MartyM

29 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

no sir... thank you for sharing it with the public.  I had no idea you were a member here, I also mentioned your jig at tdpri. 

I saw that when I was visiting your thread today.   This jig has been on the " net" for about 20 years and people don't usually credit me when they build it or modify it,  so I appreciate it when it happens.    I'm a member of a lot of forums, but mostly hang out in one spot. 

2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

fwiw I went and looked up the thread that was sort of the inception for my jig as I wanted to make sure I gave some credit.  we were talking about fretboards at the time (july 2018) but in the back of my mind this jig was going to be able to do fb and be used for a spector-like build.  Funny, when you (scottr) said mr wonderful I thought you meant @Mr Natural... and he, @Prostheta , @ZekeB, @MiKro, and @Guitar Goomba all contributed on that thread (thanks for that sirs!) but it was a jig built by @Andyjr1515 that helped me fine tune my design.  thank you @ScottR for sparking the whole thing off.  I feel like I can't thank all the member of this community enough for inspiration/guidance/etc.

also, just wanted to credit a guy named 'marty' over at tdpri who posted the first thread I've ever seen on radius jigs for fretboards. 

also, sorry for sounding like I am accepting an accademy award here... just an excitable boy here.

 

" I have seen variations where the router is fixed to the jig, and the jig moves on a set of fixed pvc pipes(or other) - this is what I was planning but you've got me 99% convinced it is not the way to go.  So now I am thinking to build the bearings version like yours... but to make the radius part flip-able. "

http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49380-anyone-use-a-radius-jig/

Thanks for crediting my router jig design in your design.    

A bit late to the party here but I think I can offer you some insight into getting into the cnc thing.   I built 2 machines large enough to do guitar bodies, I bought two commercially made machines over the past 7 years, and I bought a Shapeoko2 for a winter project.   If you are an enthusiastic hobbiest like I am,  a $ 5000 CNC will do the job for you.    The key to success is rigidity, and some of the commercial machines have it and some don't .    The shapeoko is very toylike, one video shows it cutting a body in 6 hours.   That is ridiculous.

Check out the machines by Velox as as example of what you can get for 5000 dollars.   A few years ago K2 was a popular machine brand for instrument building.   They were bought out by Velox who has expanded the line and gotten away from some of the smaller desktops.   

I probably make about 10 different type guitars a year and the cnc router has become a go-to replacement for some of my other machines.   Having gotten into the cnc thing over a decade ago when the softwear was in its infancy, I learned how to draw and create Gcode by hand.   I now have taught myself 3D to some degree with Rhino, but only use 3D machining for carving necks and guitar tops.   It's faster to do 2.5D for everything else. 

Actually I had a Gibson SG from the early 70's that had a poplar body. This was one of those with a metal control plate and switches kind of like a tele. They also used Alder on an S-1 that I had.

Marty

I have made a few repairs like this with splines using a laminate trimmer. It can be done but isn't really cost effective on a cheap instrument.

Marty

Here are some samples and the machine itself. I find it is faster to bansand and sand the perimeter rather than machine it out.

I tried Freeware programs and they never worked for me. BobCad is a program that was offered to me for 200 dollars. You can draw with it and then convert the drawing to what is called G code, which is the machine language. You take the gcode and load it into the Cnc machine's software which drives the machine. I purchased a motor and controller set from Maxnc a number of years ago. It was pricey, but worked out of the box. A lot of guys will assemble their own controller and use a version of Mach software which is popular these days. I hardly use my hand held router any more, I just draw and rout from the CNC right to the body blanks.

Marty

Robert,

I bought plans from John Kleinbauer at Crankorgan.com. This was before the CNCzone started up. He has many different type of machines that are built from hardware store parts. Once that was completed I had the knowledge that I needed to build something of my own design that could accomodate necks and bodies. I'd go that route again if I had to do it over. You'll see many of John's design elements incorporated into other machines designed by many people on the CNC zone.

Marty

Mind if I ask you how you apply your shellac? Do you spray, brush or wipe the stuff on?

If I do any finishing, I use Watco Danish Oil. Most of my products leave unfinished or get farmed out to a finisher. I try to stay away from as many toxic substances as I can.

mm

I made my own CNC machine. You can try skate bearings and aluminum angle with steel rod to acheive a similar concept. Check out crankorgan.com website. John Kleinbauer sells cnc plans on the cheap, but he doesn't sell out of the US. They are very good and well worth the cash. Even if you didn't put stepper motors on the machine, it would still move the way you desire.

Check out the CNCzone. com for free plans too.

Better than the skate bearing method, but more costly would be linear bearings on rod. Check out vxb.com for linear bearings and you'll see what I mean. VXB also sells skate bearings if you go that rout. Marty

Lostheart,

I am a proponent of the pine, at least the stuff I've latched onto. I run my bodies and blanks through a Delta Drum sander after they get planed down. I then use a hardwood block with 120 grit double side carpet tape to refine the blank's surfaces. My sanding block is considerably larger than the rubber one you are using. The grain orientation on my pine may be different as well, but I've not had any problems with the Eastern White pine, which may be easier to deal with then some of the other species.

I finish the bodies off with 220 grit. I use new, good quality abrasive as well and replace it often when it loads up. I'd recommend that you get a nice thick, larger block with a good sharp abrasive and try that out before you give up. Maybe you want to lighten up the pressure that you are putting on the block too. I'm pretty sure that the same uneven sanding effect will occur on other woods as well where there is a different density to the rings. I don't think that it not just a pine thing.

You may want to use some shellac as a sealer coat as the pine may/will release some sap after you sand. A filler is not necessary and I question the use of a wood hardener on wood that is known to be easy to dent. Why use it ( pine)then if the dents are going to bother you? As always YMMV.

