2010 TDPRI $210 Challenge "El Rey De Cobre"

[Moggl]

Big Mike: You'll probably earn a special nomination for that insane fretboard. Great stuff! :-)

[Mike Simpson]

Thanks Moggl...

Yesterday I went to Maricopa's guitar mancave and borrowed his fret slotting saw and slotted the fretboard. Tonight I glued the fretboard on to the neck. I drilled a tiny hole through the center of the nut slot and one of the dots near the end of the fretboard and made matching little holes in the neck so I could stick toothpicks through there to keep the fretboard alighned while clamping it down. After the glue set up a little I pulled the toothpicks out with a pair of pliers.

[Mike Simpson]

Tonight I took the clamps off the fretboard, cut off the excess board with the band saw and used the router to trim the fretboard to match the neck. Next I marked and drilled the stepped tuner holes and cut a slice off of the front of the headstock. I finished thinning the headstock and shaping the end of the fretboard to a gentle radius with the belt sander.
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Also in this pic you can see the dog chew bone that I will make the nut out of. I prefer the unbleached bone because it gived the nut a slightly aged look to it.

[Mike Simpson]

Here is a closer shot of the headstock and the Wilkinson tuners that cost $23 from http://www.azguitarparts.com/

I still need to radius the fretboard, glue in the dots and do the frets... I need to get some fretwire too, I want to use a medium fretwire on this guitar.

[Mike Simpson]

This is the 3rd body I have made out of pallet lumber and they come out about 1 1/2 thick but on this one I decided that I wanted it to be a full 1 3/4 thick so I cut 3 boards out of a pallet to add to the back.

[Mike Simpson]

I thinned the 3 boards on the jointer and glued them together to make a 3 piece pine back a little over 1/4" thick.

[Mike Simpson]

Here I have the clamps on and I am gluing the back on to make the body full thickness.

[Maricopa]

Lookin' good Mike!
PS, I got tons of med/jumbo wire. Grab some Sun.

[Mike Simpson]

After the 3 piece back was glued on I cut off the excess with the bandsaw and routed it to shape.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by Big Mike Simpson

Then I cut it out on my crappy ryobi 9" band saw...

The modifier "crappy" before Ryobi is surplus language.

Although I have a 4" high speed grinder wearing the Ryobi label (yes, double insulated) that is bulletproof and even got flooded briefly here at the office during Katrina. Still works fine. Many hours of use since.

That Bocote looks exquisite!!

[Mike Simpson]

Yeah the bandsaw has always worked and I have probably over used it. The only real problem is the blade guides and tensioner make it hard to cut in a straight line or follow a curved line. It was cheap and I have done a lot withit and as you said about your grinder... it still works.

I drilled the neck holes, the bridge and string holes, jack cup hole and routed a relief on the back for a "tone bar" instead of ferrules.

[Mike Simpson]

I routed a 1/8 roundover on the edges, and drilled the holes for strap buttons. The body is ready for sanding sealer.

[Mike Simpson]

I radiused the fretboard and glued in the dots. I still need to level the dots and fret the neck before I round the back of the neck.

[CJFearn]

Looking better by the minute!

[Mike Simpson]

I leveled the inlays and fretted the neck with Dunlop 6170 fretwire.

[Maricopa]

Nice fret hammer there Mike! I'll bet the frets seat themselves just to avoid being hit with it!

Loving the board BTW.

[Mike Simpson]

Next I drew reference lines on the back of the neck for profiling the neck. I do most of the rough shaping of the profile on the belt sander.

[Mike Simpson]

I still have a little more sanding to do and a little more work on the heel area but the neck is mostly done. The shape I aim for is a chunky C like an Allparts TMO-fat neck.

[Mike Simpson]

Looking back I guess I left this pic out of post 49 and I can't edit it to put it back in order. This is a pic of my spindle sander in a drill press setup.

[68thinline]

That 3-piece back is really fine. Are you thinking burst?