flatfive's 2011 TDPRI Build Challenge Thread

[jkingma]

Originally Posted by Maricopa

I don't like to use brads, or even permanent wood dowels because I've had to remove fingerboards before and it sucketh mightily to be running your spatula down the neck and hit one of those. Kinda brings everything to halt.
I use a couple drill bits through the first and last fret slot. Drill one, insert bit and then drill the other. Perfect fit, no slop.
About 5 minutes after clamping just pop 'em out with a pair of pliers.

I do the same thing, just using a couple finishing nails at each end - instead of drill bits.

[flatfive]

I did better as a neck builder than as a photographer
tonight, so I don't have many pics to share. Guess that's
better than great pics of a mangled neck!

I was looking forward to sanding the headstock transition,
as it always looks like fun in other threads.

Before sanding the transition:



The aluminum tape is an "innovation" of mine to prevent
sanding mistakes from wrecking the headstock. I saw that
someone else (sorry, I don't remember who) used metal
sheet on the headstock for this. The tape didn't work --
it ripped the second the sanding sleeve hit it.

The block taped to the side of the neck was intended to keep the
neck level when it's supported by the block and the headstock.
But I don't think it helped much.

After sanding with the ROSS and just a few seconds of
hand sanding to clean up:



You can see the slight problem where the corner
of the fingerboard meets the headstock.

The next thing was to remove excess fingerboard from the sides
of the neck. The router worked fine on this step -- I'd been
worried about tear out since rosewood is brittle. I had to
remember not to do this step with the neck face down on the
routing table -- there's a radius on the fingerboard!

No good pic showing the routed fingerboard -- but here's
a before and after of the headstock:




Last little job was to use the ROSS to sand excess fingerboard
from the neck heel. I was halfway through this, thinking how
easy it was to sand away the rosewood, and how the rosewood
smells likes cinnamon, when I realized that tele necks often
have fingerboard overhang on the heel.

Here's a shot of my neck (left) and a Warmoth neck, lined right
up with each other:



Hmm, that Warmoth neck has 22 frets -- I guess that's the
reason for the overhang? So I can go ahead and sand off
all the overhang on my neck?

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Hmm, that Warmoth neck has 22 frets -- I guess that's the
reason for the overhang? So I can go ahead and sand off
all the overhang on my neck?

Yup . Really sweet looking neck

[pulaifaz]

the neck turned out really good - congrats

[adirondak5]

Good job on that neck Glenn , gotta pick up one of those little chisels for the nut slot for myself.

[jkingma]

Nice job.

[guitarbuilder]

I use a brad with the head cut off as a drill bit, drill a couple holes through the fretboard, put a couple brads back in the fretboard, add the glue, and clamp down with a caul. After an hour or so, I remove the clamps and the brads. Your neck is great!

[flatfive]

Guys, thanks a lot for the encouragement and suggestions.

We're about 2 1/2 weeks into the challenge. I realize I made
a strategic mistake: I should have taken a "proof photo" of
the materials for my "practice" neck. It's turning out okay
and could have been my backup plan.

I also made a few mistakes in building the neck. I cut the
truss rod channel slightly off center, didn't clamp the
truss rod in enough spots when it was glued, and routed
too much from the sides of the fingerboard blank where it
overlaps the headstock.

I've got to manage the next 3 1/2 weeks pretty carefullly.
I figure the body has to be ready to (apply) finish 2 weeks
before the deadline (nitro lacquer), and the "real" neck has
to be ready to finish about 5 days before the deadline
(danish oil or Tru-Oil).

In other words: get the body done in a week and a half;
get the neck done in less than 3 weeks.

I'm going to start on the body and real neck, finishing up
the practice neck whenever there's opportunity.

[jpbturbo]

Thanks for reminding me that it's time to panic.

[Travst]

I'm planning a Tru-Oil finish so that I can cut my curing time. I've had to gun it because of the need to build so many templates and practice, as this is my first build.

I'm following your build closely-very clean work and great pics. I took what you did with your slotting jig and made my own. Thanks for the cool idea!

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by jpbturbo

Thanks for reminding me that it's time to panic.

I predict panic posts will be popular in the period ahead.

“If you're going to panic, panic constructively” -- anonymous

On a similar vein:

"You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time."
-- Pat Schroeder

As usual, Mark Twain is the best:

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." -- Mark Twain

[paulskirocks]

Like one of my old bosses and mentors (building homes) used to say many years ago, never underestimate the power of a good panic...

[hockeygoon]

Is a single coat of boiled linseed oil a finish?

No panic here...just mistakes, gotchas, and 'oh crap' moments so far.

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by hockeygoon

Is a single coat of boiled linseed oil a finish?

As someone whose expertise consists of skimming through
a couple of wood finishing books, I'd say even a single coat
of shellac is a finish. It'll dry in about 90 seconds and you're
good to go!