Marty

Whatever the 13 doesn't cover, my open ended Delta drum sander takes care of.

Also check this link out that I just found:

http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/dw735rvu.html

The Dewalt and some others that I've seen over the years have a mechanical device to keep the cutterhead from moving after you adust the thickness. This was a" fix" to some degree in an effort to stop the sniping. That movement of the cutterhead contributes to the snipe, as does a lack of support at the outfeed/outfeed. Small planers sometimes do not contain pressure bars that you would find in a more commercial model. I had your Ryobi when if was a 500 dollar machine years ago. It was actually the first entry level planer of that type. My father in law has it now and it still works well ( still snipes though).

I would question whether that planer is really that much different than your Ryobi. It does have a lot of cuts per in. It doesn't mention a cutterhead lock.

I did read a review about the Dewalt 13" planer when it came out. The writers liked it very much. It is about 150 more than that steel city and has a proven track record I guess. I'd like to get rid of my Jet planer/molder and buy the DeWalt and save some space in the process.

I'd say planers are an example of another machine where you get what you pay for. See if you can dig up a review somewhere on the steel city.

Marty

Well this is what I did on an SG-X with a busted headstock. I took a pc of wood about 4 inches wide and routed 2 parallel slots 1/2 in. wide and about 1 inch apart. The measurements are up to you, but you want to avoid the adjustment rod and washer in the center. I cut an angle on one end so that it would fit up against the peghead. I didn't have a volute, so that wasn't an issue. I used a 1/2" bit with the bearing on the shank in a laminate trimmer. I routed down into the mahogany and made the two slots with the bearing riding in the slots. I then inserted some new spline wood into the slots and glued/clamped/ trimmed/sanded/painted/etc. It wasn't a perfect solution, because it was hard to keep the slotted board from moving slightly( I used double sided tape and a couple small clamps) but it worked well enough to make a dumpster special into a player. The key was to remove the bad wood and get good wood in there. You could even do multiple splines to help matters out. From the looks of your picture, I'd say the splines were too short to begin with. I've even thought about using a router with a slot cutting bit to come in from the sides of the peghead ears to add to the rigidity. Obviously I just wanted to make this SG usable. I think having the original peghead makes the guitar more marketable than replacing it with a new peghead from new wood. This is assuming the splines hold it together. If not, a new peghead may be the only real solution. You can see examples of my "new peghead" replacements in other earlier posts a few months ago.

Are you going to cut the front angle of the LP top like a 4. 5 degree raised panel and then rout out the neck cavity from that? That sounds do-able but probably not the safest or most accurate approach you could take. The necks on carved top lp necks are glued into a flat that is angled from the top surface. I just made a router jig like this: I bolted my router to a long flat board about 24 inches long. The router moved front to back and left to right on 2 tapered side pc's ( the top edge was 4.5 degrees from horizontal) of wood. This was kind of like the cheapo approach to using a router to plane a board to true up a flat surface. This cheap approach did the trick. I then routed out the neck pocket from that flat section using a template for the mortise.

I am new to guitar building but have done about 6 months worth of research on everything from electronics to Tonewoods.

My son and I are building a les paul style guitar...He's the guitarist...I'm the wood worker. I have calculated my neck angle at about 4.5 degrees and I was getting ready to cut the neck pocket. The Idea occured to me to attach the maple top to a board,screw the board to the Table saw fence. I would set the table saw blade at 4.5 and slowly raise the blade to create the angle. Then I would use that angle to route the neck pocket....Any Ideas on problems I might run into??

You know my kitchen cabnets never had problems with intonation....Wish me luck :-)

Thanks

Woody

hopefully you didnt use a table saw to cut the neck pocket. Just make a template shim it or sand it down to the proper angle, you say 4.5 deg , use a router with a bottom guided pattern bit. I would gestimate 90% of a guitar is shaped with a router after the rough design has been cut out. You dont need fancy jigs just a piece of MDF will work and a few clamps or double stick pattern tape. This is one joint you dont want to have to repair. Same goes with the pickup holes and electronics cavity. Use a fostner bit to hog out some wood so you dont have to do it all with your router. You also would want to do a pocket like that before you carve a top so you are working on a flat surface

woodenspoke

This is just an opinion for what that is worth. :-) It is hard to tell by the pix, but I think what wood you have there is pretty thin on both parts of the break. I'd reglue it and after it is dry, I'd rout some maple splines on the back side to add some support to the glue joint and to get some fresh unbroken wood in there on both sides of the truss rod, especially since you say it doesn't fit back together that perfectly now. Nice tight fitting splines will add some strength, but take away some of the esthetics.

Nice Job... I just did that to another SG over the weekend.

Marty

If you must use a single rod there are a couple options. You could rout the straight slot deeper as you go towards the heel. This means that the rod would not be parallel to the fingerboard. You shim up the neck wood at the nut to do this on a router table. You could also glue in one or two curved inserts that you sand to the proper curve prior to gluing. I've done it both ways, using one curved piece under the first few frets and the nut. You will need a corresponding filler strip on top of the rod too.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mm...rs/necks3-1.jpg

I hope this is the new and improved one.

Part of my nut got erased in the picture, but I think you get the idea. It just depends on how much good wood you have left after you trim off the broken section. Most of them end right at the nut's outside edge. You can also use this technique on the tenon end of a neck if it gets busted off there. I bought a busted neck off of ebay with essentially no tenon and rebuilt one on to it. It has no resale value but was fun to do none the less.

Marty

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mm...tars/necks3.jpg

I think this is more useful.

The EB-O ( 2nd from left in the above pic) was similar to your neck problem.