. There is a girl at work who does book illustrations so she is going to have a go at doing it for me.

How much for the acrylic templates????? No wonder you weren't happy when they got ruined! Having said that, when I've cut 5mm acrylic, I use 95% power and run at 2mm per second, which puts a lot of wear on the laser tube, so I can sort of see why it wasn't cheap. For the bandsaw, you can get small hobby sized ones. I've used my friends one a lot and it works perfectly, apart from it's impossible to get right to the bottom of the lower horn cut out with it as the post is in the way.

I bought the wood today! I've got some 18mm thick pine to build the enclosure out of, and a small square piece of pine to help with the joins. Plan is to screw and glue the smaller piece of wood onto the bass, then the sides will screw and glue into teh same piece of wood. Unfortunately the project is on hold until next weekend now, tomorrow I've got a 10k race in the morning, F1 in the afternoon then in the evening I'm going away with work for a week.

I've found the cost of the materials not too bad if you get them from the right places (which I didn't). I ordered the parts from a site and it was just over £10 per single coil, I've since found sites that seel the bits for around £7 a coil, or if you source the bits individually, you're looking around £4-5 per coil I think. I've also found a place that sells 1kg of 42awg wire for £35, which is expensive, but I imagine that would do at least 50 single coils.

Couldn't really see another section this could go in, apart from the electronics bit, so I thought that I would put it in here as it's a build.

I've decided to try and wind my own pickups, but thought that it would be best to keep it as a separate thread from my first guitar build thread. I was planning a more elaborate build using a Arduino to control a motor and maybe an automatic wire feeder, programmed amount of turns, etc, but realistically that is going to be months away, hopefully towards the end of the year though as it will involve learning how to code the Arduino. So, in the meantime, I thought I would build a simpler one!

I've found a forum post through a YouTube link for a winder, but the guy didn't do a build thread as such for it, so the plan is to work it out and build in up, in a kind of 'how-to' post as well in case anyone else would like to build it. I did electronics at school and college, and then taught myself it again (as I'd forgotten most of it) when I started to build my own effects pedals, so the electronics side of it is quite easy for me to understand.

So, the aim is to wind pickups, so I need:
- power supply
- motor controller (to adjust the speed)
- motor
- hub for the motor

To make it more functional, I also need:
- counter with reset switch
- reed switch
- magnet
- switch to the motor turns both clockwise and counter clockwise

Definitely going to be ordering things from this website again especially as they keep giving free sweets!!!!!!! The hub has arrived, and so has the motor controller (although it arrived from Amazon even though I ordered it on eBay!).

When I go out tomorrow I'm going to get the wood for the enclosure. I'm thinking of 4mm pine, cheap and cheerful. Next update will be when I've either got the enclosure designed and/or built, as I doubt the parts I've ordered from China will be here before then. I've got the mounting size of the counter so I can get the mounting hole cut out for that at least.

Rockhorst - If you were to have the jig lasered, will that be out of acrylic? If so, what size are you looking at? Maybe able to help you out as I've still got my laser cutter in the garage. Whichever way you go, hope the issue is sorted quickly.

DDandhcustoms - that's a great video! I'm going to see if my dads table saw has the guide rail sections ready for future projects! Thanks for that.

Wow, you weren't joking when you said that double sided tape is expensive! I've currently got some sellotape double sided tape, but when that runs out I may invest in some of his. I'm going to apologise if my post came across as that Crimson stuff is far superior to Carlos stuff, I wasn't trying to say that at all. I saw one of the Crimson videos the other day, and for instance he was talking about his fret leveling file, saying he uses the best file, 4 piece truss rod to keep it completely flat, etc, and by what I said I meant it in the context of if I ever became a really good luthier (extremely unlikely) and that sort of thing may possibly make a small difference to me then it maybe worth it. And I would always prefer to buy stuff from someone who is either a small company or enthusiast rather then a big multinational company.

What I have been impressed by with Carlos, is how well packed things are when they arrive! For instance, the scale ruler came with a bit of wood attached to it to reduce the chance of it being bent in the post, which itself is unlikely because it's so thick (I was expecting some thin piece of aluminium like I've seen 1 meter rulers made out of). Any small chance you one if the notches on the fret ruler clip into the miter box like I've seen on the StewMac one?

So you've done the longer neck into the body because it could help vibrations transfer between the neck and body? Weren't you tempted to look at maybe cutting a small hole in the pickguard to show them off? I must admit, I do like the idea of the longer neck, it my head it makes it seem a lot more stable.

Update on the pickup winder, unless I went for a fully automated machine, I'm not sure stepper motors are the way to go. The one I said about in my other post from CNC dudes is here. I'm tempted to try something along these lines so it will be fully automatic, but I wouldn't be able to build the style of computer program that they use it with on the laptop, and instead use an Arduino. From my research so far, the Arduino would be easyish to program X amounts of winds, speed up and speed down slowly, X amount of bobbin thickness (for an automatic wire feeder), etc. I can see it being a very long and slow project. It looks like I may be sent away with work next week, so I'll do more research on it then.

