charisjapan

Ohhh~ yeahhh~ Thank you, kind sir!

Kinda like that!

This was actually a few days ago ... routed the body to template, then used a 12mm radius roundover. The body has a slight cup upward, so will flatten that next.

Thanks, Andy! How come you get a cool name like "piccolo bass," and I have to live with the dull "short-scale bass?" Isn't there a cooler name for a 30" scale?

Made a jig to plane down the headstock, 3 steps to 9.5mm. Next made a drill bit guide like Lt. Dave showed in his 1-piece neck tutorial. The 6mm X 200mm wood bit worked well after I waxed the bit and the inside of the guide. Used a belt sander to get the cherry block to 0.5mm from the guide hole. Clamped this in place, and had it all set up (and a bit nervous) then ... the drill battery died. After charging the battery, the guide worked great, and hit the truss rod slot dead center. Mt. Fuji!

Yikes! A week goes by and I'm off Page 1 I am almost done thicknessing the fretboard, the downside is pretty flat, as well as the top of the neck. I have to deepen the truss rod and carbon fiber rod slots ... I knew that would happen. Still got my full 25 mm on the neck, so a Soft-V shape will happen. I spent a little time making a template to make the "Mt. Fuji snowcap" for the headstock. It was (as expected) not easy. There is a bit of a glue line, but not that bad. It is a pretty unmistakable shape, methinks. Will have to take it down to 15 mm before I know what the grain will look like. (The back side is a bit plain, but a clearcoat should help! The white "snowcap" is not as white as I had hoped, but I will just call that dark wood a "shadow."

Hey Knightro, good to see you! The CFF looks great! (was there a first picture? there's a big blank spot) Hope you get everything sorted out. (I can't imagine how anybody could get cranky about a hobby?!!? JK, lol! ) Love that bridge!!

StratsRdivine, I another life, I was a marketing man, and you're absolutely correct that a Squier donor body would definitely lower the "perceived" value of anything you make. To a certain extent, so would a Warmoth body ... even a bona fide Fender! Even though Squier has raised the quality bar quite high, it's still M.I.C. "junk" to a lot of folks. Warmoth makes a very nice product, and many folks swear by them, but they still suffer from a "not-a-Fender-product" stigma. And to emasculate a real Fender strat ... blasphemy!!! (I'm not saying this is MY opinion, just how people perceive things) Of course, you don't have to tell who made the donor body at all, your creations are unique, and it's probably best not to say anything. Unless ... you want to make a statement of how special your guitars are. In that case, you should get a nice template (strat and tele templates are pretty inexpensive) and rout your own bodies. Two good things about this approach, 1) you could use less expensive wood, asi it would not have to be full thickness and you could use heavier wood and chamber it, and 2) even if you are using the iconic shapes, these would be totally your own creation, always a plus from a marketing standpoint. As you have finishing talents, the cutting out and routing of a body to perfectly match your tops is kind of "grunt-work." (Apologies to luthiers, but as a carpenter, throwing a piece of wood on a router table with a template is not really our highest-level skill ) You could ask a local luthier or even a craftsman (cabinet maker?) to do this for you. About necks, yeah, they are a very important part of the guitar. Marketing-wise, a real Fender neck from Stratosphere will WoW the semi-purist buyer. (a non-traditional body with a perfectly acceptable "real" neck) But if you are going to reface the headstock, who makes the neck is almost moot. (Remember, "almost") If it is a quality neck, straight, smooth and fast frets, with a reasonably mice grain, but has a matching or complimentary headstock "veneer" of your shape and design, this would probably get you the customers willing to pay a premium price. That would be a truly custom guitar. Of course, the next level of marketing would be the pickups ,,, and further down in importance, the hardware. Pickups are a hard choice for a custom guitar builder. Seymour-Duncan makes some really nice pickups, in fact, a very broad spectrum ... even custom-made. But they have the reputation of 'off-the-shelf' that some custom guitar buyers would find undesirable. You could choose a boutique supplier ... some would "die-for" Wizz, others would say they are overrated. Depending on how many guitars you are making/selling, you might just offer the customer a choice. Actually, a reall marketing solution would be what car makers do ... offer a "package" ... the customer chooses from the "X," "Y," or "Z" package. (the Three Bears Approach) Just to be clear. I don't sell guitars for a living, so this is just an exercise in marketing strat-egy (pun intended). Whatever you end up with, cool ideas, eye-candy-galore, and personal zeal will sell your guitars. Best of luck!

