flatfive's 2011 TDPRI Build Challenge Thread

[pulaifaz]

flatfive - I am following your thread carefully, I am also in the same boat, I have never built a neck

[whodatpat]

That fret saw guide is freaking genius. I use a .20 nut saw from StewMac so this will make it a perfect cheap fret saw.

[rcole_sooner]

Yeah, the saws are cheap enough, just buy a few saws and glue the stop at different depths.

[flatfive]

Mojotron and whodatpat -- thanks for the comments.
I hope that saw depth guide works well with the
sawing jig *I still need to build*.

rcole - yeah, those saws are only $7! We'll see how
the saw works out.

pulaifaz - we can do it!

[jpbturbo]

Lookin good!

I'm also in the building a neck for the first time club.
Actually I'm in the building anything guitar related for the first time club.


-Josh

[flatfive]

Thanks Josh. But you've built *something* before, right?

Seriously, I've been watching your thread and am sure you're
going to end up with something great.

It's really fun being in the middle of all this.

Originally Posted by jpbturbo

Lookin good!

I'm also in the building a neck for the first time club.
Actually I'm in the building anything guitar related for the first time club.

-Josh

[jpbturbo]

Mainly just bookshelves and end tables.

It's super inspiring to see all the different approaches being taken to building a guitar.

[whodatpat]

Originally Posted by jpbturbo

Lookin good!

I'm also in the building a neck for the first time club.
Actually I'm in the building anything guitar related for the first time club.

-Josh

They should have an Honorable Mention category for Rookie builders. :-)

[DesmoDog]

Originally Posted by whodatpat

They should have an Honorable Mention category for Rookie builders. :-)

Sounds good to me!

[flatfive]

There's an exclusive version of the challenge that some
of us are participating in. You have to do all your work
in the dark with a coat and gloves on. It's actually a
lot more fun this way.

Until the days get longer I've got just a little slice of
time to work in every day.

Yesterday I managed to saw the neck outline with my
mighty Black & Decker jigsaw. Bandsaw, shmandsaw!

Forgot to take pics, but the saw did a good job.

Today I sanded close to the line.



"It starts to look like neck" (spoken in Russian accent).



Also managed to route the sides of the finger board to a
consistent width, and then to start radiusing it.



That's a StewMac 10" radius sanding block and some 80 grit
3M gold paper. (Like a good novelist I provide plenty of
concrete detail...) I actually sprayed a little adhesive to
the *back* of the block so it'd be easier to hold.

You will appreciate just how slowly I'm going when I point out
that this is still the practice neck!

ps my son says I should add (in Russian accent): "in Red
Russia, neck shapes you!"

[R. Stratenstein]

Originally Posted by jkingma

I wish I could find birdseye maple at my HomeD.

Nice start, FF.

Amen! Birdseye maple, h*** , I wish I could find a flat piece of plywood at my local Home Despot.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by flatfive

...
You will appreciate just how slowly I'm going when I point out
that this is still the practice neck!

I think you will be glad you did - that first one is going to take a lot of time, but the one after that will likely be a walk in the park and will take no time at all. I love the challenge of always doing something new, I've never been able to work quickly.

Originally Posted by flatfive

ps my son says I should add (in Russian accent): "in Red
Russia, neck shapes you!"

LOL -

That's the way I feel when I'm polishing nitro between frets

[flatfive]

The bad news is that I had a bad experience with
Arizona Guitar Parts. I ended up shipping all the parts
I ordered back and won't be doing business with them
again.

On the brighter side, my Keystone pickups arrived today,
as did the parts from Stewart MacDonald. Now working
with Bill Lawrence's daughter Shannon and with StewMac
is really a pleasure.

Anyway, also made a little progress on the build.

Finished radiusing the fretboard. It took a long time with
80 grit -- maybe 45 minutes of sanding. After that I had
time to use 120, 180, and 220 grit.



The moles got into the wood!



... but no problem as they lie off the fretboard area. Tomorrow
I'll finish the sanding.

Also made some progress on the fret slot sawing jig.



What you see is a 1/2" MDF base, oak strips on the side,
and a 1/4" MDF sled.



The one other detail is a 1/8" hole in one of the oak strips:



I'm going to mark fret positions on the sled, then use a triangular
file to make notches on the side of the sled. Then I'm going to
put a pin with a rounded end into the hole and spring-load it so
it nudges the pin into the notches, but allows the sled to be
moved along to the next position.

I like you StewMac, but your saw, miter box, and fretting
template comes to $140!

I rubbed beeswax along the edges of the oak strips where there
is contact with the saw blade.

To assemble the jig I used just some Titebond, gently pushing
the strips against the sled and against the saw blade. Then
I put some weight on top and removed the sled.

[flatfive]

Managed a couple of little things today.

Tested the fret slotting jig. It saws slots fine, but haven't made
the template with the fret positions yet.



Routed the neck. Did it in two passes on my crummy little
sears routing table.



Didn't get any tear outs, but left the heel and the end of
the headstock for the Ridgid sander.

[flatfive]

Looking at everyone's build threads I'm thinking that what
is great about this challenge is not the competition, or
the prizes, but the fact that it gets so many builds going
in parallel. It is really exciting to watch.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Looking at everyone's build threads I'm thinking that what
is great about this challenge is not the competition, or
the prizes, but the fact that it gets so many builds going
in parallel. It is really exciting to watch.

Ya - that's what I'm excited about. And, I'm seeing a lot of commenting/helping each other out, and I'm seeing a lot of better ways to do stuff. This is awesome!

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Looking at everyone's build threads I'm thinking that what
is great about this challenge is not the competition, or
the prizes, but the fact that it gets so many builds going
in parallel. It is really exciting to watch.

I'll drink to that!..............uh........if I actually drank
No foolin', this is a blast!

[gitlvr]

Originally Posted by Mojotron

Ya - that's what I'm excited about. And, I'm seeing a lot of commenting/helping each other out, and I'm seeing a lot of better ways to do stuff. This is awesome!

+1! That's the reason I wanted to be a part of this thing. Way cool! Now if my wood would just arrive so I could start.....

[flatfive]

I mentioned I had to return the parts I ordered from
Arizona Guitar Parts because of a bad experience with
them. In the last couple days I got what I needed from
reliablefender (The Stratosphere) on eBay auctions.

The parts from Arizona Guitar Parts (which included
parts with problems) cost me $52.50. The
parts from reliablefender on eBay cost me $61.78, and
I got Fender or Fender USA parts. Plus, I'm expecting
the shipping from reliablefender to be lower.

Of course, there's obviously a hassle factor in trying to
win eBay auctions. But the customer service I've gotten
from reliablefender has been very good.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by flatfive

... But the customer service I've gotten
from ReliableFender has been very good.

That's been my experience with ReliableFender - it's an awesome source when you want the right parts.