Off out to finish sorting the garage out so I can carry on working on the guitar body then the neck.

Forgot to add, I had an order from Guitars and Woods turn up, got a 25.5" scale ruler in metal, a 9.5" fretboard radius sanding block and a depth gauge for a fret saw, although that maybe redundant if I decide to get a mitre box from there, just trying to weigh up the cost of it to how much it will be used at the moment. I was planning on getting fret files from Crimson, but decided I'm going to order them from G&W as they are a lot cheaper, and at my current level I don't think it's worth justifying spending more on what may or may not be a better file.

I also checked the fret board the other week, it's more then long enough and the split part can just be cut off and it will be fine.

That's a nice bass, I really like that! May I ask why you used another another 2 screws for the neck? My friend is using his 5 string bass more then the other 4 string bases he has, so I am toying with the idea of adjusting the plans to make a 5 string bass, but I'm not confident enough to change the building plans that much yet.

I haven't been able to do any work on the guitar as I've been spending a lot of time away from home, but I have done some more research on the pickup winder. I've sourced all the bits apart from 2 little bolts, and about to order it now. I've spent several hours researching a different route for a near automatic one. I'm thinking of using either a Raspberry Pi or Arduino, whereby I can set the number of turns, it spins up slowly, then when it's say 100 turns away from finishing, it's starts slowing down rather then coming to a complete stop suddenly. I'm hoping to have it so you can select from pre-programmed settings as well as custom settings. I'm guessing the best way would be to use a stepper motor, as it should be more precise then using a normal motor, and won't need an RPM counter. It's going to be several months away (most likely towards the end of the year) as I will need to learn some coding for it. I've seen a company that do one that's fully automated, and you use it in conjunction with a laptop, including a automatic wire feeder, but it's £630. I'm planning on not having the automatic wire feeder though. It's going to be a slow project which I'll work on when I'm away from home and can't work on the guitar. I'm expecting a steep learning curve with having to learn how to code though.

Completely forgot to reply to your post! Sorry about that! Just had a lot going on at home and very long days at work. The good news is that my Nan shall be out of hospital sometime this week, just waiting on the paperwork to be arranged with the care company.

Good news, according to Google, the sander should cost around 140 euros, but I can't imagine the shipping being too cheap as it's fairly heavy. Is the reason you want to try one because you have several tattoos that you got when you were too young and after too much drink? Haha.

What winds me up more then negative personality traits (apart from people that I work with that have them, and make up their own rules!), is the ignorance and selfishness of the general public. In my line of work, I can be with 600 of them a day, it only takes 1 or 2 of them and the whole thing falls apart!

I've not managed to get anymore done on the body due to having no time, but I decided that I needed a nice set of chisels. I'm hoping it may help with the templates as well as closer finishing work on the bits for the guitar. I'm not convinced the weather is going to hold out this week, and there is a 100w old style bulb in the garage that isn't very good, so I bought one of those work light floodlights. I've tested it, it gives off a massive amount of light, so it should enable me to work in the garage when need be.

I'm also getting far too ahead of myself and started thinking far too much about the bass that I'm going to be building for my friend. I've ordered P Bass design plans, and got them photocopied today. Planning on a twist with the body to make it more updated, but more on that when I start building it, although it won't be for several months yet. I've also been debating about custom pickups for it, I mean it can't be that hard to make them compared to a guitar, which made me think I could also make custom single coils for this guitar as well. I've done electronics at school and college, and I've been building effects pedals for several years now, and even got to the point where I design my own circuit boards, originally with through hole components, and more recently with SMD components. The only issue is pickup winders aren't cheap, the only ones I've found have been on the Stew Mac site. I started watching videos and got taken to a forum link whereby someone built their own. At first I thought the build guide missed a lot of bits, but it's just where it doesn't explain the steps and that. I've started sourcing the bits for it, looks like several bits will have to come from China so it will take a while to do. I've found the display panel, reed switch and rare earth magnet, just looking for the motor and motor controller now. I'll post a full build report and step by step guide to it when I get it built.

I think the problem with the internet is that everyone is an overnight expert. I've watched hours of guitar building videos on YouTube (one of the many reasons that this build is going slowly), and I just try and take all the information in the videos as just that, information, and not the way you HAVE to do it. Just because a technique works well for someone, doesn't mean that it will work well for someone else. I appreciate what you're saying about pomposity, big egos, narcissism, arrogance, etc, as when I have to deal with customers at work like that, I really don't like them.

PSIKOT - get the tattoos, it will be funny! Seriously though, the sander wasn't too expensive. it came in at £119, and to be completely honest with you, if it was any more I probably wouldn't have bought it just yet. I think I'm glad I got it, but it need some more practice to get lines sanding straight!

But the tattoos make him him. I remember when I first started watching his videos and being taken aback when he started talking as his voice/accent don't match his look, especially with the tattoos. I phoned them at the start of my project after ordering a couple of bits from them, ended up speaking to Ben and he was extremely helpful.