Mateyboy

It's been a long time. Had a million and one jobs to do... But the big chunk of sapele is back on the workbench! I've almost finished sanding it and I'm about to put some grain filler in the pores. Hopefully I should have some pictures to post when I have some dye on the wood!

This is the body, routed: The headstock isn't done yet, I often change my mind when I'm doing something so it may change again!

I think this is what I've settled for: Hopefully I can start shaping the body this weekend.

Thanks... I've made a change already. I'm going to make a pointy jackson/ibanez-type headstock. Simple because I've never made one. I'm waiting for delivery of the body wood and then I'll get started.

Hi Following my first build (many mistakes and mini disasters) I've decided to build a single pickup 'G' guitar. It's sort of a Schecter Tempest, Les Paul double cutaway cross with a bolt on neck. Here's my finished templates: I learned so much from my last build.I keep telling myself that this build will be so much better. I'm putting a Seymour Duncan JB SH-4 in it with volume and tone controls. I've never done any binding so that might be in this build. Wish me luck!

Go for it. I'm interested in how it turns out. It is something I'd be interested in seeing how you clamp the wood. One of the flaws in my design is that the neck has to hang over the edge of the bench because of the angle - I clamp the two pieces to the overhang and then stick them together. If you can sort the clamping out then I don't see that being an issue. Yeah, I generally have to do a bit of sanding to clean up afterwards. Getting the clamping sorted would be great. I will have a think but you will probably come up with something..

That looks much more fancy than mine. I'm never too keen to run the router at an angle. When I make my jigs if I can keep the router level I'm happy, although I can see how your design would make clamping the neck a lot easier. I generally use double sided sticky tape to attach the two pieces together then clamp the longer piece to the jig. I've not had any issues yet. I'm not too great with hand tools and my first build had loads of mistakes in it. I'm currently building another neck and if I can build a jig to eliminate some of the hand tool elements and almost 'machine' a job then up for making a new jig. That's just my preference and part of the learning process for me.

I've used this jig about 4 times now and got fairly good results. I'm a bit better at making more accurate jigs now so I will probably make it again. ;-)

Yep, that's what I've done for now. I made a shim out of maple. I like this idea, seems easier to do than trying to angle a neck pocket using a router.

Hmm, hadn't even considered that.

Looking back my logic was totally flawed! I just made the assumption that because it was a bolt on neck it wouldn't need an angle... Duh! Looking at my 'commercial' guitars I can see the ones with a tunomatic bridge (LP and SG) have an angled neck (albeit glued in) and the Ibanez (doesn't have a tunomatic bridge) has no 'visible' angle, and that has a bolt on neck. So I made a link between the neck and how it is attached and not the bridge. I have learned two very important things today: 1) I am stoopid! 2) The type of bridge is very important on how I construct the neck!

Thanks for the feedback, that is exactly what I am going to do. Looking at it now that I've finished I can see that the fretwork is a little shabby in places. The fret that buzzes isn't seated fully into the slot, I could remove it and redo it, maybe later but I've started my second neck now - hopefully learning from my mistakes. Neither do I now, I think it is pretty ugly, especially with a clear coat. It may work better for a solid colour build, I don't know. Not decided on the next body wood yet, plenty of time for that... I've got a neck to make! Thanks to everybody that has offered advice during this build - if only I had listened!!!

Wow! That looks the biz!

I put a little shim in the neck joint and adjusted the bridge, so I have a playable guitar now but there's a bit of fret buzz on the low E.

Nice one... have a few! ;-)

OK so I finished the guitar... I have made so many mistakes on this build that I am keeping it as it is to remind me of all the places I went wrong. It is honestly the worst guitar I have ever played in my entire life! So here are the top 3 mistakes: Neck angle is not right; action far too high, some fret buzz (which may not entirely be the angle I guess). Headstock is too thick, the mistake was I didn't thickness it at an early stage and struggled to make it right. The lacquer didn't polish up too great, I didn't use a sealer so I'm wondering if the lacquer (or some of it soaked in to the poplar. Any advice on any of these three subjects would be GREAT! The good news is it looks quite nice, I have learned so much from my first attempt (and it is after all a hobby, if I was pro I'd be broke by now!!!!), I have had loads of fun and I can't wait to get started on the next one. To get the neck better on the next one I'm going to do a bit more research rather than going wild with the files and rasps!!! The next one will be better, I hope!!!

I haven't done much in a while so this weekend I stripped the body back down to the wood, coloured it and started to clear coat it: Still got to finish the neck! JT

OMG! I think I'll give up now! Great work!!!

Good luck with the build! I am also a first timer.

Progress has been slow, I've been really busy at work. So I finally got the frets in, I just need to bevel them and tidy them up a bit: Starting to look like a guitar! Next: Finish the frets, nitro on the body, sand the neck.

Hi all This weekend I had some mini disasters and something presentable, so far: Disaster, the nitro on the sides and back can't took well to the body. I need to sand it down and reapply again. I done it in the garden as it was a nice enough day but it was windy and I guess that's what made it look crap. I'm going to make a little spray booth in the workshop, that makes more sense. The front looks ok, even if the black is a little due - I'm hoping the clear nitro and polish will sparkle it up. I used some light wood filler on the neck and it looks ok - not got any pictures. So I'll roll with that on this build. JT

Yeah, you're both right... I'm going to crack on... I'll look back on it with fondness in a few years! Thanks!

Hi So I've put some dot inlays the neck. I made a mistake on the first two... a bit of a dopey error really. I wasn't using a wood drill bit and I got some 'chip-out'! I should be able to fix it with some ebony dust. I'm going to nitro the body over the weekend. I'm really liking the look so far: However... this is the first neck I've tried to build and it is pretty sloppy! An example is given here: The fretboard has a little gap, not clamped down properly.The profile is looking ok but it's not perfect. I haven't finished the headstock yet, or the fretting so that is ok so far... I'm a bit down because of the neck so do I: 1) Carry on regardless, finish it and make the next one better (learning from the mistakes - and there's a few!) 2) Try to recover, maybe fill the gaps and nitro the neck black. 3) Bin the neck, start again and learn from my mistakes. I think 1 is the way I should go, at least I'll get the project finished, I'll still learn from my mistakes and the mistakes will remind me what not to do next time... and I'll still have a guitar that will hopefully play a tune!!! I'm only putting cheap hardware on it and some old humbuckers in it I took out of my Ibanez RG. So there is no real expense from completing it. All thoughts would be greatly appreciated... The neck is demotivating me!!! JT

No, I'm hoping I don't have to. My biggest worry at the moment is the neck. I think the body will look fine.

What's the worst that can happen? I have to start again!!!