Hey StratsRdivine, Your concept is very cool, indeed an "insane visual feast," as promised. But (IMHO) your Dichrocaster is trying to show off too many things. As a teenager from the late 60s/early 70s, I can appreciate psychedelic ... but now more into subtle. (I also built custom mountain bikes in the 90s, so remember anodized purple!). How about that wavy silver-white facade you showed in the first post ... THAT I could like! Or a strat pickup guard that would shame pearloid? I know the depth requires a certain amount of thickness, but maybe a pick guard that is inlaid, with only a few mm above body surface? Another question/suggestion ... if your cover scintillates like natural wood chatoyance, can we see a video clip? I, for one, would be interested in a design that mimicked an LP with book matched curly maple . good on ya, man!

Hey Phad, Good choice to avoid a too-thin veneer. Any sand-through and you would probably end up removing all the veneer ... and who knows what is behind it! But please note that it is not a solid, one-piece alder body, but a multiple-piece (at least the picture looks to be so). Dark grain-fill then dye is a standard practice. It can be done with alder, but it really depends on the particular piece. Because you have a multi-piece body, the dye will probably react very differently to each piece, which can look kind of weird (or cool, if you're into that kind of thing). Some dyes applied directly to wood can get pretty deep, so could require a lot of sanding to remove ... ask me how I know this. You can test a little patch under the "ashtray," pickguard, or inside the cavity before doing the whole thing. Often, the stain is in the clearcoat, which can help blend across the multi-piece body. They have rattle-can tinted clears also. I live in Japan, so don't know what's available in Canada ... and flammable, pressurized stuff doesn't get put on airplanes or cross borders very well. Have fun!

Hey Retuos, Just food for thought, as I was scratching my head about "nut design" for my Chinaberry Two build ... the MSPaint drawing below shows the difference between using string centers to decide nut slots and using string-to-string gap. Of course, with the much bigger strings, this is more important on a bass guitar, but as you can see from the centerline, each method still produces different results. How much difference depends on the individual, but take a peek.

Hey Phad, Good idea to take a look at the kits. If at all possible, ask if you can check the neck fit, by far the most critical joint. Since the body and neck are already sealed, painting should be pretty straightforward. A tip from my own experience, don't use lacquer unless you are willing to wait some time for polishing. My first tele build came out great, polished it up nice and shiny after about two weeks. We were moving, so I put it in a soft case, and forgot about it for a month ... when I pulled it out, the finish was "flannel texture!" Go with a spray poly or something so you can polish it up and play (and show off) immediately. Warning! Building guitars is highly addictive ... and sites like this are like gasoline on a fire. Haha! I can identify with food hobby, as I suddenly developed Celiac Disease, and Japan has very little Gluten Free food. Between my wife and I, we have explored nearly every major cooking regimen. Also, my alcohol adventures were along the lines of Italian Limoncello, Meloncello, and Japanese plum wine. Other hobbies are motorcycles and building tube amps. Watch out with the last one ... a simple 5-watt all-tube amp cranked into a nice 12" cabinet is also dangerous ... leading to a push-pull Deluxe ... leading to ... cascading gain, reverb tanks, tremolo circuits, custom stompboxes ... I stopped about there. And by all means use that quarter garage for father-son time!! Best investment possible.

