Armaan

Made the wing laminate, waited for it to dry and then glued the wings to the neck, Wanted to use on more clamp across the middle of the wings but it did not fit right. Should've planned this better, but I hope it turns out okay. Also glued some extra pieces of walnut to the neck which I will need for my headstock shape. Will cut the body and headstock shape tomorrow, so it should resemble a guitar soon! Cheers Di

Fretboard: I printed an autocad drawing and pasted it to the fretboard. Used a marking knife to mark the fret slots, which I will be cutting using a 0.020” kerf Zona dovetail saw. I am planning to use a 90 degree block on one side to prevent the blade slipping to that side and using masking tape as a depth stop on the other side. Will only cut the slots once the practice yields co nsistent results! I made one error with the carving knife which you can see in one of the images - I will have to clean it up while radius sanding. Separately the fretboard was a real pain to hand plane down from 9.5mm to 6.5mm - it kept tearing out and I'm cleaning it up with some ebony dust and glue. Will sand it down flat before gluing it to the neck.

Pickup rings: I am planning to make my humbucker pickup rings using the offcuts of the walnut that I used for the body. Is there any science behind what the height of the ring should be or is it largely aesthetic driven? The guitar body will be 9 / 9.5mm lower than the fretboard (i.e. the fretboard will be parallel to the fretboard and not angled). I was thinking of 3-5mm for the ring height. 3mm would look more sleek on the body, but the pickup may stick out a bit. Any thoughts?

Yes! I've seen some people recommend this in some build videos on youtube too - will use it when I glue the fretboard to the neck! I think the one I have is a buffalo horn - I'll check with the supplier.

Yes, I didn't have the room on this one for the registration pins - that's because I cut off the excess first, which I can avoid on the next one. I used some rubber bands to hold the joint in place and that seemed to help a bit.

I decided to get a new truss rod - it did not seem like it was good quality and I don't want to take a chance with it. I'll test out the horn nut and see if it works well. If not, I can always replace it later with the bone nut.

Truss Rod and Nut: I am planning to use this truss rod that I have, but it’s a little rusted as you can see from the image. Is that a big problem? Would some rust treatment be enough? Should I wrap the truss rod in electrician’s tape or cling wrap before installing it? Would this help prevent any rattling sounds or help in preventing glue from reaching the truss rod mechanics? I have a bone nut and a horn nut. The horn nut is significantly lighter than the bone nut and the bone feels sturdier. But the horn nut is black and it would go better with the walnut. Is a horn nut strong enough? Alternatively, maybe I can paint the bone nut black if the horn nut is strong enough. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Makes sense! The scarf joint was quite hard to get right. I used a hand saw to make the 15 degree angle cut, which resulted in some bursts and an uneven surface. Took some careful chiseling and sanding, as it was important for the surfaces to match perfectly for a strong joint. Gluing the joint was also annoying as the joint kept sliding with the clamping pressure. Definitely the most stressful part so far, but I think it has come out okay.

Fretboard design: I sharpened the ends of the fretboard – I thought it would go well with the aggressive design of the guitar. Instead of the fretboard ending at the nut, I am now planning to have it continue for about 6mm (#1) or 8mm (#2) beyond the nut. I’m leaning towards #2 The side view would be as follows. The 6.5mm fretboard falls to 2mm under the nut and then tapers at a 15 degree angle to meet the angled headstock created by the scarf joint. What do you guys think?

Yeah, I wanted to do this, but I only had 2" slats of wood to work with (before planing and correcting bends). So I had to go with a scarf joint. Although I did read that a scarf joint can be stronger than a single piece, if it aligns the headstock with longer grain - Its from this link - https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/builders-bench/38624-what-purpose-scarf-joint.html See below one image from the link which demonstrates this.