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by flatfive

...
I also made a few mistakes in building the neck. I cut the
truss rod channel slightly off center, didn't clamp the
truss rod in enough spots when it was glued, and routed
too much from the sides of the fingerboard blank where it
overlaps the headstock.
...
I'm going to start on the body and real neck, finishing up
the practice neck whenever there's opportunity.

Check out the way Ken Parker designed the truss-rod for Parker Fly:



Of course, those necks have a shell of CF to make them very rigid, but still - I think it shows that the tension of the rod that is a little off center works in a guitar neck since the wood is really what's holding most of the forces.

When I got to doing the fret work on my first couple of necks, I had to do all of my experimenting on one neck and then transfer that knowledge to what I did on the 2nd neck. I still used both of them, but I ended up refretting that first one so many times that there is just epoxy holding the frets in. BTW the truss rod in my first neck is a good 1/16" off center on one end and it still trues up straight really well: I can get crazy low relief on that neck.

Originally Posted by flatfive

As someone whose expertise consists of skimming through
a couple of wood finishing books, I'd say even a single coat
of shellac is a finish. It'll dry in about 90 seconds and you're
good to go!

Hey - shellac is my finish of choice! Besides, real men only need a single coat!

Actually, I love using shellac instead of nitro: I use all of the same techniques as spraying nitro, but it cures a lot faster and buffs out easier. But then again, none of my guitars I've made to date would win a beauty contest for their finish.

[flatfive]

Today was not a high point for me in this challenge.

Things started off great -- beautiful late afternoon, in the
upper 50's and sunny.

I found my 3/4" MDF tele template, lined up the center
to the line where the veneer pieces meet on the blank,
screwed the template to the blank, drew the outline
in pencil, unscrewed the template, and went out to
jigsaw the outline.

I screw the template in before drawing the outline to
make sure there's no difference between the penciled
outline and the final template position.

Anyway, started with the jigsaw.



It took almost an hour to cut the outline. The jigsaw was soooo
slow through the poplar, especially in the direction of the grain.
I also had to worry about chipping of veneer, so I didn't get too
close to the edge. Besides, the blade wanders a lot around
turns.

After sawing I started sanding on the ROSS. Here's the current
state -- still lots of sanding to go.



The scrap on top is a piece that was sawn off. I wiped on
a couple of coats of shellac to see what the finished color of
the eucalyptus veneer will be.



I think it will be pretty. The bit of curly figuring in the veneer
stood out after the shellac.

Next came the position dots on the neck. I got 5mm mother of
pearl dots off eBay. I didn't think too much about the size --
they're smaller than I like and I wish I had a 5mm brad point
bit.

I got a 13/64" bit and tested it on scrap.



The hole could be just a hair smaller.

The hole drilling seemed to go okay but when I inspected I
found that two holes near the neck heel were noticeably
out of line Darn, first visible screw up.

I decided I had to try some sort of fix, so I re-drilled the holes
slightly to correct, then added rosewood dust I've collected
with epoxy, and glued the dots in.





I'm not sure I corrected the problem area very well. Here it is:



The middle two dots were the both off the center line of the
neck, in opposing directions. Guess we'll just have to see.

Last thing was to get started on the "real" neck. Drew the
center line, put the outline of the neck on the blank, and marked
where the truss rod slot needs to be routed.

[flatfive]

Reading all the challenge build threads, I'm reminded of
what I heard from a guy participating in an ultra-marathon.
It was a 100 mile run in California that went from extremes
of desert heat to mountain snow.

The participant said: there are three kinds of people
taking part. There are the survivors, who just want to
finish, the runners, who want to keep a pace, and the
racers, who want to win.

[jpbturbo]

That eucalyptus looks amazing.
The body is going to be awesome.

I'm not really looking forward to cutting my body out with my jigsaw but it looks like there are enough people on here doing it that it shouldn't be too much of a problem.


-Josh

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by jpbturbo

I'm not really looking forward to cutting my body out with my jigsaw but it looks like there are enough people on here doing it that it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
-Josh

Make sure you have a sharp blade, and be real careful about
the blade wandering as you do curves, especially curves that
go in towards the body. In these cases the bottom of the
blade will tend to slant inwards towards the middle of the body.

Cutting slots every couple of inches from the perimeter of the
blank toward the edge of the body can help.

Sorry if this is all stuff you already know!

[jpbturbo]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Make sure you have a sharp blade, and be real careful about
the blade wandering as you do curves, especially curves that
go in towards the body. In these cases the bottom of the
blade will tend to slant inwards towards the middle of the body.

Cutting slots every couple of inches from the perimeter of the
blank toward the edge of the body can help.

Sorry if this is all stuff you already know!

No problem at all.
Most of it is stuff that I've learned from reading the forums in the past two months.
I've actually thought about turning my jigsaw into a scroll saw with the a sort of bearing retainer like the blade guide on a bandsaw at the bottom of the blade and mount it all in a table.
Probably more work than it's worth though

I do have some very sharp brand new bosch blades that leave almost a polished surface.