Hey Phaddie, welcome! I'm a relative newcomer here, and still in the middle of my first scratch build, I have also built a kit L-P type guitar, so maybe I can add a few ￥en from Japan. And just for reference, I didn't start playing the bass until I was past 50 years old, the 6-string a few years ago, and my kit build was last year. Problem1), I was a framing carpenter in another life, but about the only tools that were in any way relevant to luthiery are a hammer, cordless drill, and a circular saw, and "finishing" to me was spackling and latex paint. Problem 2), I fully understand about working in the house and remember well what my wife thought about it. (Yikes!) I just recently made a workshop after I came to the conclusion that I might stick with this hobby for a while. Solution ... don't kid yourself, and don't think you can fool your wife! Even a kit is going to make dust and fumes and noise (the bane of most women, btw) As a2k said, look around for a rental workspace, hobby school, or a local community college to learn about tools AND use their shop. I have heard that some high schools have evening classes to utilize their shops and pull in a little income. If you feel really manly, demand a part of the house for a work room. (this sometimes doesn't work so good ) About that kit ... if you have an L-P, you will probably find it woefully inadequate. At that price level, the wood might not be very high quality, the joinery iffy, and the parts pretty bad. Yes, you will gain valuable knowledge, but you should really restrain yourself from trying to "fix it up." You could end up spending a lot more than the initial investment, and in the end still be kind of disappointed. I know folks that ended up spending $1K on a $200 kit, and still not very happy. To build a nice instrument, you will probably end up spending quite near $1K if you include tools and finishing stuff anyway, so I suggest two alternative paths ... Get a quality kit, and use nice parts. I bought an L-P style kit from Precision Guitar Kits, and with pickups I already had finished it for about $500. That's not including tools, but a wise husband will probably not mention that subject for a while. Jump right in with a scratch build. It will probably cost more than the above kit if you use nice wood, but nice wood is not just appearance. A quality body blank, neck blank and fretboard blank will often be a lot easier to work with that inexpensive wood. You could even get a pre-slotted fretboard that will save you a lot of time and tool investment. About finish, don't think you have to have a spray gun ... rattle-can paint can do an amazing finish if you search build threads. Blah, blah, blah ... hope this gives you a few options to think about, as well as provides a bit of a reality check.

Triple Gaaah~H! Using my table router, I routed the 6.35mm truss rod just fine, then used a 4mm single-blade for the carbon reinforcing rods. BIG Mistake!! It immediately loosened itself in the 12mm-to-6mm chuck sleeve and climbed into the neck. This took all of 2 seconds. Fortunately, it didn't poke through, so I tightened it up and finished the rout, (Lesson #1, do NOT use a sleeve unless you have REALLY cranked down on it AND lubricated it properly) Next, I set up for the second rout, and about 40mm in the bit self-destructed ... I have no idea where the shrapnel went, but very glad it was my lucky day. (Lesson #2, do NOT use a cheapo single-bladed bit, PERIOD) Next day, the HSS spiral end mill arrived (a day late) so instead of the table router, got out the 6mm trimmer. The spiral worked great, but my mind was on other things and I set the depth at 9.5mm instead of the proper 6.5mm. (Lesson #3, Pay Attention, Stupid! ) I had a 4 X 15mm strip of cherry, so sliced a 4mm strip with the table saw. (I know ... not SOP) Titebonded it into the deep rout, and, and made a plug for the accidental plunge. Re-routed everything today, and the MIC spiral bit worked like a charm again, even after getting gunked with Titebond. Cleaned up nice and shiny. I am pleased with this $2 bit ... buying MIC is a toss of the dice, and this particular item was a winner. Finalized the template for the body, it'll look something like this:

Haha! Guilty as charged (I do try to make a habit of backing the blade off) Come to think of it, I had better go make sure the planes are on the till/shelf ... we've had a couple minor earthquakes this past week, and my waxed tools have a habit of wandering around a bit.