Thanks! Method 1 will probably make a better joint as there will be more surface area for gluing. Also, It will get additional strength from the fretboard that will be glued on top of it, which will not be the case in Method 2. Method 1 it is! As far as the bend is concerned, I do have enough margin for reducing thickness - so I should be fine. The bend is prominent on the side at which I have 15cm of excess material, so when I chop that off the problem will also reduce. Just pissed off at the rookie error - only way to learn I guess .

Headstock angle scarf joint at 15 degrees: - I plan to make a 15 degree cut where the nut ends. To be safe, I will cut 1-2mm away from the actual line and sand it down later to the actual line after the joint is completed. - The surface marked as “A” in the drawing will be at least the length of my headstock. - I will cut at the green line before gluing the joint to get the headstock thickness I want. Is there anything I'm doing wrong or do you have any suggestions for how to go about this? I hope the tapered laminate lines will match up once I make the joint. I noticed that the neck bent slightly towards the thin part of the neck, as the clamps were applied from one side for easy access. This was a dumb rookie mistake . Is there any way to fix this? The glue has cured for 12 hours by now, so I'm not sure much can be done at this point. Help!

Yeah. The pieces did slide a bit once I applied the clamps - I used a mallet to align them. The glue I used had a 10minute working time, so I had the time to make adjustments. I will probably use 25% less glue the next time.

Update - 3 of the neck pieces were bent across multiple surfaces, which made 90 degree angles challenging to achieve. I managed by first planing one surface flat using a hand plane. To ensure it was flat, I used the edge of a meter ruler for reference and checked if light could pass through. Using this flat surface for reference, I planed the other surfaces parallel/perpendicular to this surface. I also tapered the walnut pieces so that the neck would follow the fretboard taper. After planing, my walnut pieces turned out to be 3mm thinner than I needed them to be. I revised my drawings and planned for thicker maple pieces to compensate. One maple piece was also slightly bent after planing (you can see it in one of the images), but I followed the rule @Bizman62 suggested – I checked that whether it the joint could be pinched together between the index finger and the thumb. I lined up the pieces and stuck them using a local synthetic resin adhesive. I clamped them and plan to 24 hours for the glue to fully cure. I think I used too much glue - there was considerable squeeze-out which was a pain to clean. But I thought it better to have more than less glue.

Got it - the joint could easily be pinched shut with the thumb and index finger, so it should be fine. I placed that piece in the middle i.e. the 3rd piece in the 5 piece neck, so that it is nicely sandwiched.

Haha I guess good old paint works I spent some time working on the neck today and realised one of my maple pieces is slightly bent at one end. I will not be able to correct the bend - there isn’t enough material. If the other pieces are straight, would it be okay if this one piece has 1-1.5mm bend and I use it for my neck lam? I’ve seen posts where some recommend perfect flat surfaces for gluing and some say that bends can be sorted with well clamped glue joints. its a relatively thin piece (8.5mm) and the rest of the pieces will be flat. Hoping a well clamped glue joint will sort it out. Thoughts?

Haha! Well it worked! The shape of your 1st guitar is amazing and I really like the idea of the body slopes. The side view looks really nice - especially the sharp taper after the bridge. This would effectively be my option 4. I was not sure about access to the intonation screws at the back of the bridge, but I guess I can now assume a 3.5mm recess will not cause a problem. I think what you're doing with the bridge in the second guitar is really nice - the bridge will sit low and blend in nicely. Thanks for the detailed post - I found it very helpful. The more detail the better, considering this is my first build. By the way - what software do you guys use for the illustrations?

Thanks! The variation in the first image is what I meant as option 3 Am currently leaning towards using this option

Hmm - makes sense. I'll get the laminated neck ready and reassess - hopefully I should enough extra material. @Gogzs Would be great to hear your thoughts!

Got it, thanks! - I will look into this. I'm undecided on the neck profile, so I will do research and figure out whether I can live with the additional thickness.

Right - this makes sense. Thanks for the helpful illustration. I assume that the angle break should start at the point where the end of the fretboard meets the neck? I guess I will need to plan the carves at the point where the bass side horn meets the body to make sure that it doesn't stick out above the neck at the point of contact with the neck. Though I think the neck angle will be small (approx. 1 degree) so it should not be too hard to manage. I will work on a plan for the angle and check it out. Re: strumming, Option 4 would certainly reduce the strumming space due to the recessed bridge. But wouldn't option 1 and option 3 provide the most space above the body? Option 1, 2 and 3 would have the same height at the bridge, but option 2 would taper towards the angle break - whereas Option 1 and 3 would not as they would maintain the same height?

Thanks! I've got a question already! I am using a Schaller 3D-6 bridge - which is described as having "minimal G/d string height above body 11,1mm," I've attached a PDF with the technical specs for the bridge and a link to the specs on the Schaller website is here - https://schaller.info/en/bridges/336/3d-6 Assuming the minimum bridge string height as 11.1mm, fret height at 1mm and a 1.5/2mm action, I could think of the following options for the neck: 1. Retain the fretboard at its current thickness of 9mm - this way the fretboard can be glued onto the neck and the neck will be flush with the body. I can't see a downside to this, but I haven't seen fretboards this thick. 2. Reduce the fretboard down to 6.5mm or so and angle the neck. This would be more difficult to achieve and I can imagine the scope for error will be high. 3. Reduce the fretboard to 6.5mm and cut out 3mm from the neck starting from the end of the fretboard. Effectively, this would resemble a bolt-on neck which rises above the body and then starts the fretboard. 4. Reduce the fretboard to 6.5mm and recess the bridge into the body. I should be able to manage a 2-3mm recess, depending on the placement of the intonation screws at the back of the bridge (the SD-6 is top-loaded). My preference is option 1, being the simplest. I doubt I'll have a problem visually with the fretboard looking too thick. My next preference would be option 4 i.e. to recess the bridge. Would be great to hear your thoughts! Is there anything I am missing? Schaller 3D-6.pdf

I seem to have a bit of OCD when it comes to drawings. Just realized I forgot to post 4 other versions of the design that I had made before arriving at the latest one. Frankly, I really enjoy the process of tweaking the designs. My wife, however, insists that my last five drawings look the same Machine work will be uniquely challenging for me, as I don't have experience and I have limited access to machines and tools. Will definitely do practice runs before working on the project. I'm doing a wood-working workshop to learn the basics. Will definitely be asking a lot of questions along the way. Thank god for forums like these!

I was able to find a really nice piece of ebony for the fretboard. It is already pre-tapered, but has enough margins for me to reduce it to the right size. Fretboard specs: - 25.5” scale with 22 frets - 18.344” fretboard length - 1.693” fretboard width at nut - 2.203” fretboard width at 22nd fret I pasted an autocad template to the fretboard and taped it in place using masking tape. I placed the template such that the light figuring in the ebony would be approximately in the middle of the fretboard after I cut it to shape. I will plane it, cut it to shape and then work on the frets. I plan to sand it to a 12” radius, but after I paste it on the neck. I bought a Zona Saw from amazon with a 0.02” kerf to use to cut the frets - Zona 35-380 Thick Dovetail Saw, 18 TPI, 020-Inch Kerf, Blade Length 8-Inch, Cut Depth 1-3/4-Inch Here are the work-in-progress images.

Wood for the Project: Walnut and Maple I spent 3 weeks calling various lumber suppliers in Mumbai and other parts of India. It was really difficult to find someone who would supply me the quantities that I needed without spending a huge amount of money. After a lot of searching, I was able to find an exporter who had Ash, Wenge, Maple, Walnut, Sapele, Jackwood and some local woods. I picked Walnut for its colour and figuring and maple for contrast and its strength for the neck. - For the neck, I got 2 long pieces of walnut and 3 long pieces of maple. - For the body, I got 4 pieces of walnut (2 left wings and 2 right wings - i.e. top and bottom) and two pieces of maple (1 left wing and 1 right wing - middle layer between the walnut). Here are images of the wood. Some of the maple pieces had knots in the middle, so I will be getting these replaced.