Retuos, I stand corrected ... the high-e string is closest to actual scale length. On my Gibsons, with a scale length of 624 mm, my saddles are set as in the diagram (sorry, not-to-scale MSPaint). The high-e is 624 mm and the low-E is 630 mm. But my point was that the actual "stroke" of your saddles is about 10 mm optimum. The Gibson ABR has an actual range of saddle position ("stroke") of only about 7 mm, while a Nashville bridge boasts about 9 mm. Your adjustment range for a hardtail bridge could be stretched to maybe 12 mm, but would look a little weird if the saddles were too far forward, or too far back. That is why I said 90~95%. This would measure to about 1 mm from the saddle block to the edge of the bridge plate, but the actual saddle string point is about 2mm back from there. Sorry for the confusion, and the mistake in scale. Hope this helps!

Hey Retuos, Nice that you started a build thread! About that bridge, you may want to extend the high-e forward a bit more. On any of my guitars, the typical spread between low-E and high-e is about 3~4 mm, the low-E the most back, and the high-e the most forward. but if you measure the actual scale nut-to-12th fret then 12th fret-to-saddle, the A-string is probably the closest to being the same. So your high-e should be more forward, or your low-E will be too far back. The actual travel of that bridge is only about 10 mm, even though there appears to be more screw left, the spring starts to bind and the saddle would go behind your string-through hole. The high-e saddle should probably be more like 90% or even 95% forward. What is the measurement from the nut face to the center of the 12th fret? The measurement from 12th fret to the actual touching point of the A-string saddle should be about the same. (I hope this makes sense to you)

Not a problem, Retuos ... just post a link to the first post of this thread in the first post of your build thread. (so it doesn't disappear into oblivion )

I agree with ScottR about mimicking the bottom of the guitar ... AND add a round hole. Your design is anything but symmetrical, so not TOO similar. Cheers!

I, personally, would go with a dark ebony board to contrast/accent the coloring of the top. That, or match the red of the "meat" of the sandwich body. To be frank, I think you will have a hard time showing off the carve in pictures because of the nature of the wood grain. Even side-light disappears into that grain! As I said, I can (as a photographer) imagine it very well ... I can see how thick the top is and how the contours cut into the red center, and a subtle line alongside the pickups. But unless you go with a high-gloss and a side angle with reflections, it will never do justice. However ( ! ), I'll bet it is incredibly curvy in real life!! If you "must" prove it in pictures, just recurve a bit more to make a red crescent come through ... THAT would make an impression!

Thanks! This cherry seems to be pretty stable, so not too long ... maybe I'll see if there is anything bad happening in a week and trim them down closer to fretboard dimensions. Right now they are 100 cm long and 8 cm (+/-) wide. Then I'll give it another week before final thicknessing slotting, and radius. My neck blank has been 2 weeks and zero movement, and these are the same tree. Cheers!

Used a router sled to thickness yesterday's resawed boards. Man, talk about rough cut! I feel like a human CNC, but got all four boards to a reasonable thickness ... two bass boards are 10 mm, two guitar boards are 8 mm. I'll sticker them and let them settle, then thickness again when I get to that point. Shoulders hurt from resawing, but I'll have Popeye forearms!!

I can imagine the carve, but can't see it. Do you have an incandescent lamp or trouble light? Set it off to the side only a bit higher than the top ... and for real drama, turn off the overheads. Wanna see!!!!

Oh, yeah~~ Not to mention all the money I am saving by building guitars! I wanted a Clapton sig strat, so saved a bunch by getting a real neck ($450) the active electronics and S-1 switch, etc. ($200) and quality body and hardware ($600+). Yes, it was cheaper, and it sounds great! But then the idea of "saving money" to build an LP scratch-build when the True Historics and CCs hit 10K attached itself to my soul ... lol! but yes, I'm enjoying this immensely, and have just about everything I need to start the LP, just need a bit more experience before I attack the Spanish Cedar blank, figured maple top, and Braz fretboard. Cheers!

I can recommend resawing fretboard blanks to anyone who eats their spinach-k. Dewalt hand tool ... right?!? Found that saw at Honolulu Home Depot ... looked a lot better than the cheapo Stanley. Cheers